Aen 301 Discourse Analysis Question Paper

Aen 301 Discourse Analysis 

Course:Bachelor Of Education

Institution: Kenyatta University question papers

Exam Year:2009



KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2009/2010
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
EDUCATION AND BACHELOR OF ARTS

AEN 301:
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

=================================================================
DATE: WEDNESDAY 23RD DECEMBER 2009 TIME: 11.00 A.M. ? 1.00 P.M.

INSTRUCTIONS
Answer Question ONE and ANY two other questions.

1.
Read the following discourse segment and then answer the questions that follow.

JOHN:
Ah, come in, Ms Rono. Please take a seat
RONO: Thank
you.

JOHN:
You?d like to work as a model ? is that right?

RONO:
Yes I would

JOHN:
OK ? first of all, could I have your personal details for our records?
What?s
your
first
name?

RONO:
Cynthia ? that?s C-Y-N-T-H-I-A

JOHN:
So that?s Ms Cynthia Rono. You are Kenyan I guess?

RONO:
Yes, I am

JOHN:
And how old are you?
RONO: I?m
twenty

JOHN:
Uh huh? how tall are you?

RONO:
I?m five foot seven
Page 1 of 3

JOHN:
Hmm? that?s not very tall. We like our models to be taller than that -
what
colour
is
your
hair?

RONO:
Cant you see?

JOHN:
Oh, I see. I?m sorry ? you?ve got beautiful hair. And what colour are
your
eyes.

RONO:
Surely you ? mmh ? can see that too. Anway they are black!

JOHN:
All right. Now, Ms Rono, I cant promise you any work ? but I?ve got



your details and I promise to contact you if something comes up.

a)
What features of this discourse would make you classify it as spoken rather
than

written
discourse?
(12
marks)

b)
From the above discourse, identify at least one
i)
locutionary
act
ii)
illocutionary
act
iii)
Perolcutionary
act

iv)
Discourse topic
Justify
your
answer
in
each
case.
(8
marks)

c)
In what ways does this discourse segment prove the lack of correlation between
?discourse
function?
and
?linguistic
form??
(4
marks)

d)
?I?m sorry ?? how would you classify this statement under Searle?s (1969)

categories.
Convert the utterance to Austin?s (1962) performatives.
(6 marks)

2.
Discuss the notion of ?topic? in discourse analysis.


(20 marks)

3.
What are contextual features and how are they relevant in the creation and

interpretation of discourse.




Page 2 of 3
4.
a)
Briefly discuss and exemplify the following concepts as used in
conversational
analysis.
(10
marks)
i)
Turn-taking
ii)
Adjacency
pairs
iii)
Shared rules of interpretation
iv)
Topic management
v)
Speaking turn


b)
What are ?Felicity conditions? and how do they aid the successful
interpretation
of
discourse.

5.
Briefly discuss the following approaches to discourse analyse.

(20 marks)

i)
ethnography of speaking
ii)
Conversational Analysis

iii)
Speech act theory

iv)
The Birmingham school model






Page 3 of 3






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