| The world today is marked by changes unseen in a century.With the momentous changes in the world and a rise in China’s international influence,China needs to strengthen the construction of international discourse system with Chinese characteristics.As one of the most important media of communication with the rest of the world,China English plays an indispensable role in achieving this goal.As a variety of English with Chinese cultural characteristics,the concept of China English has been widely accepted here by Chinese scholars after their decades of researches.However,few researches have been found on whether China English has been legitimated as one of varieties of World Englishes in the international academic circle.Listed in the “Extended Circle” of World Englishes by Kachru,the study on China English was neglected in the international academic circle for a long time.If China English fails to be accepted as one of the legitimate varieties in the World Englishes community,many expressions with Chinese characteristics will be misunderstood as linguistic errors,which will result in a negative influence on the construction of China’s international cultural soft power.So,it is necessary to carry out researches to investigate the attitude in the international academic circle towards China English,as well as to justify its legitimacy.This research collected data from the international linguistic journals World Englishes and English Today,both of which enjoy high prestige in international linguistic circle.They are specialized in the research of different varieties of English in the world and are two of the three journals that focus on the research of World Englishes Theory.Two self-built corpora by the author of this research were used to make the investigation.One was China English Corpus in International Journal Articles(CECIJA)and the other was Corpus of China English Collocates in International Journal Articles(CCECIJA).With data collected,this research analyzed the distribution and meaning of attitude collocates of China English from the aspects of AFFECT,JUDGMENT and APPRECIATION under the Appraisal Theory,aiming to investigate how the international scholars look at China English,whether their attitude is positive or negative,or something in between.The findings are as follows:(1)In CECIJA,the total frequency of China English is 1355,showing an increasing trend chronologically.(2)The total frequency of attitude resources used in CCECIJA is 1747,among which JUDGMENT resources take up the highest proportion(46.77%);APPRECIATION resources come the second(34.63%);while AFFECT resources occupy the last(18.60%).(3)In JUDGMENT domain,Capacity and Normality resources appear most significantly;in APPRECIATION domain,scholars principally focus on Quality and Valuation of China English;in AFFECT domain,scholars use Desire resources to highlight the Inclination of the variety’s evolution.(4)As for the emotional orientation of these attitude resources,positive evaluation accounts for 67.37%while the proportion of negative resources is only 12.65%,demonstrating an overall positive attitude.(5)The research scope of China English has been increasingly expanded and the content gradually becomes enriched.The research results show that there has been an increase of interest in China English research in international academic circle.The international scholars believe that on the one hand,distinctive from other English varieties in the world,China English accommodates certain characteristics of Chinese ways of thinking and some things that are unique to China.On the other hand,China English is interrelated with other varieties of English in the world,showing its characteristics of integrity and coordination.From the findings of this research we can see clearly that there is an objective and positive attitude towards China English in the international academic circle.Based on the findings of our research,we believed that China English,with its Chinese cultural characteristics,can play a positive and effective role in the construction of China’s international discourse system. |
