Discourse Analysis - Silvia Osman

There is nothing new anymore under the sun in a time in which abundant information resides at your fingertips and entire libraries have turned virtual, ready and waiting for the anxious, inquisitive minds of the young citizens of the 21st century to explore and benefit from them.

Since Cicero’s Orator and Aristotle’s modes of persuasion, many pages have been written about discourse and its typologies, and some of the most recent titles on the topic you will find after the bibliography unit, in the addendum of this book.

Discourse Analysis for MAL / LMA students is a course that aims to introduce future interpreters and translators to various written and oral discourse/speech environments, trying to enhance their awareness of and familiarizing them with different types of official addresses.

Discourse is a general term for examples of language use, i.e. language which has been produced as the result of an act of communication. Sometimes the study of both written and spoken discourse is known as discourse analysis; some researchers however use discourse analysis to refer to the study of spoken discourse and text linguistics to refer to the study of written discourse.

Seminar topics and exercises included in this textbook enforce the theoretical approaches presented during the course, evaluate and review the ways and skills absolutely necessary for accurate discourse production and delivery, revisiting information and encouraging the students to think creatively and practically apply the knowledge acquired during the course.

Hoping that using this learning tool you’ll grow into the habit of wanting to know more, work harder and strive to reach higher, I wish you all the best of luck!

Associate Professor Silvia Osman

Bucharest, November 2015