ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), which has developed over the last 30 years as a main version of Critical Discourse Studies – first in Vienna, then also in Lancaster, Loughborough, Bern, Örebro and elsewhere. Section 2 starts with the history of the approach. Section 3 continues with a general description of the theoretical and methodological framework of the DHA. It explains basic characteristics and research interests and sketches the influences of sociolinguistics, pragmatics and text linguistics on the one hand, and of Critical Theory, history, argumentation theory and politolinguistics on the other hand. This section is divided into four subsections: the first covers central features and claims of the DHA and compares them with other discourse-analytical approaches, including approaches to Critical Discourse Studies; the following subsections explain the crucial concepts of critique, discourse and context. In section 4, the chapter outlines heuristic steps of a research practice designed for this specific approach, and remarks on future challenges conclude the chapter in section 5.
