Priscilla Esther S.

NPM: 180920160021

- Critical Discourse Analysis -

Chapter. 5
 Are nominalizations used?
A nominalization: a noun ( i.e.: table) OR
a multi-word compound noun (i.e.: red carpet)

Are sentences active or passive?

SVO sentences can be:
- Active > ‘Reagan attacks Libya, South African police
has burnt down a black township, contras have killed
many peasants.’
- Passive > ‘Libya attacked by Reagan, a black township
has been burnt down by South African police, many
peasants have been killed by contras’
 Q: WHAT RELATIONAL VALUES DO GRAMMATICAL
FEATURES HAVE?
A: modes of sentence, modality, and pronouns.

3 Major Modes:

- Declarative
S followed by V (I go to ...)
S position of the speaker/writer is a giver (of information),
The addressee's position is a receiver.

- Grammatical question
Wh- question, yes / no questions
Speaker/writer’s position is asking something of the addressee
The addressee is a provider of information.

- Imperative
Don’t have an S at all, start with V (Close the door!)
Speaker/writer’s position is asking something of the addressee
The addressee is a compliant actor.
 Are there important features of relational
modality?

Modality is to do with speaker or writer authority, and

there are 2 dimensions to modality:

1. Relational modality: a matter of the authority of one

participant in relation to others.

2. Expressive modality: a matter of the speaker/writer's

authority with respect to the truth or probability of a
representation of reality.

Modality is expressed by modal auxiliary verbs :

 may, might, must, should, can, can't, ought

May – permission

Must - obligation
 Are the pronouns we and you used, and if
so, how?
 We
i. 'inclusive' we, inclusive that is of the reader as
well as the writer
ii. 'exclusive' we, refers to the writer/speaker plus
one or more others, but doesn’t include the
addressee(s).

 You
i. used in mass communication
ii. extensively used as an indefinite pronoun, for
instance in Mrs. Thatcher‘s political speech –
“You've got to be strong to your own people and other
countries have got to know that you stand by your
word”.
Q: WHAT EXPRESSIVE VALUES DO GRAMMATICAL
FEATURES HAVE?

The negative (-) simple present: ‘Your library

books are not overdue’,

The alternative possibilities with modal verbs fall

between these categorical extremes:
‘Your library books must/may be overdue’.

The intermediate possibilities such as: ‘Your

library books are probably/are possibly/may
possibly be overdue’.
Q: HOW ARE (SIMPLE) SENTENCES LINKED
TOGETHER?

Cohesion: formal connections between sentences

in a text collectively.

Cohesion involves vocabulary links between

sentences, repetition of words, or use of related
words.

Cohesion involves reference - words

which refer back to an earlier sentence or
forwards to a later one.
Are complex sentences characterized by
coordination or subordination?

'Complex' sentences = simple sentences

combination
• Coordination: where the component simple
sentences have equal weight.
(i.e.: I am rich but she is poor.)

• Subordination: where there is a main clause

and one or more subordinate clauses.
Q: How is the taking of talking turns managed in
dialogue?
A: Depends on the nature of the turn-taking
system that is operative, and depends on power
relationships between participants.

Turn-taking managed according to this formula:

‘The person speaking may select the next speaker;

if that doesn’t happen, the next speaker may take
the turn; if that doesn’t happen, the person
speaking may continue.

It is assumed that all participants have equal rights

at each point in the formula.’
 In dialogue between unequal, turn - taking
rights are unequal.
Let us look at a small sample of classroom
discourse.

T: Where does it go before it reaches your lungs?

p; Your windpipe, Miss.
T: Down your windpipe ... Now can anyone remember the
other word for windpipe?
p: The trachaea.
T: The trachaea . . . Good

Pupils cannot normally self-select. Teachers,

conversely, always self-select because pupils cannot
select teachers.
Are there ways in which one participant controls the
contributions of others?

There are 4 devices used for doing this:

a. Interruption: like a doctor interrupted the medical student
in order to stop him beginning an examination before
washing his hands.

b. Enforcing explicitness: forcing participants to make their

meaning unambiguous by asking things like: ‘Is that a
threat? Are you accusing me of lying?’

c. Controlling topic: The topic of an interaction may be

determined and controlled by the more powerful participant.

d. Formulation: used for such purposes as checking

understanding, or reaching an agreed characterization of
what has transpired in an interaction.
 Here is an example of formulation and its
strategic use in discourse:

A is recounting events surrounding the breaking of a

window.

A: it was broken when I came in for lunch

B: was it?
A: so, it was being done while I was talking to the kids
upstairs sort of thing
B: so, it wasn't done by the kids upstairs then.
A: ah. I suppose not.

B‘s 2nd turn formulates A‘s account - he 'offers' A the

conclusion from what the latter said that if he was talking
to the kids upstairs while the window was broken, they
didn't break it.
A appears to feel forced, to concede this.