A Corpus-Based Analysis of Discourses on the Belt and Road Initiative: Corpora and the Belt and Road Initiative

140 Pages·2023·3.874 MB·English

by  Muhammad Afzaal

Corpora and Intercultural Studies 10
Muhammad Afzaal
A Corpus-Based
Analysis of Discourses
on the Belt and
Road Initiative
Corpora and the Belt and Road Initiative
Corpora and Intercultural Studies
Volume 10
Series Editors
Kaibao Hu, Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications, Shanghai International
Studies University, Shanghai, China
Hongwei Ding, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
Shanghai, China
This book series publishes original monographs and edited volumes in the investiga-
tions of different types of corpora (including text, speech and video) with a particular
focus on intercultural studies. The differences in language use expressed in compa-
rable corpora can be analyzed from an intercultural perspective. The emphasis is
on excellence and originality in scholarship as well as synergetic interdisciplinary
approaches and multicultural perspectives. Books exploring the role of the inter-
cultural studies in the research fields of translation, linguistics, and culture, with a
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deal with emerging issues as well as those that offer an in-depth examination of
underlying issues.
The target audiences of this series include both scholars and professionals who are
interested in issues related to intercultural communication across different cultures
and social groups, which are reflected by the investigation in comparable corpora.
Corpora and Intercultural Studies book series is published in conjunction with
Springer under the auspices of School of Foreign Languages (SFL), Shanghai Jiao
Tong University (SJTU). The first series editor is the Dean of SFL at SJTU, and
the book series editorial board consists of leading scholars in the research field of
corpora and intercultural studies in the world.
Muhammad Afzaal
A Corpus-Based Analysis
of Discourses on the Belt
and Road Initiative
Corpora and the Belt and Road Initiative
Muhammad Afzaal
Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications
Shanghai International Studies University
Shanghai, China
ISSN 2510-4802 ISSN 2510-4810 (electronic)
Corpora and Intercultural Studies
ISBN 978-981-19-9618-4 ISBN 978-981-19-9619-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9619-1
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Preface
A multi-billion-dollar project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or the “One Belt
One Road” (OBOR), the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), symbolizes a
vision for regional revival under China’s economic leadership and clout. Propelled
by the Chinese Premier’s dream to revive the Chinese economy as well as to restruc-
ture and catalyze infrastructural development in Asia, BRI is aimed at connecting
Asia via land and sea routes with Europe, Africa, and the Middle Eastern states. It
seeks to promote regional connectivity, policy coordination, people-to-people bonds
(cross-culture coordination), trade, and financial integration. However, Belt and Road
Initiative has galvanized growth in trade, travel, cultural ventures and higher educa-
tion collaboration in the region, and it has caused unease among some member states
in the international community. In particular, USA and India view China’s economic
leadership and its partnership with Pakistan as part of CPEC to be reflective of China’s
expansionist aims and therefore a threat to their individual and mutual interests.
Against this backdrop, a corpus-based approach to investigating coverage of BRI,
OBOR, and CPEC initiative by Pakistani and Indian printed media discourses can
help to develop data-based insights into an issue of great significance to the diplomatic
relations and economic partnership between long-term allies, Pakistan and China.
Numbers of works have been done in the area of discourse analysis in media commu-
nication. Discourse analysis provides a widespread method to analyze the text, talk,
or any type of communication. Thus, media discourses which play an influential role
in molding public perceptions in line with vested agendas become central to how
Belt and Road is presented and ultimately its success and failure. This book adopts
a corpus-based critical discourse analysis approach and examines a corpus of news-
paper articles from Pakistani and Indian publications to gain comparative insights into
the ideological construction. Media discourse refers to interactions that take place
through a broadcast platform, whether spoken or written, in which the discourse is
oriented to a non-present reader, listener, or viewer. Though the discourse is oriented
toward these recipients, they very often cannot make instantaneous responses to the
producer(s) of the discourse, though increasingly this is changing with the advent of
new media technology. Crucially, the written or spoken discourse itself is oriented
v
vi Preface
to the readership or listening/viewing audience, respectively. In other words, media
discourse is a public, manufactured, on-record, form of interaction.
