批评隐喻分析(Critical Metaphor Analysis,简称CMA)综合概念隐喻理论、批评性话语分析以及语用学,通过概念隐喻将话语和社会无缝链接,是分析政治话语的有效途径之一。文章以美国政府网站上的31篇中美贸易谈判语篇为语料,从批评隐喻的视角对美方对华贸易政策的“合法化”进行剖析。统计表明,美方通过虚构政治神话,将中国构建为“欺凌者”,美国则被构建成“受害者”,美国前总统特朗普被构建为“斗士”。这一隐喻系统代替复杂的政治事实,成为美国民众识解中美贸易战的方式。本文希望通过完善批评隐喻分析方法丰富合法化的研究路径,并对中国对外话语体系建构提供有益参考。

Critical Metaphor Analysis integrates Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis, and pragmatics, and thereby connects discourse and society seamlessly through conceptual metaphor, which is one of the effective ways to analyze political discourse. This paper takes 31 Sino-US trade texts on the US government websites as data, and analyzes the legitimization of the US policy toward China from the perspective of Critical Metaphor Analysis. It is shown that the US government,through fabricating a political myth, constructs China as a BULLY, while the United States as a VICTIM, and Trump is constructed as a FIGHTER. This metaphorical system replaces complex political facts and becomes a way for Americans to understand the Sino-US trade war. It is hoped that this study may, through refining the Critical Metaphor Analysis method, enrich the legitimization research approach, and provide useful references for the construction of China’s foreign discourse system.