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Discourse, Materiality and Agency within Everyday Social Interactions

Expected online publication date:  30 October 2025

Dariush Izadi
Affiliation:
Western Sydney University

Summary

This Element investigates the interplay between language, discourse, and materiality by focusing on everyday social practices within corner shops and markets in Sydney, Australia. Drawing on linguistic ethnography and data from interactions involving objects, talk, and people, it explores how discourse and materiality are co-constituted. Employing theoretical perspectives from actor-network theory and the concept of mediational means/tools, the study reconceptualizes the role of non-human entities in meaning-making processes. It demonstrates that objects actively participate in shaping cultural practices and social dynamics, offering new insights that broaden applied linguistics' engagement with materiality. By treating objects as agents in discourse, this Element highlights the entanglement of language, agency, and the material world. It foregrounds the dynamic relationships between humans and non-humans in everyday communicative practices, bringing to the fore the significance of material conditions in the production of meaning and interaction.

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Type
Element
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Online ISBN: 9781009675390
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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Discourse, Materiality and Agency within Everyday Social Interactions
  • Dariush Izadi, Western Sydney University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009675390
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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Discourse, Materiality and Agency within Everyday Social Interactions
  • Dariush Izadi, Western Sydney University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009675390
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Discourse, Materiality and Agency within Everyday Social Interactions
  • Dariush Izadi, Western Sydney University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009675390
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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