Discourse And Context: A Sociocognitive Approach

How do social situations influence language use and conversation? This book is the first to discuss and develop a theory of 'context' and its relationship to communication. Traditionally, the context of an expression has been defined as an objective social variable (such as gender, class or age of speakers). Teun van Dijk argues that it is not the social situation that influences (or is influenced by) conversation, but the way the participants define such a situation. Contexts are therefore subjective constructs designed and updated in interaction by participants as members of groups and communities. If contexts were 'objective' social conditions or constraints, all people in the same social situation would speak in the same way. Contexts are participant constructs and the main hypothesis of the theory of context is therefore a socio-cognitive one - it can show how communication depends on - and influences - the context.