Introduction

[Zouhair Maalej]

Dear colleagues,
I apologize for those who are receiving this for the second time, and feel
extremely embarrassed to have sent HTML for those who could not read it (I
honestly did not know about this policy). Sorry, again.

Could someone tell me whether to post to this list I should send to
DISCOURS at linguist.ldc.upenn.edu or to discours at listserv.linguistlist.org.
Thanks.
Zouhair

Zouhair Maalej wrote:

> Dear all,
> Hello. I am an assistant professor of linguistics (University of Tunis
> I). I have been involved in different courses such as grammar,
> composition, introduction to linguistics, translation studies,
> comparative stylistics/rhetoric (Arabic-English), which are all
> approached from the perspective of language use.
>     My first contact with academic research was in contrastive
> linguistics ("A Contrastive Analysis of English and Tunisian Arabic
> Complement Sentences," 1983), which introduced me to formal linguistics
> and syntactic argumentation. My main thesis, however, as if by reaction
> to the frustration I felt with lifeless sentences took me into the realm
> of discourse analysis ("Metaphor in Politics and Economics Texts,"
> 1990). The main contribution of this thesis consisted in showing the
> limitations (at the time I started writing it this needed demonstrating)
> of the view of metaphoric discourse as a characteristic feature of
> literary discourse, with all the relevant implications.
>     My transactions with discourse have been more practical than
> theoretical. I have investigated metaphorical discourse (its making,
> processing, domains, and translation) and the discourse of advertising
> (with special reference to sociolinguistic perception, gender
> translation, the linguistics of persuasion). I have also attempted to
> submit some traditionally grammatical categories (modals and passives)
> to a discourse-based account (namely, an cognitive-cum-pragmatic
> perspective). I have an ambitious project in mind: the expression of
> ideological stance in discourse, where I intend to show the failure of
> formal treatments (purely prescriptive in nature in academic settings)
> of categories such as determination, passivization, tense and aspect,
> conditionality, modality, speech and thought presentation, and adopt a
> broader discoursal framework.
>     In a course I teach labelled "Comparative Stylistics" (a kind of
> modern contrastive rhetoric), I approach DISCOURSE in a yet different
> light. The course includes comparing Arabic and English with special
> reference, among other things, to the use of features of orality and
> literacy, the different devices of coherence and cohesion, the different
> linguistic resources (co-ordination, subordination, sentence types,
> etc.) and their stylistic differences, and standards of textuality.
>
>     If any of you are interested in what I am doing or in having a look
> at some of my papers, they are welcome to contact me directly through my
> e-mail (zmaalej at gnet.tn).
>
> Thanks for your patience.
> Zouhair