Abstracts of Papers in This Issue

TheinceptionofPrimaryMetaphorTheory:Itsoriginandevolution(p. 1)

SUNYi(Foreign Linguistic and Applied Linguistics Research Center, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420，China)

LIXue(Foreign Language School，Nanjing University of Finance and Economics，Nanjing 210023, China)

Primary metaphor is a very significant concept in cognitive linguistics that has attracted a considerable amount of research. Cognitive linguistics conducts more systematic description and interpretation for some relevant complicated linguistic phenomena. As for the limitation of the current research perspective, for example, the lack of the interpretation of relevant linguistic phenomenon and the misinterpretation of the communicative functions of the linguistic phenomenon, this paper assumes a nature relation between a linguistic form and its communicative relevance in the light of the Conceptual Integration Theory. From the perspective of the cognitive linguistics, this paper testifies the reliability of primary metaphor in dynamic context, and points out the shortage of conceptual metaphor. The agreement of the primary metaphor and the conceptual integration is a unique way of securing the presumption of optimal relevance, with the best cognitive contextual effect.

Analysisofthesemanticviewofderivingtheargumentstructure(p. 10)

NANChao(College of Foreign Languages, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, China)

Theta structure represents logical or semantic relationships, while syntax presents them in terms of the argument structure. There have been hot arguments about the derivation of the argument structure with all these arguments divided into two major views: the semantic and the syntactic. Constrained by space, this paper is merely intended to probe into the derivation of argument structure in light of the semantic view, which regards the derivation of argument structure as the result of the projection of the semantic properties of the predicate, while overemphasizing these properties and belittling the catalytic force of syntax in the derivative process. Due to more recent minimalist theories and some linguistic facts, the explanatory force of the semantic view is ineffective in terms of defining theta roles, expounding polysemy, constituting argument structure, evaluating semantic properties of CFCs and deriving compound argument structures.

Foreignacademicdiscourseresearch:TaketheanalysisofreportingverbsonChina-basedSSCIindexedEnglishjournalarticlesasanexample(p. 16)

SUNZhixiang&ZHOUMin(School of Foreign Studies, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China)

This paper uses the method of corpus quantitative research to analyze the usage characteristics of reporting verbs in China- and western-based SSCI indexed English journal articles from two aspects: the usage frequency and semantic categories of reporting verbs. The results show that in terms of the overall frequency of reporting verbs, reporting verbs used in Chinese academic English journal articles are relatively concentrated, and L2 writers tend to use high-frequency reporting verbs, such asfind,showand so on. As for the semantic meaning of reporting verbs, L2 writers tend to use more research act reporting verbs, which present the research process, less cognitive act and discourse act reporting verbs. Moreover, L2 writers avoid using reporting verbs with negative or critical semantic orientations. Based on these findings, this paper puts forward three new strategies for the effective application of reporting verbs in academic writing and translation: (1) using diversified reporting verbs; (2) understanding the rhetorical function of each kind of reporting verbs, especially its evaluative and contextual functions; (3) cultivating cross-cultural awareness.

ResearchonthespeechmodeofTEDtalksfromtheperspectiveofmultimodalinteraction(p. 23)

YANGXiaolei&LIANGMeihong(School of Foreign Languages, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

TED Talk is a new means of knowledge dissemination, which not only contains valuable discourse information, but also rich resources of communicative modes. However, there are few studies on its multimodal resources. Based on this, this research integrates and constructs a multimodal interaction analysis framework for TED Talks. With the multimodal analysis software ELAN, it explores the application, distribution, and synergy of different modalities in the speech from the perspective of context level, interactive discourse level, and modality & media level. It is found that the main modality of the speech is the auditory modality, while the visual modality mainly plays a complementary and reinforcing role. This speech presents different modal distributions at different stages, which reflect the transformation of the speakers’ discourse information. The coordination between the various modalities is of great significance to improving the effect of speech. This study has a certain reference value for the analysis of speech discourse, and also has a certain guiding significance for delivering multimodal speeches.

Astudyoftherhetoricfailureofmediadiscourseinthecrisiscontext:AcasestudyofrhetoricfailureinaCOVID-19mediadiscourse(p. 32)

YANGJianxin(College of Foreign Languages, Hexi University, Zhangye 734000, China)

LIPingyan(College of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

WANGYaqi(College of Foreign Languages, Yuzhang Normal University, Nanchang 330103, China)

While news media assumes an important role of information dissemination and opinion guidance in the governance of emergencies, its rhetoric failure may also make it the triggers of public opinion. Therefore, the study of rhetoric failure of news discourse is of great significance in emergencies. Taking a rhetoric failure during the COVID-19 as a case, this study analyzes the causes of rhetoric failure for the news media, and finds that knowledge misjudgment and coding vacancies are the main causes of rhetoric failure in news discourse. The misjudgment of audience’s knowledge makes the media omit key information in the news coding; the information gap triggers over-reasoning in the decoding process, which makes the audience fill the cognitive gap left by the news discourse with subjective “stereotypes” and irrelevant information, resulting in negative interpretation contrary to the meaning of the coding and triggering negative public opinion. Finally, some suggestions are offered from knowledge prediction and news coding to prevent the rhetoric failure in the crisis context. It is hoped that this will promote rhetoric capacity of news media in the crisis contexts and facilitate news media to better play their role in emergency management.

