A Corpus-based Systemic Functional Linguistic Analysis Of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Discourse

Systemic Functional Linguistics(SFL)is the development of Firth and Malinowski’s linguistic theory,which includes three functions: ideational,interpersonal and textual function.In the book An Introduction to Functional Grammar,Halliday pointed out that the emergence of Systemic Functional Linguistics aims to provide a suitable theoretical framework for discourse analysis.Through discourse analysis,we can construct human experience and interpersonal relationships,realizing the function of transmitting information and establishing social networks.The regular press conference of the Foreign Ministry Affairs is an important channel for others to understand China’s diplomatic policy and express their views on different countries’ affairs.In the regular press conference,spokespersons’ remarks are based on the national position,so as to realize the purpose of transmitting and responding to relevant information through interpersonal interaction with reporters,so they act as an intermediary between the government and the public.With the improvement of China’s international status and influence,some western countries in the international community often create false news and ignore facts to stigmatize China’s image due to ideological prejudice.Therefore,Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s remarks are of great significance for clarifying the facts and conveying China’s attitude.What’s more,there is a lack of quantitative analysis of spokesperson’s discourse and few relevant studies on Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Remarks in recent studies,and most of them explore the characteristics of her discourse style,but few of them use a complete discourse analysis theory and corpus means like SFL to analyze spokesperson’s discourse.Therefore,on the one hand,a corpus-based approach from the perspective of SFL can enrich the research perspective of Hua Chunying’s Remarks;on the other hand,it can provide some enlightenment for future multi-level and in-depth study of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks.Based on the corpus data of “Hua Chunying’s Remarks”(observed corpus)and“Xi Jinping’s Discourse”(reference corpus)from 2017 to 2021,this thesis uses ideational and interpersonal functions of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics as the theoretical framework,with Antconc and Corpus Word Parser as the corpus tool,it adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer two questions:(1)What kind of national image is constructed by the ideational meaning of Hua Chunying’s Remarks?(2)What kind of national image is constructed by the interpersonal meaning of Hua Chunying’s Remarks? In a word,by analyzing spokesperson’s discourse from the perspective of SFL,this thesis discusses spokesperson’s discourse structure,revealing the national image she constructs,the main topics she concerns,and the attitudes and remarks towards different issues.The major findings of the study are as follows: The analysis of the top 50 keywords from the perspective of SFL shows that: As for transitivity in ideational function,the material process that expressed China’s actions were most frequently used;followed by the mental process that expressed China’s willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries;then,it was the verbal process that conveyed China’s attitudes and positions,expressing viewpoints on international affairs;finally,the relational and existential process were used to discuss the relations between countries and the objective facts.As for the study of mood in interpersonal function,declarative mood was the most frequently used,which was mainly used to convey information and expressed China’s voice and position;the imperative mood ranked the second,calling on relevant countries to take action and declaring China’s solemn position on principled issues;the interrogative mood was the least,they often asked questions to arouse reporters and the public’s thinking and resonance,so as to achieve interpersonal interaction.In terms of modality in interpersonal function,modulation was used more than that of modalisation,it indicated that spokesperson not only conveyed information but more importantly they conveyed China’s willingness to communicate with other countries,develop together and contribute to the international community.In addition,the use of median and low value modal verbs were more than that of high value.Median value modal words indicated China’s willingness and determination to jointly build a better future.Low value modal words expressed probability and tendency,which made the statement a suggestion and preserved the face of audiences.Thus it can make the remarks easier to be accepted.High value modal verbs showed China’s firm position on principled issues,it expressed the urgency of taking action,which could impress the audience and show China’s stance.The two functions reveals that Hua Chunying is good at flexibly using various discourse methods and attitudes to convey information and express China’s position.It created a responsible national image that is positive and promising,sincere and friendly,loves peace,attaches importance to cooperation and development,cares about international affairs,actively establishes good international relations,contributes to international affairs and participates in global governance.The research shows that using corpus and SFL to study spokesperson’s discourse makes spokesperson’s discourse based on a large number of data analysis and statistics,which makes the research results more objective and credible,enriches the research perspectives of spokesperson’s discourse,reveals their discourse attitude and the national image,it also enables the public to know the truth,China’s attitude and position on different issues.It provides a useful exploration and applicable theoretical framework for future research on spokesperson’s discourse.