Allusions in the press : an applied linguistic study / by Paul Lennon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lennon, Paul, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Newspapers--Language.

Newspapers.

Allusions.

Intertextuality.

Newspapers--Headlines.

Reader-response criticism.

Sociolinguistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This corpus-based study of allusions in the British press shows the range of targets journalists allude to - from Shakespeare to TV soaps, from Jane Austen to Hillary Clinton, from hymns to nursery rhymes, proverbs and riddles. It analyzes the linguistic forms allusions take and demonstrates how allusions function meaningfully in discourse. It explores the nature of the background cultural and intertextual knowledge allusions demand of readers and sets out the processing stages involved in understanding an allusion. Allusion is integrated into existing theories of indirect language and linked to idioms, word-play and metaphor.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Theories of indirect language comprehension

3. Previous work on allusion

4. A newspaper corpus of allusions: Initial analysis

5. The alluding and target units

6. The comprehension of allusions

7. The functions of allusion

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [274]-297).

ISBN:

9786612193866

9781282193864

1282193864

9783110197334

3110197332

OCLC:

234084028