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. Thiswork showed how discourse analysis and pragmatic elements can be used indecoding facts and foregrounded 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, the intention was used to bring out the foregrounded information in theconversation. In conclusion, we were able to show that addressee deduced orinferred more information from the address's utterance beyond what the originalthe intention might have been.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication v
Acknowledgment vi
Abstract vii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 General Introduction 1
1.2 Purpose 2
1.3 Scope and delimitation 2
1.4 Justification 3
1.5 Methodology 3
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 Discourse 4
2.3 Discourse Analysis 5
2.4 Elements of discourse analysis 8
2.4.1Participants 8
2.4.2 Context 8
2.4.3 Turn-taking 11
2.4.4 Exchange structure 12
2.4.4.1 Initiation, response and feedback 12
2.4.4.2 Adjacency pairs 13
2.4.5 Topic 13
2.5 Pragmatic concepts of discourse 14
2.5.1 Presupposition 14
2.5.2 Implicature 15
2.5.3 Reference 17
2.5.4 Inference 18
2.5.5 Intention 18
2.6 Data description 19
2.6.1 Jesus Christ 20
2.6.2 The Samaritan woman 20.
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Introduction 21
3.2 Datum 1 21
3.3 Datum 2 27
3.4 Datum 3 31
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Summary 37
4.2 Findings 38
Bibliography 41
CHAPTER ONE1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Over the years, several types of research 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 STUDYThe 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, conversations, 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. 1.3SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONThis 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 JUSTIFICATIONSome 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 METHODOLOGYOur 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.
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