textual information structure and social power

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1、ProceedingsoftheInternationalConferenceonCriticalDiscourseAnalysis:TheoryintoResearch,November2005TextualInformationStructureandSocialPower®ZohrehTahvildarIslamicAzadUniversityofShabestarAbstractAccordingtothesocialsemioticviewoflanguage,linguisticformsan

2、dmeaningsworktogetherwithsocialandculturalmeaningsandinterpretationstocreatediscourse.Prominentamongstsocialstructureswhichinfluencetextualstrategiesisinequalityofpower.Anydiscursivepracticedeals,willynilly,withtheexchangeofinformation,andthecomponentsofc

3、ontextofsituationincludingthepowerstatusofdiscourseproducerwouldcertainlyaffectthetextualstrategieshe/sheemploys.Amongstthesestrategies,thepresentpaperhasfocusedoninformationstructuretryingtoinvestigatetherelationshipbetweentheamountofsocialpoweradiscours

4、eproducerholdsandvariationsintheinformationstructureofthetexthe/sheproduces.Theresearcher’sclaimisthattheinformationstructureisoneamongstmanyothertextualstrategiesthroughwhichthediscourseparticipantsenactpowertolocatethemselvesintheirsocialworldwhenengagi

5、ngindiscourse.Thestudyundertakestheanalysisofthevariationsininformationstructureinthediscourseoftwocharacters(situationally,onepowerfulandtheotherholdinglesssocialpower)inanovelette,basedonBrown&Yule(1983)informationtaxonomyaswellassometacticsindemandfori

6、nformationadoptedfromThompson(1999).Incomparison,theresultsrevealedsignificantdifferencesinthedegreeofgivennessandnewnessofinformationintheirface-to-faceinteractionswhichconfirmedtheresearcher’sclaim.IntroductionHumanasasocialbeingneedsconstantexchangeofi

7、nformation,andeverydiscursivepracticeincludessomepiecesofinformationtobeconveyedandexchangedbydiscourseparticipantswho,inevitably,enacttheirsocialpowerpartlybasedontheirsocio-economic,socio-cultural,andsocio-politicalstatusesandpartlyinaccordancewiththeco

8、ntextofsituation.Mulholland(1991:184)emphasizesthevitalityofthespeakers’assessmentofthehearers’knowledgeandpowerstatus,sinceitistheveryevaluationthatcontributeswhatinformationtobegivenandhowitshouldbegiven.Thepresen