A Pragma-dialectical Study Of Causal Argumentation In The Spokespersons’ Replies At Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Regular Press Conferences

At the regular press conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China（hereinafter shortened as“Chinese Mo FA”or“Mo FA”）,the spokespersons need to give explanations or refutations to the questions proposed by journalists,especially to the questions that involve sharp and sensitive political issues after taking full account of possible doubts or criticisms.Therefore,the spokespersons’replies are fundamentally argumentative with a purpose to resolve differences of opinion between the spokespersons and the target audience.The replies of spokespersons play a crucial role in clarifying a country’s basic position on cultural heritage,ideology,major interests,strategic direction,and policy implementation.Some scholars have conducted studies on the spokespersons’replies from the argumentative dimension within the framework of Pragma-Dialectics,but most of them focus on specific argumentative strategies and strategic maneuvering in the confrontation stage of a critical discussion.And few of them concentrate on strategic maneuverings in other stages of a critical discussion or specific argument schemes.Thus,this research attempts to explore causal argumentation which is most frequently used in the spokespersons’replies at the regular press conferences of Chinese Mo FA within the research framework of Pragma-Dialectics.Taking the spokespersons’replies at the regular press conferences of Chinese Mo FA from August 1^st,2017 to July 31^st,2020 as the research data,this study is aimed at answering the following three questions:（1）What are the institutional preconditions that constrain the use of causal argumentation for spokespersons’replies at Chinese Mo FA’s regular press conferences?How could they impose constraints on the use of causal argumentation in the spokespersons’replies?（2）What subtypes of causal argumentation are adopted in the spokespersons’replies under the constraints of the particular institutional preconditions?（3）How do the spokespersons maneuver strategically to convince the audience by employing these subtypes of causal argumentation in their argumentative replies?As is shown in the research results,the argumentative exchanges between the spokespersons and the journalists can be regarded as a specific communicative activity type in the domain where the political domain and the media domain overlap.On this basis,the institutional points of the spokespersons’replies are to provide the primary audience（the international general public audience）with sufficient and valid information about a certain political action or remark and promote the unacceptability of the action or remark.In realizing these institutional points,ten institutional preconditions that constrain causal argumentation in the spokespersons’replies are concluded,including the stipulation on their skills,attitudes and principles to be adhered to.In order to effectively defend the standpoint,weaken the credibility of the immediate opponents and convince the audience to accept Chinese government’s stances,the spokespersons frequently exploit causal argumentation in the argumentation stage of a critical discussion.Meanwhile,according to the critical questions involved in causal argumentation,causal argumentation can be divided into four categories:“direct”type,“reciprocal”type,“coordinative”type and“incremental”type.The“direct”type that shows the sufficient causal relation and the“reciprocal”type that embodies the sufficient and necessary causal relation between the arguments aim to prove the authenticity and validity of a certain event which is slandered by the other party.The“coordinative”type that illustrates the coordinative causal relation and the“incremental”type that reflects the subordinative causal relation between arguments intend to clarify the nature of a certain event.In the argumentation stage,in order to convince the audience reasonably and effectively,the spokespersons more often than not adapt to the demand of the international general audience by the means of skillfully selecting specific topical potential and exploiting appropriate presentational devices,so as to promote the credibility of the arguments that support the standpoint.