An Ecological Discourse Analysis Of Wolf Totem:an Interpersonal Function Perspective

Ecolinguistics,as a scientific study of language in relation to ecology,comes into being with the derivation of environmental problems.Halliday’s insights trigger one of the staple research approaches to ecolinguistics basically recognized in the academic circle.Admittedly,growing into an independent research paradigm,ecological discourse analysis under Halliday’s non-metaphorical approach can be applied in any kinds of discourses that potentially exert impact on the whole ecosystem.The research of ecological discourse analysis abroad has begun to take shape,but is still in its infancy in China.Few studies have ever touched upon the Chinese data.Scholars in various fields have constructed their own discourse analysis framework but are mostly confined within the paradigm of critical discourse analysis.Meanwhile,the literature shows that the researches on Wolf Totem cover various aspects,especially from the angles of literature and translation.Regrettably,it is noted that the bulk of the previous researches on the novel in the circle of linguistics,especially Systemic Functional Linguistics,are far from being comprehensive.Hence,from the perspective of interpersonal function in Systemic Functional Linguistics,this thesis is an attempt to conduct ecological discourse analysis of the Chinese version of Wolf Totem,trying to explore the ecological meaning implied in the novel among the three representative groups’ interactions with Mongolian wolves.The thesis is specifically devoted to the following aspects:(1)The distribution of Attitude resources in the selected data is presented.(2)The ecological properties of Attitude resources are tagged.(3)The ecological meanings unveiled to readers through ecological discourse analysis are presented in detail.The thesis identifies itself as a study both in quantitative and qualitative approaches,and all the data are obtained from the Chinese version of Wolf Totem.The research findings are as follows:(1)Wolf Totem is abundant with the use of Attitude resources.The statistical analysis shows that Attitude resources frequently occur in the selected discourse,so they are widely employed in the discourse of human’s interactions with Mongolian wolves.(2)The ecological properties of the three representative groups’ attitudes in Wolf Totem can be summarized generally as follows:Mongolian herdsmen show brightly eco-beneficial attitudes,with the large proportion of 97.25%.Educated youth’s attitudes are ecologically paradoxical,and the percentages of eco-beneficial,eco-ambivalent and eco-destructive attitudes are 53.67%,32.59% and13.74% respectively.As for outsiders,eco-destructive attitudes are heavily applied in their interactions with Mongolian wolves,accounting for 91.60%.(3)Through the ecological discourse analysis of language resources,it is found that Attitude resources are skillfully presented in conveying ecological meanings and establishing ecological interpersonal relationships with readers.The significance of the thesis is to present an illustration foretelling the great potential of Systemic Functional Linguistics in the development of ecolinguistics,to enrich the research perspective of Wolf Totem,and to inspire novelists to make better use of novel language.