Introduction to Discourse Studies

Jan Renkema

| University of Tilburg

This title has been replaced by Introduction to Discourse Studies: New edition (2018)

Hardbound – Replaced by new edition

ISBN 9789027226105 (Eur)

ISBN 9781588115294 (USA)

Paperback – Replaced by new edition

ISBN 9789027232212 (Eur)

ISBN 9781588115300 (USA)

e-Book – Replaced by new edition

ISBN 9789027295231

Introduction to Discourse Studies follows on Jan Renkema’s successful Discourse Studies: An Introductory Textbook (1993), published in four languages. This new book deals with even more key concepts in discourse studies and approaches major issues in this field from the Anglo-American and European as well as the Australian traditions. It provides a ‘scientific toolkit’ for future courses on discourse studies and serves as a stepping stone to the independent study of professional literature.

Introduction to Discourse Studies is the result of more than twenty-five years of experience gained in doing research and teaching students, professionals and academics at various universities. The book is organized in fifteen comprehensive chapters, each subdivided in modular sections that can be studied separately. It includes

400 references, from the most-cited contemporary publications to influential classic works;
500 index entries covering frequently used concepts in the field;
more than 100 thought-provoking questions, all elaborately answered, which are ideal for teacher-supported self-education;
nearly 100 assignments that provide ample material for teachers to focus on specific topics of their own preference in their lectures.

Jan Renkema is a member of the Department of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also editor of Discourse, of Course (2009) and author of The Texture of Discourse (2009). In 2009, a Chinese edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies was published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

This title replaces Discourse Studies: An introductory textbook (1993)

[Not in series, 124] 2004. x, 363 pp.

Publishing status: Obsolete

https://doi.org/10.1075/z.124

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments | p. ix

1. Introduction | p. 1

Part I. General orientation

2. Communication as action | p. 11

3. Discourse in communication | p. 35

Part II. Backpacking for a scientific journey

4. Discourse types | p. 59

5. Structured content | p. 87

6. Discourse connections | p. 103

7. Contextual phenomena | p. 121

8. Style | p. 145

Part III. Special modes of communication

9. Conversation analysis | p. 161

10. Informative discourse | p. 175

11. Narratives | p. 191

12. Argumentation and persuasion | p. 203

Part IV. Special interests

13. Discourse and cognition | p. 221

14. Discourse and institution | p. 253

15. Discourse and culture | p. 279

Key to the questions | p. 299

Index | p. 357

“In the field of discourse studies, pedagogic finesse and intellectual acumen are not always capacities that walk comfortably hand in hand. In this book, however, the author dons both hats with consummate ease in his function as a self-styled human bridge, guiding us across a comprehensive range of text linguistic, social semiotic and pragmatic approaches to meaning beyond the clause.”

Jim Martin , Prof. of Linguistics (The University of Sydney, Australia)

“This book really lives up to its aim of providing the prospective student with a scientific 'toolkit' [...]. I certainly recommend this as the main textbook on discourse studies/analysis courses.”

Dr. Guowen Huang, School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, China, on Linguist List Vol.16.1220

“Renkema discusses an extraordinary number of research studies - not only the classic studies, but many current ones - carefully explaining the goals and methods and results of each one, and specifying what makes the study important for the field. I have rarely seen a text as thorough and as clear as this one, and I recommend it without reservation.”

Suzette Haden Elgin, The Verbal Self-Defense Newsletter, Jan/Feb. 2005

“This well-presented book has at least five merits: clarity, up-to-date bibliography, interdisciplinary perspective, a synthesis of approaches, theories, and key concepts, and numerous and varied assignments... inspired and inspiring, joining theoretical knowledge with suggestions for applications.”

Francisco Gomes de Matos, Letras 2005

“In my view, Jan Renkema has set the bar extremely high with his textbook, Introduction to Discourse Studies. So high, in fact, that it is hard to imagine any book in this field as fine as this one appearing anytime soon.”

Aleksandar Carapic, University of Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, in Journal of Pragmatics, 2006

“This is a masterful and comprehensive piece of scholarship, by the best-selling author of Discourse Studies, representing more than twenty years of research and teaching on the organization and sociocultural implications of discourse. This book, covering a diversity of topics and issues, including discourse types, discourse structure, argumentation, conversation analysis, narrative, electronic communication, institutional discourse, and critical discourse analysis, as well as a "Questions and Assignments" section with each chapter, will make a splendid course text, and will also be a mainstay in the libraries of all scholars interested in any aspect of discourse.”

Sandra A. Thompson, Department of Linguistics, UC Santa Barbara

“This book is a magnificent work which is outstanding for its great clarity and didactic orientation, a book in which the theoretical information and its applications are complemented by questions aimed at development and by a specific bibliography for each chapter. Few works can offer such coherence and system, qualities which will undoubtedly place "Introduction to Discourse Studies" among those valuable classic reference works for academic training.”

Cristian González, Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile, in Revista Signos Vol. 39:60 (2006)

“This is the book we have all been waiting for: an excellent and comprehensive, very well written, theoretically innovative overview of and introduction to Discourse Studies, much needed in Linguistics, Cultural Studies and in the Social Sciences. It appeals to students as well as to scholars in many disciplines. For anybody concerned with the analysis of texts and discourses, this book is a 'must-read'.”

Ruth Wodak, Prof. of Discourse Studies (Vienna/Lancaster)

Cited by

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Chen, Meilin & John Flowerdew

2019. Discriminatory discursive strategies in online comments on YouTube videos on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement by Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese. Discourse & Society 30:6 ► pp. 549 ff.

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2018. Signalling of Coherence Relations in Discourse, Beyond Discourse Markers. Discourse Processes 55:8 ► pp. 743 ff.

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2015. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications & Services, ► pp. 1 ff.

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2010. Review of recent research (2002–2009) on applied linguistics and language teaching with specific reference to L2 German (part 2). Language Teaching 43:1 ► pp. 38 ff.

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2014. Associative lexical cohesion as a factor in text complexity. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 165:2 ► pp. 223 ff.

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2020. Discursive Ambivalence in Illocutionary Speech Acts of Contemporary English Dialogic Discourse. Mìžnarodnij fìlologìčnij časopis 11:4 ► pp. 115 ff.

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2019. Methodology of English Professional Dialogic Speech Teaching of Agricultural Sciences Students. Mìžnarodnij fìlologìčnij časopis 3:10 ► pp. 106 ff.

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2011. In 2011 International Conference on Uncertainty Reasoning and Knowledge Engineering, ► pp. 115 ff.

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2018. A multimodal approach to the analysis of gender stereotypes in contemporary British TV commercials: “women and men at work”. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 54:2 ► pp. 185 ff.

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 01 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects & Metadata

Communication Studies

Linguistics

Discourse studies

Pragmatics

BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics

BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General

ONIX Metadata

ONIX 2.1

ONIX 3.0

U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2004053766 | Marc record