The Basic Aims of Discourse by James Kinneavy

Kinneavy states in this article that he is concerned with complete discourse, or the full text, oral or written, delivered at a specific time and place or delivered at several instances (107). He is looking at the effect the discourse is meant to achieve. The message is central, as well as its aim. Is the work intended to delight or to persuade or to inform or to demonstrate the logical proof of a position? (108) He dissects how messages are created, intended, and received, or what he calls the "encoder, reality, and language itself, (which) all become instrumental to the achievement of some practical effect in the decoder" (114).

What I found most interesting about this article is that Kinneavy says that the product, text, or work itself may be the focus of the process as an "object worthy of being appreciated in its own right" (114). This spoke to me of poetry or creative writing, where the process of creation is as important as the final message, or "structures worthy of contemplation in their own right."