ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the theoretical framework of the book and so sets the stage for the following empirical studies. It presents a concise overview of positioning and the relevant issues discussed in the area of the social sciences, discourse analysis and pragmatics (Bakhtin’s polyphonic voicing, Role Theory, Speech Act Theory, Positioning Theory, Politeness Theory etc.). Through reappraisal of the theoretical considerations, the chapter argues that language use as communicative process has to be understood in relation to discourse and its factors and conceptualizes positioning as the interpersonal dialogic process of people relating to each other whereby they textualize their discourses to achieve particular perlocutionary purposes and effects or pretexts.
