Transitivity Analysis Of International Eco-discourses

In the book Introducing Functional Grammar,Halliday points out that functional grammar provides a theoretical framework for discourse analysis,which can be applied to the analysis of any spoken or written discourses in English.It is proved that the theory of systemic-functional grammar is much more suitable for discourse analysis than any other theories.Hereinto,transitivity analysis is a basic and powerful analytical tool in systemic-functional grammar.Halliday systematically discussed the theory of transitivity from the perspective of semantics for the first time,which marked the beginning of the research on the theory of transitivity and its application.With the aggravation of global ecological problems,the term “ecological transformation” has become more clearly and come into our research field.Ecological aesthetics,social ecology,ecological linguistics and other related disciplines come into being.As one of the main research approaches of ecological linguistics,ecological discourse analysis has set off an ecological revolution in the academia with its unique social perspectives and keen thoughts since its birth.However,at present,most linguists only focus on the natural level of the ecological discourse and pay very little attention to the study of social ecology.In fact,social ecology is as important as natural ecology.With the rapid development of globalization and the continuous development of international exchanges,the international community has become a highly interdependent community of common destiny.The study of international eco-discourses comes into being under this kind of background.The analysis of ecological discourses must base on dynamic properties of context,which must be guided by our ecosophy.The traditional Chinese culture,which is extensive and profound,contains abundant philosophical concepts for us to learn from.By drawing inspiration from Chinese traditional ideas of philosophy,this thesis constructs the ecosophy which is conducive to the sound development of the international ecosystem.It is the ecosophy of “harmony in diversity” as well as“mutual benefits”.Based on whether it conforms to the ecosophy we have proposed and whether it is conducive to the positive development of international communication,we further refine the transitivity system into beneficial process,neutral process and destructive process.In this thesis,10 international news reports in The New York Times,which can reflect the status quo of international relations,are selected as samples.Taking Halliday's systemic-functional grammar as the theoretical basis,this thesis discusses the characteristics and the ecological significance of international eco-discourses in quantitative and qualitative approaches.The main findings of the thesis are as follows:1)Among all the six processes of transitivity,material,verbal and relational processes share a larger proportion,counting for 53%,30% and 14% respectively.The percentage of mental and behavioral process is respectively illustrated as 3% and 1%.There is no behavioral process in the samples.The reason lies in the essence of transitivity system and the particularity of news discourses.On the other hand,material,mental and relational processes are main types of processes in English transitivity system,and material process is the most common one.On the other hand,news discourses aim to record facts in a true and objective manner.Material processes account for more than half of the whole processes,which meets the requirement of objectivity of news.2)The proportion of beneficial,neutral and destructive processes is respectively illustrated as 33%,39% and 28%.This data show that beneficial and neutral processes account for a large proportion in international news discourses,while there are still some destructive discourses against the positive development of international ecology.It is hoped that the present study can enhance people's awareness of identifying and resisting destructive discourses.Meanwhile,it is also expected that the media and academic fields could create more beneficial discourses and promote the positive development of international exchanges.