| Critical Discourse Analysis, emerging in the late1980s as a programmatic development in European discourse studies, was spearheaded by Norman Fairclough, Ruth Wodak, Teun van Dijk, and other scholars. Since then, it has become one of the most influential and visible branches of discourse analysis. The main task of CDA is to uncover the ideology and power hidden in discourses and at the same time to expose the interaction and influence of discourses on people’s ideology. CDA has a short history, but enjoys a prosperous development in recent years both at home and abroad. At present, the study on CDA at home mainly focuses on the political news report from the mass media. However, not so much attention has been paid to the discourses spoken by the government itself, especially discourses in our mother tongue, Chinese. Official documents usually have a fixed pattern to express the government’s interest and ideology. The present study takes the news reports on Influenza A (H7N9), which was updated by the emergency office of China’s Ministry of Health, as the analysis subjects. And it is hoped that, to a certain degree, the study of discourses in Chinese can enrich the development of CDA.The present study employs Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar as the analytical tool to conduct the analysis of these news reports on H7N9from three perspectives:transitivity, modality and theme, which are the three main grammatical structures to realize language’s meta-functions, i.e. ideational, interpersonal and textual functions proposed by Halliday. It mainly focuses on two case studies of news reports from Shanghai and Beijing to reveal the linguistic structures and the difference between the two pieces of reports so as to give some reflection on government’s official documents and reaction to emergencies.The thesis totally consists of five chapters. Chapter1introduces the background knowledge of CDA and the situation of the epidemic H7N9, and the objective to be achieved in the thesis. Chapter2presents an introduction about the theoretical foundation of CDA including its concept, development history, some major concepts in this field and the relationship between language, power and ideology. Chapter3mainly talks about the practical analytical tool, Systemic-Functional Grammar, and three language features to realize the three meta-functions of language:transitivity, modality and theme. Chapter4conducts two case studies of these reports, which are from Shanghai and Beijing. It carries out the comparative analysis in terms of transitivity, modality and theme, which are the intermediaries to achieve language’s three meta-functions. Chapter5draws a conclusion and uncovers the covert ideology permeating language and makes some reflection on how we can benefit from CDA and where it will go in the future.Through the study, it can be seen that concrete and timely information is the best way to appease the masses when a crisis happens, and that news reports including the public’s most concerned information are the good ones. There is no doubt that these news reports have played a significant role in the fight against H7N9. And also, the study of CDA has its practical significance in strengthening the public’s critical language awareness and inspiring the foreign language teaching in China. |
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