解构“特朗普现象”--兼论实与无并存语言观

Deconstructing the “Trump Phenomenon”: Illustrating the Language of Presence-and-Absence

借鉴当代语言和修辞理论,可以对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的语言行为展开分析和批评,并在此基础上审核传统语言观,提出"实与无"并存语言观。研究旨在阐明四点:1.特朗普出人意外地在2016年美国大选中击败民主党对手、美国前国务卿希拉里·克林顿当选为美国总统,是和他巧妙运用修辞手法、理解受众、采纳受众话语来创构另类现实有紧密的关联。2.传统的有实语言观(the language of presence)和无实语言观(the language of absence)已无法对"特朗普现象"作出圆满答复。3."实与无"并存语言观(the language of presence-and-absence)能帮助我们摆脱传统语言观的约束。4.准确解构"特朗普现象"需要对修辞的生成、变更能力有新的认识,因为只有具备这种认识,我们才能开始对美国当代政治修辞培育批判性的视野,也才能开始对是与非、表象与内涵、或然与定然等两元概念发展跳出传统框架的新理念。

Drawing on contemporary language and rhetorical theory,this paper provides a critique of American President Donald Trump’s language behavior.On the basis of this critique,this paper challenges traditional perspectives on language function and advances a new perspective called the language of presence-and-absence.This paper aims to illustrate four points:1.Trump’s ability to construct an alternative reality by ingeniously using rhetorical tropes,understanding his audience,and adopting their language has directly contributed to his unexpected victory in the 2016 presidential election over his Democratic opponent and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.2.The language of presence and the language of absence,two of the traditional perspectives on language function,can no longer constitute a satisfactory answer to the“Trump Phenomenon.”3.The language of presence-and-absence can help free us from the constraints of traditional perspectives on language function.4.To accurately deconstruct the“Trump Phenomenon,”it is essential to develop a new understanding of rhetoric’s generative and transformative capability.Only by securing this kind of understanding can we begin to engage American contemporary political rhetoric more critically and to develop new concepts that can transcend such binaries as facts versus fiction,appearance versus essence,and probability versus certainty.