A Discourse Analysis Of Jesus’ Conversation With The Samaritan Woman
A Discourse Analysis Of Jesus’ Conversation With The Samaritan Woman
Abstract
It is a known fact that Discourse Analysis is the analysis of language in use. This work showed how discourse analysis and pragmatic elements can be used in decoding facts and fore grounded information in the Holy Bible especially Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman. The discourse elements such as: participants, context, turn-taking, exchange structure, reference, presupposition, inference, intention were used to bring out the fore grounded information in the conversation. In conclusion, we were able to show that addressee deduced or inferred more information from addressor’s utterance beyond what the original intention might have been.
Table Of Contents
Preliminary Page(s)
- Title page
- Certification page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgement
- Abstract
- Table of content
Chapter One
1.0 Introduction
- 1.1 General Introduction
- 1.2 Purpose Of The Study
- 1.3 Scope And Delimitation
- 1.4 Justification
- 1.5 Methodology
Chapter Two
2.0 Literature Review
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Discourse
- 2.3 Discourse Analysis
- 2.4 Elements Of Discourse Analysis Participants
- 2.5 Pragmatic Concepts Of Discourse
Chapter Three
3.0 Data Description
- 3.1 Jesus Christ
- 3.2 The Samaritan Woman
Chapter Four
4.0 Data Analysis
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 Datum 1
- 4.3 Datum 2
- 4.4 Datum 3
Chapter Five
5.0 Summary And Conclusion
- 5.1 Summary
- 5.2 Conclusion
- Bibliography
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
Over the years, several researches have been conducted in the field of discourse analysis with various definitions given to it. Brown and Yule (1983:1) opine that “the analysis of discourse is necessarily the analysis of language in use”.
Ambiguity is the word used by Stubb (1993:1) to describe discourse analysis. He says; “the term discourse analysis is very ambiguous…to refer to mainly the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written discourse”.
Cooks (1996:1) argues that “although the main focus of discourse analysis is on language, it is not concerned with language alone. It also examines the concept of communication”.
Discourse analysis has been applied to the analysis of many literary works by scholars. Cooks (1996) uses discourse analysis to analyze advertisement. Woods (2006) examines the discourse of advertising, politics, law, medicine and the discourse of education respectively. Laniru (2010) uses it for “who wants to be a millionaire,” a television program in Nigeria.
This investigation is an attempt to take discourse analysis some steps further, using its basic elements such as turn taking, exchange structure, context, participants and so on, alongside some pragmatic features to make explicit the implicit aspect of the interaction between our participants, Jesus and the Samaritan woman as recorded in John chapter four of the holy Bible. Our expectation is that this will give a better understanding and insight into the conversation.
1.2 Purpose of the study
The Holy Bible is one of the most sought after books in the world today. Jesus Christ who has His name or image as the central subject of discourse from Genesis to Revelation is possibly the most mentioned name in the universe. However, the interpretation of many of the teachings, conversation and events he partook in, are being subjected to diverse meaning explication by several people both in the field of religion and outside religion.
A discourse analysis of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman attempts to show how elements of discourse analysis can be used in decoding facts and foregrounded information from the Holy Bible.
1.3 Scope and delimitation of the study
This research seeks to undertake a discourse analysis of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman. It attempts to show how best discourse and some pragmatic elements can be used to decode the meaning of conversation in the Holy Bible. Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman has been selected from several Biblical conversations just as a sample among others.
1.4 Justification of the study
Some researchers have conducted investigations into the Holy Bible using discourse analysis. For instance, Balogun’s “A Discourse Analysis of selected parables of Jesus Christ (2010)”. However, as at the period of this study to the best of our knowledge, no researcher has used discourse analysis to analyze Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman.
Moreover, “A discourse analysis of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman” will not only add to the knowledge bank but it will show how effectively discourse analysis can be used in decoding meaning in conversations in the Holy Bible which has been described by many as being more spiritual than psychological.
1.5 Methodology
Our primary data will be drawn from the New International Version of the Holy Bible because of its simplicity and general acceptability. The data will be as recorded by Saint John chapter four (John 4). It will be presented excluding the writer’s comments in an exchange structure format. The elements of discourse analysis found within shall be used alongside some pragmatic elements.
Chapter Five
5.0 Summary And Conclusion
5.1 Summary
So far in this research work, we have been able to comb through several aspects of discourse analysis as it relates to our data, “Discourse Analysis of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman”.
In chapter one, we did a brief introduction to our theory discourse analysis. Also the purpose of the study, scope and delimitation and the justification behind our study were enumerated not leaving out the methodology applied.
The chapter two deals with the review of relevant literature to our variable, discourse analysis of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, enumerating the various contributions of several scholars in the field of discourse analysis. The elements of discourse analysis and some pragmatic elements such as: participants, context, turn-taking, exchange structure, topic, presupposition, implicature, reference, inference, intention, were also examined.
The third chapter tries to show how the various elements of our chosen theory are applicable to our data. We used these elements to do a detail analysis of the data, showing how they function to make conversation effective.
5.2 Conclusion
After the analysis of our data, the following findings emerged;
The analysis reveals that both the physical context and the socio-cultural background of discourse participants and the ability to study the psychological impact utterances have on discourse participants’ functions interwovenly in meaning generation and driving any conversation to a reasonable conclusion.
From the manner or method of conversation initiation, the response and subsequent follow-ups, it is revealed that maintaining good and quality communication depends more on the ability of at least one of the interlocutors (in the case of two people) to manage his reaction to both the positive and not too positive aspects of the discourse.
Also, that the physical environment or setting of discourse on many occasions has greater impact on the choice of topic for discourse.
The pre-existing knowledge known to both speaker and hearer in a discourse helps to reduce redundancy and unnecessary elongation of sentences. In short, it smoothens conversation.
The analysis also revealed that the use of reference helps to link the past and present, the known and the unknown facts together for the establishment of a common ground by discourse participants.
Also, that the use of anaphoric reference helps to avoid unnecessary repetition and enhance understanding during conversation.
Furthermore, the analysis has revealed that diversion in conversation topic may not necessarily mean a deviation from the original motive of the discourse.
In addition, from the analysis, it is revealed that utterances that interlocutors utter during conversation have more implied meaning and perform more functions than the literal/surface meaning that are spoken or heard.
In conclusion, this research has been able to show that during conversation, addressee deduced or inferred more information from addressor’s utterance beyond what the original intention might have being. That is, more are being heard than said.
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