AL 5312 Discourse Analysis

(3 semester hours)
After completing this course, students will be able to analyze the discourse structure of a text, using a specific approach to text analysis, and be able to compare this with other current approaches to text analysis. They will be able to describe typical features of different types of prominence and cohesion and coherence. They will be able to chart sample texts from different languages and analyze how a discourse may be segmented into hierarchical units. They will be able to indicate evidence for foregrounding and backgrounding (or mainline and supportive information) including differences in verb forms; to describe topic or participant reference; and to investigate constituent order variation. They will focus on the interface between syntactic forms and their functions in discourse as they investigate grammatical structures of discourse, paragraph, sentence and clause.

Prerequisite:

AL 4410b Principles of Grammatical Analysis