Discourse Strategies Research Articles

The Influential Mechanisms of Live-Streaming Hosts on Consumer Behavior

In recent years, with the rise of e-commerce live streaming, hosts promoting products have played a crucial role in connecting consumers with products and influencing consumer behavior intentions. This paper reviews the current state and trends in research on how these hosts affect consumer behavior intentions, exploring how their personal characteristics, interaction patterns, and discourse strategies impact consumer purchasing decisions. Through analysis from both quantitative and qualitative research perspectives, it reveals the influence mechanisms of these hosts in modern e-commerce environments. Additionally, it discusses the pivotal role of interactive information in e-commerce live streaming, including its ability to enhance purchase desire, enrich entertainment experiences, and improve consumer shopping experiences. While existing studies provide valuable insights, there are still research gaps, particularly in-depth studies on the influence of hosts in specific domains. The findings of this review are significant for understanding the central role of hosts in e-commerce live streaming and their impact on consumer behavior, providing a theoretical foundation and support for future research and practice.

Turn-Taking in Political Interviews and Its Impact on Building Government Credibility

Television political inquiry is conducted through question-and-answer exchanges with host and government officials on prominent livelihood issues, which helps to improve the efficiency of government governance. Interview participants’ identity, communicative intention, power, and contextual factors have a significant impact on the discourse choices of both parties. This research clarifies the mechanism by which communicators mobilize appropriate discourse strategies to promote the solution of social problems. It adopts qualitative research method and conversation analysis to interpret interview participants’ talk-in-interaction and discourse strategies in “Ask Government Affairs of Shandong”. Research finds that adjacency pairs in political interview perform social behaviors such as greetings, requests, suggestions, apologies, acknowledgement. Interview participants’ turn-taking is divided into claiming for the turn, holding the turn, and giving up the turn. Discourse strategies such as insertion, interruption, and repetition are adopted to claim for the turn. Discourse markers and conversation repair are applied in communicators’ turn-holding stage. Communicators adopt explicit nominations, vague job designations, and silence strategies to give up the turn. Clear, accurate, and highly relevant official responses are conducive to projecting a responsible government image and improving government credibility. The phenomenon of avoidance, hesitation, and pause in official response is likely to cause the masses to question government officials’ work capability, which is not conducive to establishing a positive and trustworthy government image. Suggestions for optimizing the process setting of political interview and official responses are provided to enhance the effect of political enquiry.

Thematic representations of economy and environment in Nigerian newspapers’ reports of pipeline vandalism

ABSTRACT Nigeria’s heavy reliance on oil for national survival, the frequency of pipeline vandalism and the attendant losses make the subject of vandalism attractive to newspapers. Reports on this subject become media sites of deep struggle to separate national economy from the ecosystem relationships. Relying on insights from van Dijk’s Theory of Thematic Structure and Stibbe’s notions of salience and erasure, the study examined the reportage of pipeline vandalism and the attendant losses, with a view to exploring how economy and environment are thematically projected. Twenty reports from four newspapers published between 2015 and 2019 were purposively sampled. The thematic projections showed that, while economic loss is foregrounded using the discourse strategies of number game and topicalisation, environmental loss is erased at different levels using the discourse strategies of euphemisation and generalisation. This suggests that there is subtle interest in economic growth to the detriment of the ecological systems which sustain the economy and humanity. Unless there is a deliberate effort to clearly highlight the ecological harm occasioned by pipeline vandalism, the effects of pipeline vandalism may not be obvious to citizens and curtailing the menace may not be prioritised.

How to prevent deception: A study of digital deception in “visual poverty” livestream

This study, grounded in the interpersonal deception theory (IDT), aims to analyze the new form of digital deception known as “visual poverty” in livestreaming rooms. Through a multimodal discourse analysis of the collected data, this study found three distinct linguistic strategies employed in “visual poverty” livestream: illocutionary strategy, discourse strategy, and nonverbal strategy. These strategies are designed to achieve three interactional goals: constructing a false identity, reinforcing credibility, and gaining economic benefits. Based on these findings, this study further analyzed why it is difficult to detect digital deception and proposed suggestions to prevent it. This study theoretically proposes online IDT and offers practical suggestions for preventing digital deception, bearing both theoretical and practical significance.

