Adopting Van Dijk's theory of ideology as theoretical framework, using Fairclough's dialectical-relational approach as CDA methodology, this paper analyzes the language in a novel written by Mo Yan (莫言), the Nobel Prize winner in literature in 2012, a writer who is adept at describing the Chinese society. In his earlier novel "The Abandoned Baby" (弃婴), he depicted the reality of gender discrimination in Chinese society, aiming to defy traditional ideology and call for gender equality. In order

more »

... o reveal the dialectical relation between the language he used and the social wrong he tried to address, this paper makes a linguistic analysis of two types of discourse structures in the novel: modality and rhetoric, in terms of their semiotic realization of ideologically based gender discrimination as a social wrong. This linguistic analysis of Mo Yan's literary writing helps to reveal the function of literature which he mentioned after he won the Nobel Prize: to change the society for the better through the use of language. It coincides with the mission of critical discourse studies: to reveal social problems through discourse analysis, thus to raise people's awareness in correcting it.