Critical Discourse Analysis

7 Building Tasks
By
Paul Gee
 Building Tasks

• According to Gee’s theory, whenever we speak or

write, we construct 7 areas of reality.
 Gee’s Building Tasks
At the centre of Gee’s view on discourse analysis are seven
building tasks. As these tasks will be discussed in detail Gee
argues that humans use language to construct reality in seven
different ways and he calls them seven building tasks which
are given below :
 attach significance
 engage in activities
 construct identities
 enact relationships
 Politics (declare a view on the distribution of social goods )
 establish connections and
 sign systems and knowledge.
1.Significance

Significance of things
 We use language to render things significance or
to lessen their significance.
 How things are and what different things mean---
the sort of meaning & significance they are given-
is a component of any situation
(Latour1991;Levinson1996;A.Clark1997).
Discourse Question: How is this piece of language
being used to make certain things significant or
not and in what ways?
Significance

 Things and people made more or less

significant through the text
 Line .6 In Afghanistan, we removed the
Taliban government, which had given Bin-
Laden and Al-Qaeda safe heaven and
support. And around the globe, we worked
with our friends and allies to capture or kill
scores of Al-Qaeda terrorists, including
several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.
 Significance

 Things and people made more or less significant

through the text
 Line 1 Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the
American people and to the world that the
United States has conducted an operation that
killed Osama Bin-Laden, the leader
of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's
responsible for the murder of
thousands of innocent men,
women, and children.
Significance

• In these
lines, the president made a strong claim
that Osama Bin-Laden had been killed in the
operation. In these lines , Obama declared the
achievement of his ultimate goal in the form of
Osama’s death.
2 .Practices
 Socially recognized & institutionally or culturally supported
endeavours.
 Examples
 Line 1 Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people
and to the world that the United States has conducted an
operation that killed Osama Bin-Laden, the leader
of -l Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for
the murder of thousands of innocent men,
women, and children.
 2 .Practices
 By practice means socially recognized & institutionally
or culturally supported endeavor.
 Where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more
heartbreak and destruction .September 11, 2001, in our
time of grief, the American people came together. We
offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the
wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each
other, and our love of community and country. On that
day, no matter where we came from, what God we
prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were
united as one American family.
2 .Practices
There are certain practices or activities Obama is
enacting in his language. He is using language to
tell the history of 9/11 . He intend to show ,how
things happened in the past how he constructed
them & what are the future implications of the
recent military operation.
3.Identities
• Language is used to gain recognition as
being someone or belonging to a group
– or to establish oneself (or the entity
one represents) as having certain
qualities and thus building a personality
or identity.
• Discourse Question: What identity or
identities is this piece of language
attributing to the others & how does
this help to the speaker or writer enact
his or her own identity?
3.Identities

In relation to this discourse analysis, the identity-building task is

clearly the most salient of the seven.
1. Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people
and to the world that the United States has conducted an
operation that killed Osama Bin-Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda,
and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of
innocent men, women, and children.

2.It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was
darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our
history.
5.We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al
Qaeda -- an organization headed by Osama Bin-Laden, which had
openly declared a war on the United States and was committed
to killing innocents in our country and around the globe.
4. Relationship
We use language to signal what
sort of relationship we have, want
to have, or trying to have with
other listeners, readers or other
people, groups or institutions
about whom we are
communicating.
We use language to build social
relationships.
Discourse Question: What sort of
relationship is this piece of
language seeking to enact with
others?
4. Relationship

The relationship is shown by the word “we” and the

words like our and us in line number 6 , united as one
American family, in line no 5 our friends, and our
allies ,our friends and our country ,our citizens; our
commitment
These lines indicate that president Obama is
pretending to have strong relationships with his
nation and allies.
5.Politics

 Language is used to give and express desires of

social goods (common good-benefit for all).
• use of language to convey a perspective on the
nature of the distribution of social goods,
• For example, “Microsoft loaded its operating
system with bugs,”
• denial of a social good.
• If I say, “Like all innovative pieces of software,
Microsoft’s operating system has bugs,” grant
Microsoft a social good (being innovative) the
bugs a sign than a problem.
Discourse Question: What perspective on social
goods(common good-for everyone’s benefits) is
this piece of language communicating or trying to
build ?
Al-Quaeda was committed to killing innocents in
our country and around the globe. And so we went
to war against Al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our
friends, and our allies.
 5.Politics

6, over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and

heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism
professionals, we've made great strides in that effort.
We've disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our
homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the
Taliban government, which had given Bin-Laden and Al-
Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe,
we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill
scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were
a part of the 9/11 plot.
5.Politics

It is clear that the way in which Obama is using

the language here is fully caught up with the
politics.
According to these lines, President Obama
declared that he has carried out this action for the
good of American public.
 6.Connections

Connections and disconnections between

things and people e .g what ideas are
related to eachother , how are things
causally connected?

It relates to the use of language to render

certain things connected or relevant (or
not) to other things, to build connections
or relevance. For example, connecting
Christian fundamentalism in the United
States to Islamic fundamentalism in the
Middle East.


 Language is an interconnecting system of signs
and references.
Discourse Question:
How does this piece of language connect or
disconnect things; how does it make one thing
relevant or irrelevant to another?
How is Obama connecting the incident of 9/11
with the military operation carried for Osama’s
death. All the incidents & events narrated in the
speech are linked in a chain.
7.Sign Systems

Sign systems and knowledge :Language employs different codes

and sign systems for different reasons.

Discourse Question:
How does this piece of language privilege or deprivilege specific
sign systems or different ways of knowing and believing or claims
to knowledge and beliefs?
Obama's style is formal, political and direct. Obama’s form of
address can be perceived as more inclusive, including all
nationalities and ethnicities, applying a more citizen-centered
attitude.