Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics: The State of the Art in China Today 9781472583345, 9781474220170, 9781472583352

Table of contents :
Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Editors’ Preface
Part 1: Perspectives on the State of the Art in China: From the Outside Looking In
1. Contribution of Linguistics in China to the Development of SFL
2. Teaching and Learning SFL in China: Pedagogy and Curriculum
Part 2: Showcasing the State of the Art in China
Introduction
Graphology and Phonology
3. Stroke Systems in Chinese Characters: A Systemic Functional Perspective on Simplified Regular Script
4. A Corpus-based Systemic Functional Phonological Approach to Modern Chinese Modal Particles
Lexis
5. Emotion Verbs and Emotional Verbs in Chinese: Their Distinctions and Sub-classifications Based on Configurative Facts
6. Verb Types, Process Types, and Incident Structure: From Lexis to Discourse Semantics
Word Group
7. Structure and Function of Measure Nominals in English and Chinese
8. A Systemic Functional Study of Marked Chinese Tenses
Clause and Clause Complex
9. Range Characteristics in Material Clauses in Mandarin Chinese
10. Chinese Characteristics of Clause Complex: The SF Perspective of Achievements from Former Accounts
Text
11. Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories Based on
Typology
12. Lexis-grammar Complementarity and System of Person: A Systemic Typological Perspective
Semiotics
13. Issues Concerning the Disciplinary Status of Semiotics
Multimodality
14. Lexicogrammar and Text in Multimodal Discourse Analysis
15. A Study of Multimodal Engagement Resources and Voice Interaction in Pedagogic Discourse
16. Meaning-making in Multimodal Visual Narrative: Patterns of Visual Weaving
Stylistics
17. Ways of Illustrating and Ways of Explicating: Multimodal Symbolic Articulation in Illustrated
Translation
18. Searching for Metafunctional Equivalence in Translated Texts
Teaching
19. Genres in Chinese Students’ MA Theses: An SFL-based Contrastive Analysis and Implications for Teaching
Lexicography
20. Defining English Idioms in a Bilingual Learner’s Dictionary: Applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Lexicography
Register Variation
21. The Linguistic Features of Knowledge Construction in Chemistry Textbooks
References
Index

Citation preview

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics

Also available from Bloomsbury Appliable Linguistics, edited by Ahmar Mahboob and Naomi K. Knight Interviews with M.A.K. Halliday, edited by J.R. Martin Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Lynne Young and Claire Harrison The Bloomsbury Companion to M.A.K. Halliday, edited by Jonathan J. Webster

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics The State of the Art in China Today Edited by Jonathan J. Webster and Peng Xuanwei

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2017 This edition published 2018 Copyright © Jonathan Webster, Peng Xuanwei and Contributors, 2017 Jonathan Webster, Peng Xuanwei have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Editors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Webster, Jonathan, 1955- editor. | Peng, Xuanwei,1963- editor. Title: Applying systemic functional linguistics : the state of the art in China today /edited by Jonathan Webster and Xuanwei Peng. Description: London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016038819| ISBN 9781472583345 (hb) | ISBN 9781472583369 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Systemic grammar–China. | Functional linguistics–China. | Applied linguistics–China. Classification: LCC P147 .A66 2017 | DDC410.1/8330951–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016038819 ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-8334-5 PB: 978-1-3500-7984-7 ePDF: 978-1-4725-8335-2 ePub: 978-1-4725-8336-9 Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.

Contents Foreword  Huang, Guowen Editors’ Preface  Jonathan J. Webster & Peng Xuanwei

ix xxiii

Part 1 Perspectives on the State of the Art in China: From the Outside Looking In

1 2

Contribution of Linguistics in China to the Development of SFL  M.A.K. Halliday Teaching and Learning SFL in China: Pedagogy and Curriculum  J.R. Martin

3 15

Part 2 Showcasing the State of the Art in China

Introduction  Hu, Zhuanglin

35

Graphology and Phonology

3 4

Stroke Systems in Chinese Characters: A Systemic Functional Perspective on Simplified Regular Script  PENG, Xuanwei (彭宣维) A Corpus-based Systemic Functional Phonological Approach to Modern Chinese Modal Particles  LIU, Chengyu (刘承宇)

43 59

Lexis

5

6

Emotion Verbs and Emotional Verbs in Chinese: Their Distinctions and Sub-classifications Based on Configurative Facts  SONG, Chengfang (宋成方) Verb Types, Process Types, and Incident Structure: From Lexis to Discourse Semantics  LV, Guoyan (吕国燕) & GAO, Yanmei (高彦梅)

75

87

Word Group

7

Structure and Function of Measure Nominals in English and Chinese  YANG, Bingjun (杨炳钧)

105

Contents

vi

8

A Systemic Functional Study of Marked Chinese Tenses  HE, Wei (何伟) & MA, Ruizhi (马瑞芝)

119

Clause and Clause Complex

9

Range Characteristics in Material Clauses in Mandarin Chinese  YANG, Guowen (杨国文) 10 Chinese Characteristics of Clause Complex: The SF Perspective of Achievements from Former Accounts  HSU, Fu-­mei (徐富美)

139 151

Text

11 Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories Based on Appraisal Corpus  YU, Li (于丽), PENG, Xuanwei (彭宣维), HE, Zhongqing (何中清), LIU, Yujie (刘玉洁), ZHANG, Ranran (张冉冉), 169 TAN, Xianfang (谈仙芳) & WANG, Yuying (王玉英) Typology

12 Lexis-grammar Complementarity and System of Person: A Systemic Typological Perspective  WANG, Pin (王品)

187

Semiotics

13 Issues Concerning the Disciplinary Status of Semiotics  HU, Zhuanglin (胡壮麟)

205

Multimodality

14 Lexicogrammar and Text in Multimodal Discourse 215 Analysis  ZHANG, Delu (张德禄) 15 A Study of Multimodal Engagement Resources and Voice Interaction in Pedagogic Discourse  CHEN, Yumin (陈瑜敏) 229 16 Meaning-making in Multimodal Visual Narrative: Patterns of Visual Weaving  YANG, Xiran (杨翕然) & Jonathan J. Webster 243 Stylistics

17 Ways of Illustrating and Ways of Explicating: Multimodal Symbolic Articulation in Illustrated Shì Shuō Xīn Yuˇ   LIU, Shisheng (刘世生) & SONG, Chengfang (宋成方)

267

Contents

vii

Translation

18 Searching for Metafunctional Equivalence in Translated Texts  HUANG, Guowen (黄国文)

285

Teaching

19 Genres in Chinese Students’ MA Theses: An SFL-based Contrastive Analysis and Implications for Teaching  SUN, Yinghui (孙迎晖) & JU, Zhiqin (鞠志勤)

307

Lexicography

20 Defining English Idioms in a Bilingual Learner’s Dictionary: Applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Lexicography  CHANG, Chenguang (常晨光)

321

Register Variation

21 The Linguistic Features of Knowledge Construction in Chemistry Textbooks  YANG, Xinzhang (杨信彰) References Index

337 351 379

Foreword: Systemic Functional Linguistics Studies in China1 HUANG, Guowen2

College of Foreign Studies South China Agricultural University, P.R. China

1  Introduction It is really a great pleasure and privilege for me to write a foreword to this collection of papers concerning the study of systemic functional linguistics (henceforth SFL) in the mainland of China. It has been forty years since M.A.K. Halliday’s theory of language—Systemic Functional Grammar (henceforth SFG)—was first introduced to China by Fang Li, Hu Zhuanglin, and Xu Kerong (1977); although SFG was described very briefly and the paper itself was not widely circulated, its first appearance in the country was very significant. It aroused much interest in this theory from the circle of foreign language teaching in the mainland of China in the 1980s. In 1980, a review article was published on J.R. Firth’s linguistics theory, written by Wang Zongyan (1980), a senior professor at Sun Yat-sen University, and the following year witnessed his review article (Wang 1981) on Halliday’s (1956) “Grammatical categories in modern Chinese”; both review articles were published in Guowai Yuyanxue (Linguistics Abroad), a widely-circulated and very prestigious journal in China, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A year later, Xu Shenghuan (1982) of South China Normal University (now a professor of Henan University) published a paper on Theme and Rheme and in the same year Long Rijin (1982) of Southwest Normal University reviewed ideas of register analysis. This was followed by the publication of two important papers by Hu Zhuanglin (1983, 1984) of Peking University, which were concerned with Halliday as a systemic functional linguist and Halliday’s systemic functional view of language. During this period, there were other papers related to SFG or SFL published in China, although most of them were introductions or introductory reviews rather than research papers. The discussion on SFG or SFL during those years led to the development of SFL studies in China, especially among the teachers and researchers of English language at universities and colleges.

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There have been a number of surveys on teaching and researching SFL in mainland China (e.g. Fang 1996; Zhang 1998, 2004; Huang 2000, 2002a, 2009, 2011; Zhang, McDonald, Fang, and Huang 2005; Tian and Wang 2008; Huang and Wang 2010; Wang 2010), and in these surveys and reviews, the research situations of SFL are analyzed and the rapid developments of SFL studies are described and evaluated. Although this is not intended to be a review article, one of the purposes of the present foreword is to give the reader some idea of the developments of SFL studies in mainland China. Therefore, I shall first outline the Chinese situation of SFL studies, then turn to some problems and challenges, and finally look into possible research directions for the future.

2  The Chinese situation As was observed by Zhang et al. (2005: 30), “great advances have been made in the field of systemic functional linguistics during the last two decades and judging by the health and vitality of the Chinese scholarship . . . there is every prospect that this will remain an exciting and productive field for decades to come.” Since Zhang et al. (2005) was published, another ten years have passed and the situation has greatly improved. Here I shall provide some more information by looking at the research community, main research areas, research activities, publications, and the active presence of Chinese scholars at SFL events and activities.

2.1  Research community At the early stage of teaching and researching SFL in China, there were several scholars who studied SFG at Sydney University from January 1979 to the early 1980s, including Hu Zhuanglin, Long Rijin, and Yang Chaoguang. Professor Hu played an active and vital role in introducing SFG/SFL to China and in organizing academic activities, which helped to popularize the model of language, by publication and by teaching MA and PhD courses on SFG/SFL. Some years later there appeared different groups of SFG/SFL scholars in Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, and elswhere. Working closely with Hu Zhuanglin at this stage were Zhu Yongsheng of Suzhou University (now professor of Fudan University), Zhang Delu of Liaocheng Teachers’ College (now professor of Tongji University), and Fang Yan of Tsinghua University as well as Ren Shaozeng of Hangzhou (now Zhejiang)

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University. With their efforts, more and more Chinese teachers of English became interested in SFG/SFL as a general linguistics theory and as an “appliable linguistics” (Halliday 2008a). Later, Huang Guowen of Sun Yat-sen University (now professor of South China Agricultural University), Yang Xinzhang of Xiamen University, and Yang Zhong of Northeast Normal University, after finishing their studies abroad, joined the research community and they soon became key members. These active researchers have not only taught BA, MA, and PhD courses and have published papers, but also have organized SFL conferences and seminars. In 1995, the China Association of Functional Linguistics was founded, with Hu Zhuanglin as the founding Chair and eight years later he was succeeded by Huang Guowen as the second Chair in 2003, who passed the Chair to Peng Xuanwei (then Beijing Normal University, now professor of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies) in 2015. In 2007, the China Association of EnglishChinese Discourse Analysis was founded, with Huang Guowen as the Chair. The key members of these two national associations are mainly SFL scholars, and the national conference on functional linguistics (which was started by Professor Hu Zhuanglin in 1989), the national conference on discourse analysis (which was started by Professor Ren Shaozeng in 1991) and the Systemics Week (which was initiated by Professor Huang Guowen in 2001) are now run by these two associations. There are also a number of SFL research centers which have been set up in China over the past ten years or so: Functional Linguistics Institute (Sun Yat-sen University, 2003; Founding Director: Huang Guowen), Centre for Functional Linguistics (Beijing Normal University, 2006; Founding Director: Peng Xuanwei), Centre for Functional Linguistics (University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2011; Founding Director: He Wei), the M.A.K. Halliday Library (Sun Yat-sen University, 2013; Founding Directors: Huang Guowen and Chang Chenguang), and the Martin Centre for Appliable Linguistics (Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2014; Director: Wang Zhenhua), apart from the Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies set up at the City University of Hong Kong in 2006, with Jonathan J. Webster as its Director. These research centers have been privileged to have internationally renowned systemicists such as M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Robin P. Fawcett, James R. Martin, Jonathan J. Webster, C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, and some senior Chinese SFL scholars serving as advisors, consultants, and/or visiting professors. With the efforts of the Chinese scholars, SFL studies have gained strong institutional support, especially from Peking University, Tsinghua University,

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Sun Yat-sen University, Beijing Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Northeast Normal University, Tongji University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and South China Agricultural University.

2.2  Research areas Before we turn to the research areas and research interests of Chinese scholars, it is necessary to say a few words about two books that have played a vital role in leading Chinese scholars into the field of SFL studies in the early 1980s. The first one was Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (henceforth IFG, 1985b), and the other was A Survey of Systemic Functional Grammar (in Chinese) by Hu Zhuanglin, Zhu Yongsheng, and Zhang Delu (1989), which was closely based on Halliday’s (1985b) IFG. Because IFG was not easily available in China in the 1980s and because it was written in English, the introductory booklet by Hu et al. played a more important role since it was written in Chinese and since its content is of a more introductory nature. Professor Halliday was very pleased with the publication of Hu et al. (1989) and he spoke highly of the book on different occasions. There have been a number of papers reviewing the different stages and research foci of SFL studies in China (e.g. Fang 1996; Zhang 1998, 2004; Huang 2000, 2002a, 2009, 2011; Zhang et al. 2005; Tian and Wang 2008; Huang and Wang 2010; Wang 2010). To put it simply, during the first decade or so (1977–86) the focus was mainly on introducing SFL ideas and research findings of international scholars to China and the topics of discussion are mainly confined to Halliday’s (1985b) IFG. The second decade (1987–96) continued the discussion of concepts in IFG and at the same time extended it to genre analysis, cohesion, and coherence, text analysis, discourse studies, and contrastive studies of English and Chinese. The third decade (1997–2006) extended the focus to grammatical metaphor, critical discourse analysis, and positive discourse analysis, Appraisal, the Cardiff Grammar, functional syntax, functional stylistics, translation studies, multimodality studies, corpus studies, and so on. During the fourth decade (2007–16), apart from those topics covered in the previous decades, there have been a number of important discussions on SFL as an appliable linguistics (Halliday 2008a) and on its appliability to translation studies, and Martin’s Appraisal analysis has become popular among the younger generation in China. The research areas, topics, and the research interests are in fact closely related to the availability of published materials in the field and to some influential

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researchers’ personal research interests and efforts. In the early years it was quite difficult for ordinary Chinese readers to buy books published outside China because of the financial situation of the country. But this problem is not so obvious now, since many SFL writings published outside China have been republished or reprinted in the country (see 2.4 below) and quite a large number of Chinese scholars are financially able to buy books directly from abroad. On the other hand, the reason for the Cardiff Grammar to occupy a good place in China mainly owes to Professor He Wei’s efforts in establishing a special research team at University of Science and Technology Beijing, and the reason for the Appraisal framework to be so popular is due to Professor James R. Martin’s frequent academic visits to China and to Professor Wang Zhenhua’s contribution, especially after he moved from Henan University to Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2006. For the past decade, Huang Guowen and his colleagues have focused on applying SFL to the study of translating ancient Chinese classic works (from Chinese into English), and there have been important publications on this topic.

2.3  Conferences and seminars The year 1989 was significant in the history of the Chinese studies of SFL in that Hu et al. (1989) was first published and the first Chinese SFG seminar (which later became the Chinese national conference on functional linguistics) was held at Peking University. Since 1989 there has been a Chinese national conference on functional linguistics every other year (i.e., Peking University, 1989; Suzhou University, 1991; Hangzhou University 1993; Peking University 1995; Chongqing University 1997; Fudan University 1999; Northeast Normal University 2001; Yanshan University 2003; Henan University 2005; Jiangxi Normal University 2007; Tsinghua University 2009; Nanjing Normal University and Nanjing University of International Relations 2011; Sun Yat-sen University 2013; Beijing Normal University 2015; Guiyang Teachers’ University 2017) and from 1991 onwards there has been a Chinese national conference on discourse analysis roughly held every other year (Hangzhou University 1991; Hangzhou University 1992; PLA Foreign Studies University 1994; Southwest Normal University 1996; Macao University and Tsinghua University 1997; Sun Yat-sen University 1999; Xiangtan Teachers’ College 2000; Suzhou University 2002; Shandong University 2004; Shaoxing University 2006; Xiamen University 2008; Tongji University 2010; Inner Mongolia University 2012; Changan University 2014; Ningbo University 2016). These two national conferences are organized and attended mainly by

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Chinese SFL scholars at least once every year, and at most of these conferences there are also participants from Taiwan (e.g., Hsu Fumei), Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as scholars from outside China. Apart from these two national conferences, a Systemics Week (which is similar to the ISFC institute) has been organized with the aim of training young SFL scholars every year since 2001. Speakers teaching at the Systemics Week include international systemicists and Chinese scholars. Among the international speakers are James R. Martin, M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Jonathan J. Webster, Robin P. Fawcett, C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, Wendy L. Bowcher, Paul John Thibault, Mohsen Ghadessy, Graham Lock, Sue Hood, Peter White, Clare Painter, Kazuhiro Teruya, and many of them are frequent speakers at the Systemics Week. The institutions which hosted the fifteen Systemics Weeks are as follows: Sun Yat-sen 2001, 2002; Sun Yat-sen and the City University of Hong Kong 2003; Xiamen University 2004; Henan University 2005; Beijing Normal University 2006; Jiangxi Normal University 2007; University of Science and Technology Beijing 2008; Beijing Normal University 2009; Central China Normal University and Wuhan Institute of Technology 2010; Nanjing Normal University 2011; National University of Defense Technology 2012; Sun Yat-sen University 2013; Southwest University 2014; Shandong University 2015; Chengdu University of Technology 2016. A special word should be mentioned that before the ISFC22 (1995), a “Summer SFG Institute” (which is the ISFC Institute) was organized by Fang Yan in Tsinghua University, who invited M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Margaret Berry, and Eija Ventola as lecturers in the fourteen-day event, training scholars and students from more than ten countries and regions. Since 2006, Sun Yat-sen University (Convenors: Huang Guowen and Chang Chenguang) and University of Science and Technology Beijing (Convenors: He Wei and Zhang Jingyuan) have hosted sixteen symposia on Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis. Keynote and plenary speakers include both Chinese and international scholars and among the latter are Jonathan J. Webster, Robin P. Fawcett, M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, James Martin, C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, Wendy L. Bowcher, Canzhong Wu, Geoffrey Thompson, David Butt, Geoffrey Williams, Annabelle Lukin, Gail Forey, Sue Hood, Edward McDonald, Susan Hunston, Victor M. Castel, Kazuhiro Teruya, Eija Ventola, Mark Shum, Adriana Pagano, Pattama Patpong, Paul Dwyer, and Michele Zappavigna. Of all the sixteen symposia, there were two that deserve a special mention. The fourteenth was held at Sun Yat-sen University on May 13, 2015 in celebration of Professor M.A.K. Halliday’s seventieth year of teaching and researching Chinese, with the symposium theme of “Language Teaching and

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Language Learning,” and the fifteenth was a two-day event, again held at Sun Yatsen University, co-organized with the City University of Hong Kong, on September 8–9, 2015 to honor the lasting contribution of Professor Ruqaiya Hasan (who passed away on June 24, 2015) to the study of language, meaning, and society, with the symposium theme of “Ways of Meaning.” Besides, the sixth symposium, which was held at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, May 22–23, 2010, was a special event focusing on the descriptive and the generative aspects of the Cardiff Grammar, with the theme of “A Full Model of Systemic Functional Grammar.” Among the keynote speakers were Robin P. Fawcett of Cardiff University and Victor M. Castel of Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina. The symposium on Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis will extend to other universities and the following two symposia will be organized and hosted by South China Agricultural University in 2016 and 2017, with the 2017 one planned to honor Professor Robin Fawcett in celebration of his contribution to proposing and working on an alternative model of SFG—the Cardiff Grammar—in general and his eightieth birthday in particular; a number of international SFL scholars have been invited to take part in this special event. In addition to the above events, the Chinese SFL scholars have organized three International Systemic Functional Congresses: ISFC22, July 18–22, 1995, in Beijing (Convenor: Hu Zhuanglin, Peking University); ISFC36, July 14–18, 2009, in Beijing (Convenor: Fang Yan, Tsinghua University); and ISFC40, July 15–19, 2013, in Guangzhou (Convenors: Huang Guowen and Chang Chenguang, Sun Yat-sen University). Apart from the above-mentioned regular conferences and symposia, there have been a number of SFL events with special significance. For example, in 2011 Beijing Normal University held an international symposium during which the university conferred an honorary doctorate on Professor M.A.K. Halliday, and University of Science and Technology Beijing organized a special event to honor Professor M.A.K. Halliday, Professor Hasan, and other well-known systemicists with the title of “visiting professorship.” From December 12–16, 2015, the Martin Centre of Shanghai Jiaotong University hosted the international conference on Functional Language Typology, the world’s first conference on Systemic Functional Typology, with plenary speakers Nick Enfield, Giacomo Figueredo, James R. Martin, C.M.I.M Matthiessen, Edward McDonald, Beatriz Quiroz, Miriam Taverniers, Kazuhiro Teruya and Wang Pin. It is expected that international conferences will continue to be organized on an annual basis focusing on the Centre’s research foci, forensic linguistics in 2016, and translation studies in 2017, and it is said that the plenary speakers for the 2016 international

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conference will include Vijay K. Bhatia, Debora Cao, Edward Finegan, Chris Heffer, Rosemary Huisman, James R. Martin, Gail Stygall, Wang Zhenhua, and Yuan Chuanyou. There are of course many other SFL conferences or seminars that were hosted in China in the past decades, but as this is not a review article it is beyond the scope of this foreword to introduce all of them.

2.4  Chinese (re-)publication of writings of international scholars The efforts made by several generations of Chinese SFL scholars have greatly helped promote the teaching and researching of SFL in the context of mainland China. With the country’s economic development, more and more Chinese publishers are interested in publishing and republishing (or reprinting) writings of international scholars. For example, the following writings of M.A.K. Halliday have been republished with different Chinese publishers: Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday, edited by Jonathan J. Webster (Halliday 2002–7/2007); Halliday (1978/2001); Halliday (1985c/2012); Halliday (1994a/2000); Halliday and Hasan (1976/2001, 1985/2012); Halliday and Matthiessen (1999/2008, 2004/2008); Halliday and Yallop (2007/2009). Halliday’s IFG (1994a) and the ten volumes of Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday were translated into Chinese by Peng Xuanwei and a number of Chinese scholars (Peng 2010, 2015). Other Chinese translations of Halliday’s writings (and his co-authored monographs) include: Cohesion in English (Halliday and Hasan 1976; translated by Zhang et al. 2007); Chinese Anthology of Hallidayan Linguistics (Halliday 1962–97, by Li Zhanzi and Zhou Xiaokang 2006); Language as Social Semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning (Halliday 1978, by Miao et al. 2015); Systemic Functional Grammar: a first step into the theory (Matthiessen and Halliday 2009, by Huang and Wang 2010); Hasan on Language (Hasan, 2015, by Wang Hongyang et al. 2015). Other SFL works which have been (re-)published (or reprinted) in China, include English Text: system and structure (Martin 1992/2004); Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause (Martin and Rose 2003/2007); The Language of Evaluation: appraisal in English (Martin and White 2005/2008); and Deploying Functional Grammar (Martin, Matthiessen, and Painter 2010). Deserving of special mention is Geoff Thompson’s first two editions of Introducing Functional Grammar (1996, 2004) which were republished in China (Thompson 1996/2000, 2004/2008). This book has been widely used as a textbook in many universities and has continued to play a very important role in popularizing SFG across China. In addition, both Ruqaiya Hasan and M.A.K. Halliday published their selected works on applied linguistics in China:

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Selected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan on Applied Linguistics (Hasan 2011), Selected Works of M.A.K. Halliday on Applied Linguistics (Halliday 2015). With regard to the publication, by Chinese publishers, of original writings by non-Chinese scholars, we must mention the following: Halliday, Complementarities in Language (2008b); Matthiessen and Halliday, Systemic Functional Grammar: a first step into the theory (2009b); Martin, Collected Works of J.R. Martin (eight volumes, edited by Wang Zhenhua, 2010–12); Martin, Systemic Functional Grammar: a next step into the theory—Axial Relations (2013c); Fawcett, Invitation to Systemic Functional Linguistics Through the Cardiff Grammar (2nd edition) (in Huang Guowen, He Wei and Liao Chuyan: An Introduction to Systemic Functional Grammar: the Cardiff model, 2008). The strength with which SFL writings have been made available in China not only has facilitated the teaching and researching of SFL but also has encouraged researchers in the Chinese SFL community.

2.5  Chinese active presence in SFL events and activities For the past thirty years or so, Chinese SFL scholars have taken an active part in international SFL activities, by organizing SFL activities involving many international scholars, by attending international SFL congresses, and by publishing research findings abroad. There have been several Chinese SFL scholars who have been key members in the International Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (henceforth ISFLA: http://www.isfla.org/officebearers.html): Hu Zhuanglin, Fang Yan, Huang Guowen, and Zhu Yongsheng were members of the International Committee of ISFLA at different times, and Peng Xuanwei is now a member of the International Committee. Fang Yan served as the Deputy Chair of the Executive Committee of ISFLA during 2002–8, and Huang Guowen as the Deputy Chair of the Executive Committee during 2008–11 and later the Chair of the Committee (2011–14). In recent years, more and more Chinese SFL scholars have been attending the annual international SFL congress (ISFC) which has been held in different parts of the world. There are a number of Chinese researchers who have published SFL papers in international journals, and some have published their monographs outside China: for example, Wang Yong (2008), A Functional Study of the Evaluative Enhanced Theme Constructions in English (Singapore/London: Prentice Hall); Yang Xueyan (2010), Modelling Text as Process: a dynamic approach to EFL classroom discourse (London: Continuum); He Qingshun and Yang Bingjun (2015), Absolute Clauses in English

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from the Systemic Functional Perspective (Heidelberg: Springer); and Yang Yanning (2015), Grammatical Metaphor in Chinese (London: Equinox). With the aim of promoting SFL and deepening our understanding of SFL, both in theory and in practice, Chinese SFL scholars are active in editing collections of research papers and journals. For example, Chang Chenguang and Huang Guowen are editing the journal Functional Linguistics (Heidelberg: Springer) and monographs of The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series (Heidelberg: Springer). Jonathan J. Webster and Huang Guowen, He Wei, and Angel G. Ortega are joint editors of Journal of World Languages (London: Routledge), and Yang Yanning is the editor of the journal of Researching and Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (London: Equinox). After each of the Chinese national conferences on functional linguistics and discourse analysis, a collection of papers is published. Since 2009, the official journal of the China Association of Functional Linguistics (edited by Huang Guowen, and published by Higher Education Press, Beijing) entitled Studies in Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis has been published yearly. SFL scholars at Sun Yat-sen University have been editing monograph series of the Annual Review of Functional Linguistics (editors: Huang Guowen and Chang Chenguang, since 2010, Beijing: Higher Education Press) and the Forum on Systemic Functional Linguistics (editors: Huang Guowen, Chang Chenguang and Liao Haiqing, since 2010, Beijing: Higher Education Press). In 2009, Fang Yan and Canzhong Wu edited the Proceedings of the Conference ISFC36, and this was followed by a more formal volume (edited by Fang Yan and Jonathan J. Webster) entitled Developing Systemic Functional Linguistics: theory and application (London: Equinox, 2014). Peng Xuanwei and Cheng Xiaotang were guest editors of three issues of the journal Linguistics and the Human Sciences (London: Equinox, 2014 /10: 1, 2, and 3). Among the reasons for the rapid development of SFL studies in China—as discussed by Fang (1996); Zhang (1998, 2004); Huang (2000, 2002a, 2009, 2011); Zhang et al. (2005); Tian and Wang (2008); Huang and Wang (2010); and Wang (2010)—is that China has received strong international support over the past decades. International scholars have supported the Chinese community by coming to teach SFL courses, speaking at SFL meetings, supervising Chinese graduate students and teachers, providing research resources, and giving academic advice and assistance. Among the frequent visitors to China have been M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Jonathan J. Webster, James R. Martin, C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, Robin Fawcett, and Geoff Thompson. These scholars have also served as visiting professors of a number of Chinese universities such as Sun Yat-sen University, Beijing Normal University, University of Science and

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Technology Beijing, and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Sun Yat-sen University now employs two professors of Functional Linguistics (Professor Wendy L. Bowcher and Professor Edward McDonald) as its regular members of staff. It should also be noted that as early as 1995, Professor M.A.K. Halliday was invited to serve as visiting professor by Peking University. Many years ago, when Chinese SFL scholars had financial difficulty in attending international congresses outside China, the organizing committees of different congresses offered financial help to enable some of them to attend those meetings. The significance of this kind of support encouraged recipients to work even more diligently to develop the theory and practice in China. In the past decade, as China’s economic situation has improved, Chinese organizers of the international congresses (i.e., ISFC 36, Tsinghua University, 2009; Systemic Functional Institute 36, Beijing Normal University, 2009; and ISFC 40, Sun Yatsen University, 2013) have in turn provided financial support to scholars from other developing countries, which has enabled them to come to China (Beijing and Guangzhou). The international community has set up a very good example of academic help and friendship and this is followed by the Chinese community of SFL and other SFL communities in other countries.

3  Problems and challenges Over the past decades, much progress has been made in teaching and researching SFL in China, but as Huang (2011) has pointed out, there are a number of problems and issues related to the Chinese SFL research situation that need to be addressed. As we know, Halliday began his linguistic research by studying the Chinese language (Webster 2005), but in the Chinese SFL community, the language that has been studied is mainly English, and although Chinese scholars have been working hard on describing Chinese within the SFL framework, progress has been slow. There is still no comprehensive systemic functional description of Chinese. However, we should understand that the job of writing a complete description of Chinese grammar on SFL principles is not an easy one, although there have been a number of attempts in that direction (e.g., McDonald 1992, 1998; Halliday and McDonald 2004; Li 2007; Peng 2011; He et al. 2015). The task is really difficult for Chinese SFL scholars because most of them, if not all, are basically teachers of English (who were not formally trained to research Chinese), and their theoretical understanding and academic knowledge of Chinese prevents them from comfortably working on the Chinese language

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(Wang 2010). On the other hand, in terms of the division of labor, many university authorities do not encourage Chinese teachers of English to work on the Chinese language because those teachers of English are working in the department of English, not the department of Chinese, as generally speaking there is no department of linguistics in the university in China. Huang (2009, 2011) identifies other major problems, such as the fact that many writings published in China are about introducing, reviewing, and/or explaining SFL ideas to the Chinese audience rather than developing original research. Thus the focus remains on introductory work rather than original thinking. Huang (2011: 20) argues that the challenge for present-day Chinese SFL scholars is to be both “information seekers” and “information givers” within the global community. He suggests, for example, doing contrastive studies of Chinese and English or other languages from an SFL perspective. Such will contribute to studies in language typology (Caffarel et al. 2004). Huang (2011: 21) also argues that applying SFL theory to translation studies “will show how an SFL approach to translation studies works with translated texts in general and Chinese-English translations in particular.”

4  Looking forward Like other SFL scholars in other countries, Chinese SFL researchers are looking for new areas of research either in terms of the contribution of SFL to general linguistic theory, or the practical application of SFL in areas such as language teaching and learning, discourse analysis, translation studies, contrastive studies of English and other languages, corpus studies, and forensic linguistics. Halliday (1990/2003: 140) distinguishes between “discipline” and “theme” in the context of studies in applied linguistics and argues for adopting a “transdisciplinary” perspective and “creating new forms of activity which are thematic rather than disciplinary in their orientation.” This, in fact, has very important implications for SFL studies in the Chinese context. As can be seen in the literature to date in China, quite a number of Chinese scholars have been looking for new or alternative perspectives in their SFL studies. Therefore, the focus is not on “content,” but on “theme” or “aspect” (perspective, or point of view). Since SFL is a “problem-oriented” theory (Halliday 2009b: 61), one such endeavor involves using the general framework of SFL to find solutions to language problems of various kinds (see Huang 2002a, 2009; Zhang et al. 2005; Wang 2010). For example, one of my research interests is in the area of

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ecolinguistics, or ecological linguistics. I approach the subject from a Hallidayan perspective, which is one of the main approaches to the study of language and ecology (Fill 2001: 43; Alexander and Stibbe 2014). Halliday (1990/2003) and Halliday (2007d) offer revolutionary ideas on the study of interrelationships between language and ecology. For example, Halliday (2007d: 14) distinguishes between “institutional ecolinguistics, the relation between a language and those who speak it (and also, in this case, those who may be speaking it no longer),” and “systemic ecolinguistics,” which is concerned with the impact of language on human decision making and consequently on the ecological actions that humans take, which affects nature in significant ways. This echoes what Halliday (1990/2003: 171–2) said earlier: “What I have tried to suggest is that the things . . . which we ourselves have brought about—classism, growthism, destruction of species, pollution and the like—are not just problems for the biologists and physicists. They are problems for the applied linguistic community as well.”

5  Concluding remarks As can be seen from the selection of the papers in this volume which showcase the state of the art in Chinese SFL studies, the research scope, which reflects SFL as a general linguistics and as an appliable linguistics, is expanding, and significant achievements have been made in the field over the past decades. As the past Chair of the ISFLA (2011–14) and the past Chair of the China Association of Functional Linguistics (2003–15), as well as the present Chair of the China Association of English-Chinese Discourse Analysis, I have been following the SFL developments in the mainland of China closely and have published a number of review articles (e.g. Huang 2000, 2002a, 2009, 2011; Huang and Wang 2010). I am very pleased that the present volume is being published and here I would like to congratulate the editors—Jonathan J. Webster and Peng Xuanwei—on their efforts to present a picture of the SFL research situation in China today. These two scholars, together with other Chinese colleagues, have made great contributions to the study of SFL in China. Several decades ago, before China began to reform and open up to the outside world, Chinese scholars were ignorant of the research situation outside China. Academic exchanges and visits, as well as conferences and symposia, offer an opportunity for encouraging an ongoing exchange of ideas and insights. Only when we understand and respect each other can the world of SFL studies be a better one.

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Looking back at the different stages of SFL development in mainland China, one has to admit that the friendly cooperation between institutions and active interactions among SFL scholars has played a key role in the whole process. Because of the individual charm and the collective efforts of different generations of Chinese SFL scholars, the SFL community is growing healthily and happily, into a large, multigenerational family with bright prospects for growing our knowledge about the resources in language for making meaning.

Notes 1 Acknowledgments. There are a number of scholars who have read, commented on, and made suggestions on earlier versions of this foreword. Their generous support and help are greatly appreciated. Among them are Professors Hu Zhuanglin, Fang Yan, Peng Xuanwei, Zhang Delu, Chang Chenguang, Wang Hongyang, He Wei, Wang Zhenhua, Zhu Yongsheng, Jonathan J. Webster, and Wendy L. Bowcher. Needless to say, I am solely responsible for any errors that remain. 2 Professor HUANG Guowen is a Chair Professor of the Changjiang Scholars Programme selected by the Ministry of Education of P.R. China. He was a professor of Functional Linguistics during 1996–2016 at Sun Yat-sen University, and he is now a professor of Functional Linguistics and Ecolinguistics and is also Dean of the College of Foreign Studies and Director of Centre for Ecolinguistics at South China Agricultural University, P.R. China. He was educated in Britain and received two PhD degrees from two British universities (1992: Applied Linguistics, Edinburgh; 1996: Functional Linguistics, Cardiff). His main research interests include systemic functional linguistics, ecolinguistics, discourse analysis and translation studies. Email: [email protected]

Editors’ Preface Jonathan J. Webster & Peng Xuanwei

Professor M.A.K. Halliday credits Hu Zhuanglin with having played a major role in introducing systemic functional linguistics to China. Hu Zhuanglin was among the first group of Chinese scholars to visit the University of Sydney as part of the Australia-China Cultural Exchange Programme back in 1979. Hu, in collaboration with Zhu Yongsheng and Zhang Delu, both of whom arrived later in Sydney to take part in the same program, co-authored and published their “Survey of Systemic Functional Grammar” in 1989. As Halliday explains, “This was an original work written in Chinese, not a translation from English; and it played a significant part in making the theory and descriptive methodology of systemic functional linguistics accessible to students in China.” The pioneering work done by this first generation of Chinese systemic-functionalists paved the way for subsequent generations to build upon and extend. Huang Guowen, whose foreword looks backward to how SFL became established in China and forward to what it is becoming under subsequent generations of scholars, has himself played a very significant role not only in developing SFL in China, but also in establishing a bi-directional exchange of scholarship and knowledge between China and the rest of the world. In his chapter in this volume, Jim Martin describes systemic functional linguistics as “a vast toolkit, with many more dimensions available than might be needed for any one descriptive or applied concern.” He identifies certain areas which he feels have been “foregrounded” over others which are also deserving of attention, such as language over other modalities; English over Chinese or other languages; grammar over other strata such as phonology/graphology, discourse semantics; and description over theory. As the chapters in this volume demonstrate, however, those working within the SFL framework in China have indeed been making significant progress in those areas highlighted by Jim Martin as needing attention. There is a rich diversity of topics covered in this volume ranging from those contributing to the development of general linguistic theory to those emphasizing

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the appliability of systemic-functional description. Our hope in putting together this volume is not just to highlight the contribution of those working in SFL in China to what Halliday describes as “the consolidation and further development of the theory,” but also to promote “a conversation which all of us, as linguists, should be able to join in.”

