An Analysis on Economic News from the Comparative Perspective of Critical Discourse

王晓欣

【Abstract】Since China has taken exchange rate reform in 2005， there are a million times disputes over this issue. Its obvious that the conflicts between China and USA may involve different interests. Thus， this thesis attempts to provide a rare opportunity for a comparative study on the ideological differences in news reports between China Daily and New York Times.

【Key words】CDA； Chinas Exchange Rate Reform； Three-dimensional model； ideology

I. Literature Review

Critical linguistics is also defined as critical discourse analysis （CDA）， critical language awareness （CLA） and critical language study （CLS）， which was first put forward by a group of scholars including Fowler， Hodge， Kress， Trew and so on in 1979 in the book Language and Control. As a new branch of modern linguistic research， CDA assimilating the results of scientific research in linguistics， sociology， psychology and mass media， aims to explore and articulate the dialectical relationship between language， power and ideology by analyzing the public discourses.

CDA has its distinctive view of language： discourse is a sort of social practice；discourse is determined by social elements and has effects on them；the production and interpretation of the text are the results of the interaction within the social contexts. Fairclough （2001） criticized the trend of the pure positivism in linguistics which overemphasizes the objective descriptions of the facts， paying too much attention to “what” questions but neglecting “why” and “how” questions. Hence the objective for the critical linguists is to answer “why” and “how” questions in the social and historical contexts.

Particularly， news discourse is of great interest to CDA， which has been chosen as the research data in this paper. This research paper will answer the following two questions： （1） What linguistic devices do American newspapers employ to present news relevant to Chinas exchange rate reform？ （2） What ideologies are concealed in American news discourses concerning the attitude toward china？

The research adopts Faircloughs Three-dimensional Model as theoretical framework .On the level of textual analysis， the author analyzes transitivity and lexical choice. The level of discursive practice is devoted to the examination of discourse representation which comprises analysis of news sources， modes of representation and reporting verbs to explain the discourse production. On the social level， it will investigate the socio-historical factors， including a retrospect of the history of Chinas exchange rate reform， Sino-American relations and American hegemony.endprint

II. Contrastive Analysis of News Samples

2.1 Data collection

To get a convincing results， the data selection is of great importance. Here we choose the typical 18 news reports， among which half from China Daly and the other from The New York Times.

2.2 Descriptive Stage—Linguistic Features

2.2.1 Transitivity

We can find that process types are distributes unevenly. The regular distribution is not at random， but ideologically motivated. It is shown clearly： material process account for greatest percentage；verbal one appears frequently as it can state the source so as to confirm the authenticity；relation also occupies considerable weight， mental and existential ones take up a small percentage， and followed by the last behavior one.

2.2.2 Classification

Classification is an element factor of news discourse analysis， which is an internal part of the production of ideology. A close look at the selected news samples， we will demonstrate the following nouns in high frequency such as pressure， trade deficit， trade surplus and trade advantages. In contrast， on the reporting China currency reform， China Daily employs a schema of favorable objects， including gradual/ stable/steady/reasonable/rational. Its discovered that the negative description of China are pervasive in New York Times. American media tend to misguide readers understanding and spreading their discrimination against Chinas systems. While， China Daily objectively explains the reason why they keep such gradual appreciation.

2.2.3 Modality

According to Kress and Hodge（1979）： the “-ed” form suggests the modality “not now” and has a somewhat negative force. The modal auxiliaries （can-could， may-might， shall-should， will-would） all have less certain or more tentative meanings. As it is illustrated in the selected data， China Daily provides a schema of such word as will or can， while New York Times prefers would， could， might， which signify their suspicious and skeptical attitudes toward China.

2.3 Interpretive Stage—Inter-textual Features

2.3.1 Reporting Modes

After a careful research， we have found that the most frequently used mode of the discourse representation is indirect speech. But during the sequence of ID， The US media skillfully quote VIPs remarks. Eg. Premier Wen Jiabao criticized international pressure on China to let the currency appreciate， calling it “finger pointing”. （2010-03-15 New York Times） “Finger pointing” refers to look down upon something. It left the western public the bad expression of arrogant Chinese leaders. The reason why reporters quote Chinese senior officials remarks is that they intended to strengthen the persuasion of their reports. This is how the direct speech successfully conveys certain ideological implications.endprint

2.3.2 News Source

Concerning the modes of speech reporting， the news sources can also reflect the ideological divergences embedded in the news discourse. We can discover that the American journalists tend to quote speeches from more different sources than its counterpart China Daily do. To support his argument， American media can make full use of the voice of semi-clear and unclear sources.

2.3.3 Reporting Verbs

A close analysis of the reporting verbs in the collected samples reveals that the reports in New York Times tend to use some emotional reporting verbs such as criticize， vow， and even warn. Besides， we will focus on the particular report verb like praise. For example， “President Obama immediately praised Chinas action...”（2010-6-19， New York Times） It seems that US is considered itself as a supreme leader. We can see such apparent confirm is just a mask for bias and discrimination.

2.4 Explanative Stage—Social and Culture Features

What cause the two different ideological minds are definitely the history of Chinas exchange rate reform， Sino-American relations and cultural conflicts. Historically， the US-China relations have going through twist and turns. The American attitude toward China has been better or worse due to the relations of the two countries and the international situation. Culturally， the US is basically a Christian culture. The American sense of “manifest destiny” is one of the most important characteristics. The American way should be the best way that the whole world should follow. Economically， China is taking on its new visage and the whole world is witnessing its amazing development. No wonder， China is deemed as a threat to US. In fact， US neglects the benefits but focuses on the disadvantages that China has brought about.

III. Conclusion

The present study is of theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically speaking， with the help of comparative approach， the framework of CDA is effective and applicable in disclosing ideologies embedded in news reports. Practically speaking， the research findings have pedagogical implications. It is helpful to raise readers awareness， to lead them to conduct critical thinking. We should build a more just， reasonable and well-being society with the instrument of critical linguistics.

References：

[1]Fairclough，N.（1989）Language and Power[M].London： Longman.

[2]Fairclough，N.（1992）Critical Discourse Analysis[C].London.

[3]Fairclough，N.（1995）Media Discourse Analysis：Critical Study of Language[M].London.

[4]Fairclough，N.（1997）Critical Discourse Analysis[A].London.

[5]Halliday，M.A.K.（2000）An Introduction to Functional Grammar [M].London：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.endprint