A CRITICAL REVIEW OF MEDIA DISCOURSE STUDIES ON JAPAN’S NUCLEAR WASTEWATER DISCHARGE

This article examines how the media represents women and men who have left their home countries to join ISIS. It will look at the dual phenomenon of ‘Jihadi Brides’ and ‘Foreign Fighters’, both terms coined by the media, and seek to uncover gender discrimination inherent therein. Beyond gender stereotypes, it will also examine Islamophobic and Orientalist tropes that add an additional layer of othering to Muslim women. The theoretical framework used in this study will be Framing Theory, frameworks which look at women in violent organizations, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. The thesis will use Corpus Linguistics, as a methodology to achieve its results, using the publicly available News on the Web (NOW) corpus as a database.

This article presents a comprehensive meta-analysis of corpus-based approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by synthesizing empirical research from Pakistani and international contexts between 2015 and 2025. Critical Discourse Analysis is a multidisciplinary research paradigm that explores how language constructs and reflects power, ideology, and inequality. When combined with corpus linguistics (CL), CDA gains methodological rigor by integrating computational tools, such as concordance, collocation, frequency analysis, and keyword analysis. The present study systematically reviews ten research articles, five from Pakistan and five from global contexts, to examine methodological designs, corpus compilation strategies, analytical frameworks, and thematic foci. Findings reveal that Pakistani studies often emphasize political, educational, and media discourses but face limitations due to underdeveloped corpora and a lack of digitization in regional languages. International research, by contrast, benefits from advanced corpus resources and large datasets but risks cultural misinterpretation and excessive reliance on quantitative techniques. The study contributes to theoretical advancement by mapping the synergy between CDA and corpus linguistics, methodological innovation through identifying strengths and gaps, and pedagogical utility by offering a synthesized framework for future research. Implications include the need for multilingual corpus development in Pakistan, qualitative–quantitative integration in international studies, and cross-cultural comparisons to enhance validity and inclusivity. Ultimately, corpus-based CDA demonstrates considerable potential for analyzing ideology, representation, and power across a wide range of discourses, though its effectiveness depends on balancing computational rigor with critical interpretation.

The main objective of the article is to conduct a critical media discourse analysis as presented in the Polish and international editions of the "Newsweek" magazine in the years 2001-2006 and 2012-2016; the subject of which was climate change. The introduction provides the definitions of the key terms, such as: the greenhouse effect and critical discourse analysis (CDA). The theoretical part presents the most important assumptions of the CDA and presents a characteristic of the weekly. The results of the conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis partially lead to varying conclusions. Based on the CDA, the hypothesis was assumed that more attention was provided to climate change in the international (English) edition of "Newsweek", than in the Polish-language edition. Rejected in turn was the hypothesis, according to which, more importance to climate change and their repercussions was provided in the discourse within the last 5years of publication of the weekly than in the discourse from the years 2001-2006. As a result of comparison of both discourses, the disturbing fact that media discourse did not present and encourage among the readers an active stance in favour of the climate was noticed. It is the task of this influential weekly, the message of which reaches many people, not only to provide knowledge and shape specific values or view, but also to encourage and popularise attitudes in favour of the climate. If man wants to continue to live on earth, then one of their goals is to modify the form of discourse by entities responsible for its form.

Re/reading the Past is concerned with the discourses of history, from the complementary perspectives of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The papers in the book stress the discursive construction of the past, focussing on the different social narratives which compete for official acknowledgement. Issues of collective and cultural memory are addressed, reflecting the "linguistic turn" in the Social Sciences. The book covers a range of discourses, interpreting texts from popular culture to academic discourse including the construction and evaluation of past events in a variety of places around the world. It is especially timely in its focus on the construction of time and value in a post-colonial world where history discourses are central to on-going processes of reconciliation, debates on war crimes, and the issues of amnesty and restitution. As such the book fills a significant gap in interdisciplinary debates as well as in register and genre analysis, and will be of general interest to historians, political scientists and discourse analysts as well as students and teachers of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes).

