Adiel Schremer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383775
- eISBN:
- 9780199777280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383775.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter suggests that the rabbinic discourse of minut offers an important point of view on the social-historical meaning of discourses of identity more broadly. For minut, in Tannaitic sources, ...
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This chapter suggests that the rabbinic discourse of minut offers an important point of view on the social-historical meaning of discourses of identity more broadly. For minut, in Tannaitic sources, is treated no less as a social and communal deviance than as a doctrinal challenge. This indicates that the problem with heretics, although frequently presented in relation to their religious beliefs and the doctrines they embrace, may be located, in fact, in the realm of social and communal concerns. What motivates the rabbinic discourse of minut is a concern for social and communal cohesion. It is characterized by concepts of social solidarity and belonging, no less than by a concept of “correct belief.”Less
This chapter suggests that the rabbinic discourse of minut offers an important point of view on the social-historical meaning of discourses of identity more broadly. For minut, in Tannaitic sources, is treated no less as a social and communal deviance than as a doctrinal challenge. This indicates that the problem with heretics, although frequently presented in relation to their religious beliefs and the doctrines they embrace, may be located, in fact, in the realm of social and communal concerns. What motivates the rabbinic discourse of minut is a concern for social and communal cohesion. It is characterized by concepts of social solidarity and belonging, no less than by a concept of “correct belief.”
Maarten A. Hajer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281671
- eISBN:
- 9780191713132
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281671.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Mediatic representation has become an integral part of politics and policy. The dominance of incident-oriented media formats has led students of politics and media to fear a trend of ‘dumbing down’: ...
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Mediatic representation has become an integral part of politics and policy. The dominance of incident-oriented media formats has led students of politics and media to fear a trend of ‘dumbing down’: the privileging of style over content. This book takes issue with the ‘dumbing down’ thesis both on theoretical and empirical grounds. In particular it investigates how an authoritative governance is possible in crisis-ridden circumstances in a mediatized environment. Maarten Hajer comes up with a communicative understanding of authority, creating a new basis for an authoritative governance in a world marked by political and institutional fragmentation. Extending his discourse-analytical framework, Hajer uses both discursive and dramaturgical methods to study policy makers in their struggle for authority. Three elaborate case studies provide a wealth of details of the dynamics of authority in today's mediatized polity and the peculiar role of crisis and incidents in this. The message of the book is that in the age of mediatization governance needs to be performed. Hajer illuminates contours of a new authoritative governance that encompass different elements than usually get represented in the media or indeed in textbooks on media studies, public policy, or governance. The book shows new ways to recombine traditional government of standing institutions to notions of network governance. The book thus provides new ideas about authoritative governance which is based on the need to actively create relations with a variety of publics.Less
Mediatic representation has become an integral part of politics and policy. The dominance of incident-oriented media formats has led students of politics and media to fear a trend of ‘dumbing down’: the privileging of style over content. This book takes issue with the ‘dumbing down’ thesis both on theoretical and empirical grounds. In particular it investigates how an authoritative governance is possible in crisis-ridden circumstances in a mediatized environment. Maarten Hajer comes up with a communicative understanding of authority, creating a new basis for an authoritative governance in a world marked by political and institutional fragmentation. Extending his discourse-analytical framework, Hajer uses both discursive and dramaturgical methods to study policy makers in their struggle for authority. Three elaborate case studies provide a wealth of details of the dynamics of authority in today's mediatized polity and the peculiar role of crisis and incidents in this. The message of the book is that in the age of mediatization governance needs to be performed. Hajer illuminates contours of a new authoritative governance that encompass different elements than usually get represented in the media or indeed in textbooks on media studies, public policy, or governance. The book shows new ways to recombine traditional government of standing institutions to notions of network governance. The book thus provides new ideas about authoritative governance which is based on the need to actively create relations with a variety of publics.
Theo van Leeuwen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195323306
- eISBN:
- 9780199869251
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Building on Bernstein's concept of recontextualization, Foucault's theory of discourse, Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics and Martin's theory of activity sequences, this book defines ...
