Discourse-historical Approach Research Articles

Understanding Colourism in Malaysia Through Discursive Constructions of Skin Colour on Social Media

Colourism refers to any act of discrimination that is portrayed on the basis of skin colour or the act of attributing negativity upon dark skin. This article explores the extent to which colourism prevails in Malaysia by studying the discourse of skin colour on social media. The data is gathered from Twitter (now known as X), a social media platform that allows users to interact with short messages called “tweets”. The tweets are sourced from the Malaysian Twitter diaspora via the keyword “kulit gelap”—a phrase in Malay language which translates to dark skin. The analysis is conducted in alignment with the viewpoint of discourse-historical approach, where a qualitative analysis is employed to examine the linguistic devices and discursive strategies utilised to construct the notion of dark skin. The results indicate that dark skin is often portrayed in a negative light, suggesting that colourism is pervasive in language use. Through the analysis, several discursive strategies are identified, such as nomination of dark skin as a problem and stereotypical predication of dark skin.

The Discourse-Historical Approach of Identity Construction in Corporate Promotional Videos for External Publicity Image

Corporate identity construction of external publicity image is an important part of the development of enterprises. Based on Wodak’s discourse-historical approach, this study takes the text of COFCO’s English promotional video as the research object, analyzes the corporate brand image, media image, organizational image, and environmental image constructed by the enterprises from three steps: linguistic expression, discourse strategy, and theme to provide references for Chinese enterprises to enhance their international influence.

Performing social advocacy: A critical sociolinguistic analysis of selected songs of Beautiful Nubia

This study explores social advocacies in the songs of Segun Akinlolu (aka Beautiful Nubia). The data for the study comprises ten purposively selected songs by the artist. These songs are Seven Lifes, Owuro Lojo (How do you do?), Ma Ba Won So, Baba Mimo, Jangbalajugbu, Ohun Oju Nri, Table Turns, E K'omo L'ede, Small People’s Anthem, and Mind of Your Own. The study blends critical sociolinguistics and discourse historical approach (DHA) of critical discourse studies in data analysis. The analysis shows that through symbolism, imagery, juxtaposition, rhetorical question and irony, Beautiful Nubia prioritizes social advocacies in his songs by enlightening and raising people’s consciousness about patriotism, justice and equity, national courage and resilience, cultural preservation, and linguistic identity. The study concludes that Beautiful Nubia sees music and its performance as public enlightenment undertakings for sociopolitical advancement and societal repositioning.       

Framing the Polish-Belarusian Border in 2021. The Case of Public Service Television (TVP)

ABSTRACT The 2021 events at the Belarus–European Union border have had considerable political, economic, and humanitarian consequences. Combining insights from the Discourse-Historical Approach and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis with securitization theory, the paper investigates the dominant frames identified in the coverage of the border events by the largest Polish television network (TVP). The findings suggest that TVP portrayed immigrants and refugees mostly as dangerous, relying on the stereotypical image of the Muslim Other. Utilizing quantitative methods to analyze large data samples, the study illustrates how corpus linguistics tools provide valuable insights for social science research.

Examining the discursive construction of Chinese grassroots cybernationalism

Abstract Recent years have seen a surge in Chinese grassroots nationalism. Based on the public discussion on Weibo, the largest social media platform in China, this study investigated the cybernationalism (re)produced during the People’s Republic of China’s release of the Regulations on the Administration of Permanent Residence of Foreigners in early 2020. Deploying a synergy of thematic analysis and the discourse-historical approach (Reisigl and Wodak 2005, 2016), especially its argumentative perspectives, it examined the articulation of bottom-up cybernationalism and how this nationalism, boosted by the party-state, turns against the party-state when it fails to uphold its own nationalistic rhetorics, thereby influencing the government’s immigration policymaking. The results revealed that the discursive construction of a dichotomy between “derogatory foreigners” and “dignified Chinese” prevents the implementation of the regulation; the foregrounded anti-Black sentiment reflects a (re)appreciation of the global hierarchy of race in China based on orientalistic views; the discursive representations of humiliated history vitally motivates nationalism.