ThefolklorewritinginZoraNealeHurston’sTheirEyesWereWatchingGod(p. 39)

MINRuiqi(College of Foreign Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

As a folklorist, an anthropologist and a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston has long been attracting attention from scholars of folklore and African American literature. Among some typical African-American folklore activities in the American South depicted within Hurston’s canonizedTheirEyesWereWatchingGod，the “porch talk”—as a folkloric activity that features peculiar space—runs throughout the whole novel. Moreover, the “porch talk” itself is the context that produces the body of the whole novel. Therefore, this research focuses on the relationship between the “porch talk” and the protagonist Janie. “Porch talk” itself leads Janie toward the broad “horizon” in her dream. Her embrace of ethnic folklore such as the Bahamian dance gives her happiness and freedom; while she ignores the Native American folk wisdom due to her unconscious prejudice, she is forced back to the porch from her “horizon”. However, Janie is not merely a practitioner of folkloric activities. She sometimes shows qualities that are characteristic of a folklorist. When she is confronted with extreme racism, she tries to rectify it via the dynamism within a folkloric concept; after her return to the porch, together with Pheoby, she reengages in another “porch talk” and the critical reflection upon the practice itself.

Thegenerationanddissolutionofrealism:AreviewofFredricJameson’sTheAntinomiesofRealism(p. 47)

WANGYuxia(Literary Department, Beijing Normal University(Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519085, China)

ZENGLihua(College of Chinese Literature, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China)

The famous Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson’s new workTheAntinomiesofRealismhas initiated a new round of research on realism. He tries to find the internal reasons for its generation and dissolution, in order to clarify its chaotic understanding. This essay summarizes his core ideas from four aspects as follows: First, through the interpretation of the works of Balzac, Zola and Tolstoy, he shows the phenomenological nature of realism and its internal narrative structure. Second, in order to reveal the inner driving force of realism, he separates the dominant element “narrative impulse” from the narrative structure. Third, he makes a structuralist analysis of the dissolution of realism and genre, and finally reveals that the decline of fiction is the main reason for the dissolution of realism from the perspective of dialectics. Fourth, in the connection between realism narrative and history, he clearly elaborates the internal transformational relationship between realism and modernism, which makes modernism no longer mysterious. These four aspects are intertwined and closely and logically related, showing the context of Jameson’s theory.

“Everyotheristhewhollyother”:AcriticalreadingofJ.HillisMiller’sForDerrida(p. 55)

DINGXialin&FanShuying(College of Foreign Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China)

As an academic term, “the Other” has been applied to a variety of sub-fields such as gender studies, postcolonial studies, ethnic literary studies and a host of other literary and cultural studies, but its connotations and applications differ in the hands of different philosophers and cultural/literary critics. In Derrida’s mind, “every other is the wholly other.” In this collection of 12 commemorative essays entitledForDerrida, Miller carefully combs such important Derridean terms asdestinerrance, aporia, performativity,irresponsibilization, autoimmunity and mourning, in hopes of making his argument that every other is the wholly other. An evaluation of the highly dialectical Derridean intellectual legacy can facilitate our practice of the Millerian “ethics of reading”, help us thoroughly understand deconstruction, and thereby bring about Derrida’s “the democracy to come”.

Ontheconstructionoftranslationpolicysystem(p. 61)

LIJian(School of Foreign Languages, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China)

HANGHong(Department of Basic Courses, Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, Jurong 212400, China)

The participants in the construction of translation policy system include government departments, associations of translators, translation enterprises, universities and translation research institutes. The supporting elements of translation policy are the system, translators and funds. The procedures of implementing translation policy include translation legislation, translation planning, translating activities and publishing activities. Major tasks of constructing translation policy system include establishing an operation mechanism of translation affairs, implementing state-level translation planning, promoting translation legislation, strengthening the management of the translation industry, improving quality of translation service, cultivating qualified translators, increasing theoretical researches on translation policy, and supporting the sale of translated books to foreign markets.

