| Reported speech as an important part of news reports has been a topic of interest in linguistics.From a language-philosophical perspective,this study attempts to figure out the way reported speech generates its meaning in news media discourse.In this research,the way reported speech generates its meaning is assumed to be the way truth is strategically managed by reporters in news media discourse,and reported speech is regarded as a linguistic strategy used by reporters to manage the truth of their reports.To elucidate the mechanism governing the process of truth management,this study attempts to answer the following research questions: 1)What are the reporting devices often used by reporters? 2)How do the news reporters manage the truth with these devices? 3)Why do the reporters manage the truth by using these reporting devices?In order to answer these questions,this paper puts forward a conceptual framework of reported speech and truth management,within which cases of news reports from People’s Daily are analyzed.In the conceptual framework,the study mainly focuses on the reporting verb that plays an important part in managing the relation of the reported source and the reported clause.It also has dual effects in reporting.From the perspective of sentence structure,the reporting devices include the reported source,the reporting verb and the reported clause.Firstly,a new context can be created by the verb,which also influences the degree of truth.Secondly,of the reporting devices,the reporting verb could be regarded as an operator whose function is to combine the reported source and the reported clause together and the truth value of the sentence is their mapping.Meanwhile,the semantic meaning and the degree of truth is presented.Then the change of the degree of truth functions during the process when the audience read the news.In the end,the purpose of the reporter is achieved.Specifically,the study has categorized the news reports into three types andselected two examples from each category to discuss.The analysis process is as follows: in the generation mechanism,the process is dynamic and the study assumes that based on the reporting device(often a verb or a noun),a specific news context is set up.Then the reporter uses the reporting device as a link to connect the reported source and the reported clause.By projection,the relation between the source and the reported clause is adjusted,and meanwhile reported speech is reconstructed to optimum.Then the degree of truth of the reporting activity can be managed via the path of “reference and sense”,which also changes its semantic meaning.However,by obtaining changes of different degrees in the semantic meaning and the truth of the reported clause,the reporter’s intention and ideology are manifested in the news report.Finally,the aims of the reporter are achieved and the meaning of the reported speech is generated from that.The research has resulted in some findings which can support the basic assumption.Firstly,reporters use different reporting devices in news reports as a common phenomenon.In the midst of reporting,the management of these devices,in other words,the management of the degree of truth,is to achieve the reporters’ aims.Secondly,during the process of management,the reporting device is the base and it serves to adjust the forms of reporting devices and settle the news contexts.Then the interactions of the three devices constitute a reported speech that is to satisfy the reporters’ needs of reporting.And the degree of truth becomes relative with the operation.Meanwhile,it presents a dynamic change.Thirdly,reported speech is closely bound up with the ideology of reporters,the news contexts,the audience and other factors.In short,reporters can hardly keep an indifferent carriage in most news reports,and the management of the degree of truth is another way to express his opinions.It is hoped that this study can enlighten the audience so that they will be rational when they read news reports. |
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