“抹除”与“粉饰”——环境话语的两大非生态修辞功能批评分析

Erasure and Whitewash: A Critical Analysis of Two Non-ecological Rhetorical Functions of Environmental Discourse

从"生态话语修辞批评"角度对环境话语进行批判考察可以发现,环境话语的非生态性修辞功能主要存在于"抹除"与"粉饰"两大方面。环境话语中的抹除是双向运作的,一个方向是对自然存在的抹除,另一个方向是对施事者的抹除。抹除施事者的两大主要修辞策略是使用"被动语态"和复杂"名词化";抹除自然世界的修辞方式则主要表现在"物体化"与"拟人化",使用"上位词"与"下位词"等方面。发挥粉饰功能的修辞方式主要是委婉语,"粉饰"功能则又可分成"洗白""洗浅"和"洗绿"三种类型。目前国内的生态批评主要集中在对生态文学文本的分析上,大众文化研究又对生态文化较少关注,本文打破文学文本与非文学文本的严格界限,从生态话语修辞批评角度对更宽泛的环境话语文本的非生态修辞功能和潜在构成规则进行批评分析,以期拓展生态批评和文化研究的方法视野与问题领域,从而也对当今的生态文化、文明建设发挥更为切实的作用。

A critical analysis of environmental discourse from the perspective of"ecological rhetorical discourse criticism"reveals that the non-ecological rhetorical function of environmental discourse is mainly demonstrated in"erasure"and"whitewash".Erasure in environmental discourse works in two directions:one is the erasure of the natural existence,while the other is the erasure of the agent.The two main rhetorical strategies to erase the agent are"passive voice"and complicated"nominalization".The rhetoric strategy to erase the natural world is mainly manifested in"objectification"and"personification",and the use of"hypernym"and"hyponym",etc.The rhetoric of whitewash is mainly euphemism,of which the function can be divided into three types,the"whitewashing"(in a narrow sense),"shallowwashing",and"greenwashing".Domestic ecocriticism has by far focused on the analysis of ecological literary texts,while popular cultural studies pays little attention to ecological culture.This paper,through crossing the boundaries between literary texts and non-literary texts from the perspective of ecological rhetorical discourse criticism,critically analyzes the non-ecological rhetoric functions and underlying constitution rules of a broader environmental discourse,with the aim to expand the vision and problem domain of ecocriticism and cultural studies,and hence to play a more practical role in constructing ecological culture and civilization today.