Discourse Analysis: An Introduction

Continuum Discourse Series

by Brian Paltridge

This is the new edition of "Discourse Analysis: An Introduction," an accessible and widely-used introduction to the analysis of discourse. In its 10 chapters the book examines different approaches to discourse, looking at discourse and society, discourse and pragmatics, discourse and genre, discourse and conversation, discourse grammar, corpus-based approaches to discourse and critical discourse analysis. The book includes the following features: -A full companion website, featuring student and lecturer resources-A new chapter on multimodal discourse analysis-Chapter summaries outlining the key areas covered-Updated examples drawn from film, television, the media and everyday life-Explanations of technical terms in each chapter-Discussion tasks and data analysis projects at the end of each chapter-Student exercises and answer keys for each chapter-Suggestions for further reading This engagingly written introduction to discourse analysis is essential for students encountering discourse analysis for the first time, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level. It should be on every reading list.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Academic

534 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Brian Paltridge is Professor of TESOL at the University of Sydney. His most recent books are Ethnographic Perspectives on Academic Writing (with Sue Starfield and Christine Tardy, Oxford University Press, 2016), Getting Published in Academic Journals (with Sue Starfield, University of Michigan Press, 2016), and The Discourse of Peer Review (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). He is a former editor of TESOL Quarterly, and an editor emeritus for the journal English for Specific Purposes.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. One of the things that is particularly good about it is that at the end of each chapter there is a list of books that you might want to read to get more information on what you’ve just read – but not just a list, a kind of blurb too. This is a really nice idea. There are also exercises to apply some of what you have learnt – and that is nice too. The problem is that within the chapters themselves the examples used are often remarkably crap – well, at least, I thought so. I guess I need to remember that this is a kind of textbook and so it is meant to be read by people who are very much not me. What does that mean? Well, it means people who are able to quote large slaps of Sex in the City without feeling in the least embarrassed and, I know, as hard as it is to image, actually be quite fond of the show. I have never seen even five minutes of the show, so you could think me just an ill-informed snob, but now I’ve read the bits of the script contained here – I have to say, what is wrong with you people? How can you watch such utter crap? Were you dropped on your head as a child?

Given that, I found a lot of this a bit annoying. However, this did bring together a lot of stuff I have been reading and even pointed me in directions where I really ought to go next in my reading. But, that said, the problem really was that when I’ve read people like Fairclough, I always come away thinking – “oh my god, I really wish I could think like that. Jesus, wow.” My advise is to not expect that reaction from this book – but if you have no background at all in discourse analysis and want to know what all the excitement is about, this is probably a very good place to start. However, DO NOT end here. Honestly, it gets so much better. I’m serious, so much better. When you read people really using this well as a form of analysis of the world we live in – it is like nothing else. As the Italians say, meglio di sesso.

[Ed Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paltridge provides a very clear overview of various modes of discourse analysis. There are lots of jumping off points into the literature, and practical exercises to show how to apply the various theories and methods. In my Discourse Analysis class we had to leave Paltridge to look at Ethnography of Communication, which perhaps was a gap of some kind.

[Manheim Wagner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute rubbish. Paltridge is a charlatan. As he claims, discourse analysis should be from realistic input--yet he cites "Sex and the City" as an example of discourse analysis. We get it. You like Kylie Minogue and things of that sort.

[Fatima]

i want this book urgently

[Abhro Sroy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very very introductory and basic book about linguistic discourse analysis, which is not in the title. A nice resource to introduce us readers to other important (mostly linguistic related) works. Probably a decent textbook for UG first sem students I guess. None of the inputs provided are at all original to the author. It only cites other textbooks and introductory books and focuses heavily on literary/linguistic and cross-cultural linguistic research works. It might be a good book for linguistic studies, but disciplines like cultural studies/media studies/social sciences might feel frustrated by the very shallow examples provided which lack nuance and depth.

[Laid Kamel · Rating 5 out of 5]

as all people do , i thought language was only a tool;however, this book has completely changed my mind. language , precisely utterances, is like an iceberg some of it is shown, clear and direct , but it has that hidden part.the book gave me the idea that language affects and can be affected. for foriegn language learners linguistics might be their biggest nightmare but reading this book deadens that feeling. of course this book will get its share of a second reading to go deeper

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a general introduction to CA. It is concise and clear.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book worked well for my graduate level Discourse Analysis (LING 448) course this summer.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

0

[Faridfakhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

ترجمه جذابی نداره

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve finished uni now and think I have basically read all of this so it counts. Used it in like every assessment I had so very useful

[Michael A · Rating 2 out of 5]

TESOL literature at its best is passable and at its worst is simply dreadful. This is a case of something between those two extremes. This one covers quite a few areas broadly included in the concept of discourse analysis, however it hardly informs about any one area before moving on to the next topic.

My suggestion would be, if you have to read this book, that you read whatever chapters you need for your course or ideas and the move on to the books he has listed at the end of the chapters -- they are usually the key texts or at least significantly contributive to the fields being discussed by the author in these skimpy chapters.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid intro but I think occasionally groups ideas and methods in confusing ways. Although... discourse analysis is inherently confusing — Why are there so many sub-methods and sub-sub-methods? Why are you using that word in that way? — that this may well be the best possible shot at an overview.

[Americaussie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very decent introduction to DA. In my opinion, the 2012 edition has a cleaner layout, which makes it easier to use for reference. I think this book would benefit from a better overview of multimodal DA.

[Joni Pratama]

good book

[Said Dhimni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating.