Discourse Analysis: Cognitive Sources and Methodological Foundations

Abstract

This research reveals the problematic path in discourse analysis and clarifies its most prominent aspects to the Arabic reader so that he enters the world of discourse and analyzes it according to a scientific vision, theoretical and methodological conditions that contribute to set up a clear horizon in the analysis of discourse.  Moreover, this vision rids him of the labyrinths in which he slipped and became a prominent feature in the titles of the studies that attribute to this field.  In my opinion, according to the scientific foundations of this specialty as regulated by discourse analysts, the studies have nothing to do with it except for titles that lead to the delusion and fallacy of the reader and add to him ambiguity and chaos of knowledge and terminology. In this context, we sought to adjust a terminological vision from within the discipline of discourse analysis, to make the reader benefit from opening cognitive and methodological pathways concerned with this field of knowledge. We came out with subtle differences between text and discourse, discourse studies and discourse analysis. We clarified the nature of sources of knowledge related to them and ways to distinguish between them on scientific and methodological basis, which enabled us to determine the characteristics of each field, the subject of its research and the methods of its analysis.