DECODING WRITING STYLE WITH CRITICAL READING Or: “Critical Discourse Analysis in Brief”

Three Keys to Critical Discourse Analysis “Actor – Process – Recipient” “Passive Construction” “Nominalisation”

Actor, Process, and Recipient Like “Subject – Verb – Object” Actor = Subject = Participant (sometimes also the “Agent”) Process = Verb Recipient = Object = Participant

Actor, Process, and Recipient PARTICIPANTS She hit him (participant)(verb)(participant) « She » has a connection to « hit » in that she is the one responsible for the action of hitting – she is the “ACTOR” at the same time “him” is additionally, although differently, connected as the one receiving the action of hitting – “him” is “RECIPIENT”

Actor, Process, and Recipient PROCESSES: Verbs = “processes” DOING verbs as processes –Material processes (arrived, collapsed) –Behavioural processes (sneezed, sang) PROJECTING verbs as processes –Mental processes (enjoyed, remembered) –Verbal processes (told, said) BEING verbs as processes – Existential (are, were, was + there) – Relational (are, were, seemed, felt, belongs to)

Actor, Process, and Recipient OBJECT as “circumstance” or “goal” –They ateat noon. (actor) (process material)(circumstance) –Theycaughtmany fish. (actor)(process material)(goal)

Passive Construction Actor and Goal presented in reverse order to the active construction Actor often referred to as AGENT Agent perhaps omitted entirely – hence AGENTLESS PASSIVES The question for agentless passives: “Why has the agent been omitted?” –Ex. “The man was murdered” – Why is the name omitted?

Nominalisation Repackages events and even entire clauses as “participants”; for example: –Excessive consumption of alcohol (participant) is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents. Represents a shift or transference of meaning akin to lexical metaphor

Resources [1] D. Butt, R. Fahey, S. Feez, S. Spinks, C. Yallop, “Chapter 3,” Using Functional Grammar: an Explorer’s Guide. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University. pp [2] Malcolm Coulthard, “The linguist as expert witness” [posted on M. Coulthard Profile Web Page], (2005) Aston University Website [On-line], Available [3] P. Teo, “Racism in the news: a critical discourse analysis of news reporting in two Australian newspapers,” Discourse and Society, vol. 11 (2000), no.1, London, Thousand Oaks, CA., and New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp