A critical discourse analysis of chinese and vietnamese online media coverage of the east sea dispute002

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST SEA DISPUTE Phân tích diễn ngơn phê phán báo điện tử Việt Nam Trung Quốc đưa tin tranh chấp biển Đông M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI, 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN ĐẶNG MAI LINH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST SEA DISPUTE Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán báo điện tử Việt Nam Trung Quốc đưa tin tranh chấp biển Đông M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân HANOI, 2017 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST SEA DISPUTE” is the result of my own study It was conducted with scientific guidance of Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân The data and conclusions of the study presented in the thesis have never been published in any form Post-graduate student Nguyễn Đặng Mai Linh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of many people, and I would like to show my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taught me, inspired me, challenged me, and supported me throughout the realization of this thesis I would like to express my deep gratitude towards my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, for his constant and invaluable assistance without which my study would be far from finished I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers and staffs at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi whose support and consideration have enabled me to pursue the course Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my beloved family and my close friends for their love, encouragement, and support while I was conducting this research Hanoi, April 2017 Nguyễn Đặng Mai Linh ii ABSTRACT This study is a critical discourse analysis of Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage of the East Sea dispute from May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014 A critical discourse analysis was made to delineate the contrasting representations of China and Vietnam With the purpose of discerning the underlying ideologies of the reporters, Fairclough‟s CDA framework and Halliday‟s systemic-functional theory were used to analyze the news reports The study just focused on some linguistic features of the text In terms of lexical choice, only overwording was analyzed Then with respect to grammatical analysis, transitivity was scrutinized The researcher made an attempt to illustrate the relationship between language, ideology and political stance The findings showed that the underlying ideologies hidden in the news discourse revolved around “us” and “them” side The online media coverage of both China and Vietnam intended to present the positive selfrepresentation while disparaging the other-representation In other words, their own country was depicted in favorable light as a rational, peace-loving, law-abiding country Meanwhile, the opponent was portrayed as an aggressor who acted brashly, illegally in the law-based community iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Interpretation stage 10 Figure 2: Explanation stage 11 Figure 3: The distribution of processes in Vietnamese news and Chinese news .19 Figure 4: The distribution of Actors in the material processes 21 Figure 5: The distribution of Goals in the material processes 23 Figure 6: The distribution of Sayers in the verbal processes 25 Figure 7: The distribution of the relational processes 28 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1:The main themes in Vietnamese online news coverage 33 Table 2:The main themes in Chinese online news coverage 33 Table 3: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Vietnamese online news coverage 35 Table 4: The frequency of inter-related words to sovereignty in Chinese online news coverage 35 Table 5: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s legal operation in Chinese online news coverage 37 Table 6: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s disruptive activities in Chinese online news coverage 38 Table 7: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s illegal operation and disruptive activities in Vietnamese online news coverage 39 Table 8: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s legal operation and defense in Vietnamese online news coverage 40 Table 9: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on Vietnam‟s activities in Chinese online news coverage 40 Table 10: The frequency of inter-related words expressing viewpoints on China‟s activities in Vietnamese online news coverage 41 Table 11: The frequency of inter-related words to China‟s peaceful measures and strategies in Chinese online news coverage 42 Table 12: The frequency of inter-related words to Vietnam‟s peaceful measures and strategies in Vietnamese online news coverage 42 Table 13: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in Chinese online news coverage 43 Table 14: The frequency of inter-related words to international law and act in Vietnamese online news