A Corpus-based Contrastive Study of the Reports on the Haze in China in the Chinese and American Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective

doi:10.12002/j.bisu.180

Abstract

Abstract:

Environmental protection, as a hot topic, has been drawing great attention for a long time. Especially, in recent years a number of haze reports have appeared and they hold different attitudes and opinions towards the haze phenomenon. At present, the virtual image of a country depicted by mainstream media is of great significance for the construction of national image. So, it’s necessary for us to make clear the ideological reflections within the haze report made by the western media, which is much beneficial for China to report in a more proper and suitable way. The perspective, critical discourse analysis provides us with some inspirations and insights into the analysis of ideology. To be specific, dialectical-relational approach (DRA) is employed during the process of critical discourse analysis. The analytical framework is constructed from the following four stages: stage one, to focus upon a social wrong, in its semiotic aspect; stage two, to identify obstacles to addressing the social wrong; stage three, to consider whether the social order “needs” the social wrong; stage four, to identify possible ways to overcome the obstacles. This paper, based on a self-established mini corpus, explores the differences about the haze reports in the Chinese and American media. The data analysis is carried out from the four aspects: word frequency, concordance line, collocates, and clusters. After the microstructure analysis of data and the macrostructure analysis with DRA, it is found that the reports on the haze reveal great differences in the media, which in fact is a good reflection of the ideological disparity. The American media, intending to set up a negative image of China, lays great emphasis on the cause and effect of haze, while the Chinese media on the management and future prospects.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis; corpus; haze; ideology; ecological discourse; western media; national image

摘要：

本文以批评话语分析为研究视角,基于自建的关于中国雾霾报道的小型语料库,对比分析了中美媒体关于中国雾霾报道的异同。文章从词频、索引行分析、搭配词表、搭配短语4个方面进行了数据对比分析。在进行批评话语分析时,具体采用了辩证—关系分析法,从4个阶段构建分析框架,即：阶段一,从符号层面关注社会弊端;阶段二,确定处理该社会弊端的障碍;阶段三,考虑社会秩序是否“需要”该社会弊端;阶段四,确定跨越障碍的可行性方法。经过数据微观结构分析和辩证—关系宏观结构分析,研究发现：中美媒体关于雾霾的报道呈现出较大差异,而这一差异反映了两国不同的意识形态。美国媒体更加关注雾霾成因及其危害,借此刻意渲染中国负面国家形象;相反,中国媒体则侧重关注雾霾的治理及未来展望,对本国重塑良好的国际形象充满了期待。

关键词: 批评话语分析, 语料库, 雾霾, 意识形态, 生态话语, 西方媒体, 国家形象

CLC Number:

H313

Ning LIU. A Corpus-based Contrastive Study of the Reports on the Haze in China in the Chinese and American Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective[J]. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 2018, 40(5): 37-53.

刘宁. 基于语料库的中美媒体关于中国雾霾报道的对比研究 ——以批评话语分析为视角[J]. 北京第二外国语学院学报, 2018, 40(5): 37-53.

Figures/Tables 6

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纽约时报			中国日报
Total No. of Word Types：3 640			Total No. of Word Types：3 470
Total No. of Word Tokens：18 816			Total No. of Word Tokens：18 853
1	176	China	1	215	air
2	174	said	2	215	said
3	161	Beijing	3	191	pollution
4	138	air	4	176	Beijing
5	119	pollution	5	141	smog
6	96	Chinese	6	119	China
7	75	alert	7	86	environmental
8	73	government	8	80	coal
9	67	red	9	71	haze
10	64	officials	10	71	PM
11	64	smog	11	65	quality
12	52	environmental	12	64	year
13	52	city	13	58	cities
14	48	coal	14	46	percent
15	45	people	15	40	city

纽约时报			中国日报
Total No. of Word Types：3 640			Total No. of Word Types：3 470
Total No. of Word Tokens：18 816			Total No. of Word Tokens：18 853
1	176	China	1	215	air
2	174	said	2	215	said
3	161	Beijing	3	191	pollution
4	138	air	4	176	Beijing
5	119	pollution	5	141	smog
6	96	Chinese	6	119	China
7	75	alert	7	86	environmental
8	73	government	8	80	coal
9	67	red	9	71	haze
10	64	officials	10	71	PM
11	64	smog	11	65	quality
12	52	environmental	12	64	year
13	52	city	13	58	cities
14	48	coal	14	46	percent
15	45	people	15	40	city

