An Intertextual Study On National Identity Construction Of Some Developing Countries In The Economist

The study of language and identity construction has drawn attention from researchers in various subjects like linguistics,anthropology and sociology.It is generally believed that identity can be constructed by language.Recently,intertextuality has gradually become a focus of critical discourse analysis(CDA)and social linguistics.Analysis of intertextuality in nation identity construction aims to connect changes of the order of discourse with changes of society.Thus,ideology hidden from language and unequal distribution of power can be disclosed.Based on Norman Fairclough's approach of intertextual analysis of news within the paradigm of CDA and its combination with Foucault's new conception of history and text,this paper examines the effects of intertextuality on the discursive construction of some developing countries' national identities from both qualitative and quantitative perspective.As one of the British authoritative weekly magazine,The Economist is chosen as the material where the research data comes from.Specifically,from qualitative aspect,discourse,style and genre,which respectively associate with representational,identificational,and actional meanings of discourse,are presented to show intertextual strategies of identity construction.From quantitative aspect,supported by the corpus techniques,intertextuality between text and historical issues is summarized.Thus,an insight is taken into the relationship between discursive construction and representation of social phenomenon.Major results of this thesis are concluded as follows:(1)From qualitative aspect,The Economist prefers to quote voices from foreign experts,authorities,government and indefinite sources,constituting mixture of various voices.However,not all pieces of news are reported originally because sometimes the authors intrude their personal attitudes and prejudice on reports.Additionally,plenty of allusions,comments,and figures are embedded in news reports,making the articles a mixture of different genres.(2)From quantitative aspect,major focuses of developing countries in The Economist are depicted,mainly including the South China Sea,terrorism,political parties' problems and killing.Based on international relations and social-historical background,these major focuses correspond to historical issues involving “territorial disputes of China”,“IS and wars”,“dictatorship of political party” and “bad social security”,thus forming the intertextuality between text and historical issues.Repetition of these issues solidifies negative national identities.(3)Through analysis on The Economist,it can be concluded that developing countries have many historical problems.In general,reports of developing countries in the magazine turn out to be true but still have misleading and exaggerative comments.As a result,through intertextual analysis on identity construction,developing countries develop rapidly but full of contradictions,which will disrupt the peace order of the world consequently.The study attempts to provide a novel methodology and a new perspective for the study of intertextuality in national identity construction as well as help people increase their critical linguistic awareness.