Discourse analysis is a wide ranging area of study that examines the features of language beyond the limits of a sentence -- including vocal, written and sign language, along with any significant semiotic events. It has been employed from a number of interdisciplinary perspectives in an attempt to reveal a person's socio-psychological characteristics through the practical analysis of naturally-occurring language rather than artificially created examples.

Routledge Library Editions: Discourse Analysis brings together an extensive collection of scholarship that reflects the broad scope of the subject area, examining the relationship of discourse to a number of closely related fields including stylistics, pragmatics, speech, conversation, context, anaphora, grammar and psychology. This set, published between 1979 and 1993, provides a thorough grounding in this key discipline for students of linguistics and psychology, and social sciences in general.