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Article published In: Internet Pragmatics
Vol. 8:1 (2025) ► pp.32–57

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Salience management

The role of metadiscourse in online new product launch conferences

 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Published online: 16 September 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00114.liu
Abstract
This article zooms in on metadiscourse resources to explore their salience management in online new product launch (hereafter NPL) conferences, adopting the salience theory of socio-cognitive approach (hereafter SCA) as the theoretical foundation. Drawing on data from 16 online NPL conferences presented by non-native English speakers, it is found that different types of metadiscourse resources are employed to manage the salience of specific contextual factors in metacognitive, metarepresentational and metacommunicative dimensions, motivated by the presenter’s inherent salience and awareness of recipient design. This article not only strengthens the assumption that the salience theory of SCA can provide a new perspective for metadiscourse research, but also sheds light on how to understand the effectiveness of online business communication in the intercultural context.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Salience theory in SCA
    • 2.2Definition and classification of metadiscourse
    • 2.3Metadiscourse in advertising
    • 2.4Classification of metapragmatic awareness
  • 3.Data collection
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Types of metadiscourse in NPL conferences
    • 4.2Salience management in different dimensions
      • 4.2.1Metacognitive dimension
        • Salience of given information
        • Salience of new information
        • Salience of elusive information
        • Salience of epistemic status of information
      • 4.2.2Metarepresentational dimension
      • 4.2.3Metacommunicative dimension
        • Salience of recipient design
        • Salience of status
        • Salience of attitude
    • 4.3Summary
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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