Discourse Structure Relationships (Based on International Legal “Soft Law” Discourse)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31548/philolog2020.01.101Abstract
The paper addresses the problem of discourse structure as one of the most controversial issue of contemporary linguistic studies. The research aims at identifying two principal types of structural relationships between discursive parameters. The aim and its corresponding tasks have been achieved through the use of the complex methodology integrating the methods of critical discourse analysis, 'speech act theory' explanatory tools combined with the methods of Grice's pragmatics, form / function pragmatics and some politeness theory procedures. The major finding is that there are two types of structural interrelations between discourse parameters, i.e. multi level or hierarchic relations manifested at the level of discourse system and single-level syntagmatic and paradigmatic links identified at the subsystems level. In international legal discourse the structure is specified as the hierarchical subordination of pragmatic and verbal devices to a single cognitive basis represented by the conceptual opposition between “sovereignty” and “common good”, resulted in the soft law strategy of normative mitigation in areas of international cooperation somehow intervening with the scope of the state sovereignty. The single-level type of structural relations is associated with both syntagmatic “if-then” links (when one pragmatic phenomenon triggers a set of other pragmatic devices) and paradigmatic connections (associative links of different pragmatic devices specifying the same concepts and its manifesting strategy).
Identification of structural links between multilevel and single-level discourse parameters contributes to the further study of discourse as a particular structured system.
References
Ariel, M. (2012). Research paradigms in pragmatics. Cambridge handbook of pragmatics. Allan, K. & Jaszczolt, K.M. (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 23-45.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139022453.003
Ashley, K. Richard (2014). Critical Discourse Analysis in Analysing European Foreign Policy: Prospects and Challenges. Cooperation and Conflict 49, no. 3, pp. 354-67.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836713494999
Bach, K. (2012). Saying, meaning, and implicating. The Cambridge handbook of pragmatics. Allan, K. & Jaszczolt, K.M. (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 23-45.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139022453.004
Brown, P. & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness. Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 345 p.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Declaration of Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change
November 2017. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php URL_ID=49457&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Dunn, Kevin, and Iver B. Neumann (2016). Undertaking Discourse Analysis for Social Research. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.158 p.
https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.7106945
Foucault, M. (1981). The order of discourse. In: R. Young, ed. Untying the text: A post-structuralist reader. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 48-78.
Holzscheiter, Anna (2014). Between Communicative Interaction and Structures of Signification: Discourse Theory and Analysis in International Relations. International Studies Perspectives 15, pp.142-62.
https://doi.org/10.1111/insp.12005
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and Conversation. In P. Cole, & J. L. Morgan. (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics, New York: Academic Press. Vol. 3, Speech Acts, pp. 41-58.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368811_003
Kravchenko, N. (2017). Illocution of direct speech acts via conventional implicature and semantic presupposition. Lege artis. Language yesterday, today, tomorrow. The Journal of University of SS Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. Warsaw: De Gruyter Open, Vol. II (1), pp. 128-168.
https://doi.org/10.1515/lart-2017-0004
Kravchenko, N., Pasternak, T. (2018). Claim for identity or personality face: The Oscar winners' dilemma. Lege artis. Language yesterday, today, tomorrow. The journal of University of SS Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. Warsaw: De Gruyter Open, 2018. Vol. III (1), pp. 142-178.
https://doi.org/10.2478/lart-2018-0005
Kravchenko, N. K. (2017). Dyskurs y dyskurs-analyz: kratkaia entsyklopedyia. Kyev: Interservys. 286 p.
Kravchenko, N. K. (2017). Dyskurs kak struktura. Naukovyj visnyk Mizhnarodnoho humanitarnoho universy-tetu. Seryja : Filologija. № 26. Тom 1, s. 138-141.
Kravchenko, N. K. (2006). Interaktivnoje, zhanrovoje I kontcep-tualnoje modelirovanije mezhdunarodno-pravovogo dyskursa. Kyev: Feferat. 320 p.
Little, Richard (2007). The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths, and Models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 317 p.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816635
Lotman, J.M. (1996). Vnutri myslyatshih mirov : Chelovek - tekst - semiosfera - istoriya. Moskva: jazyki russkoj kultury. 464 p.
Oleshkov, M.J. (2006). Osnovy funktcionalnoj lingvistiki : diskursivnyj aspect : uchebnoje posobije. Nizhnij Tagil : NTGSPA. 146 p.
Searle, J.R. & Vanderveken, D. (1985). Foundations of illocutionary logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 240 p.
https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3167-X_5
Selivanova O.O. (2011). Osnovy teorii movnoji komunikatcii : pidruchnik. Cherkassy : J. Chabanenko. 350 p.
Standards and related issues in the WTO Agreement on SPS and TBT (2017). Available at:
United Nations Convention on the law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses (1997. Available at: http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/8_3_1997.pdf
Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and context: A sociocognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 267 p.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481499
Wodak, Ruth. (2008). Introduction: Discourse Studies - Important Concepts and Terms. In Qualitative Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences, edited by Ruth Wodak and Michal Krzyzanowski. London: Palgrave, pp.1-29.
Downloads
Issue
Section
License
Relationship between right holders and users shall be governed by the terms of the license Creative Commons Attribution – non-commercial – Distribution On Same Conditions 4.0 international (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0):https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.uk
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