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Building on Bernstein's concept of recontextualization, Foucault's theory of discourse, Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics and Martin's theory of activity sequences, this book defines discourses as frameworks for the interpretation of reality and presents detailed and explicit methods for reconstructing these frameworks through text analysis. There are methods for analyzing the representation of social action, social actors and the timings and spatial locations of social practices as well as methods for analyzing how the purposes, legitimations and moral evaluations of social practices can be, and are, constructed in discourse. Discourse analytical categories are linked to sociological theories to bring out their relevance for the purpose of critical discourse analysis, and a variety of examples demonstrate how they can be used to this end. The final chapters apply aspects of the book's methodological framework to the analysis of multimodal texts such as visual images and children's toys.Less
Building on Bernstein's concept of recontextualization, Foucault's theory of discourse, Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics and Martin's theory of activity sequences, this book defines discourses as frameworks for the interpretation of reality and presents detailed and explicit methods for reconstructing these frameworks through text analysis. There are methods for analyzing the representation of social action, social actors and the timings and spatial locations of social practices as well as methods for analyzing how the purposes, legitimations and moral evaluations of social practices can be, and are, constructed in discourse. Discourse analytical categories are linked to sociological theories to bring out their relevance for the purpose of critical discourse analysis, and a variety of examples demonstrate how they can be used to this end. The final chapters apply aspects of the book's methodological framework to the analysis of multimodal texts such as visual images and children's toys.
Uwe Steinhoff
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547807
- eISBN:
- 9780191720758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547807.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Theory
Jürgen Habermas seeks to defend the Enlightenment and with it an “emphatical”, “uncurtailed” conception of reason against the post-modern critique of reason on the one hand, and against so-called ...
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Jürgen Habermas seeks to defend the Enlightenment and with it an “emphatical”, “uncurtailed” conception of reason against the post-modern critique of reason on the one hand, and against so-called scientism (which would include critical rationalism and the greater part of analytical philosophy) on the other. His objection to the former is that it is self-contradictory and politically defeatist; his objection to the latter is that, thanks to a standard of rationality derived from the natural sciences or from Weber's concept of purposive rationality, it leaves normative questions to irrational decisions. Wishing to offer an alternative, Habermas tries to develop a theory of communicative action that can clarify the normative foundations of a critical theory of society as well as provide a fruitful theoretical framework for empirical social research. This study is a comprehensive and detailed analysis and a sustained critique of Habermas' philosophical system starting with his pragmatist turn in the seventies. It clearly and precisely depicts its long path from an analysis of speech acts to a discourse theory of law and the democratic constitutional state via the theory of communicative action, discourse ethics, and the attempts to apply the approach to, and support it with, empirical theories.Less
Jürgen Habermas seeks to defend the Enlightenment and with it an “emphatical”, “uncurtailed” conception of reason against the post-modern critique of reason on the one hand, and against so-called scientism (which would include critical rationalism and the greater part of analytical philosophy) on the other. His objection to the former is that it is self-contradictory and politically defeatist; his objection to the latter is that, thanks to a standard of rationality derived from the natural sciences or from Weber's concept of purposive rationality, it leaves normative questions to irrational decisions. Wishing to offer an alternative, Habermas tries to develop a theory of communicative action that can clarify the normative foundations of a critical theory of society as well as provide a fruitful theoretical framework for empirical social research. This study is a comprehensive and detailed analysis and a sustained critique of Habermas' philosophical system starting with his pragmatist turn in the seventies. It clearly and precisely depicts its long path from an analysis of speech acts to a discourse theory of law and the democratic constitutional state via the theory of communicative action, discourse ethics, and the attempts to apply the approach to, and support it with, empirical theories.
Ronald K. S. Macaulay
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195173819
- eISBN:
- 9780199788361
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173819.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This work is a sociolinguistic study employing quantitative methods to explore age, gender, and social class differences in the use of a range of discourse features. It is based on a gender-balanced ...
