Análise do Discurso
Courses Licenciatura em Humanidades
Cod: 51147
Department: DH
ECTS: 6
Scientific area: Linguistics
Total working hours: 156
Total contact time: 15

Discourse Analysis is a field within the language sciences whose object of study, as its name suggests, is the analysis and understanding of discourse, conceived as a social practice that is inseparable from the historical and social context in which it is produced and reflects both a mode of action and social interaction.

By fostering interdisciplinarity—particularly with History, Sociology, Psychoanalysis, Pragmatics, and Rhetoric—Discourse Analysis has emerged as a field of research in which multiple theoretical traditions converge, ranging from the ethnography of communication (Gumperz and Hymes) to conversation analysis, inspired by Goffman's interactionist approaches.

This course will focus primarily on the French School of Discourse Analysis, whose principal intellectual influences, from the late 1960s onward, include Saussure, Althusser, Foucault, Lacan, Dubois, and Pêcheux, as well as contemporary scholars such as Maingueneau, Charaudeau, Rastier, Plantin, and Kerbrat-Orecchioni.

  1. Language
  2. Interaction
  3. Argumentation
  4. Text typologies

By the end of this course, students are expected to have acquired the following competencies:

  • Understand the major stages in the development of Discourse Analysis as a discipline. 
  • Become familiar with the main theoretical models within the field of Discourse Analysis. 
  • Understand the foundational importance of interdisciplinary connections. 
  • Understand discourse as a means of socialization and self-construction. 
  • Identify and explain the linguistic and discursive mechanisms underlying different text types and genres. 
  • Apply the theoretical principles acquired critically and selectively to the analysis of different types of texts. 

1. Discourse Analysis: Linguistic Theories and the History of Discourse Analysis

1.1 Similarities and differences with other approaches: Conversation Analysis, Text Linguistics, and Critical Discourse Analysis

1.2 Major theoretical trends: formalist, sociological, and historical approaches

1.3 Contemporary developments in Discourse Analysis

2. Key Concepts in Discourse Analysis

2.1 Language, discourse, interaction, speech acts, and argumentation

2.2 Discursive heterogeneity and linguistic materiality

2.3 Text genres and discourse typologies

2.4 Dialogism and polyphony

3. Applying Theoretical Concepts to Text Analysis

3.1 Identification of the linguistic and discursive mechanisms characteristic of each text type

3.2 Assessment of the relevance and appropriateness of these mechanisms within the discourse genre under analysis

  • ADAM, Jean-Michel. 1990. Éléments de linguistique textuelle: théorie et pratique de l’analyse textuelle, Pierre Mardaga.
  • BROWN, G., YULE, G. 2005 . Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press.
  • CHARAUDEAU, Patrick e MAINGUENEAU, Dominique 2002. Dictionnaire d’Analyse du Discours, Éditions du Seuil.
  • GOFFMAN, Erving. 1973. La mise en scène de la vie quotidienne, Tomos 1 e 2, Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit.
  • GUMPERZ, John 1996. Language and social identity, Cambridge University Press.
  • KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, Catherine. 2001. Les actes de langage dans le discours. discours en interaction, Paris, Nathan.
  • KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, Catherine. 2005. Le discours en interaction, Armand Colin.
  • MAINGUENEAU, Dominique. 1996. Les Termes clés de l’analyse du discours, Paris, Éditions du Seuil.
  • TANNEN, Deborah. et al.2001. Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Oxford:  Blackwell.
  • VAN DIJK, Teun A. 1997. Discourse Studies. London: Sage (2 vols).

E-learning.

The preferred assessment method is continuous assessment, consisting of the completion of two e-fólios—written assignments submitted in digital format—throughout the semester, together with a final Global e-Portfolio (e-fólioG) completed at the end of the semester. These components account for 40% and 60%, respectively, of the final grade.

Alternatively, students may opt, within the prescribed deadline, for a single final assessment, consisting of a Final Examination, which accounts for 100% of the final grade.

Students are required to have regular access to a computer with a broadband Internet connection. A basic reading knowledge of French is recommended.