Critical discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary approach to the study
of discourse that views language as a form of social practice. Scholars
working in the tradition of CDA generally assume that social practice
and linguistic practice constitute one another and focus on investigating how
societal power relations are established and reinforced through language use.
Background Critical discourse analysis emerged from
'critical linguistics' developed at the University of East Anglia in the 1970s,
and the terms are now often interchangeable. Sociolinguistics was
paying little attention to social hierarchy and power. CDA was first
developed by the Lancaster school of linguists of which Norman Fairclough was
the most prominent figure. Ruth Wodak has also made a remarkable contribution
to this field of study. In addition to linguistic theory, the
approach draws from social theory — and contributions from Karl Marx, Antonio
Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault and Pierre
Bourdieu — in order to examine ideologies and power relations involved
in discourse. Language connects with the social through being the primary domain
of ideology, and through being both a site of, and a stake in, struggles for
power. Ideology has been called the basis of the social representations of
groups, and, in psychological versions of CDA developed by Teun A. van Dijk and
Ruth Wodak, there is assumed to be a sociocognitive interface between social
structures and discourse structures. The historical dimension in critical
discourse studies also plays an important role.
Methodology Although CDA is sometimes mistaken to
represent a 'method' of discourse analysis, it is generally agreed upon
that any explicit method in discourse studies, the humanities and social
sciences may be used in CDA research, as long as it is able to adequately and
relevantly produce insights into the way discourse reproduces social and
political inequality, power abuse or domination. That is, CDA does not limit
its analysis to specific structures of text or talk, but systematically relates
these to structures of the sociopolitical context.
Norman Fairclough developed a three-dimensional framework for studying
discourse, where the aim is to map three separate forms of analysis onto one
another: analysis of language texts, analysis of discourse practice and
analysis of discursive events as instances of sociocultural practice.
Particularly, he combines micro, meso and macro-level interpretation. At the
micro-level, the analyst considers various aspects of textual/linguistic
analysis, for examples syntactic analysis, use of metaphor and rhetorical
devices . The meso-level or "level of discursive practice" involves studying
issues of production and consumption, for instance, which institution produced
a text, who is the target audience, etc. At the macro-level, the analyst is
concerned with intertextual and interdiscursive elements and tries to
take into account the broad, societal currents that are affecting the text
being studied. Notable academics
Notable writers include Norman Fairclough, Michał Krzyżanowski, Paul
Chilton, Teun A. van Dijk, Ruth Wodak, Phil Graham, Theo Van Leeuwen, Siegfried
Jäger, Christina Schäffner, James Paul Gee, Roger Fowler, Gunther Kress, Mary
Talbot, Lilie Chouliaraki, Thomas Huckin, Hilary Janks, Veronika Koller
and Bob Hodge. See also
Bibliography = Notes=
= References= Caldas-Coulthard, Carmen Rosa, and
Coulthard, Malcolm, Texts and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis,
London: Routledge. Chouliaraki, Lilie & Norman Fairclough.
Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press. Norman Fairclough. Media Discourse.
London: Edward Arnold. Norman Fairclough. Analysing Discourse:
Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.
Jaworski, Adam, & Coupland, Nikolas. The Discourse Reader. New York: Routledge.
Lazar, Michelle. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and
Ideology In Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Rogers, Rebecca. A Critical Discourse Analysis of Family Literacy Practices:
Power in and Out of Print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rogers, Rebecca. An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in
Education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Talbot, Mary, Atkinson, Karen and
Atkinson, David. Language and Power in the Modern World. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press. Toolan, Michael. Critical Discourse
Analysis: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London: Routledge.
Toolan, Michael. Critical Discourse Analysis: Critical Concepts in
Linguistics. London: Routledge. Toolan, Michael. Critical Discourse
Analysis: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London: Routledge.
Toolan, Michael. Critical Discourse Analysis: Critical Concepts in
Linguistics. London: Routledge. Teun A. Van Dijk.. Elite discourse and
racism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Teun A. Van Dijk.. Racism and discourse
in Spain and Latin America. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Teun A. Van Dijk.. Discourse and Power. Houndsmills: Palgrave.
Weiss, Gilbert & Wodak, Ruth. Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and
Interdisciplinarity in Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Palgrave.
Young, Lynne & Harrison, Claire. Systemic Functional Linguistics and
Critical Discourse Analysis: Studies in Social Change. London: Continuum.
Anna Duszak, Juliane House, Łukasz Kumięga: Globalization, Discourse,
Media: In a Critical Perspective / Globalisierung, Diskurse, Medien: eine
kritische Perspektive. Warsaw University Press, r. 2010
= Further reading= Henry Widdowson. Review of Fairclough's
Discourse and Social Change. Applied Linguistics 16(4): 510–516.
Norman Fairclough. A Reply to Henry Widdowson's 'Discourse Analysis: A
Critical View. Language & Literature 5(1): 49–56.
Henry Widdowson. Reply to Fairclough: Discourse and Interpretation:
Conjectures and Refutations. Language & Literature 5(1): 57–69.
Henry Widdowson. "The Theory and Practice of Critical Discourse
Analysis." Applied Linguistics 19/1: 136–151.
O'Halloran, Kieran A. Critical Discourse Analysis and Language Cognition.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Beaugrande, Robert de. "Interpreting the
Discourse of H.G. Widdowson: A Corpus-Based Critical Discourse
Analysis. Applied Linguistics 22(1): 104–121.
Toolan, Michael. What Is Critical Discourse Analysis and Why Are People
Saying Such Terrible Things About It? Language & Literature 6(2): 83–103.
Stubbs, Michael. Whorf's Children: Critical Comments on Critical Discourse
Analysis. In Ryan, A. & Wray, A., Evolving Models of Language: British
Studies in Applied Linguistics 12, Clevedon: BAAL/Multilingual Matters.
Blommaert, Jan & Bulcaen, Chris. Critical Discourse Analysis. Annual
Review of Anthropology 29: 447–466. Blommaert, Jan, Collins, James, Heller,
Monica, Rampton, Ben, Slembrouck, Stef & Jef Verschueren. Discourse and Critique.
Special issue of Critique of Anthropology 21/1: 5–107 and
21/2:117-183. Slembrouck, Stef. Explanation,
Interpretation and Critique in the Analysis of Discourse. Critique of
Anthropology, 21: 33–57. Slembrouck, Stef. Discourse, critique
and ethnography: class-oriented coding in accounts of child protection.
Language Sciences 27:619–650. Threadgold, Terry. Cultural Studies,
Critical Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis: Histories, Remembering and
Futures. Linguistik Online 14(2). Tyrwhitt-Drake, Hugh. Resisting the
Discourse of Critical Discourse Analysis: Reopening a Hong Kong Case
Study. Journal of Pragmatics 31: 1081–1088.
External links Discourseanalysis.net Research portal
and mailing list Critical Approaches to Discourse
Analysis Across Disciplines Research portal and conference
Discourses.org Website of Teun van Dijk Norman Fairclough's profile page
= Research groups associated with CDA= Language, Ideology and Power research
group at Lancaster University Newcastle Critical Discourse Group
Discourse and Rhetoric group at Loughborough University
= Journals associated with CDA= Discourse & Society
Social Semiotics Journal of Language and Politics
Critical Discourse Studies Critical Approaches to Discourse
Analysis Across Disciplines