Part One

Perspectives on the State of the Art in China: From the Outside Looking In

1

Contribution of Linguistics in China to the Development of SFL M.A.K. Halliday

As far as I am aware, the earliest reference to systemic functional linguistics (SFL) in any publication in China was in an article written by the late Professor Wang Zongyan of Sun Yat-sen University.1 The European tradition in linguistics had of course been well known in China from the late nineteenth century; my own teacher, Professor Wang Li (Wang Liaoyi), had studied in France, specializing in phonetics and phonology but also becoming familiar with grammatical theory, especially the work of the Danish scholar Otto Jespersen. But modern linguistics, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, was generally equated with Chomsky’s transformational grammar, and the powerhouse of “Western” scholarship, in linguistics as well as in most other disciplines, was assumed to be the United States of America. In that respect, China was in tune with much of the rest of the world; European functional linguistics, which had flourished especially in Prague, in Paris, and in London, was no longer being followed up as a theoretical exercise (though some of its key ideas, such as prosodic phonology, were incorporated into the work of the American scholars); and the notion of “general linguistics,” as the scientific study of language based on detailed descriptions of a large and varied population of different languages, had been silently pushed into the background. When China recovered from the disorder of the “Cultural Revolution”, Chinese scholars were able to regain their contact with the world outside, assisted by various agreements set up with agencies and institutions in other countries. One such agreement was the Australia-China Cultural Exchange Programme, which provided for Chinese scholars to spend one or two years at an Australian University. Among the areas of study chosen by the Chinese government for the first group of scholars to pursue while in Australia was applied linguistics; this was an important component of the development of English studies in China,

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with the need to upgrade and expand the teaching of English in Chinese universities and colleges. At that time, the late 1970s, the only applied linguistics programme in Australia was the one I had recently set up at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with my colleague Bill Connell, Professor of Education; but the Department of English, which was long-established and had a distinguished faculty in all branches of English studies, was keen to play host to the advance guard of exchange visitors from China.2 So we worked out a joint program together with the English Department, and the Chinese scholars were able to choose whether to specialize in English studies or in linguistics. Three of the nine chosen for study in Sydney opted for linguistics; one among these was Hu Zhuanglin, and much of what has happened since can be traced back to his enterprise and initiative. This first group came to Sydney at the beginning of 1979; the programme then continued in modified form for much of the next ten years. Among those who followed after 1981 were Zhu Yongsheng and Zhang Delu; they then collaborated with Hu Zhuanglin in writing a Survey of Systemic Functional Grammar which was published in 1989.3 This was an original work written in Chinese, not a translation from English, and it played a significant part in making the theory and descriptive methodology of systemic functional linguistics accessible to students in China. The first edition was published in Changsha by the Hunan Education Press; a revised and enlarged edition, with a new chapter contributed by Li Zhanzi (now added as a fourth co-author) was published in 2005 by Peking University Press. Appropriately, the title of this new edition was changed to Survey of Systemic Functional Linguistics.4 I feel great admiration—and great affection—for that “first generation” of Chinese scholars who contributed so much to the development of functional linguistics in China. Others who came to Sydney in that early period included the late Long Rijin; Yang Chaoguang, Fang Yan, Zhang Jinxin and Yang Xinzhang; and the late Zhao Jiancheng, who died so unexpectedly after his return to China. But by the time I retired, at the end of 1987, the options for Chinese linguists wishing to study abroad had changed significantly. They could now get up to Masters-level training at many centers in China, so if they were going overseas they might be looking for a PhD or even a post-doctoral fellowship. Even for specializing in systemic functional theory they didn’t need to study abroad, because the original band of scholars now had students of their own entering the teaching profession. And, while Sydney was still a lively center (Jim Martin continued to welcome students from China, such as Wang Zhenhua), there were other overseas locations, in particular Robin Fawcett’s unit at Cardiff University

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in Wales, where Zhou Xiaokang and Huang Guowen both studied for their PhDs. During the 1990s there appeared a growing number of books and journals, associations, and conferences in functional linguistics and discourse studies, which provided the necessary environment for thinking and for trying out ideas. But it is not my intention here to survey all the work that has been done in systemic functional linguistics in China; there is a large number of publications in books, journals, and conference reports, and I have long since given up trying to keep up to date. Let me mention just a few important enterprises. (1) For many years an annual conference has been held by the Functional Linguistics Association, alternating between the topics of discourse analysis and systemic functional theory. On each occasion a volume of papers has been published, usually edited by the convenor at the institution where the conference was held. These provided an excellent picture of current interests and achievements.5 And because the conferences were held in different locations around China, on each occasion there were participants coming from the local universities and colleges who would not otherwise have been able to attend. (2) Since 2009, the Higher Education Press has published an Annual Review of Functional Linguistics, edited by Huang Guowen and Chang Chenguang, with abstracts, and many of the articles, written in English. This is an extremely valuable resource enabling non-sinophones to keep up with what is going on in the field in China. (3) A number of Chinese colleagues have edited work by others, such as Fawcett, Halliday, Hasan, Martin, and Matthiessen, for publication in China, and in some instances produced them in Chinese translation. This makes them accessible to those who are not specialists in English, which is a critical factor in the development of the theory in China. This last point needs to be particularly stressed. At first it was inevitable that SFL would have been associated with English studies: not only was by far the greater part of the source material written in English, but also, with the expansion of English from “international” status, as one among a dozen or so such languages, to “global” status (uniquely), the main demand on applied linguistics was for its contribution to the teaching of English as a second or foreign language. In one way, this favored SFL in that because the material was both in English and about English—that is, English was at the same time both the language describing and the language being described—it was seen by a relatively large body of readers as being relevant to their own needs. But this also meant that SFL was often misunderstood: it was taken to be a theory specially designed for the description of English, instead of what it is, a general theory for the description of any recognizable language.

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The first point that needed to be made clear was that SFL descriptions could be written in any language. What was needed was an agreed technical register, with terms and expressions that were generally accepted, with the understanding that such terms and expressions were defined within the theory. By the late 1980s, a number of my books and articles had been translated into several different languages; each of the translators had selected wordings that were appropriate for their own language, occasionally asking my opinion but usually (since they were already familiar with the theory) working them out for themselves. It should not be forgotten that, although some terms and expressions had to be devised anew, most of those used in SFL were already well established in linguistics; I always preferred to stick to these if possible, and only introduced new forms of expression under one or other of two conditions— either if the meaning differed too widely from that of the existing terms (e.g. in the clause complex, where traditional terms like apposition and co-ordination were too imprecise to be taken over), or if no comparable term seemed to exist (e.g. metafunction). Once in a while I had to tweak the English language, for example in calling my book Learning How to Mean; translators were sometimes troubled by this, and said it couldn’t be matched, but I felt that, if I had had to stretch my language just a little bit, it was not unreasonable to expect that the translator should do the same! When it came to writing systemic functional linguistics in Chinese, the critical steps were taken by Hu, Zhu, and Zhang when they published their original Survey; this immediately served as a model for others to follow, and with very few exceptions the terms they chose to use have become standardized in Chinese SFL publications. In this connection, I would emphasize the value of glossaries of technical terms, especially multilingual glossaries such as that for English, Chinese, and Japanese6. But—the second point—while Chinese was evolving as a language of description, the language under description was still very largely English. This was not surprising; those who had studied linguistics overseas in the first few years of the exchange program had been chosen because they were teachers of English, and it was mainly in that context that applied linguistics acquired value, namely as the discipline that could make the teaching of English more effective. So the texts selected for discourse analysis were mainly English texts, and when problems of grammatical theory and description were discussed the illustrative examples were typically taken from English. From the start of our work with the Chinese scholars on the exchange program, I had attempted to shift some of the attention on to Chinese. When Hu

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Zhuanglin, Long Rijin, and Yang Chaoguang elected to specialize in linguistics in their second year at the University of Sydney, we pointed out to them that if they wished they could register for an MA Honors degree; this would entail completing certain prescribed courses and also writing a research paper on some approved topic in linguistics. They assumed that this research topic would be some aspect of modern English; but I suggested instead that they should work on some topic in the grammar of modern Chinese. Their first response was: but we are here as specialists in English—our deans would not really approve. I gave my opinion that, since the students they were teaching were all Chinese, it would be very helpful to them if their teacher had a comparable understanding of the grammar (and phonology) of the language that they had in common, and which was the medium through which they were being taught. I still think that was true. In my view, when you are teaching a foreign language there are many contexts in which you can usefully invoke the students’ knowledge of their first language—provided you know how to describe a language in general linguistic terms. If all the students have the same first language, and you (as their teacher) also know it, this is an extra bonus of which you can take advantage. Sadly, however, this is no longer so easy as it seemed because in China (and not only China, but also many other places) the character of linguistics as an academic subject has changed. We see this in the way linguistics is taught and researched in the universities. Nowadays there are few departments of “general linguistics,” where linguistics is recognized and taught as a distinct scientific discipline. Instead, there is “English linguistics” taught in the Department of English, “Chinese linguistics” taught in the Department of Chinese, and there may be similar departments where other languages are taught. Each language is analyzed and presented as if it was the only language in the world, with a special kind of linguistics needed for studying it. But there is no such thing as a special kind of linguistic theory for describing a particular language. A term such as “Chinese linguistics” means linguistics (that is, the study of language) as it evolved and was practiced in China. “English linguistics” could be used in the same sense, to mean linguistics as practiced by English scholars—although the usual term for this would be “British linguistics,” which makes the meaning clear because there is no “British language” that it might refer to. These are historical studies, part of the history of linguistics as it evolved as a branch of science. The issue arises because terms such as “English linguistics,” “Chinese linguistics” are used as a shorthand to mean the description of English, or of

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Chinese, in terms of a general theory of language. This should be no problem— except that it may easily be taken by students to mean that some particular kind of theory is involved—as if it was not just the language that was being marked out, but the approach to the language and the methods to be employed for studying it. In Chinese, the term Zhongguo yuyanxue clearly means (the history of) the study of language in China; but a term such as Hanyu yuyanxue would be ambiguous in the same way that the English term is. These problems would not arise if we had departments of (general) linguistics, where students were trained to observe and describe any language from anywhere in the world. In systemic functional linguistics a distinction is drawn between theoretical and descriptive categories.7 (This is why I have never used the term “universal,” because it blurs this important distinction.) Theoretical categories are those which belong to a general linguistic theory: they are part of the model, the system of related concepts that make up the scientific study of language. As such, they are not subject to empirical verification; they are not right or wrong, true or false. This does not mean, of course, that there cannot be a better theory. If the model isn’t useful—if it makes wrong predictions, or leads to ad hoc or implausible explanations—it has to be revised (“tweaked”), or else discarded altogether in favor of a better one. But the categories of the theory, the system of related concepts, have to be understood as a whole; they define each other, and cannot be exhaustively glossed as if they were independently established and applied. Descriptive categories are those which are validated in the description of a particular language. This does not mean, of course, that they are set up afresh for each language under description; that would be virtually impossible, but in any case it would be absurd, since obviously many of what are in some sense “the same” categories turn up in many different languages. Herein lies the difficulty: how do we decide that a category we have recognized in one language is the same as one that we have found in another? There is no objective criterion for deciding whether two such categories should or should not be called by the same name. A question like “is there a passive in Chinese?” can only mean “is there a category in the Chinese language that is similar enough to what is called passive (in some reference language, such as English, or Latin) for me to want to call it by the same name?” That is an entirely valid question to ask; and it is notoriously difficult to answer. Difficult, but perhaps not impossible, provided the answer is sought first of all in system, and only after system, then in structure. Here is a possible way of thinking about it.

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Where does “passive” function in the grammar of my reference language, English? —It is a term in the system of voice. What is the address of the voice system? —It distributes the (experiential) participants in the clause into (interpersonal) roles. For example? —For example, it selects whether the Goal is to be Complement or Subject. How is that significant? —It is significant when viewed “from below,” in terms of its structural consequences: if the Goal is Complement (the default or unmarked case), the verbal group is active; but if the Goal is Subject, the verbal group will be passive. But there is no active/passive system in the Chinese verbal group. —So that would be one answer: “there is no passive in Chinese.” But now look at the question “from above”: at what the active/passive option means. What does it mean? —Subject and Complement are interpersonal functions: they realize the options in mood as a system of the English clause. The Complement is any participant that is a potential Subject: that is, it could have been Subject but isn’t. So the one we need to elucidate is the Subject. This is the element: that is said to be “modally responsible”: it has the decisive role in realizing the mood of the clause. Is that all it means? —No: in Modern English, this carries with it a feature of textual meaning, because the Subject is now the typical, unmarked Theme of the clause; so if the Goal is selected as Subject, this means that the Goal is taking on this function as an unmarked Theme. For example? —Like the we in we were held up by the traffic. This is more likely than the traffic held us up, where the traffic is given the status of Theme. Could we have been Theme but a marked Theme? —Yes: us the traffic held up. You can tell how unlikely that option is! But it’s not impossible to imagine a context in which that would be a plausible option. So the main significance of the voice system is textual? —Yes: in Middle English, the Subject was typically the Actor, with the Goal as Complement, and this was signalled by the active/passive option in the

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verbal group; but in Modern English the Subject is conflated with the Theme rather than with the Actor, and the voice taken by the verb is a relic of the earlier phase. So how do we reason from this across to Chinese? —The question becomes: is there a system in Chinese which maps experiential roles on to textual roles in the clause? If there is, then what are the options in the system? And is there a default choice? If there is, then we could call the default choice “active” and the marked alternative “passive.” In practice, of course, no one is likely to work through all these steps. If they are writing in English, they will look for translation equivalence with English categories. But it is useful to recognize a chain of reasoning such as this in order to be able to evaluate statements that are made on the basis of descriptive categories carried over from one language to another, whether or not these have been explicitly discussed. The issue resolves perhaps into something like this: is there a system having (more or less) the same function and located at (more or less) the same point of origin? In a systemic grammar of English, the system of voice has its point of origin in the clause, which makes it readily comparable with the Chinese. A more problematic example might be the system of number, since the Chinese “plural” -men appears only with personal pronouns and some human collectives: its domain of operation is restricted, and, with nouns, the contrast is not between plural and singular but between plural and unmarked. And this, in turn, raises a more general issue: where European languages favor systems in which all terms are marked, like “number: singular/ plural” or “tense: past/present/future,” East Asian languages favor systems in which one term is unmarked, such as “number: unmarked/plural” or “aspect: perfective/unmarked.” The fragmentation of linguistics, with linguistic studies organized as divisions within departments of languages, makes it harder to maintain the distinction between descriptive categories, set up for each language on empirical grounds, and theoretical categories, situated and defined within a general linguistic theory. This is not a difficult line to draw conceptually; but it gets muddied because “the same” descriptive category turns up in a variety of different languages, sometimes without its identity being questioned or explained. We may find something to call a “syllable” in, say, English, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, and Welsh; but, while the concepts of “rank” and of “phonology” belong to the theory, the category of “syllable,” as a unit on the phonological rank scale, does not. If it

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is used as a term in the description of all these languages, we need to ask what is the set of criteria that suggests they are sufficiently alike. Why is this important? It is obviously not simply a matter of names, although you have to frame the issue in technical terms in order to talk about it. Lurking behind such questions of “same or different?” however, is a much more significant project. It seems very likely that we are moving into a new level of scientific achievement, in which the physical, biological, social, and cognitive sciences are coming together to focus on common problems, issues that have appeared very different (because they look different, seen from all these different angles), such as types of complexity, the nature of systems, and the forms of persistence through change. Linguists have largely remained outside these developments, seeing themselves in Chomskyan terms as philosophers and logicians rather than as partners in a common scientific endeavor as they had been earlier.8 But I think this may be changing. There is a growing demand for a general theory of meaning; and this is what linguists are after, even if we are the one group that is never mentioned in this connection. Functional linguistics (and I would say especially systemic functional linguistics, though that is just my personal bias!) can play a central role in this endeavor. But to do this, those working in the field will have to engage much more widely not only in descriptive but also in comparative and typological studies, because we need all the evidence we can get from different languages and the different types of relationship among them.9 We have been slow, in the past, in extending the scope of our descriptive studies to languages around the world, partly because of pressure towards applied linguistic research in a few major languages, especially in educational contexts. This is now changing, with SFL colleagues in China working on languages such as Tibetan and Mongolian, Khmer and Vietnamese, where they have good access to information and resources. Systemic functional research is very demanding, because of its commitment to language as a meaning potential and its representation as networks of systems rather than simply as inventories of structures. This factor, the complexity of the task, may be another reason for hesitating before engaging with a new language. But that is precisely what makes the enterprise worth pursuing. By representing syntagmatic relations in metafunctional terms, showing ideational and interpersonal structures coalescing in the form of discourse and then giving these a paradigmatic foundation as networks of meaningful choice, we bring the study of language into the center of a general theory of meaning. This is linguistics doing its job as a branch of science. One aspect of a science of

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meaning is the cultural context in which meanings are created and understood: in this case, the Chinese angle on other East Asian languages. This is a special case, a uniquely Chinese contribution. But the greater part of the impact of those working in SFL in China is their contribution as general linguists to the consolidation and further development of the theory. In this perspective it is vital to ensure the exchange of ideas—the transmission of published materials in both directions. Joint research projects can stimulate and maintain the flow, as do national and international conferences. Knowledge is, after all, a process of continuous open-ended dialogue—a conversation which all of us, as linguists, should be able to join in.

Notes 1 In Guowai Yuyanxue (Foreign Linguistics) 1980.5 and 1981.2. But see Foreword to Huang Guowen (ed.). Discourse, language functions, language teaching (Guangzhou: Sun Yat-sen University Press, 2002b) [in Chinese]. 2 We band of brothers: the story of the first Chinese students in Australia after the cultural revolution (Sydney: University of Sydney, 2010). 3 Hu Zhuanglin, Zhu Yongsheng, and Zhang Delu, A Survey of Systemic-functional Grammar (Changsha: Hunan Education Press, 1989) [in Chinese]. 4 Hu Zhuanglin, Zhu Yongsheng, Zhang Delu, and Li Zhanzi, A Survey of Systemicfunctional Linguistics (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005) [in Chinese]. 5 To be more accurate, the functional linguistics conference always has been biennial, since its inauguration by Hu Zhuanglin in 1989; the discourse studies conferences began later, and take place in the alternate years. From the start, a volume of papers from the functional linguistics conference has been compiled by the conveners at the host university; these give an excellent picture of the quality, and the variety, of functional linguistic studies going on in China. Throughout most of the 1990s (e.g. no.3, Hangzhou 1993; no.5, Chongqing 1997) about half of the papers in the volume were in English; but from 1999 onwards this has changed. In the seventh volume in the series, based on papers from the 2001 conference at North-east Normal University in Changchun, only five out of the thirty were in English, while the remainder (including several where the language under description was English) were all in Chinese. This highlights the importance of making Chinese work accessible to those who don’t know the language—or whose attempts to learn Chinese have been frustrated by the demands of the script! 6 As included by Matthiessen in his edition of the trilingual version of my paper “Computing meanings: some reflections on past experience and present prospects” [Paper presented to PACLING 95, Second Conference of the Pacific Association

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for Computational Linguistics, Brisbane, April 19–22, 1995], edited by Christian Matthiessen, with Chinese translation by Wu Canzhong and Japanese translation by Kazuhiro Teruya, 1998, 72pp. English and Japanese versions: Huang Guowen and Wang Zongyan (eds), Discourse and Language Functions, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2002. Chinese version: Huang Guowen (ed.), Yupian, yuyan gongneng, yuyan jiaoxue [Discourse, Language Functions, Language Teaching], Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Press, 2002b. 7 Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen, Kazuhiro Teruya, and Marvin Lam, Key Terms in Systemic Functional Linguistics (London & New York: Continuum, 2010). 8 Cf. Shapiro: “Parallels have long been noted between linguistics and genome expression, but the evolutionary perspective advocated here will make it much easier to incorporate lessons about language evolution into theories of organic evolution. The conceptual change should also temper theorizing in psychology and linguistics based on 20th Century genetic determinism”—the reference here being to Stephen Pinker’s The Language Instinct (London: Penguin Books, 1994). See James A. Shapiro, Evolution: a view from the 21st century (Upper Saddle River NJ: FT Press Science, 2011). For the perspective from systemic functional theory see Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen, “The evolution of language: a systemic functional exploration of phylogenetic phases,” in Geoff Williams and Annabelle Lukin (eds), The Development of Language: functional perspectives on species and individuals (London & New York: Continuum, 2004), and other articles throughout the same volume. 9 I am indebted to David Butt both for the reference to Shapiro’s work in note 8 above and for his discursive observation that recent work in modeling linguistic typology suggests that the ancestry of a language is the best predictor of the affinities and contrasts between languages. Note that this is not the same thing as “genetic determinism”! Butt was expressing his surprise that “so much about language has been excluded from the scientific conversation”. If Chinese thinking is (as often claimed) more “holistic” than that in the west, this is something that our linguistics colleagues in China might be able to put right.

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Teaching and Learning SFL in China: Pedagogy and Curriculum J.R. Martin

Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney

1  My gaze Since the year 2000 I have made several trips to China to deliver seminars and teach intensive courses for post-graduate students, the majority of whom are doing MAs or PhDs in one of China’s Schools of Foreign Languages; most of these students are specializing in English. I have also co-supervised several Chinese PhD students from these schools, who were able to spend one or two semesters working with me in Sydney. In this paper I will draw on these experiences to make some observations about the state of the art and future prospects as far as training research students in systemic functional linguistics (hereafter SFL) in China is concerned. In doing so I hope to open up discussion of SFL pedagogy and curriculum in relation to the kind of training needed to help Chinese postgraduate students develop as the innovative producers of social semiotic theory, description, and practice the world rightfully expects from the intellectual superpower China is economically positioned to become.

2  Knowledge structure As with all discussions of pedagogy and curriculum it is crucial to be very specific about the kind of knowledge we are talking about. To frame the discussion responsibly here I will draw on the ongoing dialogue between SFL and the social realist theory articulated by Bernstein (e.g. 1996/2000) and neoBernsteinian scholars (e.g. Muller 2007; Maton 2013; Maton and Muller 2007)— with respect to the SFL register variable field and social realist perspectives on

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knowledge; for access to this conversation see Christie and Martin (2007), Christie and Maton (2011), Martin (2011a) and Maton et al. (2016). To begin we need to distinguish between singulars and regions, a distinction Bernstein (1996: 23) outlines as follows: A discourse as a singular is a discourse which has appropriated a space to give itself a unique name . . . for example physics, chemistry, sociology, psychology . . . these singulars produced a discourse which was about only themselves . . . had very few external references other than in terms of themselves . . . created the field of the production of knowledge . . . . . . in the twentieth century, particularly in the last five decades . . . the very strong classification of singulars has undergone a change, and what we have now . . . is a regionalization of knowledge . . . a recontextualizing of singulars . . . for example, in medicine, architecture, engineering, information science . . . any regionalization of knowledge implies a recontextualizing principle: which singulars are to be selected, what knowledge within the singular is to be introduced and related . . . regions are the interface between the field of the production of knowledge and any field of practice . . . .

Both singulars and regions are relevant to the discussion here. As far as singulars are concerned, my focus is on linguistics—on one of its functional theories, SFL, in particular. And since I will focus on teaching/learning SFL in Schools of Foreign Languages, the region of literacy education often referred to as the “Sydney School” is also relevant. Let’s first consider the nature of singulars in more detail. Throughout his career, Bernstein was concerned with the difference between common and uncommon sense, and the role education plays in the unequal distribution of uncommon sense knowledge among learners. His culminative publications reworked this complementarity as horizontal and vertical discourse (Bernstein 2000: 157): A Horizontal discourse entails a set of strategies which are local, segmentally organized, context specific and dependent, for maximizing encounters with persons and habitats . . . This form has a group of well-known features: it is likely to be oral, local, context dependent and specific, tacit, multi-layered and contradictory across but not within contexts. . . . a Vertical discourse takes the form of a coherent, explicit and systematically principled structure, hierarchically organized as in the sciences, or it takes the form of a series of specialized languages with specialized modes of interrogation and specialized criteria for the production and circulation of texts as in the social sciences and humanities.

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And within vertical discourse he set up a complementarity of hierarchical vs horizontal knowledge structure. A hierarchical knowledge structure was characterized as a coherent, explicit and systematically principled structure, hierarchically organized” which “attempts to create very general propositions and theories, which integrate knowledge at lower levels, and in this way shows underlying uniformities across an expanding range of apparently different phenomena. Bernstein 1999: 161, 162

A horizontal knowledge structure was defined as a series of specialized languages with specialized modes of interrogation and criteria for the construction and circulation of texts. Bernstein 1999: 162

—such as the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences (e.g. for functional linguistics, the “languages” of systemic functional linguistics, lexical functional grammar, role and reference grammar, functional grammar, functional discourse grammar, cognitive linguistics etc.). Bernstein used the image of a triangle to represent the nature of knowledge in hierarchical knowledge structures, with general axioms at the top of the triangle integrating lower level understandings; and for horizontal knowledge structures he used a series of Ls, representing the proliferation of theoretical perspectives involved.

Figure 2.1  Bernstein’s picture of hierarchical vs. horizontal knowledge structures.

Wignell, presenting at the “Reclaiming Knowledge” workshop at the University of Sydney in December 2004 (cf. Christie and Martin 2007; Wignell 2007), commented that the social sciences might be better characterized as a series of warring triangles—since they tend to model themselves on physical and biological sciences as far as technicality and integration of concepts are concerned but are generally more successful at winning institutional rather than epistemological ascendency. In this respect they contrast with the humanities

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where technicality and the drive to integration via general models and propositions is less strong (or perhaps even anathema). The broader profile this implies is outlined in Figure 2.2 below, which uses the size of triangles and Ls to indicate the sense in which one or another triangle achieves hegemony in the social sciences, or becomes more fashionable in the humanities.

Figure 2.2  Science, social science, and humanities as structures of knowledge.

The tendency of horizontal knowledge structures to “progress” via the introduction of a new specialized “language” draws attention to the centrifugal potential of such disciplines. For a “language” like SFL this raises questions about the fault lines around which new “dialects,” “registers” or even “languages” might evolve. Martin (2011b) explores one aspect of this potential, focusing on axis and stratification issues; several additional fault lines are noted in Martin (2013a). This raises curriculum issues as far as which register of SFL is selected in teaching programs (e.g. Gregory’s communication linguistics, Fawcett’s Cardiff Grammar, Hallidayan SFL etc.). For practical purposes I’ll restrict the discussion in the rest of this paper by assuming the model of SFL consolidated in Halliday and Greaves (2008), Halliday (1985b), Martin (1992), and Martin and Rose (2003/2007, 2008) and associated with SFL linguists working in and around metropolitan Sydney in the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s. Turning to regions my focus is on the reading and writing programs of the Sydney School. This region recontextualizes relevant dimensions of SFL to address literacy pedagogy and curriculum (Martin and Rose 2005/2012). It is often referred to as genre-based literacy pedagogy because of the critical role played by genre as far as decisions about what to teach (i.e. which genres) and how to teach (i.e. which curriculum genres) are concerned. While SFL has been a driving force in this region, the influence of other singulars has to be acknowledged—including social realism (Maton 2013), neo-Vygotsykan constructivism (Gray 1987; Wells 1994, 1996, 1999), ethnography (based on our teacher-linguists’ experience in schools), New Rhetoric (Miller 1984), and Cultural Studies (cf. the concern with critical literacy in Macken-Horarik 1998).

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Figure 2.3  A sketch of singulars influencing Sydney School curriculum and pedagogy.

Figure 2.3 outlines the dimensions of recontextualizations into teaching/learning practice noted here (using Mind Culture Activity (MCA), to flag the neoVygotskyan group). In other regions of practice such as clinical linguistics, forensic linguistics, computational linguistics, and translation studies, SFL negotiates with very different sets of dialogue partners, as reflected in the relevant region-focused chapters in Hasan et al. (2005, 2007) and Webster (2008, 2009).

3  SFL curriculum in China To begin, let me qualify what I am saying as based on my experience of teaching research students in China and supervising them in Australia. I am sure that others with more extensive and direct experience would paint a different and perhaps better informed picture of what is and what could be going on. But a relative outsider’s voice is sometimes useful in discussions of this kind. As far as singulars and regions are concerned, research students have some familiarity with Hallidayan SFL, but have not usually been introduced to Sydney School educational linguistics. This reflects the general concern in China with

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SFL theory and descriptions and their use in text analysis of various kinds and the relative lack1 of participation in a range of applications. This foregrounding of theory over application is the inverse of the picture in most of the rest of the world, where people get interested in SFL because of what they can do with it, rather than, in the first instance, because of its theoretical appeal. Given the responsibility Schools of Foreign Languages assume for training language teachers who will work across education sectors in China, it seems to me that there is an opportunity here as far as genre-based literacy programs are concerned. Why not show students how to address language pedagogy and curriculum from an SFL perspective,2 drawing on the first and second language programmes underway around the world? As far as familiarity with the Hallidayan SFL singular is concerned, I have generally found it safe to assume that research students have been introduced to systemic functional grammar—deriving in one form or another from an introduction by Halliday (1985 and subsequent editions). In addition, they may have some familiarity with genre (deriving in one form or another from Martin 1992) and appraisal (deriving in one form or another from Martin and White 2005). Crowded coursework syllabi mean that a lot of this knowledge will have been accumulated through reading, rather than a comprehensive set of lectures. Increasing the breadth and depth of coverage, I am told, is not a priority, since MA or PhD research based solely on the SFL singular would often be viewed as too narrow; research drawing on more than one theoretical frame is encouraged. To my mind, there seems to be a confusion of singulars and regions here, since most students are not applying SFL and thus needing to selectively recontextualize a number of singulars into practice. But I acknowledge this reflects misgivings I have about the gratuitous use of the term interdisciplinarity in the humanities and social sciences and an apparent lack of respect for the integrity of disciplinarity as far as the production of knowledge is concerned (so that “interdisciplinarity” in fact means conducting research in a relatively common sense space between disciplines rather than a credible integration of disciplinary insight). SFL is a vast toolkit, with many more dimensions available than might be needed for any one descriptive or applied concern. And all coursework programs have to be selective. The students I have worked with appear to come from programs in which the following principles of selection are foregrounded: —the focus is on language rather than on other modalities of communication (multimodal discourse analysis in other words has not taken off in China the way it has in the rest of the world)

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—the focus is on English, rather than Chinese3 (when it is arguably very important for teachers teaching English to Chinese speakers to understand the similarities and differences between the two languages in functional terms) —the focus is on English rather than other languages taught in the school (even though useful SFL descriptions of languages such as French, German, Japanese, Korean, and so on are available to draw on) —the focus is on English, rather than relevant “heritage” languages such as Sanskrit or ancient Tibetan, or regional languages such as Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer, Laotian, or Bahasa Indonesia (so that research on language typology and functional descriptions of languages other than English are not fostered) —in relation to English, the focus is on grammar, rather than other strata (such as phonology/graphology, discourse semantics, register or genre; SFL work on discourse semantics and context tends to be presented, if represented, as one part of a more general course on discourse analysis) —in relation to English grammar, the focus is on the clause, rather than other ranks (group and phrase structure is less familiar, and morphology less familiar still) —in relation to axis, the focus is on structure rather than system (students are generally not trained to write system networks, nor to argue about the motivation of features in systems based on their realization in structure) —in relation to metafunction, the focus is on functional tiers of clause analysis, rather than on types of structure and modes of meaning in phonology, discourse semantics or register —in relation to context, the focus is on genre rather than register (field, tenor and mode are treated, if at all, in common sense terms) —in relation to hierarchies, the focus is on realization rather than instantiation or individuation (so that important questions of intermodality, inter-linguality and identity are not to the fore) —in relation to SFL in general, the focus is on descriptions deriving from the theory (e.g. Halliday’s grammar of English or Martin and White’s outline of English appraisal resources) rather than on the theory itself, so that the grounding of key concepts such as rank, metafunction and strata in axial relations is not given prominence (a focus on L2 rather than L1 in social realism terms4).

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Of course, every coursework program has to make selections. There do remain problems of access to key materials in China, and primers in some key areas have been slow to appear; for example, an introduction to network writing has only recently been published (Martin et al. 2013). But I remain concerned that research students with training such as that outlined might have trouble following papers at a typical regional or international SFL congress, where familiarity with at least a comprehensive IFG style grammar, appraisal, genre, and multimodality tend to be assumed. I am also concerned that Chinese research students are not really being pushed to the edge of knowledge on the frontiers of SFL. That, after all, is where such bright students who have worked their way to the top of a very competitive education system deserve to be. Accordingly, in 2012, in consultation with Fang Yan, Peng Xuanwei, Hu Zhuanglin, Gao Yihong, and Gao Yanmei, I organized three weeks of intensive teaching for PhD students from around China. Week one, at Tsinghua University, focused on a review of key grammar systems and system network writing (including examples from Tagalog as well as English). Week two, at Beijing Normal University, dealt with discourse semantics (including hands on work practicing analysing texts). And week three, at Peking University, covered register and genre, and multimodality (image grammar in particular). An average of thirty students attended each session, with thirteen attending all three. I think everyone involved agreed this was a productive initiative. Three comparable courses are now available on an annual basis at the Martin Centre for Appliable Linguistics, Shanghai Jiaotong University. Perhaps cooperative initiatives of a similar kind might be organized in other key centers in future (e.g. Beijing and Guangzhou), as a supplement to coursework programs which understandably have to cater for a range of student interests in relation to the expertise of teaching staff and the research orientation of different schools. China’s annual “Systemic Weeks” provide another venue for this kind of support, although programs there have tended to provide a window on a range of SFL research activity by senior scholars5 rather than an in depth focus on missing links. A final point which might be considered in relation to advanced coursework has to do with getting organized on a metropolitan rather than an institutional basis. For example, Australian universities follow a British style PhD supervision system which has no provision for PhD level coursework programming. Students work with their supervisors on their research project from the beginning of their degree; this has the advantage of getting them started on research right away. Gaps in their training are normally filled in from undergraduate or MA coursework programs. There is neither the expectation nor the staffing resources

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to offer anything more. My feeling has always been that some high level coursework is needed and so for the past few years, on a volunteer basis, I have been getting colleagues from around the Sydney region to take turns offering one advanced PhD course in their area of expertise each semester. Research students working in SFL from around the Sydney region attend these courses, with marking handled by their home institution supervisors. I make my students do one of these courses each semester for the first three years of their candidature. All involved, staff and students alike, have found this an engaging and rewarding experience. Staff enjoy teaching cutting edge SFL in their area of expertise and students have the advantage of working with our region’s leading scholars. I offer this as an example of how the limitations of a particular institution as far as course offerings are concerned can be overcome.

4  Sydney School pedagogy6 Turning now to pedagogy, the Sydney School has challenged educators to change the ways in which students are introduced to written genres. Traditional writing pedagogy (with a “sage on a stage”) typically involves a short lecture, sometimes accompanied by a model text, on the basis of which students are expected to write on their own and make progress in relation to “error” oriented feedback from teachers—typically with a prescriptive focus on spelling, punctuation, and low level grammar features (e.g. “subject-verb” agreement). Progressivist/ constructivist writing pedagogy (with a “guide on the side”) typically involves an invitation for students to write, seldom accompanied by a model text, with progress facilitated by teachers encouraging students to engage with relevant and motivating subject matter. The basic opposition here is between what Bernstein (1975) calls visible and invisible pedagogy. Bernstein sources these to factions of the middle class (old and new respectively), and suggests that neither pedagogy is likely to work in the interests of students from other social backgrounds, a point strongly affirmed in our Australian experience (Martin 1999; cf. Alexander 2000). Hattie (2009) statistically confirms Bernstein’s warning about using invisible pedagogy to teach “other people’s children” (cf. Delpit 1988). Our educational linguists worked closely with teachers to renovate literacy pedagogy in the direction of a curriculum genre with the potential to successfully apprentice all students into high stakes genre writing, regardless of their background. The best-known model of the curriculum genres deriving from this action research is presented as Figure 2.4 below (for discussion see Rothery 1989,

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Figure 2.4  Sydney School teaching/learning cycle for teaching genre writing.

1996; Martin 1999). As the “building field” bricks and mortar motif indicates, we are dealing here with an embedded literacy program in which relevant content is assembled and shared as part of learning to write a genre. In addition, as the “setting context” prosody affirms, the role played in the culture by the genre being taught is continually foregrounded so that the purpose for writing remains clear. And as the nucleus of the diagram attests, the ultimate goal of the pedagogy is to give students both control of and a critical orientation to the genre. As a curriculum genre, the teaching/learning cycle (hereafter TLC) moves through three main steps—Deconstruction, Joint Construction, and Individual Construction. Deconstruction involves field-building activities leading to teachers explaining a model text to students. The focus is on its social function, its name (e.g. factorial explanation), its canonical staging (e.g. Outcome and Factors), and where shared knowledge about language is available, discussion of sub-staging—including the key linguistic features composing the text. Joint Construction involves building up a related field followed by teachers acting as a kind of scribe—composing (on a black board, white board, or smart board, or using an OHP or butcher’s paper), in front of the class, another model of the genre based on oral suggestions by students during the scribing process. This step is designed to make learning to write more like learning to talk, based on the principle of “guidance through interaction in the context of shared

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experience”—which we derived from Painter’s studies of spoken language development by pre-school children and their carers in the home (1984, 1986, 1998; cf. Gibbons 2002, 2006, 2009, and Hammond 2001 on scaffolding). The power of the pedagogy depends crucially on this step (for further discussion see Hunt 1994). Finally, providing teachers judge students to be ready, another related field is built up and students try writing on their own. The basic principle is for teachers never to ask students to write anything until they have discussed a model of the genre at stake with them, jointly constructed another model of that genre with them and decided they are ready for the independent writing task. Where students are not ready, further cycles of deconstruction and joint construction can be undertaken, with smaller groups of students. For students at all levels, one of the major challenges posed by the Figure 2.4 TLC, just outlined, is the problem of having to read relevant materials for building field as well as to read the model texts that are being deconstructed and jointly constructed. The Reading to Learn programs developed by Rose and his colleagues (Rose 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, Rose and Martin 2005/2012) have addressed these challenges by designing curriculum genres that provide space for reading instruction. This has involved both global and local design. Globally, the Reading to Learn program takes learning a curriculum field through reading as its starting point, and writing for evaluation as its goal, via a flexible sequence of nine activities. Preparing for Reading supports all students in a class to follow a text with general understanding as it is read aloud, identify its key information, and make notes if it is a factual text. These notes may later be used for a Joint Construction, as described above. Where time permits, Joint Construction is followed by Individual Construction, in which students may use the same notes to write texts of their own in the same genre. Conversely, if the genre under focus is a story, Individual Construction follows the same generic patterns as the Joint Construction, but with the students’ own ideas for characters, events, and settings. One or two Joint and Individual Constructions are programmed for each genre, before students are expected to write independently. To ensure that all students can independently read curriculum texts with full comprehension, and use their language resources in their own writing, passages are selected from the reading and model texts for Detailed Reading and Rewriting. Detailed Reading involves carefully-designed sentence-by-sentence guidance. Each sentence in the selected passage is first paraphrased for students, in terms that all can understand, and read aloud. Students are then guided to read each salient element of the sentence through interaction cycles of the kind outlined in Figure 2.5 (cf. Martin 2007; Martin and Rose 2005/2012, 2007).

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Figure 2.5  The local design of Reading to Learn detailed reading interactions.

The Prepare move gives the meaning of the element to the class as a whole, in terms that all can understand. A Focus question is then addressed to a particular student, whose task is to Identify the element and read it aloud. As a result of the preparation, the evaluation can always Affirm the chosen student, ensuring that all are successfully engaged in the interaction around the text. The teacher then directs the class to highlight the exact wording in the sentence. Their success in turn ensures that all students benefit from the Elaborate move, in which the meaning is further defined, explained, or discussed (e.g. unpacking unfamiliar terms, abstract nominalizations and lexical metaphors) and related to students’ experience. A micro-interaction of this kind might unfold as follows: Teacher Prepare This sentence tells us the first factor that helps mulga sentence survive droughts. “The shape of the mulga tree is a key to it surviving dry times.” Prepare It starts by telling us what that factor is. Focus Jane, can you see what the first factor is? Student Identify The shape of the mulga tree. Teacher Affirm That’s exactly right, its shape. Direct Let’s highlight the word shape. Elaborate So its shape is one factor that helps mulga survive droughts.

Note that just one or more paragraphs may be selected for Detailed Reading— ones that are particularly dense or technical, for example. The preparation above assumes that the term “factor” has already been introduced, as the text’s field and genre have been discussed. Through such guidance, key information in the passage is highlighted. When dealing with factual genres students then take turns scribing this information as notes on the class board, and the teacher guides them to rewrite these notes as a new text, in Joint Rewriting. Students can then use the same notes for Individual Rewriting of a text as different as possible from the joint text, with the teacher circulating and providing as much guidance as needed. The focus here is on developing the lexicogrammatical and discourse semantic

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resources for writing technical discourse, embedded in learning the curriculum. With stories and persuasive genres, Detailed Reading focuses on literary or evaluative language patterns of a selected passage, and Joint and Individual Rewriting follow the same language patterns with different content. Particularly in primary school, or in initial ESL/EFL contexts, support may proceed to Sentence Making, Spelling, and Sentence Writing activities. One or more sentences from the Detailed Reading passage are written on cardboard strips, which students are guided to cut up and re-arrange, strengthening their control over the grammatical patterns. Individual words are then cut up into their letter patterns, which students practice spelling on individual white boards. They then use this spelling knowledge to practice writing the whole sentences on their boards. The focus at this level is thus on foundation literacy skills, embedded in reading and writing curriculum texts. This level of intensive language activities can be especially helpful for students who are just beginning to read and write, who have been struggling with literacy, or are learning English as an additional language (these activities can be usefully supplemented in ESL/EFL contexts by drawing the text-based grammar building suggestions in Jones and Lock 2010). These nine sets of strategies are schematized in Figure 2.6, as three cycles providing different levels of scaffolding support for reading and writing the curriculum.

Figure 2.6  Reading to Learn teaching/learning cycles.

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As with all Sydney School curriculum genres, movement around or between cycles is at the discretion of the teacher, depending on students’ literacy levels in relation to the challenge of the genres in focus. Educators concerned about the relevance of the various cycles considered here for able students need to keep in mind that literacy learning is a lifelong process, and that in these TLCs texts are generally chosen which challenge the whole class. In various publications (e.g. Martin 1999; Martin and Rose 2005/2012), Sydney School pedagogy has been positioned in relation to an adaptation of Bernstein’s (1990) topology of pedagogies (extending the visible/invisible pedagogy opposition noted above). In Figure 2.7, his vertical axis positions pedagogies according to the degree to which they emphasize changing individuals or changing society; his horizontal axis positions pedagogies according to whether they emphasize acquisition or transmission. This places the Sydney School in the lower right hand quadrant, as a visible pedagogy focusing on apprenticeship into high stakes genres that students can use to make a difference—not only for success in their own education but in the world outside. Martin (1999) accordingly tags this apparently conservative pedagogic practice as ‘subversive’ (complemented in Figure 2.7 by “liberal,” “conservative,” and “radical” alternatives).

