Discourse on the move : using corpus analysis to describe discourse structure / Douglas Biber, Ulla Connor, Thomas A. Upton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Biber, Douglas.

Contributor:

Connor, Ulla, 1948-

Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)

Series:

Studies in corpus linguistics ; v. 28.

Studies in corpus linguistics, 1388-0373 ; v. 28

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis--Data processing.

Discourse analysis.

Physical Description:

xii, 289 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Co., c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Discourse on the Move is the first book-length exploration of how corpus-based methods can be used for discourse analysis, applied to the description of discourse organization. The primary goal is to bring these two analytical perspectives together: undertaking a detailed discourse analysis of each individual text, but doing so in terms that can be generalized across all texts of a corpus. The book explores two major approaches to this task: 'top-down' and 'bottom-up'. In the 'top-down' approach, the functional components of a genre are determined first, and then all texts in a corpus are analyzed in terms of those components. In contrast, textual components emerge from the corpus analysis in the bottom-up approach, and the discourse organization of individual texts is then analyzed in terms of linguistically-defined textual categories. Both approaches are illustrated through case studies of discourse structure in particular genres: fund-raising letters, biology/biochemistry research articles, and university classroom teaching.

Contents:

Discourse on the Move

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Preface

1. Discourse analysis and corpus linguistics

1 Discourse and discourse analysis

1.1 Discourse studies of language use

1.2 Discourse studies of linguistic structure 'beyond the sentence'

1.3 Discourse studies of social practices and ideological assumptions associated with communication

1.4 "Register" and "genre" perspectives on discourse

1.5 Identifying structural units in discourse

2 Corpus-based investigation of discourse structure

3 Top-down versus bottom-up corpus-based approaches to discourse analysis

3.1 Examples of top-down analyses of discourse

3.2 Example of bottom-up approach

4 Creating a specialized corpus for discourse analysis

5 Overview of the book

Part I. Top-down analyses of discourse organization

2. Introduction to move analysis

1 Background

2 Swales' move analysis of research articles

3 Move analysis of research articles applied across genres

3.1 Description and examples

3.2 Summary of previous research on move analysis

4 Overview of the methods for move analysis

4.1 General steps of a move analysis

4.2 Inter-rater reliability

5 Using a corpus-based approach to move analysis

5.1 Corpus-based move analysis

5.2 General advantages of corpus-based approaches to discourse analysis

5.3 Specific advantages of a corpus-based perspective for move analysis

5.3.1 Identifying linguistic features of moves

5.3.2 Move frequencies and lengths

5.3.3 Mapping move use and locations

5.3.4 Genre prototypes

6 Summary

3. Identifying and analyzing rhetorical moves in philanthropic discourse

2 A specialized corpus of fundraising texts

3 Determining and analyzing discourse moves: Direct mail letters.

3.1 Previous analysis of direct mail letters

3.2 A move analysis of fundraising letters: Background and methodology

3.2.1 Move types

3.2.2 Structural elements

3.3 Analysis

3.4 Results

3.5 Discussion

3.6 Letter prototypes

4 Linguistic analysis of moves: Tracking the use of stance structures

4.1 Identifying grammatical stance devices

4.2 Interpreting the use of grammatical stance devices used in moves

5 Final thoughts

4. Rhetorical moves in biochemistry research articles

2 Description of the corpus

3 Determining the move categories in the genre of biochemistry research articles

3.1 The Introduction section

3.2 The Methods section

3.3 The Results section

3.4 The Discussion section

4 Coding moves in the corpus of biochemistry research articles

5 Distribution of move types within texts from the biochemistry corpus

6 Linguistic characteristics of rhetorical moves in biochemistry research articles

7 Linguistic variation among move categories in biochemistry research articles

8 Multi-dimensional variation among move types within the same section

5. Rhetorical appeals in fundraising

1 Elements of Persuasion

2 Determining and analyzing rhetorical appeals

2.1 Rational appeals (Logos)

2.2 Credibility appeals (Ethos)

2.3 Affective appeals (Pathos)

3 Analysis, segmentation, and classification

3.1 Results and discussion

4 Linguistic description of appeals

4.1 Wordlists

4.2 Keywords

5 Appeals and discourse structure of letters

6 Conclusion

Part II. Bottom-up analyses of discourse organization

6. Introduction to the identification and analysis of vocabulary-based discourse units

1 Conceptual introduction to VBDUs

2 Automatic identification of VBDUs in texts

3 Perceptual correlates of VBDUs.

4 Using VBDUs to analyze the discourse structure of texts

5 Going one step further: Identifying generalizable VBDU 'types'

7. Vocabulary-based discourse units in biology research articles

1 Constructing the corpus of VBDUs

2 Analyzing the linguistic characteristics of VBDUs: Multi-dimensional analysis

3 Comparing the multi-dimensional characteristics of research article sections

4 The multi-dimensional profile of VBDUs within a research article: Tracking the movement of discourse

5 Identifying and interpreting the multi-dimensional text types of biology research articles

6 Using VBDU text types to describe the discourse organizational patterns of biology research articles

7 Starting and ending research article sections

7.1 Describing the typical discourse organizations of Introductions

7.2 Describing the typical discourse organizations of methods sections

7.3 Describing the typical discourse organizations of discussion sections

8 Preferred text type sequences across research article section boundaries

9 Comparing the preferred discourse styles of research journals

10 Conclusion

8. Vocabulary-based discourse units in university class sessions

1 From constructing a corpus of VBDUs to identifying VBDU text-types

1.1 Constructing a corpus of VBDUs

1.2 Analyzing the linguistic characteristics of VBDUs applying MD analytical techniques

1.3 VBDUs and dimension scores: the multi-dimensional profile of the first three VBDUs of a business management class

2 Dimension scores and VBDU text-types

2.1 Interpreting the clusters as VBDU types based on their linguistic characteristics

2.1.1 Cluster 1: Personalized framing

2.1.2 Cluster 2: Informational monologue

2.1.3 Cluster 3: Contextual interactive

2.1.4 Cluster 4: Unmarked

3 From VBDU text-types to discourse structure.

3.1 Functional interpretation of VBDU types

3.2 Text as sequences of VBDU types

4 Summary and conclusion

9. Conclusion

1 Overview

2 Comparing the top-down and bottom-up descriptions of biology research articles.

2.1 Discourse units in biology research articles

2.2 The dimensions of linguistic variation in biology research articles

2.3 The functional and linguistic characteristics of the discourse types (move types vs VBDU types) in biology research articles

2.4 Description of the typical discourse organization of biology research articles

3 Summary and prospects for future research

Appendix 1

Appendix 2:

References

Index

The series Studies in Corpus Linguistics.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [273]-285) and index.

ISBN:

9786612152566

9781282152564

1282152564

9789027291912

9027291918

OCLC:

647673085