Critique and argumentation

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Forchtner ◽  
Ana Tominc
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Underpinning ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Language Philosophy ◽  
Critical Rationalism ◽  
Coherent Orientation ◽  
Dialectical Argumentation ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach ◽  
High Degree

At the core of critical discourse analysis lies its emancipatory agenda: arguing for social equality and against discrimination. In the case of the discourse-historical approach (DHA), this stance has been theoretically justified mainly through references to Habermas’ language-philosophy. At the same time, the analysis of actually occurring argumentative speech requires more than a theoretical underpinning of one’s critique and, here, DHA has benefitted from drawing on van Eemeren and Grootendorst’s Pragma-Dialectical argumentation theory. However, Pragma-Dialectics is not just a tool kit but rests on Popper and Albert’s critical rationalism. This results in both epistemological as well as normative conflicts at the paradigm-core of DHA between critical rationalism and Habermas’ critical theory regarding the concept of critique. In this article, we review the different epistemological and normative underpinnings of DHA and Pragma-Dialectics and discuss the consequences of implementing the latter in the former. We conclude by arguing for a coherent orientation towards Habermas’ language-philosophy in order to maintain a high degree of consistency in DHA.

The role of mythical European heritage in the construction of Colombian national identity

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Ruiseco ◽  
Thomas Slunecko
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Inaugural Speech ◽  
European Heritage ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Following the discourse-historical approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (Wodak, de Cilia, Reisigl and Liebhart 1999; Wodak 2001), we analyze the inaugural speech of the actual president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, which he delivered on August 7th, 2002 in Bogotá. We take this speech as an illustration for the construction of national identity by the Colombian elites. In our analysis, we are particularly interested in Uribe’s strategy of referring to the European heritage and in his ways of appeasing the cultural and ethnic differences of the population.

scholarly journals Sharing values to safeguard the future: British Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration as epideictic rhetoric

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Epideictic Rhetoric ◽  
Social Responsibilities ◽  
Hybrid Combination ◽  
Holocaust Memorial ◽  
Sharing Values ◽  
The Future ◽  
Argumentative Strategies ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

This article explores the rhetoric, and mass mediation, of the national Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) commemoration ceremony, as broadcast on British television. I argue that the televised national ceremonies should be approached as an example of multi-genre epideictic rhetoric, working up meanings through a hybrid combination of genres (speeches, poems, readings), author/animators and modes (speech, music, light, movement and silence). Epideictic rhetoric has often been depreciated as simply ceremonial ‘praise or blame’ speeches. However, given that the topics of praise/blame assume the existence of social norms, epideictic also acts to presuppose and evoke common values, in general, and a collective recognition of shared social responsibilities, in particular. My methodology draws on the Discourse-Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, given, first, its central prominence in analysing argumentative strategies in discourse and, second, the ways it facilitates a reflexive ‘shuttling’ between text-discursive features, intertextual relations and wider contexts of society and history. Here, I examine how a catastrophic past is invoked in speech and evoked through image and music, in response to the demands that uncertainty of the future ‘places upon one’s conscience’.

Critical Discourse Analysis

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Reisigl
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Discourse Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has entered the mainstream of linguistic and social science research with a strong transdisciplinary orientation and social engagement. This chapter introduces six variants of CDA: (1) Fairclough’s approach, which is strongly social theoretically embedded and informed by systemic functional linguistics; (2) van Leeuwen’s and Kress’s social semiotic and systemic functional approach; (3) van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach; (4) the form of CDA promoted by the Duisburg Group around S. and M. Jäger, who keenly draw on Foucault’s approach to discourse analysis and Link’s discourse theory; (5) the Oldenburg approach, which is upheld by Gloy, Januschek, and others; and (6) the “Viennese” and “Lancaster” traditions of CDA, often termed the “discourse historical approach” and sometimes “discourse sociolinguistics.”

“We must unite now or perish!”

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Nartey
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The World ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Abstract This paper presents a discourse-mythological analysis of the rhetoric of a pioneering Pan-African and Ghana’s independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah, drawing on Ruth Wodak’s discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis. The thesis of the paper is that Nkrumah’s discourse, in its focus on the emancipation and unification of Africa, can be characterized as mythic, a discursive exhortation of Africa to demonstrate to the world that it can better govern itself than the colonizers. In this vein, the paper analyzes four discursive strategies employed by Nkrumah in the creation and projection of his mythology: the introduction or creation of new discourse events, presupposition and implication, involvement (the use of indexicals) and lexical structuring and reiteration. This study is, therefore, presented as a case study of mythic discourse within the domain of politics.

Interviewing for accountability

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-413
Author(s):  
Damian J. Rivers ◽  
Andrew S. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
National Conference ◽  
Discursive Strategy ◽  
Interview Performance ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Abstract During the National Policy Institute’s national conference in Washington D.C. on Saturday November 19th, 2016, Richard Spencer delivered a speech in praise of the election victory of President Donald Trump. Shortly after the conference, Spencer was an invited guest on the News One Now programme in which he participated in a 32-minute interview with black journalist, host and managing editor Roland Martin. Drawing attention to the ideological aspects of the Martin/Spencer interview performance, we adopt the analytical lens of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Musolff 2014; Reisigl and Wodak 2009; Wodak 2001, 2009) to explore argumentation as a discursive strategy through topoi or argumentative warrants (Reisigl and Wodak 2009; Wodak 2009, 2011, 2015; Wodak and Boukala 2015).