Figure 2.7  Types of pedagogy (after Bernstein 1990: 213–14).

I have taken time here to outline Sydney School pedagogy for several reasons. One, as noted above, is that applications of SFL of this kind are less well-known in China than elsewhere. Another is that so many of the graduates of School of

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Foreign Languages programs will be teaching reading and writing throughout their careers and may find this outline helpful. Yet another is that the principles informing a pedagogy of this kind can be abstracted and used to think about teaching SFL, the topic I turn to in section 5 below.

5  SFL pedagogy in China Just as making decisions about curriculum depends on a relevant model of knowledge structure, so choices about pedagogy depend on an appropriate model of teaching/learning. The pedagogy deployed for teaching SFL in China remains, I believe, a fairly traditional one—based on monologic lectures focusing on an aspect of a singular, enhanced through extensive reading by students on their own before and after class. This depends on students being able to learn from reading SFL material, not all of which has been designed to apprentice students into the field. Successive editions of Halliday’s grammar of English, for example, have become more and more challenging for even advanced students and colleagues whose first language is English. While introductory materials based on such works thus have a role to play, advanced research students do eventually have to learn to access complex discourse of this kind. And I suspect this means that SFL teachers in China will have to adapt Rose’s Reading to Learn TLCs and implement them as part of their advanced coursework programs. This means that teachers will have to engage in Sydney School-inspired interactions with students, such as those outlined above, moving as they do from the upper right traditional quadrant of Bernstein’s Figure 2.7 topology to the lower righthand one. No series of lectures on SFL, however expert, can hope to cover all that has to be learned; so reading7 is essential. Academic knowledge lives in writing and it has to be accessed there. A similar re-orientation will have to be considered in relation to research student writing. Currently, I understand, academic literacy in Chinese universities tends to be addressed through generic literacy programmes rather than embedded programmes tailored to specific academic disciplines. The Sydney School pedagogies outlined above, however, lend themselves to application inside disciplines where the subject-specific genres and macro-genres of writing are in focus. In my experience, Chinese research students, like Australian ones, are uncertain about the genres and macro-genres they need to use to document their production of knowledge in SFL. We still need considerable research in this arena before we can be confident about what is going on. But all SFL teachers

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Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics

can make a start by carefully considering the genres they expect their students to write for evaluation purposes and for their research theses. As outlined above, students need models of these, and need to experience jointly constructing them with experts before being asked to write on their own. Most Chinese students face challenges as far as improving the lexicogrammar and discourse semantics of their academic writing is concerned. One exercise I have been exploring with my non-native English speaking students in Sydney is to get them to perform Reading to Learn TLC-style exercises individually, on a daily basis. This involves taking a paragraph or two of SFL writing from a key text they are reading, highlighting its key words and phrases, listing these as notes and then re-writing the paragraph or two from these notes. They then compare their writing with the original, noting improvements that might be made, and re-draft their paragraphs along these lines until satisfied with the result. This seems to be improving their academic writing at the same time as they note how much it helps them better understand the material they are reading. Actually, what I think is going on here is that a normal research activity undertaken by my generation of academics is being restored—namely going to the library, borrowing a book, making notes from the book and re-writing these into an essay. My current students have little experience of this since it is so easy for them to download relevant material from the web and cut and paste it into assignments (with the concomitant increase in plagiarism this involves). Reading to Learn activities get students learning to write again, by scaffolding their access of written SFL knowledge and then, in steps, re-working it as their own. It’s not just reading and writing SFL materials that we need to think about here. It is relatively unusual, I believe, for Chinese students to get hands-on guidance as far as grammar or discourse analysis is concerned. For example, Clare Painter, Christian Matthiessen, and myself recently revised the workbook we published as Martin et al. (1997) and published it in China as Deploying Functional Grammar (2010); we chose China so that students and colleagues there and around the world could better afford to buy it. The book includes synopses of clause complex, clause, group and phrase systems and structures, trouble shooting notes, and graded exercises; in addition, it concludes with a chapter illustrating how to deploy the grammar for text analysis, including explicit reference to relevant discourse semantic and context systems. During the first of the three intensive 2012 workshops I got the distinct impression that very few of my thirty-five students had used the book as part of their apprenticeship into Halliday’s grammar. Hands-on workshopping of analysis, whether based on the exercises in the book or its model texts, was not part of

Teaching Systemic Functional Linguistics in China

31

their training. To my mind, mastery of text analysis, on whatever stratum, is something that benefits greatly from guidance through interaction in the context of shared experience. It is not something that students can simply master on their own; reading source material over and over again is just a first step. Becoming skilled at analysis takes practice, guided practice in the early stages. Once again, Chinese SFL pedagogy, I believe, could usefully move in the direction of adapting Sydney School TLCs—with more joint construction by way of helping students build confidence for analyzing by themselves. A final comment I would make relates to research and student presentations, which we might think of as analogous to the independent construction phase of a Sydney School TLC. What kind of opportunities are provided for these? For example, my PhD students in Sydney, along with a few others, meet as a group one evening a week for two hours during the semester; they take turns to give presentations on their work to their peers, with me sitting in. This gives them experience talking about their work, once or twice a year, from the beginning of their research. For decades now in Sydney, we have also enjoyed Friday afternoon SFL seminars,8 where local and visiting colleagues, and advanced PhD students give presentations on their work. Sometimes students warm up in their evening seminar for a Friday presentation, and use one or both of these as preparation for a national or international conference presentation. During the semester, these activities provide them with weekly models of pioneering research, and give them several opportunities during their candidature to practice presenting themselves and receive feedback from their elders and peers. It also draws their attention to the importance of the social dimension of the discipline as a collegial as well as a research sphere, something some PhDs students forget as they sit week after week working monastically on their own.

6  Reflection My aim in this chapter has been to open up discussion of the way in which SFL is taught and could be taught in China. My basic point as far as curriculum is concerned is that ways have to be found to deepen and broaden the training—to deepen it beyond a concern with English clause structure, appraisal, and genre, and to broaden it to include a focus on applications. My basic point as far as pedagogy is concerned is that traditional lecture and reading practices need to be expanded to take advantage of SFL’s basic insight into teaching/learning— namely that it involves guidance through interaction in the context of shared

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experience. There are many ways in which curriculum and pedagogy can be developed along these lines, and I have made some suggestions here and there in the paper drawing on my own experiences in Australia and China. I am confident my Chinese students and colleagues will respond to these exemplars in productive ways that will enhance the practice of training young scholars around the world. China has an incredible pool of talent to mine in this regard. Unleash the dragon, shall we say?

Notes 1 Exceptions would include the work by Wang Zhenhua and his students at Shanghai Jiaotong University, with its focus on forensic linguistics, Gao Yihong at Peking University, Fang Yan at Tsinghua, and Chang Chenguang and colleagues at Sun Yat-sen in educational linguistics; Gao Yihong is preparing to work on clinical discourse. 2 A key factor here is that like English Departments in the English speaking world, English Departments in China do not see themselves as responsible for training their students as English teachers, even though so many of them will go on to work as such in their careers. 3 I have even been advised that students in English Departments are not allowed to study Chinese. 4 In Bernstein’s words (2000: 132), L1 “refers to the syntax whereby a conceptual language is created”; L2 “refers to the syntax whereby the internal language can describe something other than itself.” 5 I have never, for example, been able to secure enough time in these events to deliver an enabling course on network writing; the large numbers of students attending these weeks is also an issue for training that depends on small group interaction. 6 This section has been slightly adapted from Martin 2013b. 7 My understanding is that Chinese students still do take reading seriously as a mode for learning, and this needs to be encouraged; in the west an aversion to print materials I call “screenophilia” and the ready availability of web-based materials means that students are reading less and less all the time. 8 To date I have not witnessed much cooperation across metropolitan campuses are far as regular SFL seminars and shared advanced coursework programs is concerned, in spite of the huge potential for this in the many large cities which have several institutions training students in SFL.

Part Two

Showcasing the State of the Art in China

Introduction HU, Zhuanglin

The nineteen chapters that follow are representative works by active Chinese systemicists, aged between their late twenties to more than eighty. The themes of the chapters cover most areas in SFL with various methodologies, ranging from the expression plane to the content plane, from lexis to text, from natural language to multimodal discourse, from lexicology to lexicography, from monolingual to typological description, from case observation to corpus-­based approach, and from discourse analysis to translation. The anthology starts with a section dealing with the expression plane of language, in particular Chinese in its speaking and writing modes. The two chapters here suggest a way of localization, but are in line with the global horizon with the value of providing new materials and facts. The chapter contributed by Peng Xuanwei attempts to account for the stroke systems of Chinese characters in simplified regular script. The framework is based on the three metafunctions in SFL, that is, experiential, interpersonal (appraisal, or compositional / aesthetic in particular) and textual (point of departure) potentials of strokes and their constitutional segments, the purpose of which is to single out the relevant systems. This is the first step toward a rank model of Chinese writing, the whole project of which will be able to highlight the study of other writing systems. Liu Chengyu presents a corpus-­based analysis of the eight core modal particles (MPs) of modern Chinese, i.e. a (wa, ya, na, la), ba, ma, ne, me, de, le, baile, as well as their phonological and dialectal variants within the SF matrix of the Chinese phonological system. The speech functions and phonological variations of these Chinese modal participles are examined with the aim of illuminating the interaction between their meanings and phonological variations on the one hand and the lexicogrammatical and phonological patterns on the other. The next section concerns lexis, dealing especially with verbs in their experiential, interpersonal (appraisal) and textual functions from a discoursive

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Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics

view. For his study, Song Chengfang collected 444 verbs listed under the category of “emotion” or “affect” from seven thesauri, from which he selected sixty verbs for a subsequent cluster analysis on the basis of their configurative facts retrieved from the Modern Chinese Corpus developed by the Centre for Chinese Linguistics at Peking University. The clustering results of the analysis show a primary distinction between what he refers to as emotion verbs and emotional verbs. Lu Guoyan and Gao Yanmei also studied verbs, noting how as a text unfolds, patterns emerge as happenings recur or activities expand. The recurring patterns of processes display the ongoing creation of a global incident structure. The co-­authors take Folie à Deux by William Trevor as an example to demonstrate the relations between the verb types and the process types within clauses, and then show how the distributions of processes contribute to the creation of a global incident structure throughout the text, further substantiating the view put forward by Professor Halliday and Professor Hasan that a fundamental continuity exists between lexis and grammar and between grammar and discourse. The following two chapters discuss nominal and verbal groups, one attempting to refute an improper typological discrimination between English and Chinese and the other introducing a new system of Chinese tenses, both being oriented to a structural (hierarchical) and functional (stratal) view. Yang Bingjun compares measure nominals in English and Chinese through an analysis of their structure and function from the perspective of SFL, which reveals that measure nominals in English and Chinese differ in their overt uses, while sharing certain similarities if various contexts are considered; and that components of measure nominals in both languages function similarly at the group level. He Wei and Ma Ruizhi sets up an overall Chinese tense system and describes the instantiation of the potential system by emphasizing the instantiation of marked Chinese tenses. She holds that (i) there are four types of tense in Chinese: primary, secondary, primary-­secondary, and secondary-­ secondary; and that (ii) there are grammatical and semi-­grammatical resources to construe chains of temporal deictic relationships between pairs of times indicated in a clause. There are two chapters in the section on issues related to clause and clause complex, but with different characteristics. Yang Guowen describes the characteristics of Range in material clauses in Mandarin Chinese by comparing its grammatical behavior with that of Goal and its counterpart in English. She found that, due to the lexical and grammatical differences between the two languages, circumstantial elements that may be realized by prepositional phrases in English are more likely to be realized by nouns or nominal groups in Chinese,

Introduction

37

functioning as Range. The basic properties of Range are reflected most distinctly in material clauses. Compared with Goal, Range is much less likely to move around in clauses. It shows a lower possibility of following the preposition baˇ (把) in the baˇ (把) construction and being the thematic element in the bèi (被) construction. Hsu Fu-­mei discusses three characteristic properties of the clause complex in Chinese. The investigation suggests that parataxis in interdependency is more commonly used than hypotaxis in Chinese. The use of zero anaphora and their logical-­semantic tendency imply that (i) it tends to be paratactic extension or enhancement when the zero anaphoric reference is the Actor or the Carrier of the previous clause; (ii) hypotactic elaboration when the zero anaphora is Goal or Attribute; and (iii) paratactic elaboration when the zero anaphora is the whole previous clause. The next chapter is devoted to text and text types. This is a textual perspective for generic distributions of English Appraisal categories by Yu Li and her colleagues. Their evidences come from the Chinese-English Parallel Corpus of Appraisal Meanings developed by Peng Xuanwei and his research team. The authors examined three levels of delicacy of the Appraisal system: (i) Appraisal across ten genres of texts, including, Encyclopedia, Science Fiction, Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, Fiction, News Report, Government File and History of Civilization; (ii) Appraisal in terms of Attitude, Engagement and Graduation across the ten genres of texts; and (iii) Appraisal by twenty-­six subcategories under the three chief categories across the ten genres of texts. In that regard, the research group discussed two issues in detail: the generic distribution of Appraisal categories that indicates a global tendency and the generic differences of the distribution that suggests specific Appraisal features of each particular genre. They found significant differences between certain genres in terms of Attitude and Engagement, but no significant differences in Graduation. They also found significant differences between certain genres in twenty-­four out of the twenty-­six sub-­subcategories. These facts contribute a probabilistic understanding of the Appraisal system in English. We have already witnessed analyses on lexis-­grammar complementarity and on typological concern; yet there is a particular chapter devoted to both at the same time and which provides multi-­lingual evidence. Wang Pin investigates the complementarity between lexis and grammar in the system of Person. He argues that, as a fundamental discourse semantic system that identifies speech roles in discourse, Person can be realized by both lexical and grammatical means. The realization of Person may also be found at those fuzzy areas along the lexis-­ grammar continuum. He found that there may be typologically different tendencies across languages for the realization of Person-­related meaning. He

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further considered both lexicalization and grammaticalization of Person with evidences from multiple languages and explored the complementarity in the construal of Person. On the subject of semiotics, the chapter by Hu Zhuanglin calls for the complementary relation between general semiotics and applied semiotics, the latter being an extension of Halliday’s view of appliable linguistics. Related to semiotics, there are two chapters dealing with multimodality. Zhang Delu studies how multimodal texts should be analyzed in terms of the ways they are composed and realized by different modes. Zhang suggests that multimodal texts should be analyzed in ways that are appropriate for their composition in terms of the roles of different modes that realize them. Chen Yumin’s chapter is also concerned with multimodality, but examines it from a social semiotic perspective to see how multimodal resources in China’s EFL pedagogic context are deployed to manage dialogic engagement. She identifies a number of multimodal features in EFL textbooks as enabling editor voice to negotiate meanings with character voice and reader voice, which include labelling, dialog balloons, incomplete jointly-­ constructed texts and illustrations. By drawing upon and extending the Appraisal system of engagement, she shows how those semiotic resources function to realize various kinds of heteroglossia. After the exploration of the heteroglossic nature of multimodal EFL textbooks, she discusses the voice interaction in relation to contact/observing, social distance, and point of view. Her discoveries shed light on the understanding of dialogic process in a given pedagogic of context. Finally, Yang Xiran and Jonathan J. Webster’s paper discusses meaning-making in a particular type of multimodal narrative (Japanese shonen manga/Japanese teenager comics) by relating processes of meaning-making in manga reading to the reader’s eye movement. The top-down framework for this multimodal study is Systemic Functional Theory (SFT)-based, and the bottom-up data are extracted from an eye-tracking case study using Japanese comics as stimuli. Through examining and analysing eye movements of the respondent, it is found that fixations and saccades function on multiple metafunctional levels, distinguishing between different modes and weaving them together. The chapter contributed by Liu Shisheng and Song Chengfang also looks at multimodality, analyzing the ways in which illustrations are related to verbal texts as well as the way in which illustrated texts explicate themes. They contend that ways of illustrating and ways of explicating occur at levels which correspond to those of verbalization and of symbolic articulation and that they can be analogically built into a unified semiotic model of multimodal art and semiotic modes similarly with theme at the highest stratum.

Introduction

39

Addressing the issue of translation equivalence from a metafunctional perspective, Huang Guowen explores the issues involved in evaluating translated text, in terms of metafunctional equivalence. The chapter contributed by Sun Yinghui and Ju Zhiqin discusses the generic nature of Chinese MA theses, aiming at a contrastive analysis for teaching. Grounded in SFL, the authors investigate five most frequently-­used categories in the MA theses of Chinese majors of English, that is, introduction, literature review, research design, result, and discussion. Their corpus contained 200 texts, with twenty pairs of texts for each category. They found that most Chinese MA students can actively construct these categories by using a variety of phases and elements, but they also have problems in overusing some phases and elements and avoidance of others. Based on these discoveries, the authors designed a pedagogical model to instruct MA thesis writing in the Chinese environment. Chang Chenguang discusses the insights that may be gained from SFL in guiding the compilation of an English-Chinese learner’s dictionary of English idioms. The author starts by looking at the meanings of English idioms from a functional perspective, and then explores the implications of such a view of language for the dictionary design. He proposes that the way idioms are treated in such a dictionary, including definitions, illustrative examples, and usage, should be guided by the functional principle: the meaning is the use. The study of knowledge construction is oriented to understanding how scientific texts are logically organized. Yang Xinzhang focuses on the relevant linguistic features in chemistry textbooks, specifically researching how chemical knowledge is constructed in textbooks. For this purpose, the author examines the ways of lexicogrammatical resources used to represent knowledge in this particular field. From the ideational perspective, the author looks into the patterning of grammatical metaphor, transitivity, and technical terms; from the interpersonal perspective, he examines the use of modal verbs, modal adjuncts, and personal pronouns; and from the multimodal perspective, he investigates the use of chemical symbols and formulae in the construction of knowledge. To sum up, this anthology shows the work done by Chinese systemicists over the past thirty years or so since SFL was first introduced into China in 1977, but it also suggests an immense potential for further development. The appearance of this anthology in English promises a brilliant future for the Chinese systemicists. Please allow me to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Jonathan J. Webster and Professor Peng Xuanwei for their initiation of this project. My thankfulness also goes to the Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for their support in publishing this present volume.

Graphology and Phonology

3

Stroke Systems in Chinese Characters: A Systemic Functional Perspective on Simplified Regular Script PENG, Xuanwei (彭宣维)

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

1  Introduction Halliday points out that the previous studies in charactery (the writing system regarding characters), as well as in syllabary (written symbols for syllables to make up words) and alphabets of language (see Halliday 1985: 16–23), are far from satisfactory (Halliday 2009a). This chapter attempts to address the charactery issue, with particular reference to stroke systems in the simplified regular script of Chinese characters (SRS, or RS when traditional regular script is also referred to) with the aim of investigating the semiosis of the writing symbols of a language with a distinct cultural and anthropological trait (see Deely 1982; Sebeok 1994; see also Halliday 1978, Halliday 2008b; Hodge and Kress 1988). According to Halliday, the writing system of a language resembles the sound system in that the former also has a rank hierarchy. In English, for example, the lowest rank is letter; and next above are ranks of word, comma unit, colon unit, semi-­sentence, and sentence in turn. It follows that an English written word contains two ranks: letter and word. Chinese has a similar writing system; and Chinese character is approximately equivalent to English written word (Halliday 1985: 16–19; Halliday 1994a [1985b]: Ch. 1). However, Chinese characters have four, instead of two, typical ranks: segment, stroke, grapheme, and character. This can be illustrated with one example in an ancient form: (刃, rèn, knife edge), from Jiagu Wen (JGW; oracle bone inscriptions, inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells in Shang, 16–11 centuries BC). This character is composed of a long curved line “ ,” a short straight line

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“ ”and an extended point “ ,” all pertinent to the system of strokes. However, “ ” can be further discerned as two segments distinguished by the turning at the lower part of the stroke. Next, above the rank of stroke is the rank of grapheme, which contains typical grapheme and pseudo grapheme, as can be illustrated by “ ” and “ ” respectively. Pseudo grapheme, here “ ,” is pseudo because it cannot stand alone to play its referential function; that is, it needs to attach to and co-­work with another element to work semiotically; it is also graphemic because of its potential experiential function of indicating where the edge of knife is, and it is therefore different from the grapheme “ ” (variant of independent “  ” in JGW: “knife”) that is able to have particular reference and is also a character. It should be emphasized here that Chinese characters are not ideographic, but logographic (see, e.g. Halliday 1985: 19; Sampson 2015 [1985]: Ch. 8), a view that corresponds well with the three-­strata idea of language in the SFL model, that is, realizations from semantics to lexicogrammar to phonology/ graphology (see Halliday 1978; Halliday 1994a [1985b]; see, also, Hjelmslev 1961 [1943]; but, cf. de Saussure 1983 [1916]). This understanding in the sense of general linguistics construes the Chinese writing system as an essential part of the Chinese language: it is able to denote the relevant sound system to a high percentage and symbolically associate the lexical level along lexis-­grammar continuity. Stroke in general is not an immediate constituent for character formation, but effective in contributing to the configurations of character at the graphemic and even character rank. A systematic account of this fundamental phenomenon is therefore necessary as it is the first step toward a comprehensive description of the whole writing system of Chinese. Stroke in this sense refers to the various points, lines, and combinations of lines (compound) that constitute a (semi-) grapheme and/or character and should each have a recognizable start and finish, being made with one complete brush of writing. It may have one or more than one distinct stage of movement, each as a segment. In SRS, the stroke 一 has but one segment, one being also a stroke; but 𠃌 has three segments: the horizontal 一, the vertical丨and the hook; the lower transitional bent period is identified as part of the vertical丨in SRS. A segment in writing is the smallest meaningful unit of graphology in Chinese RS. In this regard, the ways of stroke classification so far, including the citations in Vochala (1985: 126–139), and even the Names of Chinese Character Strokes issued by the State Language Working Committee of China in 1988 for primary school pupils to follow (available at numerous websites today, e.g. http://www.360doc. com/content/14/0404/09/153202_366293906.shtml), are problematic because the

Stroke Systems in Chinese Characters

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Figure 3.1  Rank hierarchy in Chinese characters.

classifications lack a consistent criterion and the strokes can be systemically specified into a smaller set of more basic segments for reconstructing the stroke systems, which would be different from the existing ones. Of the varieties in Chinese writing, the Song style in print, SRS in particular, is chosen for the analysis. It is a standard variety of printing appreciated for its beauty of sedateness and solemnity achieved through a long way of perfecting (arising from regular writing flourished in Tang 618–907, started in Song 960– 1279, but matured in Ming 1368–1644; Wang 2003) and has been embraced in formal occasions ever since. Meanwhile, JGW, Jin Wen (JW, inscriptions on ancient bronze objects, 1300–222 BC) and Xiao Zhuan (XZ, small seal script officially adopted in Qin, 221–206 BC) will be referred to when needed for evolutionary comparison. In the literature per se, there are countless studies of the evolution of the Chinese writing system and some basic works are frequently referred to, including Dong (2006); Duan (2006); Ji (2010); Liu (1998); Ma (2008); Tang (2005); N. Wang (2013); Xu (1996); Yang (2010); and Zhang (2012) among many others. These investigations serve as the basis on which the present description is to proceed (for a fundamental understanding of the development of the Chinese writing system introduced in English, see, e.g. Creel (1943); Norman (1988): Ch. 3; Coulmas (1991); Boltz (1993); Daniels and Bright (1996); Chen

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Table 3.1  Names of Chinese character strokes officially issued. C: curved; CC: crouching curved; H: horizontal; K: hook; LF: left-­falling; OC: oblique/skewed curved; P: point; RF: right-­falling; RR: right-­rising; SC: sleeping curve; T: turning; V: vertical. Note that 承 is put in the running style to show the curvedness of the downward segment. Stroke Name 丶 一 丨 丿

ㄑ 𠄌

亅 乚

Case

Stroke Name

P H V LF RF RR LF+P V+RR H+T+RR C+K V+K V+C+K

广, guaˇng, broad 王, wáng, king 巾, jīn, scarf 白, bái, white 八, bā, eight 打, dá, strike 巡, xún, patrol 农, nóng, farming 论, lùn, comment 承, chéng, hold 小, xiáo, small 屯, tún, stock

乛 𠃌

OC+K

浅, qián, shallow

SC+K

心, xīn, heart

ㄋ  𠃍 𠃊 𠃋

ㄣ

Case

H+K H+T+K H+T+C+K H+LF+C+K H+T+T+T+K V+T+T+K V+C H+T+C H+T V+T LF+T H+LF

写, xiě, write 月, yuè, moon 九, jiuˇ, nine 那, nà, that 奶, nái, milk 与, yuˇ, participate 四, sì, four 沿, yán, follow 口, koˇu, mouth 山, shān, mountain/hill 云, yún, cloud 水, shuˇı, water

H+T+T+LF

建, jiàn, build

V+T+LF

专, zhuān, devoted

(1999); McNaughton and Li (1999 [1978]); Rogers (2004); Sampson (2015 [1985]: Ch. 8); to name just a few). Previously, Vochala (1985) has singled out sets of so-­called “minimal graphic units” and their combinations of modern Chinese characters, on which four features of strokes in writing are sorted out: Shape, Length (Dimension), Position, and Direction. Shape has three sub-­categories: point, straight line, and curved line, in addition to “a small hook in their final, or in their initial part.” Length is relatively short, medium, or long. Position may be horizontal, vertical, or skewed in orientation; and Direction of writing has five main kinds: “from left to right ",” “from up to down $,” “from left up to right down (,” “from right up to left down ',” and “from left down to right up &,” some of which may have a hook at the end, such as亅and 乛. However, there are severe problems in Vochala’s classification. First, what the terms “position” and “direction” cover is in fact the same thing: the direction of stroke movement. Second, the relationship of the four categories is not clear. Third, the description of strokes is neither detailed nor systematic in regard to the way (刃, rèn, knife edge) was segmented (see above).

Stroke Systems in Chinese Characters

47

Some of the lexicogrammatical categories that realize the three metafunctions in SFG (Halliday 1994a; Martin and White 2005) are found to be useful for a comprehensive description of the issue put forward here: (i) the textual “point of departure” for thematic points and lines of strokes; (ii) the systems of points and line segments in strokes, including changes in movement direction, by virtue of their potential referential or experiential functions; and (iii) the appraisal perspective, in particular Appreciation, of interpersonal function to be implemented for the aesthetic layout of strokes and segments, such as their artistically oriented drawing and balanced configurations in characters. The first two points will be discussed together for organizational motive; and all will be conducted on a systemic basis. Here, the ideational, interpersonal and textual perspectives are understood as the due semiosis of strokes, a typical semiotic way of observation (Halliday 2008b).

2  The stroke system 2.1  A perspective of textual and experiential potentials To begin with, since variations in point shape do not commit any change in referential role, which will not be dealt with till the end of 2.2, the focus here goes to the line system. According to the criterion of segment identification set up above, 10 types of basic segmental movement can be recognized. There are four comparative places for a segment to begin with: above and below; and left and right (cf. Sproat 2000: 51–2). They are “comparative” because it is difficult to describe exactly all possible places a segment may start in all characters. Furthermore, segment movement may be divided into two entries

Figure 3.2  Direction system of character writing.

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for spatial orientation: squared and skewed. “Squared” means straight and placed as typical horizontal and vertical, as in 一 and 丨 respectively; and “skewed” may be either straight or curved, as the left-­falling in 厶 (sī, private) and the right-­falling in 弋 (yì, shoot with bow and arrow). Ten basic types of segments can be identified, suggesting 10 kinds of thematic progression.   (1) vertical (V):丨, as in 十 (shí, ten) and 口 (koˇu, mouth)   (2) horizontal (H): 一, as in 十 and 口 too   (3) left-­falling (LF): 丿, as in 乂 (yì, administer; stabilize) and 予 (yú, give)   (4) right-­falling (RF): , as in 乂 or 近 (jìn, close to)   (5) right-­rising (RR): , as in 刁 (diāo, tricky) and 冰 (bīng, ice)   (6) bottom-­up (BU): as the end hook of 乚 in, e.g. 也 (yě, also)   (7) left-­rising: as the end hook of 亅 in, e.g. 水 (shuıˇ, water / river)   (8) curved right-­falling 1 (CRF1): , as in 犭 (quán, 犬, dog; radical in, e.g. 狼 láng, wolf)   (9) curved right-­falling 2 (CRF2): ⎝, as in 戈 (gē, a danger-­like weapon) (10) curved left-­falling (CLF): ⎭, the second stage of 𠃌, as in, e.g. 勺 (sháo, spoon) Of these, (1–5) are each able to stand alone as independent strokes; and those remaining should go with another or others to form the stroke. Note that, even though they look curved, the left-­falling (3) and right-­falling (4) are straight in nature: bending is an aesthetic feature (see 2.2). This is different from the case in (10), where the lower bent stage is potentially experiential as it represents part of an object, as 𠃌 in 勹 (bāo, enclose; today as 包), the latter of which is written as in JGW and in small seal, referring to a human in the form of enclosure; so the lower part of 𠃌 retains the relevant iconic embodiment, although it is entirely symbolic in SRS, even essentially so in small seal. On the above basis, any kind of segment can be selected out of (1–10) as part of a stroke. Then twenty-­five types of compound strokes can be identified, as listed and illustrated below. (11) (12) (13) (14)

1Ò2: 𠃊, as in 山 (shān, mountain) 1Ò2Ò1: 𠃑, as in 鼎 (dıˇng, ancient cooking vessel) 1Ò2Ò6: 乚, as in 儿 (ér, child) 1Ò2Ò10Ò7: , as in 弓 (gōng, bow), 与 (yuˇ, give) and 丐 (gài, beg or beggar) (15) 1Ò5: 𠄌, as in 长 (cháng, long)

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(16) 1Ò7: 亅, as in 了 (le/liáo, clause (complex) final particle/terminate) and 于 (yú, preposition similar to at, on or over) (17) 2Ò1: 𠃍, as in 口 (koˇu, mouth) and 弗 (fú, no) (18) 2Ò1Ò2: , as in 凹 (āo, dented) (19) 2Ò1Ò2Ò1: , as in 凸 (tū, protruding) (20) 2Ò1Ò2Ò6: , as in 几 (jıˇ, several) and 九 (jiuˇ, nine) (21) 2Ò1Ò5: , as in 讠(言, yán, speak; radical as in 语, yuˇ, speech) (22) 2Ò1Ò7: 𠃌, as in 同 (tóng, alike) and 内 (nèi, inner, inside) (23) 2Ò3: 乛 or フ, as in 宀 (mián, house/roof) and 久 (jiuˇ, lasting) (24) 2Ò3Ò2Ò10: , as in 廴 (yıˇn, walk; radical form of 彳 in variation, as in 延, yán, prolong, extend or protract) and 及 (jí, and) (25) 2Ò10Ò7: 𠃌, as in 万 (wàn, ten thousand) and 力 (lì, power) (26) 2Ò3Ò2Ò10Ò7: 𠄎, as in 盈 (yíng, full) (27) 2Ò3Ò2Ò6: 乙 (yıˇ, second), [an independent character], as also in 乞 (qıˇ, beg) (28) 2Ò3Ò8Ò10Ò7: , as in 阝 (radical form of 阜, fù, mound, as one at the left of a character; also radical form of 邑, yì, city, as one at the right of a character, e.g. 阶, jiē, stair, and 鄙, bıˇ, an ancient administrative area of 500 families) (29) 2Ò9Ò6: ⺄, as in 飞 (fēi, fly) (30) 3 Ò2Ò3: ㄣ, as in 专 (zhuān, devoted; simplified from 專) (31) 3Ò4: ㄑ, as in 女 (nüˇ, female) and 巡 (xún, patrol) (32) 3Ò5: ㄥ, as in ム (sī, private, no longer in use; 私 today) and 系 (xì, tie) (33) 5Ò4: 乀, as the lower part of 之 (zhī, of; “go” in origin) and 进 (jìn, go forward) (34) 8Ò10Ò7: , as in 犭(quán, radical of 犬, quán, dog: 狼, láng, wolf) (35) 9Ò6: , as in 戈 (gē, a danger-­like weapon; see above) Each of these has various origins. For example, (11) 𠃊 is part of 匚 (fāng, tool for holding goods; XZ: ), 匸 (xì, tool for collection; XZ:  ), 凵 (kán, open mouth; XZ: ), 各 (gè; JGW: , foot in downward direction: “coming into pit”; “each” today), and 出 (chū, step out; JGW: , foot in upward direction: “going out of pit”; “go out” today). For another example, (15) 𠄌 can be illustrated , like axe with long handle; JW: ; XZ: ), with 戉 (yuè, axe; JGW: , silks or gourd canes that entangle; XZ: ), 良 (liáng, 丩 (jiū; JGW: , an eating-­like profile, good; JGW: ; JW: ; XZ: ), 食 (shí, eat; JGW: mouth above and food below in utensil; JW: ; XZ: ; its simplified radical form 饣 aims to cover the whole of the lower part, as the two left-­fallings in (30) 专;

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similar case: 钅, jīn, gold or metal, radical form of 金, as in 锁, suoˇ, lock), 长 (cháng or zháng, old; JGW:  ; XZ: ), 畏 (wèi, fear; JGW: , a ghost with a hand holding a stick is most fearful of all; XZ: ), 艮 (gěn, JGW:  , look back; made from : look forward; XZ: , opposite to ), 瓜 (guā, melon or ; JW: ; XZ: ) and 以 gourd; JW:  ; XZ:  ), 衣 (yī, clothes; JGW:   , tool for plough; phonetic loan). (yıˇ, use; take; with, by; JGW: It is apparent that their origins vary to a great extent and there is a long way from the ancient generally curved to the modern straightening, a process of semiotic evolution from iconicity to indexicality to symbolicness (see, e.g. Thibault 2004). Now all the thirty strokes, single and compound, with the five dependent segments, are put into systemic network, with pure segments underlined.

Figure 3.3  Stroke system of the SRS.

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To sum up, the officially-­issued stroke system contains twenty-­eight strokes whereas the present perspective singles out thirty, with five single-­segment strokes (Cases 1–5) and twenty-­five compound-­segment ones (Cases 11–35). Note that the traditional “ SC+K” (as in 心, xīn, heart) is allocated to “乚 V+C+K” (as in 屯, tún, stock) because the former has been neutralized in the simplified regular script, which is different from the curved shape that only occurs in its running style. Note also that “㇄ V+C” (as in 四, sì, four) is classified into “ 𠃊 V+T” (as in 山, shān, mountain/hill). Meanwhile, four new strokes are recognized: (12) 𠃑, as in 鼎 (dıˇng, ancient cooking vessel), (18) , as in 凹 (āo, dented), (19) , as in 凸 (tū, protruding), and (21) , as in 讠(言, yán, speak; radical as in 语, yuˇ, speech). The other twenty-­six are shared by both systems, but my understanding of the stroke system is now different for backup of the segment system. The system also reveals the difference of the relationship of the general four categories Vochala proposed: length, shape, position, and direction.

2.2  Interpersonal aspect of “line” and “point”: their   aesthetic systems Here the interpersonal refers in particular to the appraisal category, and more accurately on the appreciation of attitude, such as composition (i.e. balance and complexity) (Martin and White 2005: 56). Balance is applied to strokes in that it concerns the arrangement of lines and points in a character; complexity is associated with the number of lines and points in a character; both are concerned with the aesthetic effect of the configuration. With balance and complexity in mind, other related matters, such as ways of stroke configuration, width variation in line and point movement and places of strokes will also influence the appreciative result. These five factors are the criteria for observing the interpersonal aspect of strokes. I will deal with the line system first. There are two sub-­systems of line, namely, contrast and setup, that serve the background for a character to take aesthetic feature. On the one hand, the line system in the aesthetic sense comes from “contrast,” the most relevant factors including (i) the density of line configuration (from highly dense, as in a character that may have more than sixty strokes, to one stroke alone, e.g. 一), (ii) broadness (from broad to narrow), (iii) length (short-­long continuum), (iv) orientation arrangement (convergent/parallel, as in 田, or divergent/unparallel, as evidenced by the lowest left-­falling to the upper two in 彡), and (v) movement variations in breadth (variant, as in 彡, vs. invariant, as in 十). On the other hand, the different stages of a stroke and its contact

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manners with other strokes that function as the “setup” of a character, are also a factor that may influence the aesthetic property of the configuration of a character, and, where the unmarked horizontal and vertical may be said to have decorative ends (start and finish) as in 十, the contacted ends are neutralized in general, as those in 田 (tián, field). Against that, the basic segments, except for (6), (7), and (10) that have no distinct aesthetic variation, are described below. It is neutral for vertical 丨 to be in squared vertical movement, which has the beauty of neat balance. It starts with a tilted head, and then contracts towards a triangular shape, but stops half way and, cohering with the left-­side part, goes downward to the bottom, where it contracts again, but into a full triangle, a cutting characteristic of the RS script. However, the end shape in such a segment is neutralized when it contacts with others, as in 工 (gōng, exquisite). Apart from this are two marked variations. The first can be exemplified with such characters as 互(hù, mutual), 马(má, horse), and 丑(choˇu, ugly), where the two vertical segments stand in parallel but with the head slightly skewed toward the right. The second variation is evidenced in 开(kāi, open), 井(jıˇng, well), 丹(dān, red), 周(zhōu; circumference), and 卯(máo, fourth of twelve Earthly Branches), the left vertical being no longer straight but curved to avoid dullness, a counterpart against the right typical vertical that balances the whole character.

Horizontal 一 also has three cases, including the unmarked case itself, as in 一 (yī, one). In printing, it starts with a small triangle toward the left, but then turns in the opposite direction, and finishes in the same way as at the start but upside down and many times bigger. Based on the above there are two marked variations. The first changes in shape when giving way to another or other stroke(s) or radical(s) to satisfy the balance motif of configuration. For example, the bottom horizontals in 土(tuˇ, earth), 手(扌, shoˇu, hand), 黑(hēi, black), and 享(xiáng, enjoy) are all neutral horizontal, but, as radical, change into right-­rising in 块 (kuài, piece; lump), 提(tí, carry; lift; raise), 默(mò, silent), and 郭(guō, outer wall of a city). The second variety is typical in 泰(tài, peaceful), the lower part of which is 水(氺), where the horizontal segment at the upper left transforms into a typical point (see below). Note that the variations in characters form a

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continuum of obliqueness ( ): 十, 弋, 斗(doˇu, a measure; dòu, struggle), 也, and 乜(miē, glance sideways). The left-­falling stroke 丿 has four variations in shape: arc, straight, right­rising, and even horizontal. The arc type can be a segment after a horizontal, as in 又(yòu, again), or an independent stroke, as in 义(yì, righteousness), the bent shape being experientially marked (see above) but aesthetically unmarked: all such segments or strokes are curved when their extent is long. It can be imagined that, if this segment, and also the right-­falling, is exclusively straight, the character would look rather artificial. Therefore, the curvedness itself is aesthetic, softening possible rigidity. Apart from that, there are three varieties. The first is the straight type, which can be prototypically illustrated by the long segment in 厶, the short one in 乛(as in 疋, shū, foot), and the bottom skewed in 今(jīn, today). The second variety appears as right-­ rising, a movement exactly opposite to left-­falling, as the lower left segment of 水(氺) in 泰. Third, it may also appear “horizontal,” as the left segment across the upper middle of the vertical in 比 (bıˇ, compare), where it changes in comparison with the left-­falling on the right across the due vertical for avoiding monotonousness since the two verticals are already in parallel. Holistically, the variations of this segment in orientation form a degree of obliqueness, , as in 尸(shī, corpse), 户(hù, one-­panelled door), 广(guáng, broad), too: 丿 开(kāi, open), 大(dà, big), 又, 久, 仓(cāng, storehouse), 拿(ná, take away), 斤 (jīn, axe; ½ kilogram) and 瓜 (guā, melon or gourd, see above). Note that, in general, such a segment begins with a squared head and finishes as a naturally softened point.

