Discourse processing encompasses the cognitive operations through which comprehenders construct and update an interpretation of connected spoken, written, or signed language beyond the level of isolated words and sentences. It includes identifying relations among propositions, maintaining reference to discourse entities, integrating incoming information with preceding material, and using contextual and background knowledge to derive meanings that are not fully explicit in the linguistic form [1][2]. Processing may yield representations at several interconnected levels: the surface linguistic form, a propositional representation of the expressed content, and a situation model representing the events, entities, spatial and temporal relations, and causal structure described by the discourse [2][3]. It also includes the generation, evaluation, and revision of inferences needed to establish coherence across utterances or sentences [1][4]. The term concerns mechanisms of comprehension and representation during extended language use; it does not denote the structural analysis of discourse alone, the production of discourse, or the social study of communicative interaction.
Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies • Language and Linguistics • Arts and Humanities • Social Sciences
Discourse Analysis in Language Studies • Literature and Literary Theory • Arts and Humanities • Social Sciences
Discourse Analysis and Argumentation Studies • Philosophy • Arts and Humanities • Social Sciences
Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication • Cultural Studies • Social Sciences • Social Sciences