Linguistics and Discourse Analysis

This essay explores the conditions for the possibility of the emergence of discourse analysis in the sphere of linguistics. As a discipline established within a structuralist framework, linguistics relentlessly supported the priority of grammar over word and text. The rigidities of the structuralist tradition besides its manifest inadequacies in dealing with interrelation of text and culture can be eliminated to some extent by referring to poststructuralist and feminist theories due to their capacities for constant theoretical reflexivity and renewal.This article draws attention to the fact that Halliday's emphasis on text -- rather than word or sentence – as the basic unit of language, has been a significant contribution to discourse analysis. Meanwhile the potential usefulness of many of the descriptive technologies that have emerged from various kinds of linguistic discourse analysis as well as its productive engagement with other disciplines (especially philosophy and sociology) are the concerns of this article. Finally the paper takes a look at the actual problematics including the materiality of discourse, the multiple modality of textuality, and the problem of widespread lack of reflexivity within linguistics, i.e. the failure of linguistics to interrogate many of the categories (linguistic, sociological, philosophical) it benefits from.