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Society and Discourse: How Social Contexts Influence Text and Talk
Author(s): Teun A. van Dijk (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 22 Jan. 2009
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 298 pages
- ISBN-10: 0521516900
- ISBN-13: 9780521516907
Book Description
After his earlier book Discourse and Context, also published by Cambridge University Press, Teun A. van Dijk in this study presents the second part of his multidisciplinary theory of context. The main thesis of this theory is that the influence of society on discourse is not direct, as is postulated for instance in sociolinguistics, but cognitively mediated by subjective mental models of the communicative situation: context models. These dynamic models control discourse production and comprehension and define the pragmatic appropriateness of text and talk. Whereas in Discourse and Context the psychological and linguistic aspects of context were analyzed, this book focuses on the social psychological, sociological, anthropological and political aspects of context. Tony Blair’s 2003 speech defending his motion to go to war against Saddam Hussein and the following debate in parliament is used as an example illustrating the new theory.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This book presents a theory of context that explains how text and talk are adapted to their social environment.
About the Author
Teun A. van Dijk is Professor in the Departament de Traducció i Filologia at the Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. He has edited Discourse Studies (2007) and Racism at the Top (co-edited with Ruth Wodak, 2000) and is the author of Racism and Discourse in Spain and Latin America (2005) and Ideology (1998).
