We all understand: the distinction between oral and written speech by contact methods is, of course, justified. The treatment of transmitting information to real people in the classical literary language will be ineffective. Also, in turn, the attempt to substitute special vocabulary with everyday everyday expressions would be absurd.
Discourse Definition
Not only the scientific, but also the
information revolution marks the 21st century. The average man today is faced with one or another verbal communication. We are all in our daily communication and, thanks to the media flows surrounding us, find ourselves immersed in discourse. "What is it?" - the thoughtful reader of the article will ask. The answer is a strikingly laconic definition given in the New Webster Dictionary: it is
verbal communication.Origin of the term
The term itself came from the Latin discursus, which means "circulation, movement." Over time, the disordered chaotic movements of the physical plane have changed. They began to be associated with different, “multidirectional” thoughts, ideas, diverse views of different people on the same problem. In the future, another transformation of meaning occurred. In most people, the concept of discourse begins to be associated steadily with verbalism. What is it, easy to explain. Practically any information message: whether it’s everyday life, from the field of politics, ideology, culture, science, military affairs is one thing - this is one of the types of discourse.
A specialist in this field, Professor of the University of Amsterdam T.A. Van Dyck defines its main function as communication - to transform macro-social phenomena, such as science, ideology, culture, to almost every person, on the micro-social level, by means of a dosed information impact.
Discourse and text
What is the difference between text and discourse? After all, they have one thing in common: high-quality discourse still basically contains the primary component - the text. However, as we have already mentioned, such a text is not academic or statistical in nature.
Its effectiveness comes to the forefront, i.e., the predicted and realized speech impact, which actually turns the text into a discourse. What is this narrowly verbal action? Discourse is always aimed at a specific object in a specific environment, and at a specific target audience. Moreover, he certainly brings information about this in a certain context. A separate discourse is a homogeneous (coherent) semantic block.
However, the discourse chain is not discrete: one block ends, another begins, etc. It models a typical conversation, which is a sequence of topics: one ends, and another discourse comes to replace it. That this type of communicative influence has a block structure is eloquently demonstrated by the practice of the work of the media.
Personal discourse
Various types of society are easily recognizable by their respective motives and themes used in their characteristic form.
They are distinctive, on the one hand, and specialized, on the other. The concept of "discourse" sociolinguistics is divided into institutional and personality-oriented (personal).
The first type obliges the narrator to represent some social institution, to identify himself as an official. The second involves a conversation with listeners when contacting them personally. This type of communication puts the narrator's private interest at the forefront.
Types of discourse, in turn, are divided into types. So, personal is expressed in varieties: household and everyday.
Everyday communication takes place between acquaintances who understand each other well. Therefore, such verbal contact is accompanied by non-verbal, complementing it. The speaker implies that the listener understands it perfectly; in this regard, the meanings of the words are very mobile.
The existential kind of discourse takes place when one person, using various figures of speech, presents to the audience his interpretation of reality, the motives of his behavior, as well as what is called the inner world. It is inherent in works of fiction. Being communication impact, in essence, is different from everyday. However, they have one thing in common: these types of discourse suggest an active role for the listener. He must actively comprehend what the narrator said.
Institutional discourse
This type of discourse is distinguished by its status-role relations. Verbal communication in it occurs in various areas of specialization that exist in society, for example, in administrative, military, business, diplomatic, mass media, medical, mystical, scientific, pedagogical, advertising, religious, sports, stage, legal, political.
Each of these institutional types of communication impact is characterized by two main features: the target orientation of this discourse and its audience. An advertising discourse takes place between advertising organizations and advertising recipients in a variety of ways: in the media, in special glossy publications, through advertising campaigns in the press, and the widespread use of outdoor advertising (billboards, lightboards, advertising in transport). The purpose of political discourse is traditionally the coming to power of the party and its further presence with it.
Generally speaking, analyzing a specific type of institutional discourse, one should disclose its inherent characteristics: discursive formulas, material (themes), precedent texts, varieties and genres, strategies, participants, chronotope, goals, values (including the key concept). Below we will try to do this by analyzing one of its types.
