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Article published In: Target
Vol. 31:3 (2019) ► pp.465–499

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(Re)manufacturing consent in English

A corpus-based critical discourse analysis of government interpreters’ mediation of China’s discourse on PEOPLE at televised political press conferences

ORCiD logo with link | University of Liverpool
Published online: 14 October 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.18023.gu
Abstract
Unlike the use of force or coercion, the articulation of ideological discourse constitutes a softer approach in the legitimation and hegemonic rule of dominant political actors, achieved through manufacturing consent (Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). As a major site of ideology, the televised premier’s press conferences in China represent such a discursive event, enabling the Chinese government to convey its discursive formations or “regime of truth” (Foucault, Michel. 1984. “Truth and Power.” In The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought, edited by Paul Rabinow, 51–75. London: Penguin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and in doing so to manufacture consent. Benefitting from a corpus containing 20 years of China’s Premier-Meets-the-Press conference data (1998–2017), this corpus-based critical discourse analysis (CDA) study explores the government-affiliated interpreters’ mediation and (re)construction of China’s discourse on PEOPLE. The interpreters are found to reinforce China’s discourse on PEOPLE (e.g., increased mentions of PEOPLE-related items) and (re)construct a more positive image of Beijing being people-oriented and concerned with its people in English (e.g., the repeated employment of ‘our people’). An examination of the collocational patterns relating to the item ‘people’ (e.g., people’s, of/to/for/by*people) (re)presented in the English discourse sheds light on the government‒people ties in China. This article highlights the government interpreters’ vital agency role in image (re)construction and in contributing to the government’s political legitimation and hegemonic rule, particularly given the increasingly mediat(is)ed world we live in.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interpreter-mediated political press conferences as an ideological site for manufacturing consent
  • 3.The Chinese government’s discourse on PEOPLE, legitimacy and hegemonic rule
  • 4.Corpus-based critical discourse analysis: A “useful methodological synergy”
  • 5.CE–PolitDisCorp corpus data and procedures for data analysis
  • 6.Data analysis: Interpreters’ (re)manufacture of consent in mediating China’s discourse on PEOPLE
    • 6.1Interpreters’ overall (re)construction of PEOPLE-related items
    • 6.2Interpreters’ gravitation towards and concentrated production of the lexical item ‘people’
      • 6.2.1Interpreters’ additions of ‘people’ untriggered by explicit markers in the ST
      • 6.2.2Interpreters’ additions of ‘people’ to avoid items with negative connotations in the TT
      • 6.2.3Interpreters’ additions of ‘people’ in place of items with specialised and culture-specific meanings
    • 6.3The collocational patterns related to the item ‘people’
      • 6.3.1‘our people’
      • 6.3.2‘Of * people’
      • 6.3.3‘To/for * people’
      • 6.3.4‘by * people’
      • 6.3.5‘people’s’
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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