A Corpus-based Study Of Meanings And Attitudes In Chinese Housing Texts

The present study aims to explore the underlying meanings and attitudes in China's housing texts, on the basis of a self-built corpus. Inspired by the work in Critical Discourse Analysis, the research approaches the housing texts at three levels, namely, linguistic forms, discursive interpretation and social explanation. Description and interpretation of textual data on the micro-level are realized by collocational studies of four sets of housing keywords and the investigation of the discursive features of four sub-corpora. And then, social interpretation of data explains and justifies the corresponding results on a macro-level. The major findings are presented as follows:a. Based on a keyword analysis, four sets of housing keywords are selected under the semantic categories of PRICE, GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS PEOPLE IN REAL ESTATE, and BUYER. Each keyword is found to have preferred sets of collocates that contribute to its meaning constructions. Investigation of their semantic preferences and semantic prosodies reveals complex and contradictory interpretations, suggesting that different group members of the discourse community are engaged in the construction of word meanings for their own interests.b. A comparative study of the four sub-corpora discovers the discursive differences of four types of texts, namely, documents and statements issued by government institutions, news reports released by the press and major websites, articles posted on the weblogs of real estate analysts and professionals, and articles written by netizens. Their distinctive lexical features and discursive strategies exhibit how diverse attitudes are realized in the discourse and how different interest groups endeavor to exert influence on the audience through the use of language.c. Though the housing discourse embraces a variety of attitudes, most of them demonstrate, to different degrees, the ideology of pursuing financial profits. This overwhelming ideological implication is largely responsible for the overall negative evaluation of the housing discourse.d. The social context analysis has established a model of interpreting the interrelationships among the government, property developers and buyers in connection with the housing price, revealing their unequal positions in the housing market. It has also explored how and why different interest groups amplify ideology-based notions by exerting influence on the audience through media.