A Comparative Analysis Of Modality In The News Reports On China-US Trade Disputes

This thesis tries to make a comparative analysis of modality in the news reports on2018 China-US trade disputes from a critical discourse analysis(CDA)perspective,so as to explore the stances of the two countries on the trade disputes and the ideologies reflected in the news reports.Altogether 208 pieces of news reports from China Daily and the Washington Post respectively are selected and the total number of words is 149168,74575 from the former and 74593 from the latter.The statistical software Microsoft and Ant Conc are used to analyze the distribution of modality in the news texts.The corpora of this study come from the official websites of China Daily and the Washington Post:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/;https://www.washingtonpost.com/.The results show that the Chinese and American media have similarities and differences in the use of modality resources,which is embodied in the forms,types,values and positions of the modal elements.In general,the reports of both sides employ more congruent forms of modality than modal metaphors.Among congruent forms of modality,finite modal operators(modal auxiliaries)are used most frequently in the reports of both sides.However,the Washington Post uses more past forms of modality than China Daily does.As for types of modality,probability takes up the largest proportion in the reports of both sides,but the percentage of obligation in China Daily is higher than that in the Washington Post.Values of modality vary among different types of modality,and in general,median value of modality distributes the most extensively in the reports of both newspapers.The difference lies in that the number of high value modal elements in China Daily is larger than that of low value elements,while the situation is just the opposite in the Washington Post.With regard to modal metaphors,objective metaphors outnumber subjective ones in both media,which is in accordance with the objective tenor of news discourse.Lastly,modal elements that appear in direct and indirect speeches are much more in the Washington Post than in China Daily.Modal elements in China Daily mainly appear in narrative speeches.As can be seen from these similarities,both Chinese and American media are inclined to make use of modality resources to open up dialogic space and allow other voices to engage in when expressing subjective views probably so as to achieve apparent objectivity.But the differences in the types and values of modality between the two media also shows that,on the whole,China Daily appears to be more resolute and confident when making propositions or giving proposals.Besides,to some extent,China Daily is more willing to take on the responsibility of discourse when reporting,while the Washington Post is adept at shirking responsibility when expressing subjective views and it tries to legitimize the motivation to wage a trade war,which can be reflected in the differences of the positions of modal elements between China Daily and the Washington Post.