coverage 44 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the research Scope of the research Aim and objectives of the research Significance of the research Research methodology Design of the research PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of CDA 1.1.1.The definitions of CDA 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.2 Fairclough‟s three-dimension framework of CDA 1.3 Halliday‟s systemic functional approach and CDA 1.4 Transitivity 1.5 Overview of related studies vii CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES 2.1.The background to the event 2.2.Data collection 2.3.Research method 2.4.Data analysis procedure CHAPTER 3: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ONLINE NEWS ABOUT THE EAST SEA DISPUTE 3.1.Transitivity analysis 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.2.Overwording PART C: CONCLUSION 1.A summary of the findings 2.Limitation and recommendation for further studies REFERENCES APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: THE 10-QUESTIONS MODEL OF THE DESCRIPTION STAGE (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001:92-93) APPENDIX 2: CHINESE NEWS REPORTS APPENDIX 3: VIETNAMESE NEWS REPORTS APPENDIX 4: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF CHINESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS APPENDIX 5: EXTRACTED TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF VIETNAMESE ONLINE NEWS REPORTS viii V three other Viet C China C (ships and aircr V the People's Arm V (the People's Ar C Chinese vessels C the number of C XXXII C They (Chinese C many Chinese a V The marine pol C C two groups aircraft China C+V Events leading C+V Events C the oil rig and t C the oil rig C it C (China) O an international V Vietnam C the Chinese oil C China's actions C China V Vietnam C China V V The Ministry of the Vietnam Oi (The Ministry o the Vietnam Oi C CNOOC C (CNOOC) V Pham Binh Min V (Pham Binh Mi V V Vietnam‟s Mini (Vietnam‟s Affairs) O The U.S and Ja O (The U.S and J XXXIII C China's actions C a provocation O This O Many experts C China's move C China C (China) C the Haiyang Sh V a senior official Fisheries Surve C canvas sheets C canvas sheets C (Chinese milita V Nguyen Van Tr C The ships C (The ships) V Vietnamese forc V Trung C China C 119 ships V he C China C two more warsh V he V Vietnam Fisher (VietnamFisheri V ships) C China C many Chinese s C (many Chinese C (many Chinese V he C Chinese ship XXXIV V it V Trung C Chinese fishing V the Vietnamese V (the Vietnamese V Trung V fishing boat QN V it V Vietnamese fish V their tools V The Quang Nga V The Vietnam F Force V they V Trung V (they) V Vietnam C China V Vietnam‟s wat C (dispatching a Vietnam‟s oil a any other are Vietnam‟s wate C (China) V Le Hai Binh V The spokesman C China C it V Binh China‟s rig Hai C large number of C escort ships C The rig‟s locati XXXV C Chinese ships C (Chinese ships) C (Chinese ships) V Vietnamese coa surveillance ves C The actions by C (The actions by C (The actions by V Vietnam V (Vietnam) V Binh V Vietnam C Haiyang Shiyou V the area C C Operations of th of China (Operations of t of China) O international law V the spokesman V Vietnam O international law V Binh V (Binh) C China V The spokesman V Vietnam C China‟s oil rig C The rig and th escort ships C it (the rig) C Chinese ship 11 V Boat DNa 9015 V it C+V XXXVI The incident C V China‟s Haiyan representatives Ministry V All 10 fisherme O This V Vietnamese fish V boat operation V Vietnamese fish V their properties V (the boat) V the boat V (the boat) V Quang C the attack V fishing boat QN V fishing boat QN V fishing boat QN C China C China C Chinese ships C (Chinese ships) V Vietnamese coa surveillance shi C (Chinese ships) V many Vietname V V C+O officers Liem province of Bin many firms‟ op V Liem V He V the province an XXXVII Public Security V (the province an Public Security V Binh Duong V Binh Duong V (Binh Duong) V (Binh Duong) C+O them V The official V the province V (the province) V (the province) C+O them V Mr Bui Manh L C+O 80% of the ente C+O (80% of the ent C+O 35 companies in C+O nearly 10 C+O The general dir Vietnam Ltd O his company O (his company) O our factory O we O O A representativ Vietnam the company O (the company) C+O 65% of the ente C+O Several other en C+O 50 percent of th C+V+O tens of thousand V at least 950 peo V (at least 950 pe XXXVIII V (at least 950 pe V (at least 950 pe V Minister of Pub Quang V He V local authorities V (local authoritie V those XXXIX ... ABSTRACT This study is a critical discourse analysis of Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage of the East Sea dispute from May 1, 2014 to July 16, 2014 A critical discourse analysis was... Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân HANOI, 2017 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that the thesis entitled ? ?A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE EAST. .. political stance It is for academic purpose only Aim and objectives of the research The study primarily aims to analyze Chinese and Vietnamese online media coverage of the East Sea dispute under the