From: Ronald Ross (rross@expressmail.net)
Date: Thu Dec 09 1999 - 10:43:10 EST
Gary, it is my impression that what discourse analysts mean by "author intent" is
really "author's *communicative* intent." So one of the questions discourse analysis
might reasonably be expected to shed some light on would be, "What was the author
really trying to communicate?" It could also shed some light on *how* the author
goes about communicating what he said. And to try to discover such things is,
doubtless, a worthwhile enterprise. I am unaware that discourse analysis has been
used to try to discover *why* the author said what he said. If indeed it has been so
used, I would certainly agree with you that that is a lot to ask any linguistic
theory.
Ronald Ross
UBS consultant
Linguistics Department
University of Costa Rica
"Mr. Gary S. Dykes" wrote:
> OOPS,
>
> I apologize for the misunderstanding. Yes study of the context is very
> important, but modern "Discourse Analysis" attempts to determine the
> AUTHORS intent. At least that is one of the primary theses in the modern
> courses. Hence, Bible students are then applying these tactics to try to
> figure out WHY God said what He said, or why God had John preach as he
> did.
>
> Herein a failure exists, as applied to the Biblical texts. But some aspects
> of Discourse Analysis are appropriate, such as the study of the narration
> texts, methods of persuasion, use of "loaded terms", the nature of
> expressive discourses, et cetera.
>
> Thank you for noting that my view was much too broad, the phrase "Discourse
> Analysis" was a bit too broad.
>
> Mr. Gary S. Dykes email -- yhwh3in1@lightspeed.net
> Swanson's errata List -- http://userzweb.lightspeed.net/yhwh3in1/
>
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