Approaches to Discourse Analysis

The contemporary landscape of discourse analysis-which examines spoken, written, and multimodal communication-is so diverse that, as volume contributor Deborah Tannen observes, discourse has become almost synonymous with language and, for many scholars, extends well beyond it. How, then, do we conceptualize discourse? What are the various approaches to studying it? And how can we put these approaches into dialogue?

Scholars within the field of linguistics and beyond contribute to this volume with analyses in multiple languages, contexts, and modes. Collectively, the chapters highlight the diversity and complexity of the field. Across these varied approaches, what emerges is a common understanding of communication as fundamentally connected to human agency and creativity, embedded in and constitutive of our social and cultural worlds.

Cynthia Gordon uses theories and methods of discourse analysis to examine everyday social interactions in family, educational, and online and digital contexts. Author of Making Meanings, Creating Family, she was a 2012-13 fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She is a coeditor of Family Talk and Identity and Ideology in Digital Food Discourse.