analysis In discourse analysis, discourse is a conceptual generalization of conversation within each modality and context of communication. In this sense, the term is studied in corpus linguistics, the study of language expressed in corpora (samples) of "real world" text. Moreover, because a discourse is a body of text meant to communicate specific data, information, and knowledge, there exist internal relations in the content of a given discourse, as well as external relations among discourses. As such, a discourse does not exist per se (in itself), but is related to other discourses, by way of inter-discursive practices. In Francois Rastier's approach to semantics, discourse is understood as meaning the totality of codified language (i.e., vocabulary) used in a given field of intellectual enquiry and of social practice, such as legal discourse, medical discourse, religious discourse, etc. In this sense, along with that of Foucault's in the previous section, the analysis of a discourse examines and determines the connections among language and structure and agency. Formal semantics and pragmatics In formal semantics and pragmatics, discourse is often viewed as the process of refining the information in a common ground. In some theories of semantics such as discourse representation theory, sentences' denotations themselves are equated with functions which update a common ground. See also References Further reading — (1980). "Two Lectures," in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews, edited by C. Gordon. New York; Pantheon Books. Howard, Harry. (2017). "Discourse 2." Brain and Language, Tulane University. [PowerPoint slides]. External links DiscourseNet, an international association for discourse studies. Beyond open access: open discourse, the next great equalizer, Retrovirology 2006, 3:55 Discourse (Lun) in the Chinese tradition Discourse analysis Semantics Sociolinguistics Anthropology Concepts in social philosophy Debating