Performing social advocacy: A critical sociolinguistic analysis of selected songs of Beautiful Nubia

This study examines social advocacies in the songs of Segun Akinlolu (aka Beautiful Nubia). The data for the study comprises ten purposively selected songs by the artist. These songs are Seven Lifes, Owuro Lojo (How do you do?), Ma Ba Won So, Baba Mimo, Jangbalajugbu, Ohun Oju Nri, Table Turns, E K'omo L'ede, Small People’s Anthem, and Mind of Your Own. The study blends critical sociolinguistic and discourse historical approach (DHA) of critical discourse studies in data analysis. The analysis shows that through symbolism, imagery, juxtaposition, rhetorical question and irony, Beautiful Nubia prioritises social advocacies in his songs by enlightening and raising people’s consciousness about unity of purpose, patriotism, justice and equity, national courage and resilience, cultural preservation and linguistic identity. The study concludes that Beautiful Nubia sees music and its performance as a public enlightenment tool for sociopolitical advancement and societal repositioning.            

Decoding paradoxical identities: The discourse construction of left-behind children in news reports

This paper presents an empirical corpus-based study on the identity of left-behind children in China, employing the discourse-historical approach (DHA) framework. It is the first study to combine Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and reported speech analysis to examine how China Daily constructs the identity of left-behind children and explore the cultural and rhetorical factors influencing this identity construction. By integrating computational techniques and qualitative analysis methods, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the intricate nature of identity construction for left-behind children. This interdisciplinary approach strengthens the theoretical foundations of media analysis and offers fresh insights into the dynamics of media discourse. The findings reveal that China Daily portrays left-behind children in a multifaceted and diverse manner, encompassing both positive and negative aspects, while placing emphasis on their vulnerability and passivity. Furthermore, the media employs communication techniques such as identification by sympathy, antithesis, and inaccuracy to establish emotional resonance and foster audience identification, ultimately influencing the audience’s perspectives on these children.

Coercive impoliteness and blame avoidance in government communication

As government officeholders face criticism for misconduct or policy failures, they are tempted to communicate in self-defensive ways. In this paper, I draw attention to how strategic blame avoidance in government may involve coercive impoliteness, that is, the use of expressions that attack the face of (potential) critics with an aim of forcing them to withhold their (future) criticism. Taking a discourse-historical approach to political rhetoric, I present illustrative examples of institutional government messaging from the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia, and Russia to demonstrate how these face attacks may be accomplished in subtle ways, such as via sarcasm or mock politeness. I discuss the ethical implications of the uses of coercive impoliteness in government communication for democratic debates over public policy issues. The paper contributes to the study of political blame games, language aggression, and incivility in (digitally) mediated contexts.

Fortifying the otherness in Montenegrin political discourse

Following the 2020 elections, Montenegro has experienced an upsurge in ‘patriotic’ political activism, largely supported by the party that lost control of the parliament after three decades of uncontested rule. The continuity and uniqueness of the Montenegrin dual identity, where the categories of Serb and Montenegrin are not mutually exclusive, have been undermined by nationalist aspirations to portray such duality as a delusion. This study examined strategies for the construction of otherness in nationalist political discourse following the 2020 elections in Montenegro, based on the assumption that a threatened identity seeks to re-establish itself through the search for difference and otherness. The Discourse Historical Approach provides an analytical framework for examining the explicit and implicit construction of social actors used to reinforce the ingroup-outgroup rift and portray the other as different and pathological.

A Corpus-Assisted Analysis of Silent Spring from the Discourse-Historical Perspective

Silent Spring, an ecological work written by Rachel Carson, symbolizes the inception of the modern environmentalist movement since it reveals the astonishing and catastrophic consequences brought by the abuse of insecticides without beautification. The work struck the whole world and brought environmental protection to attention through its powerful arguments and rigorous logic. As a problem-oriented approach, the discourse-historical approach (DHA) examines a discourse from three aspects, namely context, discourse and text. This study integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the linguistic features of Silent Spring within the theoretical framework of DHA. It is found that the work centers around the abuse of insecticides and utilizes the nomination strategy and predicate strategy to present a negative image of human beings. In doing so, the writer opposes anthropocentrism and constructs her ecological holism thoughts in this work.

Representation of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Malaysian National Strategic Plan and Medical Brochures: A Discourse-Historical Approach

Representation of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Malaysian National Strategic Plan and Medical Brochures: A Discourse-Historical Approach

‘Talking about’ the far right and common sense. A case study of Matteo Salvini’s buon senso trope on Twitter (2018–2023)

AbstractBetween 2018 and 2023, Matteo Salvini, leader of Italian far right party Lega per Salvini Premier, depicted his policies as ‘common sense’ via Twitter. While far right actors frequently frame their politics as common sense, the role of this discourse in the mainstreaming of the far right via social media remains largely under-examined. This article addresses this gap in the literature by combining a Gramscian-inspired dyad of senso comune v buon senso (common sense v good sense), and recent discursive approaches to mainstreaming, with the general orientation of the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). Viewing Salvini’s use of a buon senso trope over a five-year period through this conceptual and analytical lens reveals how it constituted a form of ‘talking about’ the far right, i.e. a self-referential strategy aiming to bring far right politics closer to the mainstream.

