ABSTRACT
This opening chapter is aimed at setting the scene by providing an overview of what is generally involved in the analysis of discourse. It begins with a brief survey of some of the ways in which the term ‘discourse’ is used within the study of language and linguistics, before presenting four elements which are core to the enterprise of discourse analysis: the data that comprise discourse; the producers of discourse; the reception of discourse; and the perspective of the analyst. Discourse analysis examines how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users. An aspect of discourse that intrigues some researchers is how it comes to take the forms it does. For some analysts, the line of research entails collecting very large quantities of data in order to reveal patterns in the way words and phrases behave, including as they co-occur with one another.
