A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Wang Hsi-feng’s Discursive Power In English Version

Emerged at the end of1970s, critical discourse analysis (CDA for short) is alinguistic paradigm which is adopted to expose the ideology disguised and theasymmetry power relations encoded, in a further step to reveal the interrelationshipamong language, ideology and power. Critical discourse analysts pay their attentionsmore on public discourses like news report, government documents, less on literarydiscourse. Theoretically drawing upon Hallidayan Systemic-functional grammar, andmethodologically based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework, the thesis is toanalyze Wang Hsi-feng’s discursive power in Yang Xianyi’s “A Dream of RedMansions” from the perspective of CDA, trying to deal with the three researchquestions:1) How does Wang Hsi-feng produce and maintain her power through discourse?2) What characterizes Wang Hsi-feng’s power?3) What kind of ideology is hidden behind to the service of power?For its literary merits, A Dream of Red Mansions is regarded as the epitome ofChinese classical literature. Its theme as well as the figures shaped attracts scholars’interests of different kinds, among whom Wang Hsi-feng is the one who is muchstudied. In feudal times, where the notion that woman is inferior to man is deeplyrooted, the societal stratum is stratified rigidly and people there are hierarchicallyranked. Wang Hsi-feng is female; however, as manager of the family mansion whotakes charge of the family’s financial budget and personnel management, she spellsout her power and is always ready to seek dominance over others. To people morepowerful, she flatters to gain consent; to those disempowered, she exerts her coercionsexplicitly. Language is power once made use of by people with power. To examineWang Hsi-feng’s discursive power, her counterparts are divided into people in higher,equal and lower status, each with discourses with Lady Dowager, Chia Paoyu,servants and people pleading her for help as case studies. To reveal the power enactedand ideology hidden, the corpus is studied from the point of transitivity, Mood andmodality.It is found that discursive strategies used vary in accordance with status of her counterparts, and different ideology is loaded accordingly to establish and maintainher power.1) In terms of transitivity: process types distribute and function differently, sodoes the participants involved. In discourses with people more powerful, relationaland mental processes alternate with material processes, mainly by giving explanationand making attributions to gain consent. Courtesy to the more powerful and “I”s aremainly participants. With people in equal status, material processes together withverbal and behavioral processes are used, primary to communicate and keep themconnected. With people in lower status, material processes are mainly used, otherprocess especially mental process used rarely;“I” is the major agent and “you” thepatient, mainly to give commands or exert coercions.2) In terms of Mood: Subject, Finite and functions of a clause are accordinglychosen. In discourses with people in higher status, Mood choice is quite consistent:clause type is mostly declarative to offer information or service;“I” and honorific titleare the predominant Subjects, with Finite most in past tense, which is a reflection ofbeing less powerful. In discourses with people in equal status, imperatives alternatewith declaratives; Subjects are “I” and “You”; Finites are typically in future tense,which is a kind of dilemma. With people in lower status, interrogatives to seek forinformation and imperatives to give immediate orders co-exist with declaratives toissue commands and make arrangements. Subject with “I” is the order giver or “you”as the one responsible for the mission assigned. Finites are mostly modalized verbsshowing the degree of her commitment, determination and confidence, indicating herhigh pressure explicitly.3) In terms of modality: modal types and modal value are differently used. Indiscourses with people more powerful, epistemic modality of high value and deonticmodality of median value are used, which is an affiliation. With people in equal status,modality is relatively used less, except deontial modality or modulation in medianmodal value, which is recognition of the same membership. With people in lowerstatus, however, modalization and modulation in high value appears quite often,what’s more, modalized clauses are expressed in implicit subjective, which shows herconfidence and bossiness.It can be concluded that in the hierarchical society where Wang Hsi-feng lives,the asymmetry power relations are established through discourse and differentideologies are loaded to sustain that kind of power relations. As to Wang Hsi-feng,People like Lady Dowager who are more powerful are those she should show respect; people like Chia Paoyu who are equal are those she aims to harmonize; people likeservants or who are in need of her help are those she determined to control and exertdominance, which explicates why transitivity, Mood and modality are strategicallyused in her discourse. CDA is of great feasibility to investigate discursive power, andan efficient tool to reveal the interrelationship among language, ideology and power,of which the present research is an attempt.