Ruqaiya Hasan, Ways of saying, ways of meaning: Selected papers. Ed. by Carmel Cloran, David Butt, & Geoff Williams. London: Cassel, 1996. Pp. vi, 248. Hb £45.00, pb £14.99.

Abstract

The book under review addresses the central concern of this journal: the nature of the relation between language and society. Hasan's conception of this relation is a wide-ranging one; it includes the relation between different social positionings and different styles of speaking, the ways that language contributes to the communication and maintenance of ideologies, and the relation between the language of a text and the structure of that text. In addition, one finds contributions to what some readers will consider “pure” linguistic theory. Hasan devotes one chapter to an argument for including lexis as a part of grammatical description, and a second to the necessity for having semantic networks in addition to having grammatical networks. Both “theoretical” issues form critical steps in Hasan's dream of describing the “continuity from the living of life on the one hand right down to the morpheme on the other.” It is worthy of note that her argument regarding semantic networks is presented within the framework of a theory of linguistics that tends to semanticize grammar; thus this is a more significant claim than it would have been if she had been using a formalist approach.