A Pragma-dialectical Investigation Into Prototypical Argumentative Style In The Spokespersons’ Replies At Daily Press Briefings Of U.S.Department Of State

The U.S.Department of State(DOS)’s press briefing is an important communication platform for the U.S.government to disseminate diplomatic information,promote foreign policy and defend diplomatic stances.At the DOS’s press briefings,spokespersons on behalf of the U.S.government are supposed to respond in a reasonable way to questions concerning certain diplomatic issues proposed by the journalist.The fundamental purpose of the spokesperson’s replies in this institutional context is to convince the international audience of the U.S.government’s standpoint through a constellation of well-designed argumentation,demonstrating that the U.S.government’s standpoints are reasonable.Seen from this perspective,the spokespersons’ replies are fundamentally argumentative.Unfortunately,the argumentative nature of the spokespersons’ replies is largely neglected.Previous studies on the press briefing are mainly conducted from three different approaches: political science,communication studies,and linguistics,focusing on its working mechanism,communicative effects,and linguistic strategies,respectively.There have been very few studies paying enough attention to the main body of the press briefings from an argumentative approach: spokespersons’ replies.Given the undue neglect,this thesis takes an argumentative approach of the Pragma-Dialectics to the study of DOS’s press briefings.Within the research framework of Pragma-Dialectics,this thesis examines the prototypical argumentative style shaped and utilized in the spokesperson’s replies at the U.S.State Department press briefings from March 2017 to December 2021.Three research questions are to be answered:1.What are the institutional preconditions at press briefings of the U.S.Department of State as a communicative activity type that serve as extrinsic constraints for the strategic maneuvering of the spokespersons in responding to the questions of the journalists? 2.How are modes of strategic maneuvering used in coordination to constitute the argumentative strategy adopted by the spokesperson to shape the prototypical argumentative style? How do these modes interact with each other,and comply with the institutional preconditions of press briefings of the U.S.Department of State? 3.How does the prototypical argumentative style shaped by the spokesperson contribute to fulfilling the strategic purpose of press briefings of the U.S.Department of State and making a convincing case?As shown in the research results,in the institutional context of the U.S.State Department press briefings,the spokespersons’ replies are constrained by eight institutional preconditions.It is found that the spokespersons prototypically use strategic maneuvering modes such as personal attack,appeal to authority,changing of topics,appeal to sympathy,appeal to force,appeal to fear,and appeal to authority in a coordinated way,shaping the uncompromising argumentative style in the confrontation stage,which was,in fact,the result of adopting three types of argumentative strategies.This research is significant both theoretically and practically.Theoretically,it would expand the understanding of press conferences as an institutional context in the argumentation study and promote the study for coordinated strategic maneuvering of the confrontation stage.Besides,it would enrich the study of argumentative style as a newly-proposed theoretical perspective of the Pragma-Dialectics.Practically,it would promote a more comprehensive and thorough understanding of the U.S.’ diplomatic discourse and offer some potential heuristic suggestions for Chinese spokespersons.