ABSTRACT
Historians study the process of the war. Diplomats or diplomacy researchers explore the relations between warring countries. However, few scholars look at war from the linguistic view of point. As a matter of fact, the first thing that human comes into contact with each other must face is about linguistic problem. Misunderstanding in achieving diplomatic communication among people from different cultural backgrounds may easily cause a war between countries.
A central concern of this study is to explore whether the words and expressions used in the Ching dynasty were appropriate or not, by means of linguistic approaches, when the Ching faced the intrusion of the Westerners’ warship which brought about the first Sino-British Opium War. This study analyzes Chinese Mandarin expressions. This intends to realize how language would influence the Opium War during that time.
Through employing a linguistic study on Chinese Mandarin used in the period of Opium War, we may realize what had caused the problem of war. And from the expressions used toward the British, we may find issues are the implicative relationships with the national defense. Today, scientific development has made the distance between nations be shortened and the linguistic contact with other foreigners closer. Owing to this country’s special position in its geography, we must not ignore the study on linguistic usages to the national defense between persons who are from different cultural backgrounds, particularly those who are diplomats and foreign language learners. Therefore, it is very important for us to notice the role of language in national security and to train more foreign language talents.
Keywords: Linguistics; Pragmatics; Deixis; the Opium War Period
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