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Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Parliamentary Discourse
Feb 2004
Book
The activity of parliaments is largely linguistic activity: they produce talk and they produce texts. Broadly speaking the objectives that this discourse aims to satisfy are similar all over the world: to legitimate or contest legislation to represent diverse interests to scrutinise the activity of government to influence opinion and to recruit and promote political actors. But the discourse of different national parliaments is subject to variation at all linguistic levels on the basis of history cultural specificity and political culture in particular. Through the use of various analytical tools of functional linguistics this volume seeks to provide explanatory analyses of parliamentary discourse in different countries – Britain Germany Italy Mexico Spain Sweden and the United States – and to explore its peculiarities. Each chapter outlines a particular methodological framework and its application to instances of parliamentary discourse on important issues such as war European integration impeachment and immigration.
Gender, Language and Culture : A study of Japanese television interview discourse
Feb 2004
Book
This book analyzes the relationship between gender age and role in Japanese television interviews. It covers a wide range of topics on Japanese communication; cultural and gender variables are interwoven in the interpretation of the findings. The study shows how participants interact through language and how they project their identities in the context of the interview. Based on a qualitative analysis speech in mixed and same gender interactions is analysed turntaking terms of address and aizuchi (listener’s responses) are examined. The findings reveal interesting characteristics of all-female interactions such as the influence of age that appears to be more important than gender; an observation that has repercussions in the study of gender and language differences in modern Japan. This book is an interdisciplinary study that integrates notions of politeness and theories of gender and language and will be of interest to people researching Japanese culture and communication gender studies and institutional language.
Issues in the Study of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Feb 2004
Book
The content of this book is concerned with various issues at stake in Creole studies that are also of interest for general linguistics. These include the general issue of Creole genesis and of the accelerated linguistic change that characterizes the emergence of these languages as compared to ordinary cases of linguistic change the problem of the development of morphology in incipient Creoles the problem of the validity of data in linguistic analysis the issue of multifunctionality as regards the concept of lexical entry the question of whether Creole languages are semantically more transparent than languages not known as Creoles the issue of whether Creole languages constitute a typologically identifiable class and the problem of the interaction between the processes involved in the emergence and development of Creole languages. The purpose of this book is to present the major debates that are currently taking place in the field of Creole studies; evaluate the arguments against data (mainly drawn from Haitian Creole); and address the issues at stake within the framework of new paradigms. The various positions on each issue are summarized on the basis of a thorough review of the literature.
The Moving Text : Localization, translation, and distribution
Feb 2004
Book
For the discourse of localization translation is often "just a language problem". For translation theorists localization introduces fancy words but nothing essentially new. Both views are probably right but only to an extent. This book sets up a dialogue across those differences. Is there anything that translation theory can gain from localization? Can localization theory learn anything from the history and complexity of translation? To address those questions both terms are placed within a more general frame that of text transfer. Texts are distributed in time and space; localization and translation respond differently to those movements; their relative virtues are thus brought out on common ground.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>Anthony Pym here reviews not only key problems in translation theory but also critical concepts such as cultural resistance variable transaction costs segmentation of the labour market and the dehumanization of technical discourse. The book closes with a plea for the humanizing virtues of translation over and above the efficiencies of localization.
Mind and Causality
Feb 2004
Book
Which causal patterns are involved in mental processes?<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>On what mechanisms does the self-organisation of cognitive structure rest?<br/>Can a naturalistic view account for the basic resources of intentionality while avoiding the objections to reductive materialism?<br/>By considering the developmental phenomenological and biological aspects linking mind and causality this volume offers a state-of-the art theoretical proposal emphasising the fine-tuning of cognition with the complexity of bodily dynamics. In contrast to the de-coupling of mind from the physical environment in classical information-processing models growth of brain’s architecture and stabilisation of perception–action cycles are considered decisive with no need for an eliminative approach to representations pursued by neural network models. The tools provided by physics and biology for the description of massive causal interactions on top of which ‘qualitative’ changes occur are exploited to suggest a model of the mind as a many-layered co-evolving system. (Series A)
Theory Construction in Second Language Acquisition
Feb 2004
Book
Recently many SLA researchers have adopted a postmodernist approach which challenges the assumption that SLA research is a rationalist scientific endeavour. The resulting epistemological arguments plus problems of theory proliferation contradicting theories and theory domain hinder progress towards a unified theory of SLA. Theory Construction in SLA addresses these problems by returning to first principles; it asks whether there is such a thing as reliable knowledge what is special about scientific method and how we can best explain SLA. It is the first book to use the philosophy of science in order to examine the epistemological underpinnings of SLA research and evaluate rival theories of SLA. Part One explores the central issues in the philosophy of science defends rationality against relativists and offers Guidelines for theory assessment. Part Two examines different theories of SLA and evaluates them in terms of how well they stand up to the Guidelines.
