A Pragma-dialectical Study Of Dissociation In The Spokespersons' Replies At Chinese Foreign Ministry's Press Conferences

The regular press conferences held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China are a crucial channel for the Chinese government to release diplomatic information and to interpret China's domestic and foreign policies.As representatives of the central government,the spokespersons are supposed to answer questions posed by journalists,especially the sharp and sensitive ones,in a very cautious and skillful way.To construct and maintain a rational image of the central government,when confronted with these questions,the spokespersons ought to justify the stances taken by the Chinese government.In doing so,the spokespersons always take into account the possible doubts or objections that may exist among the public.This characteristic provides us with a good reason to regard the spokespersons' replies as argumentative discourse.Up until now researchers have mainly focused on the pragmatic strategies or rhetorical skills manipulated by spokespersons,largely neglecting the argumentative characterization of the spokespersons' replies which embraces the dialectical reasonableness and rhetorical effectiveness.Given this undue neglect,from the perspective of argumentation,within the research framework of Pragma-Dialectics,this study analyzes the spokespersons' replies at the press conferences held by the Chinese foreign ministry from 2015 to 2017,concentrating on the dissociation frequently used by spokespersons.This research aims to reveal how dissociation is prototypically used in spokespersons' replies.Specifically,the following questions will be answered in this research:(1)What are the institutional preconditions for spokespersons' replies? How could they constrain the use of dissociation in the spokespersons' replies?(2)What types and variants of dissociation are prototypically used in the spokespersons' replies constrained by these institutional preconditions?(3)How do the spokespersons strategically maneuver dissociation to convince their primary audience?As shown in the research results,first,based on the relevant rules in Workbook for Governmental Press Conferences,seven institutional preconditions which impose constraints on the spokespersons' strategic maneuvering by dissociation in thespokespersons' replies are identified.These institutional preconditions specify skills,protocols and principles for the spokespersons in their replies.Second,argument by dissociation are frequently adopted by the spokespersons to cut down the authority of their opponents in criticizing China and to convince the international general public of the Chinese governments' standpoints in the confrontation,opening and argumentation stage.Dissociation in these three stages can be further categorized into different variants.In the confrontation stage,dissociation is used to “bring forward a standpoint”.In the opening stage,dissociation is used to “propose starting points”.In the argumentation stage,there are two variants for dissociation that can be used in the spokespersons' response to the critical questions against the argument schemes: the first critical question on symptomatic argument scheme: “Is X characteristic of Z?”;the third critical question on causal argument scheme: “Is it not something else than X that leads to Z?” Third,in the confrontation,opening and argumentation stage,to adapt to the demand of their primary audience,i.e.the international general public,the spokespersons maneuver dissociation strategically via the skillful selection of topical potential and presentational devices.This thesis is significant in both theory and practice.In theory,this research extends the theoretical perspectives for the research of the spokespersons' replies(at Chinese MoFA's press conferences).Meanwhile,this study enriches studies on dissociation and researches on strategic maneuvering in Pragma-Dialectics.In addition,this research extends the research scope of institutional contexts in Pragma-Dialectics.In practice,this thesis provides inspiration for the spokespersons of the Chinese MoFA to reflect upon their argumentative replies.Besides,it provides heuristic inspiration for spokespersons to use dissociation in a more reasonable and effective way at Chinese MoFA's press conferences.More importantly,this research provides a handy and reliable analytic and theoretical tool for audiences to interpret the spokespersons' replies.