Interdisciplinarity in discourse analysis and the search for systematicity

Abstract

As a new discipline of research, discourse analysis attempts to assert itself as worthy and contributing. To achieve such a position, interdisciplinarity seems to be inevitable. Equally important is the notion of a system, without which no discipline can claim identity and territory. To discourse analysts, it seems that systematicity, as a shared aspiration among all disciplines, is unobtainable without the interdisciplinary mechanism. Thus, in an attempt to account for the richness and multidimensionality of communication, discourse analysts have had to resort to other disciplines to consult them and integrate some ideas, theories, and techniques of research. Their ultimate objective is to analyse and understand the communicative process more effectively and comprehensively. In other words, to address the linguistic dimension of discourse, it is inevitable to integrate some valuable contributions from disciplines namely linguistics and philosophy, particularly the findings of functionalism, speech act theory, and pragmatics. To deal with the social dimension of discourse, the contributions provided by neighbour disciplines such as sociology, interactional sociolinguistics, and conversation analysis prove to be very useful and so enriching. As the element of culture is always omnipresent in interactants' communication, discourse analysts do not marginalise the cultural dimension of discourse. In order to detect the cultural layer, the need for contributions from the ethnographic approach and Hymes' 'SPEAKING' grid is really felt. Finally, in an attempt to address the maximum of dimensions of the communicative process, discourse analysts do not deny the psychological dimension of interactions. They rather account for it by drawing on disciplines such as cognitive psychology, in terms of script and schema theories, and social psychology, as well. The fact that discourse analysis is interdisciplinay in its approach may be controversial. The effect of interdisciplinarity on discourse analysis, and its effectiveness in achieving systematicity can be posed as debatable. On the one hand, the mere need for interdisciplinarity can be raised as a question. On the other hand, the implications of interdisciplinarity on discourse analysis, both positive and negative, cannot be ignored. Positively speaking, an interdisciplinary discourse analysis can be very rich, comprehensive, inclusive and intentionally open to integrate different findings from different disciplines. However, the very fact that discourse analysis depends so much on other disciplines on so many levels, may end up with discourse analysis as a "hybrid" discipline, with neither authority nor territory of its own. Thus, interdisciplinarity, its implications, and effectiveness in achieving systematicity in discourse analysis, among other questions, will be addressed in the following dissertation.