If the analytical value of some terms derives from their descriptive precision and specificity of meaning, other words—such as discourse—owe their utility to multiple layers of meaning and their ability to stimulate ambiguity....

Generic term for various types of text2. The term has been used with various differences in meaning: connected speech (Harris 1952); the product of an interactive process in a sociocultural context (Pike 1954); performance (vs ‘text’ as a...

// n. A connected series of utterances by one or more speakers. Certain types of grammatical, lexical and phonological elements can be identified which typically serve to relate one utterance to another in some fashion, but, on the whole, attempts at...

A type of semantics that focuses on the semantic relations of sentences within a text. Central concepts include anaphora and cataphora, which extend beyond sentential boundaries, and phenomena such as model subordination. ( also discourse...

1. An academic treatise. 2. The language of academic statements. 3. An ideological statement reflecting the way that individuals view the world. 4. Foucault uses the term to refer to the meaning system that people have by which they define their...

Discourse is communication that goes back and forth (from the Latin, discursus, "running to and from"), such as debate or argument. The term is used in semantics and discourse analysis. In semantics, discourses are linguistic units composed of several...