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This paper explores the viability of a synergy between corpus linguistics and the study of argumentation in context. While quantitative approaches to the study of discourse have been profitably integrated at the levels of lexico-grammar and syntax, more rarely has this been the case for higher levels of analysis such as argumentative structures. Such an approach would help identify those recurring patterns of argumentation that build up cumulatively, and which can only be identified in larger samples of discourse. In particular this paper concerns how the tools of corpus linguistics can be put to use for the analysis of strategic manoeuvring, and especially topical selection. In order to do so, the televised prime ministerial debates held on the occasion of the 2010 general election in the UK will be taken as a case study, with a focus on the use of linguistic indicators that might help retrieve argumentative patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a critical overview of analytical approaches dominating the field of discourse studies in the last three decades, from the perspective of their philosophical and formative bases: social constructionism and linguistics. It explores different conceptions of the theoretical nexus between these two bases leading to the emergence of three distinct yet complementary strands of thought (i–iii). The paper starts with poststructuralist views of discourse salient in (i) Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Theory. Laclau and Mouffe's assumption that no discourse is a closed entity but rather transformed through contact with other discourses is taken as the introductory premise to present a large family of (ii) critical discourse studies, characterized as text-analytical practices explaining how discourse partakes in the production and negotiations of ideological meanings. Finally, the paper discusses (iii) three recent discourse analytical models: Discourse Space Theory, Critical Metaphor Analysis and the Legitimization-Proximization Model. These new theories take a further step toward consolidation of the social-theoretical and linguistic bases in contemporary discourse studies. The empirical benefits of this consolidation are discussed in the last part of the paper, which includes a case study where the new models are used in the analysis of Polish anti-immigration discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics / Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada (John Benjamins Publishing Co.) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Expressing vagueness is a common phenomenon especially in spoken discourse. The present paper examines vague language 'sort of' (e.g., kayak gitu) realised in spoken discourse in Indonesian. It accounts for the pragmatic functions of 'sort of' examined in their discourse context. The data under investigation include a 24-hour corpus of a television talk-show discussing various social issues. A pragmatic qualitative data analysis is predominantly employed directed towards a functional analysis of the use of 'sort of'. Descriptive statistics accompany the qualitative analysis to reinforce the investigation. The quantitative analysis shows that 'sort of' was infrequently used in the context of Indonesian television discourse. The corpus displays various forms of lexical devices for 'sort of' in Indonesian. The pragmatic analysis shows that 'sort of' was employed as a politeness strategy to tone down strong linguistic expressions and to save the speaker's positive face. The infrequent use of 'sort of' in the discourse type under investigation in this study reinforces the notion that 'sort of' is a feature of informal interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper responds to two discussion articles previously published in Language and Dialogue 3:2 and 4:2: one by Wolfgang Teubert ("Was there a cat in the garden? Knowledge between discourse and the monadic self "), which is partly a critique of Roy Harris' integrational epistemology (Harris 2009), and the other, itself a critical reply to Teubert, by Alison Sealey ("Cats and categories - reply to Teubert"). In this paper I adopt an integrational linguistic approach (e.g. Harris 1996, 1998) to Teubert and Sealey's opposing philosophical views (social constructionism vs. realism), showing how their linguistic theories heavily rely on strategies of decontextualization ('egregationism') needed in order to cast themselves in the role of linguistic experts. Unlike the integrational linguist, who regards signs as radically indeterminate, the segregational linguist has to retain determinacy as a fundamental property of the sign - and hence the latter's insistence that signs are 'shared'. Both the relativist and the realist working within a segregational linguistic paradigm adhere to a semantic thesis of how words get their meanings that Harris (1980) has termed 'surrogationalism', i.e. the belief that words, in their function as names, 'stand for' things in the real world, the difference being that Teubert treats 'reality' as a discursive community-based construction (i.e. there is no objective reality for homo loquens), while Sealey thinks that material reality is independent of discourse and that words functioning as names of things reflect this to varying degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful research and teaching of discipline genres is based on collaboration among language and learning specialists with expertise in applied linguistics, and subject area specialists with expertise in the knowledge and communication practices of their disciplines. These interdisciplinary collaborations involve experts coming together around an area of shared interest in a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), where members are committed to building relationships to learn from each other, and in this process build new knowledge (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006). This paper aims to identify the kinds of knowledge building negotiations involving a team of discipline staff, academic literacy specialists, and e-learning specialists as they collaborate in the design of online learning materials to support students in writing the laboratory report genre in the discipline of physiology. The data consist of recordings of team members' spoken interactions, with or without other artefacts, such as storyboards, over a