A Study On Persuasive Strategies In Argumentative Discourse Of Chinese And American Hosts From Perspective Of Aristotle’s Rhetoric

Based on the theoretical guidance of Aristotelian Rhetoric,the author studied the persuasive strategies used by CGTN host Liu Xin and FOX Business Network host Trish Regan in their TV debate which took place on May 30^th,2019 and was mainly about China-US trade and other related topics.As the first time in history that hosts from China and the United States have made a distance communication,the debate plays a pivotal role in terms of the historic significance,the topics of exchange,the audience involved in,the debating styles and the actual effect.Referring to the existing studies,the author found that scholars paid more attention to how important it was in the field of communications than two hosts’use of persuasive strategies.Both Liu Xin and Trish have their subjective and interactive subjective needs when facing the American audience before the program,which makes persuasion one of the salient features in this discourse.Considering the influence and compatibility of Aristotle’s rhetoric,the author focused on using his rhetorical persuasion theory to explore the characteristics of their use of persuasive strategies.Besides,this research drew on evidentiality,an explicit language mark related to the construction of discourse reliability,to present the speaker’s subjective intentions,the main factors of implementing persuasion behavior,and the tendency to use persuasive strategies.A combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis was adopted in this paper.The former means that the author analyzed the use of of evidentials of two hosts and found the specific categories,frequency and characteristics.Here,the author needs to emphasize that the meaning of evidentiality is mainly encoded by evidentials which are the linguistic markers that label the source and reliability of propositions.To complete this process,the author resorted to Jefferson’s transcription system and the classification model of evidentiality given by Chinese scholar Chen Zheng in 2017.The latter means the author discussed their discourse reliability and summarized their use of persuasive strategies through evidentiality.The results of quantitative analysis show that two hosts have similar characteristics in the use of evidentiality.First,the frequency of their evidentials encoding personal information,shared information and reporting information decreases in order.Second,those conveying indirect information are predominant in the evidentials for encoding personal information.Third,they often utilize explicit evidentials to encode shared information for the purposes of constructing discourse reliability and enhancing the persuasive effect.The results ofqualitative analysis show that evidentiality is closely related to persuasion behavior.Liu Xin and Trish were adept at using various evidentials to strengthen their arguments when practising persuasive strategies.Both of them attached great importance to enhancing the sharability and objectivity of propositions at the surface of the language,in order to weaken their subjective concepts and cognitive methods in indirect information.Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion are reflected obviously in their speeches.Liu Xin preferred rational appeals compared with the other two strategies.While Trish applied more ethos and pathos than logos to her argumentation.Liu Xin employed more logos to answer Trish’s sharp questions or clarify her misunderstandings.When using ethos,she intended to show the audience her frankness.The intersubjectivity of evidentiality reflected her realization of pathos.Trish’s ethical appeal was mainly embodied in the identity construction of both parties,emotional appeal in the accusations against China and rational appeal in the emphasis on China’s theft of American intellectual property.Through the research,the author believes that it is feasible to discuss speakers’persuasive strategies through evidentiality.Aristotle’s three appeals can guide us to analyze people’s persuasion better in argumentative discourse.As English learners,we can have a profound understanding of Aristotle’s classic rhetoric and the concept of evidentiality.For people engaged in foreign-related occupations,such as hosts of English programmes and intercultural communicators,they can also obtain some reflections on the persuasive methods of Liu Xin and Trish.In terms of language skills,both Liu Xin and Trish’s use of persuasive strategies has merit in their debates at least from their respective position.In terms of persuasion effect,Liu Xin maximized the use of rational appeal on the premise of standing firm towards national issues to demonstrate her generosity and wisdom of argumentation as a Chinese,which provides a good model for our daily debates or dialogues with foreigners.Conversely,Trish’s remarks were mixed with her subjective opinions or prejudices,which were suspected of influencing public opinion.Although Trish’s use of emotional and ethical appeals can indeed help her achieve part of aims,she neglected rational support and logical reasoning when frequently using these two strategies.In consequence,it is easy to pick holes and even mistakes in her arguments.Therefore,the guarantee of the propositions’truth value and rationality are the prerequisites to realize persuasion.Also,the appropriateness and coordination of persuasive strategies cannot be ignored.In addition to the linguistic features,what makes this debate characteristic is the difference in ideology and cultural identity between Liu Xin and Trish.On this basis,it is more necessary that English learners and hosts of intercultural communication should havetheir objective judgment.Apart from these two groups,scholars and critics in specific directions also need to eliminate the influence of ideology completely and focus on the field itself to study such kinds of discourses.