本书是一部关于话语语言学的理论专著，全书主要解决两个相关的问题：(1)从意识形态角度理解超文本；(2)从批评话语分析角度分析超文本。解决第一个问题的途径是从社会实践拥有的基本特征人手，探讨超文本必须拥有的存在条件，认为超文本是通过话语技术化、市场化、商品化、全球化等作用于社会的。第二个问题的切人点是，超文本还是一种交际手段，还得遵循交际规则方能传递信息，所以它是可分析的。

本书是在作者所作的博士论文的基础上修改、补充而成的。

本书主要解决两个相关的问题：(1)从意识形态角度理解超文本；(2)从批评话语分析角度分析超文本。解决第一个问题的途径是从社会实践拥有的基本特征人手，探讨超文本必须拥有的存在条件，认为超文本是通过话语技术化、市场化、商品化、全球化等作用于社会的。第二个问题的切人点是，超文本还是一种交际手段，还得遵循交际规则方能传递信息，所以它是可分析的。

超文本作为网络最主要的显示方式不仅是社会行为，而是全球现象。理解与分析超文本不仅具有很强的现实意义，而且是当务之急。意识形态在这个层次上不仅是观察话语的一个不可忽视的角度，更是自我反思的视角。理解意识形态就必须超越意识形态。以超文本或整个网络而言，自我反思比以往任何时候都更为重要，因为这种超越，从它最深层的意义上说，与网速、软件的升级等无关，而与理解我们自身息息相关。就这个角度而言，超文本再现了一个既常见又总是困扰人们的课题：每种新发明总是把人类摆在它的面前，重新认识自我。超文本更是如此，它再次让我们反思自身的本质，并且每次反思都会给我们带来对人类真理更为贴近的看法。从这个意义上说，从意识形态角度去理解的和分析的就不仅仅是超文本，而是人类自身。这恰恰是本书的真正意义所在。

Chapter 1 An Introduction：Some Basic Terms

1.0 Introduction

1.1 The Etymology of“Discourse”and That of“Text”

1.2 The Terms“Discourse”and“Text”in the Current Situation

1.3 Why Study Ideology? 

1.4 What Does“Critical”Mean(in CDA)?

1.5 The Purpose of T11is Study

1.6 The Guideline for This Study

1.7 The Content Of TIliS Book 

1.8 A Possible Analytical Frame

Chapter 2 CDA Research Survey 

2.0 Introduction 

2.1 The Background of CDA and Its Initial Stage 

2.2 Three Basic Models

2.3 CDA in Its Developing Stage

2.4 “Discursive Formation” 

2.5 Social Semiotics 

2.6 Thibault’s(1991)Study

2.7 Sociocultural Change and Change in Discourse

2.8 CDA in 90s and the Early 21st Century

2.9 “Discourse in Late Modernity”

Chapter 3 Ricoeur’S Conception of Ideology

3.0 Introduction 

3.1 Ricoeur’S Intellectual Development

3.2 The Introduction to Ricoeur’S Theory of Ideology

3.3 Summary

Chapter4 Hypertext and a Critical Analysis of Its Discursive Characteristics

4.0 Inuoducfion

4.1 Hypertext

4.2 The Order of Discourse and the Technologisation of Discourse

4.3 The Concept of“Text”in Hypertext

4.4 Hypertext.Power and Control

4.5 Summary

Chapter 5“How Do You Know?”

5.0 Introducfion

5.1 What Saussure’S Model of Signs Implicates for the Relationships

Between Word and Image

5.2 The Discrepancies Between Word and Image in Peirce’s Model of Sign 

5.3 CDA’s AttitUde Towards These Two Models

5.4 The Relationship(S)Between Word and Image 

5.5 Can Images Lie? 

5.6 Lakoff et a1.’S Study as an Evidenee for CDA

5.7 The Characters of Visual Communication”

5.8 How Do We Read the Screen?

5.9 Summary

Chapter 6 Virtual Reality——the World on the Screen

6.0 Introduction

6.1 What Is VR?

6.2 The Importance of the Embodiment

6.3 The History of Media and the Three Major Technological Transformations of Information Transportation.Storage and Retrieval 

6.4 The Constraints on the User of Hypertext(the Net)

6.5、Ⅳhat Are Differences Between the Texts Shown on the Screen and the Letters in the Book

6.6 Socializing Technology

6.7 The Materiality of Media

6.8 Summary

Chapter 7 Hypertext and Intertextuality

7.0 Introduction

7.1 Tlle Origin(s)of Intertextuality

7.2 No Text Is an Island 

7.3 Defining Features of Intertextuality 

7.4 Order of Discourse and Intertextuality

7.5 Intertextuality and Coherence

7.6 Hypertext and Transformation 

7.7 Summary

Chapter 8 Hypertext and Literacy

8.0 Introduction

8.1 What Is Literacy in the New Media Age? 

8.2 Characterizing Hypertextual Literacy

8.3 Three Further Effects of New Technologies

8.4 What Leads to Hypertext Literacy

8.5 The Major Differences Between the World Told and the Wodd Shown

8.6 Reading as Semiosis

8.7 Semiotic Resources(Available Designs)，Designing and Redesigned 

8.8 Technologies Function as Ideological Tools(on Four Intertwined Themes)

8.9 ne Place of Critique in Hypertext Literacy

Chapter 9 Multimodality and Hypertext

9.0 Introduction

9.1 Mode and Multimodality

9.2 CDA’S Account of Hypertext in Terms of Multimodality

9.3 The Three Requirements of Communication and the ThEee Interrelated Systems：Information Value，Salience and Framing

9.4 A Case Study

9.5 Summary

Chapter 10 A Short Conclusion

10.1 An Inescapable Fact

10.2 An Antidote to False Optimism and Unrealistic Expectation Clouding VR

10.3 Understanding Should Be Socially Situated。

10.4 The Paradox of Understanding。

10.5 The Ultimate Aim of Understanding Hypertext Is to Understand Ourselves

Bibliography