Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis
ANALYSIS
BY:
DR.FATIMA BAIG
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
The Women University Multan
TEXT AND DISOURSE
TEXT DISCOURSE
Text does not specify an agent discourse specifies the agent of the information
The information present in a text is usually non- A discourse is necessarily interactive
interactive, or it does not contain an indication of
conversational speech.
Text is “a sequence of paragraphs that represents “a social event of multi-layered communication in
an extended unit of speech.” a variety of media: verbal, textual, visual and
audial, that has an interactive social purpose.”
the grammatical cohesion is a fundamental factor discourse is often conversational communications
in a text. between people.
TEXT AND DISCOURSE
TEXT DISCOURSE
A Text includes some information, specifically in discourse can be from spoken, written, visual and
the written form or printed form audial form, communicating information that is
interactive in nature
the agent has no direct impact of the content to discourse depicts the usage of language in for
the reader. social purposes.
In a text, the grammatical cohesion and the the agents involved in the communication, the
structure of sentences are analyzed social purpose and the medium utilized are
analyzed
DISCOURSE AND ITS MEANINGS
• Discourse (from Latin discursus, "running to and from") denotes written and
spoken communications such as:
• In semantics and discourse analysis: Discourse is a conceptual generalization
of conversation within each modality and context of communication.
• The totality of codified language (vocabulary) used in a given field of intellectual
enquiry and of social practice, such as legal discourse, medical discourse, religious
discourse, et cetera.
• In the work of Michel Foucault, and that of the social theoreticians he
inspired: discourse describes "an entity of sequences, of signs, in that they
are enouncements", statements in conversation.
• Discourse examines and determines the connections among language and
structure and agency
FOCAULDIAN DISCOURSE
2. Discourse helps to constitute (and change) knowledge, social relations and social identity:
The way language is used affects the way the world is represented - nationalism, us and them.
An appeal to ‘Back to Basics’ sounds like a good thing, but in many ways masquerades many
of the implications of such a move and the underlying philosophy. Anti-Abortionist terming
themselves ‘pro-life’ implies that their opponents are ‘anti-life’.
3. Discourse is shaped by relations of power and invested with ideologies:
An example of this is the way certain languages, accents or dialects are
valued or devalued - notion of standards as good is an interpretation that
needs to be problematised. Medical language - traditional medicine -
technologised - is presented compared with alternative therapies - holds
ideological assumptions about what is best, common sense etc. Even the
term ‘alternative medicine’ is marginalising in that it implies that ‘non-
alternative medicine’ is the norm, rather than one of two options
4. The shaping of discourse is a stake in power struggles:
If the previous tenet is correct, then language is a powerful mechanism for
social control and, therefore, is contested and contestable.
5. CDA aims to show how society and discourse shape each other:
Language use is not a neutral phenomenon – it is concerned with developing
consciousness of the issue, a precondition for developing new practices and
conventions – and thus contributing to social emancipation and social
justice.