Project Concept

The final project allows students to apply different frameworks of discourse analysis and stylistics on an authentic text of their choice.

Text

Analyzed text should be authentic, i.e., not a figment of one's imagination, but a record of an existent interaction. It could be spoken or written, literary or non-literary, in Arabic or English. Spoken text is to be transcribed, and the audio/video file containing the text is to be submitted along with the project for instructor review. If the text is in Arabic, examples may be cited in Arabic, but all discussion of text is to be in English.

Discourse Analysis and Stylistics Perspectives

Discourse and stylistics perspectives are to be applied in a comprehensive and sophisticated manner. That is, indices are to be clearly highlighted, explanations of their relation to frameworks are to be explained, and connections with other aspects of discourse are to be made. Perspectives discussed in class include:

1. Intertextuality in discourse

2. Differences between spoken and written discourse (grammatical intricacy, lexical density, nominalization, explicitness, contextualization, spontaneity, repetition, hesitation, redundancy)

3. Speech acts (illocutionary acts, directness/indirectness in relation to syntactic structures)

4. The cooperative principle (maxims, meta-discourse, flouting, violating, opting-out, implicatures)

5. Politeness (positive face, negative face, face-threatening acts, mitigating devices, politeness strategies)

6. Identity construction through language

7. Indexing gender in discourse

8. Critical discourse analysis

9. Stylistics

Individual Contributions

Students are to work individuallyor in pairs; each student/pair is to decide on whether to:

- Explore different perspectives in one text, or

- Explore one perspective in multiple texts.

Report Structure

The project is to be submitted as a Word document. Follow APA format in indicating student name, university ID number, and course number. The body of the document is to be double-spaced and structured as follows:

I. Introduction

a. State the source of the text (type of data, title of work, and year - if applicable.)

b. Provide a characterization of text context (who, what, why, where, when, and how.)

c. Indicate your main discourse analysis perspective.

d. Specify the framework followed, citing scientific research.

II. Text

a. Transcribe pre-approved text according to discourse analysis conventions

b. Number each line to the left of text.

c. Capitalize the names of each speaker and the beginning of their utterances.

III. Analysis

a. Analyze text holistically, avoiding line-by-line analysis.

b. Have a clear topic sentence for each paragraph.

c. Identify discourse phenomena using appropriate technical terminology.

d. Support statements with illustrative examples.

e. Examples are to be single-spaced, followed by line numbers in parentheses.

f. Each example is to be followed by an elaborate and clear explanation (in full sentences).

g. Provide scientifically-based interpretations, using hedges and avoiding personal opinion.

h. Analysis is to be accurate, sufficient, and creative.

IV. Conclusion

a. Summarize findings, and creatively discuss their significance in the context of the text.