Defining discourse

[Mary Bucholtz]

As promised, and in the hopes of finding common ground--or at least
fruitful connections--in the vast interdisciplinarity of the list, we're
sending out our first topic for discussion:

What is discourse? What definition(s) do you find useful, and what
definitions seem unhelpful or off the mark? What frameworks or theories
inform your definition?  Alternatively, do you feel that defining discourse
is pointless, wrong-headed, detrimental (as Paul Bove suggests in his
chapter on discourse in *Critical Terms for Literary Study,* Univ. of
Chicago Press, 1995)? If so, what other approach would you advocate?

We're looking forward to a range of responses from numerous disciplinary
(and interdisciplinary) perspectives.

The listowners

Mary Bucholtz
James Cornish
Chris Holcomb
Marty Jacobsen