The Discursive Clash Between the Portraits of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire in Relation to Their Foreign Policy: The ‘Victorious’ Turkey Versus the ‘Defeated’ Ottoman Empire

This article argues that the Turkish press of the early republican years was one of the instruments used by the Turkish political discourse of the early republican years to disseminate and reproduce its values in the public sphere. This article attempts to examine the discursive distinction between Turkey and the Ottoman Empire in terms of their international relations through the Turkish press discourse. To this end, this article focuses on the Turkish newspaper column "Sabah Gazeteleri ne diyorlar?" published in the Turkish newspaper Haber Akşam Postası on June 11, 1938, and conducts an argumentation analysis of the column by applying the Vienna School of Discourse-Historical Approach (Reisigl & Wodak 2001; Wodak 1990, 1994; Wodak & Meyer 2001; Wodak & Chilton 2005; Wodak et al. 2009). This article examines the rhetorical, discursive, and argumentative strategies used by the editorial writer Asım Us to persuade readers. One of the key findings of the article is the following: the negative portrayal of the Ottoman Empire versus the positive portrayal of Turkey. While the Ottoman Empire was described as "defeated" in World War I, Turkey was portrayed as a "victorious" country that was able to sign the Treaty of Lausanne with the Entente powers on an equal footing.

Rhetorical Contrast Between Turkey and the Ottoman Empire: ‘Modern’ Turkey Versus ‘Unmodern’ Ottoman Empire

In its first decades, the Turkish Republic attempted to create a new national identity that differed from the identity of the Ottoman Empire in socio-cultural, bureaucratic, administrative and legal terms. This attempt led to the creation of a rhetoric of difference between Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. This article argues that the rhetorical rupture between Turkey and the Ottoman Empire was reflected in the Turkish press discourse of the early republican years. Applying the Vienna School of Discourse-Historical Approach (Reisigl & Wodak 2001; Wodak 1990, 1994), this article will analyze the discursive and rhetorical strategies of the editorial published by M. Nermi in Cumhuriyet newspaper in 1931 to show that the editorialist M. Nermi strove to explain the administrative and perspective difference of Turkey from the Ottoman Empire. This article will show what kind of persuasive techniques the editorialist used to make the readers agree with his arguments.

News discourses threatening multiculturalism in Ethiopian mainstream TV channels: Discourse historical approach

This study explores how the political interests of different ethnic groups influence mainstream televisions’ news discourses in Ethiopia. It was based on data generated from a corpus of 1167 news stories in three TV channels from 2019 to 2021 and analyzed stories threatening multiculturalism. Based on the theoretical lenses of critical theory, it employed a Discourse Historical Approach to analyze discursive strategies used in TV news. It underscores that in a diverse society like Ethiopia, achieving public consensus through news discourse might become tougher. The results also show that recent political polarization, conflicts, and civil wars have potentially compromised the objectivity of news reporting, undermining the utilization of inclusive language for representing diversity. Newsrooms employ antagonistic narratives that impede the cultivation of tolerance and respect among diverse ethnic and political factions. Consequently, these narratives cunningly neutralize the political undertones of ethnic conflicts by labeling the culprits as terrorists. Hostile mode of discourse perilous to the enactment of multiculturalism characterizes the news discourses in TV channels. While discussing political conflicts and insecurities, the news stories intensify divisions among diverse political groups. Therefore, the study suggests that news reporting in a diverse society ought to focus on peace bargaining, the use of impartial and inoffensive discourses to lay the groundwork for multicultural integration.

Sustainability as a Hegemonic Discourse of Globalization: The Discourse-Historical Approach as a Critical Issues and Stakeholder Analysis Tool

Sustainability as a Hegemonic Discourse of Globalization: The Discourse-Historical Approach as a Critical Issues and Stakeholder Analysis Tool

Research on China’s image in Qatar’s Mainstream Media from the Perspective of Discourse-history Approach

This paper examines the features and discourse strategies presented in China-related reports by Qatari media “The Peninsula” based on Discourse-historical Approach. A corpus-based method is adopted to conduct an empirical investigation on data from 2013 to 2022 to expound Qatari media’s orientation towards China. Research results show that The Peninsular tends to maintain an objective and neutral perspective in reporting China-related affairs. Using positive predication, direct and indirect speech, median value modal verbs, the Qatari media highlights an image of China as a peace-loving and mutually beneficial major country in its pursuit of win-win cooperation.