纽约时报						中国日报
Total No. of Collocate Types：71						Total No. of Collocate Types：89
Total No. of Collocate Tokens：144						Total No. of Collocate Tokens：222
Rank	Freq	Freq（L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate	Rank	Freq	Freq（L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate
1	20	20	0	1.43723	the	1	31	31	0	1.33571	the
2	13	13	0	6.46966	toxic	2	15	15	0	1.31681	of
3	12	12	0	2.90132	s	3	10	10	0	2.34998	s
4	10	10	0	1.29933	of	4	8	8	0	1.9705	for
5	6	6	0	2.20038	on	5	8	8	0	3.89972	an
6	3	3	0	2.23317	an	6	7	7	0	2.26167	with
7	2	2	0	0.23317	that	7	6	6	0	1.42457	on
8	2	2	0	5.50619	severe	8	6	6	0	0.2612	in
9	2	2	0	6.50619	poisonous	9	6	6	0	0.04775	and
10	2	2	0	3.23317	over	10	5	5	0	1.49084	The
11	2	2	0	5.28379	outdoor	11	5	5	0	3.45431	heavy
12	2	2	0	5.09115	national	12	5	5	0	5.19128	cold
13	2	2	0	2.23317	its	13	5	5	0	5.45431	against
14	2	2	0	4.28379	hazardous	14	4	4	0	4.99488	improve
15	2	2	0	1.61541	have	15	4	4	0	6.13239	cleaner
16	2	2	0	1.7513	from	16	3	3	0	5.23192	worsening
17	2	2	0	7.09115	foul	17	3	3	0	3.13239	reduce
18	2	2	0	5.09115	Embassy	18	3	3	0	3.95181	national
19	2	2	0	6.09115	battle	19	3	3	0	6.45431	dirty
20	2	2	0	4.92122	bad	20	3	3	0	3.79135	control
21	2	2	0	2.28379	about	21	3	3	0	4.86935	bad

纽约时报						中国日报
Total No. of Collocate Types：71						Total No. of Collocate Types：89
Total No. of Collocate Tokens：144						Total No. of Collocate Tokens：222
Rank	Freq	Freq（L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate	Rank	Freq	Freq（L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate
1	20	20	0	1.43723	the	1	31	31	0	1.33571	the
2	13	13	0	6.46966	toxic	2	15	15	0	1.31681	of
3	12	12	0	2.90132	s	3	10	10	0	2.34998	s
4	10	10	0	1.29933	of	4	8	8	0	1.9705	for
5	6	6	0	2.20038	on	5	8	8	0	3.89972	an
6	3	3	0	2.23317	an	6	7	7	0	2.26167	with
7	2	2	0	0.23317	that	7	6	6	0	1.42457	on
8	2	2	0	5.50619	severe	8	6	6	0	0.2612	in
9	2	2	0	6.50619	poisonous	9	6	6	0	0.04775	and
10	2	2	0	3.23317	over	10	5	5	0	1.49084	The
11	2	2	0	5.28379	outdoor	11	5	5	0	3.45431	heavy
12	2	2	0	5.09115	national	12	5	5	0	5.19128	cold
13	2	2	0	2.23317	its	13	5	5	0	5.45431	against
14	2	2	0	4.28379	hazardous	14	4	4	0	4.99488	improve
15	2	2	0	1.61541	have	15	4	4	0	6.13239	cleaner
16	2	2	0	1.7513	from	16	3	3	0	5.23192	worsening
17	2	2	0	7.09115	foul	17	3	3	0	3.13239	reduce
18	2	2	0	5.09115	Embassy	18	3	3	0	3.95181	national
19	2	2	0	6.09115	battle	19	3	3	0	6.45431	dirty
20	2	2	0	4.92122	bad	20	3	3	0	3.79135	control
21	2	2	0	2.28379	about	21	3	3	0	4.86935	bad

纽约时报						中国日报
Total No. of Collocate Types：37						Total No. of Collocate Types：72
Total No. of Collocate Tokens：74						Total No. of Collocate Tokens：152
Rank	Freq	Freq（L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate	Rank	Freq	Freq （L）	Freq（R）	Stat	Collocate
1	14	14	0	2.03118	the	1	24	24	0	1.57512	the
2	12	12	0	2.67089	of	2	10	10	0	1.34049	of
3	5	5	0	6.82116	heavy	3	9	9	0	4.91095	heavy
4	3	3	0	1.92665	that	4	6	6	0	6.06296	thick
5	3	3	0	2.00985	s	5	6	6	0	5.64792	severe
6	2	2	0	4.87774	toxic	6	5	5	0	0.60681	in
7	2	2	0	1.75673	for	7	4	4	0	6.74103	fighting
8	2	2	0	2.62982	by	8	3	3	0	1.64792	with
9	2	2	0	6.02975	bad	9	3	3	0	-0.32936	to
10	2	2	0	6.39232	As	10	3	3	0	1.39053	that
11	1	1	0	4.87774	worst	11	3	3	0	4.94748	recent
12	1	1	0	-0.84472	to	12	3	3	0	1.03321	on
13	1	1	0	2.07039	this	13	3	3	0	6.64792	combat
14	1	1	0	6.61471	thick	14	3	3	0	1.7531	by
15	1	1	0	7.19967	Thick	15	2	2	0	5.74103	without
16	1	1	0	1.01976	The	16	2	2	0	4.15606	winter
17	1	1	0	5.61471	tackle	17	2	2	0	0.77755	The
18	1	1	0	8.19967	struggles	18	2	2	0	5.47799	possible
19	1	1	0	5.61471	severe	19	2	2	0	6.47799	lingering
20	1	1	0	8.19967	pervasive	20	2	2	0	0.57914	for
21	1	1	0	6.19967	Over	21	2	2	0	5.74103	choking