How Interactional Metadiscourse Shapes Sentiment: A Corpus-Based Study of BRI News in China and Papua New Guinea

Jiayi Sun; Yue Shen; Xiaoyue Sun; Huidan Liu

doi:10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_31

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How Interactional Metadiscourse Shapes Sentiment: A Corpus-Based Study of BRI News in China and Papua New Guinea

Authors

Jiayi Sun¹, Yue Shen¹, Xiaoyue Sun¹, Huidan Liu¹^{, *}

¹College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, 201306, China

^*Corresponding author. Email: hdliu@shmtu.edu.cn

Corresponding Author

Huidan Liu

Available Online 13 July 2026.

DOI: 10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_31 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: Interactional Metadiscourse; Sentiment Analysis; Belt and Road Initiative; South Pacific Island Countries
Abstract: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has increased connectivity among the South Pacific countries. As a key element of intercultural communication, language strategies directly influence the spread of the BRI. While existing discussions have addressed relevant theoretical perspectives, empirical analyses focusing on media discourse in the South Pacific have received limited attention. Drawing upon Hyland’ s theory of interactional metadiscourse and the VADER sentiment analyzer, the study examines metadiscourse features and sentiment analysis in BRI-related coverage (2019-2024) by English-language media in China and Papua New Guinea (PNG), and explores underlying relationship between metadiscourse and sentiment expression. The findings reveal news outlets generally show a positive orientation. China’s media tend to use self-mentions and boosters with higher frequency, explicitly taking a position as the initiating country of the BRI. In contrast, PNG media adopt a more neutral orientation, featuring frequent use of hedges to reflect a cautious attitude and relatively common use of attitude markers that show a strong correlation with positive sentiment. Moreover, the relationship between metadiscourse and sentiment varies across domains, with stronger correlations observed in non-sensitive issues and weaker associations in sensitive topics.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access: Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language and Cultural Communication (ICLCC 2026)
Series: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date: 13 July 2026
ISBN: 978-2-38476-597-3
ISSN: 2352-5398
DOI: 10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_31 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - CONF
AU  - Jiayi Sun
AU  - Yue Shen
AU  - Xiaoyue Sun
AU  - Huidan Liu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/13
TI  - How Interactional Metadiscourse Shapes Sentiment: A Corpus-Based Study of BRI News in China and Papua New Guinea
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language and Cultural Communication (ICLCC 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 276
EP  - 292
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_31
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_31
ID  - Sun2026
ER  -

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