what is discourse

Discourse is a term that refers to the verbal or written exchange of ideas. It is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics, in which expressions denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context. Discourse is also a mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts (such as history or institutions) . Discourse analysis is a popular qualitative analysis technique that is used to study discourse. It is important to note that discourse is more than just language, as it can include all forms of linguistic and symbolic units.