A Systemic Functional Framework Of International Ecological Discourse Analysis

International ecological discourse represents the international social ecosystem which is shaped by nations and their international environment.International ecological discourse analysis probes into the impact of discourse on the international social ecosystem,exploring the impact of discourse on the life-sustaining relationships among nations,and their international environment.Currently ecological discourse analysis focuses on natural ecology,giving scant attention to social ecology and less attention to international social ecology.Social ecology,however,is as crucial as natural ecology.International social ecology in particular deserves much more attention in the context of globalization.Against this background,this study seeks to construct a systemic functional framework for international ecological discourse analysis by combining the theoretical ideas of Systemic Functional Linguistics such as stratification,metafunction and system and international ecosophy "duo yuan he xie,jiao hu gong sheng多元和谐,交互共生”(diversity and harmony,interaction and co-existence),which draws on insights from selected traditional Chinese cultures and philosophies and modern Chinese diplomatic concepts deriving from traditional cultures and philosophies.Using this framework,this study aims to uncover ecological ideologies(e.g.destructive ecological ideologies,neutral ecological ideologies and beneficial ecological ideologies)in discourse through an exploration of the ecological features in the meaning of discourse.Then it intends to help cultivate a beneficial public ecological awareness and thus promote the establishment of a positive international social discourse system.Specifically,this study,following the meaning-oriented principle of Systemic Functional Linguistics,takes a "trinocular" perspective to elaborate the"ecological meaning" of international ecological discourse.For this purpose,based on the stratification principle for linguistic description within Systemic Functional Linguistics,it sets out to explore "ecological meaning" "from below"by relating it to the context(the international social ecosystem),"from around" by relating it to the meaning potential of international social ecology(international ecological factors,international ecological environment,and ecological-orientation),and "from above" by relating it to its driving forces-lexicogrammatical resources.The ecological potential is the core of the exploration.In the light of "bidirectionality of realization",the ecological meaning potential is activated by its contextual factors and driven by its lexicogrammatical resources.In view of this,this study integrates the international ecosophy "duo yuan he xie,jiao hu gong sheng多元和谐,交互共生”(diversity and harmony,interaction and co-existence)into the theory of metafunction to create "an ecologicalized linguistic framework".This framework is composed of three streams of "ecologicalized" meaning of international ecological discourse:experiential meaning,interpersonal meaning and textual meaning,all three of which are driven by a syndrome of "ecologicalized" lexicogrammatical resources.First of all,the study formulates a framework for the analysis of the"ecologicalized" experiential meaning,which is realized by the "ecologicalized"semantic configurations within transitivity,which primarily constitute six process types,along with the participants and attendant circumstances.Put specifically,starting from a perspective of ecology,the study mainly scrutinizes three kinds of ecological experience,namely destructive experience,neutral experience and beneficial experience.Accordingly,these three categories of ecological experience are realized by destructive processes(e.g.destructive mental processes,destructive relational processes,destructive behavioral processes,destructive communicative processes and destructive existential processes),and neutral processes(e.g.neutral action processes,etc.),and beneficial processes(e.g.beneficial action processes,etc.).Additionally,the "ecologicalized" participant can be divided into the life participant and the lifeless participant,which represent the life ecological factor and the lifeless ecological factor respectively.In a similar way,the "ecologicalized" circumstance can be classified into the physical circumstance and the social circumstance that construe the physical international environment and the social international environment.What is more,the study constructs a framework for analyzing the"ecologicalized" interpersonal meaning,which is realized by an "ecologicalized"mood system,an "ecologicalized" modality system and an "ecologicalized"appraisal system.The mood system represents social ecological identities,taking life initiator and lifeless initiator for instance,while the modality system construes ecological relations,which include destructive relations,neutral relations and beneficial relations.The appraisal system consists of three sub-systems-attitude,engagement and graduation.The "ecologicalized" attitude is about ecological feeling,having links with affect,judgment(of behaviors)and appreciation(of ecological things).The engagement system concerns the sources of"ecologicalized" attitude and consists of destructive source,neutral source and beneficial source.The graduation system can be used to study the degree of"ecologicalized" engagement from the angles of force and focus.In addition,the study builds a framework for the analysis of the"ecologicalized" textual meaning which represents the starting point of and the newsworthy status of ecological information through the "ecologicalized" theme system and information system.Note that both experiential content and interpersonal content can thematize the ecological domain.For instance,the experiential content can be employed to express different choices of ecological factors;similarly,the interpersonal content can be utilized to construe social ecological relations and ecological evaluations.Thus both experiential theme and interpersonal theme can be extended along the ecological cline,which is differentiated by ecological content and non-ecological content.The"ecologicalized" experiential theme is related to life factors and lifeless factors.Also the "ecologicalized" interpersonal theme is categorized into destructive interpersonal theme,neutral interpersonal theme,and beneficial interpersonal theme.As far as the information system is concerned,new information is within the "ecologicalized" dimension,which gives rise to three alternatives-destructive new,neutral new and beneficial new.These choices can construe different newsworthy statuses of ecological information-destructive status,neutral status and beneficial status.On the whole,this study sets up an "ecologicalized" framework for investigating the "ecological meaning" of international ecological discourse.Significantly,this framework is a merger of "theory,analysis and action".Analysts initially construct an analytical framework from philosophical and linguistic theories,and then use this framework to analyze international ecological discourse,and finally take action.In the current study,"an ecologicalized linguistic framework" is built from an incorporation of the metafunctional theory of SFL and the international ecosophy "duo yuan he xie,jiao hu gong sheng多元和谐,交互共生"(diversity and harmony,interaction and co-existence).Within this framework,we need to describe the three major linguistic devices that may affect the balance of the international social ecosystem,and to categorize discourses into three strands-destructive discourses,neutral discourses and beneficial discourses,and to expose and challenge ecological ideologies-destructive ideologies,neutral ideologies and beneficial ideologies.The final step is to encourage people to resist destructive discourses,improve neutral discourses and promote beneficial discourses.In summary,this study makes three principal contributions.First and foremost,it advocates the international ecosophy "duo yuan he xie,jiao hu gong sheng多元和谐,交互共生"(diversity and harmony,interaction and co-existence)and suggests resolving ecological problems by raising the ecological awareness of the general public.This advocacy and suggestion opens up a new avenue for ecology researchers who may find other ways(like a linguistic-philosophical one)to address the ecological crisis other than purely scientific experiments.Furthermore,this study not only testifies to the core features of Systemic Functional Linguistics-"applicability" and "social accountability"-but also pushes ecolinguistics towards its theoretical development.Last but not least,the analytical framework,empowered by a linguistic-philosophical approach,unifies western linguistic theories and traditional Chinese cultures and philosophies and modern Chinese diplomatic concepts deriving from traditional cultures and philosophies,and thus achieves a dialogue between east and west in tackling ecological issues.