A Corpus-based Study Of Stance Markers In Diplomatic Translation And Its Implications For China’s National Identity Construction

Globalization is changing the world and the society at large as well as the national image to which it is attached.As the world’s most important developing country,China,like any other countries in the world,is constructing its national identity through national discourse.Stance markers,which indicate subjective attitudes,feelings,remarks,and diplomatic discourse,is an important technique of building national identity.Using stance markers properly will bring great impact the national identity construction.Under the stance system framework,the researcher used a corpus-driven method to analyze the discourse of Chinese spokespersons at regular press conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its role in the construction of national identity.This study extracts the English translated transcripts of 242 regular press conferences from January 2,2020 to December 31,2020.This study mainly addresses the distribution of different types of stance markers and China’s national identities in these discourses.The researcher employs corpus technology to analyze quantitative and qualitative outcomes.The quantitative analysis uses corpus analysis approaches for high-frequency words,keywords,collocations,etc.to show how spokespersons choose position markers in various contexts.The qualitative analysis,however,aims to uncover the forms and characteristics of national identity construction.Conclusions are drawn from frequency of four types of stance markers and three national identities in construction were discussed.Result shows that the spokespersons use four types of stance markers to establish national identity:hedges,boosters,attitude markers,and self-mentions.Three identities of China as a world’s order protector,a contributor to global common development,and a peacekeeper are constructed.This study examines the positive influence of stance markers on the construction of national identity in the regular press conferences of the MFA throughout 2020 and provides reference for constructing a responsible image of a major power in the world.