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contextualised in the wider study, with van Dijk writing that these local meanings “...are the
kind of information that (under the overall control of global topics) most directly influences
the mental models, and hence the opinions and attitudes of recipients” (2001a, p. 103). Here,
the first two of Wodak’s five constitutive questions are used in order to gain a clearer picture
of the content contained within the texts (also contained in Wodak & de Cillia, 2006). These
five questions enable one of the purposes of CDA research to be achieved, being “...interested
in the study of ideologically based discourses, and the ways these polarize the representation
of us (ingroups) and them (outgroups)” (van Dijk, 2001a, p. 103). The first two questions are:
1. How are persons named and referred to linguistically?
2. What traits, characteristics, qualities and features are attributed to them? (Wodak,
2004, p. 207; Wodak & de Cillia, 2006, p. 717)
Adapted slightly for this research, the two questions read:
1. How are individuals, events or groups of people named and referred to linguistically
(that is, what is the language used to describe people and events, in relation to the two
exemplar topics, Indigenous representations and British heritages)?
2. What traits, characteristics, qualities and features are attributed to them (that is, in
describing the two exemplar topics, what is the language used in the sentences around
the linguistic description and how is ideology evident in the information selected to be
included in the text)?
The template created to record this information from the primary sources can be viewed at
Appendix C.
The third stage (named in this research, intermediate analysis) constructs the descriptive
analysis into a more coherently structured historical narrative, aligned with and using the
principles of CDA. In particular, the understandings gained of Wodak’s discourse-historical
approach (Wodak, 2004; and Fairclough & Wodak, 1997) are incorporated in this stage. The
following remaining three of Wodak’s five constitutive questions are used to interrogate the
data:
1. By means of what arguments and argumentation schemes do specific persons
or social groups try to justify and legitimize the inclusion or exclusion of others?
2. From what perspective or point of view are these labels, attribution and
arguments exposed?
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