Metadiscourse in interactive contexts: An introduction
The fact that human beings can talk about language in the same way as they can talk about other things is one of the features distinguishing human language from animal communication and has been termed reflexivity by Charles Hockett (1960). This phenomenon has been discussed by linguists under vario...
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| Published in: | Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2017-01, Vol.42 (2), p.185-188 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The fact that human beings can talk about language in the same way as they can talk about other things is one of the features distinguishing human language from animal communication and has been termed reflexivity by Charles Hockett (1960). This phenomenon has been discussed by linguists under various names, all with the prefix meta, such as metalanguage, metadiscourse, meta-talk, or metacommunication. According to Mey (2001:173), “a ‘metalanguage’ indicates a language that is about language, one level ‘up’ from the language itself, the ‘object language’ […]. A metalanguage indicates, comments on, examines, criticizes etc. what happens on the level of the object language.” The aim of this special issue of the Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik is to explore the functions and usages of one particular type of metalanguage, namely metadiscourse, by which we understand discourse about the ongoing discourse (cf. Mauranen 1993 and 2010). Metadiscourse is an essential feature of written and spoken and of monologic and dialogic texts and is not restricted to any particular type of discourse or genre. In this volume, we will focus on metadiscourse in interactive contexts, i.e. with two or more participants, as we assume that in their attempt to co-construct meanings and to secure mutual comprehension and at the same time to foreground certain perspectives on the world and on their identities, interlocutors will draw upon metadiscourse and will use it for purposes that differ from those relevant to written monologic texts. Met |
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| ISSN: | 0171-5410 |