Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Jerusalem--The Hebrew University, 1988. Titre de soutenance : The conception of God and cult in the priestly Torah and in the holiness school. / Notes bibliogr.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Hamburg, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-184).

Inaug.diss.-Strassburg. / Cover title.

Revision of diss.--Tübingen. / Bibliography: p. 147-155.

Spec. Lit. Inaug.--Groningen. / Bibliography: p. 121.

Thesis--Copenhagen. / Summary in English.

Thesis (doctoral)--Academia Groningana, 1932. / Latin original and Dutch prose translation on opposite pages. "Theses" ([3] p.) laid in. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-240). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

In this thesis I primarily address those within media and communications studies who research mass media audiences and their engagement with a diverse range of texts. I ask in what ways our knowledge about the interpretation of genres, emergent from many decades of empirical research with mass media audiences, is useful in understanding engagement with new media. This conceptual task is pursued empirically by applying a conceptual repertoire derived from reception analysis to interviews with youthful users of the online genre of social networking sites (SNSs). The thesis presents findings on the heterogeneity of children’s experiences in using SNSs following their perceptions of authorial presence, their notions of others using the text, their expertise with the interface and pushing textual boundaries. I explore four tasks involved in the act of interpretation – those being intertextual, critical, collaborative and problem-resolving. In analysis, I also reflect on a selection of the core conceptual tools that have been animated in this thesis, in research design as well as analysis and interpretation. It is concluded that inherited concepts - text and interpretation, continue to be useful in extension from the world of television audiences to the world of the internet. Second, inherited priorities from audience reception research which connect clearly to the conversation on media and digital literacies prove to be important by connecting resistance and the broader task of critique to the demands of being analytical, evaluative and critical users of new media. Third, the notion of interpretation as work is useful overall, to retain in research with new media use, for there is a range of tasks and responsibilities involved in making sense of new media.

This study is broadly concerned with the analysis of ideology in discourse. More specifically, it investigates the role modality plays in reflecting underlying ideologies as well as ideological inconsistencies in three practical analyses of discourse. Achieving these objectives is, I argue, dependent on a view of discourse which is not only functional but also pragmatic. The functional aspect of this view reflects the broad objectives of functional linguistics: i.e. relating linguistic structures to social structures. The pragmatic aspect reflects an emphasis on the need not to exclude 'the reader' from the process of interpretation. Whereas previous studies have either entirely neglected or presented an unsatisfactory account of the reader, the proposed functional-pragmatic approach to discourse analysis resolves this issue by allowing a systematic variance in interpretation. This is done in the light of a systematic account of modality which helps present a realistic and practical consideration of the role of the reader in approaching discourse analysis. Again, in line with a functional and pragmatic view of discourse, the argument put forward in this study is that all 'types' of discourse can be approached in a similar manner for critical analysis. Consequently, practical analyses of ideology through modality in three instances of discourse: literary texts, political texts and scientific texts are presented. The overall aim is to show how a systematic, functional and pragmatic analysis of modality is adequate in critically analysing the ideologies present in all texts.