Introduction

In the previous chapter we saw that context models are not merely subjective mental representations of discourse participants, but also have many social dimensions such as “applications” of shared knowledge and ideologies. In this chapter we continue this social analysis of contexts by examining the societal basis of the way language users understand social situations when they engage in talk and text. We already stressed that they do so not only as individuals, but also as participants in interaction and as members of groups or communities, for instance by acquiring and using the social representations of such collectivities.

There are more social dimensions to context than this application of socially shared representations of groups. For instance, by engaging in discourse participants accomplish social actions that may be analyzed as instantiations of collective action, institutional actions or social and political processes and relations, such as those of power, and at the same time contribute to the production of collective action. Thus, Tony Blair addressing the British House of Commons on the occasion of the impending war against Iraq does so not only as Tony Blair, but also as Prime Minister and as leader of the Labour Party, and the other MPs understand his speech especially as a function of these attributed identities – which also Blair himself explicitly signals in his speech.