Lynne Young

Biography

I began to study discourse, the use of language in use, many years ago when teaching English for Academic Purposes at Carleton. In the process of teaching second language learners how to recognize and use language in many different fields of study at the tertiary level I came to realize how necessary it was to examine the nature of discourse in a wide variety of contexts. To better understand language it was necessary to find a theory of and method for the study and typing of discourse. This led to the study of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), which examines language from the perspective of the functions that language serves. The underlying idea of SFL is that by understanding what language does we can better understand what it is by examining the functions it serves. With SFL providing both a theory and method for studying language in use, discourse, I moved to discourse analysis particularly of different disciplines at the university level examining how meanings are made in different contexts. This interest in different discourses led to the related field of Critical Discourse Analysis which focuses on the relationships between areas such as language and gender, language and politics, language and racism, language and the media in order to better understand the role of language in the production and maintenance of power relations. It is a form of discourse analysis which centers on issues and which aims to teach reflective practices when examining discursive influences in our lives. Having written and taught in this area for more than ten years it became increasingly evident that when we speak about discourse we now have to include non-verbal communication and the role of verbal and non-verbal modalities. My research into and teaching of Multimodality focuses on the many different semiotic resources that are used to make meanings in different discursive situations. My current interest then includes not only verbal but visual communication in the examination of discursive influences in daily lives. The courses I teach reflect this interest.

Research Interest

Examining the role of discourse in issues of power and inequality;   Systemic Functional Linguistics Critical Discourse Analysis Multimodality and interconnections between visual and verbal meanings.