Systemic Functional Linguistic Interpretation Of Verbalization In English

The principal objective of this thesis is to explore the essence and function of verbalization from systemic functional perspective. Depending on the qualitative research of verbalization, the writer finds the metaphorical essence and evaluative functions of verbalization.As an operation existing on a par with nominalization, verbalization has not received as much attention as nominalization. Systemic functional school headed by Halliday probes into nominalization deeply in the light of grammatical metaphor; yet, it doesn't contribute so much as to the study of verbalization. Verbalization still awaits further study from systemic functional perspective.Based on the previous studies, this thesis argues for a more comprehensive explanation of verbalization. It applies the theory of grammatical metaphor to the explanation of the essence of verbalization, relates the metaphorical essence of verbalization to its evaluative resources and analyzes the evaluative functions of verbalization based on the Appraisal system proposed by Martin.The current study is composed of five parts. In the first part, a general introduction to the theoretical background of the study of verbalization, the methodology, the objectives and the organization of the whole thesis are provided.In Chapter 1, the writer introduces the theoretical foundation of the forming process of verbalization and reviews the research work done to verbalization from the perspectives of traditional grammar, cognitive grammar and systemic functional grammar. Finally the writer makes a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the previous studies to state that this thesis is a valuable complement to the study of verbalization from systemic functional perspective.Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 are the principal parts of this thesis. Chapter 2 functions as a preliminary explanation of the major features of verbalization from systemic functional perspective. The writer categorizes verbalization into three main types according to the different forming processes of verbalization and analyzes the essence of the formation of verbalization, revealing the fact that verbalization is a process of grammatical metaphor. In Chapter 3, the writer examines the function of verbalization by working out the Appraisal resources in verbalization. These two chapters together highlight the gist of this thesis— the exploration of the essence and function of verbalization from systemic functional perspective. This not only complements the study of verbalization from systemic functional perspective, but also makes the study of verbalization more profound.In the concluding part, the writer summarizes the major findings of the research and discusses the significance of the study for both the linguistic study of verbalization and systemic functional grammar. A final section advances the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study.All the parts of the thesis interact with one another and work together to serve the study of verbalization from systemic functional perspective and verify the writer's findings: the essence of the forming process of verbalization is metaphorical and Appraisal system sheds some light on the study of the evaluative functions of verbalization.