Investigating Discursive Power by Critical Discourse Analysis of the “Run” Social Media Neologism in China

Abstract

This research explores the discursive power demonstrated by the neologism “run” recently popular on Chinese social media platforms. With Critical Discourse Analysis of Fairclough, the study has looked into 30 posts containing “run” on three platforms in text, discourse practices, and social practices. These findings further revealed the power of discourse. Dominant relations appear between institutions and individuals, as well as implicit forms in issues of discrimination against women, the elderly, and in the workplace. Discourses such as strong opposition to “run” implicitly use metaphors, rewording, intertextuality, etc. The use of grammatical questions and presuppositions can also be imposed on people. Power-to refers to “run” itself, which symbolizes a strong response to “power-over” by textual means of declarative sentences and situational context. Power-with can help connect people who are on the same side, or who have similar “background knowledge”, by paraphrasing, rewording, and grammar questions.