Discourse Analysis Beyond the Speech Event

Book excerpt: In its first edition, winner of the 2016 Edward Sapir Book Prize from the Society for Linguistic Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association Discourse Analysis Beyond the Speech Event introduces a new approach to discourse analysis. In this innovative work, Wortham and Reyes argue that discourse analysts should look beyond fixed speech events and consider the development of discourses over time. Drawing on theories and methods from linguistic anthropology and related fields, this book is the first to present a systematic methodological approach to conducting discourse analysis of linked events, allowing researchers to understand not only individual events but also the patterns that emerge across them. This new edition: Draws on theories and methods from linguistic anthropology and related fields; Presents the first systematic methodological approach to doing discourse analysis of linked events; Provides easy-to-use tools and techniques for analyzing discourse both within and across events; Offers transparent procedures and clear illustrations to show how the approach can be applied to analyze three types of data: ethnographic, archival, and new media; Includes a new chapter focusing on the discourse analysis of contemporary nationalist new media data. Updated and revised for the second edition, this book is essential reading for advanced students and researchers working in the area of discourse analysis.