period of nine months as the design for the website evolved. Initial discourse analysis of transcripts, based on the metafunctions from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday, 1985a), is used to identify phases where the emphasis is on the negotiation of ideational, or content meanings, enabled by interpersonal and textual meanings. A sample of these phases is then analysed in detail using exchange structure (Martin, 1992) to identify possible genres which build new knowledge and embody it in the online resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new dialogic, conversational nature of television broadcast news (Hamo, 2009) poses a challenge to traditional commentators, who are forced to move from an authoritative monologue to a confrontational dialogue that requires additional flexibility and conversational skills. The paper focuses on an Israeli case study which presents a confrontational dialogue in which one of the discussants is an experienced military correspondent and commentator. We demonstrate the various resources he uses in order to cope with a complex discursive challenge by using multimodal tools, both verbal and visual (Kress 2010; Kress and Van Leeuwen 2001; Jewitt and Oyama 2001). Besides interrupting his interlocutor's eloquent discourse in any possible way, demonstrating his well-known direct and involved television persona, the military correspondent employs institutional discursive resources such as using authoritative voice and taking the role of the mediator. Concession structures (Anscombre 1985) reflect his inner moral conflict toward the issue (Livnat 2012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts at reinvigorating mythical sensations of shared values and cultural identities happen particularly at times of dislocatory events in a community's history, when 'the national Self' is perceived to be threatened by external forces. Such a critical moment for China was the collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese F-8 jet fighter on April 1, 2001, and the ensuing diplomatic standoff between the US and China. As the Chinese authorities and the state media viewed this incident in a series of ambiguous incidents involving the US, it was concluded that the collision had been the inevitable outcome of US hegemonism intended to provoke China. It is this concurrence of events, triggering feelings of disempowerment of the Self that causes recurrent flumes of heated anti-Other rhetoric. Boundaries of exclusion/inclusion along cultural, historical and political lines set up the Other as the negative mirror of the Self, which as a consequence is positively reasserted. Informed by insights from Language Pragmatics and Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper sets out to examine linguistic tools of alienation and empowerment in the Chinese official press narratives about the collision, comprising the Chinese-language Renmin Ribao, its English equivalent The People's Daily and the English-language China Daily. It aims to trace processes of meaning generation, in particular discursive practices of an ideological nature, such as antagonistic portrayals of in- and outgroups, hegemonic exercise of power, as well as naturalized conceptualizations of contingent processes, structures and relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between notions of self and politics in discourse on political engagement. By means of a heuristic inspired by the poststructuralist notion of logic and the pragmatic concept of metapragmatic awareness, the author argues that metapragmatic markers play an important role in communicating interpretive processes that inform preferred and disavowed modes of subjectivity. He relies on an interview conducted with an activist involved in Flemish minority politics in order to show how activists distinguish between preferred and disavowed modes of politics. In dealing with the multiplicity of identities and issues that constitute political debates, activists need to establish and communicate some degree of coherence. Metapragmatic awareness allows interlocutors to establish patterns of coherence that can be described in terms of interpretive logics. The author presents a strong case for taking the reflexive awareness of language users into account when studying society-wide debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second part of a two-part article which proposes an enhanced approach to eco-discourses after weighing the (dis)advantages of mainstream Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA). Part I explored the theoretical grounding for an enhanced PDA, introduced the research method and then, based on the adapted analytic framework of Stibbe (2016), undertook a critical analysis of the discourses of Shell Oil Company (SOC). Part II uses the same analytic framework to analyse Greenpeace USA's (GPU) discourse and compare it to the SOC discourse. The emphasis in Part II is on the exploration of potential fissures in the discourses across difference, and the possible common grounds upon which to design alternative discourses that are empathetic, comprehensible and legitimate to a coalition of social forces. Practically, Part II finds that the two groups use similar discourse strategies, such as salience and framing, but with different orientations. Methodologically, Part II argues that corpus-aided comparative discourse analysis, with a focus on discourse semantics, will facilitate the identification of 'greenwashing' strategies that strengthen and stabilize current hegemonic social order; this part also points to avenues of alternative discourses which exploit the inherent contradictions or fissures within that hegemonic order. Theoretically, the paper suggests that within an enhanced Positive Discourse Analysis approach, it is also important to seek out points of convergence between progressive positions and to articulate these within a hybrid, counter-hegemonic discourse that maximizes its potential for uptake, while it destabilizes the prevailing discourses at precisely the fissure points identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics / Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada (John Benjamins Publishing Co.) