Discourse Analysis ...What??

"Carl woke up at 6:00 am. Carl showered, dressed, and made coffee. As Carl drank Carl's coffee, Carl read the newspaper. Carl's favourite part of the paper is the classifieds. Carl loves reading about what people want to buy and sell, even though Carl has never bought or sold a single thing through the classifieds."

This is not the way native English speakers communicate. It's technically correct, but it sounds forced an unnatural. Once a character has been introduced, we freely use pronouns to refer to him, rather than repeating his name all the time.

This week I learned about another language whose native speakers also don't speak like this, but for a different reason. In their way of communicating, once a character is introduced, he is only referred to by pronouns from then on. If the name is used again, the hearers will understand that a different character with the same name has been introduced -- that makes for a lot of Carls in our example above!

For the past week and a half, I've had the privilege of taking part in a Discourse Analysis workshop. Three experts in the field came to my city to talk to language-learners and translators about how we can become better communicators. They explained that each language not only has its own vocabulary and grammatical structure, but also its own way of grouping sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into larger bodies of communication. There are key principles which communicators in any language follow, but the way they signal those principles may be different in each one. One of these principles is that in every language, the speaker has some way of keeping track of the characters in his story (maybe by using only their names, only pronouns, or some combination -- according to a certain pattern, not haphazardly).

These instructors introduced us to 10 key principles of communication and a myriad of possibilities for how these aspects of communication could be signalled. They introduced us to several tools we can use to help analyze how people put paragraphs and stories together. By studying the patterns people use to communicate, we can learn how to use those same patterns (instead of our own English patterns) to communicate much more effectively in another language. 

Clear communication is an essential factor in cross-cultural friendships, business relationships, and any interaction we have with people of another language... how much more so when we attempt to communicate the Word of God!

I walked away from this worship with greater knowledge of language patterns and with new tools & skills to tackle language-learning. I also walked away from it with a greater appreciation for the complexities of language & communication, a greater awareness of grave responsibility of Scripture translation, and a greater sense of awe for the God Who desires to make Himself known to men and women of all languages and Who chooses to work through His frail servants to that end.