The eighteenth century--the Age of Reason--was characterized by determined attempts by philosophers, scientists, and political theorists to dispel myth, superstition, and ignorance. But the Age of Reason also witnessed some of the most irrational and vainglorious attempts by sailors and speculators to find a navigable Northwest Passage that would lead through the icy seas of the Arctic from Hudson Bay to the wealth of the Pacific Ocean. Lured by the promise of fame and riches, men endured paralyzing cold, malnutrition, and terrifying storms. Many lives and fortunes were lost in the quest for...

French Discourse Analysis has been developing in France since the 1960s, pioneered by Bachelard and Canguilhem. In this text, Glyn Williams presents an account of the emergence and development of French Discourse Analysis and the contribution which both sociology and linguistics make to the social construction of meaning. Williams seeks to develop a language based method that corresponds to the theoretical force of poststructuralism. He guides the reader through the general history of structuralism and post-structuralism before covering the different stages in the development of French...

First Published in 1980. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Adopting a post-structuralist approach in analyzing the Euromosaic data about European minority language groups, Glyn Williams argues that different states construct minority language groups and speakers in different ways. This leads to an argument about the nature of democracy and how the current changes in governmental discourses accommodate linguistic and cultural diversity.

Together with changes in the nature of modernity, globalisation is restructuring society. The sovereignty of the nation-state is undermined, the structuring of identity is realigned and a sense of individualism (which involves a freedom of choice re institutional alignments) prevails. English emerges as the global lingua franca. At the heart of these developments is the knowledge economy within which work is organised according to principles quite different from those of the Taylorism that prevailed in the industrial economy. Language and culture play a crucial role in the elaboration of the...