METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH OCCULT DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article is devoted to outlining the methodology of research of English occult discourse. The paper presents the definition, theoretical background and main characteristics of discourse analysis, which is one of the most popular research methods in the social sciences and humanities at the present stage of development. At the same time, despite the variety of publications on both discourse theory and the concept of discourse analysis, it is difficult to find the results of specific empirical studies with a detailed description of the corresponding methodology, which emphasizes the relevance of this work. Discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary field of knowledge at the intersection of linguistics, sociology, psychology, ethnography, the semiotic field of literary studies, stylistics and philosophy. The paper proposes the usage of the term «occult discourse» to denote the general direction of discourse, which studies the features of communication in various mystical practices, magic, astrology, alchemy, etc., i.e. all areas of institutional activity that go beyond science and official religion. The analysis showed that the English occult discourse contains such basic genre varieties as astrological, magical, alchemical. The article offers an algorithm for the analysis of occult discourse, which consists of several stages. The first stage of the study of English occult discourse is the selection and formation of a corpus of texts that will serve as material for the analysis. The next stage of the study of English occult discourse is the genre classification of the body of analyzed texts and the identification of a number of parameters (participants in communication, context and form of communication, types of communicative activities, content, script, social and emotional components). The prospect of further research is the analysis of English occult discourse according to this algorithm on the basis of specific texts.