The allegory of the ice-nine in Cat's Cradle and its return to the economic area in The Road to Ruin

The purpose of this article is to investigate the concept of the ice-nine, both in the literary work of Kurt Vonnegut and in its reapplication in the field of economics by James Rickards. The study, structured in two parts and based on bibliographical research, seeks to explore these themes. The first part, entitled "The ice-nine in Cat's Cradle ", examines the context in which the ice-nine appears in Vonnegut's novel, using as theoretical support authors such as Mikhail Bakhtin (2002, 2013), who addresses the methodology for the study of the novel and the polyphonic characteristic in Dostoevsky's work; Lélia Parreira Duarte (1994), who explores the function of irony; Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2008), who discusses the crisis of the modern scientific paradigm; as well as Flávio R. Kothe (1986) and João Adolfo Hansen (2006), who deal with allegory. The second part, entitled "James Rickards' adaptation of the ice-nine", analyzes the appropriation of the concept in economic discourse and its new meaning in this context. This analysis is based on authors such as Edward Said (2011), who discusses culture and imperialism; Walter Mignolo (2002), who explores the creation of the imaginary within the colonial/modern system; D.N. McCloskey (1996) and Pérsio Arida (2003), who investigate the use of rhetoric and methodological debates in economics; and Thiago Martins Prado (2020), who reflects on the use of literary strategies in economic discourses.

Linguistic Strategies in Political Discourse: Hedges and Boosters in the 2024 US Presidential Debate

This study examines the strategic use of hedges and boosters in the first US presidential debate of June 26, 2024, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. These linguistic devices are crucial in shaping political discourse by modulating confidence and authority. Hedges introduce ambiguity and caution, while boosters amplify certainty and assertiveness. Using the official debate transcript as the primary data source, this analysis employs a qualitative content analysis to identify and categorize these strategies. It highlights distinct usage patterns: Joe Biden frequently uses hedges to express caution and acknowledge complexities, while Donald Trump relies heavily on boosters to project unwavering confidence and decisiveness. Biden’s strategic use of hedges allows him to navigate contentious issues with a balanced tone, while Trump’s emphasis on boosters strengthens his assertive stance and enhances his perceived authority. This research fills a gap in existing literature by specifically analyzing these linguistic devices within the context of presidential debates. The findings provide insights into how both candidates use hedges and boosters to influence voter perceptions and address rhetorical challenges, contributing to a deeper understanding of political communication strategies and their effects on audience reception.

A critical cognitive analysis of Japan’s nuclear contaminated water discharge discourse

This research investigates the use of compound image schemas in the discourse surrounding Japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge. By analyzing editorials from Asahi Shimbun, this study reveals how discourse producers, from government bodies to media outlets, employ image schemas to navigate, shape, and legitimize their stances on this contentious issue. The investigation identifies the prevalent use of PATH and CONTAINER schemas, facilitating the construction of complex narrative spaces that define “in-group” and “out-group” dynamics, thereby guiding public perception and discourse participation towards an implicit endorsement of specific policy directions. The findings highlight the dynamic interplay between micro-level discourse strategies and macro-level cognitive frameworks, projecting tailored narratives into the public sphere. This projection, rooted in sophisticated cognitive mechanisms, illustrates the strategic use of discourse to influence public opinion and legitimize environmental policy decisions, reflecting broader social implications and the power of discourse in shaping environmental risk perceptions.

Testing the Early Differentiation Hypothesis: A Case Study of a Spanish-English Bilingual Child

This paper contributes to the field of simultaneous bilingual first language acquisition (2L1). Specifically, it examines the developmental stages of a bilingual child in two languages, Spanish and English. The analysis is performed by analyzing bilingual acquisition data from CHILDES database with the CLAN program. The study aims to support several hypotheses proposed in the field of 2L1 (e. g., The Early Differentiation Hypothesis). The results show that the developmental stages of a bilingual child correspond to the stages of a monolingual child acquiring a language; the only difference is the number of languages that is being acquired. The data also show that the child’s caregivers use certain strategies in their socialization as the important prerequisite for 2L1 (e.g., frequency of input, discourse strategies and maximal engagement with a minority language available in the input). The results of the study confirm the Early Differentiation Hypothesis that argues for the language-specific morphosyntactic patterns in child’s grammar. The study has very important pedagogical implications for parents who raise their children in bi- and multilingual families.