Verbalisation of an alternative academic position in totalitarian discourse

Background. In Soviet Ukraine, academic discourse often acted as a means of implementing language planning, in particular as a tool for the transformation of the language corpus. All grammar textbooks published after 1933 broadcast the official knowledge: the vocative is not a full-fledged case, but rather a special form of address; morphological means of expressing address in Ukrainian are the “vocative form” and “nominative case.” In the conditions of total control over all areas of social life, Ukrainian linguists were faced with a choice of either 1) look for certain language devices, broadcasting the official theory, which would convince the addressee to believe in the talking points that did not fully comply with the language facts, and then anchor those points in their consciousness; 2) avoid aspects that disagree with the language practice or the logic of academic description; 3) word the findings of their research and observations of the language practice in a way that would not contradict the official theory.Contribution to the research field. The article is dedicated to the analysis of the communication practices used by Ukrainian linguists in the Soviet times to express their academic position, which did not agree with official knowledge. The object of comprehension was a unique for postcolonial societies situation in which the creators of both the official discourse and the alternative discourse opposed to it were the colonised themselves.Purpose. The aim of this research is to analyse ways and means of verbalisation of the alternative academic position held by linguists in the academic discourse of the totalitarian era, based on the materials representing the topics “The Case System” and “Address” in Ukrainian grammar books for higher education, published between 1933–1991.Methods. The research is based on the theoretical and methodological foundations of postcolonial studies, which involve a critical reading of texts that reflect the influence of various forms of authority on the life of subordinate communities. In particular, the theory of critical reading of J. Errimgton’s linguistic works and R. Vodaks’ methodology of discourse-historical approach, which has been adapted for academic discourse analysis, have been applied in this research.Results. Some linguists, who did not share the canonised theory of the vocative, implied their point of view in the official texts they had created (i.e. textbooks for higher education.) On the one hand, they used official terminology and theoretical concepts: they were consistent in naming the vocative case a “vocative form,” and presented two ways of expressing address. On the other hand, the lexical and grammatical structure of their statements levelled the postulates regarding the fact that “vocative is not a case”, and that “the nominative case is used to express address on par with the vocative.” Among the techniques used by the linguists, heavily euphemistic speech in combination with syntactic complication of the structure prevailed, as well as splitting nominations by verbalising the concept with variant naming and violation of logical connections between consecutive statements. Such individual practices of linguistic resistance replicated the practices of the official totalitarian discourse, but with the aim to broadcast the opposite meaning.Discussion. The peculiarity of the alternative academic discourse (in particular, the language education one) of the totalitarian era lies in the fact that it did not directly confront the official theory, but rather occurred within its boundaries. This gives a reason to consider some Ukrainian linguists of the Soviet period as creators of both colonial and anti-colonial discourses.

Studying the Discourse Construction of China's Ecological Image Based on Discourse-Historical Approach

Studying the Discourse Construction of China's Ecological Image Based on Discourse-Historical Approach

The media, terrorism, and censorship in the UK: conflicting imagined audiences in British parliamentary debates in 1988 and 2018

Over the last three decades, there has been a significant growth in media control policies in the UK. Nonetheless, academic literature has so far failed to examine British political elites’ understandings of the relationship between the media and political violence. This article makes an original contribution by conducting a historical comparison of political elites’ discourses on terrorism, the media, and audiences through the analysis of key parliamentary debates in which British MPs discussed the introduction of far-reaching media control measures (i.e. the 1988 Broadcasting Ban and the 2019 Counter-terrorism and Border Security Act). Employing the concept of the “imagined audience”, the analysis, based on a discourse-historical approach (DHA), demonstrates significant differences in how MPs constructed media audiences in these discussions. In 1988, British MPs consistently invoked rational, well-informed, and responsible audiences, whilst thirty years later, constructions of unknowledgeable and easily influenced audiences were discursively deployed by MPs in support of highly restrictive media control measures. The article suggests that this transformation is based on a resurgence of the media “contagion theory” and Islamophobic notions that construct certain sections of the population as vulnerable, irrational, and highly susceptible, in contrast to the intelligent and sensible audiences envisioned by MPs in 1988.