摘 要

语言学对英语专业学生极其重要，而作为其分支之一的批评性话语分析是近几十年间出现的一门新兴学科。在过去四十多年中，许多学者就如何进行批评性话语分析提出了自己的方法论，例如,从社会认知的视角，社会文化的视角或是历史视角进行分析。本文在中国日报及华盛顿邮报中共选取十二则新闻作为代表，采用费尔克劳的三维分析模型作为理论框架，韩礼德的系统功能语言学作为分析工具以揭露中美媒体贸易战新闻报道语言形式上的异同及其背后的意识形态。研究发现，两家报纸报道在语言形式及其意识形态都各有不同。研究表明，新闻媒体并非如其声称的一般公正客观。

关键词：批评性话语分析，新闻媒体，贸易战，意识形态

Abstract

Linguistics is of great importance for the English major. Critical discourse analysis (CDA), as a branch of linguistics, is an emerging subject in recent decades. Numerous scholars proposed their own methods to conduct the CDA in the past four decades, such as the social-cognitive theory, social-cultural theory and the historical theory. As for this paper, Fairclough’s Three-dimensional model and Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar will be adopted as the framework and analysis tool respectively. The purpose of this study is to unveil the hidden ideologies and insight the similarities and diversities in linguistic forms of the China and US media concerning the theme of the trade war. Twelve pieces of news from China Daily and The Washington Post are selected as the representatives to conduct the analysis. The finding of this study indicates that the linguistic forms of China Daily and The Washington Post vary in their preferences. Further, the different ideologies of China and the US towards the trade war are also embodied on the reports. All of the findings denote that the news media are not as objective as they claimed.

Key Words: critical discourse analysis; news media; trade war; ideology

Contents

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Significance 2

1.3 Research Questions 3

1.4 Outline 3

Chapter Two Critical Discourse Analysis 4

2.1 Definition of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 4

2.2 Development of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 4

2.2.1 Introduction to CDA 4

2.2.2 Studies Abroad 5

2.2.3 Studies at Home 5

2.3 Language, Power and Ideology 6

2.3.1 Language 7

2.3.2 Power 7

2.3.3 Ideology 7

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework 9

3.1 Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar(SFG) 9

3.1.1 Ideational Function 9

3.1.2 Interpersonal Function 11

3.1.3 Textual Function 12

3.2 Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Model 12

3.2.1 Description 13

3.2.2 Interpretation 13

3.2.3 Explanation 14

Chapter Four A Comparative CDA of News Reports on Sino-US Trade War 15

4.1 Data Selection 15

4.2 Description 16

4.2.1 Lexical Classification 16

4.2.2 Transitivity Analysis 21

4.2.3 Modality Analysis 25

4.2 Interpretation 27

4.2.1 News Source 27

4.2.2 Reporting Modes 28

4.3 Explanation 30

4.3.1 Institutional Context 30

4.3.2 Social and Cultural Context 30

Chapter Five Conclusion 32

5.1 Major Findings 32

5.2 Limitations 33

References 34

Appendix 36

Acknowledgement 38

Critical Discourse Analysis of the News Report on Sino-US Trade War from Chinese and American Mainstream Media

Chapter One Introduction

This chapter gives a general introduction of the whole thesis, in which the background and the significance of this paper are presented, followed by the research questions. Finally, the organization of this paper will be outlined.

1.1 Research Background

With the popularization of the internet, people all over the round have access to the mass media easily in this modern world, be it at home or abroad. There is no doubt that these media platforms, such as newspaper, TV and websites, are the most direct and convenient ways for us to gain the newest information of the quicksilver world. Differing with what we were instilled in mind, these mass media, however, do not maintain a fair and neutral stance in fact. Fairclough (1995) claims that “newspapers tend to offer sometimes contending (thought often harmonizing) version of the truth…This myth underpins the ideological work of the media: offering images of and the categories for reality, positioning and shaping social subjects, and contributing for the most parts to social control and reproduction.” Critical Linguists hold that language, serving for one’s purpose, is rather an impalpable interfering force than a transparent communication medium. Therefore, we can obtain the insight of the world dialectically once we learn how to distinguish the ideologies that different media carried.

Critical discourse analysis (CDA), originating in 1970s, is an effective approach to unveil the relations among language, power and ideology. CDA mainly focuses on the two non-literature fields, public discourse and individual discourse. The public discourse, such as news reports, official documents and political speeches, is worthy researching for it comes from the authorities who substantially shape the values of the society. And discrimination or unfairness is usually examined in the individual discourse by the critical linguists.

The disputes and frictions cannot be avoided with the closer international exchange, however, never before in history have we come to the stage when the interaction and interdependence of countries are of much importance. As the advocator and the practitioner of the shared-fate community, China is always committed to the peaceful way when encountering the confrontations, while in 2017 the United States arbitrarily initiated the 301 investigation to China regardless the rules of WTO and ignited the line of trade war with the 60 billion dollars tariff in March 2018. Within the same day, China countered back with extra 15% to 25% tariff of seven kinds of commodities that imported from the US including fruits, nuts, pork, aluminum scrap and etc. That is the beginning of the 2018 Sino-US Trade War. On April 16th, the US department of commerce banned US companies from exporting telecommunications components to ZTE, which stressed the tension between the two parties. At that time, it seems that the relation between the two countries is on the verge of the cold war (Xv, 2018). Several negotiations were held during April and May. Finally, on May 19th, China and the US reached an agreement that no tariff would be imposed. Unfortunately, the United States provoked the war again in less than one month. So far it has held seven rounds of high-level economic and trade consultations between China and the US.

It is self-evident that every move of China and the US, the largest two economies in the world, will attract much attention. Last year, mass media at home and aboard followed up where this affair would go to with ardor, and consequently, numerous reports explored.

1.2 Research Significance

First of all, as far as the critical linguists concerned, language is closely tied with its nation’s ideology and power. Although both the reporters of China and America have the freedom of expression, the news that is published and disseminated, those of which on the mainstream media in particular, are elaborately sifted by the supervision department. Therefore, this paper is going to figure out similarities and diversities of the related reports between China Daily and The Washington Post, the two official windows of the two countries, by which to reveal the different ideologies of the two countries and examine whether their attitudes changed in the different stages of the war.

Secondly, reading English news is the most universal and effective way for students to acquire the latest English knowledge. Yet, as mentioned above, not all the news report could hold a just and equitable stance in essence. Therefore, from the practical perspective, this paper, introducing some simple theories about the critical discourse analysis and taking several cases for practical application, is favorable for the English major, or arguably all students to form a habit of critical thinking in this information exploration age.

Thirdly, although language is an indispensable component of our daily life, most people deem it with insufficient importance. Postman (1986) once warned that the intervention of medium is often not noticed although it guides the way we view the world. This paper hopes that the readers could learn more about the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and awake their language awareness, then reflect on their diction and pay more attention to word choice and text organization in future writing.