From Linguistic to Discursive Patterns: Introducing Discoursemes as a Basic Unit of Discourse Analysis

This article uses corpus-assisted discourse studies to examine the discursive construction of collective identity in the Hong Kong press, particularly with regard to its relationship with mainland China. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and collective identity theory, it develops a set of analytical techniques amenable to quantification, and applies it to a corpus of newspaper coverage of the 2005 Hong Kong Chief Executive election. The article uses these techniques not only to develop a representative description and interpretation of discursive patterns, but also to offer an explanatory account of the discursive construction of Hong Kong identity. It shows that the discursive patterns vary systematically depending on newspaper ownership, commercial imperatives, and newspaper type.

Gay men's health typically relies on traditional forms of qualitative analysis, such as thematic analysis, and would benefit from a diversity of analytic approaches. Such diversity offers public health researchers a breadth of tools to address different kinds of research questions and, thus, substantiate different types of social phenomenon relevant to the health and wellbeing of gay men. In this article, I compare and contrast three qualitative analytic approaches: thematic, critical discourse, and conversation analysis. I demonstrate and distinguish their key analytic assumptions by applying each approach to a single data excerpt taken from a public health interview conducted for a broader study on gay men's health. I engage in a discussion of each approach in relation to three themes: its utility for gay men's health, its approach to dilemmas of voice, and its capacity for reflexivity. I advocate that qualitative researchers should capitalise on the full range of qualitative analytic approaches to achieve the goals of gay men's health. However, I specifically encourage qualitative researchers to engage with conversation analysis, not only because of its capacity to resolve dilemmas of voice and to achieve reflexivity, but also for its ability to capture forms of social life hitherto undocumented through thematic and critical discourse analysis.

Abstract: The paper presents findings from a corpus study of the discourse of the parliamentary speeches of the former co-chairman of the political party Produljavame Promyanata (We Continue the Change) Kiril Petkov. The corpus is representative of the politician and his speeches in the National Assembly of Bulgaria, as it includes the entire speech production recorded in the Hansard of the National Assembly from December 2021 to July 2025 – a total of 156 speeches, 42,864 words. A newly launched method for calculating keywords, Text Dispersion, is employed: calculations of the logarithmic probability, which compares the frequency in the study corpus to that in a balanced corpus, are preceded by a count of the segments in the corpus that contain the keyword. High-frequency repetitions, collocations, cognitive metaphors, and rhetorical means of argumentation are tracked. Conclusions are drawn about salient concepts, topoi, and linguistic features of the parliamentarian's speech. Keywords: political rhetoric, critical discourse analysis, corpus assisted discourse studies.

This chapter investigates and endorses the integration of two existing research traditions, electronic discourse analysis (EDA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA), into a more powerful and comprehensive form of analysis of electronic discourses, Critical Electronic Discourse Analysis (CEDA). It sets this analytic project against the massive, unpredictable changes in culture and society which are associated with the electronic media revolution. It argues for innovative forms of analysis, in which ‘electronic discourse analysis’ acquires two over-lapping interpretations: electronically enabled analysis of discourses in all media; and all forms of analysis of electronic discourses and the social forms they express. It uses McLuhan and multi-modality theory to argue for major continuities and significant breaks in semiotic modes over long periods. It argues that powerful innovations in analysis and technology need to recognize and incorporate the two fundamental semiotic modes, digital and analogue, and not seek to replace one with the other.

This study analyzes the authoritative narrative construction regarding the postponement of the Civil Servant (ASN) relocation to Indonesia’s New Capital City (IKN) Nusantara. Addressing a gap in the literature that often focuses on social media sentiment, this research investigates the framing strategies employed by the highly influential mainstream source, DetikNews.com. Employing a qualitative Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) design, this research analyzes a corpus of 46 news articles published between August 2024 and March 2025. The methodology integrates quantitative corpus linguistics (Word Frequency, Collocation, and Concordance) with the interpretive lens of Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Key findings reveal that the media consistently frames the postponement as a procedural adjustment (evidenced by collocates such as sementara and kontrak) and an inevitable logistical challenge, rather than a political failure. The study concludes that DetikNews.com engages in discursive legitimation, successfully encoding a Preferred Meaning of project continuity that stabilizes public perception and legitimizes policy continuation.