The next case is the right-­falling . It has two varieties: an unmarked arc and a marked long point-­like form. On the one hand, the former case, as shown in 又, has a serrated point finish, namely, a distinct contracting part that ends in a knife-­like sharp with the lower side cut distinctly and the above side cohering in harmony with the immediate former ongoing stage. This segment has two varieties of start, one being natural, as in 乂, which begins with a sharp, and the other bearing a head, as in 八(bā, eight). On the other hand, the point-­like right-­falling appears to have a supporting function to others, as, again, 氺 in 泰, or to give way to another part of the same character, as 又 (yòu, hand: strength

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or force) in 劝(quàn, persuade), 矢(shıˇ, arrow) in 短(duán, short), and 久 (jiuˇ, lasting; long) in 灸(jiū, moxibustion by cauterizing in Chinese medicine). Meanwhile, there may be occasions in which it may have another appearance, as in 瓞 (dié, small melon; cf. 瓜) and 翅(chì, wing; cf. 支, zhī, branch), or it may ) in 迈(mài, stride), 延(yán, extend), 交(jiāo, cross), also change its route, as ( and 义(yì, righteousness), where the length and obliqueness vary.

The right-­rising appears the other way round as regards the left-­falling ( , 丿) but is always straight. It also starts with a triangular head and fuses into the ongoing right-­rising progression half way, and gradually contracts to a point, a process of natural narrowing (compare 习 with 乂 and 八). When this segment becomes part of a stroke, as 𠄌 in 长, the turning takes exactly the shape of the left-­falling head with a horizontal 乛. Note that its length also changes to the relative distances from others (cf. the one in 越, 长, 习 and 刁).

Note that in such places, the turning end is softened with a transitional stage. It behaves in a similar way in another two places: left-­falling and vertical rising, as in 亏 (kuī, lose; lack), 与(yuˇ, offer; and), and 鸟(niáo, bird). The difference lies in the transitional stage: the vertical end hook has a more immediate left-­rising behavior than the left-­falling end, but much less so when compared with the right-­rising hook at the end of a left vertical 𠄌. There is a degree of transition from soft turning to sharp turning:

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The curved right-­falling 1 , as in 犭, has a similar natural start as that in right-­ ), but the movement is bent toward the right along its gradual falling ( increase of breadth for two-­thirds of the process and then remains unchanged before the hook. If the start is in contact with another segment, a small part of it seems to have been inserted into the latter, as in 豕 (shıˇ, hog). The whole process looks like a piece of elastic on a straight stick, with the rest smoothly curved.

Finally, the curved right falling 1 ⎝, as in 戈, bears a similar start to that in a vertical and even a left-­falling, but bends against the left. The entire movement remains the same breadth and ends with a vertical hook. Here the start of the hook has no transition: it looks like it has come directly out from the ongoing left-­falling.

Note the printing format of 心(xīn, heart) again. Very few practical writings draw the stroke in a squared manner as 乚, however, the printed RS usually does: the printing has made the style its own. In this sense, it is better to treat such a segment in the same way as that in 戈 to have a better grouping. In fact, they share both in general direction of movement, starting from above, then moving downward to the right to form a smooth curve and ending there with a hook. The difference may be acknowledged by variation, but it is exactly 乚 in the Song Style of printing. Therefore, there is no need to have two separate strokes as the previous classifications generally do. The same goes to 乘(承), the middle vertical line of which was written as in the cursive style, which should also be identified as a squared line in SRS (see Wang 2015). So far, I have figured out all the aesthetic feature of lines; but there is one more case left for concern, namely, that of Point, which has its own aesthetics in printing. The typical shape of a point in a character is not perfectly round “•”; rather, it takes the form of a water drop in the process of falling “丶.” Still, it may vary in shape to its position and to the total number of point in consecutive configuration in a character. In general, point variation may be described in three general terms: (i) length (comparatively long, medium, or short, as in 兴, xīng, prosper, rise; xìng, mood or desire to do something; and 冬, dōng,

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Figure 3.4  Aesthetic configuration systems of lines in SRS characters.

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winter), (ii) location (high, medium, and low; left, middle, and right) and (iii) number in sequence (from one up to four, as in 宝, báo, treasure; in 兴; or in 羔, gāo, lamb).

Take 兴, for example, as it represents most of the variations. It contains five points: three upper and two lower, some are different to the others. The third upper point starts in contrast with and occupies a similar amount of space as the first two, but it finishes in closer placement and in an different and longer shape, backing up the first and inviting the latter part of the horizontal to respond in constitution balance. Note that the last point supports all on the left and those above. Altogether, there are twenty-­one cases of placement in maximum (see Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5  Point system in the composition (aesthetic) sense.

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As Figure 3.5 shows, the twenty-­one cases contain six possible shapes in SRS (bald-­faced), as listed in (36). (36)  a. unmarked, right-­falling (round-­ended): as 丶 in 主(zhuˇ, host; master)   b. left-­falling (line-­like): as the two in 兴   c. high horizontal (line-­like): as 一 enclosed in the upper-­middle of 雪 (xuě, snow)   d. marked, left-­falling (round-­ended): as in 烈(liè, strong) or 忄(radical of 心, xīn, heart, as in 情, qíng, feeling)   e. low right-­rising (line-­like): as in 氵(radical of 水, as in 江, jiāng, river)   f. low mid turning (line-­like): as the long in 女 and 巡 To sum up, the function of a point shape, whether true point or line, can be described as cohesive, which may be either continuative (as in 经), or expecting (立) or comparative and contrastive (卷 or 曾) in the appraisal and aesthetic sense of composition.

3  Conclusion By virtue of the experiential, appraisal, and textual principles of SFL, this chapter has reworked and hence carried out a systematic description of the stroke systems of Chinese characters in their SRS. Even for this simplest print type, the variations are very complicated. Next, a systematic description of each of the other forms, such as JGW, JW, XZ, Li Shu (Clerical Script current in Han, 206 BC–220 AD) and running script (cursive and grass) would be much more intricate from, again, the aesthetic perspective, an issue to be discussed in a separate thesis. As for the issue of rank hierarchy, what follows is to approach the phenomena of graphemic and character systems. It is then apparent that such an attempt will be insightful to the understanding of the other writing systems of languages in the world. Acknowledgment: This study is supported by the 2013 Keynote Program of the Centre for Chinese Folklore, Classics and Characters at Beijing Normal University (北京师范大学民俗典籍文字研究中心), a Key Research Base of the Chinese Ministry of Education (No.:13JJD740004).

4

A Corpus-­based Systemic Functional Phonological Approach to Modern Chinese Modal Particles LIU, Chengyu (刘承宇) Southwest University

1  Introduction Modal particles (MPs) are a special category of lexical items which are often used to supplement the intonation system as an important aspect of the Mood and Modality system of modern Chinese.1 They can be used as lexicogrammatical resources alongside intonation, pitch variation, and other supra-­segmental features to realize choice of mood, whether declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, assumptive, tentative, hesitative, or other (Chao 1968; Chu 2005; Ding et al. 1999; M. Hu 1981, 1988; Y. Hu 1984; Z. Hu 1994a; Jiang 1986; Jin 2011; Li 1990; Lin and Wang 1985; Liu and Wu 2001; Lu 1984; Lü 1999b; Peng 1997, 2011; Qi 2002; Shao 1989; van den Berg and Wu 2006; Wang 1999; Wang 1993; Yang 2009; Zhang 2001; Zhang and Fang 2014; Zhang 2003). They can also take on various phonological features, such as segmental variation, segmental lengthening and/or shortening, segmental pitch ascending and/or descending, and tone choices, to realize interpersonal meaning. In this chapter, modern Chinese MPs will be analyzed according to the systemic-­functional (SF) matrix of the Chinese phonological system, in which linguistic system is postulated to have three fundamental dimensions, namely rank, function, and delicacy, which are organized along an axis (Ou and Liu 2014). This chapter will focus on the eight core modern Chinese MPs, i.e. a 啊, ba 吧, bàle 罢了, de 的, le了, ma 吗, ma 嘛2, ne 呢, based on examples collected from the Modern Chinese Corpus provided by the Centre for Chinese Linguistics (CCL), Peking University, and the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (CCD).

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The speech functions and phonological variations of these MPs will be analyzed with an aim to illuminate the interaction between the meanings construed and the lexicogrammatical and phonological patterns.

2  SF matrix of the Chinese phonology In systemic functional linguistics (SFL), phonology (along with phonetics) is defined as an expression stratum, which is the realization of the content strata (including semantics and lexicogrammar) conditioned by context (Halliday 2014: 26). Therefore, if one wants to take a comprehensive view of the grammar of any language, one must first make an excursion into its phonology (ibid, p. 11), Halliday (1963a, 1963b, 1985b) also discusses the textual function of tonicity and rhyming, holding that the prosodic system of English contributes significantly to the construction of the Information Structure and the Interpersonal function of tone choices for realizing Mood and Modality. Based on the Firthian prosodic analysis, systemists formulated the research paradigm of systemic phonology, which seeks to make a systematic description of the phonological system of language. Within this approach, the phonological system is described “in terms of structures of hierarchically ranked units and systems displayed in networks” (Tench 1992: 15; see also Prakasam 1977). The Firthian principles manifested in systemic phonology include undividability, prosody, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, and polysystemacity (Firth 1957). As a whole, however, systemic phonology focuses more on the systemic aspect of language but does not pay due attention to the functional aspect of phonological units. To make up for this gap, Ou and Liu (2014) proposes the SF matrix of phonology, which is theoretically based on the following: (i) system and function are interrelated; (ii) system is organized by delicacy; and (iii) rank and metafunctions should be observed along the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations (see Figure 4.1). As is shown in Figure  4.1, the SF matrix is three-­dimensional in which linguistic system has three fundamental dimensions, organized along three axes: (i) ranks: syllable—foot—prosodic word—tone group—tone group sequence— discourse; (ii) metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal, and textual; and (iii) delicacy: a cline from most delicate through median to least delicate. To describe the phonological features of each region in the matrix, such a three-­dimensional approach will be used to analyze phonological constituency as an interrelation of ranks and to scrutinize metafunctions as simultaneous choices.

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Figure 4.1  The SF matrix of phonological system.

3  Analyzing modern Chinese MPs in the SF matrix of phonology 3.1  Definition of MPs In Chinese, MPs refer to words which are used in a sentence to indicate the mood of verb and/or to indicate the speaker’s attitude towards the content of sentence. The typical MPs of modern Chinese include: a 啊 (including ya 呀, na 哪, wa 哇, la 啦, see 4.1), ba 吧, bàle 罢了, de 的, le 了, ma 吗, ma 嘛, ne 呢 (Ding et al. 1999: 209). Traditionally, MPs are known as “modal auxiliaries,” being attached to the end of a sentence to indicate the mood or attitude (e.g. Y. Hu 1984: 330). But as Huang and Liao (2002: 45) and Guo (2002: 215) observe, MPs can also occur in the middle of a sentence to indicate a pause or in the place before another MP to form a complex MP (e.g. aya 啊呀, lema 了嘛, neba 呢吧, nema 呢嘛). In this chapter, MPs refer to the grammatical particles used to indicate the mood of clause or the speaker’s attitude toward the content of clause or clause complex. They may occur in the following three positions in a clause or clause complex: A. At the end of a clause or clause complex (1) 我 害怕 吗？ 这里 其实 什么 人 也 没有 啊。 Wŏ hàipà ma? Zhèlıˇ qíshí shénme rén yĕ méiyŏu a. Am I scared? Actually there is no one here.

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B. In the middle of a clause or clause complex (2) 回民 的 坟头儿 啊， 是 方 的， 长方 的。 Huímín de féntóur a, shì fāng de, chángfāng de. The tombs of the Huis are square, or rectangular. C. Before another MP (3) 她 不是 跟 你 Tā búshì gēn nıˇ Isn’t she be together with you?

在 zài

一起 yìqıˇ

呢吗？ nema?

Note that Mood in English is defined in terms of the exchange of goods and services, and information. The four primary speech functions of offer, command, statement and question are lexicogrammatically realized by Mood elements (i.e. Subject and Finite) (Halliday 1985b). In contrast, MPs in Chinese are an important lexicogrammatical means to realize the various speech functions (cf. Yang 2009). For example: (4a) (4b) (5a) (5b)

老 李， 请 喝 点 白酒 吧。(offer) Lăo Lıˇ, qıˇng hē diăn báijiŭ ba. Lao Li, please drink some liquor. 老 李， 喝 点 白酒 再 走。 (command) Lăo Lıˇ, hē diăn báijiŭ zài zŏu. Lao Li, you may go after drinking some liquor. 老 李 喝 了 点 白酒。 (statement) Lăo Lıˇ hē le diăn báijiŭ. Lao Li drank some liquor. 老 李 喝 了 点 白酒 吗？ (question) Lăo Lıˇ hē le diăn báijiŭ ma? Did Lao Li drink any liquor?

Besides, as the forthcoming analysis will indicate, modern Chinese MPs can also be used to convey Modality meanings, such as completion of an action or change (e.g. le 了) and assumption (e.g. ba 吧). Thus, Chinese MPs should be categorized as belonging to the Mood and Modality system (cf. Palmer 2001). Along the phonological rank scale of modern Chinese, MPs belong to the category of prosodic words (cf. Feng 1996, 1997/2009). They can go along with other prosodic features such as tone, segmental lengthening and/or shortening, segmental pitch ascending and/or descending and others to perform various speech functions (see also 4.2).

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Figure 4.2  The prosodic system of modern Chinese.

3.2  Metafunctions of modern Chinese MPs 3.2.1  Sentence-­final MPs Modern Chinese MPs can all occur at the end of a clause or clause complex to perform the following speech functions in an appropriate context:

3.2.1.1  Ideational metafunction All the eight Chinese MPs can be used in declarative sentences to construe a certain experience of the speaker as well as to indicate his or her position on or attitude toward the action or situation coded in the relevant clause or clause complex. Specifically, they are used to perform the following speech functions.

Table 4.1  The ideational metafunctions of modern Chinese MPs in declaratives. MP

Speech function

MP

a啊

Indicating approval or self-­ protectiveness

le 了

Speech function

Indicating a change or a new situation, including: (a) something has happened or is about to happen; (b) a certain situation under certain conditions; (c) a change in one’s understanding, idea, view or action ba 吧 Indicating (a) consent, approval; ma 吗 Same as “ma 嘛”, often used after “不是 . . .”, “不就. . .”, etc. (b) doubt without seeking an answer; (c) conjecture and consultation. bàle Meaning “no more than, merely” ma 嘛 Indicating that something speaks 罢了 for itself de 的 (a) Indicating affirmation; (b) ne 呢 Reinforcing the assertion or play expounding the truth up the effect of exaggeration; Indicating the continuation of an action or situation

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3.2.1.2  Interpersonal metafunction All the eight Chinese MPs can be used in interrogative sentences to enact the interpersonal relationship between the speaker and the hearer, but with varied restrictions in structure or usage. The MPs ba 吧, le 了, a 啊 and ma 嘛 can also be used in imperative sentences to make a request, command, or prohibition. Table 4.2  The interpersonal metafunctions of Chinese MPs in interrogatives. MP

Speech function

MP

Speech function

a啊

Indicating doubt (with obligatory le 了 Asking about a change or a new interrogative words and a rising situation tone at the end of the sentence) ba 吧 Implying (i) doubt or supposition; ma 吗 Usu. used in yes-­no questions (but not ne 呢); if ma 吗 is used in a (ii) consultation special question, then the question actually functions (i) as a yes-­no question (e.g. 他上哪儿去 了吗？ Tā shàng naˇ ’ér qù le ma? /“Did he go somewhere?” (Ding et al. 1999: 210), (ii) as an echoic question (e.g. A: 你几时动身？ Nĭ jĭshí dòngshēn?/When will you set out? B: 我几时动身吗？明儿 一大早就走。 Wŏ jĭshí dòngshēn ma? Míng’ér yīdàzaˇ o jiù zŏu./ When shall I set out? I am leaving early tomorrow morning. bàle Rarely used in interrogative ma 嘛 Implying mild criticism or blame. 罢了 sentences (only six instances in CCL) de 的 Asking about an assertion or a ne 呢 Used in special, alternative and supposition rhetorical questions (but not ma 吗) Table 4.3  The interpersonal metafunctions of Chinese MPs in imperatives. MP

Speech function

a啊 ba 吧

Indicating an urge or a prohibition; implying extortion Indicating a mild request or strong command, implying soliciting somebody’s advice, suggestion, or physical or mental response (a) Indicating a request or command; (b) indicating a prohibition of a completed action Expressing hope or giving advice

le 了 ma 嘛

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The MPs “a 啊” and “le 了” can also be used in exclamatory sentences to express the speaker’s admiration or pride. (6) 今年 的 庄稼 长 得 Jīnnián de zhuāngjià zhăng de What a good crop this year! (7) 中国 人民 站 起来 Zhōngguó rénmín zhàn qıˇlái The Chinese people have stood up.

真 zhēn

好 hăo

哇！ wa!

了！ le!

3.2.2  Sentence-­middle MPs Some modern Chinese MPs can be used in the middle of a clause or clause complex to realize the following metafunctions:

3.2.2.1  Ideational metafunction The MP “a 啊” can be used to enumerate a number of things or actions for exemplification. (8) 书 啊, 杂志 啊, 摆满 了 一 桌子。 shū a, zázhì a, băimăn le yī zhuōzi. The desk is stacked full of books, magazines and what not. The MP “de 的” can also be used after two words or groups / phrases of the same category or construction to mean “etc.”. (9) 老乡们 沏茶 倒水 的， 待 我们 很 热情。 Lăoxiāngmen qīchá dàoshuıˇ de, dài wŏmen hěn rèqíng. The folks made tea and served hot drinks, treating us warmly.

3.2.2.2  Textual metafunction The MPs “a 啊” and “ma 吗” occur in the middle of a clause or clause complex to topicalize the preceding NP or to draw the addressee’s attention to the subsequent action or situation. (10) 北城 这一带 啊， 这一带 差不多 都是 满人 多，满人 多。 Běichéng zhèyīdài a, zhèyīdài chàbùduō dōushì Mănrén duō, Mănrén duō. In the northern part of the city, you see, many Manchurians live there, so many Manchurians!

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(11) 他 这个 人 吗， 我 真 不敢 Tā zhègè rén ma, wŏ zhēn bùgăn As for this person, I really cannot compliment him.

恭维。 gōngwéi.

The MPs “ba 吧” and “ne 呢” can both be used in the middle of a clause or clause complex to present two alternative actions or situations and the clause before the particle functions as the condition of action or situation coded in the subsequent clause. (12) 这 东西 你 喜欢 呢，就 买下；不 喜欢 呢, 就 别买。 Zhè dōngxī nıˇ xıˇhuān ne, jiù măixià; bù xıˇhuān ne, jiù biémaˇ i. If you like this, then buy it; if you don’t like it, then don’t buy it. The MP “le 了” can be used in a series of consecutive structures to denote a sequence of changes in the state or situation. (13) 山 朗润 起来 了, 水 长 起来 了, 太阳 的 脸 红 起来 了。 Shān lăngrùn qıˇlái le, shuıˇ zhăng qıˇlái le, tàiyáng de liăn hóng qıˇlái le. Mountains and hills turn more luxuriant, rivers and lakes fuller and clearer, and the sun hotter. The MPs in examples (12) and (13) actually function as cohesive devices to help achieve cohesion and coherence between the consecutive clauses or clause complexes per se.

4  Phonological variation of modern Chinese MPs In SFL, language is defined as a social semiotic, which means that language should be interpreted “within a sociocultural context, in which culture itself is interpreted in semiotic terms—as an information system” (Halliday 1978: 2). As a system of systems, language is then interpreted to have four strata, with semantics and lexicogrammar as the content strata and phonology and phonetics as the expression strata. The content strata are conditioned by the context of situation at the micro level as well as the sociocultural context at the macro level and then are realized by the expression stratum. (Halliday 2014: 24-27) Within the content stratum, lexicogrammar is “naturally” related to semantics (Halliday 1994a: xvii) in that the former realizes the latter; within the expression stratum, phonology is realized by phonetics.

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This suggests that language can be viewed as a complex adaptive system. That is, language is intrinsically dynamic in that, on the one hand, the language system and its various subsystems as a whole may adapt themselves to the sociocultural context; and on the other hand, the various subsystems are interrelated and may adapt themselves to each other. Focusing on the phonological system, we can infer that it is dynamic and adaptive in nature. At the macro level, the phonological system may adapt itself to the sociocultural context; at the micro level, the various constituents of the phonological system may adapt themselves to each other; at the intermediate level, the phonological system may adapt itself to lexicogrammar, which may in turn adapt itself to semantics. This adaptive and dynamic nature is manifested in various phonological variations, which will be examined below.

4.1  Assimilation and conflation In phonology, a phoneme can be modified to be similar with its neighbouring sound(s). This phenomenon is technically called assimilation, which can be classified into two categories: (i) coalescent assimilation, where one sound changes to another for the preceding sound; and (ii) anticipatory assimilation, where one sound changes to another for the subsequent sound. In modern Chinese, the sentence-­final and sentence-­middle modal particle “a 啊” undergoes the following process of coalescent assimilation: Table 4.4  Phonological assimilation of the modern Chinese MP “a 啊.” Preceding vowel or coda

Phonological assimilation and graphological representation

a, e, i, ai, ei, o, ü

a Ò ia: a 啊Òya 呀: 月亮是什么呀？ yuèliàng shì shénme ya./What is the moon? a Ò ua: a啊Òwa哇: 努尔哈赤力气不小哇。 Nŭěrhāchì lìqì bù xiaˇo wa./Nurhaci is so strong. a Ò na: a啊Òna 哪: 人穷了可怜哪！ Rén qióng le kĕlián na./Poor people are miserable. a Ò nga: 宇宙中有许多天体，恒星啊，行星啊，卫

ao, ou, u -n (e.g. an, en) -ng (e.g. ang, eng, ing, ong)

星啊，等等。 Yŭzhòu zhōng yŏu xŭduō tiāntˇı, héngxīng nga, xíngxīng nga, wèixīng nga, dĕngdĕng./ There are many celestial bodies, such as stars, planets, satellites, and so on.

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The phonological variation may also take the form of phonological conflation, where a phoneme is conflated with its neighbouring sound(s). In modern Chinese, when the MP “a 啊” occurs after the MP “le 了,” they may be conflated into a single character “la 啦.” (14) 他们 人 都 走 啦。 Tāmen rén dōu zŏu la (=le 了 + a啊) They have all left.

4.2  Functional diversification As discussed above, phonology in SFL is interpreted as the realization of lexicogrammar (i.e. wording), which is in turn the realization of semantics (i.e. meaning). Therefore, the communicative functions determine (i) whether a certain phonological feature is used or not; and (ii) if yes, then which phonological feature should be used. Table 4.5 is a summary of the lexicogrammatical patterns in which modern Chinese MPs are located and the various speech functions they serve. As MPs belong to the category of prosodic words, which can occur with other prosodic features to perform various speech functions,3 the speaker can utter the MP in different tones when used in different contexts to serve different communicative functions. For example, the “a 啊” is used in a declarative sentence to indicate assurance as in example (15) is usually uttered in the falling tone (tone 1), whereas “ma 吗” used in an interrogative sentence to indicate doubt as in example (16) where it is usually uttered in the rising tone (tone 2). The corresponding segmental pitch ascending and/or descending are also involved here. (15) 我 没 去 是 因为 我 Wŏ méi qù shì yīnwèi wŏ I didn’t go there because I was busy. (16) 你 找 我 有事 吗？ Nıˇ zhăo wŏ yŏushì ma? Is there something you want to see me about?

有事 yŏushì

啊。 a.

Table 4.6 is a summary of the tone choices employed in the phonological system of modern Chinese MPs. When the same MP is used to serve different communicative functions or in different lexicogrammatical patterns, phonological variations, such as segmental

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Table 4.5  Lexicogrammatical patterns and speech functions of modern Chinese MPs. Speech functions

Lexicogrammatical patterns

Declarative

No MP present

Exclamatory

Imperative

Interrogative

negative

MP present de 的, le 了, ne 呢, ma 嘛, a 啊, bàle 罢了

positive pure positive doublenegative

Obligatory MP

___

不. . . . . .不. . . . . .

___

不 + V/Adj . . .

___

yes-­no question

declarative (+ DP)

ma 吗, ba 吧

___

specific question (or wh-­question)

interrogative pro-­forms or adverbs such as: 谁 什么 怎样

ne 呢, a 啊

___

clauses connected by ‘. . . . . .还是. . . . . .’

ne 呢, a 啊

___

a-­not-a question

V 不 V; V不 ; . . . . . .， 是不是/行不行/好 不好

ne 呢, a 啊

___

command / prohibition

no subjects no MP

request / dissuasion

declarative + MP

alternative question

le 了, a 啊, ba 吧

interjections make up the whole exclamatory sentence. noun or noun phrase + MP



a 啊, ya 呀

Slogan 多/多么/好/真. . . . . .MP

___

___

wa 哇, ya 呀

___

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Table 4.6  tone choices for modern Chinese MPs. tone choices Mood

Assurance 1

Exclamatory Imperative Interrogative Declarative

3

1a

1b 3

1: statement 1a: statement + assertion

4

Doubt 5

2

2a

2b

reservation assertion solemnity 2: demanding information 2a: echoic question 2b: confirmation

1: request 1a: command

command+ indifferent

1: praise 1a: praise, sign

lengthening and/or shortening, can also be involved. For example, “a 啊” used in a declarative sentence to indicate for sure (as in example (17)) is usually uttered as a shorter segment than that used in an imperative sentence to express an earnest request or urge (as in example (18)). (17) 这里 其实 什么 人 Zhèlıˇ qíshí shénme rén Actually there is nobody in here. (18) 你 可 Nıˇ kě Do be careful!

要 yào

小心 xiăoxīn

也 yě

没有 méiyŏu

啊。 a.

啊！ a!

4.3  Dialectal variation In modern Chinese, most MPs may be written as different characters. Such cases reflect the dialectal variation. For example, the MP “ne 呢” in Mandarin Chinese

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can take the phonological variant “le 哩” in some regional dialects; and the Mandarin Chinese MP “ba 吧” can take the phonological variant “bei 呗” in some regional dialects. The Mandarin Chinese MP “ma 嘛” can take the dialectal variant “ma 么”.

5  Conclusion This chapter has looked at modern Chinese MPs within the SF matrix of the Chinese language, illustrating how the three-­dimensional rank-­metafunctiondelicacy matrix can be applied as an effective framework for a systematic analysis of modern Chinese MPs. It can also serve as a fundamental theoretical basis for SF phonology, a sub-­domain of SFL which has witnessed some developments in the past decades (e.g. Firth 1957; Halliday 1963a, 1963b, 1967, 1970a, 1985a, 1985b, 1992; Tench 1992, 1996; Halliday and Greaves 2008; Bowcher and Smith 2013), but much of which is still to be developed. For example, a more comprehensive study on modern Chinese MPs should be done in light of SF Table 4.7  Typology of Chinese tones and the corresponding semantic features. tone

Representation Term

Mood/Semantic features

Even–falling

tone1

Declarative–statement; imperative– request

High–falling

tone1a Declarative–assertion; imperative– command; exclamatory–praise

Low–falling

tone1b Exclamatory–praise, sign

Even–rising

tone2

High–rising

tone2a Interrogative–second time question

Low–rising

tone2b Interrogative–confirmation

Falling–rising (dipping)

tone3

Declarative–statement + reservation

Rising–falling (peaking)

tone4

Declarative–statement + assertion

tone5

Declarative–solemnity; imperative– command + indifference

Static

Kinetic

Rising

Falling

Visual symbol

Interrogative–demanding information

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phonology so that a more delicate and systematic system can be formulated; a national survey is needed to investigate the geographical and social distribution patterns of the various dialectal phonological variants of modern Chinese MPs; some experiments should be conducted with sonographs, phonographs, and other equipment to examine the phonological variations in different lexicogrammatical patterns, including tone choices, variations in tones, segmental lengthening and/or shortening, segmental pitch ascending and/or descending.

Notes 1 Modal particles in Classical Chinese include: qí 其, fú 夫, wéi 惟 (唯, 维), yě 也, yĭ 矣, yĭ 已, ěr 耳, ěr 尔, yān 焉, hū 乎, yú 与 (欤), yé 耶 (邪), zāi 哉, xī 兮, wéi 为, éryĭyĭ 而已矣, yěyĭyĭ 也已矣 and others. But they are no longer used in modern Chinese except when people quote from classical literature (Yang 1981). 2 According to Ding et al. (1999), one of the typical modern Chinese modal particles is “ma 么,” but according to the CCL corpus, “ma 嘛” is more frequently used than ma 么. So ma 嘛 is discussed here as one of the core modal particles. 3 The typology of tones in modern Chinese and their corresponding semantic features are as follows. (Cf. Ou and Liu 2014).

Lexis

5

Emotion Verbs and Emotional Verbs in Chinese: Their Distinctions and Sub-­ classifications Based on Configurative Facts SONG, Chengfang (宋成方)

University of International Business and Economics

1  Introduction Verbs realizing emotions, as a grammatically as well as semantically defined lexical category, are significant both in the field of lexicogrammatical studies and in the research area of discourse semantics, as they realize emotive processes on the one hand (Halliday 2004: 208–10) and inscribe affect on the other (Martin and White 2005: 45–52). Inspired by Halliday’s (1961) proposition that lexis can be defined as “most delicate grammar,” previous lexical studies from the perspective of SFL have sought to develop system networks for words from a specific semantic field, for example Hasan (1987) and Tucker (1998). However, the basis on which their networks are drawn is mainly that of lexical items’ semantic features, and the words in the networks are limited in number. Grammatical patternings of lexical items, though regarded as important, in devising lexical networks, are as yet underdeveloped due to the technological challenges in collecting the data of the structural configurations of those lexical items (Hasan 1987: 188; Tucker 1998: 96–98). Appraisal analyses of the evaluative meaning of a text, on the other hand, usually assume that the evaluative items used in a text can be rather confidently and exhaustively identified by employing grammatical patterns that have so far been proposed as criteria (e.g. Martin and White 2005: 58–61). Nevertheless, the grammatical patterns as listed in Martin and White (2005: 58–61) are language-­specific and are only applicable to English adjectives. Moreover, they are not empirically justified. To answer the challenge of collecting configurative data and to improve the objectivity and feasibility of the Appraisal analysis of Chinese texts, this chapter

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chooses to adopt the method of cluster analysis to summarize formal or syntactic features of Chinese verbs expressing emotions, and to make a list of these verbs and provide a classification of them on the basis of their grammatical patterns. First, 444 verbs listed under the category of “emotion” or “affect” were collected from seven Chinese thesauri. Then the configurative facts in the form of the grammatical features of sixty verbs, selected from the complete collection by interval sampling, were examined with the help of the Modern Chinese Corpus of the Centre for Chinese Linguistics at Peking University (the CCL Corpus hereafter). Consequently, a cluster analysis was conducted on the sixty verbs on the basis of this examination. It was found that Chinese verbs construing emotions are of two types: emotion verbs which inscribe or explicitly express emotions and emotional verbs which indexically signify emotions, and each type is identifiable by a set of shared grammatical features, which can, in turn, function to exclude other verbs from lists of emotion and emotional verbs.

2  Methodology 2.1  Theoretical background Lexicogrammatical analyses from the SFL perspective are largely based on Whorf’s (1956) notion of reactance, which refers to the “definite linguistic configurations” associated with the members of a covert category (88) or “lexicogrammatical patternings” as interpreted by systemic functionalists (Hasan 1987: 185; Halliday and Matthiessen 1999: 26–7). Theoretically speaking, the grammatical patternings can be summarized by using technical terms from different linguistic schools. However, Whorf (1956: 88) argues that formal terms are to be preferred because they are likely to be recognizable to all observers, and labels like functional ones should be employed only after configurative facts are made manifest. His argument is accepted in this study, but mainly for a different reason. As will be shown below, the grammatical features of verbs to be analyzed in this chapter are examined with reference to a raw corpus, which offers little tagged information. Observations of how a word behaves would be more efficient and objective if they were made with reference to notions which are based on formal features. Therefore, the examination of grammatical features in this study relies mostly on collocations, which have been shown by Tucker (1998) to be significant in devising systems of lexis, and uses formal terms mostly from traditional grammar and functional terms that are easily defined with reference to formal features.

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2.2  Candidate verbs Systemic functionalists, for example Matthiessen (1990), have argued that thesauri, rather than dictionaries, provide a better model for lexical organization at the stratum of lexicogrammar, because they foreground meanings. And as the purpose of a thesaurus is to provide language users with as many words as possible from the same semantic domain (Mei et al. 1983), thesauri are an ideal source for collecting verbs expressing emotions. To date, seven thesauri which collect Chinese verbs have been published in China; one of them, the PKU CCL Modern Chinese Thesaurus, is available online. All seven thesauri have a category of “emotion” or “affect,” and it is from these thesauri that words were first collected. However, these words do not naturally make up the list of candidate verbs, as they are of different styles and different structures. A selection process had to be implemented to ensure that candidate verbs were uniform in these respects.1 Eventually 442 verbs were chosen for further analyses.2

2.3  Method Cluster analysis is a statistical method which aims to classify a set of objects according to their similarities, and its resulting categories include members that are more similar to their co-­members than to those from other categories. The first step in a cluster analysis is to determine the parameters along which the objects to be examined differ from one another. Drawing on the grammatical analyses of mental verbs, the superordinates of verbs expressing emotions (e.g. Yuan 2010), and the distinction between volitional and non-­volitional verbs (Ma 1992), Song (2012a) has summarized thirty-­one parameters, which are given below in the form of polarity questions. (1) Is it possible for the verb to be modified by hěn (很, very)? (2) Is it possible for the verb (used as a Predicator) to take a Complement?3 (3) Is it possible for the verb to be used in the construction “hěn (很, very) + Predicator + Complement”? (4) Is it possible for the verb to have a Subject which has the semantic feature [+human]? (5) Is it possible for the verb to have a Subject which has the semantic feature [−human]? (6) Is it possible for the verb to have a Complement that is absent but retrievable from the context?

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(7) Is it possible for the verb to have a Complement which has the semantic feature [+human]? (8) Is it possible for the verb to have a Complement which has the semantic feature [−human]? (9) Is it possible for the verb to have another verb as its Complement? (10) Is it possible for the verb to have a clause as its Complement? (11) Is it possible for the verb to have two Complements? (12) Is it possible for the verb to have a Complement which is introduced through a preposition? (13) Is it possible for the verb to have a prepositional phrase which introduces a reason? (14) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a bèi (被) construction?4 (15) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a shòudào (受到) construction?5 (16) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a dédào (得到) construction?6 (17) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a positive imperative clause? (18) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a negative imperative clause formed with bié (别)? (19) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a negative imperative clause formed with béng (甭)? (20) Is it possible for the verb to stand alone as a Predicator, without using the aspect marker le (了)7? (21) Is it possible for the verb to be used in a progressive aspect by using the aspect marker zhe (着) after the verb? (22) Is it possible for the verb to be duplicated and then used as a Predicator? (23) Is it possible for the verb to be immediately followed by sentence final particles like ba (吧), ne (呢), and ma (吗)8? (24) Is it possible for the verb to be negated by bù (不)? (25) Is it possible for the verb to be negated by méi/méiyoˇu (没/没有)? (26) Is it possible for the verb to be modified by maˇshàng (马上, at once)? (27) Is it possible for the verb to be used immediately after jiāyıˇ (加以, give), yán jiā (严加, strictly implement), yuˇyıˇ (予以, give, grant), jìnxíng (进行, have, enforce, take on)? (28) Is it possible for the verb to be used immediately after kěn (肯, willing)? (29) Is it possible for the verb to be used immediately after zhíde (值得, worthy)? (30) Is it possible for the verb to be used in the construction “shıˇ (使, make) + noun + verb”?

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(31) Is it possible for the verb to be used in the construction “shıˇ (使, make) + noun 1 + verb + noun 1”? To obtain objective and reliable results, the examination of a verb will rely on the CCL Corpus. If a case described in one of the thirty-­one questions can be found in the corpus, the answer to the question will be positive; otherwise negative.

2.4  Analytical procedure Ideally speaking, with the grammatical parameters, which are expressed in the form of polarity questions in the above section, the 442 candidate verbs could be examined one by one by searching the CCL Corpus; and once the results were obtained, a cluster analysis would produce a systematic classification of these verbs according to their similarities and allow us to summarize the grammatical features of each category. However, this approach would be time consuming and is technically untenable, as the number is too large. Therefore, a sampling-­ extension design was used in this study. First, a random process was applied to the 442 candidate verbs, and then the interval sampling method was employed to collect sixty verbs from the randomized list for further investigation (see Section 3 and Figure 5.1). Next, the sixty verbs were examined by answering the thirty-­one questions listed above with reference to the CCL Corpus; and with the help of the software SPSS, a cluster analysis of these verbs was conducted on the basis of the results, which was designed to yield a classification of these verbs and allowed us to generalize the grammatical features shared by members of each category. Consequently, the grammatical features of each category were used as criteria to select other members of the category from the other 382 candidate verbs.9 Based on the assignment of each candidate verb to a category, a classification of these 442 Chinese verbs has been finally proposed.

3  Results The grammatical examination of the sixty verbs with reference to the CCL Corpus shows that juéwàng (绝望, be in despair), dòngqíng (动情, be touched), bùpíng (不平, be discontented), zhènjìng (镇静, be unperturbed), píbèi (疲惫, be exhausted) can take hěn (很, very) as their pre-­modifier, but do not take any type of Complement. According to Yuan (2010: 196), they belong to the

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category of adjectives. Furthermore, gaˇndòng (感动, move, moved), wěiqu (委屈, wrong, feel wronged), kuānwèi (宽慰, be relieved), kùnraˇo (困扰, perplex), ěxin (恶心, feel disgusted), wúsuoˇwèi (无所谓, be indifferent), and nánwàng (难忘, unforgettable) can be used both as adjectives and verbs. As the chapter focuses on verbs, juéwàng, dòngqíng, bùpíng, zhènjìng, píbèi, and the adjectival usages of gaˇndòng, wěiqu, kuānwèi, kùnraˇo, ěxin, wúsuoˇwèi, and nánwàng are excluded from the cluster analysis. Moreover, jiūjié (纠结) means being entangled in the corpus, and its new usage to denote ambivalence is not recorded; so this word is also excluded from the further study because the grammatical investigation is corpus-­based. In contrast to the above excluded words or usages, zhéfú (折服) is investigated as zhéfú1 and zhéfú2, as it has two senses: one is to force somebody to accept some ideas or to surrender, the other is to convince somebody. The grammatical investigation of these fifty-­five verbs shows that all of them can be used as Predicators without the aspect marker le (了) and they differ from one another along the other thirty dimensions stated as questions in Section 2.3, which means that all the questions, except the twentieth, are valid variables for the cluster analysis. By assigning “1” to a positive answer and “0” to a negative answer in the data input stage and by defining as multiple response sets those questions that focus on the same grammatical feature, for example questions 4 and 5 which both examine the feature of the Subject, a cluster analysis of the fifty-­five verbs using SPSS 18.0 finally produces a classification of these verbs as depicted in Figure 5.1.

4  Discussion As indicated in Section 2.2, all fifty-­five verbs were thought to express emotions (at least by the compilers). However, if Whorf (1956) and Halliday and Matthiessen (1999) are right in proposing that words with different syntactical features should belong to different categories, this should not be the case, as it is shown in Figure 5.1 that they do have different syntactic behaviors. With reference to previous studies in this field and the clustering of verbs as depicted in Figure 5.1, it is found that verbs expressing emotions can be divided into two groups: emotion verbs which denote emotions, and emotional verbs which indexically signify emotions. And other verbs in the candidate list are modal verbs or verbs expressing desires, verbs construing verbal processes, and verbs expressing judgement and appreciation.

Emotion Verbs and Emotional Verbs in Chinese

Figure 5.1  Clusters of Chinese verbs under investigation.

