A Study Of Aesthetic Attributes In English Prose Texts From The Perspective Of Functional Linguistics

English prose texts (EPTs) enjoy great popularity for beautiful language, smooth sentences, vivid description, give people aesthetic pleasure, meet people’s requirement of inner spirit, thus possess high aesthetic attributes. These aesthetic features attract many attentions. Studies on the aesthetic features in EPTs have been carried out by numerous researchers both at home and abroad. With regards to the studies of aesthetic attributes of English prose texts, the studies focus primarily on phonology or rhetoric, which reflect limited aspects of the aesthetic attributes in EPTs. Based on the theory of functional linguistics, the thesis makes an analysis of the aesthetic attributes in EPTs in order to broaden the study of aesthetic attributes in EPTs, provide a new theoretical perspective to reveal the aesthetic attributes and intrinsic rules in EPTs more comprehensively and profoundly, as well as help readers to better understand and appreciate the EPTs.The functional linguist Halliday (2007) puts forward that language has three metafunctions:ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. The ideational function serves the expression of content; the interpersonal function serves the expression of the writer’s attitude; the textual function is concerned with the creation of text. The role of three metafunctions in language is:the system of transitivity organizes ideational function, mood organizes interpersonal function, and theme and cohesion textual one. In recent years, the theories of functional linguistics have been widely applied to the analysis of text. It is reasonable and feasible for these theories to serve as a theoretical mechanism for the analysis of texts. The theories have strong persuasive powers to explain the intrinsic rules of language. The functional linguists hold that function and text features have close relations. The language in literary texts shares a common function in human society, that is, providing people with aesthetic entertainment.The present thesis attempts to make a study on the aesthetic attributes of EPTs based on the theories of functional linguistics. The thesis uses qualitative analysis as the chief methodology, and quantitative analysis as the supplement. The data consist of50EPTs. The research makes an exploration in terms of how the aesthetic attributes in EPTs are achieved via the three metafunctions. It attests the fact that the three metafunctions have important and necessary relation with the aesthetic attributes in EPTs. The beauty of image is achieved via transitivity, the beauty of feelings and thoughts via mood, the beauty of regularity via thematic progression, and the beauty of unity via cohesion:1) material processes, relational processes and mental processes are the principal process types in EPTs; these processes can serve to portray pictures of the kinds of people or things the writer intends to describe, consequently to supply the readers with vivid image; the EPTs possess the beauty of image, which can evoke readers’mental pictures and arouse readers’aesthetic feelings;2) the declarative is the principal mood type in EPTs; the selection of the declaratives can function to convey the writer’s sincere feelings and meaningful thoughts, influence the readers’ ideology, and hence contribute to produce aesthetic effect;3) due to the constant theme progression patterns or the constant rheme progression patterns, the form in EPTs are represented in parallel of Themes or Rhemes, which carry characteristics of beauty of regularity; the form of EPTs is of the well-arranged and highly appealing kind with the beauty of regularity;4) with the help of the cohesive devices of collocation, conjunction, repetition and reference, a prose text becomes pleasing connection of related elements, which involves integrated relations between words and words, clauses and clauses, paragraphs and paragraphs; thus the EPTs give readers a grateful appreciation of the beauty of unity;5) in EPTs, high beauty arise from the beautiful content-with-form, which makes the prose reading a rather delightful experience, and linger in the readers’mind for a very long time.The significance of the present thesis comes from theoretical and practical values. Theoretically, this thesis explores the aesthetic attributes of EPTs based on the theories of functional linguistics, which steps beyond the limitation of focusing mainly on phonology and rhetoric. Practically, the study is helpful to the readers to better understand and appreciate the EPTs; it diversifies the study of the aesthetic attributes in literary texts; moreover it is beneficial to the teaching of reading and writing.