critical linguistics

A developing branch of LINGUISTICS which aims to reveal hidden power relations and ideological processes at work in spoken or written texts. Critical linguists criticize mainstream linguistics for its FORMALIST preoccupations, lacking adequate social explanations, and obscuring ideological and political issues. The study includes such topics as the social context of texts, grammar production, and language policy. The notion has also been extended to such areas as PRAGMATICS and SOCIOLINGUISTICS, and specifically to the study of DISCOURSE. Critical discourse analysis is a perspective which studies the relationship between discourse events and sociopolitical and cultural factors, especially the way discourse is ideologically influenced by and can itself influence power relations in society.