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Text, Context, Pretext

Critical Issues in Discourse Analysis

H G Widdowson author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Published:9th Sep '04

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Text, Context, Pretext cover

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

“This book is beautifully written, clearly and cogently argued and illustrated with interesting and persuasive examples. It is excellent for use with students, who would otherwise struggle in a field replete with difficult, if not tortuous, key texts.” Malcolm Coulthard, University of Birmingham


“It is unusual in discourse analysis to find a book as thought-provoking or as wide-ranging as this. Any student of pragmatics, discourse analysis (critical or otherwise), text linguistics or corpus linguistics will need to consider carefully what Henry Widdowson has to say; his positions are too well argued to be simply ignored.”
Michael Hoey, University of Liverpool

"Text, Context, Pretext covers much ground in discourse analysis ranging from its early precursors (e.g. B Malinowski, Z. Harris) to its contemporary practitioners. The notion of pretext provides a new approach to the discussion of critical issues in (critical) discourse analysis."
Journal of Sociolinguistics

"The Volume, greatly ro its credit, raises the awareness of various critical issues which need to be considered when embarking on research in Critical Discourse Analysis."
Discourse & Society

ISBN: 9780631234524

Dimensions: 231mm x 154mm x 15mm

Weight: 290g

200 pages