Cross-cultural Representations in Tourism Discourse: The Case of the Island of Sardinia.

DENTI, OLGA

2012-01-01

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Abstract

Tourism is a cross-cultural dialogic process. On the one hand we find the traveller/tourist, who explores new territories and new spaces, eager to leave and conquer them, to encounter and to discover new worlds, new languages and new discourses. On the other hand, we find the promoters of tourist destinations who accompany them throughout this discovery by revealing peculiar aspects and patterns of their cultural identity. The process of meaning construction requires two systems of representation: one by which reality is associated with a series of concepts or mental representations. The other is the language system whereby such representations are conveyed. The present book aims at showing what kind of cultural meanings are constructed in English tourist communication. In particular, it will concentrate on the institutional and corporate media addressing the Italian island of Sardinia, and on how such meanings are represented and transmitted through verbal and visual language.