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Classroom discourse analysis has contributed to understandings of the nature of student-teacher interactions, and how learning takes place in the classroom; however, much of this work has been Undertaken in teacher-directed learning contexts. Student-centred classrooms such as problem-based learning (PBL) approaches are increasingly common in professional disciplines such as the health sciences and medicine. With the globalisation of education, health science and medical education, PBL classrooms are often sites of considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, yet little is known from a classroom discourse perspective about the language demands of PBL. This paper examines the ways in which the students and tutor negotiate and construct meanings through language in one first year physiotherapy PBL tutorial at an Australian university, with a particular focus on the ways in which the discourse is regulated in a student-centred learning environment. The analysis of the classroom discourse is underpinned by Halliday's systemic functional linguistics. The findings provide a description of the linguistic resources students draw on to co-construct and negotiate knowledge, as well as show how the tutor, with minimal strategic interventions, scaffolds the students' learning. The findings also suggest that the PBL environment can be a challenging one for students whose cultural and language backgrounds are different from that of the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design of a 192-text Spanish-English specialized corpus of biomedical research articles (RAs) divided into three 64-text subcorpora (English texts, their corresponding Spanish translations, and Spanish comparable texts) for use in quantitative contrastive analysis. The paper also presents an exploratory study analysing theme–rheme structure in these subcorpora. Two definitions of theme were used: Halliday’s ideational theme and preverbal theme (i.e., all clause constituents before the finite verb of the main clause). The study adopted a target-oriented approach and assessed the acceptability of the translated texts with regard to the statistical norm of the comparable native-speaker Spanish subcorpus. Statistically significant differences were found for marked theme and its different syntactic manifestations (prepositional phrase adjunct and subordinate clauses) and there was evidence of a different thematic distribution within the semantic category person (researcher, patient, first person). The most striking results were found for different measures of theme length, suggesting a consistent information overload in the thematic zone in the whole RA and in the individual rhetorical sections except for the Introduction. The translated texts occupy a kind of no-man’s land half-way between the source articles and the independently created Spanish RAs. A refined three-stage model of the study design is proposed for future target-oriented quantitative and qualitative research into translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes patterns of code switching found in a small group of first and second generation Catalan immigrants in Mexico, and is part of a wider study on the impact of exile upon the construction of identity in the discourse of political immigrants in Latin America. With regard to the pragmatic exploitation of code switching, it argues that code switching is used by bilinguals even when a monolingual alternative is available, either because changing languages at a specific point in conversation reduces the processing effort involved in interpreting the stretch of discourse where the switch occurs, or because the shift of code adds cognitive effects to the overall interpretation of the message. The paper focuses on the effects of ad hoc concept construction, — a well studied phenomenon in monolingual discourse — on the presentation of self in bilingual discourse, analyzing cases when the pragmatically derived ad hoc concept involves a switch of codes. It is argued that this mechanism helps subjects represent themselves in bilingual conversation as distinct both from Mexicans and from non expatriate Catalans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose an analysis of the metaphor “This surgeon is a butcher!” discussed in Grady, Oakley & Coulson (1999), introducing it into a mental space framework derived from conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), blending theory (BT) and cognitive semiotics. The method of analysis is to work backwards; we attempt to reconstruct the meaning of the butcher-surgeon metaphor by giving a step-by-step description of the cognition involved in understanding an occurrence of the metaphoric expression, and hypothesize a general framework for analyzing metaphoric blends and other kinds of rhetorically potent integrations of semiotically distinguishable conceptual contents (mental spaces) in expressive blends. It is argued that examples of expressive blends, such as metaphor, need to be accounted for in semiotic terms, since they occur in — intersubjective as well as private — communication, which is essentially semiotic in nature; expressive blends occur as signs and are therefore a natural subject of cognitive semiotics, the study of cognition in semiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive Linguistics has developed many insights into language but no systematic formalism. This article proposes that the discipline can benefit from standard geometrical formalisms. It outlines an approach called Discourse Space Theory (DST) that uses coordinate geometry and vector spaces. It describes how vectors have been used by several scholars to characterise the semantics of spatial prepositions, extending this approach to an abstract, deictically centred discourse space. Vector geometry comes with standard properties and operations that can serve to describe many linguistic and discourse phenomena. One of these is transformation of axes, which can be used to represent the phenomenon of viewpoint shift in discourse. The paper illustrates how DST can systematically describe viewpoint shift in foreground-background shifts, deictic verbs, tense, complement clauses and conditional constructions, especially counterfactuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent research considerable interest has been shown in strings of linguistic items which appear to behave, in certain respects, as single items, and which are referred to in this paper as multi-word sequences. The aim of the paper is to investigate the interface between work on such phenomena and recent developments in the theory of