Towards a transhistorical approach to analysing discourse about and in motion
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Editors
Tagg, C
Evans, M
Pagination
89 - 111
Publisher
ISBN-10
3110670836
ISBN-13
9783110670837
Journal
Message and Medium English Language Practices Across Old and New Media
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
People have travelled at shorter and longer distances for centuries, exploring, describing, and mapping new territories, conveying information about familiar ones, and sharing appreciation of the features of landscapes. Over the centuries, while the nature of travel, accessibility of routes and global infrastructure have changed, the need for communication in and about motion remained (Hulme & Youngs 2002, Viviès 2003), both at the global scale of discursive construction of place and space, and the local scale evident in digitally mediated micro-coordination of everyday activities. This chapter explores the possibility of adopting a transhistorical approach to discourse about motion and discourse in motion, which reflects our interest in the overarching motivations and interests in communication across geographical space. We explore two distinct corpora produced for different purposes, at different times and in different locations, by different sets of writers: nineteenth century Alpine travel narratives and current mobile messaging exchanges. Recognising that such a unique set of data requires distinct research methodologies, we adopt a data-driven approach to the analysis. The two distinct data sets we analyse share a range of common features in terms of functions and resources employed to fulfil these functions. These come under three main categories: (1) linguistic reference at a range of scales, (2) the use of locally available or globally accessible visual resources, and (3) knowledge co-construction drawing on external expertise. Consideration of these common findings across such diverse datasets leads us to propose a data-driven and user-centered transhistorical approach to the analysis of discourse about and in motion. We conclude by addressing the analytical potential of the proposed approach.
Authors
Lyons, A; Ounoughi, SCollections
- Linguistics [247]