A Study On The Discourse Of Xi Jinping’s New Year Speeches Based On Speech Act Theory

Language is doing things.This study uses speech act theory as an observation perspective and takes 9 New Year’s speeches from Chinese leader Xi Jinping over the past decade(2013-2021)as the research object to explore the characteristics of Chinese discourse such as New Year’s speeches for international communication.We have found that the theme of New Year’s speeches is fixed in two parts:domestic and global,and new concepts of China are increasing year by year,such as "a community with a shared future for mankind";The discourse is dignified and formal.In terms of tenor,discourse identity has multiple characteristics and make good use of addressing terms for dynamic adjustment.In terms of language format,discourse is spread unidirectionally through fixed official media,with weak interactivity and high preparation.In terms of speech act types,New Year’s speeches mainly involve four types of speech acts: representatives,directives,commissives,and expressives,without declarations.Each of the four types of speech acts has its own tendency.When implementing representative speech acts,they tend to use the declarative category;When implementing the directive speech act,it is unique to address the sub category without asking questions;when committing speech acts,use the oath category more often;when performing expressive speech acts,they tend to use the blessing category rather than the rejection category.After investigating the discourse characteristics of various speech acts,it is found that parallel sentences and first person subjects are commonly used in New Year’s speeches to implement various acts.When performing representative speech acts,judgment sentences are often used,not second person words,but future words;when implementing directive speech acts,use the modal verb yao and the imperative verb rang more often,only express positive meanings,without using interrogative sentences;when committing speech acts,the adverb yi ding,the modal verb neng,the adverb jiang,and the negative word are often used;when performing expressive speech acts,the first person singular subject is often used,and the prepositions xiang and wei are commonly used,with exclamatory sentences predominating.The New Year speeches mainly adopt pragmatic strategies such as metaphor and personal deixis.The types of metaphors are rich and diverse,including structural metaphors,positional metaphors,and ontological metaphors,making discourse concrete.At the same time,they are good at using first person plural subjects to enhance their sense of identity.This study creatively explores the types of speech acts and discourse characteristics of Chinese leaders’ New Year speeches based on speech act theory,which has certain reference value for constructing a discourse system of international communication with Chinese characteristics.