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4.1  Emotion Verbs As Martin and White (2005: 61–8) show, there are different strategies for construing emotions. The most direct and explicit one is to inscribe emotions. Words inscribing emotions are usually referred to as the emotion lexicon (Shaver, Murdaya, and Fraley 2001), or vocabulary of emotions (Storm and Storm 1987). This chapter chooses to refer to verbs that inscribe emotions as emotion verbs. On the basis of the results of a questionnaire which asked native speakers of Chinese to rate the initially selected sixty verbs in terms of how sure they are that the words refer to emotions, and of some comparison with emotion items discussed in Shaver, Wu, and Schwartz (1992), Song (2012b) shows that only words in Clusters 1.1.2, 2.2.1.2 and 1.2.1 belong to this category, including àohuıˇ (懊悔, repent), chījīng (吃惊, be surprised), dānxīn (担心, worry), maˇnyì (满意, satisfied), qìngxìng (庆幸, rejoice), taˇoyàn (讨厌, resent), huáiniàn (怀念, miss), jídù (嫉妒, envy), jìngwèi (敬畏, awe), jìngyaˇng (敬仰, esteem), liánmıˇn (怜悯, feel sorry for), liánxī (怜惜, sympathize), tònghèn (痛恨, loathe), tóngqíng (同情, sympathize), xiànmù (羡慕, covet); gaˇndòng (感动, move, moved), and wěiqu (委屈, wrong, feel wronged). The grammatical features shared by them include the following ones: (1) They can be used in the construction: hěn (很, very) + Predicator + Complement (Question 3); (2) They can be used in a progressive aspect (Question 21); (3) They can be used in sentences with different mood markers (Question 23); (4) They can be negated by bù (不) (Question 24). In addition to the above four features, the verbs from Cluster 1.1.2 are also similar in terms of the following criteria: (1) Their Subjects must have the feature [+human] (Questions 4 and 5); (2) Their Complements can be absent but retrievable from their context (Question 6); (3) They can be used in the construction “prepositional phrase (Cause) + verb” (Question 13); (4) They cannot be used in the shòudào (受到) and dédào (得到) constructions (Questions 15 and 16); (5) They can be used in the construction “shıˇ (使 make) + noun + verb” (Question 30).

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The additional similarities of the verbs in Cluster 2.2.1.2 are as follows: (1) Their Subjects must have the feature [+human] (Questions 4 and 5); (2) Their Complements have the feature [+human] (Question 7); (3) Their Complements can be introduced through prepositions (Question 12); (4) They can be used in bèi (被), shòudào (受到) and dédào (得到) constructions (Questions 14–16); (5) They can be used immediately after kěn/zhíde (肯/值得)(Questions 28 and 29); (6) They can be used in the construction “shıˇ (使, make) + noun + verb” (Question 30). And the features that characterize Cluster 1.2.1 also include: (1) Their Subjects must have the feature [-­human] (Questions 4 and 5); (2) Their Complements have the feature [+human] (Question 7); (3) They can be used in bèi (被), shòudào (受到) and dédào (得到) constructions (Questions 14–16); (4) They can be negated by méi (没) (Question 25); (5) They can be used immediately after jiāyıˇ (加以, give), yán jiā (严加, strictly implement), yuˇyıˇ (予以, give, grant), jìnxíng (进行, have, enforce, take on) (Question 27); (6) They can be used immediately after kěn/zhíde (肯/值得)(Questions 28 and 29). The verbs in the above three categories are typical emotion verbs. But according to the prototype theory (Ungerer and Schmid 1996: 10–14; also see Halliday and Matthiessen 1999: 72 for a discussion of it in SFL), there must be some less typical emotion verbs. The verb bùfú (不服, disgruntled) in Category 1.1.1.1.2 and zháomí (着迷, fascinated) and nánwàng (难忘, unforgettable) in Category 1.1.1.2.1 merely differ from the second type of emotion verbs in the following two aspects: (1) They can be used in bèi, shòudào (受到) and dédào (得到) constructions (Questions 14–16); (2) They cannot be used immediately after kěn/zhíde (肯/值得) (Questions 28 and 29). To draw as complete a list of emotion verbs as possible, verbs in these two categories are also treated as emotion verbs.

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4.2  Emotional verbs Martin and Rose (2003/2007: 29–30) have included under direct expressions of emotion such psycho-­physiological behavior (Halliday 2004) as rushed breathing, shrieks. Arguing that they are lower in degrees of consciousness, rationality, and semiotic complexity, Arndt and Janney (1991: 256) have characterized them as emotional communication and contrasted them with emotive communication which is performed by using emotion verbs as listed in Section  4.1. Adhering to Arndt and Janney’s (1991) distinction, we choose to refer to them as emotional verbs. The words in Cluster 1.1.1.1.1 all belong in this category. The key features that set them apart from emotion verbs are that they can neither be modified by hěn (很, very) nor take any Complement, which, in fact, excludes them from the category mental verbs (Yuan 2010: 196). The grammatical investigation of the words in this cluster has mostly produced negative answers to the questions listed above, which means these features provide little help for their further classification. The following categories are made mainly with reference to Halliday’s (2004) transitivity system, as it is designed to classify all verbs and, more importantly, it makes some finer distinctions of behaviors. The first category is exemplified by fānù (发怒, have an outburst of anger) and fā píqì (发脾气, have a temper). They usually have a verb, with a noun denoting an emotion. They differ from emotion verbs in that they stress the acts of emotions and can hence be referred to as emotional acts. The following three verbs, fēnshén (分神, distracted), shéncaˇi yìyì (神采奕奕, beaming and buoyant in spirits), and yì yóu wèijìn (意犹未尽, not to one’s satisfaction), belong to another category. As the nouns in them—shén (神, spirits) and yì (意, satisfaction)—are psychological entities, they are referred to as psychological states as they are mainly used to give state descriptions. Wúsuoˇshìcóng (无所适从, be at a loss as to what to do) and fādāi (发呆, stare blankly) in the same cluster are two examples of a third category. As they are more observable, they can be called behavioral activities. In addition to the verbs discussed above, the five verbs in Cluster 1.2.2.1, namely, ěxin (恶心, disgust), kuānwèi (宽慰, relieve), kùnraˇo (困扰, perplex), mízhù (迷住, enchant) and zhéfú (折服, overcome, convince), can also be classified in this broad category. They are similar to the verbs listed above in that they cannot be modified by hěn (很, very). They are different in that they take a Subject with the feature [-­human] and a Complement with the feature [+human]. The construction “Subject + Predicator + Complement” in which they are used

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can be changed into a causative construction “Subject + shıˇ (使, make) + Complement + Predicator.”

4.3  Other verbs The other verbs in Figure 5.1 differ from the ones in the above two categories in one way or another. The first four verbs in Cluster 1.1.1.2.2, yuànyì (愿意, willing), shěde (舍得, be willing to part with), bùrěn (不忍, cannot tolerate), and bùxiè (不屑, disdain), can be modified by hěn (很, very) and usually take another verb or verbal phrase as their Complement; that is, they are like modal verbs in English. The other verbs in the same category differ from the four discussed above in that they cannot be modified by hěn (很, very) and can be termed desiderative verbs with reference to Halliday’s (2004: 208) classification of mental processes. Guàizuì (怪罪, blame) in Cluster 2.1 cannot be modified by hěn (很, very) and can have two Complements. As one of them is the target of the blaming process, it should be regarded as a verbal process (Halliday 2004: 252–6). Neither can bıˇqì (鄙弃, disdain) and yuánliàng (原谅, forgive) in the same cluster be modified by hěn (很, very); therefore, they should be excluded from mental processes. As they mainly express an evaluation of their Subject with the feature [+human], they are verbs expressing “judgment” (Martin and White 2005: 52–6). The same applies to zhòngshì (重视, take something seriously) and zhēnxī (珍惜, value) in Cluster 2.2.1.1 and chóngshàng (崇尚, treasure) in Cluster 2.2.2, except that they mainly express an “appreciation” of their Complement (Martin and White 2005: 56–8).

5  Conclusion The analysis in this chapter shows that verbs expressing emotions have their own grammatical patternings, and verbs that express emotions in different ways also differ in their grammatical behavior. For example, the three subcategories of emotion verbs have different grammatical features; and emotion verbs and emotional verbs share few similarities. The lists of these verbs provide a basis for the drawing of system networks of Chinese verbs expressing emotions. But this is a huge challenge as such system networks have to incorporate formal diversities as well as systemize the semantic similarities of such a large number of verbs.

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Notes 1 As space does not allow a detailed explanation of the selection process, interested readers are referred to Chapter 2 of Song (2012b) for details. 2 As verbs expressing emotions will be listed in the following sections, to save space they are not provided here. 3 “Predicator”, “Complement” and “Subject” (e.g., in Question 4) are three functional terms. They are used in this chapter because they correspond closely to word classes and are thus easily retrievable from the corpus. 4 The Bèi (被) construction is used to express passive voice in Chinese and it takes the form “patient + bèi (+ actor) + verb.” 5 Shòudào (受到) literally means “receive” or “get.” The shòudào construction takes the form “shòudào + (actor + de) + verb,” which is an alternative way of expressing passive voice in Chinese. 6 The dédào (得到) construction is similar to the shòudào-construction both in form and in function. 7 Le (了) expresses “perfective” aspect in Chinese. 8 These three sentence final marks are mostly used to mark the mood of the sentence in which they are used. 9 Due to the limitation of space, other verbs extracted from the other 382 are not listed, analyzed, and classified in the following sections, but they are available by contacting the author via [email protected].

6

Verb Types, Process Types, and Incident Structure: From Lexis to Discourse Semantics LV, Guoyan (吕国燕)

Peking University; Beijing Information Science and Technology University

GAO, Yanmei (高彦梅) Peking University

1  Introduction Within the framework of systemic functional grammar (SFG), language is understood as a semiotic system, a system of resources for meaning. Grammar and lexis are not treated as two separate components of a language, but as “the two ends of a single continuum” (Halliday 2004: 7, 24). This continuity was first recognized by Saussure and developed by Halliday in his 1961 paper where he stated that it is the grammarian’s dream that lexis is the “most delicate grammar” (Halliday 1961: 267). Hasan (1987) proposed one way of realizing the grammarian’s dream by elaborating on the lexical-­grammar of three groups of verbs: verbs of acquisition and two types of verbs of deprivation. Her description of the semantics of the verbs is by far the most delicate and closest to what Halliday has envisioned. Martin (1992) treats lexis as a textual resource whose major function is to establish lexical cohesion. This new concept of lexis is further broadened in the discourse semantics theory of Martin and Rose (2003/2007), where taxonomical and logical relations are systemized as networks of resources for construing activity sequences and overall pictures of people and things as well. Though not as delicate as Hasan (1987), this new endeavor marks the most striking effort in the past two decades. Halliday, Hasan, Martin, and many others have reckoned the status of lexis as “most delicate grammar”; however, much more research is needed on the contribution of lexis to meaning-­making in language and to the realization of

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ideational, textual, and interpersonal meta-­functions. In this chapter, we will focus on the experiential and textual meanings of verbs to demonstrate the mutual dependency/interface between lexis and grammar and further between grammar and discourse. We will try to unveil how clause-­level verb choices contribute to the global construal of phases of an incident based on the analysis of the patterning of verbs and process types in fictional discourse.

2  Construing experiences: process types and verb types 2.1  Process types Transitivity is a system of construing human experience. Three components of transitivity are generally recognized within the SFG framework: Processes, Participants, and Circumstances, which are typically realized by verbal groups, nominal groups, and adjuncts respectively. Detailed classification of process types are laid out in Halliday (2004). General SFG approach recognizes six process types: material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, and existential (Halliday 1994a; Halliday 2004). The type of process is typically determined by the main verb in the clause (Fawcett 2001: 49). Chow and Webster (2007) equate process with the verbal group, as the latter acts as the “nucleus of a clause determining the type of experience construed” (Chow and Webster 2007: 2).

2.2  Verb types Verbs carry semantic features of their own, which constitute the potentials for being selected by language users when needed. Halliday (2004: 44) showed how verbs of saying can be differentiated according to the degree of forcefulness of the order, the authority behind them, and the positive or negative loading. For instance, tell displays neutral force, neutral authority, and neutral loading; forbid expresses personal/institutional authority and negative loading; require expresses institutional authority and positive loading. Meanwhile, verbs, in general, inherently require a certain number of participants: some verbs (intransitive) require at least one participant, Actor; some (transitive) require two participants, Actor and Goal; some (“ditransitive” in traditional grammar) even require three participants, Actor, Goal and Beneficiary. Take the verb ask as an example. It requires a Sayer (or Agent in VerbNet, [+animate | + organization]),a Recipient ([+animate | + organization]), and a Verbiage (Topic in VerbNet).

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Moreover, there are various kinds of taxonomic relations among verbs. Verbs can be synonyms (blame, accuse), contrasts (give vs. receive; remember vs. forget), and co-­class (slap, punch). These relations help organize the activity sequences into more global phases of incidents. The semantics of verbs is elaborated in projects like the FrameNet, WordNet, and VerbNet. Systemic functional linguists (Chow and Webster 2007) are trying to make use of these projects for the construction of a lexical semantic knowledge base for verb classification and for the analysis of ideational meaning of language from the perspective of SFG. Combining the major findings in SFG, the major verb types in different process types can be generalized, along with examples from the text Folie à Deux as follows: Verbs of doing and happening—material: Verbs of happening associated with one participant role: occur, emerge, float, and others. (1) . . . it (the Li-­lo) floated out. it

floated out

Actor/Medium

Process

Verbs of doing with one, two, or more participant roles: turn, go, come, visit, tip, give. (2) Still without communicating, the man who has come from the kitchen turns and goes away, leaving Wilby with the impression that he has been mistaken for someone else. the man . . .

turns and goes away, . . .

Actor/Medium

Process

(3) He visits Paris once in a while to make the rounds of salerooms specializing in rare postage stamps, usually spinning out his time when he is there, since he can afford to. He

visits

Paris

once in a while . . .

Actor/Medium

Process

Location

Extent

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(4) The old waiter has his overcoat ready for him at the door, and Wilby tips him a little for that. Wilby

tips

him

a little

for that.

Actor/Agent

Process

Beneficiary

Medium

Cause

Verbs of sensing—mental: see, hear, think, believe, wish, hope, like, fear. (5) Wilby assumes that the man is an envoy sent from the kitchen to apologize for the delay in the cooking of the fish he has ordered. Wilby

assumes

that . . .

Senser

Process: cognitive

Phenomenon: projected idea

Verbs of being—relational: be, have, get, etc. (6) Saying that, quite suddenly the man is someone else. . . . the man

is

someone else.

Identified

Process

Identifier

Verbs of behaving—behavioral: listen, taste, watch, look, smile, frown. (7) Nothing was said when they watched the drowning of the dog. Verbs of saying—verbal: say, speak, ask, mutter, talk. (8) “What is all this?” Even as he puts the question, Wilby’s choice of words sounds absurd to him. “Anthony?” he says. Verbs of existing—existential: be, exist. (9) In the dark there is a pinprick glow of red somewhere on the television set.

3  Constructing incidents At the clause level, verbs construe experiences into processes. Beyond the clause, verbs help develop these processes into more global phases of incidents. This section provides a detailed investigation of the transitivity in a sample text to show the relations between choices of lexis and the construal of global events.

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3.1  The text and annotation The text used in the study is a short story titled, Folie à Deux,1 by Irish novelist William Trevor. It is a story about two men whose lives are both profoundly affected by a dark secret they share in their childhood when they were best friends. The two men are Wilby and Anthony and their dark secret is that they unintentionally made Anthony’s pet dog drown when they were nine years old. The text has a total of 5,520 words and 797 clauses, the calculation being based on Halliday (2004). The coding of the process types adopts the categorizing criteria proposed in SFG (Halliday 1994a; Halliday 2004), and the coding tool is BFSU Qualitative Coder 1.1 (developed by Xu Jiajin and his team). The annotation was achieved through the team work of linguistic graduate students in discussion with professors.

3.2  Incident structure Eight macro-­phases2 are recognized in this piece of fiction. They are the Beginning, Transition (to the past), Childhood, Dog-­drowning Event, Middle School, Before Middle-age Encounter, Middle-­age Encounter, and Ending. The Beginning of the work describes a coincidental meeting (without fully mutual recognition yet) of two old friends, Wilby, a visitor in Paris, and Anthony, a dishwasher, at a café. The Transition depicts the reaction of the two men after their meeting. The Childhood phase is a flashback on how they became best friends as youngsters. The Dog-­drowning Event relays how the two boys placed Wilby’s handicapped dog on a raft, and how they witnessed the dog washed away. The phase of Middle School is about the two boys staying away from each other and Anthony becoming isolated from other people. The phase of Before Middle-­age Encounter is about Wilby’s reflection of the past. The Middle-­age Encounter is about how the two men interact with each other when they meet again. The Ending closes the story with Wilby’s thoughts about his friend, himself and their lives.

3.3  Process patterns and incident structure Clause-­level annotation and calculation brought out the distributional pattern of process types and their connection with the local level phase structures of the story. At a higher discourse level, the concurrent patterns of verb types and process types function dynamically in shaping and managing the development of global incidents.

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3.3.1  Process type distribution The process type distribution is shown in Figure 6.1 below. It indicates that the most frequent process types found in Folie à Deux are Material, Relational, and Mental processes. This pattern corresponds to what is stated in Halliday (1994a) and Halliday (2004) that humans experience of the outer world (Material), the inner world of consciousness (Mental), along with identifying and classifying to relate one segment of experience to another (Relational) to form the kernel types of human experience and the three types of processes construing these three kinds of experience, constitute the main types of process in the English transitivity system. The instances of the behavioral process are not significantly high, which may suggest that the outer manifestation of inner workings, such as people’s consciousness or physiological states, is not prominent in the discourse. Yet, a comparison between this and the mental process will reveal some interesting pattern of interaction between different processes in carrying out the themes of the discourse.

3.3.2  Process types in each phase Figure  6.2 shows the distribution ratios of the five process types: material, relational, verbal, mental, and behavioral3 over the eight phases of the story: Beginning, Transition, Childhood, Dog-­drowning Event, Middle School, Before Middle-­age Encounter, Middle-­age Encounter, and Ending. Three phases are singled out: Childhood, Middle School (after the drowning event), and the Middle-­age Encounter. These phases contain the most prominent “ups and downs” in the process-­type interaction which construes the major alternations in the two men’s lives as folie à deux, two men carrying the same secret scar throughout their lives.

Figure 6.1  Process type distribution in Folie à Deux.

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Figure 6.2  Process type ratios in each phase.

The Childhood phase, as is shown in Figure  6.2, features the highest ratio of verbal processes (accounting for about 25 percent of the annotated instances of processes) and the lowest ratio of material type (about 35 percent). The event in Middle School, however, profiles the highest ratio of material processes (about 60 percent) and the nearly bottom level of verbal processes (around 5 percent). Between the phase of Childhood and Middle School, the Dog-­drowning Event shows a climbing pattern of material processes (about 40 percent) from the Childhood phase, but a dropping for the verbal processes (about 15 percent). This is understandable, because this phase foregrounds the doing and happening of things, which causes shocking effects to the two boys who had no idea about what to say or what to do as they witnessed the drowning of the dog. This is also what makes this phase a turning point in the two boys’ lives. The Middle-­age Encounter features the down-­to-bottom level of material type (lower than 40 percent) and a pickup level of verbal (15 percent) but still a lot lower than that in Childhood phase. And the mental processes (higher than 15 percent) at this stage sustains its stable trend starting from the Middle School period. What is interesting is that both material and verbal processes are similar to those in the Dog-­drowning phase. This seems to reflect the theme that Anthony is thought to be “materially” dead probably due to the sense of guilt he felt or became long “lost” verbally along with his pet, the dog.

3.3.3  Verbal processes and the Sayer roles What is shown in Figure  6.2 reflects other facts about the process patterning, among which the verbal process attracts our attention. First, the distribution of the verbal processes seems to have an interesting role in allocating the focus of

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Figure 6.3  Verbal distribution.

attention to construing the event structure in the whole discourse. As shown in Figure 6.3, this process type is distributed very unevenly in the development of the story. Figure  6.3 indicates the annotated clausal instances of verbal process in different phases, starting from the Beginning to the Ending, clockwise. The phase of Childhood has the highest number of verbal processes (45), whereas the Middle School has a significantly lower number (only 5). In other words, the verbal processes seem to be prominently foregrounded in the childhood phase when the two boys got to know each other and established friendship. However, after the Dog-­drowning Event, the two boys seemed to engage rarely in any verbal communication. This suggests that verbal processes help construct a normal image of childhood friendship when the two young boys did a lot of talking and had a good time together. The lack of this kind of process also helps create an abnormal picture of the two middle-­school boys who purely engaged in conversation. In the Middle-­age Encounter in France, a foreign country, long after Wilby left home, more verbal exchanges between two old friends would be expected, yet the actual number of verbal processes in this phase (12) is not impressive. The potential questions might be: who does most of the talking in the verbal process during these events? Are there alternations in the pattern of Sayer roles? In other words, verbs of a process may not tell the whole story. The participants— Sayer, in this case—may tell us more about the actual process. Figure  6.4 illustrates who were the Sayers in the verbal process of the four phases: Childhood, Dog-­drowning, Middle School and Middle-­age Encounter.

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Figure 6.4  Distribution of Sayers in the verbal process.

From Figure 6.4 we learn that during Childhood, Anthony seemed to be the main Sayer and the one who initiated and nurtured the relationship between the two friends. He has a peculiar way of communicating, which is asking questions. For example, at the beginning of this phase, the first few verbiages from Anthony are: “What’s his name?” he asked. When Miss Davally told him about the name, he responded with two more questions: “Why’s he called that?” Anthony asked. “Why’re you called that?” Wilby, on the other hand, has only one verbiage, a response to Anthony’s question: “It’s my name.” Anthony’s verbiages are full of questions, such as “shall we play in the garden?” or “Miss Davally was an orphan, That’s why she lives with us. Do you know what an orphan is?” All these verbiages in the form of questions establish an image of a young and innocent boy full of vigor and curiosity, and who is eager to communicate with people. This part of the story also shows more variety in the Sayer roles in the verbal processes: Miss Davally (Anthony’s relative and caretaker) and Anthony’s father are both actively involved in this phase. However, things changed dramatically after the Dog-­drowning Event, in which all of these Sayers seemed to fall into silence, especially Anthony, who has no verbal communication. This distinct alternation can be considered to display one of the symptoms of the folie à deux, the aloofness to each other and to the world. Their lives started to veer off the normal track. When they happened to meet again in an alien country in the Middle-­age Encounter, Wilby shifted to become the one who speaks and questions a little more. He keeps asking the same questions: “How are you, Anthony?” The undertone might be: have you recovered from the trauma in childhood? Probably not, because the only definite answers from Anthony are simply: “I went away from Ireland” and “I haven’t died.”

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Figure 6.4 also shows that there are three instances of verbal process during the Dog-­drowning Event and the Sayer is realized by “they,” referring to Wilby and Anthony. Actually, “they” here represents a silent Sayer as follows: (10) They did not even speak to one another about the drowning of the dog. They did not ever say that they had not meant it to happen. . . . They had not called it a game, only said they wondered what would happen, what the dog would do. Verbal processes as such suggest that neither Anthony nor Wilby actually said anything at all after the Dog-­drowning Event.4 The only real Sayer in this phase is Miss Davally who was the primary caretaker of the boys in Anthony’s home, and who was not there when the accident happened. This patterning of verbal processes further distinguishes the Dog-­drowning phase to be a turning point, from which the youngsters and their friendship, along with the death of the dog, start to drift away from the normal track of life.

3.3.4  Mental and behavioral processes Apart from the verbal process, another two types of process also construe the alternations in the two men’s experience of life: the mental and behavioral processes. Figure 6.5 illustrates the distribution of the mental processes in the major phases of the story. Figure  6.5 shows that mental processes are most frequently found in the phase of Childhood, and rarely in the period of Middle School. Again, the contrast is found between the events of the Childhood and the Middle School, that is, between what is before and what is after the life-changing Dog-­drowning Event. This suggests that the disastrous death of the dog caused them both to

Figure 6.5  Distribution of mental processes.

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retreat to their own worlds verbally and mentally, especially Anthony, who seems to be “lost” after the event. Looking into the verbs of mental and behavioral processes, we can see a clearer picture of how the events of Childhood, Middle School and Middle-­age Encounter are construed (shown in Table 6.1). Table 6.1 indicates that the mental processes in Childhood feature “knowing” because different forms of the word “know” has six instances. The behavioral processes are diversified, representing true-­to-life behaviors, such as crawl, look out, wag, dance, and smile, which all construe a characteristic, the animate side of normal children’s lives. On the other hand, after the death of the dog, the two children’s perception of life seems totally overturned. In the phase of the Middle School, no instances of

Table 6.1.  Childhood Friendship

Middle School

Middle-­age Encounter

Verbs of Mental Process

knew (3) think (1) knowing (1) see (3) liked (3) known (1) recalling (1) called upon (1) didn’t know (1) seen (1) hated (1)

realized (1) wonders (1) believing (1) ignored (1) was found (1) noticed (1)

notices (1) looks to see (1) knows (2) has guessed (1) remembers (1) attempt (1) doubts (1) expected (1) tasted (1) see (1) wanted (1)

Verbs of Behavioral   Process

pretended (1) looked up (1) watch (1) sniffing (1) crawled (1) clawing (1) looked out (1) does not sleep (1) limping (1) wagging (1) smiling (1) dance (1) cocked (1) holding out (1)

watching (2) waiting (1) sat (1) creeping back (1)

waiting (1) waits (1) does not look back (1) nods (1)

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“know” is found, which may have to do with the macro-­theme of this phase, that is, Anthony stays aloof from others, not knowing how to get over the loss of his dog. This also explains verbs like wait, watch, and creep back occur, which construe the experience that both Wilby and Anthony underwent during a time when life should have been much more active for middle school boys. As with the Middle-­age Encounter, the range of mental processes is extended to guess, doubt, and expect, all of which represent Wilby’s complicated feelings, questions, and uncertainty about his friend and also himself. Correspondingly, behavioral processes are: wait, not look back, and nod which partly reflect Wilby’s attitude toward the encounter—waiting and Anthony’s reaction towards Wilby’s questions and expectation, “no looking back” but a silent way, redemption, for what he had done to his pet dog.

4  Discussion Three questions emerged from our transitivity analysis, the answers of which we have not found in literature: (i) negated processes; (ii) the process types of grammatical metaphors; and (iii) the polysemy of verbs.

4.1  Negated processes In the distribution of the verbal clauses of Folie à Deux in Figure 6.4, Anthony is the Sayer of more verbal processes than Wilby in their Middle-­age Encounter, yet three of the verbal clauses are as follows: (11) He doesn’t mention the Cliff Castle Hotel. (12) He doesn’t say he misses the Irish Times, . . . (13) Anthony doesn’t say that, either, . . . What the above clauses draw to our attention is negation. Negation is a powerful tool to presuppose expected activities that have not been actualized. The presupposed positivity and the actualized negativity can actually produce a sharp contrast. This can be seen in the verbal processes involving Anthony in the three major macro-­phases of the story, as shown in Table 6.2. Apart from the negated verbal processes, there are quite a number of negated behaviors in the Middle-Age Encounter phase. Some of them are listed below: (14) But Anthony crosses the street then, and opens with a key the side door of the brasserie. He makes no gesture of farewell, does not look back.

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Table 6.2  Sayer

Polarity

Anthony positive

Childhood

Dog-­drowning

asked (3) said (5) called (1) wondered (1)

says (5) adds (1)

negative They

negative

Middle-­age encounter

doesn’t mention (1) doesn’t say(2) Nothing was said (2) did not ever say. . .(1) not called. . . (1)

As shown here, when negated verbal processes recur, logogenetic patterns of expected utterances emerge like small waves spreading across different macro-­phases.

4.2  Grammatical metaphor and process types In terms of process classification, nominalized verbal processes and metaphorically transferred process types pose the greatest challenges to the criteria of process classification established on the basis of unmarked, congruent usages. While Fawcett (2001: 49) confidently claims that “the Process is typically expressed in the Main Verb (90% reliable),” we find that in Folie à Deux, this confidence can be easily undermined. Consider the following examples: (15) A resemblance flickers: the smooth black hair, the head like the rounded end of a bullet, the fringe that is not as once it was but still a fringe, the dark eyes. (16) Memory won’t let him go now; he knows it won’t and makes no effort to resist it. (17) Sometimes guilt pricked. In these examples, if the verbs are treated as the decision-­maker, then flicker, let go, and prick should be a verb of doing or happening, then the clauses would be material clauses and the nominal groups, a resemblance, memory, and guilt, would be the Actors.

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Martin and Rose (2003/2007) suggest a way to handle grammatical metaphor: to unpack them back to the congruent structures. In light of this principle, the three clauses above can be transformed into: (18) A resemblance flickers: . . . Wilby felt that the man in front was like someone else. Mental process (19) Memory won’t let him go now He could not bury/forget the memory. Mental process (20) Sometimes guilt pricked. Sometimes he felt guilty. Mental process While these unpacked forms help us judge the process types, they cannot be properly annotated in the corpus. Additionally, the unpacked forms fail to convey the rhetorical or stylistic effect of the metaphorical originals: in the first one, the long dormant familiarity came to be felt, and the unexpected reencounter was under way; in the second and the third, the congruent mental processes lost all the passivity of the poor Senser as the victim of the unpleasant memory and painful feelings. Therefore, the unpacking strategy, though helpful as an analytical tool, is not as convincing as it should be. Other perspectives should be explored to help bring out such implications.

4.3  The polysemy of verbs Halliday classifies verbs into different types, yet the sense of verbs may vary in different contexts, such as She nodded for the receipt, as opposed to She nodded to him. The former one is not a typical behavioral type of verb, because it is synonymous to the verb ask or signal, which is different from the latter case nod, a behavioral type of verb, similar to smile or sit. Halliday points out that descriptions with a high degree of delicacy are needed to test such a hypothesis, and at that time these had not yet been made. As a consequence of this state of affairs, Halliday (1961: 267, 270) observes: “For the moment it seems better to treat lexical relations . . . as on a different level, and to require a different theory to account for them . . . There must, therefore, be a theory of lexis, to account for that part of linguistic form which grammar cannot handle.”

5  Conclusion The system of transitivity offers language users a set of options with which they can encode their experience of the internal and external world. In writing, the

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writer can make choices in framing up the verbs, roles of participants, and circumstances in different processes, depending on the progress of stages of the story and the overall subject-­matter of the work. This dynamically unfolds from the beginning to the end. Based on the analysis of the process types and incident structure of the fiction, Folie à Deux, we have found that clause and text structure are analogous (e.g. Mitchell 1957; Halliday 1971; Sinclair and Coulthard 1975; Hasan 1984; Martin 1992; Martin and Rose 2003/2007), such that clausal constituents mark the different phases of an incident. The concurrence of similar process types and the taxonomical relations set up by repetition, synonyms, contrast, among the processes, as shown in Table 6.1, corresponds to the development of the story.

Notes 1 The title of the story in French literally means “a madness shared by two” and it clinically refers to a psychiatric syndrome where symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another. 2 Since recognizing stages is not the main concern of this chapter and the difference of stages and phases has little impact on the analysis; the notion of “phase” is therefore used in a more general sense here. 3 The existential process was annotated and counted as one of the six process types, yet its distribution ratio against the total was not calculated because this process rarely occurs in any of the phases of the story. This may have to do with the genre of the discourse in question, and also with the theme of the fiction. 4 The negativity in these clauses is addressed in Discussion.

Word Group

7

Structure and Function of Measure Nominals in English and Chinese YANG, Bingjun (杨炳钧)

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

1  Introduction “Describing a sentence as a construction of words is rather like describing a house as a construction of bricks, without recognizing the walls and the rooms as intermediate structural units” (Halliday 2014: 362). Similarly, describing a group as a construction of words makes the description too simple, and fails to reveal the internal structure and function of the group. This is particularly true with a nominal group that functions as measuring in both English and Chinese, i.e. measure nominals under the category of Numeratives. There are two types of Numerative: a quantifying Numerative which specifies either an exact number (e.g. three books) or an inexact number (e.g. many books); and an ordering Numerative which specifies either an exact place in order (e.g. the second game) or an inexact place (e.g. a forthcoming game). In theories other than SFL, quantifying Numeratives are discussed under the category of count/ mass nouns. It is generally believed that the count/mass distinction applies to most languages but differences are obvious, so those languages in which classifiers are not obligatory for nouns are called non-­classifier languages and those in which classifiers are obligatory are called classifier languages (Allan 1977; Wu and Bodomo 2009). Following this distinction, Chinese is treated by many as a typical classifier language and English as a typical non-­classifier language. In this chapter, I will argue against this distinction by showing the similarities in structure and function of measure nominals in English and Chinese. First, I will provide a sketch of measure nominals in English and Chinese and then discuss their structure and function from the perspective of systemic functional

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linguistics (SFL), and on this basis argue for why such a distinction is not correct for Chinese and English.

2  A sketch of measure nominals 2.1  Measure nominals in English In English grammar books, nouns are divided into count nouns and mass nouns. Count nouns refer to entities which present themselves naturally in discrete and countable units, while mass nouns refer to substances which do not present themselves in such units. In order to be counted, mass nouns have to be preceded by measure words: three bottles of milk. Such groups of English for mass nouns are called measure nominals. Measure nominals may include those groups formed for count nouns, but in this article I focus mainly on the construction “numeral + measure word + noun.” Measure nominals include both measure partitives and general partitives. The former relates to precise quantities denoting length, area, volume, and weight (e.g. a mile of cable), and the latter relates to other quantities (e.g. a crowd of people) (Quirk et al. 1985: 251). Measure words, when they include both measure partitives and general partitives, equal classifiers by other linguists (Allan 1977; Lehrer 1986). According to Lehrer (1986), classifiers in English can be put into the following categories by combining Keith Allan’s taxonomies with Eloise Jelinek’s proposal: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Unit counters: two heads of cattle Fractional classifiers: three quarters of the cake Number set classifiers: dozens of birds Collective classifiers: two clumps of grass Varietal classifiers: two species of wheat Measure classifiers: one liter of wine Arrangement classifiers: two rows of beans Metaphorical comparison classifiers: a bear of a man

This taxonomy is illuminating in understanding measure nominals, which usually denote a part of a whole. The structure of these nominals is basically the same, except that metaphorical comparison classifier is special and needs to be treated separately. However, a very important issue concerns the status of “of noun” in these nominals. “In most cases of cannot be replaced by another

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preposition, nor can it be paraphrased as a compound which reverses the order of the two nouns” (Lehrer 1986: 110). But is “of noun” a Postmodifier of the measure word? If so, is it a down-­ranked prepositional phrase?

2.2  Measure nominals in Chinese Wang (1985: 260–75) proposed that measure nominals in Chinese can be put into six types: natural units; collective units; units of length, volume, weight, and monetary units; container; units about writing; and event units out of actions. A different categorization was then put forward by Lu Jianming (Lu 1987), who classified measure words in modern Chinese into four categories: action (e.g. cì 次, tàng 趟, zhèn 阵); time (e.g. tiān 天, nián 年, miaˇo 秒); unit (e.g. jīn 斤, chıˇ 尺); and nominal (e.g. gè 个, zhāng 张, zhī 支, tiáo 条, waˇn 碗, bēi 杯). Lu’s categorization avoids overlapping and simplicity in Wang’s categories, but the action type and the nominal type are still too general. Some measure words serve as typical cases in both the action type and the nominal type, e.g. “zhāng” in yī zhāng gōng (一张弓, “a bow,” action) and yī zhāng zhuōzi (一张桌子, “a table,” nominal). A more comprehensive categorization was later put forward by Shi Xiyao. Shi (1992: 38–46) divided measure nominals in Chinese into two general categories: individual and collective. Those for individual things were further classified into six types:   (9) Shape measure nominal: yī piàn xuěhuā (一片雪花, a flake of snow) (10) Activity measure nominal: liaˇng tiāo shuıˇ (两挑水, two shoulders of water) (11) Component measure nominal: sān tóu niú (三头牛, three heads of cow) (12) Container measure nominal: sì píng jiuˇ (四瓶酒, four bottles of liquor) (13) Unit measure nominal: wuˇ dūn mıˇ (五吨米, five tons of rice) (14) Other measure nominal: liù wèi yào (六味药, six tastes of medicine) For shape measure nominals, the size of shape or the shape itself may be perceived differently: so such expressions as yī piàn yún (一片云, a piece of cloud) and yī piàn shùyè (一片树叶, a piece of leaf) are all acceptable. For activity measure nominals, some measure words which originally describe activity may collocate with nouns which are not directly related to activity. For example, in liaˇng tiāo shuıˇ the measure word tiāo originates from the activity of shouldering water and in wuˇ zhāng zuıˇ (五张嘴, five mouths), the measure word zhāng originates from

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the activity of opening the mouth. For container measure nominals, the choice of the measure word sometimes depends on the actual container in context. So yī bēi jiuˇ (一杯酒, one glass of liquor), yī píng jiuˇ (一瓶酒, one bottle of liquor), yī waˇn jiuˇ (一碗酒, one bowl of liquor), yī toˇng jiuˇ (一桶酒, one barrel of liquor) are all good collocations. The measure words may extend to any container that can hold the thing: (15) yī dài jiuˇ (一袋酒, one bag of liquor); yī hé jiuˇ (一盒酒, one box of liquor); yī xiāng jiuˇ (一箱酒, one case of liquor); yī tán jiuˇ (一坛酒, one jar of liquor); yī chē jiuˇ (一车酒, one wagon of liquor) Measure nominals for collective things are further classified into two categories: those for pairs and those for groups. (16) Pair measure nominals: liaˇng shuāng xiézi (两双鞋子, two pairs of shoes) (17) Group measure nominals: liaˇng pái liuˇshù (两排柳树, two rows of willow) Pair measure nominals are restricted to nouns in which two components of things always appear together and the measure words for them include duì (对, pair), shuāng (双, pair), fù (副, pair or set), and others. For group measure nominals, the measure words vary with the nouns and there are a large number of such measure words in Chinese: sān tào jiājù (三套家具, three sets of furniture) and sān qún rén (三群人, three crowds of people) among others. So far we have briefly reviewed the principal studies of measure nominals in Chinese. Yet a question arises: a measure word to measure nominals is mandatory or not in Chinese? Before answering this question, it is helpful to turn to the distinction between what is referred to as a classifier language vs. a non-­classifier language.

2.3  Classifier or non-­classifier? The languages of the world can be divided into two groups with regard to numeral classifiers: those that have classifiers, such as the majority of languages in East and Southeast Asia, and those that do not, such as most European languages, including English (Allan 1977; Greenberg 1990). It is thus widely believed that English is a non-­classifier language while Chinese is a classifier language, for in Chinese all nouns are like mass nouns in the sense that, for a noun to be counted, a measure word is mandatory.

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Upon discussing measuring words in Chinese, some scholars identified two categories: classifier and massifier (e.g. Cheng and Sybesma 1998), one for a closed class and the other for a non-­closed class. Soon after, Cheng and Sybesma (1999) argued that classifiers in Chinese are equivalent to a definite article. But Wu and Bodomo (2009) argued against this position on empirical grounds and proposed that Chinese classifiers are not on the same footing as definite determiners. Some other scholars even distinguished between classifiers and “true measure words,” though they structurally both follow immediately after a numeral and appear before a noun (Lyons 1977; Li 2000). They held this view for two reasons: true measure words usually occur with uncountable mass nouns but classifiers usually occur with count nouns. In any case, the general viewpoint is that Chinese is a classifier language. I would argue, however, that to label Chinese as a “classifier language” and English as a “non-­classifier language” is not well-­grounded for the following reasons: both languages contain numerous classifiers but some are covert and some others are overt, and the choice of a classifier (the measure word) is entirely context-­dependent; the structure and function of measure nominals where classifiers locate are basically similar in English and Chinese.

