Article published in:
Dialogicity in Written Specialised Genres
Edited by Luz Gil-Salom and Carmen Soler-Monreal
[Dialogue Studies 23] 2014
► pp. 165–188

Chapter 6. A corpus-based study of the discursive creation of a child consumer identity in official tourist information websites vs. opinion forums

| Universitat de Valencia
Starting from an understanding of forums in terms of dialogic action games, as put forward by Weigand (see e.g. Weigand 2008, 2009, 2010), I look into the dialogic behaviour that unfolds in forums as an action game that conforms to a specific cultural unit. Largely based on previous research (Dolón 2012), where I studied the socio-semantic discursive construction of a consumer identity for the child as a social actor in official tourist information websites, this paper addresses the question of whether tourist opinion forums construct similar or differentiated identity profiles in comparison with official tourist websites. Behind this question lies the assumption that both genres often recreate identical rhetorical patterns where the discursive identity construction of the child as a consumer may be rarely questioned or contested, and therefore fail to express real consumer choices and, more specifically, identity traits. The study is corpusdriven, applying concordancing tools to allow for the scrutiny of a large specialized corpus, and relies on the methodological framework of Critical Discourse Analysis.
Published online: 10 July 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.23.08dol
References
Atkins, Sue, Clear, Jeremy, and Ostler, Nicholas
1992 “Corpus design criteria”. Literary and Linguistic Computing 7 (1): 1–16. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Paul
2006 Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas
1995 Dimensions of Register Variation: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison. ­Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, Anita
2004 “Virtual behavior settings: An application of behavior setting theories to virtual communities”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 9: 00. 
 Doi: CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers, and Cooper, Frederick
2000 “Beyond ‘identity’”. Theory and Society 29: 1–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dahlberg, Lincoln
2001 “Computer-mediated communication and the public sphere: A critical analysis”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication7: 0. 
 Doi: CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Beaugrande, Robert
2001 “Interpreting the discourse of H. G. Widdowson: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis”. Applied Linguistics 22 (1): 104–121. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dolón, Rosana
2012 “El niño como actor social en el discurso turístico: un estudio de análisis crítico de la construcción discursiva de una identidad de consumidor”. In Discurso Turístico e Internet, Julia Sanmartín (ed), 155–186. Madrid: Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
2002 Analysing Discourse. Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman, and Wodak, Ruth
1997 “Critical discourse analysis”. In Introduction to Discourse Analysis, Teun A. van Dijk (ed.), 258–284. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Fayard, Anne Laure, and DeSanctis, Gerardine
2005 “Evolution of an online forum for knowledge management professionals: A language game analysis”. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 10 (4), article 2.Google Scholar
Firth, John R
1968 “A synopsis of linguistic theory”. In Selected Papers of J. R. Firth 1952–59, Frank R. Palmer (ed). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel
1994 “Le souci de la vérité”. In Dits et Ecrits, vol. IV, Daniel Defert and ­François Ewald (eds), 668–678. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Freire, Paulo, and Macedo, Donaldo P
1987 Literacy: Reading the World and the World. Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvin Publishers.Google Scholar
Gergen, Kennet J
1994 Realities and Relationships. Soundings in Social Construction (Chapter 8: Self-narration in social life). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erwing
1981 Forms of Talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Grad, Héctor, and Martín-Rojo, Luisa
2008 “Identities in discourse”. In Analysing Identities in Discourse, Rosana Dolón and Júlia Todolí (eds), 3–30. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Habermas, Jürgen
1984 A Theory of Communicative Action. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart
1996 “Introduction: who needs identity?” In Questions of Cultural Identity, Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay (eds), 1–17. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Herring, Susan
2004 “Slouching toward the ordinary: Current trends in computer-mediated communication”. New Media & Society 6 (1): 26–36. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hoey, Michael
1997 “From concordance to text structure: new uses for computer corpora”. In PALC ’97: Proceedings of Practical Applications of Linguistic Corpora Conference , James Melia and Barbara Lewandowska (eds), 2–23. University of Lodz.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Richard
1996 Social Identity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey
2000 “Grammar of spoken English: new outcomes of corpus-oriented research”. Language Learning 50 (4): 675–724. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Luke, Allan
2002 “Beyond science and ideological critique: developments in critical discourse analysis”. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 22: 96–110. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Martin, James R., and Wodak, R
. (eds) 2003 Re/reading the Past. Critical and Functional Perspectives on Time and Value. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Martin-Rojo, Luisa
1998 “Intertextuality and the construction of a new female identity”. In Intertextuality/ Intertextualidad, Mercedes Bengoechea and Ricardo Sola Buil (eds), 81–98. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.Google Scholar
McEnery, Tony, Xiao, Richard, and Tono, Yukio
2006 Corpus-based Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Partington, Alan
2003 Wordings of War: Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies on the Iraq War. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Porter, Elise
2004 “A typology of virtual communities: A multi-disciplinary foundation for future research”, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3. Electronic resource last accessed 29. 12. 2010. http://​jcmc​.indiana​. edu​/vol10​/issue1​/porter​. html#secondGoogle Scholar
Santini, Marina
2007 “Characterizing genres of web pages: genre hybridism and individualization”. In 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences: 1–10.
Shepherd, Michael A., Watters, Carolyn R., and Kennedy, Alistair
2004 “Cybergenre: automatic identification of home pages on the web”. Journal of Web Engineering 3 (4): 236–251.Google Scholar
Stubbs, Michael
1997 “Whorf’s children: Critical comments on critical discourse analysis”. In Evolving Models of Language, Alison Wray and Ann Ryan (eds), 100–116. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
2001 Words and Phrases: Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri
(ed) 1982 Social Identity and Intergroup Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge ­University Press.Google Scholar
Van Leeuwen, Teo
1996 “The representation of social actors”. In Texts and Practice, ­Carmen-R. Caldas-Coulthard and Michael Coulthard (eds), 32–70. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weigand, Edda
(ed) 2008 Dialogue and Rhetoric. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2008 “Rhetoric in the Mixed Game”. In Dialogue and Rhetoric, Edda Weigand (ed), 3–22. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 Dialogue: The Mixed Game. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wetherell, Margaret, and Potter, Jonathan
1988 “Discourse analysis and the identification of interpretative repertoires”. In Analysing Everyday Explanation: A Casebook of Methods, Charles Antaki (ed), 168–183. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Williams, Robin
2000 Making Identity Matter: Identity, Society and Social Interaction. Durham: Sociologypress.Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco
2001 Ciberpragmática. Barcelona: Ariel Lingüística.Google Scholar