Functional Grammar. A selective review of corpus-based approaches to multi-word sequences is followed by a brief introduction to Wray's psycholinguistically-oriented model of formulaicity. A corpus example is then discussed in some detail. The discussion up to this point is then related to four recent models within the overall framework of Functional Grammar which aim to increase the level of psychological adequacy of the theory: Nuyts' Functional Procedural Grammar, Hengeveld's Functional Discourse Grammar, Mackenzie's Incremental Functional Grammar and Bakker and Siewierska's expression rule model. Brief comments are also made on multi-word sequences in relation to production vs. comprehension and on the relationship between formulaicity and levels of structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at discussing the relationships of turn construction, interactional units and projectability with especial regard to projections triggered by TCU-initially placed items, for instance discourse markers. Supported by data taken from contemporary spoken French, the main purpose of this piece is to theorize and describe these patterns of projection and to elicit from them constructional convergences. The theoretical statement is complemented by the exemplary analysis of a French talk-show conversation in which the turn-initially placed items feature prominently in the interlocutors’ discussion. This can be demonstrated through the study of certain linguistic mechanisms of coherence on different hierarchical levels. Special focus is placed on the implicit argumentative relations that the analyzed projection patterns establish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a basic description of major grammatical features of the Zaiwa noun phrase. It includes a review of Zaiwa phonology, a discussion of word classes and consituent order typology, and a description of the noun phrase including noun types, nominal modifiers, conjunctions and aspects of discourse grammar related to the noun phrase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liking adverbials (LAs) play a very important role in discourse cohesion. This study examines the frequency and usage patterns of English LAs (110 in total) across five registers (Spoken English, Academic Writing, Fiction, News Writing, and Other writings) in the BNC. While the data analyses offer support for some previous research results, they also yield new findings regarding, among other things, variations in the adverbials’ frequency distribution and usage patterns across the five registers. For example, while fiction’s overall use of LAs is much lower than that of speaking and academic writing, its use of the sequential type of LAs is actually higher than the latter registers’. Also although news has the lowest overall LA frequency among the five registers, it boasts the highest use of LAs that express simultaneity (e.g. meanwhile). Besides discussing new findings, the paper also addresses their implications for language description, learning, and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use the Theory of Functional Discourse Grammar to show that parts-of-speech (PoS) and dependent clauses (DCs) can both be defined in terms of the functions they may express. On the basis of this parallel treatment, we predict that the functional possibilities of PoS and DCs in languages are comparable. This hypothesis is tested using a sample of 23 languages. The results do show similarities between the functional patterns of the two types of constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay lays out a view of linguistic content in which discourse context plays an essential role. It provides a role for sentential content by using underspecification but argues that discourse level phenomena are essential not only to determining content but even grammaticality judgments in certain cases. It is thus argued that the traditional view which separates very strictly the areas of semantics — a context insensitive notion of meaning — and pragmatics — a non linguistic notion of speaker meaning — is inaccurate. In this line of thought, the paper pays a particular attention to hidden indexicals, anaphora and tense. The necessity of taking into account discursive parameters in order to solve semantic indeterminacy in such cases is argued for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a speaker makes an utterance that comments on herself, she is doing more than simply making a reflective statement about herself. She is drawing attention to a part of her self that she deems relevant to the current exchange by objectifying that part of her self. As it happens, meta-discoursal self-evaluative statements are often made by a speaker about what she has just said or is about to say in the ongoing discourse. Based on a model that sees the self as a conglomeration of all the narratives constituting a person’s experiences, and in all of which the person occupies the role of the protagonist, this paper investigates three meta-discoursal constructions which refer to facets of the self, and their pragma-semantic function of distancing in discourse. These are the ‘my N V-ing’, the ‘N in me’, and the ‘N in me V’ constructions, as exemplified respectively by That was my arrogance speaking, That’s the purist in me talking, and The cynic in me would say yes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corpus-based university classroom discourse studies found differences in teaching as it relates to language use: discourse organization, levels of instruction and interactivity, and disciplinary differences in participant talk. These practices were primarily reported on US-based classrooms, while scholars with different foci looked at British university classrooms as well. However, a comparison of how discourse is organized in university classrooms in varying geographical contexts is still missing. The present study provides lexicogrammatical analyses of classroom discourse at a South-East Asian university as associations are made to the communicative and pedagogical functions in the discourse structure of lectures, and comparisons are made to a corpus of university classroom discourse from the US. Findings show differences in language use and associated discourse organizational patterns within three disciplinary areas (Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Engineering) as they are delivered in the two geographical contexts. Implications are discussed for register, disciplinary, and discourse structure studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have seen a redefining of the linguistic landscape to become inclusive of the wide variety of semiotic encounters that people have each day. The current article partakes in this expansion by looking to the ever-shifting nature of the LL of mass-scale events, particularly protests. In particular, the current article outlines a method for designing LL studies of mass-scale events, including data collection, data analysis, and presentation of findings. The strengths and limitations of such a method are also discussed, paying particular attention to the experiential nature of mass-scale events and importance of transparent researcher positionality and reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to show how trans-national right-wing linguistic strategies and global xenophobic attitudes are reworked at national levels and how, as a result, specialized country- and culture-specific coercion and legitimization strategies arise. Using a detailed, quantitative-qualitative method of analysis, we look at the Greek Cypriot extreme-right party ELAM to see how the party's anti-migration rhetoric construes any foreign presence as threat, by proximizing it linguistically as 'invasion.' This strategy allows the conflation of the current 'Other' (migrants) with archetypical adversaries, such as Turkey. Indeed, anchoring the migration issue in the main national narrative, i.e., the long-standing Cypriot conflict, gives their xenophobic language conceptual coherence and strengthens its textual cohesion. In particular two figures of speech are the basis of this invasion script, the word metanasteftiko 'the immigration phenomenon' conceptualized as the kipriako (the Cyprus problem, i.e., the political division of the island). This parallelism opens the way for a number of inferences, while it also enables a conceptual shift from the real phenomenon known as globalization and multiculturalism to the imagined idea of a (white/Western) genocide. Data include comments responding to ELAM follower's YouTube videos and mainstream press representations. Methodology includes corpus linguistics and discourse analysis focused on the fundamental metaphors found in the data such as MIGRATION AS UNBEARABLE WEIGHT and MIGRATION AS DIRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics / Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada (John Benjamins Publishing Co.) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Vague language (VL, e.g. kind of), an integral part of language, has been attracting increased attention in linguistic studies. VL is a versatile tool of communication in presenting the world in an imprecise but powerful manner. This study explores an overlooked issue: the relationship between the sensitivity of topics and the use of VL, particularly between topical sensitivity and the form and function of VL items. The corpus consists of semi-controlled spoken interactions between Western Australian tertiary students who were asked to converse on two topics: asylum seekers (touchy) and weekend activities (less touchy). The findings reveal the impact of sensitivity, manifested by different VL frequencies (macro level) and forms (micro level) used in the different topics. More VL, and particular forms of VL (e.g. I think, some, or something), were used in the asylum seeker discourse. As the level of topical sensitivity increases, the level of vagueness in talk-in-interactions also increases: that is, the level of sensitivity, VL frequency, and specific VL items are positively related. Showing how participants use VL in responding to different degrees of sensitivity, this study enriches the scarce literature by providing fresh insights and new resources in this important research area. It is expected that the impact of touchy topics may be applicable to other areas of linguistic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a contribution to discourse analysis from the viewpoint of recent developments in the study of verbal (im)politeness in the Spanish-speaking world. It analyzes the discourse functions of interrogative allo-repetitions in a corpus of oral Mexican Spanish from the perspective of both their conversational role as repair mechanisms and as linguistic strategies to convey politeness or impoliteness in interaction. The main findings of this research are that interrogative allo-repetitions fulfill different politeness (i.e. face-saving, face-flattering, or face-threatening) strategies depending not only on their conversational function (true vs. fictitious repair mechanisms), but also -- and most importantly -- on the type of verbal interaction and cultural settings in which they take place, as well as the relationship between participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text coherence can be marked linguistically by using connectives and lexical signals that make coherence relations explicit. This study focuses on the influence of such markers on text comprehension in ecologically valid contexts. A first experiment shows how readers in a business meeting and in a laboratory study benefit from the explicit marking of coherence relations. A second experiment shows how poor readers in secondary education benefit from coherence marking while answering text comprehension questions. We argue in favor of an interaction between cognitively oriented research on discourse representation and document design research, to solve crucial questions like: how do we design optimally readable texts? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association that has been made between the discourse notion of grounding (viz. the foreground-background semantic structure) and the Gestalt notions of figure and ground has led to equating foreground with prominence — a surface structure property of discourse. Sorting out the terminological confusion, this article distinguishes grounding from the prominent ways in which it is signalled and shows that prominence is the textual counterpart of the perceptual distinction between figure and ground. It focuses on foregrounding-backgrounding as one manifestation of surface organization that makes linguistic structures more or less prominent, capturing the writer’s choice of a vantage point from which events and states of affairs are perceived and encoded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]