I had the opportunity to read a pre-publication version of this book and
recommend it as one (of quite a few) that provides an insight into a
socioculturally oriented perspective on language.
Phil
>Title: Working with Discourse
>Subtitle: Meaning Beyond the Clause
>Series Title: Open Linguistics
>
>Publication Year: 2002
>Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
> http://www.continuumbooks.com
>
>Author: J.R. Martin, University of Sydney
>Author: David Rose, University of Sydney
>
>Hardback: ISBN: 0826455077, Pages: 296, Price: GBP65.00
>Paperback: ISBN: 0826455085, Pages: 296, Price: GBP19.99
>
>Abstract:
>
>Working with Discourse is designed for researchers and students
>interested in exploring how speakers and writers construe meaning
>through discourse. It draws on tools for discourse analysis that were
>developed in systemic functional linguistics and register and genre
>theory, but it requires no prior knowledge of functional linguistics
>and avoids academic complexity wherever possible. Rather, the book an
>accessible set of analytic tools that can be used with ease in a range
>of disciplines. These are introduced in clear steps, through analyses
>of a set of stories, arguments, reviews, procedures and other texts
>that exemplify how meanings are constructed and contested in a culture
>by focusing on current issues of truth and reconciliation in
>post-apartheid South Africa. Readers are guided through these text
>analyses from five complementary perspectives on meaning, exploring
>the ways in which: · people and things are introduced and tracked
>though a text; · messages are logically related in discourse
>sequences; · people, things, processes and qualities are construed
>and related; · people, things and processes are appreciated, judged
>and valued; · all these elements of meaning are synthesized and
>organized as waves of information in a text. These detailed analyses
>provide a practical resource for application in any field in which
>discourse analysis has a role, including educational research,
>critical discourse analysis, cultural studies, text linguistics, and
>language and literacy teaching. It is equally useful as a textbook for
>undergraduate and postgraduate courses in these fields and as a
>reference guide for researchers.
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