Force-interactive patterns in immigration discourse : a cognitive linguistic approach to CDA

Hart, Christopher (2011) Force-interactive patterns in immigration discourse : a cognitive linguistic approach to CDA. Discourse and Society, 22 (3). pp. 269-286. ISSN 0957-9265

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Abstract

In the last few years a highly productive space has been created for Cognitive Linguistics inside Critical Discourse Analysis. So far, however, this space has been reserved almost exclusively for critical metaphor studies where Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory has provided the lens through which otherwise naturalised or opaque ideological patterns in text and conceptualisation can be detected. Yet Cognitive Linguistics consists of much more than Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Its efficacy for Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) may therefore extend beyond critical metaphor studies. In this paper, I propose that Talmy's (1988, 2000) theory of force-dynamics in particular represents a further, useful framework for the Cognitive Linguistic Approach to CDA. Using this analytical framework, then, I identify some of the indicators of, and demonstrate the ideological qualities of, force-dynamic conceptualisations in immigration discourse.