Analysing Power in Language

Analysing Power in Language introduces students to a range of analytical techniques for the critical study of texts.Each section of the book provides an in-depth presentation of a different method of analysis with worked examples and texts for students to analyse and discuss. Answer keys are also provided for the analyses.
Taking text analysis as the first step in discourse analysis, Analysing Power in Language:

• Explores the relationship between the goals of discourse, the social positions of the speakers, the contexts in which they are produced, the audience for which they are intended and the language features chosen
• Presents a powerful approach to text analysis that reveals the links between language usage and a community’s assumptions, convictions, and understandings
• Identifies a range of power types, appropriate to different contexts
• Explains and illustrates a social approach to text analysis with important linguistic concepts woven in seamlessly with examples of discourse
• Offers concrete guidance in text and discourse analysis with carefully crafted examples and fully illustrated explanations.

Incisive and thought-provoking yet also accessible, Analysing Power in Language will be essential reading for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and research students studying discourse analysis.

Tom Bartlett is Senior Lecturer in Language and Communication at Cardiff University. His research centres on the relationship between social context and discourse style. This topic is developed in his recent book "Hybrid Voices and Collaborative Change", which examines community participation in local decision making.