| Appraisal is the semantic system of linguistic resources that can express speakers' or writers 5 opinion,attitude and stance(Martin,2000).It is comprised of three interrelated systems,such as attitude,graduation and engagement.Attitude is concerned with feelings,including emotional reactions,judgments of human behaviors and evaluation of things.In this study,the attitudinal resource is defined as the linguistic resource which is used to express peopled feeling,judgment and appreciation in the discourse.As a typical type of mass media,newspaper is always considered objective and neutral,so that it is popular and reliable among readers.However,the linguistic resources in producing the news discourse can reflect their attitudes and stances,and furthermore construct some certain identities.The study takes the attitude system in the appraisal theory as the major theoretical framework and selects 40 news discourses from the two authoritative news media in China and US.(China Daily and Washington Post) as the basic data,concerning the reports about Sino-U.S.trade war.By adopting the qualitative and quantitative methods,the study makes a comparative analysis on the distribution of the attitudinal resources in Chinese and American news discourses,and explores how these attitudinal resources construct different national identities in Chinese and American news media,and finally reveals the divergent ideology hidden behind the news discourse.It is found that as for the distribution of the attitudinal resources,both Chinese and American news media are abundant with attitudinal resources.They both employ more Judgment and Appreciation resources and adopt fewer Affect resources to ensure the objectivity.When Judgment is mentioned,the Chinese news discourses employ more positive tenacity,while American news discourses use more positive capacity.When polarity is conceemed,more positive attitudinal resources are employed in the Chinese news.However,more negative attitudinal resources are applied in the American news.As for the identity construction in Chinese and American news,both American and Chinese news media construct "self" and "others" identities.And both of the national identities are variable,but the specific types of national identities are different in the two news media.As for the Chinese news media,the "self" identity manifests as guardian,resister and a peaceful and open developer.While the types of the "others" identity are the hegemony and the manipulator.As for American news media,"self" identity manifests as the protector.While,the“others,identity manifests as the destroyer and the hypocrite.However,those differences in attitudinal resources and national identities are closely related with the divergence of ideology and national interest between China and U.S.This study not only verifies the efficiency of the application of appraisal theory to the critical analysis of news discourses and the exploration of ideological stances,but also provides a practical evidence for identity construction based on attitudinal resources. |
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