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This work is a sociolinguistic study employing quantitative methods to explore age, gender, and social class differences in the use of a range of discourse features. It is based on a gender-balanced sample of middle-class and working-class adolescents and adults, recorded under the same conditions in Glasgow, Scotland. Unlike studies of phonetic or morphological variation, the study of discourse variation requires samples of talk in action with speakers interacting with one another. The speakers, who knew each other, were recorded talking in the presence of the tape-recorder for approximately half an hour without the investigator being present. The recordings were transcribed in their totality and the transcripts searched for the occurrence of features such as the use of pronouns, adverbs, you know, I mean, as well as grammatical features such as questions and passive voice. The frequencies of use of the variables by the different social groups (e.g., middle-class women, adolescent boys) were calibrated and the results compared. Differences between adults and adolescents provided the greatest number of statistically significant results, followed by differences between males and females. The smallest number of statistically significant differences were related to social class. Qualitative analysis, however, revealed important social class differences in discourse styles. The study shows the danger of generalizing about social class or gender on the basis of a limited sample of a few discourse features.Less
This work is a sociolinguistic study employing quantitative methods to explore age, gender, and social class differences in the use of a range of discourse features. It is based on a gender-balanced sample of middle-class and working-class adolescents and adults, recorded under the same conditions in Glasgow, Scotland. Unlike studies of phonetic or morphological variation, the study of discourse variation requires samples of talk in action with speakers interacting with one another. The speakers, who knew each other, were recorded talking in the presence of the tape-recorder for approximately half an hour without the investigator being present. The recordings were transcribed in their totality and the transcripts searched for the occurrence of features such as the use of pronouns, adverbs, you know, I mean, as well as grammatical features such as questions and passive voice. The frequencies of use of the variables by the different social groups (e.g., middle-class women, adolescent boys) were calibrated and the results compared. Differences between adults and adolescents provided the greatest number of statistically significant results, followed by differences between males and females. The smallest number of statistically significant differences were related to social class. Qualitative analysis, however, revealed important social class differences in discourse styles. The study shows the danger of generalizing about social class or gender on the basis of a limited sample of a few discourse features.
Roger W. Shuy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328837
- eISBN:
- 9780199870165
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328837.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This product liability case brought against a company that produced a ship cleaning product centered on the warning label for the cleaning product, which had caused a worker's brain damage. ...
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This product liability case brought against a company that produced a ship cleaning product centered on the warning label for the cleaning product, which had caused a worker's brain damage. Comparison was made between the industry safety standards for the precautionary labeling of industrial chemicals and the text on the cleaning product's container. The wording of the warning section on the container was not prominent to the potential danger of the product. The communication of the dangers that users might encounter were unclear, and the advice about what to do if users got into trouble using it were not conveyed explicitly. The discourse sequencing within the warnings placed the least crucial information before the most crucial and provided no information about what to do to avoid the hazards that the product contained. The plaintiff also rewrote the text of the container to show how it could have been user-friendly and to communicate useful information and prevent further harm.Less
This product liability case brought against a company that produced a ship cleaning product centered on the warning label for the cleaning product, which had caused a worker's brain damage. Comparison was made between the industry safety standards for the precautionary labeling of industrial chemicals and the text on the cleaning product's container. The wording of the warning section on the container was not prominent to the potential danger of the product. The communication of the dangers that users might encounter were unclear, and the advice about what to do if users got into trouble using it were not conveyed explicitly. The discourse sequencing within the warnings placed the least crucial information before the most crucial and provided no information about what to do to avoid the hazards that the product contained. The plaintiff also rewrote the text of the container to show how it could have been user-friendly and to communicate useful information and prevent further harm.
Ronald K. S. Macaulay
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195173819
- eISBN:
- 9780199788361
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173819.003.0015
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter sums up the methodology used in the investigation and presents some principles for the study of variations in the use of discourse features. Items should be collected on the basis of ...