Scientific discourse
The participants in the institutional discourse, called scientific, are researchers of scientific problems and the general public - viewers and people reading scientific journals. Its initial condition is the equality of the participants, because all of them will equally have to establish the truth in the process of communication. However, scientific discourse is somewhat controversial. On the one hand, those participating in it tend to unify their statuses, referring to each other as a “colleague,” and on the other hand, they erect barriers for outsiders to participate in the discourse by introducing special scientific ranks and statuses. In this case, the subject of conversation is abstracted to the utmost, organized logically. The principle of evidence applies.
Concepts of Scientific Discourse
The concept of scientific discourse involves the multifunctional participation of scientists. They simultaneously identify themselves as researchers, as educators, as popularizers, and, of course, as experts in the matter under discussion.
The value of this type of communicative action lies in its basic concepts: knowledge, truth, research. He has a certain cognitive strategy. It involves successive blocks of research: limiting and highlighting the subject; a review of previous research attempts; formulation of a hypothesis and purpose; definition of methods; creation of a theoretical model of the formulated subject of research; presentation of research results, commentary on them and expert assessment; determination of practical value; presentation in scientific journals.
Genres
The concept of the genre was formed at the beginning of the XIX century, the concept of discourse - at the end of XX. For the first time they were combined by the Bulgarian scientist Todorov Tsvetan in 1975. The prerequisite for this step was the problem of developing the scientific category of “discourse”: within any of its types, further detailing was required for units of verbal communication. The extremely broad concept of the genre was ideally suited to describe the laws of discourse. It lies in the fact that, on the one hand, it is produced by society, and on the other, it affects its superstructure.
As we have already mentioned, genres of discourse are correlated with its concrete form as its individual forms of presentation. In particular, the genres of scientific discourse can be called annotation, speech at the conference, thesis, monograph, scientific and technical report, scientific report, review, abstract, poster, abstracts, scientific article.
The modern genre system of scientific discourse, in addition to its written and oral types, includes computer communication (echo conferences, scientific chats, e-mail).
Advertising discourse: mechanism
We agree with the doctor of philological sciences Irina Germanovna Ovchinnikova that advertising discourse differs from other types of verbal communication in its autonomy. Unlike other "institutional", he has a strictly unidirectional action: from advertiser to consumer. It is inherently pragmatic with the sole purpose of making a profit. In addition, advertising communication is subject to a strictly regulated order of presentation: channel, time and frequency of transmission. Good advertising should be adapted to the traditions of the society to whose representatives it is addressed.
The multifaceted nature of the advertising discourse is figuratively shown in a way accessible even for a layman by Viktor Pelevin in the novel Chapaev and Void. The way it is shown is original: the novel itself is a mixture of discourses, the leading among which is advertising. The protagonist, a Tatar copywriter, creates advertising products of various genres: holistic campaigns, scripts for clips, advertising concepts and slogans. According to Pelevin, how do copywriters stimulate people - the object of advertising - to buy certain goods and services? Tatar explains this in an original way. People, in his opinion, are constantly trying to find freedom in their continuous suffering. And for them, clever advertisers thus, through advertising discourse, unfold the reality that stripes with wings, an iron, lemonade, etc. appear to be that freedom.
In the novel "Empire B", the writer warns, he shows the negative side of the disproportionately expanded advertising discourse, mimicking all spheres of life, replacing the moral principles of society with glamor. He criticizes the discourse, disorienting people in the choice of life goals and replacing society-forming principles.
Global Network and Discourse
One of the signs of the 21st century is the emergence of new types of communication generated by the development of information technology. In particular, the communication environment of the Internet today occupies a significant place for most people.
Internet discourse acts as a symbiosis of epistolary and conversational styles. Its main way to define concepts becomes a metaphor - the intellectual transfer of the analysis scheme of one object (phenomenon) to another. Internet discourse, according to A.G. Abramov, has the nature of a chat, that is, interactive and is carried out in real time. In addition, he suggests anonymity of communication, a tendency to contacts. To determine it, its components should be analyzed, but this is a topic for a separate article.
Conclusion
Today, there is no doubt that one of the social factors in the formation of our consciousness is discourse. Examples of this are well known. Indeed, the formation of verbal communication of attractive or repulsive images of social objects and institutions is based on the information flows existing in society. This presents ample opportunity to manipulate people's minds.
Therefore, ideally, verbal communication should more closely follow the strategic goals and morals of society than the momentary interests of politicians and businessmen.