LINGUIST List 10.796

Fri May 21 1999

Books: Pragmatics

Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar <aristarlinguistlist.org>

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers are available at the end of this issue.

Directory

Paul Peranteau, Preformulating the News.

Paul Peranteau, Discourse Markers: Descriptions and theory.

Message 1: Preformulating the News.

Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 18:05:34 -0400
From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com>
Subject: Preformulating the News.

John Benjamins Publishing announces the availability of these two works in Pragmatics

Preformulating the News. An analysis of the metapragmatics of press releases. Geert JACOBS (University of Antwerp-UFSIA) Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 60 US & Canada: 1 55619 823 X / USD 89.00 (Hardcover) Rest of world: 90 272 5074 X / NLG 178.00 (Hardcover)

Preformulating the News is a study of press releases and of how they anticipate the requirements of journalistic writing. Drawing from a large corpus (Dutch and English), it is argued that the genre's peculiar audience-directedness can be related to a number of metapragmatic textual features and that this sheds light on the asymmetries of what can be termed the 'newsmaking' and 'news management' processes. In the first chapter the study of press releases is put in the context of institutional discourse and the details of a linguistic pragmatic research method are proposed. Chapter 2 looks at the complex receiver roles in press releases, which are characterized as indirectly targeted, i.c. 'projected', discourse. In chapters 3 to 6 a data analysis of the metapragmatics of press releases is presented: in particular, it is shown that self-reference, pseudo-quotation and explicit semi-performative play a 'preformulating' role in press releases. Chapter 7 offers a case study of the press releases that the American multinational Exxon issued in the wake of 1989 Alaska oil spill. In the eighth and final chapter it is suggested that the study's findings support a hegemonic view of the media. In analysing the much neglected genre of press releases, the book aims to contribute to the study of the language of the news. At the same time, it explores more general issues of participation and footing as well as reflexive language, including deixis, reported speech and performativity.

Message 2: Discourse Markers: Descriptions and theory.

Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 18:05:34 -0400
From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com>
Subject: Discourse Markers: Descriptions and theory.

Discourse Markers. Descriptions and theory. Andreas H. JUCKER (Justus Liebig University, Giessen) and Yael ZIV (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) (eds.) Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 57 US & Canada: 1 55619 820 5 / USD 75.00 (Hardcover) Rest of world: 90 272 5071 5 / NLG 150.00 (Hardcover)

Studies of Discourse Markers so far have concentrated on either the descriptive or the theoretical parameter. This book brings together thirteen papers concerning aspects of lexical instantiations of Discourse Marking devices, ranging from functional descriptions along cognitive, attitudinal, interactive and structure signalling lines to theoretical issues arising from various properties discourse markers display cross-linguistically. Data from English, Finnish, Hebrew, Korean, and Japanese are examined. Also addressed are questions concerning overall accounts, potential sub-classifications, possible form-function correlations and the appropriateness of such frameworks as Relevance Theory for their description. Interestingly, features evident in the distribution and use of lexical discourse markers are shown to affect the assessment of such theoretical constructs as the distinction between conceptual and procedural meaning. A more sophisticated picture emerges than a simple dichotomy between the two. Studies of the grammar of

Discourse Markers hence would have to take the observations and suggestions raised in this collection of papers into account. Contributions by: Andreas H. Jucker and Yael Ziv; Yael Maschler; Shelley Shloush; Auli Hakulinen; Villy Rouchota; Anna-Brita Stenstrom; Gisle Andersen; Andreas H. Jucker and Sara W. Smith; Yael Ziv; Mira Ariel; Satoko Suzuki; Yong-Yae Park; Bruce Fraser; Paul O. Takahara. [Diacritics removed for Internet purposes]

John Benjamins Publishing Co. Offices: Philadelphia Amsterdam: Websites: http://www.benjamins.com http://www.benjamins.nl E-mail: servicebenjamins.com customer.servicesbenjamins.nl Phone: +215 836-1200 +31 20 6762325 Fax: +215 836-1204 +31 20 6739773

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