A Study Of Government Micro-blog Discourse From The Perspective Of Register Theory

In recent years,the rapid development of micro-blog has attracted a number of users. Micro-blog discourse has its distinctive language which is determined by its creative transmission mechanism, convenient and effective mode of transmission and short and simple text. As a result, many scholars have studied micro-blog discourses from different perspectives. The fast development of micro-blog also provides a platform for more and more government agencies and officers to govern online. For a better interaction with the public, the language used in government micro-blog also has its distinctive characteristics. However, studies on government micro-blog discourses only occupy a small proportion relatively. Therefore, this thesis makes a study on government micro-blog discourse from the perspective of register theory.The thesis altogether collected 100 government micro-blog discourses as the data.Based on Halliday's register theory, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to classify, identify, annotate, count and analyze register features of government micro-blog discourses. The thesis intends to solve the following research questions: (1) What are the features of government micro-blog discourse in terms of field of discourse? (2) What are the features of government micro-blog discourse in terms of tenor of discourse? (3) What are the features of government micro-blog discourse in terms of mode of discourse? (4) How do the three factors interact with each other?The thesis draws the following conclusions: (1) Fields of government micro-blog discourses have a large variety of subject matters which are closely related to the nation and social life, including not only technical fields but also non-technical fields.Among technical fields, fields of authoritative announcement, current news, publicity,warnings & recommendations and knowledge popularization discourses take up the majority of all the technical fields. Language in technical fields is basically technical,formal and standard written language. At the same time, it properly absorbs some popular colloquial expressions. Statements and imperative sentences are more frequently used than interrogative sentences. Among non-technical fields, fields of recreation discourses take up the majority of all the non-technical fields. Language in non-technical fields is more colloquial and informal. Simple words and short sentences are preferred. (2) Tenor features of government micro-blog discourses can be realized by modal verbs and address forms. Modal verbs of low value take up the largest proportion both in technical fields and non-technical fields which can shorten the distance between the government and net citizens and therefore the government has an equal relationship with them. A few modal verbs of high value signal the authority of the government and therefore the government has a power relationship with them. Address forms are frequently applied in government micro-blog discourses,which can be divided into two categories: nicknames referring to micro-blog users and nicknames referring to the editor him/herself. The use of informal address forms can lower the government's status and improve its interaction with net citizens,creating an equal relationship with them. (3) Mode features in government micro-blog discourses consist of both linguistic and non-linguistic features. In terms of linguistic features, in phonological level, homophones, dialects, onomatopoeia, reduplications are frequently employed. In lexical level, newly-created words, loanwords,abbreviations, conversion, semantic change of words are frequently employed. In syntactical level, omission of subjects and unconventional sentences are regularly employed. In terms of non-linguistic features, emoticons, pictures, dynamic graphs,videos and web links are popularly used among which pictures and emoticons are the most two common modes in both technical and non-technical fields. These non-linguistic means are more visual, releasing information more directly, more concisely, more conveniently and more interestingly. (4) The three variables of government micro-blog discourse are inter-related and determine its features simultaneously. In different fields, government micro-blog discourse applies different linguistic realizations of modal verbs and informal address forms to present its tenor features and meanwhile accordingly adopts various modes of discourse to deliver information diversely, realizing an efficient interaction with the public and increasing the government's credibility and affinity.