Book Review of Mounia Abidi’s al-Taḥlīl al-Naqdī lil-Khiṭāb: Namādhij min al-Khiṭāb al-Iʿlāmī (Critical Discourse Analysis: Models from Media Discourse)

Abstract

This article offers a critical reading of Critical Discourse Analysis: Models from Media Discourse by the Tunisian scholar Mounia

Abidi. The book examines the discourses produced during the

Tunisian Revolution from the perspective of critical discourse

analysis, drawing on Norman Fairclough’s socio-discursive

approach and Ruth Wodak’s discourse-historical approach. It analyzes

revolutionary discourse through three distinct forms of discourse: popular discourse, presidential discourse, and media discourse. The article highlights Abidi’s account of the role of discourse in shaping the events of the Tunisian Revolution and its opposition to the regime. It also examines how the book identifies differences among these discourses, the responses they generated, and the ways in which their messages were received. In doing so, it shows how each discourse employs specific strategies to communicate its aims and reveal the speaker’s intentions.