Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Critical discourse analysis (hereinafter referred to as CDA) has become a hot research method of linguistic study in recent years. CDA derives from critical linguistics, a discipline related with the methods of discourse analysis, which sprang up in the early 1980s. Critical linguistics holds that discourse is the result of the speaker’s choice of language structures and ideological meaning. Its methodology is mainly based on systemic-functional linguistics represented by M.A.K. Halliday and other linguistic theories. It focuses on the investigation of social and historical background of text production, distribution and consumption, and highlights the discovery and analysis of the ideological meanings in discourse that people often take for granted and they tend to neglect, so as to enable people to reexamine them.
As a kind of political discourse, diplomatic statement is a document in which the government expresses its position and policy on an international issue, an international event or foreign affairs. It generally includes government statement, foreign ministry statement, foreign ministry spokesperson statement, etc. The diplomatic statement contains abundant information that can well reflect the relationship between language, power and ideology, and the analysis of it will give us a better understanding of the diplomatic position of the big powers and the diplomatic situation in the modern world.
The Salisbury Attack refers to the incident that Sergei Skripal, the former Russian double agent, suffered from neurotoxin in Salisbury Country, England on March 4, 2018. This diplomatic crisis between Russia and Britain has become ever more violent, and the disputes between the two countries around the case unfold one after another. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issues a statement accusing Russia is the winner behind the incident, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation believes that Britain aims to launch an anti-Russian propaganda war with political purposes.
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1.2 Purpose and Significance
This paper tries to adopt Fairclough’s three-dimensional model to analyze Russian and British diplomatic statements related with Salisbury Attack, so as to illustrate the relation among language, power and ideology. The purposes of this paper are as follows:
First, based on the theoretical framework of systemic-functional grammar represented by Halliday, this paper tries to seek out the language strategies used by the both parties and how the two parties choose words and expressions to puzzle audience’s objective judgment and achieve their hidden political purpose.
Second, diplomatic statements infiltrate ideology into audience through using different language strategies. This paper attempts to reveal the role of discourse in spreading ideology and maintaining social relations.
Last, given a better understanding of the methods of disseminating ideology in diplomatic statements, readers can identify the hidden ideological meanings and hierarchy of power.
For these reasons, to conduct a research on diplomatic statement texts is of great theoretical and practical value.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical discourse analysis is a new branch of modern linguistics, it focuses on the influence of ideology on discourses and the effect of discourse to ideology by the analysis of external linguistic forms. Since its birth, critical discourse analysis has combined many disciplines, and developed its analytical theories and methodology, established a comprehensive and multidisciplinary theoretical study and discourse practice, which gives people a better understanding of the relationship between language and society.
2.1.1 The Origin and Development of CDA
Critical discourse analysis has developed gradually in Linguistics and expanded to other fields with the publishing of the book Language and Control by Fowler et al. (1979).
Critical discourse analysis has boomed in the past three decades, and a lot of Western linguists have devoted themselves in the development of CDA. The main representatives include R. Fowler, N. Fairclough, T.A. van Dijk and R. Wodak.
R. Fowler, one of the founders of CDA, puts forward the concept of critical linguistics in his book Language and control (1979), and elaborates on its theoretical sources, systemic-functional grammar and related analytical tools. R. Fowler (1986) explores how to apply specific analytical methods to news discourse analysis, and holds that the focus of critical linguistics is to make critical analysis of the production, internal structure and overall framework of a text①. R. Fowler (1991) regards news as a product of the social and political world in Language in the News, and examines the important role of language in mediating reality from the perspective of critical linguistics②.
N. Fairclough (1989) puts forward the famous three-dimensional model for linguistic study, which regards text as the product of discourse practice. The process of discourse practice consists of three parts: the production, distribution and consumption of text, which are determined by the specific conditions of social practice③. N. Fairclough (2000) reveals the true political significance of the Labor Party by investigating a series of political texts and rhetoric use in the texts④. Based on his theory, N. Fairclough (2006) studies the narrative of globalization in terms of social construction in Language and Globalzation and holds that it plays a conductive role in the real process of globalization.