3  Context-­dependency in using measure words The choice of a classifier (the measure word) entirely depends on contexts. First, if one takes all possible contexts into consideration, both English and Chinese contain countless things that are mass and numerous things that are countable. The cognitive foundation for countability is basically similar although cultural diversity may result in differences. It is already well-­known that English and Chinese regard things that cannot be individuated as uncountable, and things that can be individuated as countable. Consequently, we have many uncountable nouns such as ‘water, sand, grass, warmth’ in English and their counterparts in Chinese. Second, in contexts where the units can be inferred, the measure word is not necessary for Chinese, not for uncountable nouns in English either. Such contexts include idiomatic expressions and expressions to which measure words are redundant. See (18). (18a) wuˇ fēng shí yuˇ (五风十雨, five wind and ten rain, “timely wind and rain”) wuˇ hú sì haˇi (五湖四海, five lakes and four seas, “all corners of the country”)

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(18b) six waters a cart (COCA) 40,000 soaps each day (COCA) Third, the omission of measure words in Chinese and English results in various usages for different contexts rather than improper collocations. Count nouns in Chinese can be directly put after numerals without measure words while mass nouns in English can be used directly after numerals without measure words. This brings forth usages of different kinds, particularly true of spoken forms of the two languages. See (19). (19a) sān fáng (三房, “three houses”) (19b) three coffees The instances in (19) may have many meanings in different contexts. First of all, (19a) may mean: sān gè fáng jiān (三个房间, three rooms) or sān gè qīzıˇ (三个妻 子, three wives). Similar colloquial nominals can be found in Chinese where measure words are redundant. It is even abnormal to use measure words together with some nominals, for example, wuˇ xíng (五行, five elements, i.e. metal, wood, water, fire, and earth), sān shēng (三生, the three births, or reincarnations, past, present, future). Likewise, the meaning of (19b) in English depends on context. It may mean: three cups of coffee; three packs of coffee; three cans of coffee. In certain contexts, these nominals may sound rather strange to ordinary people. To stevedores, (19b) may mean three ships of coffee; and to real estate staff, (19a) may mean sān dòng zhù fáng (三栋住房, three buildings of houses). In other words, the presence of the measure word is not mandatory here. To sum up, the presence of a measure word is necessary for mass nouns in both English and Chinese, but mandatory only where things need to be referred to as units. Mass things, if put into certain containers or divided into certain units, will be used in the same way as count nouns do. The presence of the measure word is redundant for count nouns in English, but count nouns can be used as measure words in other expressions (e.g. a book of words). A measure word is necessary for mass nouns in English, but mass nouns can be used as measure words in other expressions (e.g. a cloud of words/smoke). Clearly, it is not fixed but context-­dependent in using measure words for nouns both in English and in Chinese. It is, therefore, incorrect to say that measure words are mandatory for nouns in Chinese and mass nouns in English. This view gains support from Allan (1980), who proposed eight levels of countability that argued for the degree of uncountableness. He found that nouns

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in English “can be used both countably and uncountably in different NP environments” (Allan 1980: 541). The issue of countability of nouns was not taken into account in Halliday (1994a), but a “cline of countability” was suggested for considering nouns in Halliday (2004: 326; 2014: 385), which ranges “from those nouns (and pronouns) which construe things as fully itemized, at one end, to those which treat them as totally unbounded at the other.” Being countable or uncountable just reflects certain usages in certain typical contexts. When the elements of the context change, the degree of countability will alter and so will the necessity of using measure words. Having considered context-­dependency, I shall move back to the question raised in Section  2.1 above: Whether of noun constitutes a down-­ranked prepositional phrase to modify the measure word in English measure nominals? I will seek answers to this question by analyzing the structure and function of measure nominals from the perspective of SFL.

4  Analyzing metafunctional meanings of measure nominals 4.1  Experiential meaning of measure nominals Structure and function go hand in hand and cannot be separated in SFL analysis. According to Halliday (2014: 392), the internal structure of the measure expression (or other embedded numerative) in English can be drawn as follows: a

cup

of

Numerative

tea Thing

Premodifier

Head

β

α

Postmodifier

Figure 7.1  Internal structure of the measure expression (Halliday 2014: 392).

Linguistic analysis by means of SFL should be carried out for the purpose of locating or revealing “meaning.” However, when we take “cup” in “a cup of tea” as Head (see Figure 7.1), it would seem odd to locate a meaning of this nominal which does not focus on “tea.” If “of tea” is Postmodifier, it is secondary in status to “cup.” But in fact, it is not difficult to locate ‘tea’ as the most important information in this nominal expression.

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The problem becomes more apparent if we follow the analysis in Figure 7.1 to analyze the internal structure of the measure expression in Chinese, which is typical both for count nouns and mass nouns. See Figure 7.2 below. Closer examination of yī bēi chá reveals that it is unreasonable to take bēi (cup) as Head and chá (tea) as Postmodifier, for chá should be the word which carries the most important information. The group may be well-­understood if bēi is omitted but difficult to get across if chá is absent. One may argue that the two languages are different in measure nominals and should be analyzed differently. This sounds rational, but since all would agree that both “a cup of ’ and ‘yī bēi” function as Numeratives, why it seems all right to take “cup” as Head while it is rather unreasonable to take “bēi” as Head. When “of tea” is taken as Postmodifier, it is down-­ranked in status, lower than “cup.” Likewise, when “chá” is treated as Postmodifier, it is down-­ranked in status, lower than “bēi.” This is contradictory to the fundamental meaning of the nominal group, in which those function as Thing should be higher in status. See an improved analysis for such expressions in Chinese in Figure 7.3. In this analysis, Head is conflated with Thing and the measure word comes together with the Numeral, functioning as Numerative and Premodifier. In other words, the measure word “bei” is part of the Premodifier and it should not be treated as Head. The Head and the Premodifier can be further modified by other

yī 一 a/one

bēi 杯 cup

chá 茶 tea

Numerative

Thing

Premodifier

Head ?

β

α?

Postmodifier ?

Figure 7.2  Potential internal structure of the typical measure expression in Chinese.

yī 一 a/one

bēi 杯 cup

chá 茶 tea

Numerative

Thing

Premodifier

Head

β

α

Figure 7.3  Improved internal structure of the typical measure expression in Chinese.

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modifiers respectively. In the same manner, “cup” in “a cup of tea” shall not be taken as Head. The Numerative denotes the number while the Thing is always the most important information. In cases where the Thing is the default information known to language users, the Numerative may become more prominent. This applies to measure nominals both in Chinese and in English. Therefore, we may provide an improved analysis of “a cup of tea” in Figure 7.4. Here we treat “a cup of ” as an adjectival group, functioning as Numerative and Premodifier in the experiential meaning. In the default use of a measure nominal, the Thing (‘ “tea” in this example) is what is to be modified. All those that denote the measuring of a Thing should be treated as modifiers. For example, “cup” and “tea” can be further modified (e.g. two full cups of green tea), but all these modifiers are eventually used to modify “tea.” Such treatment finds support in the history of English in the use of preposition “of.” According to Oxford English Dictionary (OED), “of” displays about sixty-­ three distinct usages in the history of English. One of these usages is to indicate “quantity, age, extent, price, etc.” See the following instance which was used in 1523: (20) syxe foote of lengthe (six foot of length) Can we say that “of lengthe” is a Postmodifier of “foote”? This is redundant both in meaning and structure, for “six foot” is already the exact length. Another explanation is to follow the usage illustrated by OED and say that ‘of ’ here functions as the indicator of “quantity,” so “foote of ” should be treated as a whole, functioning as Epithet. The modern measuring construction (e.g. a cup of tea) most probably inherits this usage, and one may consider “of ” in “a cup of tea” as an indicator of quantity. Such measuring constructions are rather different from other types of “of nominals” in English. For example, the legs of three compasses. In these instances, “of nominals” functions as a postmodifier of “legs.” The most important information conveyed in these instances is “legs,” which functions as Head, conflating with a

cup

of

tea

Numerative

Thing

Premodifier

Head

β

α

Figure 7.4  Improved internal structure of the measure expression in English.

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Thing. Chinese counterparts of these nominals may further help explain the status of “of nominals” here (e.g. zhıˇ nán zhēn de zhıˇ zhēn, 指南针的指针). In the counterparts, the most important information loads on ‘zhıˇ zhēn’ (指针, legs).

4.2  Logical meaning of measure nominals In the section above, I have already noted the logical structure of measure nominals in the four figures. Logical meaning, however, is more complicated than that. According to Halliday (2014: 390), “What the logical analysis does is to bring out the hypotactic basis of premodification in the nominal group, which then also explains its penchant for generating long strings of nouns.” Univariate and multivariate structures are identified in logical analysis. When each element in a structure has a distinct function with respect to the whole, the structure is multivariate. For example: (21) those two splendid old electric trains (Halliday 2014: 364) The functions of the elements in (21) are as follows: Deictic + Numerative + Epithet1 + Epithet2 + Classifier + Thing. The logical structure, therefore, is multivariate, with “trains” as the anchoring element. The nominal group is unusual for we have to interpret its structure in both ways simultaneously “to understand how it functions as a resource for construing complex things” (Halliday 2014: 390). As to the measure nominal, the logical analysis in Figure  7.1 shows that the measure word is regarded as the central element in the logical structure (α). This measure nominal is a multivariate structure. The problem is, then, how to determine the status of “of noun” in the logical analysis of measure nominals. One can see no answer to this in Figure 7.1 and the discussions related. If one instead views measure nominals from a different perspective and takes ‘a cup of ’ in ‘a cup of tea’ as an adjectival group, the logical analysis works. See Figure 7.5 for an improved analysis of the logical meaning. a

cup

of

tea

Premodifier

Head

β

α

ββ

βα

Figure 7.5  Improved logical analysis of the measure expression in English.

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In this analysis, the only element that has not been explained is “of.” Since we treat “a cup of ” as a whole and “of ” is only meaningful in association with “a cup” and the noun that follows, we may label it as “Relator.” By contrast, in Chinese measure nominals, no relator is needed (See Figure 7.6).

yī一 a/one

bēi杯 cup

chá茶 tea

Premodifier

Head

β

α

ββ

βα

Figure 7.6  Logical analysis of the measure expression in Chinese.

4.3  Interpersonal meaning of measure nominals Expressions which contain typical measure words may not be used to measure. Such expressions carry strong interpersonal meaning and they are frequently used in English and Chinese. See (22) for some English expressions and their Chinese counterparts: (22a) hundreds of, rows and rows of, first/last of (22b) chéng qiān shàng wàn (成千上万), yī pái pái (一排排), shoˇu gè (首个) The interpersonal meaning of these expressions includes probability (hundreds of, chéng qiān shàng wàn), intensity (rows and rows of, yī pái pái), and temporality (first, shoˇu gè). They are not measure nominals, for they do not measure anything but just describe degrees of probability, intensity, or temporality. Typical measure nominals such as “a cup of tea” do not carry much interpersonal meaning, except when “cup” is used out of expectation. For example, if the speaker/writer finds “tea” in a huge mug but uses “a cup of tea” to express that, he/ she already conveys some comments. When some modifiers which usually appear together with measure nominals are taken into consideration, the interpersonal meaning is obvious. We input “cup of ” in the advanced search box of the OED on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) published in 2009 and the following expressions pop up among the hundreds of results. Chinese counterparts are also provided in brackets for comparison.

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(23) a cup of hot wine (一杯热茶, yī bēi rè chá) a cup of very peculiar-­tasting tea (一杯味道特别的茶, yī bēi wèidào tèbié de chá) a cup of pure water (一杯纯净水, yī bēi chúnjìngshuıˇ) a cup of her ale (一杯她的啤酒, yī bēi tā de píjiuˇ) a cup of such coffee (一杯这种咖啡, yī bēi zhè zhoˇng kāfēi) These instances show that modifiers can be naturally used before the Thing, conveying modality in them. The Epithet “hot” (rè) in “a cup of hot tea” (yī bēi rè chá) indicates some degree of intensity in typical context. In some particular context (e.g. in outdoor places), it may function interpersonally in the same way as “good” (haˇo) does. The Epithet “pure” (chúnjìng) in (23) carries some degree of judgment concerning morality and “very peculiar-­tasting” (wèidào tèbié) conveys some degree of appreciation concerning desirability. As to the last two instances, “her” (tā de) and “such” (zhè zhoˇng) show some degree of deicticity. Modifiers can be put before the measure word as well. See (24) from the OED for example. Their Chinese counterparts are also provided for comparison. (24) a comforting cup of Bovril (一杯舒适的牛肉汁, yī bēi shūshì de niúròu zhī) an excellent cup of coffee (一杯上乘的咖啡, yī bēi shàngchéng de kāfēi) a refreshing cup of tea (一杯提神的茶, yī bēi tíshén de chá) a silent and thoughtful cup of tea (一杯无声而体贴的茶, yī bēi wúshēng ér tıˇtiē de chá) In (24), the Epithets “comforting, excellent, refreshing” (shūshì, shàngchéng, tíshén) convey some degree of judgment concerning morality. What is special here is that the last two measure nominals in (24) are not simple. The Epithets “silent and thoughtful” (mòmò ér tıˇtiē) imply that the expressions are metaphorical. It is not easy to decide what element does the Epithet in each of (24) modify. Traditional grammar treats these Epithets as modifiers of “cup” but the Chinese counterparts already give us hints for a different interpretation. These Epithets modify the whole nominal group rather than “cup,” for the focus is on the Thing in each of them. The interpersonal meaning of judgment therefore falls on the entire nominal. Besides modification shown in (23) and (24), measure word and Thing can be simultaneously modified by Epithets. See (25) and their Chinese counterparts in brackets. (25) a giant cup of Irish breakfast tea (一大杯爱尔兰早茶, yī dà bēi àiěrlán zaˇo chá)

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a whole cup of hot coffee (一整杯热咖啡, yī zhěng bēi rè kāfēi) a second cup of hot tea (第二杯热茶, dì èr bēi rè chá) the small cup of iced coffee (这小杯冰咖啡, zhè xiaˇo bēi bing kāfēi)

From the instances in (25), we may find that Epithets, Identifiers, Ordinatives, and Deictics can all be used in the measure nominals, either before the measure word or before the Thing. Such uses carry interpersonal meanings of different degrees. The interpersonal meanings of these may become more apparent if we follow Martin and White (2005) and consider Judgment and Appreciation.

5  Conclusion Whether to use or not to use a classifier may not be grammatically determined (Li 2000), but it could be discourse and/or pragmatically sensitive (Hopper 1986). Since countability is a matter of degree (Allan 1980) which varies with contextual elements, it is not constructive to look into measure nominals from the perspective of mass/count distinction. From what we have observed, transference of countability needs to be carefully considered. A typical uncountable noun can be transferred to be countable and vice versa (e.g. two coffees, a cloud of smoke). Functional analysis of measure nominals in English and Chinese further reveals that such a distinction as classifier language and non-­classifier language should be withdrawn in discussing measure nominals. The distinction may be useful in a certain context, but the choice of measure words is a matter of context. Both English and Chinese contain numerous count nouns and mass nouns and both languages may or may not use measure words in expressing measuration. The group “of noun” that follows the measure word in a measure nominal does not modify the measure word as Postmodifier and it is not a down-­ranked phrase. The word “of ” after the measure word can be taken as Relator in measure nominals and “measure word + of ” functions as an adjectival group. Context dependence should be highly respected before typicality is considered in specific contexts. A more constructive and meaningful way of studying measure nominals is to categorize the potential contexts and principles of identification via such theories as SFL.

8

A Systemic Functional Study of Marked Chinese Tenses1 HE, Wei (何伟) & MA, Ruizhi (马瑞芝) University of Science and Technology Beijing

1  Introduction The study of the modern Chinese temporal system can be traced back to the 1930s and 1940s, during which temporal concepts such as “present,” “past,” and “future” have been used (Gao 1986: 221; Li 2001; Lü 1982: 215–23). However, since there is no morphological variation in Chinese (Lü 2005: 79), the earlier studies either denied or ignored the existence of tense as a grammatical category in Chinese while focusing on the phenomena of time words, aspect and some functional words (Gao 1986: 190–9; Li 2001; Lü 1982: 215–33; Ji 2002: 85–94, 211–23). Entering the 1980s and 1990s, along with the proposal of a threefold temporal framework including phase, tense, and aspect by Chen (1988: 401–22), the study of modern Chinese temporal system saw a substantial development (see He and Ma 2011: 19–27). Scholars shifted their research focus from whether there is a tense in Chinese as to how the temporal meaning, including temporal deictic meaning, is realized. Perspectives of the temporal meaning have been approached from different angles. Meanwhile, studies of the modern Chinese temporal system have been extended to a much wider scope, covering the areas of machine translation, dialect studies, theoretical studies of translation, and contrastive analysis. However, up until now, a compromise as to a consistent temporal framework of Chinese has hardly been arrived at. This chapter will propose an overall Chinese tense system and describe the instantiation of the potential system in the light of SFG (Halliday 1985b, 1994a).

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2  Tense in Chinese 2.1  Definition of tense in Chinese According to the explicitness of tense realizations in Chinese, this study categorizes tenses in Chinese into groups of marked tense and unmarked tense. It approaches the marked tense system in the light of SFG (Halliday 1985, 1994a; He 2007, 2008) and regards the marked tense as a grammatical or semi-­grammatical resource which construes the deictic relationship(s) between (a) pair(s) of times indicated in a clause. Situated at the clause level, a complete tense involves the relationship between a reference time and the event time under discussion. It reflects the external temporal framework of an event, i.e. the temporal deictic relationship(s) between the event and its reference time(s).

2.1.1  Tense in a broad sense Different from inflectional languages such as English, there is no morphological variation in Chinese (Lü 2005: 79). Chinese is regarded as a discourse-­oriented language, in which clauses are usually not self-­contained (Cao 1995). Therefore, for a thorough understanding of the language, a wider research scope covering the factors within the clause as well as factors beyond the clause is encouraged (Li 2010). Also, due to the scarcity of morphological variation in a strict sense, some scholars (e.g. Ma 1981) suggest a more flexible interpretation of “morphological variation,” i.e. functional words in a broad sense, including repetitive forms, auxiliaries, particles, adverbs, and others should be regarded as formal variation in Chinese. In this study, the temporal deictic relationship will be approached from within as well as from between the clauses. Exploration of the realizations of tense will be extended to auxiliaries and adverbs which have been grammaticalized or semi-­grammaticalized.

2.1.2  Tense on the clause rank In Chinese, no temporal deictic meaning can be inferred by judging merely verbal groups. Scholars usually base their research on a “sentence” which is marked by a period and no specification is made for the exact location of tense (see, e.g. Chen 1988; Gong 1995; Shang 2007). This vague location of tense makes a thorough and comprehensive study of Chinese tense difficult. Take the following Chinese sentences as examples:

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yínjià zài yītiān nèi zhaˇng le 14%. 2 14%. silver price at one day inside rise TA (The silver price rose by 14% within one day.) shānguˇ lIˇ wúmíngde xiaˇoxī, cóng yījiuˇèrqīnián dào yījiuˇsānqīnián valley inside nameless brook, from 1927 to 1937 zhè shínián jiān, cónglái jiù méi qīng guò. these ten years between always just not clear TA. (The nameless brook in the valley, during the ten years between 1927 and 1937, was never clean.) (3) hái méi děng tā zhànqIˇshēn, Màisān jiù pāde yì zhaˇng daˇ guòlái. yet not till he stand up, Maisan just ONO 3 a hand slap forward. (Before he could stand up, Maisan had given him a slap.) (4) tā zoˇu guòqù baˇ chuāngzIˇ guānshàng. he walk over make window close. (He went over and closed the window.)

(1) (2)

The above examples indicate that the division of clauses in Chinese is based on the meaning of the event4—neither period nor comma can be regarded as the division mark. This study takes tense as being located at the clause level. To define a clause, reference should be made to the identification of an event.

2.2  Basic elements in temporal deictic meaning structure As the definition of tense indicates, the temporal deictic meaning of an event involves the event time (Et) and the reference time (Rt), a special case of which is the speech time “now.” The event time is the time point where the event takes place; the reference time is the time point to which the event time is anchored; and the speech time is a special case of reference time where “now” is taken as the coding time. In SFG, components of the temporal structure follow the rules of three divisions and recursion (Halliday 1994a; He 2007, 2008): (i) the event time and its reference time hold a threefold temporal relationship, i.e. simultaneity, posteriority or anteriority; and (ii) the event time can be directed to a past, present, or future time in relation to the reference time. Series of temporal relationship can be established when the reference time is consecutively selected. Figures 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 respectively illustrate the temporal deictic relationship of anteriority, simultaneity, and posteriority.

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Figure 8.1  Anteriority.

Figure 8.2  Simultaneity.

Figure 8.3  Posteriority.

2.3  Tense system While analyzing the logical structure of verbal groups, SFG (Halliday 1994a: 198) distinguishes two kinds of natural tense: primary tense and primary-­ secondary tense. The primary tenses are tenses of past, present, or future relative to the coding time while the secondary ones “express past, present or future relative to the time selected in the previous tense.” However, this classification of tense is not exhaustive and cannot provide convincing explanations to some of the tense phenomena in clause complexes. Take the following clause complex as an example: (5) The lawyer consulted Mary after she had left John after she had thrown a pot of hot coffee at him when he yelled at her after they had just come home from the party (see He 2005: 54–7). Tenses in the dependent clauses initiated by “after” and “when” do not directly relate the event time to the coding time, but to another reference time. In this sense, it is believed that a full description of tense should take the cases of clause complexes into consideration. A reclassification of tenses enriches the tense system as a system including four tense types: primary tenses, secondary tenses, primary-­secondary tenses, and secondary-­secondary tenses (He 2005:

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Figure 8.4  Tense system (see He 2007: 49, 2008: 12).

54–7; 2007: 49–56). Figure 8.4 is a brief illustration of the improved tense system. For the sake of simplicity, abbreviated forms are used to explain the temporal relationship, among which “Et” represents the event time, “Rt1” the coding time, and “Rtn” (n≥2) the other reference time in serial tense choices. Primary tenses “represent a temporal relation between the Et or Rt2 and Rt1”; secondary tenses represent a temporal relation between the Et or one Rt and another Rt, where the secondary tense can be a finite form as well as a non-­finite form; primary-­ secondary tenses represent a compound tense with Et relative to Rtn, . . . and Rt2 relative to Rt1; secondary-­secondary tenses represent “more than one serial tense choice, the first of which takes a secondary deictic center as the reference time and the second centers around the time established in its preceding tense, etc.” (He 2007: 49–56) In the following part, examples will be given to illustrate different types of tense: (6)

yīgè xīngqī yIˇhòu, woˇ jiāngyào cānjiā zìxué kaˇoshì. one week after, I TA participate self-­taught examination. (In one week, I will attend the examination for self-­taught students.) Rt1: now Event: I attending the examination for self-­taught students Et: future time (in one week)

Example 6 is a simple clause consisting of the future event “I attending the examination for self-­taught students.” The future event which will take place “in one week” is anchored to the speech time “now,” thus forming a primary tense expressing the temporal deictic meaning of posteriority.

Figure 8.5  Tense structure of Example 6.

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(7) Zhào Mèngtáo chàng zhe “Nánníwān” jìn le sùshè. Clause 2 Clause 1 Zhao Mengtao sing TA Nanniwan enter TA dorm. (Zhao Mengtao entered the dorm, singing the song Nanniwan.) Rt1: now Event1: Zhao Mengtao entering the dorm Et: past time ‘Rt15=Et Event2: Zhao Mengtao singing the song Nanniwa ‘Et: now

Figure 8.6  Tense structure of Example 7.

Example 7 is a clause complex composed of two clauses. Two events are encoded in the clause complex, “Zhao Mengtao entering the dorm” and “Zhao Mengtao singing the song.” Since the latter is an event accompanying the former, its reference time ‘Rt1 is not the speech time “now,” Instead, it coincides with the past event time of the other clause. Therefore, for Clause 2, the event time ‘Et is simultaneous with ‘Rt1 which is decided by the event time of Clause 1. In this way, the tense auxiliary zhe 着 in Clause 2 is used to mark a secondary tense. (8)

děngdào xiàyīgè yuè, woˇde wénzhāng zaˇojiù xiěhaˇo le. till next month my article TA complete TA. (By next month, my article will have been completed.) Rt1: now Rt2: future time (next month) Event: my article being completed Et: past time

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Figure 8.7  Tense structure of Example 8.

In Example 8, the event “my article being completed” is anchored to two reference times in turn, a future time Rt2 located by the temporal circumstance “next month”s and the speech time “now” which serves as Rt1. The event time is anterior to the future time Rt2 which is posterior to the speech time ‘now’, thus forming a primary-­secondary tense. (9) LIˇmíng   shuō, děngdào xiàyīgè yuè, tāde wénzhāng zaˇojiù xiěhaˇo le. Liming say, till next month, his article TA complete TA. (Liming said that by the next month, his article would have been completed.) Rt1: now Event: Li Ming saying Et: past time ‘Rt1=Et ‘Rt2: future time (next month) ‘Event: his article being completed ‘Et: past time

Figure 8.8  Tense structure of Example 9.

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A comparison of Example 9 and Example 8 indicates that, with the whole event as the projection of another clause, the projected event, in addition to its original temporal deictic structure, is anchored to a past time located by the projecting clause. In Example 9, a secondary-­secondary tense is constructed in the projected clause. As we can see, operating by the principles of three divisions and recursion, the event time is directed to a reference time posterior to, simultaneous with or anterior to it, and this reference time is correspondingly directed to the speech time or other reference times on the time axis. In this way, the tense structure of an event takes shape. When there are only two time points in the event, i.e. the event time and its reference time Rt1, a simple tense is formed. When there are three or more than three time points in the event, i.e. the event time, Rt1, Rt2 and . . . Rtn, a serial tense will come into being. When Rt1 is identified with the speech time “now,” the initiating tense of the event will be a primary tense; otherwise, it would be a secondary tense (see Figure 8.5).

3  Instantiation of marked Chinese tense With a broader interpretation of morphological variation and a diachronic view of language in mind, i.e. seeing grammaticalization in Chinese as an ongoing process (Zuo 2007; Li 2010), both grammatical resources and semi-­grammatical resources are taken as markers for Chinese tense in this study. As for the unmarked tense, this study regards it as the default state, analysis of which will be made in further studies. According to the functions of the grammaticalized or semi-­grammaticalized resources, tense auxiliaries in Chinese are categorized into three groups, those conveying the meaning of anteriority, those delivering the meaning of simultaneity, and those indicating the meaning of posteriority. Tense auxiliaries in these categories, according to their location in a clause, are further divided into groups of post-­verb auxiliaries, pre-­verb auxiliaries and post-­clause auxiliaries (see Figure 8.9). In the following part, description of tense structures of each category will be made.

3.1  Grammaticalized resources Among the grammaticalized tense auxiliaries, guo (过), le 16(了1), ceng (曾), yi(jing) (已(经)), le2 (了2), laizhe (来着), etc. are used to direct a past event to its

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Figure 8.9  Instantiation of marked Chinese tense.

reference time; zhe (着), zheng (正), (zheng)zai ((正)在) and others are used to anchor an event to a simultaneous reference time; jiang (将), yao(要), hui(会), kuai(yao)(快(要)), jiu(yao)(就(要)), jijiang(即将) and others are employed to point a future event to its reference time. In the following part, illustrations of the tense structures for each category will be made.

Anteriority (10)

qùnián woˇmén yóulaˇn guò last year we visit TA (Last year, we visited the Great Wall.) Rt1: now Event: we visiting the Great Wall Et: past time (last year)

chángchéng. the Great Wall.

Figure 8.10  Tense structure of Example 10.

(11)

zhège xiaˇozuˇ shòudào le biaˇoyáng. (Modern Chinese Dictionary) this group receive TA praise. (This group received praise.) Rt1: now Event: this group receiving praise Et: past time

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Figure 8.11  Tense structure of Example 11.

Both guo and le1 are tense auxiliaries located after the verb used as Predicator and before its Complement. In Example 10, guo is placed between “youlan” (visit) and “changcheng” (the Great Wall). The tense auxiliary guo indicates that the event in the clause is a past event relative to its reference time and the temporal circumstance “qunian” (last year) pinpoints the event to an accurate time in the past. In Example 11, tense auxiliary le1 is used between “shoudao” (receive) and “biaoyang” (praise) to direct the past event to its reference time. Compared with guo and le1, ceng and yi(jing) can also locate a past event relative to its reference time, though they are located in a different position in the clause. (12)

Liáoníng, Shāndōng, Shànghaˇi sānzhī zúqiúduì dōu céng Liaoning, Shandong, Shanghai three football team all TA huò quánguó guànjūn chēnghào. win national champion title (Liaoning, Shandong and Shanghai, the three football teams all once won the title of National Champion.) Rt1: now Event: Liaoning, Shandong and Shanghai, the three football teams winning the title of National Champion Et: past time

Figure 8.12  Tense structure of Example 12.

(13)

chūnqiū zhànguó spring and autumn warring states yIˇ xiāngdāng yoˇumíng. TA quite famous.

shíhòu, time

jìnyángchéng Jinyang City

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(In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Jinyang City had been quite famous.) Rt1: now Rt2: past time (in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period) Event: Jinyang City being famous Et: past time

Figure 8.13  Tense structure of Example 13.

In Example 12, there are two elements in the tense structure, the event time and its reference time “now.” The tense auxiliary ceng directs the past event to the speech time, thus forming a primary tense. In Example 13, the tense structure of the event consists of three elements: Rt1 (the speech time now), Rt2 (a past time pinpointed by the temporal circumstance “chunqiu zhanguo shihou” [in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period], and Et (the past event time). (14)

tā líkāi jiā haˇojIˇtiān le. he leave home quite a few days TA. (He has left his home for quite a few days.) Rt1: now Rt2: now Event: he leaving his home for days Et: past time

Figure 8.14  Tense structure of Example 14.

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(15)

woˇ gāngcái zài jiēshàng kànjiàn XiaˇolIˇ láizhe. I just now on the street see Xiaoli TA. (I saw Xiaoli on the street just now.) Rt1: now Event: I seeing Xiaoli Et: past time (just now)

Figure 8.15  Tense structure of Example 15.

Both le2 and laizhe are employed at the end of a clause to mark a past event. Similar to the difference between ceng and yi(jing), the tense structure of le2 contains a reference time which is simultaneous with, yet different from the reference time it is anchored to, thus forming a serial tense while laizhe directly relates the past event to its reference time and forms a simple tense.

Simultaneity To realize the temporal deictic meaning of simultaneity, tense auxiliaries such as zhe, zheng, (zheng)zai are used to direct the event time to its reference time. There are two differences between zhe and zheng, (zheng)zai: (i) zhe is usually located between the verb used as Predicator and the Complement, while zheng, (zheng)zai usually lie in front of the verb; (ii) the tense structure of zhe is composed by two elements: the event time and the reference time; while the tense structure of zheng or (zheng)zai consists of three elements: the event time, the coding time and a reference time simultaneous with, yet different from the coding time. (16)

tā daˇ zhe hóngqí zài qiánmiàn Clause 2 Clause 1 he carry TA red flag at the front (He walked in the front, carrying the red flag.) Rt1: now Event: he walking in the front Et: past time ‘Rt1=Et ‘Event: he carrying the red flag ‘Et: now

zoˇu. walk.

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Figure 8.16  Tense structure of Example 16.

(17)

jiějiě zài zuò gōngkè. sister TA do homeword. (My elder sister is doing her homework.) Rt1: now Rt2: now Event: my elder sister doing her homework Et: now

Figure 8.17  Tense structure of Example 17.

(18)

mùqián, yīngguó yoˇuguān dāngjú zhèng duì cIˇshì jìnxíng diàochá. presently British relevant government TA toward this case do investigation (Presently, the British government is investigating this case.) Rt1: now Event: the British government investigating this case Et: now

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Figure 8.18  Tense structure of Example 18.

Example 16 is a clause complex including two simple clauses. Clause 1, inferred from the context, is a past event while Clause 2 takes the event time of Clause 1 as its coding time and, in this way, constructs a secondary tense. In Examples 17 and 18, the event time is anchored directly to a reference time simultaneous with the coding time before it is further directed to the coding time. The existence of a reference time between the event time and the coding time is to indicate that relative to the coding time, the event is an ongoing process.

Posteriority Example 19 is a simple clause in whose tense structure the future event time is directed to the reference time “ ‘now” through the use of tense auxiliary jiang (see Figure  8.11). Besides jiang, other auxiliaries such as yao, hui, kuai(yao), jiu(yao), jijiang are also employed to direct a future event to its reference time. These auxiliaries are usually found before the verb used as Predicator in the clause. (19)

zhōngyāng diànshìtái jiāng zhuaˇnbō qízhōng de sānchaˇng bIˇsài shíkuàng. CCTV TA broadcast therein three match live. (CCTV will televize three of the matches live.) Rt1: now Event: CCTV televizing three of the matches live Et: future time

Figure 8.19  Tense structure of Example 19.

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3.2  Semi-­grammaticalized resources As is confirmed in some studies (Zuo 2007; Li 2010), the grammaticalized resources in Chinese are evolving. Some substantives are gradually being formalized into functional words. Among the resources which help construe the temporal deictic relationship in a clause, there are some words whose original meaning as a substantive is weakening, while at the same time they play the role similar to that of a functional word. (20)

tā daˇsuàn míngtiān yīzaˇo he TA tomorrow morning (He is about to set off early next morning.) Rt1: now Event: he setting off Et: future time

chūfā. set off

Figure 8.20  Tense structure of Example 20.

(21)

Zhāng Shoˇuyì běnlái shì xuéyóuhuàde. Zhang Shouyi TA be oil painting major (Zhang Shouyi was an oil painting major.) Rt1: now Event: Zhang Shouyi be an oil painting major Et: past time

Figure 8.21  Tense structure of Example 21.

Dasuan in Example 20 can be regarded either as a verb which means “making plans” or as an auxiliary exerting similar function as jiang or yao. In this clause, its original meaning “making plans” has weakened. It is more likely to convey the

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Subject’s inclination for a future event. Therefore, in this study, dasuan in Example 20 is taken as a semi-­grammaticalized resource for temporal deictic meaning construction. Benlai in Chinese is usually categorized as an adverb meaning “originally.” However, in Example 21, benlai implies an undefined time anterior to the present speech time. It can be replaced by the auxiliary ceng without affecting the tense structure of the event. In that case, it is in some sense playing the role of a tense auxiliary. Besides dasuan and ben(lai), similar cases can also be found in clauses containing zhunbei, yubei, mashang, like and others.

4  Conclusion This study is an exploration of the tense system of modern Chinese in the light of SFG. Attempts have been made to uncover components of the tense system and the instantiation of marked tenses. Based on the principle of “meaning prior to form,” this study approaches the Chinese tense system from the realizations of temporal deictic meaning. It is held that there are grammatical resources or semi-­grammaticalized resources for construing chains of temporal relationships between pairs of times indicated in a Chinese clause. The tense structure which consists of the event time and its reference times follows the basic principles of three divisions and recursion. According to characters of the tense structure, tense in Chinese can be categorized into primary tense, secondary tense, primary-­ secondary tense, and secondary-­secondary tense. In this way, a general picture of the Chinese temporal system, including the tense types and instantiations, has been constructed in this study. However, due to limited time and energy, this study is far from being enough. Research has been mostly focused on the marked Chinese tenses. To further the study of Chinese tense system, more efforts need to be made on issues of unmarked Chinese tenses, tense structures in negative clauses, the relationship between tense and temporal circumstances, usage of tense auxiliaries in different types of discourse and others.

Notes 1 This study is supported by the National Social Science Fund (11BYY007). It is a revised and shortened version of “Systemic Functional Study of the Chinese Temporal System: Marked Chinese Tenses”, which is a much longer paper accepted in the proceedings of 38th International Systemic Functional Congress. That paper

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6

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also discusses the relationship between tense and aspect and the concept of “tense auxiliary compound.” TA here is used as a label for tense auxiliary le. ONO here is used as a label for onomatopoeia. Event is part of a proposition. An event together with a tense forms a proposition (He 2008: 15). ‘Rt1 and ‘Et here are time points in Event 2. The mark “‘” is used to distinguish time points in the dependent clause (Clause 2) from time points in the dominant clause (Clause 1). To distinguish le appearing after a verb and le at the end of a clause, the two are respectively marked as le1 and le2 in this study.

Clause and Clause Complex

9

Range Characteristics in Material Clauses in Mandarin Chinese YANG, Guowen (杨国文)

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

1  Introduction Range described in this chapter is a generalized term for a kind of non-­inherent participants of processes defined within the theoretical framework of systemic functional grammar (SFG; Halliday 2004; Halliday and Matthiessen 1999). Clause is the basic grammatical unit that represents a process in terms of SFG. The semantic configuration of a process is experientially constructed from the process itself, the participants of the process and the circumstances associated with the process. Processes are divided into six types, material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, and existential, each of which has its own inherent participants. Processes may be also associated with some additional participants. Studies have shown that process types and transitivity in English and Chinese are very similar, although some distinctions do exist at the level of surface realization (McDonald 1998; Halliday 2007c; Halliday and Matthiessen 1999; Hu 1999a; Yang 2002, 2004, 2007; Peng 2011). Material processes in SFG represent the experience of doing and happening and involve two inherent participants, Actor and Goal. Four additional participants, Scope, Recipient, Client, and Attribute, may also occur in material clauses to indicate respectively the domain over which the process takes place, the role that goods are given to, the role for which services are done, and the resultant qualitative state of Actor or Goal (Halliday 2004: 190–5). The term Range is rooted in the mode of ergative interpretation of processes (Halliday 2004: 293–5). It specifies the range and domain of process. Unlike the inherent participants of processes, Range is semantically not a participant of process in any way, but grammatically treated as if it was. Range is considered an

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additional participant and generally covers specific elements of clauses interpreted in the transitive mode, including the Scope of material processes, the Verbiage of verbal processes, the Phenomenon of mental processes, the Behavior of behavioral processes, and the Attribute and Value of relational processes. These elements grammatically look like participants of process, but their characteristics may provide some clues as to distinguishing them from those inherent participants, especially from the Goal-­like participants. From a comparative point of view, the Range elements in Chinese behave in some unique ways, which are simultaneously manifested in lexical, clausal, and textual respects. The differences between Range and inherent participants of processes can be more easily found in material clauses. This chapter describes Range characteristics in material clauses in Chinese by comparing its grammatical behavior with that of Goal and its counterpart in English (cf. Yang 2001, 2002, 2004).

2  Range in material clauses 2.1  The functions and forms of range Material clauses are the processes of doing and happening, with Actor as an inherent participant of it, bringing about the unfolding of the process through time that may extend to another participant, Goal, which is directly affected by the performance of process, e.g. “the tourist” in “the lion caught the tourist” (Halliday 2004: 180). The unmarked linear structures of material clauses in Chinese are “Actor + Process + Goal”/“Actor + Process ± (Scope),” in which symbol “±” means with or without, and the element in parenthesis, i.e. “Scope,” functions as Range. We can probe material processes by asking: “What does the Actor do to the Goal” or “What happens to the Goal.” Nevertheless, we cannot ask the same questions about Range since it may not be an entity at all. Range in material processes functions in two ways: “it either (i) construes the domain over which the process takes place, or (ii) construes the process itself, either in general or specific terms” (Halliday 2004: 192). There are both similarities and distinctions between English and Chinese in these two respects. Concerning the first function of Range, i.e. indicating the domain over which the process takes place, Chinese and English have, on the one hand, similar expressions, e.g. pá shān 爬山 (climb mountains), zuò yóuxì 做游戏 (play games), and tán gāngqín 弹钢琴 (play the piano), in which Range is realized by

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a noun behaving as the complement of the verb in both languages. From the viewpoint of probabilities, on the other hand, such nominal expressions of Range occur more directly and frequently in Chinese than in English, e.g. qù xuéxiào 去 学校 (go to school), cháxún xìnxī 查寻信息 (look up the information), and zhaˇo gōngzuò 找工作 (look for a job). The prepositions in these English examples are included in “phrasal verbs” and cannot be left out (Halliday 2004: 351–3), although in some other cases they might be unnecessary, for example, “await the opportunity”/“wait for the opportunity,” and “play the lead”/“act as the lead” (this is a relational process). In contrast to this, the same constituent after the verb can only be directly realized as a noun without being preceded by a preposition in Chinese, i.e. děngdài jīhuì 等待机会 and bànyaˇn zhuˇjué 扮演主角. With respect to the second function of Range, i.e. to serve as another name for the process, there are also similarities and distinctions between Chinese and English. In English, it is common to see the process semantically represented by Range and the main verb of the clause is lexically empty. At the same time, the two parts are often separated by a numeral quantitative compound or a modifier of the noun, e.g. “do a little dance,” “made minor revisions,” “take another quick look,” and “have a hot bath” (Halliday 2004: 193). The pattern of this kind can also be found in Chinese, having still an aspect marker in between the verb and the Range as in Examples (1) and (2). In the examples, le 了 is the marker of the unmarked-­realized aspect (URE) (Yang 2007), and “CL” denotes classifier (Li and Thompson 1981). (1)

他 来 了 一 tā lái le yī he do URE one (He did a vigorous dance.)

(2)

他 朝 她 tā cháo tā he towards her (He gave her a flirtatious wink.)