The book contributes to the works on perceptions of BRI in English newspapers of
India and Pakistan. As this book provides empirical insights into the perceptions of
CPEC and BRI prevalent in India and Pakistan’s media discourses, it is of significance
to policymakers, researchers, and officials. The book also identifies new directions
for researchers of CDA, PDA, and CL to probe political discourses related to CPEC
and BRI to the understanding of the agendas which shape public opinion.
This book consists of seven chapters, namely introduction, literature review,
methodology, Perspectives of CPEC and BRI, Perception of BRI and CPEC in Indian
Newspapers, factors in Representation of BRI and CPEC, and Conclusion.
Chapter 1 presents the historical background and rationale of the study which
discussion is followed up with a detailed description of the Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) and China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This chapter also highlights
the connection of the present study with the discourses on BRI and CPEC, while also
elaborating on Pakistan–China’s long-lasting relationships. This section also offers
the research questions, objectives, and chapter wise distribution of the book.
Chapter 2 presents a detailed overview of previous studies and literature review
besides survey of studies related to the role of language, ideology, and media power
with the discourse, comprehensive analysis of CDA and DA. The literature of Corpus
Linguistics and merging of CDA with CL have also been elaborated along with the
existing relevant material and illustrations, highlighting the existing gap research in
Chap. 2.
Chapter 3 discusses the theoretical framework, three-dimensional model of Fair-
clough (1989), and the connection of three-dimension model framing the present
study. This chapter also offers the detailed description of CL soft wares which have
been used for the statistical analysis, concordances, and keyword analysis of the
lexical choices, phrases, and some of selected targeted words in order to achieve the
set goals in accordance with the theoretical underpinnings of the study.
Chapters 4 and 5 showcase analysis of the data and findings related to perceptions
of China’s CPEC and BRI within the newspaper discourses of Pakistan and India.
Chapter 4 offers corpus-based analysis on Pakistan English newspapers, indexing
focusing keywords, collocations, concordances of targeted words, verbs, modal
verbs, and co-occurring words with CPEC and BRI. Chapter 5 presents the anal-
ysis of Indian data and comparative table while highlighting the construction of
perceptions regarding China, CPEC, and BRI in Indian newspaper discourses.
Chapter 6 presents the comparison of results with the discussion of factors
affecting China’s mega project CPEC and BRI in newspaper discourses of India
and Pakistan based on the results presented in Chaps. 4 and 5.
The last chapter presents a summary of the key findings, the limitations of the
study, recommendations for policymakers, analysts, and academics as well as new
directions for research in the future.
Shanghai, China Muhammad Afzaal
Acknowledgments
To Allah Almighty, I offer my praise and utmost thanks for giving me the patience
and strength to accomplish this research. No words would suffice to express my
gratitude to Him. I would express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Professor
Kaibao Hu whose fatherly guidance, mentorship, and sagacity illuminated the way
forward on my academic journey at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. His
knowledge, vast insights, and experience inspired me to study Corpus Linguistics
(CL), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and more particularly critical translation
studies (CTS) theories. I am thankful for his advice, out of hours’ meetings, valuable
feedback, and constant encouragement throughout my studies.
I wish to acknowledge the faculty members at the School of Foreign Languages,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and express my profound gratitude for their
valuable support and teaching. I owe my great appreciation to Zhenhua Wang, Li,
Yifan Zhu, Kyunghye Kim, Yang Binjun, Zhen Fengchao, and Han Ziman.
I am also thankful to my friends and colleagues for their dedicated support.
I owe thanks to Swaleha Bano Naqvi, Zahid Khan, Muhammad Ilyas Chishti,
Abdul Ghaffar Bhatti, and Muhammad Imran for their motivating support during
my doctoral studies.
My personal thanks to Rafia, Zaynah binte Afzaal, and Muhammad Saad whose
love, patience, and uncomplaining support made it easier for me to bear the challenges
of my lengthy academic journey and familial separation on account of my studies
abroad.
