The categorization and specification of social functions for English for specific purposes(ESP) stands in a marked contrast to that for English for general purposes(EGP).This study compares discourse patterns across four geo-political regions by a corpus-based approach to analyzing "Belt and Road" media report data retrieved from the WebCorp,a linguistic search engine.The corresponding relationship between regions and parameters forms an empirical basis for the linguistic specification of social functions,which offers a new perspective to observe the difference between ESP and EGP.