Analysing Self-Constituting Discourses

Abstract

This article begins by asking whether boundaries can be assigned to discourse analysis. It suggests making a distinction between `discourse linguistics' and `discourse analysis', which has a specific viewpoint on discourse. It propounds next to open to research the field of `self-constituting discourses', thus bringing together those discourses that legitimate the whole discursive production, such as philosophical, scientific or religious discourses. Lastly the article emphasizes some characteristics of such discourses and presents concepts that are useful in analysing them - particularly `scenography', `linguistic code', and `ethos', and offers illustrative examples.

Standards and Separatism: The Discursive Construction of Gender in English Soccer Coach Education

“…reflecting their investment in protecting the category (Maingueneau, 1999) and suppressing alternative versions that would threaten entitlement. By minimizing this dominance any dissenting voices that call for continued change are trivialized, as these accounts are presented as unjustified and not credible (Riley, 2002).…”

Overcoming the Ethical Dilemmas of Skilled Migration? An Analysis of International Narratives on the “Brain Drain”

“…These narratives then constitute what D. Maingueneau (1999) calls 'self-constituting' discourses, which refer to nothing but themselves and aspire at producing a 'truth' that is inseparable from the authority of those who produce it. The reports analysed in this article are indeed autonomous, self-produced and selflegitimised.…”

(Inter)personal Statements: A Discursive Analysis of College Application Essays Written in English by Us American and Brazilian Students

“…Therefore, Warren's study points in the same direction as the theoretical-methodological path leading to the results of the analyses reported in this paper; they rely on the joint function of discourse-based representations of addressees/admissions officers (pathos) and of the writer/candidate (ethos) in defining effective stylistic traits for successful performances of the PS genre. Maingueneau (1999Maingueneau ( , 2002 and Bakhtin (1986) explore the interplay between writers and readers in relation to the specific rhetorical situations within and from which discourse genres gain meaning and function. Both authors' definitions of genre offer a window into their views on language use as a complex maze of social practices that can only be properly understood via the context-based interaction patterns of a language.…”