American Vogue and Sustainable Fashion (1990–2015): A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
Katie Baker Jones
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Product Features ◽  
Lifestyle Choices ◽  
Sustainable Fashion ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach ◽  
Over Time

Discursive practices employed by American Vogue to recontextualize sustainable fashion between 1990 and 2015 were explored through the lens of a discourse-historical approach and multimodal critical discourse analysis. References to sustainably minded values and actions were found throughout the 26 years studied with notable peaks and valleys in coverage that, at times, contradicted changing social interest in the subject. Over time, Vogue recontextualized sustainable fashion discourses and encouraged a passive revolution by moving from a contentious positioning of either/or sustainable fashion to one that embraced a both/and positionality by narrowing focus to lifestyle and product features. Additionally, Vogue celebrated social actors engaged in sustainable behaviors though these were increasingly positioned as lifestyle choices rather than revolutionary collective action. Vogue continuously recontextualized the sustainable fashion discourse as “new” and desirable while neutralizing most negative considerations of fashion consumption through a variety of articulations and by drawing on well-established semiotic resources.

Work ethos in American ceremonial discourse addressed to the young

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 561-579
Author(s):  
Ewa Bogdanowska-Jakubowska
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Ceremonial Discourse ◽  
The Protestant Work Ethic ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach ◽  
Work Ethos

The article discusses work ethos in American ceremonial discourse addressed to the young entering adult life. Its aim is to investigate whether the Protestant work ethic still pervades the American thinking about work. Through a qualitative analysis of the corpus of 100 randomly selected commencement addresses delivered during 2016 and 2017 graduation ceremonies in American universities, it is shown how work-related topics are employed by the speakers celebrating the graduates’ academic achievements and providing them with advice for the future. The Discourse-Historical Approach, committed to Critical Discourse Analysis, has been chosen as a methodological approach, integrating the interpretation of discourses and texts with sociological and historical research, studies on narration, stylistics, rhetoric and argumentation theory. As the discourse to be analyzed is culture-specific, I have decided to combine the Discourse-Historical Approach with Cultural Studies.

Taiwan as ghost island? Ambivalent articulation of marginalized identities in computer-mediated discourses

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Yao-Tai Li ◽  
Yunya Song
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Bulletin Board ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach ◽  
Self Presentations ◽  
Structural Topic Modeling

This study examines the conflicting self-presentations when using the term ‘ghost island’ in Taiwan, a self-mocking way to belittle the homeland. While some view this term as a form of social critique, others consider it to be suggestive of a social malaise affecting contemporary Taiwanese. Drawing on online posts and comments from the most popular bulletin board system in Taiwan, this study combines topic modeling with a discourse-historical approach (DHA) to critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the constructions of ‘ghost island’ by Taiwanese netizens. A computer-aided content analysis was implemented using Structural Topic Modeling (STM) to identify discourse topics associated with netizens’ discourses on ghost island. Our findings suggest that the images of ‘us’ (the ordinary people) are presented as victims as against powerful ‘others’ (e.g. mainland China and local elites). Specifically, self-mockery was often invoked to project a loser image and marginalized status living on the island, whereas self-assertive narratives were invoked to affirm Taiwanese society’s democracy and freedom. The conflicting narratives – with a mixture of grudge, helplessness, pessimism, hope and pride – point to Taiwanese netizens’ ambivalent articulation of marginalized identities that operates to strengthen affective connectedness and virtual bonding.

scholarly journals Politicotainment: Fictionalizing Politics in Pakistani Cinema

2017 ◽  
Vol II (I) ◽  
pp. 273-288
Author(s):  
Haleema Khalid ◽  
Muhammad Shahbaz ◽  
Behzad Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political System ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
Language Discourse ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

This article aims to investigate Maalik, Pakistani political thriller as the product of ‘politicotainment’, a genre combining politics and entertainment. Keeping in view the nexus of politics, media and language, Discourse Historical Approach from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis with a particular focus on media, discourse, and society is employed. Maalik, is exceptional movie because it is explicitly related to real life socio-political and socio-cultural events of Pakistan; its focus on social and political issues such as exploitation of power and corrupt political system shifts the focus towards the ownership of Pakistan and accepting responsibilities. Therefore, the film connects the emerging political discourse in Pakistan with the rising public pulse against corruption and call for accountability. This research provides insights regarding the discursive construction of contemporary Pakistani narrative in the time of national crisis in order to reveal the projected and recontextualized norms in the context of Pakistan.

scholarly journals THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF INDIGENOUS BELIEF ISSUE IN THE JAKARTA POST

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-430
Author(s):  
Suprayogi Suprayogi ◽  
Dian Puspita ◽  
Sandi Nuansa ◽  
Kamelia Sari
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Identity Card ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

As indigenous belief acknowledgement in Indonesia is still progressive, debatable but limitedly investigated from critical discourse analysis perspective, this research is aimed at revealing the discursive construction of indigenous belief issue in The Jakarta Post. This research focuses on analyzing indigenous belief as phenomenon, indigenous believers and government as social actor through the analysis of nomination and predication strategies. Articles published in The Jakarta Post online newspaper from 2013 - 2020 are chosen as corpus data. To analyze this research, Discourse-Historical Approach by Wodak and Meyer (2009) is used as the framework. This research also employs corpus analysis using Sketch Engine. The finding suggests that the issue centralized in the discussion of identity card and human right framed in five different periods. The use of collective proper name, anthroponym and deixis are significant to refer to indigenous believers, meanwhile institutional name, anthroponym and synecdoche are mostly used as referent for government. There is a shift of predication strategies from negative to positive when it discussed government policy on putting indigenous belief column on identity card. This research suggests that the use of corpus software as well as manual corpus screening is important to locate more detail language data. 

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