Issues in cognitive discourse research: Positioning, representation, conceptualization

• Authors: Piotr Cap

Abstracts

EN

The present paper explores the current nexus between Cognitive Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), focusing on theories of conceptual positioning, distancing and perspective-taking in discourse space. It assesses the strengths, limitations, and prospects for further operationalization of positioning as a valid methodology in CDA, and political discourse studies in particular. In the first part, I review the cognitive models of positioning that have made the most significant contribution to CDA. Discussing Deictic Space Theory and Text World Theory, among others, I argue that these models reveal further theoretical potential which has not been exploited yet. While they offer a comprehensive and plausible account of how representations and ideologically charged worldviews are established, they fail to deliver a pragmatic explanation of how addressees are made to establish a worldview, in the service of speaker’s goals. The second part of the paper outlines Proximization Theory, a discursive model of crisis and conflict construction in political discourse. I argue that, unlike the other models, it fully captures the complex geopolitical and ideological positioning in political discourse space, providing a viable handle on the dynamics of conflict between the opposing ideologies of the space.

Keywords

EN

cognitive linguistics; critical discourse analysis; positioning; discourse space; proximization

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uczelniane Wyższej Szkoły Gospodarki w Bydgoszczy
• Journal: Heteroglossia - studia kulturoznawczo-filologiczne
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 47-66

Contributors

author

Piotr Cap

• Uniwersytet Łódzki

• https://orcid.org/0000000276854112

Identifiers

DOI

10.34864/heteroglossia.issn.2084-1302.nr10.art4

Biblioteka Nauki

956440