Wodak, Ruth (1989) “Introduction” in Language, Power and Ideology: Studies in Political Discourse (ed.) Ruth Wodak: xiii – xx. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

1. Language and power

A critical analysis should not remain descriptive and neutral: the interests guiding such an analysis (see Habermas 1971) are aimed at uncovering injustice, inequality, taking sides with the powerless and suppressed. – xiv

Wha are the aims of cirtical linguistics? Generally speaking, we want to uncover and de-mystify certain social processes in this and other societies, to make mechanism of manipulation, discrimination, demagogy, and propaganda explicit and transparent. (This would be dignosis). As the second step, as many indicators, data and knowledge as possible concerning the whole context of these processes have to be examined, to enable us to interpret and understand how and why reality is structured in a certain way (this would, of course, be an interdisciplinary task). –xiv

Thus language only gains power in the hands of the powerful; language is not powerful “per se”. – xv

2. Critical lingusitics

3. Language, power and ideology