Text, Context, Pretext: Critical Issues in Discourse Analysis (Language in Society) - Hardcover

Widdowson, H. G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0631234519 ISBN 13: 9780631234517

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004

Synopsis

Written by a leading researcher in the field, this fascinating examination of the relations between grammar, text, and discourse is designed to provoke critical discussion on key issues in discourse analysis which are not always clearly identified and examined.

• Written by a leading researcher in the field
  
• Continues the enquiry into discourse analysis that Zellig Harris initiated 50 years ago, which raised a number of problematic issues that have remained unresolved ever since
  
• Introduces the notion of pretext as an additional factor in the general interpretative process
  
• Focuses attention specifically on the work of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in light of the issues discussed

About this title

About the Author

H. G. Widdowson is Honorary Professor at the University of Vienna and Professor Emeritus at the University of London. He is renowned in the fields of applied linguistics and language teaching, and is the author of numerous books and articles, including Defining Issues in English Language Teaching (2002), Linguistics (1996), and Practical Stylistics: An Approach to Poetry (1992).

From the Back Cover

This fascinating examination of the relations between grammar, text and discourse is designed to provoke genuinely critical discussion on key issues in discourse analysis which are not always clearly identified and explored.

The enquiry into discourse analysis that Zellig Harris initiated 50 years ago raised a number of problematic issues that have remained unresolved ever since. What these are all centrally concerned with is the relationship between the analysis of the formal properties of text and the significance that is assigned to them in discourse interpretation. Widdowson explores this relationship and introduces the notion of pretext as an additional factor in the general interpretative process. He also focuses attention specifically on the work of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in the light of the issues discussed.

The result is a stimulating volume that makes explicit the distinctions between the key concepts of text and discourse, and between context, co-text and pretext. It shows how these are related and can provide a theoretical frame of reference for the critical evaluation of current issues in discourse analysis.

The enquiry into discourse analysis that Zellig Harris initiated 50 years ago raised a number of problematic issues that have remained unresolved ever since. What these are all centrally concerned with is the relationship between the analysis of the formal properties of text and the significance that is assigned to them in discourse interpretation. Widdowson explores this relationship and introduces the notion of pretext as an additional factor in the general interpretative process. He also focuses attention specifically on the work of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in the light of the issues discussed.

The result is a stimulating volume that makes explicit the distinctions between the key concepts of text and discourse, and between context, co-text and pretext. It shows how these are related and can provide a theoretical frame of reference for the critical evaluation of current issues in discourse analysis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0631234519
• ISBN 13: 9780631234517
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 196