A Positive Discourse Analysis Of The English Version Of The 2016 Report On The Work Of The Government

The selection of the topic is based on the following considerations.First of all,the annual Government Work Report（GWR）is a formal document of the Chinese government.It intends to review both the major achievements and shortcomings of the government’s work,simultaneously,it proposes a blueprint for next year’s development.In addition,it presents warrantable information about China.The contents of the report are closely related to all walks of life.Thus,it is an efficient way for the outside to obtain more information about China.Secondly,the year 2016 is pivotal for China.Because it witnesses the end of the 12^thFive-Year Plan and the beginning of the 13^th Five-Year Plan.Many years of peaceful development has enhanced the international status of China to a large extent,causing the world to be eager to know more about it.Since the GWR is an authoritative and objective summary of the government,the English version of it is the essential and significant channel for the international communities to learn about China.Therefore,it is of great importance to take the English version of the 2016 GWR as the analytical material.Finally,in the academic field,few linguists pay attention to discourses like the GWR.The study of the GWR mainly lies in the translation skills of its English version.Even in discourse analysis,experts concern more about analyzing hard news,speeches of celebrities,casual talks,etc.For the sake of optimizing previous researches,this study utilizes Martin’s Appraisal System（Attitude,Engagement,Graduation）as the theoretical foundation,which aims to analyze evaluative lexises in the English version of the 2016 GWR from the perspective of Positive Discourse Analysis（PDA）.Therefore,the positiveness behind the report can be exhaustively explored.This study adopts manual finding and AntConc software as the main analysis tools.When it comes to the research method,it combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches together.To be specific,this study,in the first place,quantitatively presents the distributions of all the appraisal resources;then it qualitatively offers brief explanations for the distributions;finally,some typical examples from the sample are picked out for elaboration.With regard to the contributions,theoretically,this study has generalized that the utilization of Attitude outnumbers that of Engagement and Graduation.At the same time,the use of positive expressions is higher than that of negative ones.Within Attitude,the utilization of positive Judgement is overwhelming,which indicates that the government is inspiring and aligning people with its positive attitude.Within Engagement,the utilization of Dialogistic Expansion is higher than that of Dialogistic Contraction.Because the heavy use of Dialogistic Expansion could not only make the GWR seem more objective and acceptable,but also it could establish a close relationship between the addresser and the addressees.Besides,there are more Forces than Focuses in Graduation.Because,the overwhelming use of Force could enhance the strength of infection and increase the veracity and the reliability of the government as well.After analyzing,the distributive features of all the appraisal resources are discovered.The credibility and the authority of the government and the government’s endeavor to make an alignment with the public are also expounded.Practically,analyzing the 2016 GWR from the perspective of PDA can not only help the public gain a better understanding of the report,but also it can explore the positiveness behind the words.Besides,this study can account for how the government adjusts social contradictions in order to encourage the citizens,and most importantly,it can transmit a positive signal of China to the world.