Discourse is the study of language beyond the sentence level concerning its social and cultural practices in context. This paper 'Language as Discourse' mainly aims to analyze and explore the contribution of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in education and Classroom Discourse Analysis critically to ensure an effective teaching-learning process for better academic achievement. Similarly, it also provides insights on language, discourse, discourse analysis, and Critical Discourse Analysis. This theoretical study reveals that Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) contributes a lot to education by providing the lens to the learners to view the outer world through critical eyes and by encouraging them not only to question and criticize the dominations, suppressions and oppressions existed inside the classrooms and society but also to empower them for the emancipation and transformation. It was also found that analyzing the discourses observed inside the classrooms as Classroom Discourse Analysis assumes, facilitates the teachers for active interaction or communication inside the classroom in harmony with Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) chain for the better academic achievement. The study has been concluded with a note that the pedagogy of Nepal should also be guided towards interactive, communicative, emancipatory, and interactive mode where teachers and learners are the responsible change agents for it. This study will provide some insights for those who want more exploration of discourse, discourse analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and Classroom Discourse Analysis through the critical and analytical eyes.

The article aims at combining two methodological approaches, namely corpus linguistics and discourse studies. Both of these approaches are present in corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) which makes use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. First, an attempt is made to discuss the differences and similarities of these two traditions based on Leech’s (2000) listing. However, it turns out that this listing does not include all necessary viewpoints, and those are further discussed. In the empirical section of the paper, the Suomi24 corpus is analysed in order to provide an example of CADS. The analysis was carried out through collocation and discourse prosody analyses. The results reveal recurring discourses related to homosexuality and heterosexuality on the Suomi24 discussion forum. They support earlier observations on media and CADS studies on discourses on homosexuality and also reveal new discourse patterns, as well as shed new light on discourses on heterosexuality.

This paper attempts to demonstrate Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework by conducting internal and external level analyses on two online news articles that report on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) submission of its findings on the “Mamasapano Incident” that happened in the Philippines in 2015. In performing analyses using this framework, the social context and background for these texts, as well as the relationship between the internal discourse features and the external social practices and structures in which the texts were produced are thoroughly examined. As a result, it can be noted that from the texts’ internal discourse features, the news articles portray ideological and social distinctions among social actors such as the Philippine Senate, the SAF troopers, the MILF, the MILF fighters, and the civilians. Moreover, from the viewpoint of the texts as being external social practices, the texts maintain institutional identities as news reports, but they also reveal some evaluative stance as exemplified by the adjectival phrases that the writers employed. Having both the internal and external features examined, it can be said that the way these texts were written seems to portray power relations that exist between the Philippine government and the MILF. Key words: Critical Discourse Analysis, discourse analysis, news articles, social practices, social structures, power relations

The article is devoted to formation and development of discourse analysis as an effective method to study functional aspects of political communication in global political space. It reports on main theoretical and methodological approaches to critical analysis of political discourse. Mainly, it deals with theoretical and methodological perspectives of three leading schools of critical discourse analysis: discourse analysis of N. Fairclough, that presents a relational approach to considering social problems in their relation to textual analysis; socio-cognitive theory of T.A. van Dijk, oriented to investigating relations between cognitive structures, discourse and social coordination; discourse analysis of R. Wodak, that uses historical approach to discourse and is aimed at description of powerful language of the elite that helps to maintain dominance in society. The paper characterizes some frameworks of critical analysis of political discourse, including the Duisburg School of Critical Discourse Analysis (S. Jäger, F. Maier), System-Functional and Social-Semiotic Theory (M. Halliday, T. van Leeuwen), and Mediated Discourse Analysis (R. Scollon, S. Scollon). It is stated that within its boundaries critical discourse analysis includes a variety of approaches, analytical tools and methodologies. The author underlines that scientific consideration of critical discourse analysis will demonstrate its potential and prospects for integrating this interdisciplinary qualitative methodology into a set of empirical tools of modern political science.

