discoursewhere

Discoursewhere is a theoretical construct in discourse analysis and computational linguistics that adds a locational dimension to the study of how people communicate. It refers to the spatial, social, and digital contexts in which discourse events occur, and to how location influences meaning, interpretation, and interaction.

The term is used to describe the idea that discourse is not merely a sequence of turns but is situated in a location—physical space, geographic region, social networks, or online platforms—that shapes participants' roles, tone, and access to resources.

Core concepts include tagging discourse with location metadata, mapping events to channels or geographies, and analyzing how location constrains or enables certain discourse practices. Methods encompass qualitative coding, network analysis, geotagging, timestamp analysis, and machine learning to detect location-dependent patterns such as register shifts, power dynamics, or moderator influence.

Applications span online communities, political communication, customer-service transcripts, and multilingual forums. Discoursewhere can inform platform design, moderation policies, and research on how digital spaces reproduce or challenge social inequalities. Limitations include varying definitions of location, privacy concerns, and the challenge of isolating locational effects from other contextual factors.

See also: discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, digital humanities, geocoding, location-based services.