Discourse as a communicative, relational and identity space: framing and construction of identity

Abstract

In this contribution, I discuss aspects of discourse from a cognitive and complex perspective. I propose to un-derstand discourse as a communicative, relational and identity space (CRIS) that is simultaneously structure and process. I then describe its creative potential to enable meaning construction of communicative situations, events, as well as the characteriza-tion of social relationships and interdependencies of the actors involved. By virtue of a series of conceptualizing operations or processes, discourse offers the necessary and sufficient links between the social phenomenon, the cognitive structure and the discursive instantiation. In a series of examples, I analyze in detail the conceptualizing process of framing and its relevance for the construction of recurring identity patterns in discourse.