Discourse Analysis of Interviews and Recipes

Linguistic Analysis of an Interview Transcript

This analysis examines how conversation is managed in real time, focusing on hesitations, interruptions, repairs, discourse markers, laughter, and turn-taking in spoken discourse.

Genre Theory (Swales)

The text is a semi-structured spoken interview. According to Swales, this genre is a communicative event with a shared structure, used to obtain information about Brad's professional life.

Register Analysis (Halliday)

• Field: Entrepreneurship, graphic design, and local business, established through lexical chains (which create cohesion).
• Tenor: Interviewer to interviewee (informal and collaborative).
• Mode: Spoken.

Speech Acts (Austin and Searle)

Speech acts are actions performed through language:

• Directives: Questions.
• Representatives: Brad's experience.
• Expressives: Humor, laughter, and apologies.

Politeness Theory (Brown and Levinson)

The interaction involves the protection of Brad's negative face (e.g., acknowledging limited time) and positive politeness (e.g., agreement and supportive devices). According to Leech's Modesty Maxim, there is evidence of self-deprecation.

Conversation Analysis (Sacks, Schegloff, Jefferson)

• Adjacency pair: Question-Answer.
• Turn-taking: Controlled by Steve.
• Floor-holding devices: Used to organize his thoughts.
• Repair: Making the interaction clearer.

Move Structure (Swales)

These are functional stages that help the text achieve its communicative purpose:

1. Opening and framing of the interview
2. Background elicitation
3. Experience narration
4. Challenge and funding discussions
5. Promotion and business development

Theme, Rheme, and Thematic Progression (Danes)

• Theme: The starting point of the clause (often the questions).
• Rheme: New information (the personal narrative).
• Thematic progression: The order of what Brad is saying.

Structural Analysis of the Recipe Genre

The recipe is a written instructional text. Its purpose is to guide the reader through the preparation of a dish. It is planned, structured, and practical. Conventional sections include the title, ingredients, preparation, yield, time, and numbered steps. According to Swales, it is a communicative event with a shared purpose.

Register Analysis (Halliday)

• Field: Cooking and food preparation, utilizing lexical items and lexical chains.
• Tenor: Expert to reader.
• Mode: Written.

Speech Acts (Austin and Searle)

Speech acts are actions performed through language:

• Directives: These are not considered rude because a recipe requires clarity and efficiency.
• Representatives: Factual information about time, quantity, and expected results.

Politeness Theory (Brown and Levinson)

The text employs bald on-record strategies, which are direct strategies without mitigation. Bald-on imperatives are appropriate in this context because there is no face threat.

Cohesion and Coherence (Halliday and Hasan)

Cohesion refers to the linguistic links that connect parts of a text. This is achieved through repetition, lexical chains, and sequencing (lexical cohesion). Coherence is created by the logical order of the actions, following a chronological process where each step depends on the previous one.

Theme and Rheme in Recipes

According to Halliday, the Theme is the starting point of the clause, while the Rheme is the new information developed after it. In this genre, the Theme is often an imperative verb or specific seasonings.

Move Structure of a Recipe

1. Title that identifies the dish
2. Ingredient list
3. Practical information
4. Preparation sequence
5. Serving instructions