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This chapter sums up the methodology used in the investigation and presents some principles for the study of variations in the use of discourse features. Items should be collected on the basis of forms rather than meaning or function. Raw scores should be provided. Discourse features should be treated as unitary phenomena where possible.Less
This chapter sums up the methodology used in the investigation and presents some principles for the study of variations in the use of discourse features. Items should be collected on the basis of forms rather than meaning or function. Raw scores should be provided. Discourse features should be treated as unitary phenomena where possible.
Suzanne F. Cawsey
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199251858
- eISBN:
- 9780191719073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251858.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this ...
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In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this period, a series of energetic and talented rulers sought to maintain royal authority and govern their realms effectively. Their persuasive rhetoric, and that of their advisers, is preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which provide a rich and under-exploited vein of source material for historians. There are long letters to their subjects, historical works, and the proceedings of the courts, where the kings and queens persuaded their reluctant subjects to grant taxes and to support their decisions. This book examines the tradition of royal eloquence, thereby illuminating the nature of political discourse and persuasion in Aragon during the medieval period and exploring the key ideas shared by the king and the political classes of the kingdom.Less
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this period, a series of energetic and talented rulers sought to maintain royal authority and govern their realms effectively. Their persuasive rhetoric, and that of their advisers, is preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which provide a rich and under-exploited vein of source material for historians. There are long letters to their subjects, historical works, and the proceedings of the courts, where the kings and queens persuaded their reluctant subjects to grant taxes and to support their decisions. This book examines the tradition of royal eloquence, thereby illuminating the nature of political discourse and persuasion in Aragon during the medieval period and exploring the key ideas shared by the king and the political classes of the kingdom.
Richard K. Fenn
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195143690
- eISBN:
- 9780199834174
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143698.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Explores the possibilities for a secular society. Such a society is radically open to its environment, to a wide range of opportunities and dangers, and it is therefore agnostic about the boundaries ...
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Explores the possibilities for a secular society. Such a society is radically open to its environment, to a wide range of opportunities and dangers, and it is therefore agnostic about the boundaries between the possible and the impossible. Its own beliefs and ethics would also be open, evolutionary, procedural, and open to contestation and revision. There would be opportunities for individuals to give their own accounts of their personal experience without seeking recognition and legitimacy from institutionalized sources of authority. The individual's identity would be able to develop with being shaped by ritual or conformed to a society's pantheon of heroes. The present would be open to the past without being controlled or obligated to it, and the future would be an emergent aspect of the present rather than a reservoir of unfulfilled aspiration. Language would be subject to negotiation and contest, even regarding the meanings of sacred speech. The mysterious and the occult, along with other aspects of the sacred, would be subject to discourse rather than veneration. The political and cultural center would lose its monopoly on the sacred, and the periphery would become more assertive in defining is own forms of the sacred against those of the center. Religious institutions would become less successful in reducing the sacred to particular interpretations, times, and places.Less
Explores the possibilities for a secular society. Such a society is radically open to its environment, to a wide range of opportunities and dangers, and it is therefore agnostic about the boundaries between the possible and the impossible. Its own beliefs and ethics would also be open, evolutionary, procedural, and open to contestation and revision. There would be opportunities for individuals to give their own accounts of their personal experience without seeking recognition and legitimacy from institutionalized sources of authority. The individual's identity would be able to develop with being shaped by ritual or conformed to a society's pantheon of heroes. The present would be open to the past without being controlled or obligated to it, and the future would be an emergent aspect of the present rather than a reservoir of unfulfilled aspiration. Language would be subject to negotiation and contest, even regarding the meanings of sacred speech. The mysterious and the occult, along with other aspects of the sacred, would be subject to discourse rather than veneration. The political and cultural center would lose its monopoly on the sacred, and the periphery would become more assertive in defining is own forms of the sacred against those of the center. Religious institutions would become less successful in reducing the sacred to particular interpretations, times, and places.
