Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing written, spoken, and signed texts that seeks to reveal the ideological assumptions and power relationships that are part of discourse. The leading scholars who developed CDA include Norman Fairclough, Ruth Wodak, and Teun van Dijk. According to van Dijk, CDA examines how discursive sources of power, dominance, and inequality are maintained and reproduced through social, political, and historical contexts. CDA goes beyond merely describing discourse and aims to explain how and why discourses function to reproduce social power relations.

1. Introduction to
the school of CDA
Nabeela Taimur Ali

2. Halliday's view:
•Language is a "social
act" is central to many
of CDA's practitioners.

3. When we talk about CDA; we actually talk
about a group of leading scholars, each with
a background of their own.
They agree on certain principles;
agree to address similar issues
and developed some institutional
The leading scholars are Norman
Fairclough, Ruth Wodak, Teun van
Dijk.
tools for doing so.

4. “CDA is not only a
description and
interpretation of
discourses in social
context but also offers an
explanation of why and
how discourses work”.
(Rogers 2004:2). (Sir’s example!)

5. According to van Dijk (1998a)
• CDA is a field that is concerned with
studying and analyzing written and
spoken texts to reveal the discursive
sources of power, dominance,
inequality and biasness. It examines
how these discursive sources are
maintained and reproduced within
specific social, political and historical
contexts.

6. Some wandering points!
• Micro-linguistics: p/p,
morphology/syntax n semantics etc.
• Macro-linguistics: related to social
aspect, CDA is related to it.
• Saussure: la langue(language in mind) n
la parole(L in use)
• Chomsky: competence n performance.
• Michel focoult: used the word discourse.

7. Some more wandering points!
• Discourse is connected speech.
• Language is noun but discourse is
noun/verb.
• Discourse is much connected to
continental philosophy.
• Two traditions in DA are:
• Non- critical approach n Critical
approach.
Language is
neutral.
L is non-neutral

8. Language/
power
CDA
Dominanc
e/exploitat
ion/power.
Culture n
society.
Politics n
economy.

9. THE END