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A Corpus-based Study Of Critical Discourse

Posted on:2022-10-08Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J Y WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2505306602472334Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Critical discourse analysis(CDA)is a language analysis method aimed to expose the relationship between power,ideology and language hidden behind the discourse.CDA not only makes a linguistic analysis of the text itself,but also focuses on explaining and interpreting the process of meaning construction of the text,making it an important supplement to the traditional social and cultural analysis.At the same time,the combination of corpus tools makes it possible to study the text quantitatively and qualitatively,so as to make up for the subjective defect of CDA in its criticism.Sino-US trade relations have developed in the midst of frictions and twists since the establishment of trade relations between the two countries.In 2018,despite China’s dissuasion,the Trump administration insisted on launching a trade war,and the Chinese and US media launched a series of follow-up reports on this.This study focuses on the Sino-US reports of the trade war,discusses the differences between the Chinese and American media in the reporting of the Sino-US trade war,and reveals the hidden social purpose of the media reports in the political power struggle.This study mainly selects the series of reports on the Sino-US trade war by China Daily,CNN and FOX as the research object,and establishes three corresponding corpora,which contain vocabulary of 58325,32590,39537 respectively.The study adopts Fairclough’s three-dimensional theoretical framework,that is,CDA is divided into three stages,description,interpretation and explanation,corresponding to the three levels of text analysis,processing analysis and social analysis,with the help of corpus tools to carry out the discourse analysis of the selected texts.The study of text analysis,combined with Halliday’s systemic functional grammar,using the keywords obtained from corpus tools,the definition and description of the media on trade war events is analyzed from the processes of the transitivity and modality system.In the processing analysis,it mainly analyzes the production process of the text,compares the reporting mode and news sources in discourse expression,and interprets the positions and attitudes of Chinese and American media.In the social analysis,the relationship between discourse and social factors is discussed from the social and historical context and the background of news media,and the social purpose of media discourse is discussed.Through three stages of discourse analysis,the study finds that: The language construction of news texts in describing events is not arbitrary.In the text analysis,there are differences in the description and characterization of the trade war between Chinese and American media.In the material process,China believes that the trade war was caused by the United States,deliberately provoking economic disputes between the two countries,but the United States believes that China’s unyielding tough attitude led to the inability to negotiate.In the relational process,both China and the United States have affirmed the promotion of economic development by the Phase One deal,and the trade war between China and the United States has the opportunity to be resolved through peaceful negotiations.In the verbal process,China has expressed its positive attitude towards economic and trade agreements and its earnest expectation for a peaceful settlement of the trade war.The United States has demonstrated the US market needs China’s support.In the use of modal verbs,China Daily uses more high modal words to convey the strong attitude of the Chinese government.CNN,on the other hand,uses more low modal verbs,indicating its speculation and skepticism about the trade policy of the US government.In the processing analysis,direct and indirect discourses are often used in the news reports.The analysis of the news sources shows that in the news,in order to convince the readers,there are more news discourses from specific sources.Through the official quotations and other words,China Daily presents the righteous position of the Chinese government in the trade war.On the other hand,CNN uses the words of people from all walks of life to arouse people’s doubts about the tariff policy and hostility towards China.From the government’s point of view,FOX uses official words to emphasize the benefits of trade policy to the United States.In the social analysis,according to the research on the social background of the trade war,it is found that the trade dispute is a political method adopted by the United States to contain China’s economic rise.In terms of news media,the study has found that news reports are closely related to the political power behind them.The textual language construction in news is biased to select words that are beneficial to their own power.In a word,this study incorporates the field of political economy into the critical discourse analysis,revealing the discourse differences between Chinese and American media in reporting Sino-US trade war events.At the same time,this research uses corpus tools to analyze the text to avoid the subjective shortcomings s of critical discourse analysis.The results of the study will help readers cultivate their critical reading awareness and understand the language construction of political discourse.
Keywords/Search Tags:Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Grammar, Sino-US Trade War, Political Discourse Language
PDF Full Text Request
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