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Linguistic and Intertextual Analysis Within Discourse Analysis
Abstract
This paper is an argument for systematic textual analysis as a part of discourse analysis, and an attempt to stimulate debate on this issue between different approaches to discourse analysis. Two types of textual analysis are distinguished: linguistic analysis and intertextual analysis. On the basis of a reanalysis of data samples in papers published in the first four issues of Discourse & Society, the paper argues that diverse approaches to discourse analysis can be enhanced through systematic use of these two forms of analysis, even those which claim a concern with the content rather than the form of texts. It is suggested that textual analysis needs to be based upon a multifunctional theory of language such as systematic-functional linguistics. Finally, the paper suggests theoretical, methodological, historical and political reasons why textual analysis ought to be more widely recognized as a method in social research.
... According to him, ideologies are depictions of many facets of reality that support the creation, upkeep, or modification of dominance, exploitation, and power dynamics. According to him, ideologies ingrained in discursive practices have the greatest impact when they normalize and are taken for granted as common sense (Fairclough, 1992). ...
... The level of analysis can be at word or sentence level and the text can be spoken, written, or multimodal. CDA produces and reproduces the text (Fairclough, 1992). During production, CDA intends to promote a fair distribution of discourse resources. ...
... Similarly, readers contribute their own backgrounds to the text, interpreting it differently depending on their personal frameworks. Fairclough (1992) observes that readers rely on "cues" in the text that interact with their own interpretative tools to construct meaning. This layer also investigates "interdiscursivity" Fairclough (2003) promotes a sociocultural analysis that takes into account both the features present in a text and those excluded, since these omissions might provide vital information about the wider social environment. ...
... Bouvier and Machin's conceptions (2015) deepen Fairclough's assertion of the importance of interconnectedness in discourse studies which offers researchers the ability to take a critical angle within an investigation, as KhosraviNik (2015) & Unger and Wodak (2016) would term it, when applying discourse analysis to a data corpus to achieve comprehensive qualitative results. Scholars such as Wodak (2011) and Fairclough (1992) attribute CDA as a valuable tool with which human social action can be decoded. Moreover, Shirazi (2013) delineates that CDA acts as a methodological means by which "emphatic pattern[s]" of micro discursive elements from positions of ideological expression and uniquely, the paragon of "authoritative perspectives" (p. ...
... The interdisciplinary application of CDA illustrates its importance for this study. (Fairclough, 1992;Keller, 2015). Alongside, considerations from an alternative strand-political discourse analysis, which focuses on the relationship between power, domination, and political relationships through discourse (Butler, 2024;Dunmire, 2012;van Dijk, 1997)-CDA provides a holistic framework which takes into account three key aspects of the communicative process (Dahlborg et al., 2023), the micro, meso and macro which is best visualised through figure 1 displayed below (Appendix 2). ...
As the salience of identity grows within the British socio-political sphere, the need to explore the utility of identity in political communication emerges. Through the scholarly lens of media and communications studies, this work employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) throughout a data corpus extracted from Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) sessions between 6th of September 2023 and 22nd of May 2024 to uncover how identities connected to gender, class, and national identity are implemented into British parliamentary discourse by the Labour and Conservative Parties. This inductive study focuses on the utility of identity as a political discursive tool to form a contribution to the literature surrounding media, communications, and political discourse study areas. As the position of identity becomes more pronounced in political discourse, its usage as a conceptual entity takes on the form of a tool which holds political weight when placed against the macro structures of communicative power.
... In the scope of critical discourse analysis, the analysis of three-dimensional discourse proposed by Fairclough (1992) was utilized in this study. The three-dimensional discourse is a method that involves three levels of analysis: (1) textual analysis, which is the description of texts; (2) the practical analysis of discourse or discourse practice (meso level), that interpretation (interpretation) the relationship between the discourse and text; And (3) the sociocultural practice (sociocultural practice), the explanation of the relationship between the discourse process and the social process. ...
