scholarly journals A multimodal analysis of the representation of the Rohingya crisis in BBC’s Burma with Simon Reeve (2018): Integrating Audience Research in Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Castaldi

AbstractThe paper proposes the integration of Audience Research in Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies to investigate media discourse. The novel approach is exemplified through a case study: the media interaction between one viewer and the text of his choice, BBC’s travel documentary Burma with Simon Reeve. The qualitative research design incorporates a pre- and after-viewing questionnaire, an interview and the multimodal textual analysis. The analytical focus is on the representation of social actors and it is argued that, through this integrated approach, it is possible to explore media effects on an audience by using the cognitive concepts of contextual effects, adapted from Relevance Theory, and ideological effects, a concept derived from the former and modelled around van Dijk’s definition of ideology.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-388
Author(s):  
Wenge Chen

Abstract Ideology and power, the vital concerns of critical lexicography, are aspects of a dictionary that a lexicographer and a discerning dictionary user have to encounter in any serious lexicographical enterprise (Kachru 1995); however, critical lexicography as a theme did not receive much attention until Kachru and Kahane (1995). This term later appeared in Hornscheidt (2011) and Moon (2014). However, to date there has not been any systematic theoretical exemplification of what critical lexicography is and how critical lexicographical research is done. Additionally, the scope and function of critical lexicography is relatively limited when we consider the global context, since it fails to take into account theoretical and methodological inspirations from other disciplines such as Critical Discourse Studies and/or Postcolonial Studies, which would make it more theoretically robust and analytically explanatory. With this gap in mind, this paper proposes a discourse approach to Critical Lexicography, termed Critical Lexicographical Discourse Studies (CLDS), as a response to the call for lexicographers’ ‘social accountability’. Specifically, the article puts forward a definition of CLDS and its key concepts, denotes its ontological, epistemological and methodological orientations, delineates its principles, proposes a tentative analytic framework and demonstrates a simplified case study. The article argues that a discourse approach to critical lexicography opens up space to understand different meaning-making practices and contestation in lexicography. In doing so, this article contributes to the development of international (English) lexicography and the language(s) it represents.


2018 ◽  
Vol III (II) ◽  
pp. 385-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rab Nawaz Khan ◽  
Abdul Waheed Qureshi

The current study is an attempt to critically analyze the role and politics of voice in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in terms of categorical and stereotypical representation of the Pashtuns. It is a critical discourse study (Norman Fairclough, 1989, 2018) of the selected data. Moreover, the data is viewed from the perspective of critical discourse studies. The novels under study are polyphonic in nature, and the characters belong to various Afghan ethnic backgrounds, like the Pashtuns, the Tajiks and the Hazaras. The study concludes that the novelist's choice of the characters with their respective voices and the roles assigned to them are political, ideological and somewhat biased. The Pashtuns have been stereotypically represented by categorizing them as the social, well-educated and more or less liberal Pashtuns, the tribal and traditionalist Pashtuns, extremist and fundamentalist Pashtuns, like Taliban. Misrepresentation of the tribal and fundamentalist Pashtuns as racists, ethnic nationalists, ideologists, sexists, exclusionists, traditionalists and power-abusers is indicative of the novelist's biasedness and exaggeration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 789-809
Author(s):  
Lyndon C.S. Way

Internet memes are the most pervasive and malleable form of digital popular culture (Wiggins 2019: vii). They are a way a society expresses and thinks of itself (Denisova 2019: 2) used for the purpose of satire, parody, critique to posit an argument (Wiggins 2019, see also Ponton 2021, this issue). The acts of viewing, creating, sharing and commenting on memes that criticise or troll authority figures have become central to our political processes becom[ing] one of the most important forms of political participation and activism today (Merrin 2019: 201). However, memes do not communicate to us in logical arguments, but emotionally and affectively through short quips and images that entertain. Memes are part of a new politics of affectivity, identification, emotion and humour (Merrin 2019: 222). In this paper, we examine not only what politics memes communicate to us, but how this is done. We analyse memes, some in mainstream social media circulation, that praise and criticise the authoritarian tendencies of former US President Donald Trump, taken from 4Chan, a home of many alt-right ideas. Through a Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies approach, we demonstrate how images and lexical choices in memes do not communicate to us in logical, well-structured arguments, but lean on affective and emotional discourses of racism, nationalism and power. As such, though memes have the potential to emotionally engage with their intended audiences, this is done at the expense of communicating nuanced and detailed information on political players and issues. This works against the ideal of a public sphere where debate and discussion inform political decisions in a population, essential pillars of a democratic society (Habermas 1991).


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-236
Author(s):  
Jingjing Wu ◽  
Yuxiu Sun

AbstractThis study explores the administrative law enforcement from three perspectives, namely, discourse, cognition and society, according to van Dijk’s theory of critical discourse studies. “Discourse” is the essential linguistic analysis of administrative law enforcement, which may lead to the tension between law-executors and law-breakers, as well as to ease the conflicts and achieve the balance, so that the discourse mode with considerable tolerance and explanation is of great significance for improving the current practice of administrative law enforcement. “Cognition” deals with psychological model based on cognitive and social psychology. In the interaction of administrative law enforcement, the social roles are institutionalized by the context, which is achieved through knowledge background, cognitive methods, communicative purpose, role expectations and information transmission. “Society” focuses on the investigation of institutions, powers and groups based on sociology. There are normative factors and non-normative variables in the administrative law enforcement: the former refers to superior will, judicial review, supervision and defense of law-breaker, while the latter involves administrative habits and experience, natural emotions, interest and mass media. In the institutional context, social variables affect the implementation of administrative law enforcement in different discourse modes.


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