Cultural Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Cultural → discourse analysis (CuDA) is a theory and methodology for the study of communication. The approach treats communication as a socially situated practice which involves a rich semantic web of presumed or taken‐for‐granted knowledge. As such, social practices are heard to include for participants an implicit commentary which typically goes beyond the current topic of explicit concern. An understanding of both the practice and the commentary activated through it is at the heart of CuDA. As a theory, it treats communication as formative of social life and as culturally meaningful. As a methodology, it is based upon five distinctive modes of analysis (Carbaugh 1996, 2005; Scollo 2011; → Cultural Patterns and Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Language and Social Interaction; Research Methods).