This paper examines ‘discussion’ in a case study involving online learning, in which both tutor and students assessed the discussion board as having failed. An explanation for this is sought via analyses that draw from Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and, in particular, the ideas of genre and discourse. Two sets of discourses are identified and linked with specific interaction genres. Data from the discussion board and an interview with the tutor are then shown to exhibit both confusion and tension between these discourses and genres. The paper suggests that effective online interaction requires that we ensure that expectations are both clear and appropriate to the learning model being pursued.
The study is a contrastive study of politeness strategies and communicative styles in British and Persian family discourse, explored through the lenses of pragmatic, discursive, socio-cognitive, and socio-cultural analyses.
This article foregrounds the great translation movement (GTM), initially mobilised on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as an example of activist journalism countering China’s mainstream narrative of the war and its broader implications. Using Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach, adapted to the specifics of social media communication, we examine GTM postings throughout the first calendar year of the war, highlighting how the GTM evolves into a broader activist-journalistic initiative that challenges the party-state beyond its involvement in the war. This paradigm of intervention unfolds as GTM activists report on evidential events within China that bear the potential to spark public contention outside of the party-state’s censorship reach. By examining the dialectical relations between reportage and advocacy, this analysis demonstrates how activist journalism constitutes an emerging cross-border civic engagement, challenging a Southern authoritarian regime from the outside. A critical evaluation of activist journalism and its broader societal impacts is also provided, highlighting its progressive potential and future development in the Chinese context and beyond.
In this article, we examine whether modes of representation that disrupt and defamiliarize the naturalized understandings fans share about the legitimacy and necessity of spectacular violence and sacrifice in sport can have the potential to reframe fan attitudes and investments. We explore the social cognitive and attitudinal shift towards traumatic brain injury (TBI) and injury more broadly in American football of first year students with a stated investment in the spectacle of high-performance sports after viewing Josh Begley’s 2018 short film Concussion Protocol. By comparing the responses of students at the beginning of the semester to their responses immediately after viewing the film, this project reveals how placing fans of sport in a face-to-face relationship with athletic laborers can challenge preexisting assumptions about normalized violence in sport, ultimately effectuating a potentially new and more humane attitude to athletic spectatorship.
Effective communication with external or internal stakeholders is crucial for innovation processes. The fourth wave of digital technologies and the fifth industrial revolution have increased the range of communication possibilities, amplifying both the number of communication channels and the availability of data. Yet in existing research that tends to treat communication as an art instead of a science, the evidence only scratches the surface of its mechanics and inner logic. To provide a unified theoretical framework, this study highlights the importance of the four pillars of communication design logic (source, situation, intentions, and impact) in the innovation processes. According to communication theories, individual differences in stakeholders' backgrounds, situations, and intentions might result in systematic variations in what and how they communicate, which influences their subsequent beliefs and reactions to innovation outcomes. By examining relevant communications in terms of their design logic, innovation researchers can address a wide range of questions across ideation, development, and implementation stages. Using novel techniques and unstructured data (e.g., text, image, video, audio mining), the current study reveals tactics for exploring such topics across communication types. The proposed framework also raises several research questions that can be pursued to enhance knowledge of how communication design influences innovation management.
This paper examines the mechanisms for the constitution and transport of anti-Jewish prejudice in public and private discourse in contemporary Austria. Of particular relevance for the analysis is the influence which contextual factors (such as setting, speaker(s), presence or absence of Jews, role of the moderator in televised discussions, prominence of the speakers, emotionality, discussion topics, etc.) may or may not have had. For this analysis it was thus necessary to develop and apply a new methodology and new categories, which incorporated a discursive-historical approach, inter-disciplinary theory formation and the connexus of textlinguistic, psychological and historical conceptions. The results of the analysis show that expressions of antisemitic prejudice as such abounded, but that the explicitness and directness of the prejudices expressed varied markedly according to context. During televised discussions, for example, the various forms of antisemitism were embedded in strategies of positive self-promotion and/or cultivation of one's image. In a series of spontaneous, semi-public discussions (which retained what might be called a conditional anonymity), however, whatever hindrances or inhibitions which seem to have been present in the televised discussions all but vanished. An example from a news programme on the 25 March 1986 will illustrate the major claims and methodology.
