A Wmatrix-based Analysis of Proximization Strategy of Environmental Discourse: A Case of Silent Spring

Abstract

Proximization Theory has been a hotted theory utilized in the field of critical discourse analysis. Silent Spring is a pioneer work describing how chemicals cause harm to the environment. This paper, under the guidance of Proximization Theory and semantic domains provided by the corpus tool Wmatrix, attempts to analyze the proximization strategies used in Silent Spring about the effects of chemicals on the environment. Based on three aspects of Proximization Theory: space, time and axiology, the paper investigates the frequencies and instances of proximization strategies used in Silent Spring. Besides, the paper also summarizes the specialized characteristics of proximization strategies in Silent Spring, which may lay a foundation for further research on environmental discourse: 1) Silent Spring frequently uses spatial proximzation strategies to emphasize the actual harms of chemicals to the environment. 2) In terms of temporal strategies, Silent Spring prefers the perfect tense to highlight the longitude of harm of chemicals. 3)In terms of axiological strategies, Silent Spring shows the conflict of ideologies between the two opposite parts in the discourse through the author’s evaluations of the harms of chemicals.