HOW TO DO CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
CDA seeks to reveal buried ideology. The book presents a set of tools and show how they can be used to
analyse a wide range of media texts. It will also introduce a set of methods to analyse visual communication.
CDA has its origins in Critical Linguistics. It shows how language and grammar can be used as ideological
instruments.
The question of the power is at the core of CDA. The aim in CDA has been to reveal what kinds of social
relations of power are presented in text both explicitly and implicitly
According to Van Dijk , CDA studies implicit and indirect meanings in texts.
ANALYSING SEMIOTIC CHOICES (cap. 2)
WORD CONNOTATIONS: words that have a particular connotation. i.e. the words “family home” suggest
something safe, stable and common to all of us.
OVERLEXICALISATION: repetition of words that we can consider synonymous terms. It gives a sense of
over-persuasion. So, we can find overlexicalisation when there is an abundance of particular words
(excessive description) and their synonyms.
SUPPRESSION OR LEXICAL ABSENCE: words that we might expect but that are absent.
STRUCTURAL OPPOSITIONS: opposition of words: young-old, good-bad. Often only one of these may
be mentioned. It is not necessary that the text state who is good and bad or why this is, but the structural
oppositions indicate how the participants should be evaluated. Ex. (our boys, heroes for British commandos
– evil terrorists, fanatics for the Taliban)
LEXICAL CHOICES : we choose specific words rather than other words (mum instead of mother to be
more nostalgic)
VISUAL SEMIOTIC CHOICES.
ATTRIBUTES: we are concerned with the ideas and values communicated by objects of an image and how
they are represented. (ex. the computer in an image with a woman in her office suggests work where the
woman is tied to the desk- instead, a PC computer suggests mobility and independence)
SETTINGS: settings are used to communicate general ideas, to connote discourses and their values,
actions and identities. (ex. In the Cosmopolitan image – woman in her office- the woman is not really using
her computer. There is no evidence of any activity. The emptiness of the setting suggests the luxury of the
space. The setting serves to symbolize work rather than documenting it).
SALIENCE: when we use some elements to underline some aspects: we can achieve salience through
symbols that are potent cultural symbols, colour, focus, foregroundings (foregrounding creates importance),
overlapping (this is like foregrounding since it has the effect of placing elements in front of others)
PRESENTING SPEECH AND SPEAKERS (cap. 3)
QUOTING VERBS: describe the way in which people say something
•Neutral : “say, tell, ask, enquire, reply, answer”
•Metapropositional verbs: underline the interpretation:” declare, urge, grumbled, explain, agree,
announce, complain, claim, accuse, order, grumble”
•Metalinguistic verbs: the kind of language used by a speaker: “narrate, recount”
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