Norman Fairclough
Since the early 1980s, Norman Fairclough, emeritus professor at Lancaster University, has focused his research on critical discourse analysis- involving the ideological role of language in creation of power within social and political contexts and how language contributes to the processes of social change. His current interest is in language (discourse) as a component in modern social changes which are referred to as "globalisation", "neo-liberalism", "new capitalism", and the "knowledge economy" (Fairclough, 2012, Research Interests) . Over the past three years he has been working specifically on elements of 'transition' in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Romania , from a discourse analytical outlook. His current research is based upon the theoretical assumption that discourse is an aspect of social life which is interrelated with other aspects, and may have productive and transformative impacts on other aspects. It also makes the assumption that discourse has in many ways become a more salient and powerful aspect of social life in the modern world, and that more general processes of social transformation often seem to be caused and driven by transformations in discourse (Fairclough, 2012, Research Interests).
His own recent contribution to this research has included three main components:
His own recent contribution to this research has included three main components:
- "Theoretical development of critical discourse analysis to enhance its capacity to contribute to this area of social research (Fairclough 1992, Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999, Fairclough 2001, Fairclough, Jessop & Sayer 2004)";
- "Developing approaches to linguistic analysis of texts and interactions which are adapted to social research (Fairclough 2003a, 2004a)";
- "Application of this theory and method in researching aspects of contemporary social change (Fairclough 1995a/b, Fairclough 2000, Chiapello & Fairclough 2002, Fairclough 2006a)".
Ruth Wodak
Ruth Wodak is a distinguished professor and chair in discourse studies at Lancaster University. Her research is mainly focused on Discourse Studies (DS) and on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). She develops theoretical approaches in discourse studies integrating ethnography, argumentation theory, rhetoric, and text linguistics; organizational communication; identity politics and politics of the past; language and/in politics; racism, prejudice and discrimination. She elaborated with her former colleagues and Ph.D students in Vienna (Rudolf de Cillia, Gertraud Benke, Helmut Gruber, Florian Menz, Martin Reisigl, Usama Suleiman, Christine Anthonissen), on the "Discourse-Historical Approach in CDA" (DHA) in the 1990s that investigates the change of discursive practices over time and in various genres. She is a member of the editorial board of a range of linguistic journals, co-editor of the journal Discourse and Society and editor of Critical Discourse Studies working with Norman Fairclough, Phil Graham and Jay Lemke and of the Journal of Language and Politics working with Paul Chilton. She was also section editor of "Language and Politics" for the Second Edition of the Elsevier Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics.
(The above information is based on Wodak, 2012, Research Interests)
(The above information is based on Wodak, 2012, Research Interests)
Teun A. van Dijk
Teun A. van Dijk is professor of discourse studies at the Universitat Pompeu Farba, Barcelona. Previously he was professor of discourse studies at Amsterdam University. Dijk’s earlier work focused on generative poetics, text grammar, and psychology of text processing. Since 1980, however, his work has taken a more critical outlook dealing with discursive racism, news in the press, ideology, knowledge and context. He has authored several books in this area and edited many books including The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (4 vols, 1985), Discourse Studies (2 vols, 1997) as well as The Study of Discourse (5 vols., 2007). Some of his other contributions in the field of discourse analysis include his foundation of 6 international journals, including Discourse and Communication, Discourse and Society, and Discourse studies. His last three monographs include Ideology (1998), Racism and Discourse in Spain and Latin America (2005), Discourse and Context (2008), and Society and Discourse (2009). His current project includes a new book on discourse and knowledge. For a list of his publications and recent articles, see his homepage at www.discourses.org.
(The above information is based on Van Dijk, 2012, CV Publications)
(The above information is based on Van Dijk, 2012, CV Publications)