Centre for Discourse Studies seminar
June 21st-22nd, 2004

 Modelling Discourse: Theory and Practice 

Location: Kroghstræde 3, Aalborg University

Workshop leader

The video of his three lectures are available online. Access is restricted to computers within Aalborg University.

J. R. Martin is Professor of Linguistics (Personal Chair) at the University of Sydney. His research interests include systemic theory, functional grammar, discourse semantics, register, genre, multimodality and critical discourse analysis, focussing on English and Tagalog - with special reference to the transdisciplinary fields of educational linguistics and social semiotics. Publications include Working with Discourse (with David Rose), Continuum, 2003; Re/Reading the Past (Edited with Ruth Wodak), Benjamins, 2003; Negotiating Heteroglossia (a special issue of Text edited with Mary Macken-Horarik), Mouton de Gruyter, 2003; Language Typology: A Functional Perspective (Edited with A. Caffarel & C. Matthiessen) Benjamins 2004; and Interpreting Tragedy: The Language of September 11th, 2001 (a special double issue of Discourse & Society edited with John Edwards & Bruce Hawkins), Sage 2004. He is currently writing a book on evaluation (with Peter White) and a book on genre (with David Rose). Professor Martin was elected a fellow the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1998, and awarded a Centenary Medal for his services to Linguistics and Philology in 2003.

Seminar Description

The theme to be explored in this seminar is the development of a general model of discourse within an integrated theory of language and related modalities of communication - drawing on systemic functional linguistics and social semiotics. There is lots of fairly eclectic inter-disciplinary work on discourse around, which raises the question of how the pieces relate to one another. In a post-post-structuralist academic sphere this is a useful question to tackle again, without necessarily collapsing into the monologic idealising modelling problems of modernity.

Day 1 

The first day will take genre as point of departure, and explore what it means to build a multi-perspectival theory of communication that gives a robust account of genres and their relation to one another - with the goal of mapping cultures as systems of genres. For hands-on analysis we'll look at the problem of grouping genres into families, and consider a couple of texts which problematise the borders of the story family.

Day 2 

The second day will shift focus and concentrate on one particular text (an editorial response to 9/11), exploring its modes of meaning in relation to the multiple dimensions of analysis introduced on Day 1. This analysis will raise some questions about the ongoing development of engagement analysis in appraisal theory, which we'll try and make a collective contribution to in the more hands-on workshopping this day.

Suggested reading

J. R. Martin & David Rose (2002), Working with Discourse. London: Continuum.

Provisional schedule

The provisional schedule is given below.

PhD students, faculty and other scholars are invited to participate in the seminar. It will be possible to present PhD projects or research projects. If you wish to do so, please send a short description (no more than one page) of your PhD project or research topic and data to Søren Frimann <frimann@hum.aau.dk>.

Participation in the workshop will earn a student 3 ECTS points (42 hours). 

The number of participants is limited to 25 on a first-come, first-served basis.

A fee will be charged for participation to cover administrative costs, tea/coffee/fruit and lunches during the workshop. The fee for all participants is 1000 Danish kroner (dinner not included), 

Please register with Bente Vestergaard <bentev@hum.aau.dk>. The registration deadline is 1st May. After registering, you will immediately be sent an invoice with which you can pay the fee using your local banking system. Please note that your registration will only be officially confirmed when your fee has been paid. Payment of the fee should be received by 15th May at the latest.

Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the participant. Location, travel and accommodation information is available on this web site.

For more information, contact:

           Anders Horsboel or Søren Frimann Trads.

A poster (PDF) for the workshop is available online (800 Kb).

Note: PDF files require Acrobat Reader.

List of Publications

A - Books

1. Crazy Talk: A study of the discourse of schizophrenic speakers. (with S. Rochester) New York: Plenum (Cognition and Language: a series in psycholinguistics) 1979. 229 pp.

2. Factual Writing: Exploring and challenging social reality. Geelong, Vic.: Deakin University Press (ECS806 Sociocultural Aspects of Language and Education) 1985. 101 pp. [republished by Oxford University Press, 1989]

3. Teaching Critical Social Literacy: A project of national significance on the preservice preparation of teachers for teaching English literacy. (with F. Christie, B. Devlin, P. Freebody, A. Luke, T. Threadgold & C. Walton). Canberra, DEET. 1991. 720 pp.

4. English Text: System and structure. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1992. 622 pp.

5. Writing Science: Literacy and discursive power. (with M.A.K. Halliday) London: Falmer (Critical perspectives on literacy and education) & Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press. (Pittsburg Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture). 1993. 283 pp.

6. Working with Functional Grammar (with C.M.I.M. Matthiessen & C. Painter) London: Arnold. 1997. 306 pp.

7. Å Skape Mening Med Språk: en samling artikler av M A K Halliday, R Hasan og J R Martin (presentery og redigert av K.L. Berge, P. Coppock & E. Maagero) Oslo: Landslaget for Norskundervisning (LNU) og Cappelen Akademisk Forlag. 1998. ['Making Meaning with Language'; with M A K Halliday & R Hasan; ISBN 82-456-0070-9; 422 pp]

8. Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause (with David Rose) London: Continuum. 2003. 293pp.

9. The language of evaluation: appraisal in English. (with P R R White) London: Palgrave. in preparation for 2004.

10. Genre systems: mapping culture. (with David Rose). …

B - Edited books

1. Readings in Systemic Linguistics. (Ed. with M.A.K. Halliday) London: Batsford. 1981. 361pp.

2. Writing to Mean: Teaching genres across the curriculum. (Ed. with C. Painter), Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (Occasional Papers 9), 1986. 236 pp.

3. Language Development: Learning language, learning culture. (Ed. with R. Hasan), Norwood, N.J.: Ablex (Advances in Discourse Processes 27 - Meaning and Choice in Language: studies for Michael Halliday), 1989. 397pp.

4. Genre and Institutions: Social processes in the workplace and school. (Ed. with F. Christie). London: Cassell (Open Linguistics Series). 1997. 270pp.

5. Reading Science: Critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science (Ed. with R. Veel). London: Routledge. 1998. 368 pp.

6. Negotiating heteroglossia: Social perspectives on evaluation. (Special Issue of Text 23.2, Ed. with M. Macken-Horarik). 2003. 155 pp.

7. Re/reading the past: critical and functional perspectives on discourses of history. (Ed. with R. Wodak), Amsterdam: Benjamins (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture). 2003. 275 pp.

8. Language typology: A functional perspective . (Ed. with A. Caffarel & C.M.I.M. Matthiessen). to appear.