段 duàn CL

劲 舞。 jìng wuˇ vigorous dance

做 zuò make

了 le URE

个 飞眼。 gè fēiyaˇn CL wink

Similar to that of English, the verbs lái 来 (do) and zuò 做 (make) in Examples (1) and (2) have no concrete meaning and the meanings of the processes are represented by the elements of Range jìngwuˇ 劲舞 (vigorous dance) and fēiyaˇn 飞眼 (flirtatious wink). In addition, Range in Chinese is often realized by the so-­called líhécí 离合词 (separable word), most of which are disyllabic. The second part of a líhécí 离合词

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serves as Range, being semantically dependent on the first part, and the two parts can be separated by some other constituents. The Range of this type includes the so-­called “cognate object” in tradition, e.g. wuˇ 舞 and gōng 躬 in tiàowuˇ 跳舞 (dance) and jūgōng 鞠躬 (bow/make a bow). The two parts of the word function together to construe the process and so the verb like lái 来/zuò 做 (do) is needless; hence expressions lái yīgè tiàowuˇ 来一个跳舞 and zuò yīgè jūgōng 做一个鞠躬 are hardly acceptable; instead, they are commonly expressed as tiào yīgè wuˇ 跳一 个舞 (do a dance) and jū yīgè gōng 鞠一个躬 (take a bow). By describing Range characteristics, we do not mean that Range in Chinese cannot be circumstantially realized as commonly found in English. With specific textual background, some forms of Range in Chinese can also be realized circumstantially by a prepositional phrase, e.g. guàng gōngyuán 逛公园 (strolls around in the park) and zài gōngyuán lıˇ guàng 在公园里逛 (strolls around in the park), but this will not be fully discussed in this chapter (see Yang 2001; Peng 2011). Range is an important constituent in material clauses, which, as described above, is a nominal element and usually takes the same form as Goal. Compared with English, Range in material clauses in Chinese is more likely to be confused with the element of Goal that may cause some difficulties in explaining relevant grammatical phenomenon. Distinguishing various kinds of verb objects (in traditional terms) in Chinese has always been a significant research topic among grammarians and numerous achievements have been obtained in the field (e.g. Teng 1984; Xu 1985; Meng, Zheng, Meng and Cai 1999; Li 1990). I shall discuss the properties of Range in material clauses in more detail below.

2.2  The types of range While referring to the existing achievements, especially the work of Li (1990) and Meng et  al. (1999), we suggest the following twelve types of Verb-Noun patterns which are more likely to appear in material processes: process-­patient, process-­creature, process-­place, process-­time, process-­purpose, process-­reason, process-­sufferance, process-­tool, process-­manner, process-­change, process-­ cognate, and process-­quantity. Among the twelve types of nominal elements, the patient and creature are of the Goal type. The expression of quantity can be of either Goal or Range depending on the property of the thing it represents. The other nine are of the Range type, expressing the meaning of place, time, purpose, reason, tool, manner, sufferance, change and cognate respectively. With respect to types and properties of Range in Chinese see also Teng (1984), McDonald

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(1998), and Peng (2011). Range is more likely to occur in middle clauses, but sometimes they are also found in effective clauses. Each type of Range is then interpreted as follows. The Range of place indicates the spatial place toward or within which the actor moves. The Range of time refers to the time at or during which the process happens. The Range of cognate occurs in the form of líhécí 离合词, which has been described in the last section, construing the Process itself together with the main verb. The Range of purpose indicates the Actor’s purpose of taking the action. The Range of reason denotes the reason why the Actor takes the action. The Range of tool denotes the tool with which the Actor takes action; it may happen to both one-­participant and two-­participant processes. One additional point to be addressed here is that the pattern of “verb + Range” is to some extent lexically restricted. We cannot arbitrarily build the pattern without considering the lexical properties because some of these expressions are intrinsically idiomatic. For example, we say chōu biānzi 抽鞭子(whip), but not chōu gùnzi 抽棍子 (whip with a stick). Similarly, we say daˇ gùnzi 打棍子 (beat with a stick), but not daˇ biānzi 打鞭子 (beat with a whip). The Range of manner represents the manner in which the Actor acts; it may appear in both one-­participant and two-­participant processes. The Range of sufferance denotes a kind of suffering on the part of the Subject. The Range of change expresses the resultative status of either Actor or Goal after undergoing a change brought about by the transformative process, occurring in both one-­participant and two-­participant clauses. Generally speaking, the elements of Range in Chinese make various complementary explanations on processes. The two types of Goal, i.e. the Goal of patient and creature, are semantically different from Range. The Goal of patient directly undergoes the action conducted by Actor, and the Goal of creature denotes the created product of process. The Goal of both types serves as the inherent participant of process, the presence of which in the corresponding process is obligatory. Nevertheless, the two types of Goal behave differently in some grammatical respects that will be described in the next section.

2.3  Range in special clause constructions Semantic figures of processes can be structured in various clause constructions, depending on different registers of context. There are two important grammatical constructions in Chinese, the baˇ 把 and bèi 被 constructions, which can be considered the “operative” and “receptive” in voice respectively. In both of the

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constructions, the Process is put at the end of the clause, functioning as New information. In the baˇ 把 construction Actor functions as the grammatical Subject and the textual Theme; however, in the bèi 被 construction Goal or Range functions as the grammatical Subject and the textual Theme. Hence, the two constructions “allow the speaker to control the information flow” (Halliday 2007c: 349) by reordering the constituents of the clause. Material processes are most likely to be found in the baˇ 把 and bèi 被 constructions (Yang 2002, 2004). Nevertheless, Goal and Range behave differently in different constructions that will be described below.

2.3.1  Range in the baˇ 把 construction The baˇ 把 construction is unique to Chinese. While talking about information structure, Halliday (2004: 353) describes the baˇ 把 construction in following words: Suppose, however, that I want the focus of information to be the Process rather than the Goal. . . . In Chinese, which has a similar word order and information structure, there is a special construction, the ba (aˇ) construction, for achieving this; but in English, it is impossible—I cannot say they the meeting cancelled— unless the Process is split into two parts. This therefore is what happens, with a phrasal verb: it splits the Process into two parts, one functioning as Predicator and the other as Adjunct, with the Adjunct coming in its normal place at the end: they called the meeting off

I have divided the baˇ 把 construction into three types by considering its grammatical characteristics and the systemic theory of information structure, i.e. (i) the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction: “A + baˇ 把 + B + V + (Asp),” where the “Asp” denotes the aspect marker; (ii) the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction: “A + baˇ 把 + B + V + C + (Asp),” where C denotes the verbal Complement in traditional terms; and (iii) the thing-­gain/loss baˇ 把 construction: “A + baˇ 把 + B + V + (C) + (Asp) + D/E.” As some grammarians (e.g. Teng 1984; Lü 1999a; Lü et al. 1999b; Tao and Zhang 2000) indicate: the “object” of baˇ 把 in the baˇ 把 construction should be specific either to both the speaker and the listener or only to the speaker. Range exhibits different characteristics in different types of the baˇ 把 construction. The Range in material processes can follow the preposition baˇ 把 in the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction, but it rarely follows baˇ 把 in process-­disposal and thing-­gain/loss baˇ 把 constructions. The Goal of patient can follow the preposition baˇ 把 in any type of baˇ 把 construction. However, the Goal of creature grammatically performs like a Range and only

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follows the preposition baˇ 把 in result-­descriptive baˇ 把 constructions (Yang 2001, 2004). I will discuss this in more detail below. The semantics of baˇ 把 construction is traditionally interpreted as “to dispose of something” (Wang 1982: 82). See Example (3). (3)

他 把 那 封 tā baˇ nà fēng he BA that CL (He burned the letter up.)

信 xìn letter

烧 shāo burn

了。 le URE

According to the results of my investigation of the baˇ 把 and bèi 被 constructions (Yang 2001, 2004), the “disposal” viewpoint on the baˇ 把 construction to some extent still holds. The verbs with the disposal meaning can construct the process-­ disposal baˇ 把 construction, including the duplicated verb form. Thus, the semantic interpretation of the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction is: the entity A takes an action to dispose of the specific thing B. Meanwhile, I would propose that the descriptive statement presented by both Wang (1982) and Hsueh (1994) can be reasonably adopted to explain the meaning conveyed by the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction. This construction emphasizes the result of process, i.e. C, which is put at the position of unmarked focus in terms of information structure. Thus the semantic interpretation of the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction is: under the influence of A, a process aiming at the specific thing B takes place that brings up some kind of result expressed by C, as illustrated in (4). The auxiliary de 得 in Example (4) is considered the marker of depictive Attribute of process (cf. Halliday 2004: 195). (4)

那些 人(A) 把 他(B) 打 得 nàxiē rén baˇ tā daˇ de those people BA him beat DE (Those people beat him black and blue.)

鼻青脸肿(C)。 bíqīngliaˇnzhoˇng black and blue

Different from the two types of baˇ 把 constructions elaborated above, the thing-­ gain/loss baˇ 把 construction includes another nominal element “D/E” at the end of the pattern. The functional interpretation of the thing-­gain/loss baˇ 把 construction is: under the influence of A, a process takes place that either makes the specific thing B be transferred to D or makes the entity E appear or disappear, gain or lose, as shown in (5). In Example (5), “PEF” is the marker of the perfect aspect (Yang 2007),“Part” denotes a “sentence particle,” and the personal pronoun at the end of the clause, tā 他 (him), is the Recipient of the transfer.

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(5)

我(A) 已经 把 那些 东西(B) 给 他(D) 了。 woˇ yıˇjing baˇ nàxiē dōngxi gěi tā le I PEF BA those thing give him Part (I have already given those things to him.)

Range in material processes can enter the baˇ 把 construction and serve as the complement of the preposition baˇ 把, but that is conditional. In principle, Range rarely appears in the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction. Clause (6) is an example in which the nominal constituent after baˇ 把, i.e. rìzi 日子 (life), is a Range of time and the clause is unacceptable because the Range here cannot be semantically disposed of in any way. (6) *他们 tāmen they

把 baˇ BA

日子 rìzi life

过 了。 guò le spend URE

In contrast, Range can sometimes follow the preposition baˇ 把 in the result-­ descriptive baˇ 把 construction as in Example (7). (7)

他们 把 日子 过 得 越来越好。 tāmen baˇ rìzi guò de yuèláiyuèhaˇo they BA life spend DE better and better (They have been leading a life that is steadily getting better.)

In addition to the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction, Range usually does not follow the preposition baˇ 把 in the thing-­gain/loss baˇ 把 construction either. The Range of tool type, however, can sometimes follow baˇ 把 in the thing-­gain/loss baˇ 把 construction as in Example (8). Here, the noun after baˇ 把, i.e. zhıˇ 纸 (paper), is a Range of tool and chuānghu 窗户 (window) is a Goal. (8)

她 把 纸 糊 窗户 tā baˇ zhıˇ hú chuānghu she BA paper stick with paste window (She stuck the paper on the windows.)

了。 le Part

The Goal of creature behaves grammatically like a Range. It can follow baˇ 把 in the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction but not in the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction, as shown in (9) and (10). (9)

我们 把 楼 盖 起来 woˇmen baˇ lóu gài qıˇlai we BA building build up (We have already built the building up.)

了。 le URE

Range Characteristics in Material Clauses

(10) *我们 woˇmen we

把 baˇ BA

楼 lóu building

盖 gài build

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了。 le URE

The Range and the Goal in material processes show an obvious difference in the possibility of being the complement of the preposition baˇ 把 in the baˇ 把 construction. According to statistics, in the overwhelming majority of clauses with the baˇ 把 construction, the nominal constituent following baˇ 把 is the Goal of patient, which amounts to about 96 percent. Most of the remaining, in which the preposition baˇ 把 is followed by either a Range or a creature Goal, are in the result-­descriptive baˇ 把 construction. Only a few clauses are in the thing-­gain/ loss baˇ 把 construction (Yang 2004).

2.3.2  Range in the bèi 被 construction From an inflectional viewpoint, Chinese does not have any passive structure built on the changes of verb forms. However, Chinese does have a few clause patterns expressing passive meanings, and the bèi 被 construction is the most prominent. The bèi 被 construction is used less than the baˇ 把 construction and the proportion of the two is about one-­fourth (Yang 2002, 2004). The bèi 被 construction does not have corresponding correlations with the passive construction in English. In many cases, clauses in the bèi 被 construction do not express the meaning of adversity. I divide the bèi 被 construction into three types based on my research (Yang 2002), i.e. (i) the process-­unexpected bèi 被 construction: “A + bèi 被 + B + V + (Asp),” including the duplicated verb form; (ii) the result-­descriptive bèi 被 construction: “A + bèi 被 + B + V + C + (Asp)”; and (iii) the thing-­gain/loss bèi 被 construction: “A + bèi 被 + B + V + (C) + (Asp) + D/E.” The semantic distinctions between different types of bèi 被 constructions in Chinese can be interpreted by investigating their grammatical structures and corresponding functions. The semantic interpretation of the process-­unexpected bèi 被 construction is as follows: being activated by B, a process which is unexpected to A takes place and the process is beyond A’s control. This type of bèi 被 construction mainly expresses the meaning of adversity as described by grammarians, e.g. Li and Thompson (1981). The constituent A in the process-­unexpected bèi 被 construction requires the property of patient as in Example (11).

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他(A) 被 保安 部门(B) 扣押 tā bèi baˇoān bùmén kòuyā he BEI security department detain (He was detained by the security department.)

了。 le URE

The semantic interpretation of the result-­descriptive bèi 被 construction is as follows: under the influence of B, a process relevant to A takes place, which brings some kind of result expressed by C. This is illustrated by Example (12). (12)

他(A) 被 人(B) 打 伤(C) tā bèi rén daˇ shāng he BEI people beat wound (He was beaten and injured by some people.)

了。 le URE

The semantic interpretation of the thing-­gain/loss bèi 被 construction is as follows: under the influence of B, a process takes place that either makes the specific thing A be transferred to D or makes an entity E which is relevant to A appear or disappear, gain or lose. It is common to see that beneficiary clauses take this type of bèi 被 construction. Both Goal and Range can be thematized in bèi 被 constructions, but there are some differences between them. The Goal of patient can have thematic status in any types of bèi 被 constructions. Range can have thematic status in the result-­ descriptive bèi 被 construction, but it rarely has thematic status in process-­ unexpected and thing-­gain/loss bèi 被 constructions. Compare (a) and (b) in Example (13). (13a) 那 首 歌 被 她 唱 得 nà shoˇu gē bèi tā chàng de that CL song BEI she sing DE (She performed the song superbly.) (13b) *那 首 歌 被 nà shoˇu gē bèi that CL song BEI (That song was sung by her.)

她 tā she

出神入化。 chūshénrùhuà be superb

唱 了。 chàng le sing URE

We can see from (13b) that the Range element nà shoˇu gē 那首歌 (that song) cannot be put at the beginning of the clause, because the clause takes the process-­ unexpected bèi 被 construction. Clause (13a), however, is grammatically acceptable because it takes the result-­descriptive bèi 被 construction with a

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depictive Attribute after the verb, in which case the focus of the information is diverted from Process to the descriptive result of the process and the requirement of the patient property for the thematized constituent is metaphorically weakened. Unlike Range of other types, the Range of tool can have thematic status more easily in the thing-­gain/loss bèi 被 construction, as in Example (14). (14)

纸 被 她 糊 窗户 zhıˇ bèi tā hú chuānghu paper BEI she stick with paste window (The paper was stuck to the window by her.)

了。 le Part

The Goal of creature behaves grammatically like a Range in this respect. Generally speaking, Range and the Goal of creature show a very low possibility of being thematized in bèi 被 constructions.

3  Conclusion Due to the lexical and grammatical differences between English and Chinese, circumstantial elements that may be realized by prepositional phrases in English are more likely to be realized by nouns or nominal groups in Chinese, functioning as the elements of Range. Range in material processes (also in other types of processes) in Chinese generally makes complementary specifications of the process, which can be about place, time, purpose, reason, change, tool, manner, sufferance, cognate, role, and quantity under the general term of domain. Material clauses reflect the characteristics of Range more distinctly compared with other process types. Range and Goal in material processes take the same form, but they behave very differently in grammar. Distinguishing Range from Goal in various patterns of clauses is important for both clause analysis and generation. Range is semantically not an inherent participant of process and is syntactically more dependent on Process. Hence, compared with Goal, Range is much less likely to move around in clauses. It shows a lesser possibility of following the preposition baˇ 把 in the baˇ 把 construction and being the thematic element in the bèi 被 construction. Range is rarely found in both the process-­disposal baˇ 把 construction and the process-­unexpected bèi 被 construction because it lacks the patient property strongly required by the two kinds of constructions. In contrast, Range is more possibly found in the baˇ 把 and bèi 被 constructions of result-­descriptive and,

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occasionally, thing-­gain/loss types, because in these constructions the nominal element after the preposition baˇ 把 in the baˇ 把 construction and the thematized element in the bèi 被 construction are semantically less restricted. Chinese is rich in clause patterns, thus providing the speaker with various ways to thematize or emphasize things. Grammatical characteristics of Range are manifested in the selections of these patterns as described in this chapter. Acknowledgments: I thank the Chinese Journal of Studies in Language and Linguistics (Yuˇyán Yánjiū 语言研究) for allowing me to use the main content (including sample sentences) of my paper (Yang 2001) in this chapter.

10

Chinese Characteristics of Clause Complex: The SF Perspective of Achievements from Former Accounts HSU, Fu-­mei (徐富美)

Yuan-­ze University, Taiwan

1  Introduction Almost all the cases I am going to discuss in this chapter have already been noted by scholars from various approaches; however, they are here to be interpreted from the perspective of systemic functional grammar (SFG), in particular the interdependency and logico-­semantic relations clause complexes bear, and hence generalize, as a categorical fact being characteristic of Chinese in comparison with English. In other words, the previous studies were carried out using different approaches; the present author wishes to have a systematic classification of all the relevant cases with a unified model, namely, the model of clause complex developed by Halliday. The system of clause complex developed by Halliday (see, e.g. Halliday 1994a; Halliday 2004) has two dimensions, one being interdependency and the other logico-­semantic relations of expansion and projection. Interdependency includes two types: parataxis and hypotaxis; expansion has three sub-­types: elaboration, extension, and enhancement; and projection also has two types: locution and idea. Since there are already some preliminary studies in this area and projection sees little difference between English and Chinese (see Ouyang 1986; Zhang 2012), I will focus on the characteristics of the former two in Chinese. In particular, I will discuss three points: (i) Chinese characteristics of parataxis; (ii) Chinese characteristics of zero anaphora and logico-­semantic relations; and (iii) Chinese characteristics of nominal group as clause.

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2  Chinese characteristics of parataxis According to Halliday, interdependency is made up of a matrix with one dimension being parataxis and hypotaxis, and the other primary and secondary, the marriages of these categories yield four kinds of interdependent relations in clause complex: Table 10.1  Interdependent relations in clause complex (from Halliday 1994a: 219).

Parataxis Hypotaxis

Primary

Secondary

1 (initiating) α (dominant)

2 (continuing) β (dependent)

For English, each two clauses within a clause complex should have certain formal markers, whether conjunctive or semi-­colon, to indicate their interdependency. When we turn to Chinese, however, the situation is rather different. In other words, it is common for Chinese to have no conjunction in a clause complex, so it is sometimes difficult to make a distinction whether a certain relation should be paratactic or hypotactic; and a comma or period between clauses makes the matter even more complicated. For example: (1) tā méiyoˇu dāngshàng lIˇngdaˇo,/. xīn fángzıˇ bùhuì fèn gěi tā. he NEG get the position leader new house NEG give to him “He fails to get the position of the leadership. The new house will not be given to him.” A slash is put between the two clauses to suggest that there are two ways of separation. These two possibilities each have their respective readings. (2a) ||| β tā méiyoˇu dāngshàng lıˇngdaˇo, || ×a xīn fángzıˇ bùhuì fèn gěi tā. ||| (2b) ||| 1 tā méiyoˇu dāngshàng lıˇngdaˇo. || +2 xīn fángzıˇ bùhuì fèn gěi tā. ||| Example (2a) can be read as a causal relation in between: “The new house was not given to him because he failed to get the position of leader.” Example (2b) may read like a clause complex in English: “He fails to get the position of the leader and the new house will not be given to him.” But the Chinese may be either clausal enhancement or additive extension. That is, the vagueness of interdependency in Chinese occurs owing to lack of explicit conjunctive and/or different uses of punctuation. Tai (1985) holds that the relative order between two elements in Chinese is determined by the temporal order of the states represented in the conceptual

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world. On that basis, we proposed a conceptual difference between English and Chinese (Hsu and Tsai 2012: 92):

Figure 10.1  Tense language and locus language.

There are two dimensions in this figure. One is “arrow” and the other “chunk.” In Chinese, the horizontal arrow line indicates the clausal linear sequence; that is, the clauses are basically arranged according to temporal sequence. These observations can explain the reason why the dependent clause usually precedes the dominant one in Chinese. If the dominant clause and the dependent one exchange their sequential position, it will affect the judgment of their interdependency relation and hence become paratactic. Below is an English example with its Chinese translation equivalent: (3a) ||| α I have a friend, || =β who is dead. ||| (3b) ||| 1 woˇ yoˇu yī gè péngyoˇu, || +2 tā sıˇ le. ||| I have a CL friend he die PAR The English clause complex in (3a) is hypotactic but the counterpart in Chinese (3b) is paratactic. In other words, there is no relative pronoun such as “which” or “who” in Chinese that serves to indicate the relation in between. In such a situation, a relative clause in English is often translated into several paratactic clauses in Chinese. For that reason, Wang (1954: 452–3) pointed out that paratactic relation is common in Chinese. Recently, Li (2007: 81) argued that there should merely exist parataxis but no hypotaxis in elaboration. Li even

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demonstrated the possibilities of intricacy when expansion cross-­cuts the tactic relation: Table 10.2           Taxis Expansion

Parataxis

Hypotaxis

Elaboration

1=2

Ø

Extension

1+2

β +α

Enhancement

1×2

β ×α α ×β

The table shows that there is no hypotactic relation (ø) in elaboration. As for extension, there is no “a +β” type. That is, parataxis tends to be pervasive than hypotaxis does.

3  Chinese characteristic of zero anaphora and logico-­semantic relations This section discusses how zero anaphora, a Chinese characteristic compared with English, is related to some types of logico-­semantic relations. Halliday (2004: 365) states that the effect of combining clauses into a clause complex is one of tighter integration in meaning. Li (2007: 76) indicated that, while a sentence signifies a graphology, it matches the boundaries of a clause complex. However, it is common in Chinese for several clauses to constitute one clause complex or a group of clauses that cannot be said to be either clause complex or “segment,” the latter being a term Longacre (1979) used to refer to several independent sentences that have several coherent meaning units. Therefore, no clear boundary between clause complexes is able to be determined. Peng (2000: 298–302) discussed Chinese clause complexes and the phenomena beyond. He analyzed an example with five clauses (see also Li 2007: 69–70), which may be treated as one clause complex or several clause complexes according to their tightness of meaning relation. In many cases, the identification of the relative logico-­semantic relation has to be made with subjective judgment. He said that it is easier to differentiate the difference between a clause complex and clause complexes in English than in Chinese: English usually has an explicit

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period marker when a sentence finishes in written text, while Chinese does not entirely depend on punctuation marks.

3.1  Zero anaphora and paratactic extension/enhancement This sub-­section examines how several clauses form a clause complex with zero anaphora in between. For example, several clauses often form a clause complex in which the first clause has an Actor or a Carrier, and the clauses that follow use zero anaphora or default ellipsis mutually recognizable. These clause complexes mostly have the relation of paratactic extension or enhancement, as shown in Examples (4–6): choˇu, || +2 Φ laˇo, || +3 Φ lì hài. ||| (4) ||| 1 tā she ugly old powerful “She is ugly, old but powerful.” (5) ||| 1 Chuˇ Shì-­jié zuò qıˇlái, || ×2 Φ fā    le    zhènzıˇ lèng, Chu Shi-­jie sit up    happen  PAR   a while daze baˇituō shuìyì. ||| || ×3 Φ  cái then   get rid of drowsiness “He sat up, was in a daze for a while and then got rid of his drowsiness.” yīxià, || ×2 Φ jıˇn zoˇu jıˇ bù. (6) ||| 1 tā xiaˇng le he think PAR a moment hurriedly walk some steps shízìlùkoˇu, || ×4 Φ   yī pìguˇ zuò xià.||| ||| ×3 Φ dào le    arrive PAR crossroads whole ass sit down “He thought for a moment, and walked a few steps hurriedly. When arriving at the crossroads, he sat down with his whole ass.” The reference of zero anaphora in each of (4) and (6) is “tā (s/he)”; but that in (5) is ‘Chuˇ Shì-­jié’. Note also that that in (6) crosses the boundary of the clause complex. Furthermore, (4) is a paratactic extension whereas (5 and 6) are paratactic enhancement.

3.2  Zero anaphora and hypotactic elaboration Li pointed out that there is no hypotactic elaboration; however, I did find cases that are hypotactic, elaboration in particular, where the reference of the zero anaphor in the secondary clause is the same as the Goal or Attribute in the primary clause. For example:

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(7) ||| α tā yoˇu gè    dìdì, || =β Φ dāng bīng de. ||| he has CL younger brother be soldier PAR “He has a younger brother, who is a soldier.” (8) ||| α tā shoˇulıˇ lā zhe yī tóu lu, || =β Φ yòu shòu yòu xiaˇo. ||| he in hands pull PAR a CL donkey   and thin and small “He pulled in his hands a donkey, which was thin and small.” (9) ||| α woˇmen yě yoˇu   le nàme haˇo   de yī jiān fángzıˇ, we also have  PAR   so good PAR one CL house || =β Φ nuaˇnyángyáng de. ||| warm PAR “We have also a so good house, which is warm.” The reference of zero anaphora in (7) is “dìdì” (younger brother); that in (8) “lu” (donkey); and that in (9) “fángzıˇ” (house). The secondary clause in each of these examples is the explanation of the Goal or the Attribute of the primary clause. Now make a comparison. (10a) ||| 1 woˇ yoˇu yī gè péngyoˇu, || +2 tā sıˇ le. ||| I have a CL friend he die PAR (10b) ||| α woˇ yoˇu yī gè péngyoˇu, || =β Φ sıˇ le. ||| I have a CL friend Φ die PAR Example (10a) is derived from (3b). The difference between (10a) and (10b) is that (10b) has a zero anaphora while (10a) uses the pronoun “tā” (he). That is, either a pronoun or a zero anaphora may be used in the secondary clause. Compared with (10b), there is more emphasis on the pronoun in (10a) and the logico-­semantic relation thus differs.

3.3  Zero anaphora and paratactic elaboration Halliday (1994a: 227) divides elaboration into paratactic and hypotactic relations. He illustrates hypotactic elaboration with the following example: (11) ||| α They decided to cancel the show, || =β which upset everybody alike. ||| The reference of “which” here represents the whole previous clause. Peng (2000) illustrated this point with Chinese examples, where either a determiner “zhè” or

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zero anaphora is used to refer to the whole primary statement. However, they are in paratactic elaboration, as in, shì xiānhóng de, (12) ||| 1 liaˇngyaˇn yě eyes also be red PAR =2 dàyuē shì tā áoyè áo chūlái de. ||| || zhè this about be he stay up late stay up COM PAR “His eyes were red. This is about for his staying up late.” cíxué de yòuyīgè rècháo, (13) ||| 1 rìběn xiānqıˇ le Japan raise PAR ci-poetics PAR another upsurge suànshì   cíxué   fùxìng. ||| || =2 Φ yě kě also can be regarded ci-poetics revivification “Japan raised another upsurge of ci-poetics. It can also be regarded as the revivification of the ci-poetics.” Example (12) uses the determiner “zhè” while (13) uses zero anaphora, referring to the whole previous clause. The three points may be summarized as Table 10.3. Table 10.3  Zero anaphora

Logico-­semantic relation

Actor or Carrier Goal or Attribute The whole previous clause

Paratactic extension/enhancement Hypotactic elaboration Paratactic elaboration

3.4  Zero anaphora and intricate cases In fact, there are more intricate logico-­semantic relations in a larger clause complex. Below are two examples. (14) ||| 11 zhāng xiānshēng shìyè zuò dé Zhang   Mr career do PAR yòu xiánhuì || +121 Φ1 tàitài    wife and virtuous +122 Φ2 hái  shāo dé   yīshoˇu ||    also  cook PAR by her hands

hěn chénggōng, very successful yòu piāoliàng, and beautiful haˇocài, good food

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|| =2 Φ1 shì běndì rénrén chēngxiàn de duìxiàng. |||    be local everybody admire PAR   object. “Mr Zhang does his career very successfully. His wife is virtuous and beautiful. She also cooks very well. Everybody admires Mr Zhang.” In (14) there are four clauses. The first three form two hypotactic extensions, which in turn stand in paratactic elaboration with the fourth one. Note that the last three clauses use zero anaphora. These clauses have different references: Φ1(Mr Zhang) – Φ2(his wife) – Φ1(Mr Zhang), a phenomenon that is common even though their reference changes. Here is another example cited from Hu (1994b: 66): (15) ||| 11 yīzhàngqīng dàniáng zhàn zài líbā wài de sănliŭ yīn xià tall and pungent aunty stand at fence outside PAR willow shade under

|| ×12 Φ1 fàng yāzi, looking after ducks || ×2α Φ1 yījiàn jĭ gè qiànfū, saw several CL boat trackers || +2β1 Φ2 chìshēnloùtĭ, naked || +2β2 Φ2 zhĭ jìzhe yī tiáo wéiyāo, only wearing a CL cloth around waist || +2β3 Φ2 kùzi juăn qĭlái pán zài tóu trousers roll COM around at head ×3 || Φ1 biàn duànhè yī sheng. . .||| then shout one sound

shàng, up

“The tall and pungent aunty stood in the willow shade outside the fence to look after her ducks. She saw a boat tracker, who was naked, wearing a strip of cloth around his waist, trousers rolled up around his head, and then she shouted. . .” The seven clauses are united with complicated interdependency and logic-­ semantic relations, with six zero anaphors. Φ1 refers to “yīzhàngqīng dàniáng” (the tall and pungent aunty) and Φ2 to “qiànfū” (the boat tracker). Their zero anaphoric reference chain is: Φ1- Φ1 – Φ2 – Φ2 – Φ2 – Φ1.

4  Chinese characteristics of nominal group as clause This type of nominal group differs from the general type in that the latter does not have a clausal characteristic whereas the former type has, or at least it reads like something similar to a rankshifted clause in English. For example:

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(16) ||| wáng xiānshēng, [Xiàmén Dàxué xiàozhaˇng], Wang Mr Xiamen University president tīngdào xiāoxī zhīhòu hěn jīngyà. ||| hear news after very surprised “Mr Wang, [the president of Xiamen University,] was surprised after hearing the news.” Here “Xiàmén Dàxué xiàozhaˇng” (the president of Xiamen University, marked with single bracket) is but a nominal group to express apposition. This seems to have the status of a relative clause; however, this is not the case I have in mind. In fact, there are three unique constructions in Chinese that have clausal function.

4.1  De-construction The word de is a particle with high frequency of occurrence in Chinese and usually helps the previous part of a nominal group function as modifier, as in woˇ de shū (I possessive case book: my book). It is therefore a kind of conjunction between the modifier and its head. However, there are cases in which deconstruction may function as a clause. I once dealt with three types of de-construction in Chinese and investigated their complementarity (Hsu 2013). The first type is the typical use of deconstruction, which is called the standard-type. The second type is the profiletype which highlights the focus of information. The third type refers to the phenomenon that Huang (2008) calls “pseudo-­attributive” and that I think is a covert-type. The second and third types are atypical of the de-construction and complementary to the first type at the lexicogrammatical level, but are what I refer to as nominal functioning as clausal. (17) yī

dòng

piàoliàng

de

fángzıˇ



CL

beautiful

PAR

house

a

This is the typical use of the standard-type. The particle de helps the modifier “piàoliàng” (beautiful) modify the head “fángzıˇ” (house). The examples of the profile-type are below: (18) ||| waˇnshàng woˇmen jù le tonight we get together PAR chá. || Lín xiānshēng pào de

yīxià, a moment |||

PAR tea Lin Mr make “We got together for a while tonight. It was Mr Lin who made the tea.”

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(19) ||| zuótiān chūwuˇ, yesterday the fifth day || woˇ qù nuxù

jiā

chī

de

jiaˇozıˇ. |||

PAR dumplings I go son-­in-law home eat “Yesterday is the fifth day. It was at my son-­in-law’s home where I ate dumplings.” (20) ||| huódòng jiéshù activity end || laˇobaˇn kāi

hòu woˇmen qù after we go de chē. |||

chī waˇncān, eat dinner

PAR car boss drive “We went to dinner after the activity. It is the boss who picked us up.” The verbal groups in these clauses have a particle de added and the relevant part in each case can be treated as a clause being rankshifted as a constituent in each nominal group. For me, such a de is a marker to weaken the relevant verb into Given information and single out the element before the verb as information focus, where the focus marker shì (be) can be added. However, if there is no other element, the marked focus usually locates after de as contrastive. Please compare: (21a) [[Lín xiānshēng pào chá]] Mr Lin made the tea. (21b) [Lín xiānshēng pào de chá]

Mr Lin made PAR the tea

(22a) [[woˇ qù nuxù jiā chī jiaˇozıˇ]] I went to my son-­in-law’s home to eat dumplings. (22b) [woˇ qù nuxù jiā chī de jiaˇozıˇ]

I went to my son-­in-law’s home to eat PAR dumplings

(23a) [[laˇobaˇn kāi chē]] The boss drove the car. (23b) [laˇobaˇn kāi de chē]

The boss drove PAR the car

Examples (a) in (21 to 23) are clauses and Examples (b) with a particle de are nominal groups. They profile the information focus as marked in front of the verbal. For example, (21b) “Lín xiānshēng pào de chá” profiles “Lín xiānshēng”

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(Mr Lin); (22b) “woˇ qù nuxù jiā chī de jiaˇozıˇ” profiles “qù nuxù jiā” (went to my son-­in-law’s home). Example (23b) “laˇobaˇn kāi de chē” profiles “laˇobaˇn” (the boss). Note that such de-­construction clauses usually appear as secondary and the Processes of the clause complex also change from Material into Relational. The logico-­semantic relation therefore changes from “1+2” to “1=2.” But note that the case is different from the kind of de that locates at the final position of a clause. (24) tā

dào   de

guaˇngzhōu

he yesterday arrive PAR Guangzhou “He arrived at Guangzhou yesterday.”

(25) tā

zuótiān

zuótiān

dào

guaˇngzhōu

he yesterday arrive Guangzhou “He arrived at Guangzhou yesterday.”

de PAR

The profiled constituent in (24) is only ‘zuótiān’ (yesterday) whereas that in (25) the whole verbal group “zuótiān dào guaˇngzhōu” (arrived Guangzhou yesterday), where the verbal group is part of the focus. Examples of the covert-type are given below: (26) ||| jīnwaˇn de jīngjù, tonight PAR Peking opera Maˇ Lián-­liáng de Zhū-­gě Liàng, || Yuán Shì-­haˇi     de Cáo Cāo ||| Ma Lian-­liang PAR Zhu-­ge Liang      Yuan Shi-­hai PAR Cao Cao “About the Peking opera tonight, Ma Lian-­liang acts as Zhu-­ge Liang and Yuan Shi-­hai as Cao Cao.” (27) ||| zhè cì

kāihuì, || nıˇ

de zhuˇxí, || woˇ de jìlù. |||

this CL meeting you PAR chairman   I PAR recorder “As for this meeting, you are the chairman and I am the recorder.” (28) ||| tā

de

laˇoshī

dāng de

PAR teacher act he “He is a good teacher.”

PAR

haˇo. ||| good

Examples (26 to 28) no longer have the relation of modifier plus modified: they conceive that of transitivity process. In (26), Maˇ Lián-­liáng is the name of a famous actor and Zhū-­gě Liàng is a dramatic role. “Maˇ Lián-­liáng de Zhū-­gě Liàng” means “Maˇ Lián-­liáng acted as Zhū-­gě Liàng.” By the same reason, (28) “tā de laˇo shī” means “he is a teacher,” not “his teacher.” Now see the comparison:

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(29a) [[nıˇ zuò zhuˇxí]], [[ woˇ zuò jìlù]] you be chairman I   be recorder “You are the chairman. I am the recorder.” (29b) [nıˇ

zuò    de PAR

you be

(29c) [nıˇ    de

you

zhuˇxí],

[woˇ zuò   de

chairman

I

zhuˇxí],

be

PAR

[woˇ    de

PAR chairman.   I

PAR

jìlù] recorder

jìlù] recorder.

Example (29a) is a clause; (29b), like (21b), is a nominal group with de inserted; and (29c) is covert of the verb. The processes of these clauses are Identifying Relational. They are predictable, known as the covert-type because the verbs of ‘act as’ or ‘be’ do not appear but the meaning can be inferred. To sum up, the profile type and the covert type read like a rankshifted element from clause to nominal group and thus function as clauses, at least in comparison with similar cases in English.

4.2  Nominal group with a particle le The second type of nominal group as a clause is that with a particle le, as proposed by Xing (2001). For example: (30) ||| dàxuéshēng    le , || yào

PAR must   polite university student “(You are already) a university student. Be polite.”

(31) ||| dà

gūniáng    le , || yào

zhùyì

zhěngjié! |||

PAR must pay attention tidy big lady “(You are already) a lady. Pay attention to your tidiness.”

(32) ||| dōu shěnme

yoˇulıˇmào! |||

shíhòu    le , || hái

zài

shuìjiào! |||

PAR still PROG sleep all what time “What the time it is. You are still in sleep.”

Nominal groups with le express a change of state. In Example (31), it changes from the state of being a girl into a lady. A universal quantifier “dōu” is sometimes added, like Example (32). This type of nominal group has the property of description. The Processes of these clauses with Relational “already be” are also implicit. The contrasts are shown below.

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(33a) [[yıˇjīng shì dàxuéshēng le]] “(You) are already a university student.” (33b) [dàxuéshēng le] a university student In English, each clause has an overt Process of transitivity, while in Chinese it may be in covert form, especially for the clauses with Relational Processes. It can therefore be said that the clauses with Relational Processes reflect Chinese characteristics. Halliday and McDonald (2004: 361) mentioned the difference per se between English and Chinese: in English the quality is incorporated into the nominal group as Epithet while in Chinese it functions as Process. Examples are shown below. (34) nà tiáo hé that CL river “That river is very wide.”

hěn wide.

(35) tā saˇngzi hěn she voice very “Her voice is very good.”

haˇo. good

kuān.

In Examples (34) and (35), the ascriptive word “hěn kuān” (very wide) and “hěn haˇo” (very good) function as Process in the clauses. By the same reason, the nominal groups in Chinese can function as Identifying Processes, as in, (36) jīntiān xīngqīyī. today Monday “Today is Monday.” (37) tā Wáng Dà-­míng. he Wang Da-­min “He is Wang Da-­min.” (38) jiaˇngpıˇn yī bù prize a CL “The prize is a computer.”

diànnaˇo. computer

The Relational Processes in these examples are expressed by nominal groups; that is, the nominal groups have the function of Process. In fact, it is common for Chinese to use the covert form of Relational Process even though they have an

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equivalent expression of an overt Process “shì” (be) in between, which should be a modern loan from Endo-European languages because a clause in the history of the Chinese language that has no verb is unmarked.

4.3  Nominal group with numeral and classifier/quantifier This observation was provided by Xing (1979). The examples below are from his illustration: (39) ||| jıˇ pán yěwèi, some CL wild food || bàn bēi màijiuˇ, half CL ale || laˇo rénjiā de huà lái le. ||| old man PAR words come up PAR “After eating some dishes of wild food and drinking half cup of ale, the old man became talkative.” (40) ||| jìnrù bàngōngshì, enter office || yī piàn suànpán shēng. ||| one QUAN abacuses sound “When I entered the office, there was full of the sound of the abacuses.” (41) || yī zhèn língshēng, || shàngkè one QUAN ring go to the class “The bell is ringing. It’s time to go to the class.”

le. ||| PAR

The nominal groups in (39 to 41) function as clauses, not adverbials. The Processes of these nominal groups are predictable according to their lexical collocation. Example (39) above may imply (42a–b) below: (42a) [[chī eat [[hē drink [[laˇo   old

le jıˇ PAR some le bàn PAR half rénjiā de man PAR

pán dishes bēi cup huà words

yěwèi]], wild food màijiuˇ]], ale lái come up

le]]. PAR

Chinese Characteristics of Clause Complex

(42b) [jıˇ pán some dishes [bàn bēi half cup [[laˇo rénjiā old man

165

yěwèi], wild food màijiuˇ], ale de huà lái le]]. PAR words come up PAR

The difference between (42a) and (42b) is that two nominal groups in (42b) correspond to two verbal groups in (42a). Two verbs “chī le” (to have eaten) and “hē le” (to have drunk) are added. Xing suggested that the type of nominal groups has the property of description; they are therefore regarded as clauses in this chapter. In fact, it is difficult to judge that the above examples have omissions even though verbs can be added. It is unnecessary to use the overt Process components there. What follows is a well-known example of nominal groups that make up clauses or clause chains, a poem entitled Tiān Jìng Shā by Maˇ Zhì-­ yuaˇn in the Yuan Dynasty. (43) ||| [kū téng], [laˇo shù], [ hūn    yā], withered vine, old tree, drowsy crow, “the withered vine, the old tree, and the drowsy crow,” || [xiaˇo qiáo], [liú shuıˇ], [ rén jiā], small bridge, running stream, people houses “a small bridge, a running stream, and some people houses,” || [guˇ dào], [xī fēng], [shòu maˇ].||| old road, west wind, lean horse. “an old road, the west wind, and the lean horse.” ||| [[ xīyáng xī xià]], || [[duàncháng rén zài tiānyá]]. |||. sunset west down heartbroken person in end of world “The sunset has gone down. I, the heartbroken person, am now in the end of the world.” There are only twenty-­eight words in this poem. But more than one half of nominal groups are arranged together without verbs. Note that the verb ‘kàn’ (to look) is implicit and predictable.