Nuclear Energy as a Sustainable Source? Examining Media Discourses Surrounding the EU-Complementary Delegated Act

This paper contributes to the understanding of media discourses surrounding the sustainability of nuclear energy, particularly within a crisis context. The study examines the implications of the adoption of the Complementary Delegated Act on EU taxonomy by the European Commission on July 6, 2022, which officially categorises nuclear energy as sustainable. Employing a critical discourse analysis (CDA) methodology, the research explores the discourse strategies–nomination, predication, and argumentation– utilised across 695 news articles. The findings reveal the intricate representation of nuclear energy’s sustainability across the media. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict amplifies favourably the nuclear energy view as a reliable and sustainable energy source. However, the media discourse on nuclear energy’s sustainability reveals a variety of viewpoints. These varying outlooks provide essential insights for shaping effective energy policies. This research contributes valuable insights into understanding how media shapes and influences public perception of sustainability energy policies, amplifying specific actors’ voices and steering discourse toward distinct trajectories. Such insights are crucial in crafting energy policies.

Playful, coded, and emotional language: Discursive strategies of online criticism on Chinese social media

Language has always been essential in collective actions. Because offline collective actions are highly controlled in China, Chinese people often resort to online criticism, which heavily relies on the creative use of language to circumvent the government’s control of public communication. This study collects and analyzes the data of the #JiangshanjiaoandHongqiman# public discourse on Weibo to investigate the discursive characteristics of Chinese people’s online expressions. In February 2020, a mass organization of the government launched two official virtual idols on Weibo, one of the most widely used social media platforms in China. Amidst widespread discontent with the management of the pandemic, this intervention in fandom culture triggered a backlash among the Chinese Internet users. This study shows that the Chinese netizens expressed criticism through coded, playful, and emotional language. This article contributes to the literature on discursive strategies of online public discourse in China.

Political self-praise in Clinton–Trump presidential debates

The speech act of political self-praise has received scant attention in East Asian contexts, unlike other speech acts. This study aims to explore the strategies of self-praise used by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The 2016 US presidential debates were analysed quantitatively to examine if there are any differences in using self-praise strategies. This was followed by a qualitative analysis to explore how these strategies are linguistically realised. Three main self-praise strategies were used: unmodified explicit self-praise, modified explicit self-praise and indirect self-praise. Within the third category, the data revealed a new self-praise strategy, which we called “criticism-based self-praise”. Moreover, the findings highlighted differences in using self-praise strategies in American political discourse. While Trump employed unmodified explicit self-praise more than his opponent, Clinton used modified explicit self-praise strategies far more than Trump. Trump, however, adopted implicit self-praise strategies more than Clinton. Differences could be attributed to gender stereotypes as well as the candidates’ experience and personality. The study may help East Asian people better understand American political discourse, presidential debates in particular.

Comparative Discourse Strategies in Environmental Advocacy: Analysing the Rhetoric of Greta Thunberg and Chris Packham

This paper examines the rhetoric and argumentation of two prominent environmental activists, Greta Thunberg and Chris Packham. From the perspective of Ecolinguistics, Thunberg has given voice to a generational movement for change, galvanising young people everywhere through high-profile protests and speeches. Packham represents British mainstream environmentalism, notably as the presenter of the acclaimed nature documentary ‘Springwatch’. We argue that their influence partially stems from their alignment with dominant cultural narratives: Thunberg’s emphasis on intergenerational discord and Packham’s connection to the natural world. We analyse both figures via the lens of the ‘emotionalisation of media discourse’, highlighting argumentation strategies that feature expressions of negative emotions of which anger is a type. Thunberg’s famous ‘How dare you?’ outburst at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit and Packham’s statement to Novara Media, ‘I am more angry now than at any point since my 20s’, exemplify this trend. We explore the pragmatic implications of their argumentative and discursive strategies, suggesting that while both have significantly elevated the profile of ecological activism, their discourse may also have a potentially divisive aspect.

Patriarchal backlash: Representations of sexual violence on Uruguayan TV

The article investigates the tensions between feminist conceptualizations of sexual violence and the persistence of patriarchal discourses that challenge it resulting in a justification of violence and misogynistic representations in a Uruguayan TV program. We argue that the return of conservative discourses that question sexual harassment accusations, reinstate gender differences, and gender inequality by installing a new normativity and naturalization of violence against women. Through the analysis of representations, evaluations, and discourse strategies deployed in two episodes of a high rating debate TV show centered on sexual violence, we show the victims are not recognized as such. There is a recontextualization of the sexual violence situation by which participants in the TV show challenge the policies and practices that have been recently established to prevent and sanction sexual violence. The findings evidence certain cultural transformations in the threshold of moral sensibility that define what is acceptable or not and make visible a patriarchal backlash.

