Formal method in discourse analysis

Frow argues that recent attempts to construct computer-generated analyses of discourse, while they may hold promise for rigorous and non-subjective approaches to ideology, also have conceptual weaknesses. He looks particularly at the work of Hak and Torode in this area and at the influence of Pêcheux. The paper proposes that discourse analysis must be directed towards textual structure rather than particular instances of realised text, and that it must recognise its own interpretive basis.