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Meaning, Discourse and Society

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Meaning, Discourse and Society
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Wolfgang Teubert
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:300
Dimensions(mm): Height 229,Width 152
Category/GenreSemantics
ISBN/Barcode 9781107660502
ClassificationsDewey:401.41
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises; Printed music items

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 17 April 2014
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Meaning, Discourse and Society investigates the construction of reality within discourse. When people talk about things such as language, the mind, globalisation or weeds, they are less discussing the outside world than objects they have created collaboratively by talking about them. Wolfgang Teubert shows that meaning cannot be found in mental concepts or neural activity, as implied by the cognitive sciences. He argues instead that meaning is negotiated and knowledge is created by symbolic interaction, thus taking language as a social, rather than a mental, phenomenon. Discourses, Teubert contends, can be viewed as collective minds, enabling the members of discourse communities to make sense of themselves and of the world around them. By taking an active stance in constructing the reality they share, people thus can take part in moulding the world in accordance with their perceived needs.

Author Biography

Wolfgang Teubert is Professor of Corpus Linguistics at the University of Birmingham. His previous book publications include Corpus Linguistics: A Short Introduction (2007, with Anna Cermakova), Text, Discourse and Corpura (2007, with Michael Hoey, Michael Stubbs and Michaela Mahlberg) and he was co-editor of Corpus Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics: A Reader (2007) and Text Corpora and Multilingual Lexicography (2007).

Reviews

'The power of this exciting new book lies simultaneously within the detailed, continental traditions of scholarship that it brings to many readers for the first time; and the internal skepticism that it impliedly expresses towards the empirical instrumentation available to corpus linguists ... Teubert offers us an erudite and convincing reason for deep reflection before we contemplate discarding even the bath-water of hermeneutics. This book is a unique product of a tradition that combines philosophy, philology and hermeneutics on the one hand with an understanding of the power of corpora as a potential substitute for the experiences of a community during its lifetime ... a compelling read right up to its last paragraph and has my warm recommendation.' Bill Louw, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics '... provides a refreshingly original and long overdue theoretical rationale for the effectiveness and value of corpus linguistics.' Geoff Thompson, Languages in Contrast 'The book is well-organized, inspiring and clear. It will be of great interest to those who view language as social interaction and are therefore concerned with the social contexts in which discourse is embedded.' Jing Chen, Discourse Studies