Vivien A. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199266975
- eISBN:
- 9780191709012
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266975.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter provides a brief recap of the argument about the EU as a regional state and the general question of its democratic legitimacy before considering, in turn, theories about the EU’s impact ...
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This chapter provides a brief recap of the argument about the EU as a regional state and the general question of its democratic legitimacy before considering, in turn, theories about the EU’s impact on national institutions, ideas, and discourse. It argues that European integration is at risk, not so much because of the institutional changes related to Europeanization, but because of the lack of new ideas and discourse that address those changes at the national level. Although the EU has had a greater impact on simple polities than on compound ones, both kinds of polities have nevertheless had to deal with EU-related changes in governance practices and challenges to traditional ideas about democracy. Moreover, even though simple polities may have an advantage with regard to addressing the issues through the communicative discourse, they have not used that ability to the fullest.Less
This chapter provides a brief recap of the argument about the EU as a regional state and the general question of its democratic legitimacy before considering, in turn, theories about the EU’s impact on national institutions, ideas, and discourse. It argues that European integration is at risk, not so much because of the institutional changes related to Europeanization, but because of the lack of new ideas and discourse that address those changes at the national level. Although the EU has had a greater impact on simple polities than on compound ones, both kinds of polities have nevertheless had to deal with EU-related changes in governance practices and challenges to traditional ideas about democracy. Moreover, even though simple polities may have an advantage with regard to addressing the issues through the communicative discourse, they have not used that ability to the fullest.
Cynthia Gordon
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195373820
- eISBN:
- 9780199872046
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373820.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This book integrates theories of intertextuality and framing in order to explore the role of repetition in everyday family interaction. Specifically, it investigates how and why family members repeat ...
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This book integrates theories of intertextuality and framing in order to explore the role of repetition in everyday family interaction. Specifically, it investigates how and why family members repeat words, phrases, paralinguistic features, and speech acts previously produced in conversation by other family members. The book presents a case‐study analysis of the discourse of three dual‐income American families who recorded their own conversations over the course of one week; this unique data set enables analysis of repetition both within and across family conversations. Using the perspective of interactional sociolinguistics and drawing on theories from linguistics, communication, sociology, anthropology, and psychology, the book's chapters collectively demonstrate how repetition serves as a crucial means of creating the complex, shared meanings that give each family its distinctive identity. The book thus uncovers how repetition in everyday talk serves as a resource for creating a family's private language or familylect, for constructing families as small‐group cultures, and for layering and negotiating meanings. In so doing, it puts forth the argument that intertextuality and framing, two powerful notions that have been applied widely (and largely independently) across disciplines, are best understood as fundamentally interconnected. The book also engages with intertextuality as both a theory and a methodological approach.Less
This book integrates theories of intertextuality and framing in order to explore the role of repetition in everyday family interaction. Specifically, it investigates how and why family members repeat words, phrases, paralinguistic features, and speech acts previously produced in conversation by other family members. The book presents a case‐study analysis of the discourse of three dual‐income American families who recorded their own conversations over the course of one week; this unique data set enables analysis of repetition both within and across family conversations. Using the perspective of interactional sociolinguistics and drawing on theories from linguistics, communication, sociology, anthropology, and psychology, the book's chapters collectively demonstrate how repetition serves as a crucial means of creating the complex, shared meanings that give each family its distinctive identity. The book thus uncovers how repetition in everyday talk serves as a resource for creating a family's private language or familylect, for constructing families as small‐group cultures, and for layering and negotiating meanings. In so doing, it puts forth the argument that intertextuality and framing, two powerful notions that have been applied widely (and largely independently) across disciplines, are best understood as fundamentally interconnected. The book also engages with intertextuality as both a theory and a methodological approach.
Alessandra Giorgi
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571895
- eISBN:
- 9780191722073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571895.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Syntax and Morphology
This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context ...
