| From 2004 to 2022,the "No.1 Central Document" emphasized the status of "agriculture,rural areas and farmers" in the period of China’s socialist modernization for 19 consecutive years.The new-generation migrant workers have become the main body of migrant workers with the new force of industrial workers,playing an increasingly prominent role in the modernization process of the country.In recent years,the new-generation migrant workers’ labor cognition,occupational distribution,individual pursuits,flow trajectories and the intergenerational differences between the new and old generations of migrant workers have constituted the main research topics of this group in disciplines such as communication science and sociology.However,the research on newgeneration migrant workers’ identity is only limited to the identity recognition,and there is little attention paid to the role of discourse in the process of identity construction.Most research is limited to the news reports of traditional paper media such as "People’s Daily",and less attention is paid to the identity construction of new-generation migrant workers in the context of new media.With the development of modern information technology,the effectiveness of various network media in communication has gradually become prominent,playing an increasingly important role in their identity construction,publicity and communication."Terministic screen" is a specific rhetorical term that accompanies the rhetorical motivation to cover and highlight the reality to guide the audience.Based on the retrieval of new-generation migrant workers discourse in network media,this dissertation builds a corpus of 412601 Chinese characters and integrates theoretical perspectives of linguistics,rhetoric and communication.According to Discourse-Historical Approach methods and terministic screen effect analysis frameworks,this dissertation focuses on frame strategies,referential strategies,intertextual strategies,metaphor strategies and narrative positioning strategies.Using text data analysis methods including corpus methods,qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis,the discourse strategy of the identity construction process of new-generation migrant workers was analyzed and the"terministic screen effect" was explained combining descriptive research and explanatory research,so as to fully demonstrate the identity picture that has been drawn by the network media for newgeneration migrant workers.This research explores the following three questions:(1)What kind of "terministic screen" is formed by the discourse rhetoric strategies used by network media?(2)What identity is constructed by "terministic screen" formed by the network media discourse for new-generation migrant workers?(3)How does "terministic screen" play cognitive and rhetoric function in the process of identity construction of new-generation migrant workers in the network media?The major findings are as follows:Network media mainly use frame strategies,referential strategies,intertextual strategies,metaphor strategies,and narrative positioning strategies.The "terministic screen" constructed by language means such as keywords,reference and metaphorical words in the above strategies realize the identity construction of new-generation migrant workers.Terministic screen contains different keywords and constructs various characteristics of new-generation migrant workers,such as strugglers,actors,beneficiaries,marginalized people and disadvantaged groups.The overall positive sentiment orientation of the text generated by Python sentiment analysis code operation demonstrates that the network media possesses a positive attitude towards new-generation migrant workers.The diachronic changes in the Chinese social context have also altered the identity of this group constructed by the network media through terministic screen,illustrating a general positive tendency.Meanwhile,the network media directly connects the narrative of issue with the theme of new-generation migrant workers’ identity.Through the analysis and description of positive derivation and inheritance relationship of new-generation migrant workers’ identity construction,this group of people are positioned as "urban and rural fringe people who are struggling to integrate into the city" and "vulnerable groups who need care from government and society".Role representation is a kind of "terministic screen" and network media tends to use the formal nomination of "new-generation migrant workers" to refer to this group.The classification of role representations is diversified,and the relationship between role representation and identity construction is dialectical and mutually constructive.On the one hand,the new-generation migrant workers’ different role representations regulate the generation of discourse meaning through the production of discourse,and integrate the identity construction into the process of describing and interpreting reality.On the other hand,the identity of this group of people can in turn regulate the change and development of role representation.Particularly,their role representation has been constantly changing in the social context since its emergence.Different levels of network media have derived different alternative motivations and rhetorical situations.In network media,the reporting verbs,content of quotation and the source of information construct new-generation migrant workers’ positive identities,such as strugglers,actors and beneficiaries,as well as the negative identities of marginalized people,confused people and disadvantaged groups.These identities are polarized into "US" and "THEM" through the evaluation function of ideological cognitive level,constructing "In-group" and "Out-group" identities.The sentiment orientation analysis of quotation texts shows that network media holds a positive attitude towards newgeneration migrant workers.It has also been observed that metaphors mainly conceptualize the identity of new-generation migrant workers.This is especially reflected in metaphors such as"water","migratory birds" and "containers" which highlight the weak,passive and In-group identities of these people.Metaphor is also a kind of terministic screen,which will "highlight" or"cover" certain factual features in the process of using words.In the process of mapping the source domain to the target domain,metaphor reflects the appraisal meaning in the source domain into the target domain through conceptual integration,thus forming an evaluation to new-generation migrant workers.Through the "terministic screen" formed by the various discourse resources in the interactive negotiation with the audience,network media news narration follows the three-level positioning principle of "role positioning and narrative time,interactive voice and evaluation",and completes the process of identity construction from the macro and micro levels,and clearly shows the trajectory of new-generation migrant workers’ identity construction.The new-generation migrant workers’ identities constructed by network media are mainly embodied as active identities such as strugglers,actors,beneficiaries and urban builders,as well as negative identities such as vulnerable groups and marginalized people in urban and rural areas.The multi-level,multi-angle and multi-genre reports in the network media have highlighted newgeneration migrant workers’ diversification,mobility,complexity and hybridity,whose identities are constantly changing with the development of society.Although these identities reflect many changes,the process of generating these identities is,in fact,the result of various discourses and field forces.The power acting on the identity construction in network media of this group is actually the fusion of macro power represented by the state power and the micro power represented by the discourse power.Power plays an important productive force for identity.In the discourse dominated by cities in network media,the new-generation migrant workers’ identity can only be transferred by the city’s will to serve the needs of the spread of network media ideology.New-generation migrant workers’ identity is a product of the integration of cultural perspectives and rhetorical perspectives,which embodies the cognitive choices of network media and the competition in various power fields.The terministic screen used in the process of identity construction of new-generation migrant workers in network media are connected to each other,forming a continuous terministic screen.Under the influence of the Chinese social context,the identity construction of new-generation migrant workers of the network media needs to serve the ultimate purpose of Chinese news dissemination,and produces dissemination effects through the cognitive and rhetorical functions of the terministic screen effect.Cognitive function "highlights"or "covers" certain factual characteristics in the use of words and sets the angle for the audience to observe the new-generation migrant workers’ identity,frames the audience’s cognitive direction,affects the audience’s perception of the identity and produces a guiding effect like a filter.The rhetoric function plays a central role.The terministic screen formed by the interconnection of words used by the network media highlights the new-generation migrant worker’s identity that it intends to construct The ultimate goal is to stimulate action,achieve identification with the audience,and promote social recognition of their identity.This dissertation investigates,analyzes and interprets the identity construction process in network media of new-generation migrant workers from the perspective of terministic screen,clarifies new-generation migrant workers’ identity characteristics,and expands the scope of research on new-generation migrant worker’s identity.It demonstrates the function of terministic screen in the process of constructing identity of a specific group in network media.Consequently,exploring the process of constructing the identity of this group in network media from the perspective of terministic screen not only provides a feasible framework within the scope of linguistics for the study of the discursive identity construction of specific groups,but also broadens the practical value of rhetorical theory.It provides references for network media reports on new-generation migrant workers,enhances the media’s ability to "gather people’s hearts",and provides certain linguistic evidence and references for government departments to formulate policies on new-generation migrant workers. |
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