ENG524 Subjective by Barbie

Q1. What is Discourse Analysis?

The term Discourse Analysis was first introduced by Zelling Harris (1952) to examine: the language beyond the level of the sentence, relation between linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour. It looks at patterns of language across texts as well as the social and cultural contexts the texts occur.

2. Write Assumptions of Discourse Analysis.

Four main assumptions:

a. Language is ambiguous - What things mean is never absolutely clear. All communication involves interpreting what other people mean. b. Language is always ‘in the world’ - what language means is always a matter of where and when it is used and what it is used to do. c. The way we use language is inseparable from who we are and the different social groups to which we belong. We use language to display different kinds of social identities. d. Language is never used all by itself. It is always combined with other things such as our tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures when we speak, and the fonts, layout and graphics we use in written texts.

3. Write Three aspects of Genre.

Three important aspects of genres: a. Genres are communicative events b. Conventions and Constraints c. Creativity

Q4. Who are the Key Scholars of CDA?

•  Norman Fairclough
•  Ruth Wodak
•  Teun A.van Dijk

5. Write three Approaches of CDA

•  Socio-cultural Approach (Fairclough – key proponent )
•  Socio-Cognitive Approach (Van Dijk – key component who concentrates on social cognition as the mediating part between text and society.)
•  Discourse-Historical Approach (Ruth Wodak views discourse as a form of social practice. )

6. Framework for text-Analysis.

Fairclough provides a three-dimensional framework for the analysis of text and discourse: (a) the linguistic description of the formal properties of the text; (b) the interpretation of the relationship between the discursive processes/interaction and the text. (c) the explanation of the relationship between discourse and social and cultural reality.

7. Main Tenets of CDA (Important For True False Section)

Fairclough and Wodak (1997: 271-80) summarize the main tenets of CDA as follows:

• CDA addresses social problems
• Power relations are discursive
• Discourse constitutes society and culture
• Discourse does ideological work
• Discourse is historical
• The link between text and society is mediated
• Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory
• Discourse is a form of social action.
• Critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality.
• CDA has a purpose, clear-cut and strong message/ Socially Critical and analytical.

Q8. What are General Principles of CCDA?

CCDA focuses on the cultural aspects of any given ‘text’: verbal and non-verbal alike. This approach is guided by the following principles:

•  No text is independent of its cultural contexts.
•  CCDA employs tools and methodologies taken from the discipline of Cultural Studies, such as the heuristic of decoding cultural codes.
•  Cross-cultural or multi-cultural perspectives facilitate the identification of unique elements of specific cultural codes and thus contribute to the process of decoding them.
•  CCDA analyses verbal and non-verbal practices (e.g., visual practices as well as cultural sites) alike, because it does not focus on the study of linguistic structures as such.
•  CCDA seeks to expose the ‘global dictionary’ of power and manipulation.
•  CCDA demonstrates that as far as the rhetoric of power is concerned, there is no difference between small and large cultural communities. (MCQs)

Q9. Write the Strategies of Normalization.

1. Euphemization – aims to color the social object in positive tones, in terms of its appearance, character, or valuation;
2. Naturalization – aims to represent the social object as a force or event independent of human agency, or as an inevitable outcome of the laws of nature;
3. Justification – aims to depict the social object as just, rational, worthy of support.