Interdisciplinary Discourse

Interdisciplinary Research Discourse: Corpus Investigations into Environment Journals provides cutting-edge insights into the nature of communication in interdisciplinary research domains. Using a corpus of nearly 12,000 articles taken from 11 journals, this book addresses the key questions that surround writing for an interdisciplinary audience. This books also explores: the ways in which writers write if they are writing for an interdisciplinary audience as well as for a specialist disciplinary audience; the different natures and instances of the term 'interdisciplinarity'; and whether an analysis of the rhetorical contexts in which research is relayed to interdisciplinary audiences is critical to understanding interdisciplinary research activities and communications. Written by two leading figures in the field of Corpus Linguistics, this is an essential text for researchers and upper-level undergraduates working in the areas of Corpus Linguistics, Discourse Analysis and Linguistics in areas of interdisciplinary communication.

This book uncovers exactly what is involved when researchers from different disciplines engage with one another in research projects. The authors identify the opportunities and difficulties involved in interdisciplinary engagement, and challenge current claims about where the greatest difficulties are to be found. The first part of the book introduces interdisciplinarity and identifies key issues that influence our understanding of it. The second part of the book presents the findings of research based on over 50 hours of recording and nearly 450,000 words of transcript drawn from a number of university faculties, concluding with a discussion of how this might inform interdisciplinary practice. The book is accessible to the non-specialist reader while also being of interest to social scientists working in professional and academic communication.

In international law victims' issues have gained more and more attention over the last decades. In particular in transitional justice processes the victim is being given high priority. It is to be seen in this context that the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court foresees a rather excessive victim participation concept in criminal prosecution. In this volume issue is taken at first with the definition of victims, and secondly with the role of the victim as a witness and as a participant. Several chapters address this matter with a view to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Trial against Demjanjuk in Germany. In a third part the interests of the victims outside the criminal trial are being discussed. In the final part the role of civil society actors are being tackled. This volume thus gives an overview of the role of victims in transitional justice processes from an interdisciplinary angle, combining academic research and practical experience.

The title of this book 'Critical Discourse Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Perspective' is purposely chosen to emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of critical discourse analysis (CDA). This book has the following key features: The chapter authors bring to the book their diversified backgrounds. They are linguists, educators, computer scientists, health professionals, and social consultants. Although they all share a common interest in CDA, their academic and cultural experiences are different and this intercultural and interdisciplinary feature provides interesting insights into the understanding of CDA and its wider application. Thus, it appeals to a wide range of readers such as students, educators, researchers, health professionals and others. The book is divided into three parts to reflect the main interdisciplinary aspects of CDA: Part One is about some introductory aspects of CDA. It gives readers some basic ideas about CDA as an emerging field. Part Two is on CDA across different subjects and disciplines such as language education, information technology, and heath sciences. Part Three deals with CDA across cultures. It includes the use of CDA in examining social and linguistic issues in different nations and cultures such as Spain, Nigeria, Indonesia, New Zealand. For those who do not have backgrounds in linguistics, two introductory chapters on aspects of linguistics and functional grammar, which are relevant to CDA, are included in this book. They are essential for understanding CDA.

As a founder and leading figure in multimodality and social semiotics, Theo van Leuween has made significant contributions to a variety of research fields, including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, communication and media studies, education, and design. In celebration of his illustrious research career, this volume brings together a group of leading and emerging scholars in these fields to review, explore and advance two central research agendas set out by van Leeuwen: the categorisation of the meaning potential of various semiotic resources and the examination of their uses in different forms of communication, and the critical analysis of the interaction between semiotic forms, norms and technology in discursive practices. Through 11 cutting-edge research papers and an experimental visual essay, the book investigates a broad range of semiotic resources including touch, sound, image, texture, and discursive practices such as community currency, fitness regime, film scoring, and commodity upcycling. The book showcases how social semiotics and multimodality can provide insights into the burning issues of the day, such as global neoliberalism, terrorism, consumerism, and immigration.

This volume addresses the implications that academic interdisciplinarity in the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has for research and pedagogy with a global reach. The Editors present a coherent, research-supported analysis of the influence of interdisciplinary research and methods on the way academics collaborate on courses, develop their careers and teach students. The hitherto prevalence of disciplinary silo-like approaches to academic and scientific issues is increasingly ceding ground to an interdisciplinary synergy of different methodological and epistemological traditions. In the context of ongoing trends towards interdisciplinarity in degree programmes and the increasing popularity of such degree programmes with students (e.g., bioinformatics, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, neuropolitics, evolutionary finance, global studies, and security studies), academics and programme administrators need awareness of the skills needed to operate in interdisciplinary contexts. Studies in this edited volume examine interdisciplinary communication practices, and identify how academic writing, teaching, language proficiency assessment and degree programmes are responding to changes in the broader social, institutional and political contexts of academia. As authors in the volume demonstrate, the discursive features, literacy practices and instructional modes, and the student experience of these emerging interdisciplines deserve systematic exploration. This insightful volume sheds light on contexts across the globe and will be used by students studying EAP and ESP pedagogy or practice; academics in the fields of applied linguistics and higher education, as well as higher education faculty and administrators interested in interdisciplinarity in degree programmes.

This volume is part of the series ‘Pragmatics, Philosophy and Psychology’, edited for Springer by Alessandro Capone. It is intended for an audience of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postgraduate and advanced researchers. This volume focuses on societal pragmatics. One of the main concerns of societal pragmatics is the world of language users. We are interested in the investigation of linguistic practices in the context of societal practices (‘praxis’, to use a term used in the Wittgensteinian and other traditions). It is clear that the world of users, including their practices, their culture, and their social aims has to be taken into account and seriously investigated when we deal with the pragmatics of language. It is not enough to discuss principles of language use solely in the guise of abstract theoretical tools. Consequently, the present volume focuses explicitly on the interplay of abstract, theoretical principles and the necessities imposed by societal contexts often requiring a more flexible use of such theoretical tools. The volume includes articles on pragmemes, politeness and anti-politeness, dialogue, joint utterances, discourse markers, pragmatics and the law, institutional discourse, critical discourse analysis, pragmatics and culture, cultural scripts, argumentation theory, connectives and argumentation, language games and psychotherapy, slurs, the analysis of funerary rites, as well as an authoritative chapter by Jacob L. Mey on societal pragmatics.

This volume provides a stage for an extensive exploration of the interface between medicine, law and other disciplines or professions. It offers the reader opportunities to understand how this integrative, interactive interdisciplinary process can be examined through the lenses of language, discourse and communication. Contributions cover cross-wise issues raised by paradigmatic cases of bioethics and law, nursing ethics and law, pharmacy ethics and law, bioethics and religion, risk management and ethics, social inclusion and bioethics, and environmental ethics.