This text describes how the language used in social interaction evolves from the time the speakers first meet and becomes the in-group code of a given discourse community (in this case the academic community). Most studies reported in the literature of the language of groups and intimates until now have been global, imprecise or unsystematic, and have described the language as a product at a given time; no systematic study appears to have been carried out to follow through the interactions of individuals as they form a group, to discover precisely how and why language changes over time as assumed knowledge grows. Here, the author focuses on the precise changes that occur with increasing knowledge over time, and uses a longitudinal approach to describe the language as a process.

How do we design sentences to fit their purposes and how do we combine them to communicate complex, contextualized meanings? This work takes discourse apart to show how it is organized and how it aids communication.

What would happen if structures, forms, and other stand-alone entities thought to comprise our intellectual toolkit-words, meanings, signs-were jettisoned? How would a work written in a purportedly dead language, like The Iliad, or penned in a foreign tongue be approached if deemed legible without structures such as meaning-bearing signs or grammatical rules? A New Philosophy of Discourse charts a novel course in response to these questions, coining an original concept of discourse, or talk!, that Joshua Kates presents as more fundamental than language. In Kates' conception of discourse, writing and speech take shape entirely as events, situated within histories, contexts, and traditions themselves always in the making. Combining literary theory, literary criticism, and philosophy, to reveal a new perspective on discourse, Kates focuses on literary criticism, literary texts by Charles Bernstein and Stanley Elkin, and the philosophical writings of Stanley Cavell, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Donald Davidson and Martin Heidegger. This ground-breaking study bridges the analytical/continental divide, by working through concrete problems using novel and extended interpretations with wide-ranging implications for the humanities.

A systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. Introduces three approaches and explains the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach.

This essay is an attempt to build up a plausible model of the cognitive processes behind the behavior exhibited by speaker-hearers in a specific discourse situation.

First published in 1998. The emphasis upon differences, plurality and multiculturalism has led to an outpouring of information that has been interpreted by theories such as pragmatism, communitarianism, feminism, postmodern discourse and liberation ethics. Up to now, these issues have been seen as particular and external objects for theoretical discussion. This book goes to the heart of the matter and opens promising avenues for further philosophical reflection on these topics. Having the conception of communication in discourse theory as point of departure, scholars of distinct philosophical backgrounds move in and out of different contexts to offer a first-hand and in-depth account of the above positions in their dialogue with discourse theory. By establishing a web, they connect distinct issues that have been dealt with only separately thus far, without losing sight of differences. In the end, A Matter of Discourse shows that pluralism and multiculturalism are to be found within philosophy itself.

Literary critics and scholars have written extensively on the demise of the "utopian spirit" in the modern novel. What has often been overlooked is the emergence of a new hybrid subgenre, particularly in science fiction and fantasy, which incorporates utopian strategies within the dystopian narrative, particularly in the feminist dystopias of the 1980s and 1990s. The author names this new subgenre "transgressive utopian dystopias." Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy, Suzy McKee Charna's Holdfast series, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are thoroughly analyzed within the context of this this new subgenre of "transgressive utopian dystopias." Analysis focuses particularly on how these works cover the interrelated categories of gender, race and class, along with their relationship to classic literary dualism and the dystopian narrative. Without completely dissolving the dualistic order, the feminist dystopias studied here contest the notions of unambiguity and authenticity that are generally part of the canon.

Focusing on the marginal region of Toyama, on the Sea of Japan, the author explores the interplay of central and regional authorities, local and national perceptions of rights, and the emerging political practices in Toyama and Tokyo that became part of the new political culture that took shape in Japan following the Meiji Restoration. Lewis argues that in response to the demands of the centralizing state, local elites and leaders in Toyama developed a repertoire of supple responses that varied with the political or economic issue at stake.