DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

DEFINITION

According to Jenna Crosley, she explained discourse as a single sentence that goes beyond in verbal or written communication between people. Language does not only include all form of linguistics but also symbolic unit that has their own meaning. Road signs such as no parking and maximum speed are some example of symbolic unit that has their own meaning.

Discourse analysis studies about the overall meaning portrayed by language with context to understand the underlying meaning conveyed. Some examples of context are social, cultural, psychological and political context.

BACKGROUND

The term 'discourse analysis' was made by a sentence linguist, Zellig Harris in 1952 after he analysed an advertisement for hair tonic and set about searching for grammatical rules to explain why one sentence followed another. As a result, he found out two possible direction for discourse analysis.

However, the study of language in context, under various guises has been done since the first known students of language in the Western tradition which were the scholars of Greece and Rome, after they were aware of these different approaches. The former being concerned with the rules of language as an isolated object and divided grammar from rhetoric which resulted on how to do things with words so that the effect to communicate with people in particular context will be successful.

Later on in the early decades of this century, the work on language was conducted by both anthropologist and linguists in North America, while in Britain, a similar tradition developed in the work was done by J.R Firth who saw language as part of a culture that responsive to the environment and not as an autonomous system.

2 CONCEPTS

COHESION

According to Oxford Reference website, cohesion refer on the linguistic connection between the internal structure. For example, the sentence are lexically, semantically, phonologically and grammartically connected. Next, according to Wolfram Bublitz from University of Augsburg, cohesion involves the inter-sentential semantic connections between sentences, linking current elements with preceding or following ones through lexical and structural means. Cohesion also include the usage of cohesive ties to connect the sentence without using repetiton. Some type of cohesive ties are reference, substitution and lexical cohesion.

COHERENCE

According to Oxford Dictionary, coherence occured when part fit together naturally or logically. Martha Kolln from Pennysylvania State University also stated coherence can be understood as "overall cohesion", involving more than just sentence-level connections to create a unified text. The hearer's or reader's interpretation might be disturb if the sentence is lack of coherence. Cohesion and coherence works together to connect spoken or written discourse and text.

REAL WORLD EXAMPLE AND HOW IT RELATED TO THE CONCEPT

The sentences coveyed the usage of two concepts that used in discourse analysis which are cohesion and coherence. These sentence show an example of cohesion since the sentence make sense. It is because, the headline "Ulu Tiram police station attack" semantically connected with the subheading line "Two cops and assailant dead." The usage of words like "Cops" and "Assailant" also grammartically ties the context in the sentence. Reader who read it can logically connected both of these sentence.

On the other hand, this example conveyed the usage of coherence because the subheading line sentence followed with the headline situation. Reader can understand and interpret that two cops and assailant dead as a consequence to the attack that happened in a Ulu Tiram police station. The cohesive ties used in the headline is reference, Ulu Tiram refer to a place where the police station located.

BACKGROUND OF THE REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

According to the news reported by The Star, Ulu Tiram police station has been attacked on Friday, 17 May 2024 around 2:30 am. This tragedy resulted in the death of two police constables which were Constables Ahmad Azza Fahmi Azhar and Constable Muhammad Syafiq Ahmad Said.

The News Straits Times also revealed the chronology of the attack that started around 2:30 am when two colleges student arrived at the police station to file a report regarding an alleged molest incident that occurred two years ago. At 2:35 am, while the two students were making their report, one of the policemen went to the back of the station to check on a motorcycle that went to that direction. Unfortunately, the suspect slashed his neck and head, killing him on the spot before seized the policemen's firearm.

Two other policeman were alerted by the attacked and engaged in a shootout with the suspect. At 2:54 the suspect got killed after got shot by one of the injured policeman. The other policemen however, also got killed on the spot after got shot in his cheek by the suspect. The injured victim was sent to Sultan Ismail Hospital for treatment while the bodies of the two policemen and the suspect were sent to the same hospital for the post-mortem.

INTERESTING ASPECT

Malay Mail also reported that the suspect and his father were the members of Jemaah Islamiyah or Islamic Congregation group that mostly based in Indonesia. This group is a South-east Asian Islamist militant group which has dedicated itself to forming a pan-Islamic caliphate through violent means.

It have threaten the safety of our neighbor country by being the masterminded behind various bombing across Indonesia. For example, this group were involved in the bombing accidents that happened at Bali back in 2002, 2004 at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and nine victims were killed in this tragedy.

After the investigation was done, the police conclude that the suspect's motive was to seize firearms from the police station and there were 20 active members of Jemaah Islamiyah in Johor. As a result of the suspect's vile action, the Johor fatwa committee ruled that his burial arrangements could not be conducted at the mosque, and could only be done at the hospital or his family's house.

The suspect's body was also buried at the end of Kampung Sungai Tiram Muslim cemetery, away from other graves to remind the public to not emulate his actions or to show sympathy towards the suspect for his actions.

PERSONAL OPINION

For the linguistic aspect, I like how the journalist write the headline. The headline is clear and straightforward. It also catch the reader's interest to read the details of the tragedy. The headline is specific because it have the location of the incident and who were involved in it.

For my personal opinion on the tragedy, Muslim should not do the same actions like what the suspect have done. This action will not make non-muslim think that we are powerful but instead they will think of us as a terrorists that use violence to gain something. For me, we should respect other races or religions that live in the same world with us in order to keep the peace and show the good example of Islam.

OVERALL CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the overall meaning of a sentence or dialogue can be studied using the discourse analysis. Cohesion and coherence are crucial to ensure the actual context can be delivered. This plays an important role in achieving effective communication.

The headline gives a big impact on how people think or view the situation. People are also advise to analyse the news first before making any judgement and to not blindly accept it.

REFERENCES

DEFINITION

Crosley, J. (2021, June 21). What Is Discourse Analysis? Simple Definition + Examples. Grad Coach.

https://gradcoach.com/discourse-analysis-101/

BACKGROUND

Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. Oxford University Press.

CONCEPTS

Per Ledin. (2010). Discursive pragmatics. Benjamins.

Charles Raymond Cooper. (1977). Evaluating Writing. National Council of Teachers.

Khalaf, S. Y. (2020). COHESIVE TIES USED IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

https://archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/4950

REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

Nordin, R. (2024, May 17). Ulu Tiram police station attack: Two cops and assailant dead. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/05/17/ulu-tiram-police-station-attack-two-constables-and-assailant-dead

BACKGROUND OF REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

Noh, M. F., & Dass, M. V. (2024, May 17). Chronology of the attack at Ulu Tiram police station [NSTTV]. NST Online. https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2024/05/1052015/chronology-attack-ulu-tiram-police-station-nsttv/

INTERESTING ASPECTS

Jun, S. W. (2024, May 18). Who is Jemaah Islamiyah, the militant group linked with the Ulu Tiram police station attack? Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/05/18/who-is-jemaah-islamiyah-the-militant-group-linked-with-the-ulu-tiram-police station-attack/135029/

Reporters, F. (2024, May 20). Suspect in Ulu Tiram attack buried away from other graves. Free Malaysia Today. https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/05/20/ulu-tiram-attackers-grave-must-be-apart-from-others-says-fatwa-committee/

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse