Introduction to Discourse Studies: New edition

This new edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies (IDS) is a thoroughly revised and updated version of this successful textbook, which has been published in four languages and has become a must-read for anyone interested in the analysis of texts and discourses. Supported by an international advisory board of 14 leading experts, it deals with all main subdomains in discourse studies, from pragmatics to cognitive linguistics, from critical discourse analysis to stylistics, and many more. The book approaches major issues in this field from the Anglo-American and European as well as the Asian traditions. It provides an ‘academic toolkit’ for future courses on discourse studies and serves as a stepping stone to the independent study of professional literature. The chapters are subdivided in modular sections that can be studied separately. The pedagogical objectives are further supported by • over 500 index entries covering frequently used concepts that are accurately defined with examples throughout the text; • more than 150 test-yourself questions, all elaborately answered, which are ideal for self-study; • nearly 100 assignments that provide ample material for lecturers to focus on specific topics in their courses. Jan Renkema is Emeritus Professor of Discourse Quality at the Department of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also editor of Discourse, of Course (2009) and author of The Texture of Discourse (2009). In 2009, a Chinese edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies was published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Christoph Schubert is Full Professor of English Linguistics at Vechta University, Germany. He is author of an Introduction to English text linguistics (2nd ed. 2012) and co-editor of Pragmatic Perspectives on Postcolonial Discourse (2016) and Variational Text Linguistics (2016).

Review :
This revised and expanded new edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies is a testimony to its success. Few introductory texts provide such a clear and accessible introduction to the subject of discourse analysis. The book also offers the broadest coverage of any introductory book. It gives students a thorough grounding in the basics of discourse analysis and acquaints them with the essentials of language studies. The book is an engaging initiation into the study of discourse. It will be appreciated by lecturers and students, but it is also for anyone interested in language. This, the third edition of the Introduction to Discourse Studies will be welcomed by students and teachers alike. It is, by most standards, a long book, and this allows it to cover a commendably wide variety of topics and research traditions – it is more comprehensive than most competitors and will thus allow interested students to venture beyond their prescribed course reading. The writing is clear and engaging and there are frequent well-chosen examples. The lists of recommended readings at the end of chapters, the augmented final bibliography and the very detailed index are excellent features. I would strongly recommend this book. Presenting an even more comprehensive overview of discourse studies than its predecessor, the new edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies will be the go-to reference book in its field. With its up-to-date contents, thoroughly reworked in collaboration with leading experts in the field, the book will provide guidance for students, definitions and examples for teachers and inspiration for researchers. I will be heartily recommending it to my students. A welcome new and updated edition of Renkema’s successful Introduction to Discourse Studies, now co-authored with Christoph Schubert. The book covers a wealth of key concepts and classic approaches to discourse studies, integrating the perspectives of an international advisory board. Each chapter includes suggested questions and assignments as well as recommended readings, which makes the book particularly useful for lecturers and students. Among many other updates, notable new content includes online genres, multimodality, corpus stylistics, populist discourse, and the discursive construction of sexual identities. Providing a broad overview, this is an ideal starting point for anyone ready to explore the rich interdisciplinary field of discourse studies. In the new edition of the Introduction to Discourse Studies (Renkema and Schubert, 2018), this well-established textbook provides an updated ‘academic toolkit’ for students of all the major domains in discourse studies. One of the textbook’s primary assets is the very accessible structure of each section which guides students from an introductory overview through concise accounts of the major models of analysis. Each chapter concludes with suggested ‘Questions and Assignments’ and a very useful ‘Bibliographical information’ section which directs students to the seminal works of some established scholars in each discipline. The chapter on ‘Style and stylistics’ (pp. 181–211) has doubled in size from the previous edition (Renkema, 2004: 145–159). Given the directions which stylistics has taken in the years between these editions, it is appropriate that new sections on corpus and pragmatic stylistics, on the one hand, and cognitive poetics, on the other, are included alongside a discussion of classical rhetoric and general accounts of the concepts of style and register. This textbook is recommended to those who wish to provide students with an introductory insight into stylistics alongside overviews of a wide range of its cognate disciplines.