The main subject of this study is a detailed literature review analysis of critical discourse researches made in the Turkish language. As a unique discipline, critical discourse analysis has played an important research tool role in social sciences. Critical discourse analysis, which emerged in the late 1980s, can be considered a relatively new research method in our country. This discipline has developed around the schools of three different academics. One of the leading figures in this field is Teun A. van Dijk (b. 1943). Van Dijk, the founder of the Socio-cognitive Approach, is one of the important names cited in the analysis of political and media discourses. Another name is Norman Fairclough (b.1941). Fairclough's 3-Dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis method also constitutes an important space in discourse studies. Another significant figure in the field of critical discourse analysis is Ruth Wodak (b. 1950). Wodak, the founder of the Discourse Historical approach, first developed this method to analyze the biased anti-Semitic language and imagery in Waldheim's electoral programs in the Austrian presidential election that was held in 1986. Since then, the methodology developed by Wodak has been useful for discourse analysis of cases with an important historical dimension. This study aims to explain the approaches of the discourse experts mentioned above and to compile critical discourse analysis and corpus analysis studies conducted in political and media texts in Turkish academia. As a result of this study, which was carried out within the scope of the qualitative research method, important insights into the basic features, possibilities, and limitations of critical discourse analysis research in Turkish academia have been obtained. Some of the insights obtained can be summarized as follows: It has been determined that the critical discourse analysis studies available in the Council of Higher Education online database include a total number of 54 master’s and doctoral theses published since 2003. Among these theses, the number of the theses prepared in Turkish is 23. As a result of the Google Scholar search, it has been found that the number of Turkish studies conducted since 2003 is more than 90. The most cited research among these studies is the article “Discourse Analysis” published in 2008. The main limitation of most of the critical discourse analysis studies made in the Turkish language is about the usage of the translations of the works authored by the above-mentioned experts who developed this discipline, and this usage limits the number of resources concerning the method because not every major work has been translated into Turkish. In the light of the findings, the ways to improve the discipline in Turkish academia shows the importance of this study.

In his book Critical Discourse Analysis and Language Cognition, O’Halloran (2003) concentrates on the application of certain key concepts in critical discourse analysis (CDA) from the point of view of reader cognition and text interpretation. One of the central points of this book is the discussion on the potential shortcomings of CDA with regard to text cognition. The analytical apparatus of CDA has also been influenced by certain concepts developed in systemic functional linguistics (Fowler et al. 1979, Hodge and Kress 1993), which means that O’Halloran’s remarks on reader cognition also comment on the systemic functional concepts that are commonly used as analytical tools in CDA, such as those of transitivity and nominalization (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). He argues that the explanation for these concepts in systemic functional linguistics is based on assumptions about reader cognition that are mostly implicit rather than explicit (O’Halloran 2003: 2). According to O’Halloran (2003: 21) this means that CDA, while effective in the description stage of analysis (i.e. in highlighting text bias), is less strong in the interpretation stage of analysis which focuses on reader cognition, in other words on the discourse of the reader, rather than on the text (O’Halloran 2003: 21).

Discourse in Late Modernity sets out to show that critical discourse analysis is strongly positioned to address empirical research and theory-building across the social sciences, particularly research and theory on the semiotic/linguistic aspects of the social world. It situates critical discourse analysis as a form of critical social research in relation to diverse theories from the philosophy of science to social theory and from political science to sociology and linguistics. First, the authors clarify the ontological and epistemological assumptions of critical discourse analysis - its view of what the social world consists of and how to study it - and, in so doing, point to the connections between critical discourse analysis and critical social scientific research more generally. Secondly, they relate critical discourse analysis to social theory, by creating a research agenda in contemporary social life on the basis of narratives of late modernity, particularly those of Giddens, Habermas, and Harvey as well as feminist and postmodernist approaches. Thirdly, they show the relevance of sociological work in the analysis of discursive aspects of social life, drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Bernstein to theorise the dialectic of social reproduction and change, and on post-structuralist, post-colonial and feminist work to theorise the dialectic of complexity and homogenisation in contemporary societies. Finally, they discuss the relationship between systemic-functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis, showing how the analytical strength of each can benefit from the other. * Sets out a new and distinctive theoretical grounding and research agenda for critical discourse analysis * Interdisciplinary in scope * Draws on a broad range of theories and approaches