(Mis)Representing Islam : The racism and rhetoric of British broadsheet newspapers
Jan 2004
Book
(Mis)Representing Islam explores and illustrates how élite broadsheet newspapers are implicated in the production and reproduction of anti-Muslim racism. The book approaches journalistic discourse as the inseparable combination of ‘social practices’ ‘discursive practices’ and the ‘texts’ themselves from a perspective which fuses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism. This framework enables Richardson to (re)contextualise élite journalism within its professional political economic social and historic settings and present a critical and precise examination of not only the prevalence but also the form and potential effects of anti-Muslim racism. The book analyses the centrality of van Dijk’s ideological square and the significance and utility of stereotypical topoi in representing Islam and Muslims focusing in particular on the reporting of Turkey Pakistan Iran Israel/Palestine Algeria Iraq and Britain.
This timely book should interest researchers and students of racism Islam Journalism and Communication studies Rhetoric and (Critical) Discourse Analysis.
This timely book should interest researchers and students of racism Islam Journalism and Communication studies Rhetoric and (Critical) Discourse Analysis.
Translation Universals : Do they exist?
Jan 2004
Book
Translation universals is one of the most intriguing and controversial topics in recent translation studies. Can we discover general laws of translation independent of the particularities of individual translations? Research into this is new: serious empirical work only began in the late nineties. The present volume offers the state of the art on the issue. It includes theoretical discussion on alternative conceptualisations and new distinctions around the basic concepts. Several papers test hypotheses on universals in the light of recent work in different languages and some suggest new ones emerging from empirical work over the last two to three years. The book contributes to the search for generalities in translation the methodological solutions available and presents emerging evidence on the kinds of regularities that large-scale research is bringing forth. On a more practical level the applicability of the hypotheses and findings to translator education is as always a concern for translation studies.
The Spatial Construction of Organization
Jan 2004
Book
An important challenge to organization theory is to search for constructs that explain how contexts for work emerge evolve persist and change. This book explores the concept of "space" as representing a wide variety of contexts. Organization as a process as distinguished from organization as an entity is seen as the construction of space where space is the outcome of human action and interaction as well as providing a context for actions and interaction. The book shows how different forms of space lie at the base of a number of developments in organization theory. It then takes the step to show how contemporary developments in social science represented by works by writers such as Giddens Luhmann Latour and Bourdieu can be used to establish a dynamic understanding of organization as space. Insights from these discussions are used to establish a unique and coherent way of understanding complexities of modern organization.
Philosophy of the Brain : The brain problem
Jan 2004
Book
"What is the mind?"<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>"What is the relationship between brain and mind?"<br/>These are common questions. But "What is the brain?" is a rare question in both the neurosciences and philosophy. The reason for this may lie in the brain itself: Is there a "brain problem"?<br/>In this fresh and innovative book Georg Northoff demonstrates that there is in fact a "brain problem". He argues that our brain can only be understood when its empirical functions are directly related to the modes of acquiring knowledge our epistemic abilities and inabilities. Drawing on the latest neuroscientific data and philosophical theories he provides an empirical-epistemic definition of the brain. Northoff reveals the basic conceptual confusion about the relationship between mind and brain that has so obstinately been lingering in both neuroscience and philosophy. He subsequently develops an alternative framework where the integration of the brain within body and environment is central. This novel approach plunges the reader into the depths of our own brain. The "Philosophy of the Brain" that emerges opens the door to a fascinating world of new findings that explore the mind and its relationship to our very human brain. (Series A)
Consciousness, Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain
Jan 2004
Book
During the last decade the study of emotional self-regulation has blossomed in a variety of sub-disciplines belonging to either psychology (developmental clinical) or the neurosciences (cognitive and affective). Consciousness Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain gives an overview of the current state of this relatively new scientific field. Several areas are examined by some of the leading theorists and researchers in this emerging domain. Most chapters seek to either present theoretical and developmental perspectives about emotional self-regulation (and dysregulation) provide cutting edge information with regard to the neural basis of conscious emotional experience and emotional self-regulation or expound theoretical models susceptible of explaining how healthy individuals are capable of consciously and voluntarily changing the neural activity underlying emotional processes and states. In addition a few chapters consider the capacity of human consciousness to volitionally influence the brain’s electrical activity or modulate the impact of emotions on the psychoneuroendocrine-immune network. This book will undoubtedly be useful to scholars and graduate students interested in the relationships between self-consciousness emotion the brain and the body. (Series B)