时间：2022-09-30 10:33:23
【Abstract】from the three aspects， discourse analysis and the world， discourse analysis and language， and discourse analysis and participants， the author discusses the discourse analysis applied in the paper Effect of First Language on the Use of English Discourse Markers by L1 Chinese Speakers of English. All of these three aspects interact with discourse analysis. Understanding the discourse analysis from the three aspects above will help to read a paper using the discourse analysis.
【Key words】Three Aspects；World；Language；Participants
Before talking about the methodology of discourse analysis， it is essential to know what discourse analysis is. Barbara Johnston considers it as a methodology rather than a course or subject， as she holds the opinion that discourse analysis “focuses on the analytical process in a relatively explicit way” Thus a reader may analyze a work through analyzing the discourses in it， in a definite and detailed way. Furthermore， Barbara Johnston’s Discourse Analysis talks about the methodologies of discourse analysis in six aspects， and which “constitute heuristic for exploring in a systematic way”. Thus when a researcher considers the methodology of discourse analysis， he needs to ask six questions on six aspects. Six aspects of the shaping of texts are listed. They are the world， language， participants， prior discourse， the medium and purpose. Discourse analysis has interactive relations to all these six aspects. Besides， the way that Barbara Johnston answers these six questions is by “analyzing discourse”， or by “examining aspects of the structure and function of language in use” In other words， people who use discourse analysis to analyze the paper examining the structure and function of the discourses on these six questions. This paper analyzes Liu Binmei’s Effect of First Language on the Use of English Discourse Markers by L1 Chinese Speakers of English， published in the Journal of Pragmatics， from the perspective of the three aspects above， discourse analysis and the world， discourse analysis and language， and discourse analysis and participants.
Firstly， world interacts discourse analysis. As is said by Barbara Johnston， discourse is shaped by the world， and discourse shapes the world. On one hand， discourse is written by the language-users . In other words， discourse is determined by the language-users. What is written down depends on the language-user. Thus discourse reflects both what the language-user experienced and the language-user’s cognition. In Liu Binmei’s paper， he discussed the “effect of native language （Mandarin Chinese） on the use of English discourse markers by L1 Chinese speakers of English” . What Liu Binmei puts in his paper is determined by himself as he wrote the paper. Besides， the content of this paper relates to his education background and his thoughts on language markers. Obviously， Liu Binmei’s native language is Chinese， and he studies English. What if he neither learns English or Chinese， nor learns discourse analysis？ He will not put the differences of discourse markers between English and Chinese like “I think” or “uh” into a paper. After a further reading of the theories written by the other scholars， he learns that language markers serve certain functions in the passage， and he believes that the analyze the functions of discourse markers are different between English and Chinese. Then he conducted the research by himself， realizing the fact that different discourse markers serve different functions in the interviews.
Secondly， language interplays discourse analysis. It is said by Barbara Johnston， “we can break discourse or at least records of discourse into parts and the parts into parts” So discourse can be separate into parts， no matter how long the discourse is. Besides， it also needs to consider how these discourses are connected. Barbara Johnston gives the answers， and one of them is cohesion. Cohesion is created by “those that show how sentences are related to other sentence” . That is to say， sentences are connected by cohesion. So interjection meets both， so does the discourse “I think”. What Liu Binmei discussed in his paper is about the functions of the discourse markers above. Although “I think” does not appear as a sentence， it is parts of discourse. As discourse can be separated into parts， parts of discourse could be called as discourse. So the discourse analysis “I think” is a discourse. Sentences are connected by cohesion， and what functions of cohesion serves various. For example， Liu Binmei focuses on the functions of discourse markers in his paper. Based on “Aijmer’s and Brinton’s” theories， Liu Binmei analyzes the discourse markers “for both textual and interpersonal functions” . On these two perspectives， in the paper， Liu Binmei provided the collected data in the interviews， with “I think” or “wo juede” throughout the paper. Furthermore， it is obvious to see because they are underlined， so does “uh huh” or “ok”. Even the discourses in these two languages have the almost same meaning， their functions are not exact the same， as is shown in the paper， so are the ways that discourses formed in both languages. Discourse is shaped by the language， but discourse analysis also shapes the language. By analyzing the discourses， Liu Binmei found what functions that these discourses play. After the research， at least Liu Binmei himself will pay attention to these words as he found the differences of functions between these words. So the method of discourse influences the language.
Thirdly， participants and discourse analysis react on each other. On one hand， participants affect discourse analysis. Liu Binmei， the writer of Effect of First Language on the Use of English Discourse Markers by L1 Chinese Speakers of English， is a participant of his research. What he wrote in his paper will affect discourse analysis. He did the research， with a paper telling other researchers the research results. As a matter of fact， the same research using the method of discourse analysis does not need to do any more. Besides， Liu Binmei divided his research on the function of discourse markers into two perspectives with ten items in it， standing on Aijmer’s frame function list and Brinton’s list， whose lists are also categorized. As is said by Barbara， people “do orient to the ways they categorize themselves and are categorized by others， and to the ways others categorize themselves and are categorized” Like Aijimer and Brinton， Liu Binmei categorizes her framework into items， listing the functions that discourses do in two different languages. Besides， in the participants section in his paper， he also categorizes the participants that receive the interviews conducted in his research. When he describes the participants， he makes it clear that how specific the participants are in his research， like education background， “genders， length of residence in the U.S./Canada， Test for spoken English， Test for TOEFL score”， etc . That is something in common among the participants， categorized by Liu Binmei. With this categorizing， readers know how specific and detailed the information of the participants.
In conclusion， from the three aspects， discourse analysis and the world， discourse analysis and language， and discourse analysis and participants， the author discusses the discourse analysis applied in the paper Effect of First Language on the Use of English Discourse Markers by L1 Chinese Speakers of English. All of these three aspects interact with discourse analysis. Understanding the discourse analysis from the three aspects above will help to read a paper using the discourse analysis.
References：
[1]Johnstone，Barbara.Discourse Analysis.2nd ed.Malden： Blackwell Publishing Ltd，2008.
[2]Liu，Binmei.“Effect of First Language on the Use of English Discourse Markers by L1 Chinese Speakers of English.” Journal of Pragmatics，45（2013）：149-172.