Critical Discourse Analysis of Enterprise Crisis Management: A Case Study of DiDi Company’s Letter of Apology_英语论文

摘要

企业道歉信最近成为了网络媒体的热门话题, 但是人们对其在批评话语分析方面的研究却相对较少。基于批评话语分析理论，本文从滴滴公司微信公众号中选取其道歉信作为语料，从及物性、情态、名物化以及预设这四个方面对其进行话语分析，试图揭示该公司隐藏在话语中的意识形态以及企业与读者之间的权力关系。此外，本文还研究该企业如何在道歉信中操纵其话语来有策略地进行企业危机处理。通过对滴滴公司道歉信的话语分析，本文发现该企业在道歉信中利用话语来修复企业形象、协调公共关系和避免消极的自我表现，从而达到化解企业危机的目的。

关键词：批评话语分析  企业危机管理  道歉信

Abstract

Enterprises’ letters of apology have recently become a hot topic in online media but few researches focus on the critical discourse analysis of them. Based on the theory of Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper selects the letter of apology of DiDi Company from the enterprise’s WeChat official account as data and analyzes the discourses of the letter of apology from the aspects of transitivity, modality, nominalization and presupposition, trying to reveal the hidden ideology of the company and the power relation between the enterprise and the readers. In addition, the paper also studies how the enterprise manipulates its discourses in the letter of apology to manage its enterprise crisis strategically. After discourse analysis of DiDi Company’s letter of apology, it is found that the enterprise utilizes discourses to repair the corporate image, harmonize the public relationship  and avoid negative self-presentation in the letter of apology for the purpose of resolving the enterprise crisis.

Key words: critical discourse analysis  enterprise crisis management  letter of apology

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Research Background 1

1.2  Purpose and Significance of This Thesis 3

1.3  Structure of This Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

2.1  Introduction 5

2.2  Critical Discourse Analysis 5

2.2.1 Definition of Critical Discourse Analysis 6

2.2.2 Key Notions of Critical Discourse Analysis 7

2.2.3 Studies of Critical Discourse Analysis at Home and Abroad 8

2.3  Researches on Letter of Apology 9

2.4  Researches on Enterprise Crisis Management 11

2.4.1 Enterprise Crisis 12

2.4.2 Enterprise Crisis Management 12

2.5  Comment 13

Chapter Three  Methodology 14

3.1  Introduction 14

3.2  Critical Discourse Analysis 14

3.3  Systemic-functional Grammar 16

3.4  Analytical Tools 18

3.5  Data Background and Collection 20

3.5.1 Data Background 20

3.5.2 Data Collection 21

Chapter Four  Critical Discourse Analysis of DiDi Company’s 

Letter of Apology 23

4.1  Introduction 23

4.2  Critical Discourse Analysis of DiDi Company’s Letter of Apology 23

4.2.1 Transitivity 24

4.2.2 Modality 27

4.2.3 Nominalization 30

4.2.4 Presupposition 31

4.3  Discussion 32

Chapter Five  Conclusion 35

Bibliography

Acknowledgements