Citation

Kopytowska M, Baider F. Lodz papers in pragmatics 2017; 13(2): 133-152.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017)

DOI

10.1515/lpp-2017-0008

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

"The theme of 'the Other' -and specifically what constitutes the otherness of 'the Other'-has been at the very heart of the work of every major twentieth century Continentalphilosopher", observesBernstein (1991: 68). In pragmatics and Critical DiscourseStudies, scholarly attention has focused on the discursive construction of such otherness,its underlying cognitive mechanisms, contextual embedding, ideological motivation, andperlocutionary potential. Drawing on the insights from philosophy, psychology andsociology, the linguistically-oriented study of the Other in a broader context of"us"versus"them"interface has explored the role of language and other semiotic resources inconstructing, negotiating and challenging otherness within the public sphere (cf.Kalyango and Kopytowska 2014; Karner and Kopytowska 2017; Kopytowska 2017).

The Other-perceived as a stranger, foreigner, subaltern or a hostile alien-haschanged over time and across space, along with the socio-political context. Yet, thelinguistic mechanisms and strategies of setting the ingroup-outgroup boundaries and delineating otherness have, for the most part, remained the same (Allport 1954; van Dijk1987;van Leeuwen 1996; Reisigl and Wodak 2001: 47-52). And it is this constitutivepotential of discourse with regard to representations of the world, social relations betweenpeople and personal identities (Fairclough and Wodak 1997: 273) that the present specialissue takes under scrutiny. Our intention is to "relate properties of discourse with theseunderlying, socially shared representations, which group members use as a resource totalk about (members of) other groups" (van Dijk 2014: 397) and, while doing so, examinethe processes of"outgroup derogation" and "ingroup celebration" (ibid.) in our globalisedbut, at the same time, increasingly polarised world. In this collection of papers, particularinterest is thus vested indiscursively constructed and negotiated social relationships basedon mutual hostility and antagonisms, along with patterns of verbal aggression in times ofconflict and crisis...

Language: en