Fig. 5: The topos of threat in the reported speech concerning “people”. | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Fig. 5: The topos of threat in the reported speech concerning “people”.

From: A corpus-based discourse analysis of China’s national image constructed by environmental news in The New York Times

Fig. 5: The topos of threat in the reported speech concerning “people”.

The possible perception process of the readers when they comprehend the news report in the logic of “threat” topos in example (5). The argument scheme embedded in the reported speech first draws upon a widely recognized idea that economic growth should not be achieved at the expense of damage to the environment. The logical rule regarding the topos of threat that if a country pursues economic expansion and ignores the environment, the country is doing wrong and should stop its action may imply a certain conclusion.

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