| Ecolinguistics is an emerging branch of linguistics by the combination of ecology and linguistics,which task is to reveal the interaction between language and environment.Ecological discourse analysis(EDA)falls within the scope of ecolinguistics.Previous studies on ecological discourses mainly focus on natural ecosystem(Halliday,1990;Stibbe,2012a),while social ecosystem has not received enough attention from academia,especially international ecosystem.International ecological discourse is a discourse about international ecosystem.Based on transitivity system in Systemic Functional Linguistics(SFL),He and Wei(2017a)have constructed transitivity analysis model reflecting the characteristics of international ecological discourses,providing a framework and reference for the exploration of international ecological discourses,but very few empirical studies have been conducted on the basis of the analysis model.Given this situation,the present research aims at carrying on an empirical study of international ecological discourses in light of transitivity analysis model of international ecological discourses.The Belt and Road Initiative(the BRI),as a grand initiative benefiting people all over the world,is of great research value,and the most suitable linguistic research point is to make international ecological discourse analysis on it.Therefore,President Xi Jinping's speeches on the BRI from Xi Jinping's Series of Important Speeches Database were selected as the corpus of this study,from which five speeches from June 2014 to September 2018 were extracted based on time and occasion following the principle of stratified random sampling.On the basis of transitivity system in SFL and ecosophy,this thesis investigated the ecological values embraced in the discourses by combining quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis.Through the analysis,it is found that: Firstly,in terms of transitivity processes analysis,material processes are employed most frequently(66.17%),which manifests that China attaches great importance to “doing” in all respects to benefit all countries along the Belt and Road in order to win trust from people of other countries.Relational processes rank second(16.97%),demonstrating the efforts by the Chinese government in promoting the spirit of the BRI and affirming the contributions of various countries along the Belt and Road.Mental processes follow relational ones occupying 12.51%,clearly showing President Xi Jinping's eagerness and determination of peaceful coexistence and cooperative development with countries along the Belt and Road.Verbal processes,existential processes and behavioral processes hold a very small proportion,because they seldom appear in political discourses.Secondly,the proportion of nonliving participants(84.35%)is much higher than that of living participants(15.65%),which illustrates that President Xi Jinping takes the world as the center,not himself.In nonliving participants,social participants occupy the vast majority,which is determined by the sociality of the selected discourses.Among living participants,only living participants of human are involved,in which group participants are more than individual ones,which indicates that President Xi Jinping has linked his own destiny to that of other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind.Thirdly,with reference to discourse patterns,beneficial discourses are adopted most of the time(70.51%),which proves President Xi Jinping's conviction and determination to speed up the construction of the BRI,enhance mutual exchanges among different civilizations,and safeguard world peace and development.Ambivalent discourses account for the second(29.19%),which is because that some clauses are objective statements or have nothing to do with the ecosophy followed in this thesis.Destructive ones take up the least proportion(0.30%),to emphasize that countries along the Belt and Road must take the responsibility and develop together through counter-examples.Lastly,two ecological values have been delivered:(1)the Silk Road spirit of “peace and cooperation,openness and inclusiveness,mutual learning and mutual benefit” is fully conveyed.(2)It is targeted at the establishment of a good international ecological discourse system and the realization of the dynamic balance and sound development of the international ecosystem.This study involves the international ecosystem,thus broadening and supplementing the scope of EDA.Moreover,this thesis makes an empirical contribution to transitivity analysis model of international ecological discourse constructed by He and Wei(2017a)through detailed and complete analysis.Last but not least,this research provides guidance for creating more beneficial discourses for international ecosystem,thus promoting the ecological health and sustainable development of the international community. |
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