Marketing Language in Tourism Discourse: Corpus Based Study on Personal Pronoun “You”

This paper investigates the use of the personal pronoun "you" in tourism discourse through a corpus-based study of the Lonely Planet website. As a central element in engaging readers, the pronoun "you" serves to directly address and involve the audience, making the discourse more interactive and persuasive. By analyzing a comprehensive corpus of travel-related texts, this study examines how "you" is strategically utilized to create a personalized experience, guide the reader's journey, and establish a conversational tone in tourism content. The research uncovers patterns in the usage of "you" across various contexts and topics within the website, providing insights into its role in shaping audience perception and enhancing the effectiveness of tourism marketing. This study contributes to a better understanding of linguistic strategies in digital tourism discourse, offering valuable implications for both researchers and professionals in the tourism industry.

Speech of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York: A Study in the Analysis of Discourse Strategies

The United Nations has been holding the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) annually since 2015, where countries meet to discuss the progress, they have made in achieving the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Vision, and to identify the challenges they face, their areas of focus in the future, and to evaluate their efforts in achieving and submitting voluntary reports on this. The research seeks to analyze Arabic translation of the speech of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; as a special type of political communication to reveal the most prominent strategies that have formed it, and to identify the mechanisms that have been achieved; which has given the speech its uniqueness and efficacy, as each speech carries with it its strategies and mechanisms that lead to its success or failure. The study adopted the pragmatic approach imposed by the nature of this work. It came up with a set of results, the most prominent of which is that the solidarity strategy is the most effective in achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s speech, and thus this strategy was an introduction to other strategies, especially the persuasive and directive strategies.

Tourism and Discourses of Peace About the UAE in the Israeli Media

By focusing on the recently established diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE in the aftermath of the 2020 Abraham Peace Accords, this paper critically assesses the emerging narratives of peace and tolerance underpinning the tourism promotional material circulating in the Israeli media between September 2020 (in the aftermath of the Abraham Accords) and August 2023 (before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023). The study employs a variant of critical discourse analysis known as Cultural Critical Discourse Analysis (CCDA) to unravel the cultural nuances embedded within this discourse. Based on this analysis, a dynamic model is presented to highlight two discourse strategies—cosmopolitanism and softening—underpinning the emerging discourse. Overall, this article represents a significant contribution in this specific moment of crisis as it aims to propel peace discourses through tourism in a region characterised by political instability.

Acknowledging dispossession

Abstract This paper illustrates what can be revealed by a linguistic analysis of the discourse strategies deployed in a bilingual text acknowledging the dispossession of Indigenous peoples in Mindanao (Philippines). The analysis draws on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) descriptions of English, which model language as a resource for making meaning. It explores the choices involved from the perspective of critical discourse analysis (CDA), exposing language in the service of power, and positive discourse analysis (PDA), appreciating language as an instrument of social change. In doing so we exemplify the role of SFL-informed CDA/PDA in processes of reconciliation, including personal and public acknowledgements and apologies, alongside considerations of “making peace” with dispossessed Indigenous people through existing, renovated or emerging genres.

