Textbook(the essay is mainly based on it): Jaworski, A. & Coupland, N. 2006. The Discourse Reader. London: Routledge. 560 s.
We will only need one chapter of this book for writing the essay: Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage, Penelope
Brown and Stephen Levinson
2-Jurnal(additional literature): Pfister, Jonas. 2010. Is there a need for a maxim of politeness?: Journal of Pragmatics.42
(5). 1266- 1282.. Bern: University of Bern.
http://www04.sub.su.se:2092/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.09.001
the two mentioned sources are in PDF which I will send you by email.
1-I need a 2000 words Essay :
The essay should start with 1 page clear introduction to the topic. This can be followed by a section introducing the article
on which the essay is based(the book chapter) in more detail, which, in turn, is followed by a section discussing the topic
in the light of the additional literature (the journal), and another section discussing the concrete discourse example
treated. The essay must contain some example(s)(apart from sample analysis which has its own process) of written or spoken
discourse that come from another source than the theoretical literature discussed. We have to apply the theories and methods
discussed in the literature treated by ourselves.
to the discourse example(s). Different solutions to the internal structure of the essay are also possible. The last section
should be 1 page conclusion pulling the threads together and summarizing the most important aspects of the discussion. The
references should be listed at the end of the essay.
2- I need Example analysis with transcription of sample of spoken discourse (1000 words) :
“discuss and reflect on various theories and methods in discourse and interaction
research taking into consideration the diversity of approaches in discourse studies” and “analyze concrete language data
using theories in discourse and interaction research”:
• Choose by yourself an example of recorded spoken discourse in English language which can be analyzed in the light of at
least five different methods.It is crucial that the example is short. Choose an appropriate transcription method and motivate
your choice.
Transcribe the example on maximally one page A4 (the transcript may even be shorter
. Write a short paragraph where you explain which transcription method has been chosen and why.
write one summarizing sentence for every theory how you plan to tie the example to it.
Some suggestions for the choice of theories: e.g.
Cameron (1997) [29]. Is your example narrative? Then Labov [14] might be useful. Is there phatic communion (Malinowski 1923)
[20] or how are the different functions of language distributed in general (Jakobson 1960 [1])? Are there any implicatures
(Grice 1975 [3]) or speech acts (Austin 1962 [2])? Is there any face-work done (Goffman 1967 [21]) that invites for an
analysis in terms of politeness (Brown & Levinson 1987 [22])? Does gender play a role (Cameron 1997 [29] or 2000 [30] or
Holmes 1995 [23])? Are there openings or closings (Schegloff & Sacks [18])?
Note that you have to follow Grice’s maxim to be brief. You have only 200 words on average
per method and theory.
