Multiplicity of self in public discourse: the use of personal references in two radio sports shows

Abstract

This paper examines cultural differences manifested in and constructed by linguistic practices in public discourse in two sports radio shows in the US and China. The study suggests that the use of personal reference in the two sports radio broadcasts manifests a culturally constructed multiplicity of self. We found that in the English data, the use of personal references represents a predominance of direct consciousness of self [Chafe, W., 1994. Discourse, Consciousness, and Time: the Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.]. In contrast, the Chinese speakers’ use of personal references is implicit and circumferential. By focusing on the Chinese speakers’ use of ziji ‘self’, a frequently used personal pronoun in Chinese for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person referents, with emphatic and empathetic overtones, the study reveals that personal opinions in the Chinese data were facilitated partly through the speaker's use of this pronoun oriented toward micro level discourse contexts. The paper further illustrates that in the Chinese data, personal opinions about other people and controversial issues were expressed through a mediation of the speakers’ displaced consciousness (Chafe, 1994), i.e., in expressing opinions by appealing to collective public opinions. This feature differs from the English data where the interlocutors primarily refer to each other in constructing personal opinions in either negative or positive contexts. By comparing the usages and the functions of the personal references in Mandarin Chinese and in American English, we hope to demonstrate that the concept of “self” has multiple manifestations in various cultures, which should be understood within the specific cultural contexts of their occurrences.