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2.2 Research on Diplomatic Discourse from the Perspective of CDA
The research and analysis of critical discourse at home and abroad mainly involve the field of political discourse. As a kind of political discourse, diplomatic discourse has gradually attracted the attention of linguists in recent years. The studies on diplomatic statements include news reports on specific international events, speeches by state leaders, official statements, etc. The main purpose of diplomatic discourse is to disseminate the speaker’s ideology to the audience, and this process involves various linguistic strategies. This part mainly introduces the studies of diplomatic discourse analysis from the perspective of CDA at home and aboard.
2.2.1 Study on Diplomatic Discourse at Home and Aboard
Recently, foreign scholars focus more on applying critical discourse analysis into political fields and further promote the development of discourse practice. This part mainly introduces the research status of diplomatic discourse at home and abroad from the insight of critical discourse analysis, which is in terms of studies on news reports on specific international events, speeches by state leaders, official statements, etc.
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Chapter Three Theoretical Framework ................................................ 18
3.1 Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar ................................... 18
3.1.1 Ideational Function .......................................... 19
3.1.2 Interpersonal Function .................................... 23
Chapter Four Critical Discourse Analysis of British and Russian Diplomatic Statements .......................... 30
4.1 Study on Linguistic Elements in British and Russian Diplomatic Statements.............30
4.1.1 Explanation of British and Russian Social Background ....................... 31
4.1.2 Description of Linguistic Elements ............................. 33
Chapter Five Conclusions ....................................... 83
5.1 Main Findings .................................... 83
5.2 Implications of the study ................................... 85
5.3 Limitation and Suggestions............................. 86
Chapter Four Critical Discourse Analysis of British and Russian Diplomatic Statements
4.1 Study on Linguistic Elements in British and Russian Diplomatic Statements
Critical linguists hold that discourse is the result of the producer’s conscious choice in both formal structure and ideology. They hold that discourse is a social space in which two basic social processes occur simultaneously: social cognition and expression and social interaction. Therefore, the analysis of discourse can not be separated from the analysis of the process of discourse practice itself and the social context in which it occurs. Fairclough (1992) summarized it as a discussion of the complex relationship among text, discursive practice and social practice①.
Based on the crucial influence of social practice on text, the introduction of the English and Russian social background of the selected texts will be put in the first part, so that readers can better understand this thesis. Because the speakers of diplomatic statements are under certain social context and obtain specific position and responsibilities, they will publish texts of diplomatic statement with special linguistic strategies to conceal political purposes and achieve latent goals. The description and interpretation parts will put forward for later analysis.
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Chapter Five Conclusions
5.1 Main Findings
Power plays a significant role in modern society. Not only political power, but also discourse power makes great difference in social construction, which can be indicated in diplomatic statements. The texts of British and Russian diplomatic statement represent the national interests and positions of the two states, so the linguistic elements selected in the texts are used to permeate the ideology of the two parties. Since CDA discusses the latent ideology and social power behind the discourse, this paper selects it as analytical framework. Meanwhile, the thesis regards Fairclough’s three-dimensional model as the analytical framework to explore the difference of linguistic elements and linguistic strategies in British and Russian diplomatic statements. The main findings are follows:
First, Halliday’s three meta-functions play a great role in diplomatic statements. The system of classification, transitivity, modality and cohesion are all used by the spokesperson as the main linguistic strategies to gain support from the audience at home and aboard and achieve political goals.
Second, on the level of linguistic elements, the ideology reflected and constructed in linguistic strategies will be concluded as follows.
As for the system of classification, there are obvious differences in the keywords choice concerning the Salisbury incident in the texts of diplomatic declarations between Britain and Russia. Britain and Russia use different keywords to express their different national positions and attitudes towards the international events. The British side talks less about the victim of the case, and advocates expanding the situation, whereas the Russian side refuses to acknowledge it.
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