A Comparative Study On Author Identity Construction By Self-mention In The Acknowledgement Of Chinese And American Doctoral Dissertation

Since the 20^th century,authorial identity construction has become one of the heated issues in academic field.The relative researches emerge endlessly,which attracts more attention to scholars.Authorial identity can not only present the author’s academic ideas and achievements,but also achieve the communication and interaction between the writer and reader smoothly.Self-mention is one of the most powerful pragmatic strategies and the most practical language ways in academic writings,aiming to achieve the authorial identity construction.However,academic circle hasn’t paid sufficient attention to it.For this reason,this study will attempt to put forward a detailed analytical framework,combining Hyland’s（2014）with Tajfel&Turner’s（1986）identity classification theory.And it also takes acknowledgement of the Chinese and American doctoral dissertation as two research corpora.Through quantitative and qualitative analysis,the use frequency and characteristics of self-mentions can be obtained from Chinese and American doctoral dissertation acknowledgement.And the similarities and differences of authorial identity construction are further investigated between Chinese and American scholars.Finally,it will deeply analyze the reasons for the differences between Chinese and American students in this process.In this study,three research questions are included.First,what identities do the authors construct through the self-mentions in Chinese and American doctoral dissertation acknowledgement? Second,what are the similarities and differences on author identities constructed by self-mentions in the two corpora? Third,what are main factors of the differences in the process of constructing author identities?The research results show that Chinese and American doctors have constructed three kinds of identities: professional identity,social identity and personal identity.Through data analysis,there are five kinds of professional identities in both doctoral dissertation acknowledgement: doctor identity,junior researcher identity,peer researcher identity,dissertation respondent identity and staff member identity,and two social identities: friend and family.In contrast,there are two extra identities of the American doctors,responsibility undertaker of professional identity and religious believer of personal identity.The construction process of professional identity is mainly completed through the first personal pronouns（I,my）and abstract nouns（thesis,study,research,dissertation）,while the personal identity and social identity are mainly completed through the first personal pronouns（I,my）.This study intends to provide a new perspective for author identity and to enhance learner’s awareness of self-mention and authorial identity construction aiming to improve learners’ writing of acknowledgement.