This research identifies important features of mathematics learning from the accounts of early school leavers. These students were enrolled in a Youth Reconnected Program at a Technical and Further Education [TAFE] college. Specifically, it examines the relationship between their experiences of mathematics learning in two different social contexts, the program and secondary school classrooms, the discourses and associated discursive practices of these two contexts, and the forms of identities of participation that are constructed in them. Drawing on a social theory of learning and critical discourse theory, the research identifies the processes by which membership in communities of learning is achieved and identities discursively constructed. It draws on the accounts of forty-three early school leavers and six staff members located in a Youth Reconnected Program, a program designed to re-engage early school leavers in education and or training, about their prior experiences of secondary school and their current experiences of TAFE. From these accounts, the thesis seeks to explicate their experiences of learning mathematics in both contexts and to consider the implications of different student experiences of learning for mathematics education. Critical discourse analysis provides the means for applying this framework to examine the discourses, discursive practices, identities, and forms of participation constructed in the accounts. It views the accounts as constituted by their social context. It shows how the language of the accounts works to construct particular versions of reality and how relations of power construct particular identities. It allows a richer qualitative exploration of the reported practices of mathematics classrooms with particular regard to linking the theoretical and practical concerns of this study. It makes transparent the relations between the social (including relations of power and domination), discourse, and discursive practice, thus enabling a more in-depth reading of the participants‘ accounts. Discourses about two different experiences of mathematics learning were identified—one about mathematics learning in the Youth Reconnected Program (TAFE) and the other about mathematics learning in secondary schools. The discourses and their associated discursive practices—differing application of instructional style, communication and interaction, source of authority, pace of instruction, grouping of students and assessment— were found to contribute significantly to the construction of particular student identities and forms of participation. Student experiences emphasised the importance of four characteristics for membership in a community of learners—mutual engagement, joint enterprise, shared repertoire and access. These characteristics and practices were shown to contribute substantially to the construction of identities of participation in mathematics learning for most of the students who participated in this study. There was strong evidence to indicate that small class sizes impacted significantly on student engagement and participation in learning. A crucial factor here rests with the role of the teachers and tutors and how, given the opportunities for reduced class size, they implement, sustain and maintain interactions with the students for effective teaching and learning to occur. If in this context, consistent interactions are provided that also includes clear and explicit explanations, discussion, and negotiation, students are more likely to maintain their interest and actively participate in mathematics learning. This study‘s significance is twofold. It lies in the critical importance of the issue it addresses—student participation in mathematics learning—and the articulation of a social theory of learning with critical discourse theory to enable a different and more effective understanding of the significance of discourses, identities and communities of participation in mathematics learning. Although the study cannot claim generalisability across other populations of learners or across all mathematics and TAFE classrooms because of the small select sample of early school leavers drawn upon, by highlighting these accounts of students‘ learning experiences in some mathematics classrooms and the TAFE program, and their associated experiences of them, it draws attention to a different perspective on mathematics learning. In this alternative framing, learning as a social process is contingent on access to the discourse of mathematics learning and the discursive practices that support learning, participation, and membership in a community of mathematics learners. An attention to the social processes of mathematics learning infers a significant role for mathematics teachers in enabling student access to certain discourses and communities of learning. Such a role is often neglected in current contexts of accountability that specify a focus on achieving syllabus outcomes.

The research is a discursive analysis of the construction of gendered identities and the discursive presentation of masculinity and misogyny within Pakistani television dramas and particularly how these productions influence the gender norms in society and the viewer. The historical context of the research lies in the fact that Pakistani TV dramas are at the center of determining cultural values and daily conceptions on gender. Building on the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the paper will attempt to reveal how the language and narrative practices in popular drama normalize male dominance and control the behavior of women. Its main aims are to identify the discursive construction of masculinity and femininity, to investigate various linguistic and narrative processes by which misogyny is justified, and to discuss the ideological consequences of the representations in general. The research design is a qualitative, corpus-assisted one that is based on three-dimensional CDA paradigm by Fairclough that is backed by feminist CDA views. The sample was headed by purposely selected Pakistani television dramas, which were broadcasted between 2019 and 2024 and selected due to their popularity and direct coverage of the gender relations. The transcription and analysis of dialogues were based on the AntConc-style corpus tools, such as the frequency of words, collocation, and semantic field analysis. The results indicate that masculinity is created, mostly, using a discourse of authority, control and moral legitimacy, whereas femininity is shaped in terms of patience, silence and blame. Misogyny works covertly in terms of rewarding and punishing women by narrative means, which supports patriarchal ideology. The paper provides a conclusion that Pakistani television dramas are effective locations of gender socialization, which facilitate the normalization of unequal gender relations.

