《纽约时报》“新冠肺炎病毒溯源”新闻报道的文化话语探讨

ng, etc. (2020) discussed dampness evil as a main pathogenic factor in COVID-19 in traditional Chinese medicine. Mu Qi (2020) systematically reviewed the possible origins of COVID-19, from bats, snakes to pangolins. Further study data suggests Wuhan seafood market may not be the source of COVID-19 virus. Wang Jing (2022) described the traceability process of a native case with novel coronavirus in January 2021 from discovery to infection, in Guangxi , China, aiming to provide experience for further tracing investigation. Long and Jin (2022) proposed there is complex interplay in COVID-19 pandemic, information pandemic, and politics pandemic and we should deal with their relationships well in order to control COVID-19 pandemic better. Luo Xuejing (2022) chose news reports about origin of coronavirus in the New York Times and analyzed these reports from the perspective of Fairclough’s discourse analysis system. 

Besides these domestic studies, foreign scholars have also done many researches about the source of novel coronavirus. By searching keywords “COVID-19” and “virus origin*” on Web of Science, after excluding the review articles, 18 articles were got in total. These articles about COVID-19 virus origin can be roughly divided into four aspects. 

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework ........................ 15

3.1 Discourse Analysis ............................. 15

3.2 Cultural Discourse Studies ............................. 16

Chapter Four Research Methodology ........................... 20

4.1 Research Questions ............................. 20

4.2 Data Collection ............................... 20

Chapter Five Data Analysis and Discussion ........................... 24

5.1 Subjects .................................. 24

5.2 Intents/Forms ............................. 29

Chapter Five Data Analysis and Discussion

5.1 Subjects

When analyzing the reporting features of news reports, the research should not only analyze the main idea of the content, but also analyze the speech subjects in the news reports, that is, who speaks in news reports. The study of discourse should not only analyze its content, but also analyze its context, including the identity of speakers and listeners, the timing of speech expression and so on (Wang Xuelei, 2016:2). According to Shi Xu, subjects include the person who is (not) talking, the person who is listening, and their social identities and relationships with each other (Shi, 2022:103). Therefore, this thesis analyzes both the speakers and hearers in VOC.

This part uses the AntConc’s concordance function, which can carry out the retrieval of single word, multi-word, context, and category. This part mainly uses its retrieval function of multi-word. Through retrieving the words: “say,” “says,” “said,” “saying,” and “according to,” which cover almost all the speech subjects in VOC, this thesis obtains the subjects in news reports about COVID-19’s virus origin in the New York Times.

Chapter Six Conclusion

6.1 Major Findings

Under the guidance of Shi Xu’s Cultural Discourse Studies theory, the news reports on the virus origin of COVID-19 in the New York Times are regarded as a discursive event and are analyzed carefully. The self-built corpus of these news reports is named VOC. With the help of corpus tool AntConc 3.5.9, the keyword list and concordance lines of keywords in VOC are analyzed, the discursive strategies are discussed, and the features in terms of subjects and intents/forms are summarized. Then the purpose/effects of these news reports are analyzed, and finally the cultural and historical factors hidden behind the discourse are explored. The major findings of the study are as follows: 

Firstly, the subjects in the news reports on the origin of novel coronavirus in the New York Times are of several types, which can be mainly divided into two categories: foreign and Chinese speakers, with six types in each category, namely government and officials, experts and scholars, organizations and instit