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The Discourse of Indirectness
Cues, voices and functions
Indirectness has been a key concept in pragmatic research for over four decades, however the notion as a technical term does not have an agreed-upon definition and remains vague and ambiguous. In this collection, indirectness is examined as a way of communicating meaning that is inferred from textual, contextual and intertextual meaning units. Emphasis is placed on the way in which indirectness serves the representation of diverse voices in the text, and this is examined through three main prisms: (1) the inferential view focuses on textual and contextual cues from which pragmatic indirect meanings might be inferred; (2) the dialogic-intertextual view focuses on dialogic and intertextual cues according to which different voices (social, ideological, literary etc.) are identified in the text; and (3) the functional view focuses on the pragmatic-rhetorical functions fulfilled by indirectness of both kinds.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 316] 2020. viii, 257 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 13 October 2020
Published online on 13 October 2020
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- IntroductionZohar Livnat, Pnina Shukrun-Nagar and Galia Hirsch | pp. 1–16
- Part I. Cues for indirectness: The inferential view
- Irony, humor or both? The model revisitedGalia Hirsch | pp. 19–38
- “My refrigerator is as much in the dark as I am”: Metaphorical irony in contextZohar Livnat | pp. 39–58
- “Hero, genius, king and Messiah”: Ironic echoing in pro-ethos and anti-ethos readers’ comments on Facebook postsPnina Shukrun-Nagar | pp. 59–82
- Part II. Voices in the text: The dialogic-intertextual view
- Indirectness and co-construction: A discourse-pragmatic viewJacob L. Mey | pp. 85–96
- Whose line is it anyway? Three pragmatic cues for distinguishing between the implied-author and narrative voices: The case of Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. JeromeTalli Cedar | pp. 97–118
- Anne Frank’s Diary – The Graphic Adaptation as a case of “indirect translation”: Integrating the principle of relevance with Bakhtinian conceptsRachel Weissbrod and Ayelet Kohn | pp. 119–142
- Part III. (In)directness as an effective choice: The functional view
- Indirectness and effectiveness of requests in professional emails: A case studyHassan Atifi and Michel Marcoccia | pp. 145–166
- Directness and indirectness in a presidential debateLuisa Granato | pp. 167–202
- “The hon. Gentleman says this is rubbish; it is absolutely true”: The strategic use of references to truth in Prime Minister’s QuestionsAnita Fetzer | pp. 203–230
- “Do you condemn?”: Negotiating power relations through (in)direct questions and answers design in ethno-political interviewsZohar Kampf | pp. 231–252
- Index | p. 253
“This volume offers interesting new insights into the study of indirect communication broadly speaking.”
Nicolas Ruytenbeek, Ghent University, in Journal of Pragmatics 183 (2021)
“Exploiting authentic communication in real life instances spanning across cultures and languages, the book is a new and inspirational vantage point for future research, a rightful extension and continuation of Elda Weizman’s legacy.”
Ildikó Hortobágyi, University of Pannonia, Hungary, in Language and Dialogue 11:3 (2021)
“The reader is left with a feeling of plausibility, coherence and inspiration. The book offers a multifaceted approach to any student, researcher or even reporter interested in the study of indirectness, especially concerning linguistics, literature, politics and, moreover, social media, where new types of cues to indirectness are known to emerge.”
Helena Nurmikari, University of Helsinki, in Internet Pragmatics 5:2 (2022).
“This book contributes in several ways to our understanding of indirectness and is one of the few to thoroughly examine indirectness in political discourse. Its findings have significant implications for the understanding of how indirectness is represented in various contexts, one such implication being the possibility of indirect translation in translation studies (Hirsch; Weissbrod and Kohn). Researchers and students in several disciplines will find this book particularly useful, including pragmatics, discourse studies, political science, communication studies, and translation studies.”
Yuan Ping, Hangzhou Dianzi University, in Journal of Language and Politics 22:5 (2023).
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Cited by three other publications
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Cornish, Francis
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