Abstract
Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, edited by Teun A van Dijk, combines the two volumes of its first edition published in 1997 into a timely multidisciplinary introduction to the field of discourse studies. This volume consists of an introductory essay and 17 chapters, each of which deals with a specific area within discourse studies that has claimed scholarly attention over decades. The new edition is fully updated with two wholly new chapters on identity and ideology added to the volume.
The introductory chapter by Van Dijk clarifies a myth commonly assumed outside the field by pointing out that ‘Discourse Analysis is not a method of research, but a (cross) discipline’ (p. 6). With convincing facts and statistics in both the preface and the introduction, he reveals to us the cross-discipline of discourse studies and how it has developed into a young discipline of its own.
The subsequent chapters, though not thematically grouped into sections, offer a panorama of both the state of the art in the field and a pedagogically warranted elucidation of the theories, methods and principles ever applied in each of its sub-fields. Research themes introduced in this volume cover discourse-functional approaches to grammar (Chapter 2, ‘Discourse, grammar and interaction’, by Cumming, Ono and Laury), cognitive models of discourse comprehension and production (Chapter 3, ‘Discourse semantics’, by Tomlin, Forrest, Pu and Kim), the plot structure and co-narration in narrative activities (Chapter 4, ‘Narrative in everyday life’, by Ochs) and the research trend towards dialectification, functionalization and contextualization in argumentation studies (Chapter 5, ‘Argumentation’, by Van Eemeren, Jackson and Jacobs), just to mention a few. The comprehensive research literature on existing studies and profound insights into contemporary debates make the chapters essential reading for anyone who intends to analyze texts and talk systematically.
Still another distinguishing feature of this volume lies in the great variety of research angles provided, which includes the social semiotic perspective on multimodal discourse (Chapter 6, ‘Discourse semiotics’, by Van Leeuwen and Kress), the cognitive stance towards discourse processing (Chapter 7, ‘Discourse and cognition’, by Graesser and Millis) and the pragmatic lens on discursive communication (Chapter 8, ‘Discourse pragmatics’, by Blum-Kulka and Hamo). Contributors to this volume bring into the reader’s vision the latest developments in their fields. For instance, the three-layered model for multimodal analysis explicated in Chapter 6 no longer distinguishes ‘distribution’ as a separate layer (c.f. Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2001), but recognizes it as part of ‘design’ or ‘production’. The computational technologies like essay graders, text analyzers and automated tutors introduced in Chapter 7 are intriguing to both discourse analysts and education practitioners.
An emphasis on the use of naturally occurring data in discourse studies leads to intensive research on dialogue in real communicative contexts. Two chapters in this volume are devoted to the analysis of conversation. Chapter 9 (‘Conversation analysis: An approach to the analysis of social interaction’, by Pomerantz and Fehr) provides a task-oriented introduction to the central premises and analytical procedures in Conversation Analysis. Chapter 10 (‘Dialogue in institutional interactions’, by Drew and Sorjonen) focuses specifically on face-to-face conversation and talk over the telephone in institutional communication. The enactment of participants’ roles and identities, as is shown in the chapters, remains of central relevance in the analysis of conversational interaction.
The eight remaining chapters in the volume share an interest in exploring the relationship between language and society. As demonstrated in Chapter 11 (‘Gender and power in discourse’, by Lazar and Kramarae) and Chapter 12 (‘Discourse, ethnicity and racism’, by Jiwani and Richardson), gender or ethnic identity is interactionally produced through linguistic and semiotic activities. Manifestations of the discursive strategies will help reveal injustices and work towards interventions. Chapter 13 (‘Discourse and identity’, by Fina) offers a recapitulation of the theoretical developments in identity studies, proposing and explaining the discursive processes of identity construction within the social constructionist, interactionist paradigm.
Chapter 14 (‘Organizational discourse’, by Mumby and Mease) addresses how organizational discourse can be approached from diverse theoretical perspectives including critical, postmodern and feminist. Based on a detailed analysis of political texts on pragmatic, semantic and syntactic levels, Chapter 15 (‘Discourse and politics’, by Chilton and Schäffner) hypothesizes three ‘strategic political functions’ enacted by social actors. Chapter 16 (‘Discourse and culture’, by Keating and Duranti) proposes three ways to understand discourse and culture, including categories and attributes of people/language and systems of reproduction/representation, on the basis of the authors’ ethnographic observations. By recapitulating major theoretical approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) research and clarifying key principles through critical sample analyses, Chapter 17 (‘Critical discourse analysis’, by Fairclough, Mulderrig and Wodak) reminds us of the problem-oriented and interdisciplinary characteristics of CDA. The concluding chapter (‘Discourse and ideology’, by Van Dijk) presents schematic categories for examining the socio-cognitive structures of ideology, which demonstrates a systematic and explicit way to analyze underlying ideological structures shared by a specific social group and within a given text and context.
It is evident from the above remarks that Discourse Studies is a tremendously valuable asset to the field. While it is no exaggeration to call this volume the encyclopedia of discourse studies, it is presented in a fairly accessible and easy-to-follow way with sample analyses, further reading and, most generously, free access to recommended online reading provided. It will certainly be of great value to both advanced discourse analysts and students in decades to come.