A Contrastive Analysis Of Engagement Resources In The News Reports On Xiamen Summit By Chinese And American Media

The present study takes Engagement system,a sub-system of Appraisal Theory,as its theoretical framework,choosing 60 pieces of news from Washington Post and China Daily on Xiamen Summit as its study materials.With the assistance of UAM corpus Tool,a linguistic analytical instrument,this study employs both qualitative and quantitative analysis,aiming at exploring the similarities and differences in the distribution of Engagement resources in the selected news reports,further revealing their hidden attitudes and stances when reporting Xiamen Summit.Both similarities and differences do exist in the selected news reports.Three similarities are discovered: 1)Compared with Contract resources,Expand resources are preferred in the two news media.Though American pressmen reject the immense impact of Xiamen Summit while Chinese pressmen bear the opposite opinion,both of them tend to offer dialogical space for alternative voices in order to avert conflicts with putative readers.2)Within Attribute subsystem,Distance resources occupy a rather small proportion while Acknowledge resources are much more preferred by both American and Chinese reporters.Since Distance leaves more space for alternative voices,it does not contribute too much for the reporters to persuade readers to accept their propositions.3)Under the subsystem of Disclaim,both media prefer Counter to Deny,for the reason that Deny normally oppose the different stances too directly,yet Counter resources tactically help the readers with opposite propositions accept the reporters' voice to a maximal degree.With regard to the differences in Expand,1)within Entertain,American reporters,using lots of may,tend to show their uncertain attitude towards whether the Xiamen Summit had achieved substance results for BRICS members,while Chinese reporters,employing numerous should,are more likely to show the determination to jointly build extensive development partnerships.2)Attribute resources in China Daily outweigh those in Washington Post.And,American reporters are apt to cite some external voices from third-party people.In contrast,Chinese reporters tend to cite some voices from people of their own side that stand for the position of China.In this way,the news reports in Washington Post are more convincing compared to those of in China Daily.With regard to the differences in Contract,1)Disclaim resources are more widely-used in Washington Post than in China Daily.It is shown that positive expectation of BRICS countries are conveyed by American reporters first,and then they shatter the expectation and express their negation of Xiamen Summit.Whereas Chinese reporters demonstrate the current challenges existing in BRICS members at first,and then express their confidence and determination to conquer these challenges.2)In terms of Proclaim,Washington Post prefers Pronounce resources.On the contrary,China Daily employs Concur resources and Endorse resources more often.Furthermore,American reporters usually give a proposition followed by an concrete reason to support their propositions.While Chinese reporters,in most instances,merely state their propositions without providing a firm supporting testament.Hence,compared with news reports in China Daily,news reports in Washington Post can achieve the putative readers' recognition of their standpoints more easily.The underlying causes of such differences may stem from cultural background,diplomatic policy,and media properties as well.This study is helpful to employ the right Engagement resources in order to establish a desirable relationship in dialogic context.Meanwhile,it is hoped to provide pedagogical implication to reading news discourse with critical thinking ability.Additionally,this thesis provides an authentic linguistic perspective for those people who want to dig the truth about Xiamen Summit.