Nominalization And Power

As an important linguistic phenomenon, nominalization draws much attention from the linguistic circle. Transformational Generative Grammar, Cognitive Linguistics, etc., approach nominalization from various angles. The pioneer of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) M. A. K. Halliday subsumed the research of nominalization under that of grammatical metaphor with the proposition that nominalizing is the single most powerful resource for creating grammatical metaphor, which renders a unique perspective and completely fresh insight. Because of its particular functions, nominalization has become one of the main features of written language and occurs with high frequency in legal texts, scientific and technical texts, news texts, literary texts, and the like, all of which are characterized by a certain degree of formality.The French philosopher and thinker Michel Foucault claimed that where there is discourse, there is power; power is the dominating force underlying discourse. In other words, discourse implies power relations and exercises power influence. The Chinese scholar Xin Bin argued that discourse helps to construct, maintain, or disintegrate power relations. He regarded texts as room for power operation. Given this view, it makes sense to take the position that nominalization is the essential device for formal texts to construct power relations and exert power influence.Although many scholars, both at home and abroad, have made critical analyses of nominalization, researches combining nominalization and power are far from enough. Based on the theories of nominalization of SFL and Foucault's theory of power & discourse, this thesis aims at exploring the great significance of nominalization to the way texts exert influence and exercise power by employing both the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis, and making the interrelationship between nominalization and power come to light. In addition, it reinterprets the high correlation between language and power in view of the interrelationship between nominalization and power, touches upon the matter of discourse power and attempts to advance some constructive suggestions to help readers to gain penetrating understanding of discourse and power underlying it, with the aim that the consciousness of discourse power is to be awakened or enhanced.The thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One serves as a general introduction to the whole thesis. It briefs on the research background, presents the objectives of this study, justifies the significance of this piece of research work, and specifies the design of the thesis. Chapter Two reviews the previous studies concerning nominalization. It touches upon various approaches to nominalization, such as Structuralism, Transformational Generative Grammar, Cognitive Linguistics, and SFL. By comparison, SFL stands out and figures as a sound foundation for further researches on nominalization. Chapter Three elucidates the theoretical framework of the present research. It depicts a panorama of the relevant theories of nominalization within the paradigm of SFL and expounds on Foucault's theory of power & discourse which together with the theories of nominalization of SFL prepares the ground for the study. Chapter Four probes into nominalization qualitatively from the perspective of semantic features and stylistic functions to afford an overview of the way nominalization facilitates formal texts to realize power relations and exert power influence. Chapter Five conducts the quantitative analysis of nominalization from the perspective of occurrence frequency and provides statistical evidence to enquire further into the correlation between nominalization and power. Chapter Six interprets and evaluates the findings of the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis. Besides, it puts forward some constructive suggestions to help readers to gain penetrating understanding of nominalization and power operation underlying it. Chapter Seven summarizes the major findings of the study, points out the limitations of the research, and offers some implications for further study.