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4 - Context and discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Teun A. van Dijk
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
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Summary

My claim is that context permeates language, that contextual assumptions affect how we understand language, and that contexts of speech have to be better understood to develop realistic theories of language and of language learning.

(Susan Ervin-Tripp, 1996: 21)

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the main function of contexts, namely how they enable and constrain the production and comprehension of text and talk. I shall start with a conceptual analysis of the possible relationships between context and discourse. These may be described in many terms, such as "influence," "control," "mapping," "manifestation," "expression" and "indexing", among others. Then, I shall examine some of the crucial notions that are often used to describe the product of this contextual influence on discourse, such as style, register, genre, variation and related notions. Finally, I shall review some major dimensions of discourse that are thus systematically controlled by context structures, and conversely, how such discourse dimensions may in turn influence the context models of participants, that is, their interpretation of the ongoing communicative event.

Since much of this discussion presupposes vast fields of earlier research, especially in sociolinguistics, I shall focus particularly on the contextual control of discourse structures, assuming that the influence of context on grammar, that is, on phonology, prosody, syntax and the lexicon, is well known.

Type
Chapter
Information
Discourse and Context
A Sociocognitive Approach
, pp. 111 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Context and discourse
  • Teun A. van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
  • Book: Discourse and Context
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481499.005
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  • Context and discourse
  • Teun A. van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
  • Book: Discourse and Context
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481499.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Context and discourse
  • Teun A. van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
  • Book: Discourse and Context
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481499.005
Available formats
×