Austrian immigration authorities frequently reject the family reunion applications of immigrant workers. They justify their decisions not only on legal grounds but also on the basis of their own often prejudiced judgements of the applicants' ability to `integrate' into Austrian society. A discourse-historical method is combined with systemic-functionally oriented methods of text analysis to study the official letters which notify immigrant workers of the rejection of their family reunion applications. The systemic-functionally oriented methods are used in a detailed analysis of a sample of rejection letters while the discourse-historical method allows this analysis to be intertextually connected to other related genres of discourse and strategies of argumentation, and to the history of post-war immigration in Austria generally.
Helena Gard, Gabriella E. Isma, Elisabeth Mangrio
et al.
The goal of Swedish public health policy is to create conditions that enable good and equitable health and eliminate avoidable health inequities. Although previous research emphasizes the importance of considering inequities in mental health promotion and policy, and although researchers and policy makers emphasize the importance of a system-approach to mental health, there seems to be an ambiguity in how the concept of equity is understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to critically examine equity and inequity discourses in Swedish regional action plans for mental health. A critical discourse analysis based on Foucault’s discourse theory was used to reveal discursive practices of inequity. Twenty-two regional action plans for mental health were analyzed. The analysis identified three discourse strands: the vague language of equity, the inequitable people, and education as a pathway to equity, all of which are entangled through the individualization of equity. Overall, the equity discourse was interpreted as representing a naturalistic and liberal view on equity. This could be understood as contributing to upholding the system of inequities rather than dismantling it. There is a need for clarification about the considered causes of mental health inequities as well as possible solutions.
Surekha K C, Pradeep G Kini, Arun Natarajan Hariharan
Abstract The discourse on the circular economy (CE) has gained global attention due to its significant contribution to sustainable urban development. Extensive research on circular economy addressing the various facets of urban built environments such as ecology, energy, water, waste, and industrial establishments is available in literature. They bring about systemic changes through circular urban metabolic activities that inevitably impact the land, urban form and the spatial configuration in cities. The holistic integration and operationalization of circular systemic changes with geographic and land-based attributes is referred to as spatial circularity. However, this spatial dimension of CE remains underexplored. The main objective is to address this gap by analyzing the literature that links circular practices with land, its characteristics and spatial attributes. The review tries to answer two key research questions: (1) How does spatial circularity contribute to sustainable urban development? (2) How do circular practices relate to land and space within a city? Utilizing the scoping review framework, the study analyses 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters published between 2013 and 2023, sourced from Scopus and Web of Science. The results are synthesized through bibliometric mapping (VOS viewer) and thematic content analysis. The review identifies key strategies such as regenerating or reusing degraded land, optimizing urban metabolic activities based on land attributes, and developing new space typologies that integrate circular practices, collectively offer a holistic approach to addressing the spatial dimension of CE that aids in transition toward circular cities. This research aims to guide academia and practice in advancing spatial circularity practices, to foster sustainable urban development.
Highlights:
– Civics teachers face challenges in offering male vocational students quality citizenship education.
– Civics teachers perceive this student group as vulnerable and in need of extra support.
– When unable to offer desired civics education, teachers feel angry and resigned.
– Civics teachers are willing to bend certain rules to support this particular student group.
– If this student group lacks better civics education, their future and Sweden's democracy are at risk.
Purpose: This paper examines how vocational civics teachers navigate structural constraints and their understanding of the challenges involved in preparing vocational students for democratic citizenship.
Design/methodology/approach: Using a discoursive psychological approach to analyse interview material, the study discusses identified discourses about critical policy analysis and street-level bureaucracy theory.
Findings: The findings reveal that the structure of vocational upper-secondary education significantly constrains civics teachers. Teachers oscillate between feelings of compassion, anger, resignation, and rebellion as they attempt to manage these challenges.
Research limitations/implications: The study highlights the need for further ethnographic research on teaching practices.
Practical implications: A significant number of Swedish upper-secondary students receive a limited civics education that inadequately prepares them for democratic citizenship.
Special aspects of education, Social sciences (General)
The lack of affordable housing remains a major problem in Spain. Following the decline in public and affordable housing production caused by the economic, political, and social crisis of 2008, efforts to produce public housing were reactivated in the mid-2010s, gaining increasing importance. In Barcelona, housing policies have played a central role in recent political discourse, particularly with the tenure of housing rights activist Ada Colau (2015–2023). With traditional approaches failing to address the housing emergency, the local government introduced five new procurement strategies to increase the affordable housing stock. These involve new forms of council housing, delegated developments, limited-profit investments, zero-equity housing cooperatives, and urban refurbishment. This article uses a mixed methods approach to analyse these strategies. The analysis spans all design phases, from inception to construction, and includes post-occupancy evaluations. Methods include typological analysis, expert interviews, and spatial performance analysis using ethnographic methods and inhabitant interviews. The results evidence the importance of diversifying procurement models, tailoring approaches to different user profiles, and enhancing emerging opportunities by including new stakeholders in the development process.
This study has emerged from the research on telecinematic discourse and corpus linguistic studies. The aim of this paper is to provide a socio-pragmatic analysis of swear words in the dialogues of the Season 1 of the TV show “BoJack Horseman”, on the basis of the Bojack Horseman Corpus, prepared and compiled by the author. Lemmas such as crap, fuck, shit, damn, ass, dick, bitch, and suck are analysed, as well as their grammatical forms and functions they serve. The findings illustrate the importance of foul language employed by the show-writers and uncover the sociopragmatic aspect of the distribution of swear words in this particular TV show. The language used by the characters of the show depicts, to some extent real-life conversations, and swear words in them are used alike. The swear words in the dialogues function as an outlet for extreme emotions, a form of catharsis, or an extra emphasis added to the utterance. The offensiveness of swear words in “BoJack Horseman” is described as mild and moderate, but the swear words do occur in nearly every episode of the show. However, they are used not only to carry a negative impact (such as an insult or provocation), but also to convey positive information (the sense of social bonding or camaraderie).
Post-Marxism allows usto take a critical look at both the history ofWestern Marxism and the politically victorious liberalism. One of the theoretical sources for this critique is the legacy of the linguistic turn. However, the post-Marxist philosophy of language has never been conceptualized, which makesitsinterpretation a problematic field. The purpose of this research is to explicate the main provisions of the post-Marxist philosophy of language and to determine the relationship between it and political philosophy. The article deals with the approaches to language and communication in three post-Marxist theories: the discourse analysis of E. Laclau, Ch. Mouffe and S. Žižek, who was previously close to them; the politics of the event of A. Badiou and J. Rancière; and the post-Operaism of A. Negri, M. Hardt and P. Virno. In the process of the research, it is proved that postMarxism considers politics as a linguistic situation in which power and the subject arise as a result of signification. It is concluded that the common place of this philosophy of language is the assertion of its ambivalent nature: both power and emancipation have symbolic foundations and depend on interpretation and articulation. This allows usto trace the connection between the philosophy of language and the basic concepts used by postMarxists. The theoretical project of post-Marxism is defined as a rethinking of Marxism and political philosophy in general with the help of the tools of the philosophy of language. In addition, there is a difference between post-Marxist and postmodern approaches to language games and their implications for politics.
Open education, in light of an amazing technological development, has transformed the educational system with changes in "educational culture" and an emphasis on the "learner-centered" principle. Since this has not been taken into account in Iran's educational system, the present article critically examines the issue of imperfect construction of an open education system in Iran. To analyze the issue historically, a genealogical method propounded by Foucault has been applied. Genealogy explains the evolution of historical moments in their internal power relations, as Foucault says: it is a discourse which intertwines power and knowledge. The "genealogical analysis" refers to an epistemological strategy formed in various domains of history, political and social sciences. To explain the aforementioned problem, we need to focus on both traditional and modern education discourses in the discursive space of open education. In response to the main question of the article i.e., what could have caused the imperfectness of open education in contemporary Iran? The findings indicate that "neglect to scientific software and discursive aspects", which followed the dominance of instrumental scientific view; "immature understanding of open education" which reduced it to complementary education and "bureaucratic relations" which are in conflict with the democratic character of post-modern education, have all led to the "imperfectness of open education" which has deepened the challenge of the alienation of "science" from culture and society.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
Este artigo discute a articulação entre comunicação, resistência e luta pela sobrevivência das comunidades quilombolas na pandemia da Covid-19. Traz a análise de conteúdo das publicações no Instagram e das entrevistas com integrantes da Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas (Conaq) e da Federação das Comunidades Quilombolas do Estado de Minas Gerais (N’Golo). Os resultados apontam várias desconexões (digital, estradas, eletricidade) que dificultam a comunicação. Neste cenário, o WhatsApp aparece como elo entre organizações e comunidades. Destacam-se as estratégias de aproximação e a identificação da figura dos mediadores (donos dos celulares) no repasse das informações à população nos territórios quilombolas.
Eğitim, örgün ve yaygın ağlarda toplumun değerleri, anlam-değer dünyası, refleksleri gözetilerek yürütülen bir süreçtir. Toplumsal değişim ve dönüşümler etkiledikleri tüm diğer faktörler gibi eğitimi de etkilemektedir. Eğitim surecinde hem öğreticiler hem öğrenciler açısından temel kaynak ders kitabıdır. Ders kitapları akademik içerikler kadar sosyal, kültürel içerikleri de bünyesinde barındırmaktadır. 19. yüzyıldan bu tarafa sosyal bilimlerin neredeyse tüm alanlarında gündem olan modernizm eğitimin de gündeminde yer almaktadır. 20. yüzyılda zirvesine ulaşan modernizm, yeniliklerle beraber maddi, manevî çözülmeleri de getirmiştir. Bu bağlamda eğitimin kurumsal politika belirleyicileri bu çözülmelere önlemler almıştır. Bu araştırmada kod çözme, yüzey yapının arkasındaki semantik katmanlara ulaşma olarak tarif edilen eleştirel söylem analizi yöntemi kullanılmış; MEB onaylı Türkçe ders kitaplarında modernizmin çözücü, bozucu etkilerine yönelik inşa edilen söylemler analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma bünyesinde modernizmle ilişkili yabancılaşmanın, popüler kültürün ve popüler kültür etkisindeki dil pratiklerinin, kapitalizmin inşa ettiği ben merkezli insan tipinin eleştirildiği; hedef kitlenin davranış ve tutumlarının metin söylemiyle manipüle edilmeye çalışıldığı; hedef kitlenin zihinsel şemalarının şekillendirilmeye çalışıldığı tespit edilmiştir.
The article provides the linguistics approach to the study of text-based interest. The purpose of the article is to identify the means and strategies used in expository texts from Russian school textbooks for the creation of text emotiveness. This characteristic of an interesting text has been repeatedly pointed out in the psychological research (Schiefele 2009). The article uses the linguistics methods of communicative and functional analysis and, in particular, the method of semantic modeling of emotive situations (Filimonova 2007). The authors intention to evoke the readers interest is the basis for forming an emotional-evoking type of expository discourse. The implementation of this intention is carried out through special discourse strategies called interest-evoking rhetorical strategies. Some of these strategies are based on the transmission of emotions as a special type of information in verbal interaction. In a text, this type of information is represented by emotiveness, that is, a component of text content through which the emotional states of participants of communication or characters are manifested. The article provides a description of four primary ways to create expository text emotiveness: 1) the usage of emotive insertions - commentaries made by the participant of communication acting as the subject who feels emotions; 2) the verbalization of the emotional scenario of interest for its projection to the reader; 3) the description of the characters emotional states; 4) the representation of abnormal situations (a disruption of normal and expected relations between components of a situation in the real world described in a text). The first two ways are related to the strategies of the text dialogization aimed at creating the dialogue form of an expository text, and the thematization of interest. The third way enhances the text vividness and the fourth increases its dynamics and unexpectedness for the reader.
