A Contrastive Study Of Economic News About Sino-us Trade War From The Perspective Of Critical Discourse Analysis

Since the 1970 s,critical discourse analysis has been used by many scholars in news discourse.But most scholars tend to study such news discourses that embody obvious ideologies,such as disasters,military reports,racial discrimination and so on.Little attention was paid to the seemingly neutral economic news,especially the news about trade.Based on this,the study respectively selects 8 articles from China Daily and the Washington Post,totally 16 articles(about 16,000 words)on the Sino-US trade war about tariff issues as the research data.This study uses Fairclough’s three dimensional model as the theoretical framework and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar as the analytical tool.In the description part,by the use of qualitative and quantitative analysis,and it carries out from the perspective of lexical classification,transitivity and modality.The interpretation part explains the generation process of discourse through analyzing the news sources and reporting modes.In the social practice part,the text selection is reasonably explained from the perspectives of the Chinese and American social systems.The study tends to answer two questions: 1.What are the linguistic differences in the news reports of Sino-US trade war on tariffs between China Daily and the Washington Post? 2.How are the hidden ideologies expressed through linguistic features in the news reports?The study found that Chinese and American news reports do have differences in language use.In the description part,from the perspective of lexical classification,China Daily tends to use neutral or positive words to express China’s firm attitudes.While the Washington Post tends to use derogatory words to express that US is dissatisfied with China’s corresponding measures;as for the transitivity,China Daily expresses that China has the ability to resolve tariff issues,while the Washington Post indicates that China has violated the world economic order;as for the modality,both reports focus on the use of medium-value modal verbs.China Daily totally uses 42 modal verbs,but the Washington Post uses 92.The modal verbs are more likely to express the attitudes of the reporter.In terms of interpretation part,as for the news sources,China Daily uses more specific and semi-specific sources.While the Washington Post focuses on specific and unidentified sources.It is easier to express the attitude of the reporters from unidentified sources.In terms of reporting methods,China Daily portrays a positive China’s image,while the Washington Post portrays a negative China’s image.Like political and cultural discourse,economic news also exists hidden ideology to some extent.The hidden ideology in US news reports:(1)China violates the economic order of the world market;(2)the United States is dissatisfied with the way that China handles the trade war;(3)the US economy is ahead of China.Hidden ideology in Chinese newsreports:(1)The Chinese government has the ability to deal with trade war about tariff issues;(2)The United States is responsible for this trade war;(3)The trade war about tariff issues which started by US is unfavorable for the world economy,especially China.All in all,there exist language differences and hidden ideologies when reporting the economic news.There are some factors that influence the reporters attitude.So it is necessary to enhance this critical awareness when reading the economic news.