Defn: lang unit whose organisation supersedes any single word/sentence

Structure: sounds, syllables, words, phrases, clauses, sentences

Function: how discourse is used for informational, expressive, social purpose for comm

Key fn: 1) unit of lang that conveys a message- may be of any length 2) lang in settings in which it's used daily, unds ie. naturalistic 3) most natural, basic unit of normal verbal comm. 4) range of discourse genres used in everyday comm each genre has its own distinct structural organisation, content, each genre places diff linguistic, cognitive demands on the communicator

2. Procedural: instructions, directions in a set order-tell me the steps

3a. Narrative: actions, events that unfold over time-well known stories eg. Cinderella story. Storytelling, retelling of story sequences, relating personal experiences. Enables us to represent and organise life events, internalise, comprehend life experiences. Essential for continuity of personal memory, encoding of experiences and social, cultural connection. Expectation that narratives are grammatical, orderly, logical, conform to superstructure components of SCAR, intro and conclusion.

4. Expository/persuasion-reasons, facts to support an opinion eg. about hobbies, activities

CCD pts appear to talk better (linguistic skills) > communicate (X get intended msg across)

Lang Ax needs to include but extend beyond static process-specific measures to incorporate lang in its naturally occuring form

Traditional notions of lang competence (phon, syntax, semantics) X address subtle CCDs that can occur.

Discourse represents this impt point of intersection b/w lang, cognition, socialisation --> participation

Fundamental role of comm is to convey msg b/w comm partners- monologue sequencing so that listeners can follow

1a. Pragmatic approach: analyse overall quality of interpersonal exchange, use profile analyses and/or checklists (refer to protocol). Bottom up model of pragmatics in lang function: no preconceived analytic principles, behaviour is described as it happens and generalisations are made based on obsv patterns. Repair (self vs. other, repair initiation vs. repair outcome). Silences (attributable, after a turn, before next speaker starts vs. lapse (no one starts). Minimal turns- is mm, yeah, aye used appropriately, where they occur determines meaning. Topic-maintenance, initiation, shift, dominance, bias

2. Specific aspects of comm exchange: eg. indirect (can you pass me the salt) vs. direct speech acts (qn requiring action). Logical sequencing, politeness strategies, formulating requests

3. Convo in varying contexts: nature of social interaction, power relation, channel of comm exchange, study of lang and functions in social settings (written, spoken etc)

1b. difficulties with pragmatic approaches. Provides some clinicial utility but not been widely tested with RHD, TBI or dementia. Many have loose-based theoretical foundations, scales may lack specificity (identifying aspect of discourse being judged)

3b. Narrative discourse represents: complex interaction b/w cognitive, linguistic abilities which may break down at many lvls