The methodology of ‘Ilm al-Tafsir and the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) highlight the similarities and differences in leveraging the text as research data beyond the level of the text’s structure. Questions on similarities and differences between methodologies are addressed in the present study. This study, therefore, compares the similarities and the differences between the methodology of ‘Ilm al-Tafsir and the methodology of CDA. Based on the comparison, the present study also constructs a religious discourse analysis model. The selected methodology of ‘Ilm al-Tafsir is al-Sabuniy’s in Safwat al-Tafasir (1979), while the chosen methodology of CDA is Fairclough’s 3D (1992; 1995). The universal principle of discourse and the linguistic goals in the philosophy of language is applied in the analysis. Similarities and differences were identified in the production, meaning and interpretation. The findings strongly suggest that the two methodologies have circumstances which lead to the use of language, the production of language, the features of texts, the nature of meaning and the means of interpretation. One of the main focuses of the comparison is on the differences that constitute barriers to the adoption of CDA for religious discourse analysis, specifically the critical approach towards the sickle and the fixed elements. The obstacles to this alternative are presented in order to prove that there is a linguistic approach that is capable of linking language with social elements. The findings thus have implications for the relatively new methodology of religious discourse in linguistic studies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2015-1501-08

Studies of business discourse examine how the work of a business institution gets accomplished through talk and texts. Academic and practitioner interest in business discourse has emerged in a social context where business institutions, notably corporations, have a powerful presence in the world. Close attention to business discourse is predicated on the following suppositions: that people spend a significant portion of their lives in business institutions, that this work gets accomplished primarily through talk and texts (especially as managers and in a knowledge economy), and that there are better and worse ways to practice discourse. The study of business discourse is international and approached from multiple disciplines and perspectives, including various forms of → Discourse Analysis – such as → action‐implicative discourse analysis, discursive psychology, and critical discourse analysis – conversation analysis and ethnomethodology, organizational communication, management theory, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, genre analysis, ethnography, and narrative analysis.

This paper is concerned with the concept of ‘presupposition’, specifically as it is applied in critical approaches to discourse analysis such as Critical Discourse Analysis or Societal Pragmatics, and proposes a systematisation of a socio-cognitive approach to the concept. Presupposition analysis is crucial for uncovering naturalised ideologies underlying discourse, and examining manipulative functions of discourse, especially strategies making it socially or cognitively harder to challenge ideological assumptions. However, the way presupposition is analysed in current critical discourse analysis is not methodologically consistent and not necessarily theoretically consistent with an understanding of discourse as socio-cognitively grounded social practice (the major overarching tenet of critical discourse analysis). I demonstrate this through a brief overview of the two main current approaches to presupposition in discourse analysis – the truth conditional and the socio-cognitive one. I propose examining presupposition on different levels of analysis, ranging from lexical-item triggered presuppositions to discourse presuppositions and mutually presupposed pragmatic competence.

This paper describes how discourse analysis, and in particular critical discourse analysis, can be used in nursing research, and provides an example to illustrate the techniques involved. Discourse analysis has risen to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s in disciplines such as the social sciences, literary theory and cultural studies and is increasingly used in nursing. This paper investigates discourse analysis as a useful methodology for conducting nursing research. Effective clinical reasoning relies on employing several different kinds of knowledge and research that draw on different perspectives, methodologies and techniques to generate breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding of clinical practices and patients' experiences of those practices. The steps in a discourse analysis include: choosing the text, and identifying the explicit purpose of the text, the processes used for claiming authority connections to other discourses, construction of major concepts, processes of naming and categorizing, construction of subject positions, construction of reality and social relations and implications for the practice of nursing. The limitations of discourse analysis, its relationship to other qualitative approaches and questions for evaluating the rigour of research using discourse analysis are also explored. The example of discourse analysis shows how a text influences the practice of nursing by shaping knowledge, values and beliefs. Discourse analysis can make a contribution to the development of nursing knowledge by providing a research strategy to examine dominant discourses that influence nursing practice.