CRITICS: critics

[ROJO at ccuam3.sdi.uam.es]

     Luisa Mart!n Rojo
     Linguistics Department
     Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
     Spain

     It is hard to write about oneself without using an
"impersonal academic style" and at the same time without telling
the story of one's life, which is what really explains the choice
of subjects and the approach of one's work. Here is my attempt.

     For a number of years, I have been dedicated to the study
of the jargon of delinquents, using a sociolinguistic and
ethnographic approach to my analysis. The defensive role played
by jargon inside prisons against the destructive action of
normative discourse leads me to understand linguistic varieties
as -amongst other functions- reactions against mechanisms of
domination -especially those which marginate and discredit the
individual.  From here, I began to be interested in other
marginal linguistic varieties, and from there to the culture and
language of Spanish gypsies, a group which, like in other
European countries, suffers very strong discrimination. Lately,
I have been working on racism and especially in sexism.
     Currently, I am carrying out, with the support of the
"Instituto de la Mujer", two research projects, which deal with
new and traditional forms of sexism, with the new images of
women, and, specially, with the redefinition of gender identity
and new relationships between couples.
     The idea behind all my work -what gives it its coherence-
is the wish to understand and reveal the strategies (in
particular discourse strategies) and the consequences of
domination. I believe that strategies and consequences cannot be
understood separately). Starting from the fact that power is
exercised through discourse, I want to examine the way legitimate
discourse generates knowledge both about "realities", and  about
ourselves. In my research, I found that delinquents' discourse
and gypsies' discourse and, also, to some extent, women's
discourse, show the effects of this action of normative
discourse, presenting split subjects, who are  divided either
internally (discredited, self-disciplined), or externally either
in their relationes with others (marginalized, excluded).
     This last field will be the object of my future research:
the different reactions against normative discourse -adherence,
resistance, opposition, and the discourse strategies connected
with them. From domination, I want (I really need) to move to
reaction.

     Most of my work is writing in Spanish, but I have some
papers in English:

on jargon:
"Jargon of delinquents and the study of conversational dynamics",
Journal of Pragmatics, 21, 3-1994: 243-289.

on mechanism of exclusion:
"Division and rejection: from the personification of the Gulf
conflict to the demonisation of Saddam Hussein". Amsterdam:
Discourse & Society, 1995, 6(1):49-79.

on sexism:
Mart!n Rojo, L., Callejo Gallego, J., "Argumentation and
Inhibition: Sexism in the Discourse of Spanish Executives".
Pragmatics. (September, 1995).

     I you are interested in my publications in Spanish, just let
me know,  and I will give the references and send copies, if you
like.
     I look forward to hearing from anyone interested in any of
the above areas. Meanwhile enjoy this night (if you participate
of the tradition of celebrating summer solstice).

     Luisa Martin Rojo.

     Below, you find information about some of my PhD Students.
I'm afraid others are already on holiday. In addition to the
refered/enclosed research, we are working on the images of
Muslims on Spanish press, sexism in collective bargaining,
bureaucratic language, and so on.

- -------------------------------------------------------------

Gerardo Cham


     I would like to inform you about my doctoral thesis, in case
you can help me to contact other people working in the same area.

TOPIC:    Contrast the image of Mexico in Spanish newspaper
          discourse in two different historical moments:
          a) Mexico's commercial integration to U.S.A. and Canada
          policies.
          b)Chiapas revolution (Starting on january 1, 1994)
          The changes in the image are related to economic and
          sociopolitical reasons.
- ------------------------------------------------------------

Arturo Guillen

Doctoral proyect: Analysis of The Economist editorials, headings
and other opinion materials as published in the London weekly
newspaper during the last few years.

Objectives:
1.   Show how syntactic and morphological choices may be
     affecting the self-proclaimed objectivity of communication.
2.   Assessment af the contents and differences found between the
     ostensive editorial policy and the ambiguities and shameless
     axe-grinding present in form and content alike.

Methodology:
1.   Review of the devices used: parallelisms, turns of phrase,
     puns, alliteration and other form markers, and their
     relation to meaning.
2.   Investigate intertextual variations (lexical,
     morphosyntactic and otherwise) on a given information topic
     as presented on successive issues.
3.   Relate frequency and intensity of form markers to intended
     communication goals. In hypothesis: the more frequent the
     markers the less clear the content.
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Sara de La Mora

     I would Like to share ideas about what the topic of my
doctoral tesis is: politeness. I am doing a comparative study on
spoken Spanish in Mexico and in Spain. I focus on the linguistic
differences in both countries. I also analyze their most commonly
used expressions, and if there are relationships among them.
     At the moment, I am writing an article on the analysis of
the magazine discourse for women. I follow Brown and Levinson's
methodology for positive politiness strategies and the ideas of
Deborah Tannen in You just don't understand.
- -----------------------------------------------------------

Javier Salamanca.
     I am interested in the discourse of ecology, a site of
conflict, and the use of interdiscursive articulation. The way
this is  reflected in the programmes of Spain's main political
parties has been my starting point.
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Universidad Aut"noma de Madrid (UAM)

Ph.D. group would like to promote two-way exchanges through the
Critics e-mail network and regular mail. Addresses below:


Address name
c/o Luisa Martin Rojo
Departamento de Ling
!stica
Facultad de Filosof!a y Letras
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
E-28049 Madrid
Spain
fax: 34-1-3973930
tel: 34-1-3978707

e-mail: critics at ccuam3.sdi.uam.es
        rojo at ccuam3.sdi.uam.es