English » CIVIS » 70254 Discourse Analysis Corpus-assisted Discourse Studies (CADS), Methods and Applications

Department of Turkish Studies and Modern Asian Studies

Course 70254, Discourse Analysis: Corpus-assisted Discourse Studies (CADS). Methods and Applications, 5 ECTS, 7th semester.

Tutor: I. Saridakis, Associate Professor

Ε-mail: Ioannis Saridakis

users.uoa.gr/~iesaridakis
https://sites.google.com/site/iesaridakis/

 

 Introduction – Aims and Objectives

 

Corpus Linguistics is a research methodology aiming to enable thorough investigations and generalisations on language use and its variation. Novel methodological approaches and sophisticated computational, statistics-based tools allow researchers to rely on detailed and authentic data to address specific research questions, “across speaking and writing contexts [...] that may either complement or reject assumptions from those taken in traditional discourse-analytic investigations” (Friginal and Hardy 2021: 1). The dataset of a systematically compiled corpus is thus a sound empirical basis for examining the “systemics” and contexts of, and the interfaces between, discourses and describing them through quantitative and statistical methods.

This holds particularly true for discourse analysis, a field of study which traditionally is both challenging and problematic, considering the diverging approaches to the notion of discourse itself. In the context of CADS (see Baker 2006: 3-4), discourse can be aptly defined as “practices which systematically form the objects of which they speak” (Foucault 1972: 49), a “system of statements which constructs an object” (Parker 1992: 5), and a “set of meanings, metaphors, representations, images, stories, statements and so on that in some way together produce a particular version of events [...] Surrounding any one object, event, person etc., there may be a variety of different discourses, each with a different story to tell about the world, a different way of representing it to the world” (Burr 1995: 48).

In a nutshell, at the core of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) is the endeavour to investigate and compare features of particular discourse types by integrating techniques and tools developed within Corpus Linguistics, and by also examining more specifically, in Hallidayan terms, “patterns which contribute to the meaning of texts but which are not open to direct observation.

 

The aim of the course is therefore to:

  • provide an introduction to the basic concepts used in traditional, qualitative Discourse Analysis;
  • present the basic methods and computational tools of modern (computer) Corpus Linguistics; and
  • develop a sound empirical and practical approach to corpus-based discourse research, with particular emphasis on the study of discriminatory, racist and hate discourses (e.g. Saridakis 2017; Mouka and Saridakis 2017; Mouka, Saridakis and Fotopoulou 2015; Hatzidaki and Saridakis 2020; Saridakis and Mouka 2020; Saridakis, Mouka and Kostopoulos 2016).

 

Course Outline

 

Discourse and Discourse Analysis: basic notions and concepts (3 sessions)

Corpus Linguistics: definition, types of corpora, corpus processes and tools (4 sessions)

CADS: research aims, examples of studies (5 sessions)

(Student) research project presentation.

 

Course Assessment

Research-based paper (ca 3500 words, in English) (70%), written and laboratory exam (30%).

 

 References, textbooks and bibliography

 

Baker, Paul; and McEnery, Tony (eds). 2015. Corpora and Discourse Studies. Integrating Discourse and Corpora. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Baker, Paul; Andrew Hardie; and Tony McEnery. 2006. A Glossary of Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Baker, Paul. 2006. Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum.

Baker, Paul. 2010. Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Brezina, Vaclav. 2018. Statistics in Corpus Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.

Burr, Vivien. 1995. An Introduction to Social Constructionism. London: Routledge.

Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.

Fairclough, Norman. 2003. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.

Foucault, Michel. 1972. The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock.

Friginal, Eric (ed). 2018. Studies in Corpus-based Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge.

Friginal, Eric; and Jack A. Hardy. 2021. Corpus approaches to discourse analysis. Introduction and section interviews. In: Eric Friginal and Jack A. Hardy (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Approaches to Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge, 1-4.

Halliday, M.A.K. 1978. Language as Social Semiotic. The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.

Hatzidaki, Ourania; and Ioannis Saridakis. 2020. Discourses of aggression in Greek digitally-mediated communication. An overview of published research. Editorial. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 8.2, 147-155 (doi: 10.1075/jlac.00043.edi).

McEnery, Tony; and Andrew Hardie. 2012. Corpus Linguistics. Theory, Method and Practice. Cambridge: CUP.

Mouka, Effie; and Ioannis Saridakis. 2017. Golden Dawn in the media and the Greek crisis: Realities, allusions and illusions. In: Ourania Hatzidaki, and Dionysis Goutsos (eds). Greece in crisis: Combining critical discourse and corpus linguistics perspectives. Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 331-374 .

Mouka, Effie; Ioannis Saridakis; and Angeliki Fotopoulou. 2015. Racism goes to the movies: A corpus-based study of cross-linguistic racist discourse annotation and analysis. In: Fantinuoli, C., Zanettin, F. (eds). New directions in corpus-based translation studies. Berlin: Language Science Press (Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing 1), 35-70 <goo.gl/J4AUl5>.

Parker, Ian. 1992. Discourse Dynamics: Critical Analysis for Social and Individual Psychology. London: Routledge.

Saridakis, Ioannis; and Effie Mouka. 2020. A corpus study of outgrouping in Greek radical right CMC discourses. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 8.2 (doi: 10.1075/jlac.00038.sar - online first [August 2020]: <bit.ly/3h2DJy5>).

Saridakis, Ioannis; Effie Mouka; and Georgia Kostopoulou. 2016. The political discourse semantics of Greek neo-nationalist ideology: Coherence and intertextuality. Quaderni di ΑΙΩΝ 4. Linguaggio, Ideologia e loro rappresentazioni, ed. by Alberto Manco. Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, 115-150 <goo.gl/3mdMB0>.

Saridakis, Ioannis. 2017. Golden Dawn and the traits of extreme right-wing discourse amidst the Greek crisis. In: Ourania Hatzidaki, and Dionysis Goutsos (eds). Greece in crisis: Combining critical discourse and corpus linguistics perspectives. Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 375-412 .

Sinclair, John. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: OUP.

Sinclair, John. 2004. Trust the Text. Language, Corpus and Discourse. London: Routledge.

Wodak, Ruth; and Michal Meyer (eds). 2001. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage.