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7. Discourses of place: The formation of space and place through discourse

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Pragmatics of Space
This chapter is in the book Pragmatics of Space

Abstract

This chapter addresses the discursive production of space and place, by drawing on a methodological and theoretical framework of ethnographically informed linguistic and semiotic anthropology. Here discourse will be understood as language in use and hence in context, which necessarily relates to language in space. The aim of this chapter is to address the formation of contrasting modes of discursive production (discourses) in space for the production of place. In other words, whilst other pragmatic approaches to space look at the ways language categorizes spatial distinction (for example using words such as “up” / “down”, “east” / “west”, “before” / “after”, Levinson 2004; Keating 2015) and how speakers interact with reference to space (notably through occupying interactional space, Mondada 2018), this contribution will look at how speakers build on these pragmatic and interactional spatial resources in order to produce a “sense of place” (Tuan 1977; Feld and Basso 1996) through discursive (oral or written) text, which can in turn be socially, culturally, but also geographically located. In the second part of the chapter, I offer an analysis of discourses about a place located in rural Central France (Allier département) to show how socially and materially situated and contrastive chronotopic formulations, i. e. modalities of discourse production with relations to space, time and person (Agha 2015), afford for the (re)production of ideological distinctions between a relatively urban center and a rural periphery

Abstract

This chapter addresses the discursive production of space and place, by drawing on a methodological and theoretical framework of ethnographically informed linguistic and semiotic anthropology. Here discourse will be understood as language in use and hence in context, which necessarily relates to language in space. The aim of this chapter is to address the formation of contrasting modes of discursive production (discourses) in space for the production of place. In other words, whilst other pragmatic approaches to space look at the ways language categorizes spatial distinction (for example using words such as “up” / “down”, “east” / “west”, “before” / “after”, Levinson 2004; Keating 2015) and how speakers interact with reference to space (notably through occupying interactional space, Mondada 2018), this contribution will look at how speakers build on these pragmatic and interactional spatial resources in order to produce a “sense of place” (Tuan 1977; Feld and Basso 1996) through discursive (oral or written) text, which can in turn be socially, culturally, but also geographically located. In the second part of the chapter, I offer an analysis of discourses about a place located in rural Central France (Allier département) to show how socially and materially situated and contrastive chronotopic formulations, i. e. modalities of discourse production with relations to space, time and person (Agha 2015), afford for the (re)production of ideological distinctions between a relatively urban center and a rural periphery

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface to the handbook series v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Table of Contents xi
  5. 1. Doing space: The pragmatics of language and space 1
  6. I. Describing space through language
  7. 2. Deictic reference in space 23
  8. 3. The conceptualization of space in signed languages: Placing the signer in narratives 63
  9. 4. Spatiality in written texts 95
  10. 5. Interactional onomastics: Place names as malleable resources 125
  11. 6. Describing motion events 153
  12. 7. Discourses of place: The formation of space and place through discourse 181
  13. 8. Imaginary spaces in storytelling 209
  14. 9. Developmental perspectives on doing talk about space 251
  15. II. Spatial organization of social interaction
  16. 10. Encounters in public places: The establishment of interactional space in face-to-face openings 281
  17. 11. Interactional spaces in stationary, mobile, video-mediated and virtual encounters 317
  18. 12. The pragmatics of gesture and space 363
  19. 13. Distance and closeness: The im/politeness of space in communication 399
  20. III. Communicative resources of constructed spaces
  21. 14. Architecture-for-interaction: Built, designed and furnished space for communicative purposes 431
  22. 15. Building, dwelling, and interacting: Steps in the evolution of public space from Paleolithic to present 473
  23. 16. The pragmatics of linguistic landscapes 523
  24. 17. The pragmatics of written texts in space 549
  25. 18. Co-presence and beyond: Spatial configurations of communication in virtual environments 579
  26. IV. Pragmatics across space and cultures
  27. 19. Pragmatic variation across geographical and social space 611
  28. 20. Pragmatic variation across national varieties of pluricentric languages 637
  29. 21. Mapping perceptions and knowledge of language: Societal multilingualism and its sociopragmatic grounding 679
  30. Bionotes 715
  31. Author index 727
  32. Subject index 735
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110693713-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface to the handbook series v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Table of Contents xi
  5. 1. Doing space: The pragmatics of language and space 1
  6. I. Describing space through language
  7. 2. Deictic reference in space 23
  8. 3. The conceptualization of space in signed languages: Placing the signer in narratives 63
  9. 4. Spatiality in written texts 95
  10. 5. Interactional onomastics: Place names as malleable resources 125
  11. 6. Describing motion events 153
  12. 7. Discourses of place: The formation of space and place through discourse 181
  13. 8. Imaginary spaces in storytelling 209
  14. 9. Developmental perspectives on doing talk about space 251
  15. II. Spatial organization of social interaction
  16. 10. Encounters in public places: The establishment of interactional space in face-to-face openings 281
  17. 11. Interactional spaces in stationary, mobile, video-mediated and virtual encounters 317
  18. 12. The pragmatics of gesture and space 363
  19. 13. Distance and closeness: The im/politeness of space in communication 399
  20. III. Communicative resources of constructed spaces
  21. 14. Architecture-for-interaction: Built, designed and furnished space for communicative purposes 431
  22. 15. Building, dwelling, and interacting: Steps in the evolution of public space from Paleolithic to present 473
  23. 16. The pragmatics of linguistic landscapes 523
  24. 17. The pragmatics of written texts in space 549
  25. 18. Co-presence and beyond: Spatial configurations of communication in virtual environments 579
  26. IV. Pragmatics across space and cultures
  27. 19. Pragmatic variation across geographical and social space 611
  28. 20. Pragmatic variation across national varieties of pluricentric languages 637
  29. 21. Mapping perceptions and knowledge of language: Societal multilingualism and its sociopragmatic grounding 679
  30. Bionotes 715
  31. Author index 727
  32. Subject index 735
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