An Ecological Discourse Analysis Of Wolf Totem From The Perspective Of Transitivity System

Facing the increasingly serious ecological problems,linguists try to solve the ecological problems from the perspective of ecolinguistics,in order to achieve the harmonious development between human and ecology.Linguists explore the relationship between language and ecology by employing ecological discourse analysis and reveal the influence of language on different ecological relations,thus arousing the ecological consciousness behind language.At present,the researches in literary works about ecological consciousness focus on literature,cultural communication and translation,but there are few studies conducted from the linguistic perspective guided by the transitivity system theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics.Therefore,under the framework of transitivity system analysis,this thesis uses Halliday’s ecological discourse analysis model with qualitative and quantitative analysis methods.The study selects the discourses between humans,human and non-human creatures and human and nature in Wolf Totem to conduct ecological discourse analysis,in order to reveal the ecological significance in Wolf Totem,which provides new ideas and new angles for the study of ecological consciousness in literary works.This thesis attempts to explore the following two questions:(1)How are the transitivity processes distributed in the relationship between humans,human and non-human creatures and human and nature?(2)What is the ecological significance of the three relationships? The study shows that the distribution of transitivity processes ranked in descending order are as: verbal,material,mental,relational,behavioral,existential process in the relationship between humans,human and non-human creatures and human and nature.In the ecological relationship between humans,the material processes and verbal processes account for a large proportion,emphasizing a disharmonious and unfriendly ecological relationship between humans.They belong to the ecological destructive discourse;in the relationship between human and non-human creatures,different people hold different ecological preferences for non-human creatures.The material processes,mental processes and verbal processes occupy a large proportion,which pertains to the ecological ambivalent discourse;in the relationship between human and nature,the material processes and verbal processes take up a large part,belonging to the ecological beneficial discourse,which shows that human and nature are interdependent and closely related.The research value of this thesis is embodied in both theoretical and practical significance.First of all,this study not only broadens the research path of Wolf Totem,but also confirms the value and feasibility of the transitivity system.Secondly,the research explores the relationship between man and ecology in Wolf Totem and its ecological enlightenment.To a certain extent,this thesis arouses people to protect the ecological environment and has practical guiding significance.