When Grammar Meets Critical Discourse Analysis:an Experimental Study In Chinese Discourse

Inspired by the recent China-U.S.trade disputes and adopting experimental methods as a form of triangulation in Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA),this research examines how Chinese grammatical constructions affect social perceptions of the actors and actions involved in hard news events.Previous studies have examined this in English discourse.Considering differences between Chinese and English language,the main research questions include:(1)How do the presentations of the alternative grammatical constructions(asymmetrical versus reciprocal constructions),as well as differences in voice and information sequence within these categories,affect blame assignment and perception of aggression in Chinese discourse on trade disputes?(2)Is there any difference in effects of information sequence between Chinese and English reciprocal constructions? How does this difference arise?This study includes three stages: a corpus study,a pilot experiment,and a main experiment,carried out within a cognitive linguistic framework.At first,in the corpus study,we present a cognitive linguistic analysis of online news data with a focus on the alternative ACTION events used to conceptualise harmful interactions in trade disputes between China and U.S.The corpus data were obtained from websites of the official agencies in China and U.S.,i.e.,the State Council Information Office of China(SCIO)and the Office of the United States Trade Representative(USTR).The corpus study suggests some preferences in the use of asymmetrical versus reciprocal constructions in media discourse on trade disputes,with certain pragmatic significance.Afterwards,the pilot experiment adopting the online survey was then carried out to focus only on whether information sequence in reciprocal constructions in Chinese news reports of trade disputes affects blame allocation and aggression perception of readers among the Chinese college student group.Participants were presented with a survey including a Chinese news report on a trade dispute between two fictitious countries.Words and sentences were drawn from the ?White Paper‘ China’s Position on the China-U.S.Economic and Trade Consultations.The surveys were divided into two versions,with each report containing two examples of the same grammatical construction.It suggests that information sequence in reciprocal constructions has no significant effect on blame assignment and perception of aggression,different from the significant effect in English discourse found by previous studies.Lastly,the main experiment using the paper-and-pencil survey was subsequently conducted to further investigate the ideological effects of asymmetrical constructions with voice alternates and reciprocal constructions with alternative information sequences in Chinese press reports of trade disputes spanning a much larger population of the Chinese college students.Improving on the pilot experiment,the surveys were divided into four versions,with more objective context added to each report.It suggests that(1)blame would be placed predominantly with the AGENT for asymmetrical constructions while blame would be assigned more evenly for reciprocal constructions;(2)reciprocal constructions serve not only to increase the perceived level of aggression for PATIENT in asymmetrical constructions but,by the same token,to downplay perceived level of aggression for AGENT in asymmetrical constructions;(3)although there might be a slight tendency to assign more blame to the actor on the left than on the right within reciprocal constructions information sequence does not significantly have an effect on blame attribution;(4)although there might be a slight tendency for the left actor within reciprocal constructions to be perceived as more aggressive than the right actor information sequence does not have a significant effect on perception of aggression;(5)voice alternates within asymmetrical constructions have no effect on perception of aggression.There are two major findings in this research:(1)Alternative grammatical constructions(asymmetrical versus reciprocal constructions)can make a difference in social perceptions of the actors and actions involved in hard news events.And it also provides cross-language and cross-cultural support for this opinion.(2)The cognitive effects of information sequence within Chinese reciprocal constructions are slight but non-significant.Although there may be the effects of body-specificity,there are several plausible reasons downplaying the cognitive effects of information sequence.This may arise from metaphorical construal of imposing additional tariffs as an ACTION Event and several evident differences in language and culture between China and English-speaking countries: no steady association between left-right and emotional valence in Chinese Language and Culture,no real subject-predicate structure in Chinese Language,and distinctions in modes of thinking between Chinese and English Language.