Series Preface

Discourse is seen as an element of social practice, which is not only socially shaped but also socially shaping. The dialectics of discourse and society makes it possible that discourse becomes the replica of reality, and this is all the more salient in the post-modern society where new media works together with power over and control of the ways and sources of communication. Based on this understanding of discourse, we believe that discourse is one of the concerns of social sciences.

And indeed this was the case. Discourse has attracted the attention of sociologists, philosophers, as well as linguists. While it is necessary to note that they have different shades of emphasis, it is important to see the side-effects of these emphases. For example, the sociological tradition of discourse studies lacks detailed linguistic analysis of discourse, and the linguistic tradition often limits the analysis of discourse within the intra-structure of the discourse, rarely relating this linguistic analysis to the discourse facet of politics and society.

Nankai Discourse Studies Series (NDSS) favours an interdisciplinary approach to discourse, that is, it highlights the integration of the linguistic research methodology (e.g. discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, systemic functional linguistics, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics) with the research methodology of social sciences such as sociology, philosophy, history,economics, law and management. The book series aims to explore the complexity of discourse in relation to society, in particular, to the socio-political transformations in contemporary China.

Nankai Discourse Studies Series (NDSS) is an open book series by Nankai University Press. It publishes both Chinese and English monographs and themed edited volumes. It also publishes introductory textbooks that prepare students for the research on discourse studies. We expect this series to facilitate the interdisciplinary approaches to discourse and to contribute to the prosperity of social sciences.

Series editors: Tian Hailong and Ding Jianxin