Book
Review
A.
Book Identity
Title : The Handbook of Discourse Analysis
Edited by : Deborah
Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen and Heidi E. Hamilton
Publisher : Blackwell Publisher
Print publication date:
2003
Page : i-xx, 817
Review part I page 76 (Discourse
and Semantics) by Neal.R.Norrick
B.
Introduction
This
book contains about Discourse Analysis and the related topic with it. One part
of this book is “Discourse and Semantics” written by Neal R. Norrick. His
research specializations in linguistics include conversational narrative,
verbal humor. He authored the first monograph dedicated to humor in
conversation. He is expert in Semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse
Analysis. He is a lecturer in Saarland
University, he figures and prominent schools as they relate to primary areas of
investigation from semantics, syntax and phonology to pragmatics and discourse
analysis.
C.
Content Analysis
I.
Introduction
In these first contents, there is some definition of Semantics.
“Semantics” may have a number of meanings;
those meanings are less irreconcilable than might at first appear. In 1883
Michel Bréal (Les lois intellectuelles du langage: Fragment de sémantique)
defined semantics as the science of meaning, but when he came to publish his Essai
de sémantique in 1897 he gave it the more general subtitle Science des
significations, and only in chapter IX, in which he proposed to examine
“by what causes words, once created and endowed with a certain meaning, are
induced to restrict, to extend, to transfer this meaning from one order of
ideas to another, to raise or to lower its dignity, in short to change it,”
does he say “it is this second part which, properly speaking constitutes
Semantics or the Science of Significations”. in the course of the debates on
meaning, five areas of investigation have been identified, sometimes proceeding
independently of each other, sometimes contradicting each other, and sometimes
one of them presupposing—however a critically—the other:
1.
Semantics as the study of the meaning of terms
removed from any context
(for instance, Carnap’s theory of meaning postulates, much of componential
semantics, and the various forms of semic analysis, not to mention lexicography
of every kind and tendency).
2.
Semantics as the study of content systems or
structural semantics
(Hjelmslev and structural approaches to semantic fields in general et similia).
3.
Semantics as the study of the relation between term
(and sentence) and referent, or as the study of reference (for instance, Morris, Ogden, and
Richards, much of analytic philosophy, and in primis Kripke). Let me remind the reader, however, of the
distinction I posited in Kant and the
Platypus between (i) providing instructions to identify the possible
referent of a term and (ii) the act of reference itself.
4.
Semantics as the study of the truth conditions of
propositions expressed by sentences.
5.
Semantics as the study of the particular meaning
that terms or sentences assume in context or in the text as a whole (this is a vast and variegated
field that is concerned with the meaning of the same sentences in different
contexts and circumstances, for which we may cite in first and foremost the
later Wittgenstein, as well as the theory of different discursive.
In this following paragraph, there is
how the nation of meaning has increasingly become bound to discourse context.
Discourse context has been evoked even more frequently to handle phenomena.
II.
The Shifting Paradigm
Similarly, agents of
change are driving a new paradigm shift today. The signs are all around us. For
example, the introduction of the personal computer and the internet
have impacted both personal and business environments, and is a catalyst for a
Paradigm Shift. We are shifting from a mechanistic, manufacturing, industrial
society to an organic, service based, information centered society, and
increases in technology will continue to impact globally. Change is inevitable.
It's the only true constant. Paradigm
Shift as a change from one way of thinking to another.
It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It just does not
happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change. Linguists began to feel
the need for model inference to determine grammatically as well as meaning. Sociologists were showing that everyday conversation was not only regular and
describable, but contained mechanism for clarifying and correcting factual
content and linguistics form.
III.
Indexicality and Anaphora
Indexicals
are linguistic expressions whose meaning remain stable while their reference
shifts from utterance to utterance. Paradigmatic cases in English are ‘I’,
‘here’, and ‘now’. Recently, a number of authors have argued that various
constructions in our language harbor hidden indexical. Overt indexical can
participate in anaphoric relationships. Often a single pronoun will have both
indexical and anaphoric possibilities in sentence. We must also find referents for third person
pronouns like she and them within the local context or within the foregoing
discourse.
IV.
Presupposition
It is important to note that to call presupposition expressions
“conventional” or “semantic” is not necessarily to imply that the
presuppositions they trigger don't depend on the context in any way. For
example, although “this” may be viewed as a conventional presupposition
trigger, its interpretation very much depends on the context, obviously. What
makes presuppositions special? That is, to the extent that presuppositions are
just a part of the conventional meaning of some expressions, what makes them
sufficiently distinctive that they merit their own entries in handbooks and
encyclopedias, as well as many hundreds of other articles and book chapters
elsewhere? First, presuppositions are ubiquitous. And second, there are various
respects in which the behavior of presuppositions differs sharply from other
aspects of meaning.
V.
Speech Acts
Speech act is an utterance that serves a function in
communication. We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting,
request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act might
contain just one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or
several words or sentences: "I’m sorry I forgot your birthday. I just let
it slip my mind." Speech acts include real-life interactions
and require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that
language within a given culture.
VI.
Entailment
Entailment is a relation between sentence meanings, or
propositions. a relationship
between two sentences such that if the first is true, the second must also be true, as in Her son drives her to work every day and Her son knows how to drive.
VII.
Interpersonal
Interpersonal
really only has one meaning, so when you hear this word, you know you're
hearing about interactions between people. Sometimes corporations find it
useful to train their employees on any interpersonal skills they may be
lacking, especially if they have a group of really socially awkward people,
because it really does make the work environment a lot easier if your coworkers
all get along with one another.
VIII. Figurative
Meaning
Figurative meaning is
the nature of or involving a figure
of speech, especially a metaphor; metaphorical and not literal: The word “head” has several figurative senses, as in “She's the head of the company.” It also seen as has bound with context. There
are hyperbole, irony, and metaphor.
IX. Meta lingual Perspective on Figurative
Meaning
Metaphor is not
generally perceived as discourse in-congruence the way contradiction is, we must
glean what we can from “meta-lingual” comments about contradiction. Meta lingual
talk resolve incongruity in discourse reveals three patterns. This discussion illustrates
the value of examining metaphors in real life conversational contexts for an
understanding of their meaning potential.
X.
Conclusion
In the end, the writer tells that
discourse can reveal the working of interpretive strategies which obviate the
need for narrowly semantics or syntactic explanation. Discourse context makes
up appreciate the interrelations of the semantics phenomena. Meaning in this sense involves the speaker’s intention to
convey a certain meaning which may not be evident in the message itself. In the
sentence ‘There’s a fly in my soup’, the message is that ‘There is a fly in my soup’
in which the speaker’s intention may be to complain. So the meaning of the
utterance contains the meaning of complaint. A hearer hearing this sentence may
interpret it not just as a statement but as a request to take the soup away.
That is, the meaning will include some intended effect on the hearer.
In
order to analyses discourse, it may be necessary to consider all aspects of
language: the grammatical as well as the semantic and pragmatic (not forgetting
the role of intonation). Grammatical forms which are used to link sentences and
create cohesion can be of several kinds: logical connectors such as ‘and’,
‘but’; conjuncts such as ‘also’, ‘equally’, ‘furthermore’, contrast such as
‘instead’ and similarly, ‘for’ ‘thus’. Deictic elements such as ‘here’,
‘there’, also indicate other references and are thus important in creating
cohesion as well as discourse meaning.
That
is all about the review of one part of the book. In my opinion this book has so
many benefits in Discourse Analysis Topics.
Thank you for always read and never forget saying Alhamdulillah.
