RLiu2024

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RLiu2024
BibType ARTICLE
Key RLiu2024
Author(s) Ruey-Ying Liu
Title Constituting institutional identity in political discourse: The use of the first-person plural pronoun in China's press conferences
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, China, Press Conferences, Institutional Interaction, Identity, Politics, Authoritarianism
Publisher
Year 2024
Language English
City
Month
Journal Language in Society
Volume 53
Number 3
Pages 421-444
URL Link
DOI 10.1017/S0047404523000386
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The discursive construction of institutional identity concerns how speakers, through their verbal conduct, perform actions as incumbents of particular institutional roles. This can be accomplished through the first-person plural pronoun, a salient marker of the ongoing displays, expressions, and constructions of institutional identity. Drawing on the Chinese premier's press conferences, this study investigates how politicians, journalists, and interpreters constitute their institutional identities through their use of the first-person plural pronoun (English we; Mandarin 我们 wǒmen). Relying on qualitative analysis and bivariate analysis, this study shows that Chinese journalists and interpreters tend to constitute their identities as aligned with the Chinese authority. This stands in contrast to patterns identified in independent press systems, in which journalists confront politicians, and interpreters serve as impartial facilitators. The findings illustrate the bounded fluidity of identities in political discourse and provide insight into the workings of the political communication system in an authoritarian context. (Political discourse, identity, personal pronoun, press conference, journalistic norm, mass communication, interpreter-mediated interaction, China, authoritarianism)

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