ResearchontranslatorbehaviorinthetitletranslationofXiJinping:TheGovernanceofChina(p. 69)

HUANGLiming(College of International Studies, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225100, China)

SHIJiaqi(College of Electronics and Information Engineering, South Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, China)

The titles ofXiJinping:TheGovernanceofChinatake a leading role in the whole books. Based on the “Truth-seeking-Utility-attaining” Continuum Mode of Evaluation, this essay describes and analyzes translator behaviors in the title translation ofXiJinping:TheGovernanceofChina. Translator behaviors are inclined to be “truth-seeking” due to the political consideration and the preciseness of the source text in national translation activity, while adapted behaviors of “utility-attaining” also exist because the translator plays a role of “institutionalized communicator” for the considerations of different publicizing styles, target readers and national voices. Translator behaviors keep a dynamic balance between truth-seeking and utility-attaining. The degree of utility-attaining in translator behaviors increases from volume I to volume III ofXiJinping:TheGovernanceofChina. Influenced by the successful translation of volume I, the institutionalized translator enhances the degree of utility-attaining on the basis of keeping the core meaning in the title translation so as to spread China’s political voices in a better way.

AcontrastivestudyofpersonalanaphorainEnglishtranslationsofChinesefictionsbynativeandnon-nativetranslators:AcasestudyonHongLouMeng(p. 77)

WUJian(College of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China)

ZHANGYunfei&ZHENGZhen(Department of General Education, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 211101, China)

This research, in an attempt to reveal stylistic discrepancies between native translators and non-native translators, compares the use of personal anaphora in two English translations ofHongLouMengby employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study establishes the following findings. First, the two translators display no significant differences in their use of personal anaphoric pronouns, isomorphic personal anaphora as well as anaphora that indicates inter-personal relationships. Second, David Hawks demonstrates more creative resourcefulness than his Chinese counterpart in his use of rhetoric personal anaphora, which may be an indicator of his linguistic advantages as a native speaker of English.

ReflectionuponandunderstandingoftheEnglishtranslationofChineseliterature:AninterviewwithNickyHarman,aBritishsinologistandtranslator(p. 85)

LIJiayue(School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China)

This paper records an interview with the British sinologist Nicky Harman. In the interview, Professor Harman expounds her unique methods of dialect translation based on her own experience. She believes that translators should not make changes or deletions, and should try to convey the content and style of the original Chinese as faithfully as possible. This interview also mentions the overseas translation and introduction of Chinese literature, as well as the problem of translation funds and overseas publication and translation. Harman suggests that more attention should be paid to the works of women writers in general and of writers for children and young adults. The purpose of this interview is to provide some thought on the translation and dissemination of Chinese literature abroad.

AreviewofLinguisticFundamentalsforNaturalLanguageProcessingII：100EssentialsfromSemanticsandPragmatics(p. 90)

XIANGQijun&JIANGShiyu(School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201620, China)

The relation between linguistic signs and their referents together with the part played by the language user in this relation is fundamental to computer processing or even understanding language. With abundant natural language data,LinguisticFundamentalsforNaturalLanguageProcessingII:100EssentialsfromSemanticsandPragmaticsintroduces to the reader 100 semantic and pragmatic essentials and the way that they’re related to natural language processing. In the process, the book, from a holistic perspective, also points out the shortcomings of the pre-sent statistical systems along with advice for improvement. In addition, the core idea that linguistics and natural language processing should go hand in hand manifests itself as essentials are being laid out.

AreviewofConstructicography:ConstructiconDevelopmentacrossLanguages(p. 94)

YANMinfen&ZHANGXin(School of Foreign Studies, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China)

Under the background of the continuous development of research and practice of constructicon development in different languages around the world, Professor Lyngfelt, Borin, Ohara and Torrent jointly compiled the bookConstructicography:ConstructiconDevelopmentacrossLanguagesin 2018. This book introduces the development of cross-language constructicon for the first time. It not only realizes the effective combination of Construction Grammar and Lexicography and forms a basically perfect terminology system and methodology basis of Constructicography, but also clearly shows the characteristics and methods of the constructicon development in different languages, forming some replicable cases of practical constructicon development. It is the foundation work of constructicography research.

AreviewofSystematicallyWorkingwithMultimodalData:ResearchMethodsinMultimodalDiscourseAnalysis(p. 98)

LIUJing&CHENLulu(School of Foreign Languages, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, China)

As an emerging discipline, multimodal discourse analysis is gradually developing in an interdisciplinary trend, which puts forward increasingly high requirements for the collection and processing of multimodal data.SystematicallyWorkingwithMultimodalData:ResearchMethodsinMultimodalDiscourseAnalysisdeals with the data collection and data processing in the process of multimodal studies by focusing on the collection and analysis of image data, and thus forms a relatively complete dataprocessing paradigm from a completely new prospective. Based on the introduction of the book, this paper evaluates and analyzes its academic value from three different levels of theory, operation and application, expecting to enlighten the correlational studies of multimodal discourse analysis.