This study investigates the existence of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in one of Indonesia English language newspaper The Jakarta Post. This research aims to reveal the existence of this GBV practice in five selected articles under the case of sexual assault happened to Agni, one of UGM students. This research uses qualitative research where there are 131 clauses selected to be analyzed. The analysis uses the Critical Discourse Analysis Fairclough’s model (1989) as a framework, involving Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (2004), Wood’s gendered media (1994), and mass media discourse. The result shows that gender-based violence practice does exist on those selected articles through the use of linguistic tools applied by the journalists. This indication related to three things. They are a misrepresentation of women, rape narrative, and objectivity, where women are depicted to be submissive and passive in media. The result also finds that patriarchal culture also influences the way of The Jakarta Post in presenting the issue about violence which represents that the media abuses the victim of the issue and provides the existence of gender-based violence that The Jakarta Post presents in their articles. Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, media discourse, The Jakarta Post, gender-based violence,

This research is aimed to reveal the power relation in SMS (Short Service Messages) Phishing. It utilizes the three dimensions of Fairclough CDA perspective; description, interpretation, and explanation. The three functions of SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics) are practiced for the data analysis. 150 SMS phishing are collected randomly from the authors’ relatives and colleagues. There are two types of SMS Phishing, Complete, and Incomplete. The complete type consists of Opening, Content, and Closing, while the Incomplete with minor Closing. The power relation has been observed from the Opening, Content, and Closing of SMS. The result is shown by the salient descriptions of the data, which are: the exclamation words ‘Selamat’ (65%) in the opening; the second personal pronoun ‘Anda’ (60%), and material process (68%) in the content; imperative moods (88%) and the fake identity of reputable institutions in the closing. The result of the study is interpreted and explained as the data description, that the phishers inserted ‘power’ in the SMS Phishing. The use of ‘Selamat’ explains that the phishers are kind and generous, then “Anda” and the imperative moods indicate that the phishers act as the first person who can lead the targets. In addition, the use of material processes and the fake reputable institution identity explains that the phishers are trustworthy and wealthy people. SMS Phishers employ those language features to make the targets believe them, and SMS becomes a fraud when the targets believe the message is true. CDA and SFL have been used in this study to reveal the intention of SMS phishing from the perspective of linguistics, therefore, the authors attempt to propose CDA and SFL as the analysis tools in the forensic linguistic field.

Motivated by the long-standing connection between Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this paper presents the first systematic literature review of the most frequent and productive linguistic features from SFL that are applied in practice by CDA analysts. Guided by PRISMA 2020 and following the SALSA framework, 4 databases (Wiley, Scopus, Sage Publications, and ProQuest) were searched, from which 78 papers were extracted and statistically analyzed with the TexMiLAB tool. The linguistic features that are most productive in CDA are lexical choices and evaluative lexis at the lexico-semantic level; while at the grammatical level, it is the type of processes and type of participants, together with the analysis of other linguistic elements, such as metaphors and quotations. The systems of Transitivity and Modality, and Appraisal theory are more recurrent over the remarkably underused Theme system. It could be argued that, to a large extent, SFL remains central to CDA research, although some CDA practitioners do not seem to follow a systematic methodology when applying SFL to their analysis.

Language and cinema make use of distinctive tools to interpret and reflect external reality. While signs in language consist of signifiers and signified(s), in cinema they are fiction, sound, image, and most importantly, discourses within the screenplay. A discourse is a unit of communication value that, for the most part, includes the social and production conditions of language beyond utterances. Examinations of discourse can be done from a linguistic perspective that engages grammar, sentence structures, and voice, or from a non-linguistic perspective. Critical discourse analysis approaches its object of study from a broad perspective. It aims to critically examine texts and speeches on subjects such as racism, sexism, colonialism, and other forms of social inequality. Critical feminist discourse analysis focuses on the complex structures of hidden power relations and the ideologies that support gender regulations in discourse, though it is separate from critical discourse analysis in various ways. In this study, the film Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, undergoes critical feminist discourse analysis. By constructing the character Nicole, the female protagonist who attempts to exist in a masculine public sphere and, in the process, becomes a liberated individual who makes a series of decisions in line with her desires and needs and self-expression, Baumbach criticizes the dominant ideology of his own cinematic making.

