An Analysis On Rhetorical Persuasion In Economic Discourses

In the era of economic globalization,economic discourses have great impacts on promoting economic communication,advocating economic ideas,and enhancing economic influences all over the world.In 2010,China's GDP amounted to 5.879 trillion dollars,surpassing Japan to become the world's second largest economy,and playing a prominent role on world's economic stage.However,reports from People's Daily and Ta Kung Pao tell there is a great gap between China's economic status and its influences in the world.Under the circumstances of English as a lingua franca,it is quite crucial to learn more about the persuasive techniques implemented by the main trends of international economic discourses,which,to some extent,can benefit Chinese economic publicity in the world.In the thesis,firstly,with the help of documentary analysis,a general summary has been made,which concerns about the objects,theories and methodologies of studies on the persuasion of economic discourses.It reveals that the data in economic discourses is very comprehensive,including economic&financial news,editorials and commercial ads,etc.More importantly,they are branded with argumentative features,indicating the analysis on argumentative techniques of the diversified data can be conducted under the guidance of rhetorical and argumentative theories.Secondly,data in this thesis is selected from a column Finance and Economics,in the English weekly circulated newspaper The Economist,during 2012-2015.After that,the following questions are raised as what are the main argumentative techniques utilized by the rhetor in the economic discourse?From the perspective of persuasion,how do these argumentative techniques work?And what implications will be drawn from those applications of argumentative techniques in economic discourses?Thirdly,under the instruction of the rhetorical persuasion theory,the qualitative analysis is conducted to 13 discourses in The Economist from the view of rhetorical presuppositions,rhetorical appeals,and rhetorical adaptations,illustrating the argumentative techniques embodied in rhetorical common ground,rhetor and audience.Through analysis,some main argumentative techniques in economic discourses can be summarized as constituting a zone of agreement for argumentation,being a qualified arguer and satisfying the audience's interactive demands in the argumentation.Lastly,the major findings and limitations are concluded in this research.The major findings can be concluded in the following aspects:(1)the argumentative potentials embodied in economic topics provide space for rhetorical presuppositions;(2)in economic argumentation,the arguer can enhance his own reliability and charms among readers through rhetorical appeals;(3)doing rhetorical adaptations is based on the traits and requirements of the audience.Moreover,some tentative suggestions are stated to promote Chinese international economic publicity as follows:(1)the economic discourse has the argumentative features;(2)the economic discourse cares more about the audience's such attributes as personalities,education background,economic class,beliefs and values etc.;(3)the economic topic stresses on timeliness,effectiveness,and enlightening;(4)the economic discourse exhibits economic theory,data and statistics.To conclude,through the argumentative analysis on The Economist,it can exhibit the importance of persuasion in rhetoric both in theory and practice.Theoretically speaking,the technical analysis presents the idea that a consistency of rhetorical common ground,rhetor and audience are the essential parts in the economic argumentation.And practically speaking,it can help understand the economic discourse,which has such features as argumentative style,the selection and application of argumentative techniques in economic discourses.In a word,all those have some implications on Chinese international economic publicity in promoting communication,advocating ideas,and enhancing influences in the world.