A Study On Metaphorical Framing Of Chinese Political Discourse In The New Era

Politics and language are inseparable.Political discourse has gradually become a specific discourse type in language studies.In recent years,there have been many political discourse studies in which cognitive linguistics theory is applied at home and abroad.However,the research object has mostly been Western political discourse,and little attention has been paid to Chinese political discourse in the new era.As an important window for the world to understand China’s current national situation and future development trends,Report on the Work of the Government is believed to be a typical kind of political discourse.Metaphor,as a basic cognitive tool for human beings to understand the world,is one of the effective ways to construct political discourse.Based on this background,with Report on the Work of the Government(2018～2021)as the research data,this study analyzes the conceptual metaphors in Chinese political discourse in the new era and tries to reveal the political ideas and moral values behind them.On the basis of conceptual metaphor theory and framing theory,this study adopts both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyze the selected Chinese political discourse in the new era(69,452 Chinese characters in total).There are three research questions to be addressed in the study:(1)What are the major metaphorical surface frames in Report on the Work of the Government(2018～2021)?(2)What deep frames are activated by metaphorical surface frames in Report on the Work of the Government(2018～2021)?(3)What is the metaphorical framing model of Chinese political discourse in the new era?The research findings are as follows:(1)There are nine dominant metaphorical surface frames in the Reports(Report on the Work of the Government from 2018 to2021),which are respectively building frame,journey frame,war frame,human being frame,machine frame,plant frame,circle frame,water flow frame and family frame according to the frequency of metaphorical expressions.(2)Through the analysis of the deep frames activated by the metaphorical surface frames in the Reports,it is found that deep frames are also hierarchical,in which moral values are the deepest frames and dominate the orientation of political discourse.Political philosophy is deeper frames and it influences the production of political discourse.To be specific,political philosophy in the Reports is reflected at domestic level and international level.At domestic level,metaphorical frames show the governance philosophy of “by the people”and “for the people”;at international level,metaphorical frames emphasize the political ideology of “win-win cooperation” and “friendly cooperation”.The moral values are mainly embodied in “people-orientation” and “harmony”.“People-orientation” is embodied as “people-centered” in the new era;“harmony” includes the harmony between man and nature,social harmony,and harmony with all other countries.(3)From the perspective of discourse construction,the metaphorical framing model of Chinese political discourse in the new era can be generalized as: moral values →political philosophy → conceptual metaphors → metaphorical expressions.The key to improving the acceptance of political discourse lies in expressing and disseminating national policies on the basis of moral values that are acceptable to the audience.The research on political discourse in the new era from the perspective of metaphorical framing enriches the study of Chinese political discourse and broadens the research horizon of political discourse.In a practical sense,this study is expected to help people better understand Chinese political discourse in the new era.At the same time,it may provide some reference and enlightenment for politicians to construct discourse when they publicize their political opinions.