In the paper I analyze two features of the genre of the pedagogical. First is a particular usage of "should" statements (which I call postulational rhetoric) where one can identify an effect of erasing present normative behavior, while that which is postulated is turned into an unattainable ideal, or a value. Second, I analyze…

The identity of a city matters in a global age. This article explores the discursive construction of the global city's identity in relation to semiotic landscape, using the construction of Shanghai as a global city as a case study. In this increasingly globalising world, Shanghai authorities have recently demonstrated the desire to establish…

This paper investigates the speech act of refusal taking as a case study British responses to a salesperson's offer through the study of recordings of 109 conversations between the salesperson and a potential British customer. The data are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively with the aim of finding the most frequent responses that denote…

Discusses the failure of Joe Bob Briggs' parody of "We Are the World" in terms of the development of the communal sense that creates a set of group norms, which in turn create "phantom constraints" of which the parody's author may not be aware.(NKA)

A study explored the issues of cultural identity and interaction in public health discourse concerning Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Hong Kong's multilingual, multicultural social context. Twenty public service announcements (PSAs) concerning AIDS awareness televised in both English and Cantonese in Hong Kong from 1987 to 1994 were…