Evaluative Language in Economic Reports of the Belt and Road Initiative: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Xinhua

Yuxin Tang, Lingfeng Shen and Hao He
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Yuxin Tang: Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
Lingfeng Shen: Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
Hao He: Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies, 2025, vol. 4, issue 3, 7-13

Abstract: This study investigates the use of evaluative language in English-language economic reports on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) published by Xinhua News Agency between 2015 and 2024. Drawing on a 95,000-word corpus of 120 articles, the research applies Appraisal Theory to identify patterns in how state-sponsored discourse constructs China’s global economic identity. The analysis reveals a systematic deployment of positive appraisal across Judgment and Appreciation categories, often intensified through Graduation and supplemented by externally validated voices. These patterns strategically position China as a visionary, trustworthy development leader while framing partner countries as aligned and grateful participants. Evaluation, in this context, is not merely descriptive but functions as a rhetorical device for legitimizing China’s global role, projecting ideological coherence, and naturalizing asymmetrical development relations. The findings call for a critical reassessment of how linguistic repetition, lexical regularity, and discursive framing in state media contribute to the construction of geopolitical narratives in economic journalism.

Keywords: evaluative language; Belt and Road Initiative; Appraisal Theory; Xinhua News Agency; economic discourse; corpus linguistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cvg:joulcs:v:4:y:2025:i:3:p:7-13

DOI: 10.56397/JLCS.2025.08.02

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