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This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses various kinds of temporal dependencies in embedded clauses, such as indicative versus subjunctive, and proposes a new analysis of the imperfect and the future‐in‐the‐past. The book also compares languages such as Italian and English with languages which have different properties of temporal interpretation, such as Chinese. Finally, analysis of the literary style known as Free Indirect Discourse also supports the hypothesis, showing that it may have a wide range of consequences.Less
This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses various kinds of temporal dependencies in embedded clauses, such as indicative versus subjunctive, and proposes a new analysis of the imperfect and the future‐in‐the‐past. The book also compares languages such as Italian and English with languages which have different properties of temporal interpretation, such as Chinese. Finally, analysis of the literary style known as Free Indirect Discourse also supports the hypothesis, showing that it may have a wide range of consequences.
A. E. Denham
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240105
- eISBN:
- 9780191680076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240105.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Moral Philosophy
This book examines the parallels between moral and metaphorical discourse, and the ways in which our engagement with literary art, and metaphorical discourse in particular, informs our moral beliefs. ...
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This book examines the parallels between moral and metaphorical discourse, and the ways in which our engagement with literary art, and metaphorical discourse in particular, informs our moral beliefs. It suggests that there are three ways in which one's beliefs can be improved: if more of them are true, if more of them are warranted or justified, or if the warrant or justification for some of them is strengthened. So the book considers whether and how such improvements can be made to moral beliefs, and what role metaphor can play. It is an integral aim of the work to discern to what extent moral and metaphorical discourses deserve to be regarded as cognitive at all. This involves investigating to what extent such discourses are capable of truth or falsehood, warrant or justification, and how it is that we understand moral judgements and metaphorical expressions. This investigation is founded on an account of the nature of value and of our experience of value.Less
This book examines the parallels between moral and metaphorical discourse, and the ways in which our engagement with literary art, and metaphorical discourse in particular, informs our moral beliefs. It suggests that there are three ways in which one's beliefs can be improved: if more of them are true, if more of them are warranted or justified, or if the warrant or justification for some of them is strengthened. So the book considers whether and how such improvements can be made to moral beliefs, and what role metaphor can play. It is an integral aim of the work to discern to what extent moral and metaphorical discourses deserve to be regarded as cognitive at all. This involves investigating to what extent such discourses are capable of truth or falsehood, warrant or justification, and how it is that we understand moral judgements and metaphorical expressions. This investigation is founded on an account of the nature of value and of our experience of value.
Roger W. Shuy
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391329
- eISBN:
- 9780199866274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391329.003.0015
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter reviews the progress made from the days in which language conflicts were settled by duels to their replacement by present day defamation law suits, concluding that although much progress ...
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This chapter reviews the progress made from the days in which language conflicts were settled by duels to their replacement by present day defamation law suits, concluding that although much progress has been made, there is still more to be added if lawyers would make use of the linguistic expertise that was illustrated in the preceding chapters.Less
This chapter reviews the progress made from the days in which language conflicts were settled by duels to their replacement by present day defamation law suits, concluding that although much progress has been made, there is still more to be added if lawyers would make use of the linguistic expertise that was illustrated in the preceding chapters.
Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195375640
- eISBN:
- 9780199871612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375640.003.0016
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only ...
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This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only the pro-theory can provide an adequate analysis of Short Do Replies. The type of pro-theory advocated here differs from its predecessors, however, in its technical implementation, in the type of argumentation that is provided in its support, and in the empirical divide it makes between PF-deletion and pro. Secondly, the second case study has provided evidence for the existence and specific role of two PolPs in the dialect Dutch IP-domain, and for the independent existence of Agr s P. Thirdly, the second case study has argued in favor of an analysis of discourse particles that fully integrates them into the functional structure of the clause.Less
This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only the pro-theory can provide an adequate analysis of Short Do Replies. The type of pro-theory advocated here differs from its predecessors, however, in its technical implementation, in the type of argumentation that is provided in its support, and in the empirical divide it makes between PF-deletion and pro. Secondly, the second case study has provided evidence for the existence and specific role of two PolPs in the dialect Dutch IP-domain, and for the independent existence of Agr s P. Thirdly, the second case study has argued in favor of an analysis of discourse particles that fully integrates them into the functional structure of the clause.
