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Project

Analysis of presupposition triggers in Mandarin and their use in Chinese official media discourse

The notion of presupposition, as studied in the field of Pragmatics, refers to knowledge that is taken for granted by participants in the exchange of information (Grundy, 2000). Serving as a strategy for generating implicit meaning, presupposition becomes a potent tool for influencing audience understanding by converting evaluative information into background knowledge. This study examines how presuppositions are used in the Chinese official press narratives (Renmin Ribao and Xinhua Daily Telegraph) to gene rate latent meaning about two case studies, namely (1) the Sino US trade conflict in its initial stages from March to December 2018, and (2) a domestic
case of the July 2021 flood disaster in Henan province. As presupposition manifests itself through linguistic carriers responsible for triggering presupposed messages (Potts, 2015), this study first surveys presupposition carrying devices in the Chinese language through deductive and inductive approaches. In particular, it is investigated whether the list of presupposition triggers, as proposed by Levinson (1983) for the English language, is also applicable in Chinese language contexts and whether any linguistic devices, particular to the Chinese language, can be found to operate as presupposition carriers th at do not easily fit Levinson's categories. The findings demonstrate that most triggers in the English language are also salient in the Chinese language. Moreover, other presupposition carrying devices specific to the Chinese language are also identified a nd discussed, and a fine tuning classification of Chinese presupposition carrying devices is provided.
After mapping all presupposition carrying devices in the Chinese language, this study proceeds to the second step, where it explores how presuppositions serve as implicit tools for generating meaning within the specific media contexts of the empirical cases. A case study approach is employed to examine instances of presuppositions and investigate their roles in Chinese mediadiscourse, drawing on insights from both Anglo American and Chinese scholarship regarding the functionality of presupposition in language use. The qualitative analysis illustrates that presuppositions, as used in the corpora investigated, fulfil various roles, not in the least to generate meaning on an implicit level by presenting information as taken for granted assumptions (Atlas, 2005; Huang, 2014; Macagno, 2019), but also contribute to achieving persuasive aims (Sbisà, 1999) to potentially influence people's minds.
Additionally, a comparative analysis of the frequency and distribution of these triggers in the two case studies is conducted using a quantitative approach, supported by statistical tests. The results indicate that the dominant carriers responsible for the informative and p ersuasive roles are the same in the two cases. These carriers, which include 'de' structures, 'change of state verbs,' 'iteratives,' and 'definite descriptions,' function as the primary linguistic devices triggering presuppositions, serving either purely informative or more persuasive roles in the meaning generation process in Chinese media discourse.
Nevertheless, some differences emerge when it comes to the distribution of purely informative and more persuasive presuppositions in both case studies. In th e first case study on the Sino-US 2018 trade conflict, there is a higher occurrence of the persuasive role compared to the second case trade conflict, there is a higher occurrence of the persuasive role compared to the second case involving the domestic disaster. This finding suggests that the potential persuasive use of involving the domestic disaster. This finding suggests that the potential persuasive use of presuppositions could correlate presuppositions could correlate with the political or situational context. In a confrontational with the political or situational context. In a confrontational context, whether on a local or international scale, the likelihood of encountering varying opinions context, whether on a local or international scale, the likelihood of encountering varying opinions increases, and the need for a more persuasive force in the presuppositions may be deemed higincreases, and the need for a more persuasive force in the presuppositions may be deemed higher. her. Conversely, in a context devoid of contention, the demand for a persuasive use of presuppositions Conversely, in a context devoid of contention, the demand for a persuasive use of presuppositions tends to be relatively lower. Additionally, the ideological stances conveyed through presuppositions tends to be relatively lower. Additionally, the ideological stances conveyed through presuppositions in these two cases differ significantly. In the casein these two cases differ significantly. In the case of the Sinoof the Sino--U.S. trade conflict, the prevailing U.S. trade conflict, the prevailing ideological pattern focuses on attributing blame to the U.S. for initiating the trade war with China. ideological pattern focuses on attributing blame to the U.S. for initiating the trade war with China. China positions itself as a victim forced to react to this international trade conflict. In contrast, China positions itself as a victim forced to react to this international trade conflict. In contrast, whewhen examining the Henan flood disaster, the persuasive use of presuppositions predominantly n examining the Henan flood disaster, the persuasive use of presuppositions predominantly centres around praising the positive attributes of the constructed ingroup, which encompasses the centres around praising the positive attributes of the constructed ingroup, which encompasses the Chinese Communist Party, its officials, and the heroic actions of reChinese Communist Party, its officials, and the heroic actions of rescue teams.

Date:1 Oct 2018 →  1 Dec 2023
Keywords:Chinese discourse analysis, Presupposition, Media language
Disciplines:Theory and methodology of literary studies
Project type:PhD project