Objective. The article is devoted to theoretical issues of discourse study. The aim of the research is to study the structure of discourse and the organization of the communication process. Applied methods. The study analyzes the content of the discursive space of communication, taking into account the achievements of modern linguistic science: semantic theory, theory of discursive analysis, axiological linguistics, theory of speech genres. Methods of linguistic analysis are used: the method of linguistic observation and description, the method of discursive analysis, the method of theoretical modeling. Results. The conceptual categories of discourse are defined: genre, speech action (speech act) and script. The article presents a schematic image of discourse reflected in a spatial and temporal context, with expressed value-normative properties that define it as a formalized (meeting the rules, norms and values) communication that has a consistent sequence. Conclusion. The organizational content of the discourse has a consistent sequence and is determined by the genre of the communicative situation; norms of behavior, intentions of communicants; cultural, social, and individual values.