Susanne Mrozik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195305005
- eISBN:
- 9780199785681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305005.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on ...
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This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on others. It shows that in spite of their differences, the ascetic and physiomoral discourses on bodies share the same end: producing bodhisattvas with bodies capable of ripening others. These are the bodies of well-disciplined monastics whose very features, postures, and movements instantiate for others their moral achievement. If these bodhisattvas reach the end of their path, they too will materialize the most virtuous body of all, namely, that of a buddha.Less
This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on others. It shows that in spite of their differences, the ascetic and physiomoral discourses on bodies share the same end: producing bodhisattvas with bodies capable of ripening others. These are the bodies of well-disciplined monastics whose very features, postures, and movements instantiate for others their moral achievement. If these bodhisattvas reach the end of their path, they too will materialize the most virtuous body of all, namely, that of a buddha.
Steven Rendall
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151807
- eISBN:
- 9780191672842
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151807.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates ...
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Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates the role of these internal differences in the opinions recorded, in voices and modes of discourse, in logical levels, in conceptions of writing and of reading, through a series of careful, lucid readings of selected passages from the Essais. The author tracks their operation in Montaigne's text and shows how Montaigne's writing constantly recontextualizes his own discourse (through his practice of interpolating new material in successive editions and adding new chapters) as well as that of other authors (through quotation, paraphrase, commentary). Rather than merely negative features, the author argues that such ‘differences’ are essential to a practice of writing that both defines and challenges a notion of ‘unity’, and can be seen as an uneasy and disturbing element related to a historical shift from earlier ways of controlling meaning, to one based on ‘the author function’.Less
Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates the role of these internal differences in the opinions recorded, in voices and modes of discourse, in logical levels, in conceptions of writing and of reading, through a series of careful, lucid readings of selected passages from the Essais. The author tracks their operation in Montaigne's text and shows how Montaigne's writing constantly recontextualizes his own discourse (through his practice of interpolating new material in successive editions and adding new chapters) as well as that of other authors (through quotation, paraphrase, commentary). Rather than merely negative features, the author argues that such ‘differences’ are essential to a practice of writing that both defines and challenges a notion of ‘unity’, and can be seen as an uneasy and disturbing element related to a historical shift from earlier ways of controlling meaning, to one based on ‘the author function’.
Vivien A. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253685
- eISBN:
- 9780191600210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253684.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The different trajectories of Britain, France, and Germany cannot be understood without reference to the substantive content and interactive processes of their discourses of policy construction and ...
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The different trajectories of Britain, France, and Germany cannot be understood without reference to the substantive content and interactive processes of their discourses of policy construction and legitimization. The sustainability of Britain's early, radical move to neo‐liberal policies and more market capitalist practices has much to do with political actors’ transformative, communicative discourse that convinced the public that change was both necessary and appropriate in monetary policy, industrial policy, labour policy, as well as in the social assistance areas of social policy. France's later, more moderate neo‐liberal policies and its radical transformation of state capitalism owe much to political actors’ communicative discourse that was convincing on the necessity of reform in monetary and industrial policy arenas, but was unable to speak to the appropriateness of reform in social policy until the late 1990s. Finally, Germany's long delay on reform of its economic policies as well as of its managed capitalist practices are in part the result of the difficulties of generating a coordinative discourse capable of building agreement among policy actors on either the necessity or appropriateness of reform of the ‘social market economy’, in particular with regard to social and labour policy change.Less
The different trajectories of Britain, France, and Germany cannot be understood without reference to the substantive content and interactive processes of their discourses of policy construction and legitimization. The sustainability of Britain's early, radical move to neo‐liberal policies and more market capitalist practices has much to do with political actors’ transformative, communicative discourse that convinced the public that change was both necessary and appropriate in monetary policy, industrial policy, labour policy, as well as in the social assistance areas of social policy. France's later, more moderate neo‐liberal policies and its radical transformation of state capitalism owe much to political actors’ communicative discourse that was convincing on the necessity of reform in monetary and industrial policy arenas, but was unable to speak to the appropriateness of reform in social policy until the late 1990s. Finally, Germany's long delay on reform of its economic policies as well as of its managed capitalist practices are in part the result of the difficulties of generating a coordinative discourse capable of building agreement among policy actors on either the necessity or appropriateness of reform of the ‘social market economy’, in particular with regard to social and labour policy change.