Мовні стратегії в медійному дискурсі: аналіз та інтерпретація

The article analyses linguistic strategies in media discourse, focusing on the British national variant of the English language. Media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing societal perceptions. Understanding the linguistic strategies employed in media discourse is essential for deciphering how narratives are constructed and how information is manipulated to impact audiences. The primary purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the linguistic strategies used in British media to influence their audience. The objectives include a content analysis of media texts, identifying key linguistic strategies and techniques, revealing the impact of these strategies on the audience, and providing practical recommendations for studying media texts. Methods. This research employs content analysis, discourse analysis, and psycholinguistic analysis. Content analysis involves categorising different media texts (news articles, features, interviews) and examining their content. Discourse analysis focuses on the structure and content of the texts to identify how narratives are constructed and which linguistic techniques are used to influence the audience. Psycholinguistic analysis examines the psychological impact of these linguistic strategies on the audience's perception of information. Results. The analysis reveals significant differences in linguistic strategies across various media sources, including newspapers, television, and online media. Key linguistic strategies include metaphors, epithets, rhetorical questions, and irony. These strategies are crucial in shaping narratives and influencing public perception. Additionally, the frequency and intensity of these strategies vary depending on the target audience and the specific goals of the media outlet. For instance, newspapers may employ more sophisticated and subtle language techniques, while online media often use more direct and engaging language to capture immediate attention. The study also highlights the dynamic nature of linguistic strategies, adapting to the evolving media landscape and audience preferences. Originality. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of linguistic strategies in British media, highlighting the specific techniques used to influence audiences. The originality lies in the detailed examination of different media formats and combining content analysis, discourse analysis, and psycholinguistic analysis to provide a holistic understanding of media influence. Conclusion. The study concludes that linguistic strategies are vital in media discourse, significantly impacting audience perception and shaping public opinion. The findings underscore the importance of critical analysis of media texts and provide valuable insights for media analysts, journalists, and linguists. Further research is recommended to explore the evolving nature of linguistic strategies in digital media and their implications for public discourse.

Network Flow of Campaign Discourses and News Frames: The Changing Fortunes of Twitter/X as a Conduit for Frame-Building

ABSTRACT Periodic changes continue to impact the fortunes of Twitter as a political communication and news-sharing platform, particularly among diverse individual and institutional African users. Yet few studies provide empirical insights into Twitter’s changing role in campaign communication and its influence on news frame-building across the region, mainly in Nigeria. This study bridges the gap by analysing n = 763 tweets to determine how the political campaign discourse strategies in the tweeting activities of two prominent candidates influenced the news frame-building practices of mainstream newspapers during the four months of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential campaign. Findings affirm that the Twittersphere served as a playground where candidates deployed diverse discourse frames correlating with political agendas to show their intent to integrate Twitter into their campaign communication strategies. Moreover, the candidates’ tweets contribute to the journalistic frame-building process, although the newspapers tend to focus more on frame-setting than frame-sending due to the dynamic nature of journalistic content production across individual news outlets.

Exploring teacher discourse patterns: Comparative insights from novice and expert teachers in junior high school EFL contexts

Effective teacher discourse is critical in improving English as a foreign language (EFL) education, particularly in junior high schools in China, where students are at a crucial stage in their language development. As junior high school students are at a pivotal developmental stage, this research investigates the discourse patterns employed by novice and expert teachers to assess their impact on students' engagement and language acquisition. Despite the extensive research on teacher discourse in higher education, a significant gap remains regarding its application in compulsory primary education settings. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the current classroom discourse patterns of EFL teachers in junior high schools to identify the distinctions between novice and expert teachers and explore the factors contributing to these differences. This mixed-methods study includes qualitative and quantitative analyses. Verbatim transcriptions of six classes were used to create a corpus exceeding 20,000 words. The data were analysed using cross-tabulation in Excel and Chi-square tests in SPSS 22.0, complemented by semi-structured interviews with selected teachers. The theoretical framework is grounded in Long's（1996）interaction hypothesis, which underlines the significance of communication in facilitating language proficiency through meaningful interaction, and the analysis follows Sinclair and Coulthard's（1975）discourse patterns. The initiation-response-feedback (IRF) and initiation-response-0 (IR0) emerged as predominant patterns among both novice and expert teachers. Novice teachers predominantly relied on the basic IRF pattern, while expert teachers exhibited greater flexibility and more frequent use of variant patterns, such as IRFR, I[RnFn] and [InRn]F. Such adaptability among expert teachers creates a more interactive and engaging learning environment, thereby enhancing student participation and language acquisition. The study also identifies a novel variant structure, IRnF, used more frequently by expert teachers, underlining the benefits of group work in fostering teamwork and independent thinking. Expert teachers demonstrated a greater propensity to adapt their discourse strategies to foster a more production-oriented learning environment, which was the main factor driving the teachers' differing discourse patterns. This study significantly contributes to the analysis of teacher discourse in the junior high school EFL context, providing empirical evidence and practical insights that bridge the gap between theory and practice. By elucidating the distinct discourse practices of novice and expert teachers, this study offers valuable recommendations for teacher professional development and highlights the importance of employing varied and interactive discourse structures to improve EFL teaching effectiveness. The study also provides valuable insights for educators striving to improve their instructional practices and the language acquisition in EFL classrooms.