从批判话语视角看美国媒体对中国形象的塑造(3)
Critical discourse analysis advocates critically analyzing discourses, especially public discourses. In an effort to adjust to more and more intervention of language in modern society, critical discourse analysis aims at enhancing language awareness among general people and improving their appreciation and critical ability towards use of language. (Xin, 2002) CDA studies relationship among language, power and ideology. It deems discourse as a choice of both formal structures and ideology. Meanwhile, discourse is in a social sphere. Thus, the analysis of social environment, historical background and context of language is an inseparable part of discourse analysis. (Xin, 2002:34-41)
Language, power and ideology are closely related with each other. Language is used in a variety of discourses which mingle with ideology of social systems and institutions (Xie, 2002:34-41); language serves as a very powerful way for the powerful class or inpidual to project their beliefs and ideologies, so language can build up ideologies in certain way. While ideology, in return, can also affect the construction of discourses and language, i.e., the establishment of language and discourses are significantly affected and mainly reflected by ideologies of the language users. To quote Fairclough, “the exercise of power, in modern society, is increasingly achieved through ideology and more particularly through the ideological workings of language”
2.3 The Analytical Method of the Study
Halliday is a linguistic scholar who is famous for the invention of a form of grammatical description - systemic functional grammar (SFG), which is a component of systemic functional linguistics. In Halliday’s perception, grammar is described as systems not as rules, on the basis that every grammatical structure involves a choice from a describable set of options. Language is thus a meaning potential. Halliday refers to his functions of language as metafunctions. He proposes three general functions: the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual functions.
The ideational function deals with the ‘content’ of the speakers’ or writers’ experience of the real world and the transmission of information. Lexical classification, transitivity and transformation are the determinants of ideational structures. The interpersonal function is mainly concerned with establishing and maintaining social relationships. The mostly accepted determinant of this functional feature is modality. The textual function is about organization of messages. Thompson (2000) interprets the textual functions as the proper ways we organize our messages to fit in with the other messages around them and with the wider context in which we are talking and writing. A frequently used tool is analysis of intertextuality.
Based on Halliday’s Systemic Grammar, the three metafunctions in the news samples will be analyzed to reveal the underlined ideology of the selected news reports. By assessing the linguistic devices mentioned above, the interpretation part outlines the arrangement of text in the reports and categorizes the “language tricks” adopted by the reporters.
3 The Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reports: A case study
This chapter elaborates analysis of sample news cases from prominent American newspapers or magazines. The topic grabbed most of the attentions, i.e., Wukan event is selected and analyzed, in an effort to interpret the news process and explain the hidden ideology and power from the social context in the news discourse.
The Protest of Wukan was an anti-corruption protest that began in September 2011 after officials sold land to real estate developers without properly compensating the villagers. Residents of Wukan petitioned the national government over the land disputes. In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, authorities allowed villagers to select representatives to engage in negotiations. In the end, a village election was secured. A new village leadership was elected to supervise village affairs and the tension finally quieted down.
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