Crisis Response Discourse Of Government Micro-blogs After Natural Disasters

Although crisis response discourse of government micro-blogs has been well studied,there are significantly fewer studies focusing on a specific kind of emergency and little research putting forward specific discourse strategies for government micro-blogs after a natural disaster.In order to learn about what discourse strategies were used in micro-blogs posted by Sichuan government after Jiuzhaigou earthquake and what their effects were,this study collects 242 micro-blogs concerning the quake posted by“Sichuan Issue”?official micro-blog account of Sichuan government?from August 8^th,2017 to August 14^th,2017 and 773 comments of these micro-blogs,the former classified into different groups by three people and the latter assessed by ten people to see if they are positive or not.Based on Austin's and Searle's Speech Act Theory,the present study is designed to answer the following questions:1)How many kinds of illocutionary acts can be found in these government micro-blogs?2)What discourse strategies have been employed by“Sichuan Issue”to achieve its purposes?3)What are the deficiencies of the micro-blogs posted by“Sichuan Issue”?With qualitative and quantitative analyses,it has been found that there are five types of illocutionary acts in these micro-blogs:disaster-telling,rescue-informing,emotion-expressing,knowledge-instilling,and rumor-clarifying,each having its own discourse strategies to guide the public opinion after the disaster.For disaster-telling micro-blogs,“Sichuan Issue”seized the“4 golden hours”to dispel the panic of the public,used a“main body+topic+source”structure to add authority of the information,adopted two modes?text+picture?to describe situations,and broadcast aftershocks frequently to keep people informed with the latest information.For rescue-informing micro-blogs,“Sichuan Issue”used a“main body+title+topic”structure to tell the rescue situation effectively,adopted three modes?text+picture+emoji?to represent the real rescue spots,broadcast real rescue efforts instead of meetings and directions,focused on the safety of tourists,and cooperated with other official accounts to amplify the effect.For emotion-expressing micro-blogs,“Sichuan Issue”used a mixed structure with a hyperlink to tell the moving stories of rescue workers,adopted three modes?text+picture+emoji?to express positive feelings,used audience-friendly expressions,and enriched discourse forms to better express feelings.For knowledge-instilling micro-blogs,“Sichuan Issue”released information at the recovery stage of the disaster,used a mixed structure of split micro-blogs to form a knowledge system,employed both pictures and videos to explain the knowledge,and adopted rhetoric questions and vague language as interest-arousers to attract readers.For rumor-clarifying micro-blogs,“Sichuan Issue”prevented possible rumors in advance and nipped existing rumors in the bud,clarified rumors with a firm tone by denying them directly and displaying the facts,and clarified influencing rumors twice to end it completely.Some deficiencies such as inaccuracy,redundancy and ambiguity are found in these micro-blogs and corresponding suggestions such as deleting repetition and combining the same information are made for the government to lead the public opinion more effectively.