Mariavita Cambria - mcambria@unime.

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Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA)
Linguistica Inglese
1.  INTRODUCTION  
 Your  books    

¨  Fairclough   N.   (2013),   Critical   Discourse   Analysis.   The   Critical  

Study   of   Language.   Second   Edition.   Routledge,   London   and  
New  York,  pp.1-­‐160.    
¨  Machin   D.,   Mayr   A.   (2012),   How   to   Do   Critical   Discourse  
Studies:   A   Multimodal   Introduction.   Sage,   London   and   New  
Dehli.  
¨  Bednarek   M.,   Caple   H.   (2012),   News   Discourse,   Continuum,  
London  and  New  York.    
 De4inition  of  text  and  discourse    
§  TEXT  
§  More  used  in  arts  and  humanities  subjects  
§  It  has  been  seen  more  as  a  single  artefact  
§  Traditionally   referred   primarily   to   written  
communication  
 De4inition  of  text  and  discourse    
§  DISCOURSE    
§  Origin  in  the  social  sciences  
§  It  has  tended  to  refer  to  more  extensive  communication,  
a   cluster   of   repeated   representations   or   interactions   of  
some  length  and  substance  
§  As   used   in   the   social   sciences,   it   referes   to   a   whole  
patterns   of   thinking,   knowing   and   behaving   that   are   built  
up   within   a   society   from   repeated   occurrences   of  
viewpoints  expressed  in  particular  ways.  
§  Discourse   has   traditionally   focused   more   on   spoken  
language  
 BUT…  

§  In   more   recent   times   the   two   terms   have   moved  

closed   together,   with   both   “text”   and   “discourse”  
encompassing   more   than   simply   written   or   spoken  
communication  
§  New   forms   of   digital   communication   have   aided   this  
broadening   of   focus   encouraging   ideas   about   their  
inter-­‐connectedness  
§  Multimodal  nature  of  communication  
 Example    

§  TEXT  MESSAGE  =  digital  artefacts  we  compose  on  

phone  keyboards  
§  THE   DISCOURSE   OF   SMS   =   moves   away   from  
individual   compositions   towards   a   larger-­‐scale  
view   of   the   nature   of   this   form   of   communication  
(who   might   use   the   communication   and   where,  
when   and   why   they   might   do   so,   as   well   as   the  
longer-­‐term  social  implications)    
 APPROACH      

§  Texts  are  not  seen  as  isolated  artefact  but  as  part  of  
the  social  texture  of  any  community  
§  No  text  is  monomodal    
§  Discourse-­‐oriented  view  of  the  texts  that  are  part  
of   your   daily   life   and   that   both   re4lect   and  
construct  its  realities  
  
Social  texture  
  
Discourse-­‐oriented  
 Critical  Discourse  Analysis  (CDA)  

§  Developed   by   Kress   (1985),   Fairclough   (1989),  

Fowler  (1979)  to  explore  areas  of  social  activity  and  
the   complex   relationships   between   language   and  
social  practices.  
§  Dialectic   view   that   allows   for   the   investigation   of  
language   as   re[lecting   and   also   shaping   and  
maintaining  social  realities.  
§  Raise   awareness   of   the   ideological   frameworks   that  
inform   language   choice,   and   the   construction,  
representation   and   positioning   of   its   subjects   in  
discourse.  
 Critical  Discourse  Analysis  (CDA)  

§  Use   of   discourse   is   modelled   on   Foucault’s   usage   of   it  

in  cultural  studies.  
§  Discourse  refers  not  only  to  language  but  also  to  sets  
of  social  and  cultural  practices.  
§  “Discourse   is   socially   constitutive   as   well   as   socially  
conditioned   –   it   constitutes   situations,   objects   of  
knowledge,   and   the   social   identities   of   and  
relatioships  between  people  and  groups  of  people.  It  
is  constitutive  both  in  the  sense  that  it  helps  sustain  
and  reproduce  the  social  status  quo,  and  in  the  sense  
that  it  contributes  to  transforming  it”  (Wodak  1997)  
 Critical  Discourse  Analysis  (CDA)  

§  Texts   function   within   ‘discourses’.   We   should   think  

about   discourses   within   the   Foucaldian   tradition:   they  
are   historically   constituted   bodies   of   knowledge   and  
practices  that  shape  people,  giving  positions  of  power  
to  some  but  not  to  others.  
§  Ideology.  
§  Direct   attention   “away   from   the   grand,   overall  
strategies   of   power,   towards   the   many,   localised  
circuits,   tactics,   mechanisms   and   effects   through  
which   power   circulates”   (Hall,   1997)   particularly,   in  
our  case,  through  the  media.  
 Texts  and  social  structures  

§  “Language   is   also   a   medium   of   domination   and   social  

force.   It   serves   to   legitimise   relations   of   organised  
power.  In  so  far  as  the  legitimations  of  power  relations,  
language  is  also  ideological”  (Habermas,  1987)  
§  “It  is  increasingly  through  texts  that  social  control  and  
social   domination   are   exercised   (and   indeed  
negotiated  and  resisted).  Textual  analysis,  as  a  part  of  
critical   discourse   analysis,   can   therefore   be   an  
important  political  resource”  (Coupland,  1999)  
 Texts  and  social  structures  

§  A   fully   critical   account   of   discourse   requires   a  

theorization   and   description   of   both   the   social  
processes   and   structures   which   leads   to   the  
production   of   a   text,   and   of   the   social   structure   and  
processes  within  which  individuals  or  groups  as  social  
historical  subjects  create  meanings  in  their  interaction  
with  texts.  
 Key  concepts  in  CDA  

§  The  concept  of  power  

§  The  concept  of  history  

§  The  concept  of  ideology    

 Development  of  CDA  
§  Fairclough  model  has  three  components:  
§  1.   First   dimension   is   text   or   discourse   which   includes   micro  
texts   (e.g.   vocabulary,   syntax)   and   macro   levels   of   text  
structure  as  well  as  interpersonal  elements  in  a  text;  
§  2.   The   second   is   the   analysis   of   discourse   practices.   This  
looks  at  how  a  text  is  constructed  and  interpreted,  and  also  
how   it   is   distributed.   Analysis   of   discourse   also   considers  
the  discourse  practices  of  different  social  domains  (such  as  
political   discourse).   Fairclough   calls   these   “orders   of  
discourse”;  
§  3.   The   third   is   the   analysis   of   social   practices,   focusing   in  
particular   on   the   relation   of   discourse   to   power   and  
ideology.  
 Development  of  CDA  

§  It   reveals   the   role   of   discourse   in   reproducing  

or  challenging  socio-­‐political  dominance.  
§  It   is   a   method   of   situating   language   in   its   social  
context   ([irst   and   third   dimension)   looking   at  
the   producer/consumer   interaction   (second  
dimension)  
 Development  of  CDA  

§  Texts  and  multi-­‐semiotic  texts  

§  Texts  as  social  spaces  
§  Power  relationships  
§  Orders  of  discourse  as  hegemonic  domains  
§  Discursive  differences  negotiated  in  texts  
§  Bakhtin’s  work  on  text  and  genre  argues  for  the  inclusion  
of   intertextual   analysis   as   a   necessary   complement   to  
linguistic   analysis   in   the   studying   of   texts.   This   is   an  
approach   that   draws   attention   to   the   dependence   of   text  
on  society  and  history  in  the  form  of  the  resources  made  
available  within  the  order  of  discourse.  
Questions?