| With the elevation of our country on the world stage,every move of China’s diplomacy is keenly watched by the international community.China’s Foreign Ministry(CFM),as the main platform for foreign exchange,plays an extremely important role in diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.The regular press conferences hosted by the spokesperson serve as effective channels for domestic and foreign audience to learn about China.China’s voice,attitudes and stances are delivered by the spokesperson at regular press conferences.In the previous studies,the CFM spokespersons’ discourse was mainly studied from the perspective of pragmatic strategies,focusing on the speaking skills,without paying attention to the functions.From the perspective of functionalism,this study explores the external function of the spokespersons’ discourse,that is,it is necessary for spokesperson to release information on the COVID-19 pandemic,elaborate on foreign policy,and take charge of press work on important foreign affairs.The purpose of this study is to reveal the attitudinal resources in the spokespersons’ counterattack discourses and how the attitudinal resources help the spokespersons to achieve stance-taking which is employed to align with the audience.This study endeavors to answer the following questions:(1)What are the distribution patterns and characteristics of attitudinal resources in the CFM spokespersons’ counterattack discourses?(2)How are the attitudinal resources employed by the CFM spokespersons to realize stance-taking,and then stances have been encoded thereby?(3)What discursive strategies do the CFM spokespersons take to align with the audience in stance acts?In order to answer the three research questions,241 regular press conferences hosted by the CFM in 2020 were collected,and the counterattack discourses were identified as corpus.The Attitude System and Stance Triangle Theory were creatively integrated as an analytical framework in the research.Based on this,the thesis analyzed the CFM spokespersons’ counterattack discourses by means of a self-built corpus.It explored how attitudinal resources can help the spokespersons to achieve stance-taking and win support effectively from the international community.The research showed that: Firstly,contrary to predecessors,the current CFM spokespersons employed distinguished attitudinal resources.Negative affects were often used directly to express our strong emotional position and opposing attitude.Judgement takes the highest proportion in attitudinal resources.Negative judgments were used appropriately to evaluate the remarks and deeds of other sides,especially the US.Positive appreciation always appeared at the beginning of the counterattack discourses to establish a responsible nation’s image.Secondly,the spokespersons’ stance-taking could be a way of persuasion,as well as an effective way of spreading news and realizing political intentions.The spokespersons positioned themselves by expressing evaluations and attitudes on events or figures.The stance-taking was accomplished by affects judgments and appreciations in a strong but not tough way,showing China’s self-confidence in the road,system and theory.Finally,by using pronouns and rhetoric devices wisely,citing the attitudes of other evaluate subjects,and evaluating other objects,the spokesperson sought the widest support.The spokespersons worked hard to practice the “mass line” and spread it to the world in stance acts,repeatedly emphasizing the strength and aspirations of all people in the world,constantly aligning themselves with the international community,and placing the people of all countries in a shared destiny.The study provided a new direction for the research of the CFM spokespersons’ discourses,and a new perspective for the construction of the foreign discourse system in the new era. |
