The Power of Language: How Discourse Influences Society

by Lynne Young, Brigid Fitzgerald

The Power of Language: How Discourse Influences Society is designed to introduce students at the tertiary level to both Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. It is aimed at developing critical analytical skills by rooting analysis in SFL methodology so that students can tackle a wide range of discourse types. By connecting SFL and CDA and by explicitly introducing a solid theoretical foundation in SFL, the critical analyses in the book are not only well grounded but transparent. Each chapter in the volume builds a methodological foundation for the development of critical discourse analytical skills. SFL provides novice analysts with a rich set of resources for CDA and equips them to better reflect on what language is doing and why. The Power of Language: How Discourse Influences Society offers explanations along with a wide range of sample analyses to illustrate theory and provide applications of the methodologies introduced in each chapter. Students not only learn by studying a number of analyses but carry out their own analytical work on other samples, thus gaining experience in critical analysis. Each chapter also includes examples of analyses by well known researchers so that novice analysts become familiar with various approaches to analysis.

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent resource for students of systemic functional linguistics has not received the attention it deserves. It is well-structured and easy to read, progressively building on itself in an accessible way. Concepts are scaffolded and practice exercises are provided. These exercises can be done individually and answers are provided, unlike many other textbooks that are discussion-based.

The texts chosen for analysis indeed reveal how the power of language is realized in discourse. However, the systemic functional approach to text analysis as presented in this book can be applied to any text type. For this reason, I feel that the title may unnecessarily turn people away if their primary focus is literary linguistics or educational linguistics.

The book claims to combine systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). However, much of the CDA content is simply power-related questions that follow on from an SFL analysis. By changing the focus of these questions, the same SFL analysis can shed light on different meanings in different texts. So, essentially the book is an introduction to SFL-based discourse analysis and anyone with an interest in SFL or discourse analysis, whether or not they are interested in CDA, should read it.