Cambridge Core - Semantics and Pragmatics - Pragmatics - by Stephen C. Levinson
This paper proposes that the most relevant contextualization of President George Bush's Inaugural Speech of January 1989 is to view the address as a restoration of ideological normality, which is to say invisibility, in American public discourse: the President acts to re-cover (in many senses) the common values and concerns of ‘the nation'. We particularly delineate how the language (text- and sentence-structurings, metaphors, etc.) of the address works to construct both the privileged public figure of the President, and a spirit of collective identity and consent for the audience, while still espousing particular political assumptions and goals (conservatism, quietism and a representation of the presidential role as that of politically detached steward of a gendered status quo rather than agent of change).
This paper describes an empirical study regarding deconstruction by network television news viewers. We define news deconstruction as the identification and criticism of ideology in news by its viewers. Twelve viewers were given surveys about the news, shown videotapes of NBC news, and asked to fill out cognitive response forms during viewing. We explained our studies of news deconstruction and then interviewed them regarding their impressions of our explanation and their feelings about the ideological aspects of news and how they oppose them. We contentanalyzed the cognitive response and interview data for deconstruction moves using four categories which we call oppositional statement types: 1. Criticism—comments concerning news content. 2. Resistance—disbelief in news content. 3. Challenge—questioning of factual accuracy of news. 4. Deconstruction—exposing ideology that promotes only one view of events and discourages others.
Our content analysis indicates that most oppositional moves for the viewers we studied are criticism comments—surface-level criticisms. The least common oppositional moves are challenges.
The purpose of the interviews was to have the viewers discuss how they feel about news deconstruction. Our interview observations indicate how viewers attempt to deconstruct the news and where they have trouble doing so. After news deconstruction was explained to them, most of our viewers appeared capable of identifying news bias and ideology. However, they tended to struggle when trying to replace TV news as an information source with one they find more trustworthy. This finding is consistent with our quantitative finding that challenge statements are uncommon.
Adopting the approach that regards TV's effect as an outcome of a process of negotiation between texts and viewers, we identify some mechanisms through which this negotiation takes place. This is a case study where members of one family in Israel, holding different political ideologies, view the evening news together and interact among themselves and with the news. Our analysis suggests that TV news inadvertently privileges a non-compromising attitude toward the Arab-Israeli conflict. While political `hawks' can decode the news at face value (`referentially') in order to reinforce their position, `doves' have to master a sophisticated (`constructional') understanding of the constraints of the genre, i.e. of the relationship between news and social reality, in order to do so. Specifically, we examine viewers' perceptions of this relationship as expressed in three meta-frames to the following issues: (1) Does TV news represent the normal or the exceptional? (2) Should it show the normal or the exceptional? and (3) What effect has it on other viewers? We then point out their relevance for the struggle over ideological persuasion in the family.
In the 1960s when federal policies in the United States were directed at countering societal inequalities, including inequalities in health care, a new health care professional came into being—the nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioners claim to provide care differently from doctors, to offer a system of care which adds caring to curing. Since the delivery of health care is essentially a communicational event and since overwhelmingly researchers have concentrated on doctor-patient communication, in this article I compare how nurse practitioner and doctor communicate with women patients during medical encounters and analyze the interactional and ideological work such communication does. Since nurse practitioners claim to provide just the kind of care that reformers are calling for—a more patient centered discourse of the social—this comparison allows me to address issues about how we understand the relationship between provider and patient—theoretical issues that are central to three recent sociological studies by Mishler, Waitzkin and Silverman.
Two broad themes are covered in this paper. Firstly, the mutual delimitation in discourse of `science', `lay society' and `nature' is explored in relation to people's talk about ionizing radiation. The discursive configurations into which these fall are linked to the perception of danger. For example, in some discourses danger is located in a `bad science' that injudiciously exploits an otherwise amenable nature. Secondly, the analysis of these discourses is conducted with the aid of Weber's ideal type technique. Through this, some of the epistemological and methodological issues that cohere around the contingency of interpretation in discourse analysis are addressed.