Frank Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242641
- eISBN:
- 9780191599255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924264X.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This is the first of two chapters that present a more detailed examination of the ways in which social constructions are produced and negotiated in public politics through the medium of discourse. It ...
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This is the first of two chapters that present a more detailed examination of the ways in which social constructions are produced and negotiated in public politics through the medium of discourse. It looks at public policy and discourse analysis, and starts by defining discourse. The remaining sections of the chapter are: Discourse Analysis; Policy Discourse and Argumentative Struggle; Policy Storylines, which are the basic linguistic mechanism for creating and maintaining discursive order –– a generative sort of narrative that allows actors to draw upon various discursive categories to give meaning to specific or social phenomena (for example, ‘there is nothing we can do’ or ‘we must take immediate action’); and an appendix, Discourse and Social Change: Commodifying Educational Policy.Less
This is the first of two chapters that present a more detailed examination of the ways in which social constructions are produced and negotiated in public politics through the medium of discourse. It looks at public policy and discourse analysis, and starts by defining discourse. The remaining sections of the chapter are: Discourse Analysis; Policy Discourse and Argumentative Struggle; Policy Storylines, which are the basic linguistic mechanism for creating and maintaining discursive order –– a generative sort of narrative that allows actors to draw upon various discursive categories to give meaning to specific or social phenomena (for example, ‘there is nothing we can do’ or ‘we must take immediate action’); and an appendix, Discourse and Social Change: Commodifying Educational Policy.
Frank Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242641
- eISBN:
- 9780191599255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924264X.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This is the third of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and explores the narrative form of discourse and narrative ...
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This is the third of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and explores the narrative form of discourse and narrative analysis, an emerging and promising orientation in policy analysis. The social meanings uncovered by the interpretive analysis described in Chapter 7 are typically embedded in a policy narrative, designed to portray the fuller picture of a policy problem and the potential solutions. Built around interpretations, the narrative represents the policy situation, and offers a view of what has to be done and what the expected consequences will be. While there is a fair amount of conceptual overlap between the concepts of discourse and narration, narrative analysis is used in this discussion to refer to the analysis of stories. The first two sections of the chapter examines the general features of a narrative story, emphasizing its uses in both the social sciences and everyday social contexts, and discusses the basic epistemological issues involved in the production of a narrative text. The second three sections survey two prominent approaches to narrative discourse analyses that have emerged in the field of policy analysis per se: those of Stone and Roe. The last section examines how the logic of good reasons underlies the rationality of the narrative.Less
This is the third of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and explores the narrative form of discourse and narrative analysis, an emerging and promising orientation in policy analysis. The social meanings uncovered by the interpretive analysis described in Chapter 7 are typically embedded in a policy narrative, designed to portray the fuller picture of a policy problem and the potential solutions. Built around interpretations, the narrative represents the policy situation, and offers a view of what has to be done and what the expected consequences will be. While there is a fair amount of conceptual overlap between the concepts of discourse and narration, narrative analysis is used in this discussion to refer to the analysis of stories. The first two sections of the chapter examines the general features of a narrative story, emphasizing its uses in both the social sciences and everyday social contexts, and discusses the basic epistemological issues involved in the production of a narrative text. The second three sections survey two prominent approaches to narrative discourse analyses that have emerged in the field of policy analysis per se: those of Stone and Roe. The last section examines how the logic of good reasons underlies the rationality of the narrative.
