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Reviewed by:
  • Discourse analysis by Barbara Johnstone
  • Yousif Elhindi
Discourse analysis. By Barbara Johnstone. (Introducing linguistics.) Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002. Pp. xv, 269. ISBN 0631208771. $38.

In this book, Johnstone proposes a comprehensive, eclectic approach to the analysis of discourse. She asserts that since no discourse theory provides definitive answers, her approach is a heuristic, exploratory tool that provides a means for answering some questions while raising others.

The book consists of eight chapters. The first is an introduction in which the author defines the terminology of the discipline, including ‘discourse’ and ‘analysis’. In this introductory chapter, J also distinguishes between ‘discourse’ in the singular form, which refers to an instance of speech, writing, or signing, and ‘discourses’ in the plural form, which denotes a set of ideologies. The middle six chapters constitute the main body of the book. In each, J discusses a fundamental aspect that shapes and is shaped by discourse.

Ch. 2 tackles the mutualism of language and worldview. The chapter gives an overview of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and discusses its strong version, ‘linguistic determinism’, and its weak version, ‘linguistic relativism’. Ch. 3 critiques a number of analytical approaches proposed for the explanation of discourse structure. It distinguishes between ‘grammar’, which regards the sentence as the basic linguistic unit, and ‘discourse’, which attempts to define the structure of suprasentential linguistic units. J examines a variety of approaches and attempts to determine whether discourse rules are generative or statistical. The fourth chapter discusses how discourse is shaped by its participants, their role-relationships, and social status. It emphasizes the creativity of discourse and argues that although social factors color texts, discourse is unpredictable because each interlocutor is a unique individual. Ch. 5 is a review of paradigmatic and syntagmatic intertexuality in discourse. J argues that text producers perform a dual task; they appropriate and borrow from previously constructed texts, while adapting their discourse to the communicative needs at hand. The sixth chapter is about discourse and medium. It discusses the differences between oral and written discourse, how discourse shapes and is shaped by its medium, and the characterizations of electronic communication. Ch. 7 looks at speech act theory and examines the correlation between the intentions of participants and discourse. J argues that people use discourse as performance to project a specific identity. The eighth and final chapter reviews the basic concepts discussed in the previous six chapters. It also raises the question of whether meaning is determined by the text, author, audience, or a combination of all three. The chapter echoes the principal issues discussed in semantics, literary criticism, and semiotics.

Despite a few typographical errors, the book is an enterprising attempt to construct a comprehensive approach to the analysis of discourse. It uses a variety of discourse genres and registers from a number of typologically diverse languages in the discussion and exercise sections. Ironically, the comprehensibility of the proposed approach may prove to be difficult to its intended audience: ‘undergraduates and beginning graduate students taking their first (or only) course about discourse’ (xi).

Yousif Elhindi
East Tennessee State University
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