This article is an attempt to show how the means of manipulative construction of political reality work on a single example of ideological concept of “road protection”, used a quarter of a century ago by the Georgian authorities as a pretext for a military invasion of Abkhazia. The study revealed that such ideologemes initiate a certain socio-behavioral reflection and allow the aggressor country, under the guise of pseudo-human goals, to carry out both “soft” (humanitarian) and direct (military) expansion. The concept of ideology has acquired special significance for modern political linguistics, and today, in the era of hybrid wars, its analysis and study are more relevant than ever. The aim of the study is to analyze the ideology of “road protection” which highlights the manipulative conceptual features and to prove its demagogic nature. To achieve this goal, we will turn to the events of August 1992 and try to understand the symbolic and ideological concept of “road protection”, used as a lingua-pragmatic background of expansion. The goal is to understand how to use ideological cliches in the minds of the implemented setup, and create unnecessary political mood which enabled the Georgian authorities to implement, not condemned by the international community, the military invasion of the territory of Abkhazia. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time it introduces and actualizes the concept of demagogic ideology. We define demagogic ideology as a populist-propaganda stamp, manifested itself in a certain historical period as a reality, and characterized by imperativeness and, most importantly, simulativeness. Such ideological cliches are thrown in political discourse with the aim to lull the vigilance and urging them on to obviously incorrect conclusions. Over time, however, demagogic ideologies lose their importance and are perceived as not justified expectations of performance, error, not relevant axiological dominant members of a particular culture. In our work we adhered to the following methods of research: linguoideological – to interpret the content of corresponding ideologies; linguistic and semiotic – with the aim of realizing the symbolic mechanisms used for the influence and formation of the corresponding reactions in the consciousness of the masses; and linguocultural – to identify the causes of certain ideological concepts effectiveness.
The British vote to leave Europe rests largely upon fear of migrants. British media can be shown to have contributed to this by dehumanising migrants through news coverage. Discourse analysis of stories during the ‘European migrant crisis’ (2015) will show how dehumanisation occurs via Orientalist discourses (Said, 1979), presenting migrants as a threat to security, Western values and economically burdensome. Theories regarding news production and elite agency will be applied to understand the media’s role in manufacturing consent (Chomsky, 1994) thus legitimising policies. This paper focusses upon online news coverage surrounding an attack at Westminster, which became amalgamated with migration. Since media discourses must be analysed to understand the devices used, philosophical and journalistic insights will be applied to answer the questions: what methods are used to dehumanise migrants? What mechanisms operate behind this? What is the result? Suggestions for supporting university students in counteracting media influence will be made.
The study explores verbs of communication in terms of their functional and practical implementation in business negotiations, interviews and political debates. The study relies on corpus data and appeals to componential, comparative, contextual, semantic, pragmatic and functional methods of analysis to consider verbs of communication as a developing functional system. The authors suggest that verbs of communication act as strategic drivers of English business discourse and are involved in not only nominating speech acts, but also in generating contextually relevant interaction whereby a statement is placed in a wider context of external communicative settings. The study concludes that verbs of communication can help control and model verbal interaction, provide coherence of propositional structure, comprehend the distribution of roles, and create pragmatic dynamics of narration, which is why they present an integral part of the business discourse system and function as integrating components of a set of communicative tactics foregrounding diverse communicative strategies.
The objective of this article is twofold: identify the discursive places of the intercultural; characterize the zouglou in Côte d'Ivoire as an intercultural practice. This form of artistic expression was revealed to the general public in 1990. Students, through this channel, denounce their deleterious conditions of study and life. The phenomenon is amplified and is taken by young people out of school. For 28 years, the zouglou has been holding a privileged place on the ivorian music scene. The first part of the analysis defines the intercultural and recalls the previous studies that have articulated it with discourse analysis. The intercultural, within this framework, is enshrined in the enunciative, dialogic and interactional dimensions of discourse. The second part examines the enunciative instances, the zougloumen and the audience, and proceeds to construct their discursive identity. The third part situates zouglou into a socio-discursive imaginary of diversity. Indeed, Multilingualism and musical heterogeneity are the main characteristics of it. Finally, the fourth part highlights the mechanisms of weakening identity specificities, such as the game of anthroponyms, pseudonyms and stereotypes.
Boxer is an open-domain software component for semantic analysis of text, based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) and Discourse Representation Theory (DRT). Used together with the CC (b) discourse structure triggered by conditionals, negation or discourse adverbs was overall correctly computed; (c) some measure and time expressions are correctly analysed, others aren't; (d) several shallow analyses are given for lexical phrases that require deep analysis; (e) bridging references and pronouns are not resolved in most cases. Boxer is distributed with the C&C tools and freely available for research purposes.