Finally, I would like to thank my family in Pakistan for their love, constant support,
and prayers and understanding, particularly my parents, siblings, Muhammad Iqbal,
Muhammad Bilal and Muhammad Jalal, who have always been my rock and shelter at
every juncture in my life. Without their prayers and unconditional love, and financial
support in my early academic career, I would not have been able to accomplish this
achievement.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
1.1 Research Background ...................................... 1
1.2 Research Rationale ........................................ 3
1.3 Belt and Road Initiative .................................... 4
1.3.1 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) .......................... 8
1.3.2 BRI and China’s Neighboring Countries ................ 9
1.4 Significance of the Study ................................... 12
1.5 Objectives of the Research .................................. 13
1.6 Research Questions ........................................ 13
1.7 Summary ................................................ 13
References ..................................................... 14
2 Review of Literature ............................................ 17
2.1 Studies on Critical Discourse Analysis ....................... 17
2.1.1 Language, Ideology and Media Power ................. 19
2.2 Studies on Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus
Linguistics ............................................... 20
2.2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis ........................... 20
2.2.2 Faircloughian CDA and Conceptualization of Power ..... 22
2.2.3 Corpus Linguistics .................................. 25
2.3 Studies on CPEC and BRI .................................. 27
2.3.1 Pak-China Friendship: Iron Brothers ................... 28
2.4 Topography of China Pakistan Economic Corridor ............. 29
2.5 One Belt One Road (OBOR) ................................ 30
2.6 Gwadar Port .............................................. 30
2.7 Summary ................................................ 32
References ..................................................... 33
ix
x Contents
3 Theoretical Framework and Methodology ........................ 39
3.1 Overview of CDA and CL .................................. 40
3.2 Theoretical Framework of the Present Study ................... 41
3.2.1 Fairclough Three-Dimension Model ................... 42
3.2.2 Corpus-Based CDA ................................. 43
3.2.3 Merger of CDA and CL .............................. 45
3.3 Procedures of Data Collection ............................... 48
3.3.1 Corpus for the Study ................................ 48
3.4 Software Used in the Study ................................. 51
3.5 Analysis of the Results ..................................... 52
3.6 Keywords and Corpus Techniques ........................... 53
3.7 Summary ................................................ 55
References ..................................................... 55
4 Perceptions of China Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt
and Road Initiative ............................................. 59
4.1 Representation of CPEC in PENC by Frequency Items .......... 59
4.2 Representation of CPEC in PENC by Keywords ............... 60
4.3 Collocation of ‘Iron Brothers’ and China-Pakistan Alliance ...... 62
4.4 N-Grams of Targeted Words ................................ 64
4.5 Bigrams of Top Twenty Keywords ........................... 65
4.6 Collocates and Concordance Lines ........................... 66
4.7 Top Twenty Collocates in PNEC ............................. 67
4.7.1 Collocates of China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CEPC) ............................................ 68
4.7.2 Collocates of CPEC with T-score ...................... 69
4.8 Representation of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) ............... 70
4.9 Concordance Lines ........................................ 71
4.9.1 Concordance Lines of “CPEC” ....................... 71
4.9.2 Concordance Lines of “BRI” ......................... 74
4.9.3 Concordance Lines of ‘China’ ........................ 75
4.9.4 Analysis of Selected Keywords Pertinent to CPEC ....... 78
4.9.5 Concordance Lines of “We” .......................... 79
References ..................................................... 80
5 Perception of BRI and CPEC in Indian Newspapers ............... 83
5.1 Introduction .............................................. 83
5.2 Perception of the BRI and CPEC by Frequent Items in IENC .... 84
5.3 Key Terms Against BNC in IENC ........................... 84
5.4 Biagram of Top Twenty Keywords Against BNC ............... 84
5.5 Concordances of CPEC in Indian Sub Corpus ................. 90
5.6 Modifiers of “China” in Indian Corpus ....................... 91
5.7 Concordances of “Threat” in Indian Sub-corpus ............... 91
5.7.1 Application of “Threat” as a Noun Co-occurring
with Modifiers ...................................... 92
5.8 Concordances of “We” ..................................... 94