A Proximization Analysis On Political Discourse

Politics and political discourse are closely related to people's daily life.In recent decades,foreign and domestic scholars have conducted extensive researches on political discourse.As one of the approaches in political discourse analysis,Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA)is characterized as being multiple-disciplinary.These years,cognitive factors are taking major parts in the analysis of persuasive and manipulative discourses and construals in discourse.And as it is known to all,the United States is still the only superpower on the planet.Its political decisions and viewpoints on international affairs shall affect the world up to now.At the 73 rd session of the United Nations General Assembly,United States President Donald Trump made his Remarks on domestic and international situation,which caused heated discussion among the public and the media.Therefore,based on Proximization Theory by Cap(2006,2008,2014,2017),our research constructs a proximization model for Trump's Remarks.By applying this model,the thesis mainly analyzes Trump's speech from two perspectives: inside deictic centers(IDCs)and outside deictic centers(ODCs).Both of them can be applied to explain the reasons for conflicts and collisions between the United States and threats outside,and cooperation with its allies and friends.Then a detailed proximization analysis is carried out,which further investigates the proximizing strategies used in Trump's Remarks.First,the thesis explores American society and its unique social cognition where hearers(American people)live,so as to reveal the underlying reasons why Trump's Remarks can achieve its purpose.The results show that only when both discourse construction(speakers)and discourse construal(hearers)processes are carried out smoothly,the political purpose of the discourse can be successfully realized.Next,the discourse has fully used three types of proximization strategies;they are spatial,temporal and axiological proximization.Cap(2014)names the analyzing system Spatial-Temporal-Axiological Analytic Model,or STA Model.In his speech,Trump proximizes “them”(ODC,usually bad things or impacts outside)to us(IDC,usually good things from inside)from the three approaches mentioned above,which construct strong conflicts and form a sense of urgency to take actions against(possible)bad things.In the dimension of discourse construal,“we”(citizens fromthe United States)base our understanding on American society and its social cognition,for example,a strong sense of national superiority/ individualism/America-First ideology etc.,which help “us” better understand and accept Trump's Remarks.Ultimately,Trump's Remarks contribute to the successful achievement.In other words,the purpose in political discourse of Trump and his administration has been achieved.The thesis conducts a thorough analysis on the political discourse from the approach of proximization.Furthermore,the findings from this thesis can help readers better understand political discourse as well as the intentions behind it,and deepen the understanding of Proximization Theory.