Discourse generally refers to written or spoken communication. A discourse is an instance of language use whose type can be classified on the basis of such factors as grammatical and lexical choices and their distribution in main versus, supportive materials, theme, style, and, the framework of knowledge and expectations within which the addressee interprets the discourse.
Discourse comprehension is the act of interpreting a written or spoken message by integrating the incoming information into the memory or knowledge structures of the interpreter. As such it involves social and pragmatic knowledge as well as grammatical and logical knowledge.
Keeping in mind that “language is for doing things” (Clark, H.H., 1996), discourse production can be understood as the planning and execution of actions under specific social contexts. Here, actions refer to certain kinds of goal-oriented events that establish or prevent changes in the world (van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). This planning and execution of a particular action in discourse is called a speech act, i.e. doing something with language. Examples of speech acts are promises, requests, congratulations, accusations, etc.
In spoken discourse, before delving into a conversation with someone, the speaker (or actor) must first evaluate the social context of the situation and set out a strategic plan of discourse production accordingly. Say, for example, that someone is being located to Afghanistan for work, and for whatever reason - be it you will miss them too much or are concerned for their safety - you do not want them to go. In such a case, you would use discourse to arrive at a desired outcome where the person does not go to Afghanistan. To arrive at this outcome, you need to plan a strategy and decide what kind of speech act to use. Assuming the person is your friend, commands would seem mean, and requests might come across as selfish. Warnings, advice, or suggestions might show your concern for the person, and would likely be your best plan of action (van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983).
Like written text, conversational discourse also has micro and macro components. The macro speech act is the overall intention or goal of the speaker, while the micro speech act refers to the individual exchanges of information between the speaker and listener in the conversation. The strategic planning that was just discussed is driven by the macro speech act (I don’t want you to go to Afghanistan, is the macro speech act in the example above). We use micro speech acts to arrive at the overall goal, of which the macro speech act is the motivation. Previous speech acts and the hearer’s reaction to them also influence what the speaker will say next (van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). So the challenge of the speaker is to reach their goal, while keeping in mind (and in conversation) the reactions and micro speech act of the hearer.
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