An Ecological Discourse Analysis Of Energy Discourse From The Perspective Of Engagement System Based On BP’s Energy Outlook

As a central paradigm for ecolinguistics,ecological discourse analysis(hereafter referred to as EDA)urges linguists to reveal the impact of language on the ecosystem and environment through linguistics.Energy acts as the driver for civilization and globalization and closely relates to economic growth and the environment.The environmental challenge arising from energy use deserves our attention.The existing studies reveal that few EDA studies within Systemic Functional Linguistics focus on the analysis of energy discourse.Therefore,based on the engagement system,the present study aims to conduct an EDA of BP’s Energy Outlook,under the guidance of the “diversity and harmony,interaction and coexistence” ecosophy.The present study deals with the following research questions:(1)What are the distributions of engagement resources in BP’s Energy Outlook?(2)What are the characteristics of engagement resources in BP’s Energy Outlook?(3)What are the ecological orientations of engagement resources in BP’s Energy Outlook?To explore the research questions mentioned above,the present study selects 11 editions of BP’s Energy Outlook altogether and adopts a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.It tends to portray the distributions of engagement resources in BP’s Energy Outlook,analyze the characteristics from engagement manner,engagement orientation,engagement source,and engagement content,and ultimately explore the ecological orientations.The major findings of the present study go as follows: Firstly,as for the distributions of engagement resources,BP’s Energy Outlook covers all the types of engagement resources but shows uneven distributions.Generally,there are more heteroglosss resources than monogloss resources in BP’s Energy Outlook.Within the heterogloss resources,there are larger contraction resources than expansion resources.The contraction resources are most commonly realized by the counter resources within disclaim resources,while the expansion resources are primarily realized by the relative entertain resources within entertain resources.Secondly,as for the characteristics of engagement resources,in terms of engagement manner,the distributions of 10 types of engagement manners are uneven and the linguistical realization of each engagement manner shows variation.The monogloss manner is construed by bare assertions in BP’s Energy Outlook,while the rest of engagement manners are achieved through diversified lexico-grammatical resources.In addition,BP’s Energy Outlook attempts to close and limit the dialogic space by using monogloss manner,etc….In terms of engagement orientation,the definite type is largely reflected in BP’s Energy Outlook.The definite engagement orientation is primarily expressed by using monogloss manner,counter manner,etc.,to show the firm stance of writers.In terms of engagement source,the engagement source all manifests as non-individual.The non-individual engagement source tends to not frame the accurate source of discourse,which refers to the general public or members of BP.The plural first person “we” and “our” are used to represent BP’s stance.In terms of engagement content,the engagement resources largely follow the ecosophy.BP’s Energy Outlook attempts to show positive ecological views toward humans’ behavior on energy transition.However,the engagement content characterized as violating the ecosophy unveils some deficiencies in the course of energy transition.Thirdly,as for ecological orientations of engagement resources,the overall ecological orientations show preferences to eco-beneficial engagement.Sequentially,eco-beneficial engagement holds the largest proportion and eco-destructive engagement is the second largest,while eco-ambivalent engagement owns the lowest frequency.Detailed analysis of eco-beneficial engagement indicates that humans are trying to realize low carbon through technical innovation and policy intervention,while the eco-destructive engagement reveal that the existing technologies are not sufficient enough to improve energy efficiency,and the impetus for policy intervention is slightly insufficient.The present study employs the engagement system as the theoretical framework to conduct an EDA of BP’s Energy Outlook.In the first aspect,it promotes the application of the engagement system in EDA and provides a new research direction for energy discourse analysis.In the second aspect,it can reveal the existing environmental problems in energy sector reflected in BP’s Energy Outlook for humans to arouse people’s awareness of environmental protection.