The Mechanisms Of Frame Shifting In Political Discourse

As a discourse strategy to effectively build,sustain and support discourse communication,framing theory plays an important role in the study of political discourse.However,the current research about framing theory mainly focuses on the analysis of static frames and lacks the dynamic analysis of framing and reframing and the mechanisms in which the shifting of framing and reframing is realized.Therefore,this thesis focuses on the analysis of framing and reframing and classifies the shifting mechanisms of framing and reframing.Based on framing theory,this thesis analyzes shifting mechanisms of framing and reframing in the 2020 US presidential election debates.Frames are classified as metaphorical and non-metaphorical,so the shifting of framing and reframing is classified as metaphorical frame shifting and non-metaphorical frame shifting.The former shifting mechanism is classified into(i)shared source and target domains shifting model and(ii)shared target domain shifting model.The latter shifting mechanism is classified into(i)syntagmatic relations shifting mechanism i.e.,shifting with collocation relations,and(ii)paradigmatic relations shifting mechanism,including synonymy,antonymy,and hyponymy relations.The result of the analyses shows that both candidates have addressed these shifting mechanisms in the 2020 US presidential election debate.They present different features in the application of framing and reframing strategies.Trump relies on repetition to build and strengthen frames and is adept at using language to stir up public emotions,thus affecting voters’ decision-making.However,most of his frames lack systematic causation.While Biden has surpassed Trump in the amount of framing and reframing use.At the same time,Biden has made full use of the strengths of the Democratic Party’s deep frame and expanded the impact of language through his extensive use of empathy,which is one of the key reasons for the Democratic Party’s success.This thesis establishes a solid framework for analyzing framing and reframing shifting mechanisms,deepening the understanding of dynamic frames.At the same time,it broadens the research perspective for future political debate research and provides a new reference for future research on political discourse.