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Thus, a text can be interpreted as what the speaker or writer is doing through discourse.
What the speaker or writer is doing through discourse is influenced by social power exercised by a dominant group over the actions and minds of another group.
Such power limits their freedom, and influences their knowledge, attitudes, ideologies and speech Van Dijk, 1996:86. Therefore, it is necessary to refer to
Critical Discourse Analysis which focuses on relations between discourse, power, dominance and social inequality.
2.6 Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis CDA is a theory and method analysing the way that individuals and institutions use language. It focuses on relations between
discorse, power, dominance and social inequality and how discourse reproduces and maintains these relations of dominance and inequality van Dijk, 1993:249. Hence,
CDA does not only focus on linguistic aspects of the text but also focuses more on social issues which construct the text. As Fairclough 2001:26 puts it:
“CDA analyses texts and interactions, but it does not start from texts and interactions. It starts rather from social issues and problems, problems which
face people in their social lives, issues which are taken up within sociology, political science andor cultural studies.”
Due to its focus on sociocultural aspects of the text, Fairclough and Wodak
1997:271-280 summarize the main tenets of CDA as follows: First, CDA addresses social problems by examining the linguistic character of social and cultural processes
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and structures. Hence, social and political processes have a partly linguistic or discursive character that is reflected in the use of certain linguistic and discourse
strategies and choice. Second, power relations are exercised and negotiated in discourse. Thereby, power operates through language and is negotiated through
language. Third, discourse constitutes society and culture in that language not only reflects social relations but is a part of them and reproduces them. Fourth, ideologies
are very often produced through discourse. Their production includes way of representing and constructing society such as relations of power, relations of
domination and exploitation, and relations based on gender and ethnicity. Fifth, discourse cannot be considered separately from the discourses that have preceded it
and that will follow it. Nor can it be produced or understood without taking these intertextual relations and sociocultural knowledges into consideration. Sixth, CDA
makes connections between social and cultural structures and processes and properties of texts. These connections are, however complex, and more often indirect
than direct that is, they are very often mediated. Seventh, CDA goes beyond description and is both interpretative and explanatory. Further, these interpretations
and explanations are open and may be affected by new readings and new contextual information. And last, CDA, by uncovering opaqueness and power relationship is a
form of social action that attempt to intervene and bring about change in communicative and socio-political practices.
Based on these tenets, Fairclough asserts the relationship between language and power. Power and dominance can be seen in the area of politics, where there