In contemporary democratic societies, political apologies have evolved into strategic rhetorical acts used by state leaders to manage public perception, repair moral standing, and reinforce political values. In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo’s public apology near the end of his presidency attracted widespread attention and provoked discourse about its underlying ideological motives. Rather than a spontaneous expression of regret, the apology appeared to be a calculated act of political communication, shaped by cultural values and designed to influence the public’s perception of his leadership. This study aims to uncover the ideological tendencies embedded in Jokowi’s apology by analyzing how the apology is represented in two prominent English-language newspapers in Indonesia, The Jakarta Post (TJP) and The Jakarta Globe (TJG). It seeks to determine how transitivity choices in the language are used to convey deeper political and cultural meanings. Employing a qualitative research design supported by quantitative content analysis, the study integrates Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), particularly the transitivity framework, to examine 43 clauses extracted from news articles published in TJP and TJG. The transitivity analysis reveals that material processes dominate the discourse (40.5%), followed by mental (25.5%) and verbal (23.2%) processes. In terms of participant roles, Actor and Sayer occur most frequently, indicating that Jokowi strategically presented himself as an active doer and a sincere speaker. These linguistic patterns suggest a deliberate construction of identity, emphasizing responsibility, empathy, and leadership. The analysis further shows how Jokowi's apology aligns with Javanese cultural ideals of humility and Islamic values of repentance, which are embedded in Indonesian socio-political discourse. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of how political apologies are not only personal but also ideological acts embedded in media discourse. This study highlights the usefulness of integrating CDA and SFL in uncovering how language functions to maintain power, shape public memory, and preserve political legitimacy in post-presidency contexts. It also underscores the cultural specificity of apology strategies in Indonesia, suggesting that future discourse studies consider local traditions and values when analyzing political speech.

Positive discourse analysis (PDA) falls under the broader umbrella of discourse analysis and privileges discourses that promote empowerment and social change. PDA is often viewed as a complementary approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) which aims to expose hegemonic discourses and discourses of disempowerment. While CDA has been useful in bringing to light discriminatory discourse practices, it has been less reliable at providing the means to change such hegemonic practices. PDA on the other hand, not only promotes positive discourse, it also advocates for design and interventions that empowers people and brings about social change. Since being first coined in 2002, PDA has been employed in many linguistic subfields including media discourse, ecolinguistics, and educational linguistics. And more recently, PDA has been developed as a tool for community members to use to address issues in their local communities. The major theory underpinning PDA is Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). SFL provides a functional theory of how language is used in social context and models language according to its three general social functions: to represent experience, to enact social relationships, and to organize these experiences and social relationships. But first and foremost, SFL is concerned with redressing inequality. For this reason, SFL frameworks are often used in PDA studies, in text analyses, and in designing materials and interventions. This bibliography explores some of the main linguistics subfields where positive discourse analysis has taken ground over the past two decades. However, there are plenty of studies that would be considered PDA prior to its coinage as a methodological approach. Therefore, this bibliography presents a variety of studies that either explicitly use PDA as a methodological approach or others that have not necessarily employed the term PDA, but would nevertheless be considered PDA since they advocate for positive discourses, social change and empowerment.

Nowadays social media has penetrated into people’s daily life playing an important role. Whether through tools such as computers, mobile phones, or other network terminals, social media has become one of the indispensable elements of human society. With information technology rapidly increasing, visual languages become more important in social media. The various semiotic resources such as language, image, better convey the message. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) within the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as its theoretical bases, this study sought to provide insight into the perspective of family relationships as represented in social media in Kenya during the Covid 19 Containment interventions. Specifically, the paper sought to analyse the interactive meaning constructed in linguistic mode, analyse how the interactive meaning facilitated in visual mode and lastly how the linguistic and visual modes combined to construct the interactive meaning. Using theoretical sampling, twenty-eight (28) texts were sampled from the internet and whatsup groups then described, analysed and explained within the CDA and MDA approaches with a view to identify the perspectives on family relationships as expressed in the Covid 19 social media discourses. The findings revealed the following family issues, poverty, strained couple relationships, domestic violence, spouse cheating, spousal mobile phone snooping, constrained family finances, challenges of parenting, couple dominance and power struggle, family unity and issues to do with conjugal right and child bearing.

The subject of this article will be the analysis of the application of two modern linguistic approaches to the ancient text. It is about M. Halliday's systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) through whose patterns we will analyze Suetonius' account of two Roman emperors, Augustus and Nero. Since the language is a strong link between SFL as a linguistic approach and CDA, a movement that unites several different disciplines, including linguistic ones, focused on social change, this article will try to shed light on the role, connection and effectiveness of SFL and CDA in a biographical presentation of a personalities. Critical discourse analysis defines language as a social practice, an essential component of creating social relations and changing them; therefore, it focuses on the language in use - discourse, and analyzes it within the broader social, political, historical, cultural and any other context in which it is realized.