Argumentations In Diplomatic Texts

Making speeches or publishing signed articles during state visits in other countries has become an important way for state leaders to propagate their ideologies and construct the image of the country.They use argumentations in the speeches and articles to make the listeners and readers accept their politic theories or behave as they require.Given the differences on national conditions and cultures,leaders may use different argumentations for diverse purposes.Therefore,the thesis tries to analyze and compare the argumentations in texts of German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese president Xi Jinping within the framework of argument analysis.Through the research,we should get a preliminary understanding of the similarities as well as differences of argumentative intentions and structures in the texts of the two state leaders.This research bases on the argumentative model of Toulmin,who breaks arguments down into six component parts: claim(conclusion),grounds(data),warrant,qualifier,rebuttal,and backing.In order to analyze the structures of argumentations,this research objects on warrant and backing parts and classify arguments in the texts into specific types accordingly.For the sake of objectivity,this study integrates the qualitative and quantitative research method and build a corpus.A research procedure is with the references of qualitative content research designed: “summary-extraction and reconstruction of argumentations-classification and analysis of argumentations-review and discussion on results”.The texts in the mini-corpus are analyzed according to this procedure and the following conclusions are drawn:In terms of content and themes,both Merkel and Xi affirm the achievements of cooperation between China and Germany and express their willingness to closer cooperation.Merkel elaborates respectively her arguments on rule of law,sustainable development and economical solidarity in the three speeches,while Xi pays more attention to display the image of China and lists the measures and directions for future cooperation between China,Germany and G20-States.In terms of argumentative structure and types,causality-argumentations are used most frequently.There are two forms of causality-argumentations: making the causal relationship clear while implying the behavior as conclusion of the argumentation;listing the behaviors as conclusion while implying the causal relationship.The later form can be seen mainly in Xi's signed articles.The number of exampleargumentations,which are used to prove the correctness of descriptive statements,ranks second.There are more argumentations of other types in Xi's Texts,such as analogy-and authority-argumentations,which makes his texts more literary.Moreover,Xi uses consequence-argumentations in his texts to demonstrate,that China was,is and will always be a peace-loving country.There are also differences in interaction and cofunction of argumentations.While vertical patterns are more frequent in Merkel's speeches to be found,there are more horizontal patterns in Xi's texts.One of the reasons of above-mentioned differences is the medium form.The length of articles in the press is limited,so that people cannot elaborate and argue one theme in details,which reduces the likelihood of vertical argumentative chains occurring.Secondly,the two countries have different discourse system and national image construction needs.Since Germany,as a developed country with experiences in some domains,is qualified to put forward some requirements and recommendations.Meanwhile,some are prejudiced against China and even believe the “China threat theory”.Therefore,China is more eager to project a positive image in the diplomatic texts and to express its willingness to act accordingly.This research is in following aspects of significance.Firstly,the extraction and reconstruction of argumentations in an argument analysis can uncover the tacitly presumed propositions and,by doing so,judge the persuasiveness and rationality of the argument.Secondly,analysis on diplomatic discourse of state leaders will help to understand and construct the national discourse system as well as to make comments on political discourse.Last but not least,the argument analysis,including capturing the macrostructure and understanding the microstructures,is a good training for students in German classes.It can exercise the ability of texts analysis and logical construction.