5  Conclusion The chapter has so far discussed a number of characteristic properties of the clause complex in Chinese. It is suggested that parataxis in interdependency is

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more commonly used than hypotaxis in Chinese. The use of zero anaphora and their logico-­semantic relation suggests that it tends to be a paratactic extension or enhancement when the zero anaphoric reference is the Actor or the Carrier of the primary clause; it tends to be hypotactic elaboration when the zero anaphora is Goal or Attribute; and it tends to be a paratactic elaboration when the zero anaphora stands for the whole previous thesis. However, these are just a tendency of the logico-­semantic relation. Moreover, nominal groups as clauses were also discussed, which include three types: nominal group of de-construction, that with a particle le and that with numeral and classifier/quantifier. These facts provide a better understanding of Chinese in the typological sense.

Text

11

Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories Based on Appraisal Corpus YU, Li (于丽)

Heilongjiang University

PENG, Xuanwei (彭宣维)

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

HE, Zhongqing (何中清)

University of Science & Technology Beijing

LIU, Yujie (刘玉洁)

Beijing Normal University

ZHANG, Ranran (张冉冉) Shanghai Jiaotong University

TAN, Xianfang (谈仙芳)

Dalian Neusoft University of Information

WANG, Yuying (王玉英)

Cangzhou Technical College Hebei

1  Introduction Appraisal is one interpersonal category of language in systemic functional linguistics (SFL; Martin 2000; Martin and Rose 2003/2007; Martin and White 2005). It incorporates three axes: Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation, reflecting speaker’s/writer’s intersubjective stance in texts (Martin and White 2005). Each of the three axes comprises a number of subcategories and altogether twenty-­six can be specified for application purposes, as presented in Figure 11.1. In recent years, research on Appraisal has become one of major issues in SFL study, focusing priority on cases that demonstrate the theoretical model. Appraisal studies have involved a variety of genres yet the size of the generic texts selected has been limited in general, which tends to give rise to subjective inference or inconsistencies (Read and Carroll 2012).

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Figure 11.1  Appraisal system of language.

The rapid development of corpus linguistics has prompted some researchers to begin to use the data-­based approach to make up for these deficiencies. Among the studies conducted are the following: (i) annotation and retrieval of Appraisal meanings, looking for ways of annotating Appraisal categories and adopting search engines to extract automatically appraisal expressions from the corpora (e.g. Taboada and Grieve 2004; Read and Carroll 2012); (ii) discourse analysis based on the Appraisal system in terms of the corpus-­based methodology to search and analyze expressions with appraisal features (e.g. Coffin and O’Halloran 2005, 2006; Liu 2009); and (iii) comparative Appraisal analysis based on comparatively large amount of linguistic data (e.g. Bednarek 2008; Meng 2007). However, the limitations of such attempts are apparent. First, the genres selected for research are limited or far from systematic. In fact, most of the corpus-­based studies have a preference for Attitude, in particular on Affect in it, and seldom concern the Engagement and Graduation systems. Second, the ways of annotations and retrievals are too simplistic to ensure the reliability of research results: Appraisal is a complicated theoretical framework whose categories are difficult to identify; over simplification leads to less than convincing results (Wang and Ma 2007). Third, limited corpora and genres confine any

Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories

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substantial study to a general, theoretical level. As has been noted, “at present there are no machine-­readable Appraisal-­annotated texts publicly available” (Read and Carroll 2012). Against these limitations, the idea of developing an annotated corpus of meanings with considerable size occurred and then came the Chinese-English Parallel Corpus of Appraisal Meanings (CAPCAM or Appraisal Corpus or AC for short).

2  Design and development of Appraisal Corpus 2.1  The data The CEPCAM contains one million words. The original texts were selected from the Chinese-English Parallel Corpus, a general corpus developed by Professor Wang Kefei, the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education at the Beijing University of Foreign Studies. In our selection, the production time, genre, author and other related aspects of each text were specified first. Then, we sought to ensure a balance between Chinese original versus English translation texts, as well as English original versus Chinese translation texts. The general structure of the CEPCAM is laid out in Figure 11.2. The overall CEPCAM consists of (i) two primary bilingual sub-­corpora: “Chinese original vs. English translation corpus” and “English original vs. Chinese Translation corpus”; (ii) four monolingual sub-­corpora: “English Original Corpus,” “Chinese Original Corpus,” “English Translation Corpus,” and “Chinese Translation Corpus”; and (iii) two derived comparative corpora: “English original and English Translation Corpus” and “Chinese original and Chinese Translation Corpus.”

Figure 11.2  The structure of CEPCAM.

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2.2  Corpus annotation All annotators received formal training in Appraisal learning before annotation. The annotation involved a three-­step procedure. The first step contained several sub-­procedures: trial manual annotations on paper-­texts, cross-­checking of the results, solution of disagreements by group discussions, and criterion setup for identification of Appraisal features. The second step involved formal manual annotation on paper-­texts. The third step was to annotate the electronic texts with UAM Corpus Tool (V2.0). This three-­step annotating procedure was planned to guarantee the accuracy and consistency (cf. Read and Carroll 2012). However, it must be noted that, even with vigorous checking, there were still about 3 percent to 5 percent of mis-­annotations and oversights in the final corpus.

3  Methodology The corpus adopted for this study is the annotated English original texts in the CEPCAM, with about 200,000 words. The overall structure of the corpus of texts in English original comprises ten genres (see Table 11.1). The analyses will concern three levels across the ten genres: Appraisal as a whole; the three categories of Appraisal: Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation; and the specified twenty-­six subcategories of the system (see Figure 11.1). The original data were processed by Excel 2007 and SPSS 17.0.

Table 11.1  The makeup of the English original corpus by generic categories Genres

No. of Words

No. of Texts

Encyclopedia (EP)

4823

6

Science Fiction (SF)

8156

5

10556

12

7894

7

General History (GH)

17749

13

Folklore (FL)

10321

8

Fiction (FC)

71766

3

6181

9

Science and Technology (ST) History of Science and Technology (HST)

News Report (NR) Government File (GF)

52178

4

History of Civilization (HC)

12657

14

202281

81

Total

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4  Generic distributions of appraisal in general Figure 11.3 displays the frequencies of the Appraisal features in the ten genres, arranged in ascending order. The results of ANOVA testing demonstrate that Appraisal is not a key feature of the ten genres at the 0.05 level, because the significant level of the testing is 0.071. The generic distributions of Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation are shown in Table 11.2. For Attitude, the texts of Fiction have the highest frequency of all and those in Science and Technology the lowest. For Engagement, the texts of Science Fiction have the most features whereas those of General History the least. For Graduation, the genre of Science Fiction contains the highest numbers of features but that of Folklore the lowest. ANOVA testing further shows that Attitude is a distinct feature of all the ten genres at the 0.000 level whereas Engagement (0.131) and Graduation (0.693) are below the level of significance (0.05). The results of multiple comparisons demonstrate that the primary differences between the ten genres on Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation are reflected by Attitude and Engagement (only the differences that are significant at the 0.05 level are included).

Figure 11.3  Ascending order of frequencies of Appraisal features in the ten genres. Table 11.2  Ascending order of frequencies of Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation (%) Genre

ST

FL

HC

HST

Attitude

1.961 2.432 4.898 4.928 5.619 5.761 5.808 5.971 6.484 6.718

Genre GH EP GF HST Engagement 3.854 4.479 4.586 4.89

EP

GF

ST FL 4.964 4.97

NR

SF

GH

FC

HC NR FC SF 4.977 5.355 6.085 6.976

Genre FL ST EP HST HC NR GH FC GF SF Graduation 9.108 9.502 9.911 10.375 10.421 10.759 10.941 11.45 11.756 11.758

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For Attitude, the statistics demonstrates that the main differences are embodied in the comparative results among the genres of Encyclopedia, Science Fiction, Science and Technology, and Folklore with the others. What follows is the detail:  

Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Encyclopedia

Science and Technology

.002

Folklore

.003

Science and Technology

.001

Folklore

.002

History of Science and Technology

.040

General History

.000

Fiction

.001

News Report

.000

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.006

History of Science and Technology

.046

General History

.000

Fiction

.001

News Report

.001

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.010

Science Fiction Science and Technology

Folklore

The table shows that the Attitude features in Encyclopedia texts exceed those in Science and Technology, and Folklore; that is, the differences between Encyclopedia and the two compared genres are significant at the level of 0.002 and 0.003 respectively, both of them being less than 0.05. Therefore, Attitude is a significant feature of Encyclopedia in comparison with Science and Technology, and Folklore. The percentage of Attitude in Science Fiction is much higher than that of Science and Technology or Folklore; and the differences are significant at the level of 0.001 and 0.002 respectively. Such results show that Attitude is also a significant feature of Science Fiction when compared with Science and Technology, and Folklore. Science and Technology, in comparison with the other genres, is significantly different in turn from History of Science and Technology, General History, Fiction, News Report, Government File, or History of Civilization. The significant levels of the differences are at 0.040, 0.000, 0.001, 0.000, 0.000, and 0.006

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respectively, all being less than 0.05. Table 11.2 also shows that the percentage of Attitude in Science and Technology is much lower than any of the compared genres. So with 95 percent of possibility Attitude is a specific feature of History of Science and Technology, General History, Fiction, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization in comparison with Science and Technology. The results of genre-­by-genre comparison also suggest that Folklore is significantly different from the other genres except Science and Technology. Meanwhile, the percentage of Attitude of Folklore is the lowest among the compared genres. Therefore, Attitude is a specific feature of History of Science and Technology, General History, Fiction, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization with at least 95 percent of possibility. For Engagement, the main differences are borne by comparing Science Fiction and General History with other four genres:  

Genre 1

Genre 1

Sig.

Science Fiction

General History

.002

History of Civilization

.050

Science and Technology

.011

News Report

.018

General History

The percentage of Engagement in Science Fiction is higher than that in General History and in History of Civilization; that is, Engagement is a specific feature of Science Fiction compared with General History and Civilization. Also informed by Table  11.2 is that General History has less Engagement features than Science and Technology or News Report; and the differences are significant at the level of 0.011 and 0.018 respectively. Hence, with 95 percent of possibility is Engagement a specific feature of Science and Technology, and News Report in comparison with General History.

5  Generic distributions across the twenty-­six subcategories Table 11.3 demonstrates the generic distributions of the twenty-­six subcategories in each genre and reveals the differences of distributions, with the columns describing the generic distributions and the rows the distribution of each category in each genre. The table shows the generic differences of the distributions. For example, other categories identical with Encyclopedia in column 1 are Veracity, Pronounce, and

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Table 11.3  Generic distribution of the 26 Appraisal categories (%) EP

SF

ST

HST

GH

FL

FC

NR

GF

HC

Inclination

0.37

0.38

0.09

0.23

0.29

0.05

0.56

0.24

0.26

0.16

Happiness

0.29

0.48

0.02

0.18

0.15

0.07

0.60

0.16

0.02

0.07

Satisfaction

0.27

0.38

0.01

0.10

0.13

0.01

0.20

0.05

0.07

0.06

Security

0.10

0.40

0.05

0.10

0.09

0.00

0.37

0.11

0.10

0.07

Normality

0.29

0.28

0.01

0.33

0.19

0.08

0.24

0.28

0.08

0.10

Capacity

1.18

0.55

0.09

1.04

0.83

0.21

1.14

1.07

0.34

0.58

Tenacity

0.52

0.59

0.09

0.75

1.12

0.08

1.05

0.86

1.62

0.52

Veracity

0.02

0.01

0.00

0.06

0.05

0.01

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

Propriety

0.64

0.70

0.01

0.23

1.01

0.08

0.36

0.89

0.77

1.01

Reaction

0.46

1.42

0.20

0.67

0.56

0.67

1.25

0.55

0.14

0.48

Composition

0.23

0.18

0.15

0.23

0.26

0.34

0.14

0.16

0.12

0.20

Valuation

1.24

0.59

1.23

1.01

1.80

0.84

0.79

1.42

2.20

1.63

Deny

1.02

1.89

0.48

0.84

0.76

0.49

1.44

0.92

0.64

0.85

Counter

0.77

1.35

0.80

1.05

0.87

1.23

1.09

1.36

0.74

0.94

Concur

0.19

0.66

0.24

0.34

0.34

0.38

0.50

0.36

0.23

0.27

Pronounce

0.02

0.22

0.04

0.11

0.14

0.05

0.14

0.32

0.54

0.18

Endorse

0.02

0.00

0.15

0.08

0.02

0.06

0.00

0.02

0.09

0.02

Entertain

1.87

2.24

2.73

1.61

1.34

2.26

2.21

2.09

1.83

1.63

Acknowledge

0.56

0.55

0.53

0.82

0.35

0.47

0.71

0.26

0.51

1.01

Distance

0.04

0.06

0.00

0.04

0.04

0.03

0.00

0.03

0.01

0.07

Number/ Amount

1.39

1.21

2.09

1.74

1.12

1.84

1.31

1.60

2.34

1.68

Mass/ Presence

0.46

0.28

0.22

0.22

0.38

0.16

0.49

0.39

0.53

0.18

Extent

2.18

2.33

1.36

1.89

2.42

1.11

1.94

1.91

1.73

1.87

Quality

1.97

2.51

1.92

2.31

3.04

1.82

1.88

2.73

2.81

2.33

Process

3.57

4.95

3.54

3.69

3.39

3.69

5.43

3.83

3.79

3.60

Focus

0.35

0.47

0.36

0.54

0.60

0.47

0.40

0.29

0.55

0.75

Total

20.01 24.71 16.43 20.19 21.28 16.51 24.25 21.92 22.1

20.3

Endorse; Happiness and Normality; and Reaction and Mass/Presence; but the frequency of the first identical group is the lowest and that of Process the highest. Meanwhile, Inclination in Row 1 is most frequent in Fiction and least so in Folklore. However, Table 11.3 cannot be taken as the criterion for judging whether the differences are significant enough to suggest some category of Appraisal as a specific

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feature of a particular genre. The result of an ANOVA examination shows that Happiness (0.000), Satisfaction (0.001), Security (0.000), Normality (0.009), Capacity (0.000), Tenacity (0.003), Propriety (0.000), Reaction (0.007), Deny (0.001), Counter (0.037), Pronounce (0.000), Entertain (0.007), Acknowledge (0.047), Extent (0.022), and Focus (0.027) are distinctive features in the ten genres at the significant level of 0.05, whereas Inclination (0.053), Veracity (0.681), Composition (0.764), Valuation (0.071), Concur (0.108), Endorse (0.063), Distance (0.548), Number (0.141), Mass (0.482), Quality (0.146), and Process (0.204) are not. In addition, the results of multiple comparisons indicate that there are significant differences between some genres at each of the subcategories, except for Composition and Mass. Here, for the reason of space, only the results of a multiple comparison of Happiness, Security, Capacity, Propriety, and Pronounce are provided to exemplify the generic differences. First, for Happiness, there are significant differences between:  

Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Encyclopedia

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.024

General History

.003

Folklore

.004

News Report

.024

Government File

.004

History of Civilization

.001

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.004

General History

.000

Folklore

.001

News Report

.003

Government File

.001

History of Civilization

.000

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.000

General History

.000

Folklore

.000

News Report

.000

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.000

Science Fiction

Fiction

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Table  11.3 demonstrates that the percentage of Happiness in Encyclopedia is higher than that in Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, News Report, Government File, or History of Civilization. Moreover, the differences are all significant at the level of 0.05. Such statistics show that Happiness is a specific feature of Encyclopedia with 95 percent of possibility. Science Fiction tends to employ more features of Happiness in comparison with Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization; and the differences between them are significant at the level of, respectively, 0.000, 0.004, 0.000, 0.001, 0.003, and 0.000, all less than 0.05. Therefore, Happiness is a specific feature of Science Fiction in comparison with the six compared genres with at least 95 percent of possibility. Table  11.3 also reports that the percentage of Happiness is comparatively higher in Fiction than in Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization; and the differences between them are all significant at the level of 0.000. That means that Happiness is as well a specific feature of Fiction in comparison with the seven compared genres with at least 95 percent of possibility. Second, for Security, there are significant differences between:  

Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Encyclopedia

Science Fiction

.001

Folklore

.049

Fiction

.003

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.000

General History

.000

Folklore

.000

News Report

.000

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.000

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.000

General History

.000

Folklore

.000

Science Fiction

Fiction

Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories

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News Report

.001

Government File

.001

History of Civilization

.000

For Encyclopaedia, the percentage of Security is comparatively higher than that in Folklore, but less so than that in Science Fiction or Fiction. Moreover, the difference between Encyclopedia and Folklore is significant at the level of 0.049; and the differences with Science Fiction and Fiction are significant at the levels of 0.001 and 0.003 respectively. So Security is a specific feature of Encyclopedia in comparison with Folklore; and it is also a specific feature of Science Fiction or Fiction with 95 percent of possibility when compared in turn with Encyclopedia. The statistics in Table 11.3 indicate that the percentage of Security in Science Fiction is the highest compared with the numbers in Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization; that is, the differences are all significant at the level of 0.000. Therefore, Security is a specific feature of Science Fiction in comparison with the seven genres per se with at least 95 percent of possibility. The percentage of Security in Fiction is comparatively higher when compared with Science and Technology, History of Science and Technology, General History, Folklore, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization; and all the differences are significant at the level of 0.05. Security is therefore a specific feature of Fiction in the comparison under discussion. Third, for Capacity, there are significant differences between:  

Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Encyclopedia

Science Fiction

.036

Science and Technology

.000

Folklore

.000

Government File

.001

History of Civilization

.008

Fiction

.016

News Report

.026

History of Science and Technology

.000

General History

.001

Fiction

.000

News Report

.000

Science Fiction Science and Technology

180 Genre 1

History of Science and Technology

General History

Folklore Fiction News Report

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics Genre 2

Sig.

History of Civilization

.031

Folklore

.000

Government File

.003

History of Civilization

.027

Folklore

.003

Fiction

.045

Government File

.018

Fiction

.000

News Report

.000

Government File

.001

History of Civilization

.005

Government File

.001

History of Civilization

.003

For Encyclopedia, the statistics in Table  11.3 show that the percentage of Capacity is higher when compared with Science Fiction, Science and Technology, Folklore, Government File, and History of Civilization; and the significant levels of differences between them are 0.036, 0.000, 0.000, 0.001, and 0.008 respectively. These results suggest Capacity is a specific feature of Encyclopedia with 95 percent of possibility in comparison with the five genres concerned here. The percentage of Capacity in Science Fiction is lower when compared with Fiction and News Report. The differences are significant at the level of 0.016 and 0.026 respectively. That is to say, Capacity is a specific feature of Fiction and News Report when compared with Science Fiction with 95 percent of possibility. Table 11.3 reports that the percentage of Capacity in Science and Technology is lower when compared with History of Science and Technology, General History, Fiction, News Report, and History of Civilization, the differences being significant at the levels of 0.000, 0.001, 0.000, 0.000, and 0.031 respectively. That is, all the five compared genres have a specific feature of Capacity in comparison with Science and Technology, with at least 95 percent of possibility. History of Science and Technology has a higher percentage of Capacity compared with Folklore, Government File, and History of Civilization. The differences between them are significant at the levels of 0.000, 0.003, and 0.027 respectively. The statistics prove that Capacity is a specific feature of History of

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Science and Technology in comparison with Folklore, Government File, and History of Civilization with 95 percent of possibility. The percentage of Capacity in General History is higher than that in Folklore or Government File, but lower than that in Fiction. To be specific, the levels of significance of the differences between General History and Folklore, Fiction, and Government File are 0.003, 0.045, and 0.018 respectively. Then Capacity is a specific feature of General History in comparison with Folklore and Government File; but it is also a specific feature of Fiction with 95 percent of possibility when compared in turn with General History. The percentage of Capacity in Folklore is lower in comparison with that in Fiction or News Report: the differences between them are both significant at the level of 0.000. That is, Capacity is also a specific feature of Fiction and News Report when compared with Folklore at least with 95 percent of possibility. Yet when Fiction is compared with Government File and History of Civilization, the percentage of Capacity in it is much higher; and Capacity is hence a specific feature of Fiction there with at least 95 percent of possibility. News Report has a higher percentage of Capacity when compared with Government File and History of Civilization. The differences between them are significant at the levels of 0.001 and 0.003 respectively. So Capacity is a specific feature of News Report in the comparison per se with at least 95 percent of possibility. Fourth, for Propriety, there are significant differences between:   Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Science and Technology

General History

.002

News Report

.017

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.003

General History

.033

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.040

Folklore

.010

Government File

.002

News Report

.042

Government File

.000

History of Civilization

.013

History of Science and Technology

General History Folklore

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Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Government File

Encyclopedia

.001

Science Fiction

.002

Fiction

.001

News Report

.001

History of Civilization

.002

When Science and Technology is compared with General History, News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization, the percentage of Propriety in it is much lower. And the differences are significant at the levels of 0.002, 0.017, 0.000, and 0.003 respectively. So Propriety is a specific feature of each of the four genres with at least 95 percent of possibility. When History of Science and Technology is compared with General History, Government File, and History of Civilization, the percentage of Propriety in History of Science and Technology is lower: the differences are significant at the level of 0.033, 0.000, and 0.040 respectively. In other words, Propriety is a specific feature of General History, Government File, and History of Civilization in comparison with History of Science and Technology with 95 percent of possibility. General History, if compared with Folklore and Government File, has a higher percentage of Propriety, the differences being significant at the level of 0.010 and 0.002. So Propriety is a specific feature of General History in comparison with Folklore and Government with at least 95 percent of possibility. Folklore is less likely to adopt Propriety compared with News Report, Government File, and History of Civilization. The differences are significant enough at the level of 0.05. Then each of the latter three has a specific feature of Propriety with 95 percent of possibility. When Government File is compared with Encyclopedia, Science Fiction, Fiction, News Report, and History of Civilization, the percentage is higher than that in Encyclopedia, Science Fiction, or Fiction but lower than that in News Report or History of Civilization. Therefore, if Government File is compared with Encyclopedia, Science Fiction, and Fiction, it has a specific feature of Propriety; but when compared with News Report and History of Civilization, Propriety is then a specific feature of News Report and History of Civilization with 95 percent of possibility. Fifth, for Pronounce, there are significant differences between:  

Generic Distributions of English Appraisal Categories

183

Genre 1

Genre 2

Sig.

Encyclopedia

Government File

.000

Science Fiction

.000

Science and Technology

.000

History of Science and Technology

.000

General History

.000

Folklore

.000

Fiction

.000

News Report

.000

History of Civilization

.000

The statistics inform us that, for the distribution of Pronounce, only Government File is significantly different (0.000) from each of the other nine genres with at least 95 percent of possibility; and the percentage of Pronounce in Government File is the highest. Such statistics prove that Government File has a specific feature of Pronounce when compared with any of the other nine genres.

6  Conclusion So far, the chapter has presented the generic distribution of Appraisal categories in the ten genres of English texts and described the differences of distributions. As the statistics show, there do exist significant differences between some genres. However, as the findings show, Appraisal is universal: from working class families to schools and universities, from business fields to political areas and from childhood to senior citizenship. One cannot live without appraisal in society, whether speaking out or conceiving deep in one’s ideology.

Typology

12

Lexis-grammar Complementarity and System of person: A Systemic Typological Perspective1 WANG, Pin (王品)

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

1  The system of person person as a linguistic concept identifies and differentiates speech roles in discourse, namely the addresser, the addressee, and the party referred to that is neither the addresser nor the addressee. Along with number, case, tense, aspect, and so on, Person is primarily perceived in linguistics as a grammatical category involving a semantic distinction reflected in a phono-­morphological paradigm. From the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (hereafter SFL), the underlying principle for paradigmatic ordering of language is a “system” consisting of a set of options. In this sense, Person is a fundamental system in language organization and represents an essential aspect of meaning potential in human language. Where there is human consciousness of the distinction between one’s self and others, the system of Person exists. “A language without the expression of Person is unimaginable” (Benveniste 1971: 225). The system of Person is a significant and ubiquitous linguistic phenomenon when observed either within one single language, synchronically or diachronically, or from a typological viewpoint across a number of languages. Given the vast spectrum of linguistic resources realizing the meaning of Person, this chapter focuses on how such meaning is realized through lexical and grammatical means in language and how the two types of realization complement each other on the basis of SFL theories of stratification and realization. It needs to be noted that the term “Person” ’ in this chapter is used in a discourse semantic sense, the realization of which includes, but is by no means restricted to, personal pronouns. For all the key positions personal pronouns have in identifying speech roles, they cannot represent the whole picture. Any means that serves to identify

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speech roles in discourse, lexical or grammatical, falls within the scope of the present study.

2  Complementarity between lexis and grammar According to SFL stratification theory, the relationship between the strata is one of realization, i.e. the selection of meaning (discourse semantics) is realized by the selection of wording (lexicogrammar), which is in turn realized by the selection of actual expression (phonology). The term “lexicogrammar” represents a view of language that combines what are traditionally known as “words” and “structures.” Lexis and grammar are not seen as two separate levels, but two ends of a single stratum, forming a continuum in between. Consideration of lexicogrammar as a single stratum is a long-­established idea in SFL’s development (see Halliday 1961, 1978). Hasan (1987) is recognized as the key paper that further develops Halliday’s “grammarian’s dream” of treating lexis as delicate grammar. Other studies of the lexis-­grammar relation by systemic functional linguists include Berry (1977), Fawcett (1980), Matthiessen (1990), Tucker (1998, 2005, 2007). According to Halliday (2008b), the complementarity between lexis and grammar is the basis for the idea of lexicogrammar as a single unified stratum, most prominent in the ideational function. World experience can be construed either way—either lexically or grammatically, each bringing its own contribution to the meaning of the whole. Lexical items are compared to particles because they are specific members that construe phenomena as particulars; grammatical systems are compared to waves since they are general terms that construe experiences as generalities.

3  Lexicalization of person Lexis refers to the open-­class words of a language that accept addition of new items, carry the primary information load of a discourse, and are generally variable in form. Typically, lexical items include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They are also called content words in traditional grammar as opposed to function words or grammatical words. Examined from the SFL perspective, lexis is seen as one end of the lexicogrammar continuum. Halliday (2004: 37) gives a brief description of lexis—“starting at the

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lexical end—with the ‘content words’ of the vocabulary—we find names of entities, names of processes and names of qualities.” The use of entities, processes and qualities to identify Person is addressed below as lexicalization of Person.

3.1  Lexicalization: entity 3.1.1  Noun indicating the third person A speech role in discourse is often referred to by a nominal group—often realized by a noun as the Thing—since it is by nature an entity. To highlight the contrast between nouns and pronouns, the former is a lexical means while the latter a grammatical one and the discussion needs to move down from group rank to work rank. In many cases, a noun is employed to denote the third party that is neither the addresser nor the addressee. In languages where there is morphological inflection in verbal group for the third Person, the noun may, in accordance with its syntactic status, require corresponding agreement on the part of the verbal group to ensure concord. In Example (1), Emily requires a certain morphological change to the verb (have to has) to achieve the agreement. (1) Emily has two sisters. As is seen above, the third Person speech role of nouns is so self-­evident that it should take up no further account in this section. In contrast, the first and second persons are normally realized by grammatical means such as personal pronouns, clitics, verbal affixes, or some combination of these resources; however, there are certain occasions where nouns are used to play the first and second person roles as well.

3.1.2  Noun indicating the first person Under some circumstances, the first person reference can be realized by nouns. Here the contextual factor “tenor” has a role to play, which serves the negotiation of social relationships between the addresser and the addressee. Such relationships are reflected on discourse semantics via appraisal: attitude; and the appraisal in person is realized by nouns rather than pronouns. For example, the Chinese noun gū literally means “orphan” or “lonely man,” but is often employed by feudal kings in the Chinese history as a humble term to refer to himself, as in Example (2). (2) zhūrén chíyì shèn shī gū people proposal greatly lose lonely man “People’s proposals greatly disappointed me.”2

wàng hope

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A similar example would be guărén, with a literal meaning of “man of little virtue,” but is a self-­addressing expression used exclusively by Chinese emperors. The originally humble terms carry meaning that shows a power relation and a condescending attitude on the part of the addresser. To show genuinely a sense of modesty and humbleness, Chinese people used to call themselves by their given name, as in Example (3). (3) jīn tiānxià yīngxióng wéi shĭjūn yuˇ Cāo ěr now under heaven hero only provincial civil official and Cao but “The only heroes in the world are you and I.”3 Other self-­referring humble terms usually incorporate appraisal, specifically negative judgment, to show one’s incompetence, humbleness, inferiority, ignorance, immaturity, and senility, such as xiăorén (little man), bĭrén (vulgar, humble man), pú (slave), wănbèi (junior), lăofū (old man), and so on. On some occasions the addresser refers to him or herself using his or her occupation or social position, optionally combined with attitude-­invoking elements, such as chén (minister), qiè (concubine), xiàguān (inferior official), and wănshēng (young scholar). These self-­ addressing terms are open-­class and there is no fixed limit to the set. By using a noun denoting a social role to identify oneself, a sense of intimacy can also be produced, typically in baby-­talk, as in Example (4). (4) Tommy, daddy’s gonna tell you a story. Another connotation that a noun functioning as first person indicator can bring about is the detachment of the speaker from the discourse. This undertone is especially useful when the discourse is supposed to convey information with objectivity and authenticity. This explains why academic theses are written using the author/writer in English and zuòzhě/bĭzhě (author/writer) in Chinese, instead of the more subjective-­sounding first person pronoun I and wŏ. It is also noted that many celebrities in politics, sports, or entertainment circles address themselves using their names (or nicknames) instead of the first person pronoun. In Example (5), the personality seems to be detaching herself from the discourse, but she adopts the proper noun to represent herself as an iconized image in public view. (5)

néng chànggē gěi nĭmen tīng shì Fànfàn able sing for you pl listen be Fanfan zuì kāixīnde yījiàn shìqíng most happy a thing “It is the happiest thing for Fanfan to be able to sing for you.”4

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The nouns indicating the first person are all in third person concord where agreement is needed. Thus the first person realized by nouns usually contains some sort of socially or stylistically varied meaning according to the tenor of the context.

3.1.3  Noun indicating the second person The most commonly seen noun indicating the second person would be vocative—a name, title, or social identity used to directly address or invoke a participant in the discourse, e.g. Tommy in Example (4). A non-­vocative noun indicating the second person can also be used. This may imply some special social meaning—status, contact, and affect in particular (Martin 1992: 523); shĭjūn in Example (3) is such an instance. Or in English: (6) I yet beseech Your Majesty, if for I want that glib and oily art.5 In Japanese, it is very common to use nouns in place of second person pronoun, although there is a whole set of such pronouns like anata, kimi, and omae. The Japanese typically avoid using them, something which might be attributed to the hierarchical characteristics of the Japanese society where second person pronouns are often eschewed because they are not considered as capable enough of expressing various social and interpersonal relationships. See Example (7) below. (7) sensei-wa o-­isogashii teacher-top hon-busy “Is the teacher busy? (Are you busy?)”

desu-­ka be-int

In contrast to nouns, the use of second person pronouns in Japanese is virtually restricted to dialogue between husband and wife, very close friends or a superior’s addressing a subordinate. “The main rule of thumb about pronouns in Japanese is to avoid them completely in every polite conversation, and to avoid them as much as possible everywhere else” (McClure 2000: 234). Here lexical resources are taken advantage of to negotiate tenor. Similar to Japanese, Korean also prefers nouns to second person pronouns in addressing people with higher social status, although a good number of second person pronouns can be found in Korean, too, such as dangsin, geudae, and neo. See Example (8) below. (8) seonsaeng-­nim do ga-­seyo teacher-hon also go-hon “Is the teaching going, too? (Are you going, too?)”

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According to Lee and Ramsey (2000: 94), second person pronouns in Korean are “normally not used to refer to someone who must be respected; there are many instances where one can only use a noun to refer to such a person.” Therefore, in the above example, the tenor does not allow the teacher to be replaced by a pronoun. Like the first person discussed in 3.1.2, the second person realized by nouns also comprises interpersonal meaning to be retrieved from the context.

3.2  Lexicalization: Process Many languages integrate the meaning of a speech role into a process with verbal affixation. However, this realization of person is a grammatical one. The lexicalization of person through uninflected verbs is indeed rare. But in Japanese, there are a set of such verbs incorporating the meaning of person, i.e. giving and receiving verbs, honorific and humble verbs. In Japanese, some verbs of giving and receiving have “an intrinsic directionality which helps to identify the person performing the act of giving” (Lange 1988: 502). A typical giving verb is kureru, as well as its honorific form kudasaru, which is not entirely equivalent to the English verb “give” but means “giving by someone other than the addresser to the addresser or a member at the addresser’s side.” Example (9) contains no personal pronoun, but the first person meaning rests fully on the verbal group in the Process of the clause. Explicit use of a first person Recipient would be seen as redundant. (9) tomodachi-­ga purezento-­o friend-nom present-acc “My friend gave me a present.”

kure-mashi-­ta give-hon-past

In contrast, verbs like ageru, sashiageru, and yaru6 mean “giving something to someone other than the addresser.” In other words, these three verbs do not permit first person Recipient in the giving process. Thus Example (10) would be ungrammatical with a mismatched giving verb and an explicit Recipient. (10) *hayashisan-­ga watashi-­ni purezento-­o Mr. Hayashi-nom I-dat present-acc “Mr. Hayashi gave me a present.”

age-­ta give-past

Some verbs in Japanese have special honorific and humble forms, used in accordance with the addresser’s attitude to the addressee or topic of the discourse. For example, the verb suru (do) has an honorific form nasaru and a humble form

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itasu. Honorific verbs are used by raising the status of the subject and thus indicate the second or third person, never the first. Humble verbs are used to lower the addresser’s status, so they are always associated with the addresser or a member at the addresser’s side, most of the times reflecting the first person speech role in the discourse. Example (11) below is always interpreted as I’ll show you the way, although the first person I is not explicit in the discourse but is embodied by the choice of verb. (11) go-­annai itashi-masu hon-guidance do-hon “I’ll show you the way.”

3.3  Lexicalization: quality The class adjective typically functions as the Post-­deictic, Classifier, or Epithet in a nominal group, specifying the noun’s attribute, class, and others. However, “the relationship between function and class is not one-­to-one” (Martin et al. 2013: 36) and the experiential function Thing and the logical function Head in a nominal group, though typically realized by a noun, can be realized by an adjective as well. The adjective realizing a Thing/Head can also be preceded by a Deictic/Modifier, even though it does not otherwise meet criteria that typically distinguish a lexical item as noun. For instance, the plural suffix cannot be attached to it in English, e.g. the poor vs. *the poors. The function of such adjectives as Thing/Head enables them to identify speech roles in discourse and the unmarked reference would presumably be the third person. In English, the definite determiner the usually precedes such an adjective which is in a plural concordance with the verb if the adjective is the grammatical subject. See Example (12). (12) The rich are privileged. Adjectives indicating the first and the second person can be found, too. In the case of the first person in Chinese, some adjectives with humble and self-­ degrading attitude are often employed to refer to oneself in literary works or formal writing, such as bùcái (good for nothing), bùxiào (unworthy), xiăode (little), and lăoxiŭ (old and worthless). Again, the lexical resources have to do with appraisal, realizing a tenor for negotiating social relationships. Adjectives referring to the second person are generally used as vocatives, most of which are terms of endearment involving positive judgment, such as

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qīnàide in Chinese, dear in English, cher/chère in French. Occasionally adjectives other than dear are used as vocative, as in Example (13). (13) dànshì cōngmíngde nĭ gàosù wŏ but clever you tell me wŏmende rìzi wèishénme yī qù bù fùfăn ne our day why once go not return int “Now, you the wise, tell me, why should our days leave us, never to return?”7

4  Grammaticalization of person Grammaticalized person markers may adopt various morpho-­phonological forms, which perform different syntactic functions and have different distribution patterns cross-­linguistically. Grammatical person forms that are closest to lexical items are personal pronouns, which constitute individual words and may take primary stress. Dependent person forms cannot receive primary word stress; normally they are morphologically and orthographically dependent on other elements, phonologically reduced and/or restricted in distribution, including clitics, affixes and zero form.

4.1  Grammaticalization: personal pronoun Personal pronouns are used to substitute nominal expressions in discourse, but they differ from nouns in that they have their distinctive morphological and syntactic properties. Personal pronouns are classified as grammatical words, because they are a closed class and do not differentiate lexical meaning beyond general grammatical classes such as gender, case and number. Sugamoto (1989: 287) introduces a scalar approach to personal pronouns, in which the distinction between nouns and pronouns is gradable. Personal pronouns in some languages display more pronominal features while those in other languages exhibit more nominal characteristics. Chinese personal pronouns are found somewhere between Japanese and English personal pronouns, i.e. Chinese personal pronouns possess more pronominal features than Japanese but fewer than English. Thus, the personal pronouns of English, Chinese and Japanese are located at different positions along the nominal-­pronominal scale, as is roughly shown in Figure 12.1. The reason for positioning English pronouns to the pronominal end is that more semantic systems are grammaticalized, such as gender, number, case;

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Figure 12.1  English/Chinese/Japanese personal pronouns on the Pronominality Scale.

in contrast, Japanese pronouns realize the semantic systems more lexically, sharing many features with nouns. Chinese pronouns have more grammatical features than Japanese, but fewer than English. The following is a brief comparison of personal pronouns across the three languages. Firstly, personal pronouns usually belong to a closed class in a paradigmatic set of a limited number of words. In English, there is basically one pronoun for each grammatical person, number and case variety. This is also true with modern Chinese. In classical Chinese, however, there are more members for each grammatical person, e.g. wú, wŏ, yú for the first person singular; and rŭ, ĕr, ruò, and năi for the second person singular. The multiplicity of Japanese personal pronouns is also well known, such as watashi, watakushi, boku, ore for the first person singular and anata, kimi, omae, kisama for the second person singular. Secondly, personal pronouns tend not to have the same morphological affixation with nouns to realize semantic features. This is true in English in that suppletive forms are used to indicate different numbers and cases, e.g. I/we/me/my. However, personal pronouns in Chinese and Japanese do not use suppletion but form the plural and possessive with the same affix as nouns would do. Thirdly, an important benchmark to measure pronominality is the incapability to take modifiers. English personal pronouns do not normally take determiners, demonstratives or possessives, e.g. *the he, *those them, *your her. They only take modifiers under very restricted circumstances: the accusative form of a pronoun may be preceded by certain adjectives of judgment used in exclamation, as in (14); sometimes a pronoun can take a Deictic, as in (15), but such occasions are not applicable to all contexts. (14) Lucky you! (15) It’s a she. (not male) In Chinese, the restrictions are less tight, resulting in more possibilities for personal pronouns to take modifiers, as in (16). But personal pronouns in Chinese can still not combine with modifiers freely, as in (17) and (18).

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(16) shí nián qián de wŏ ten years ago gen I (17) *zhèxiē tāmen these they (18) *zhèngzài dú shū prog read book “you, who are reading a book.”

de gen

nĭ you

Closer to the nominal extreme, Japanese personal pronouns allow a greater range of modifications. They can be modified by demonstratives, adjectives, or even embedded clauses. See Examples (19) to (21). (19) kono this

kare he

(20) yasashii kanojo gentle she (21) sensei-­ni home-­rare-ta teacher-agt praise-pass-past “I, who was praised by the teacher.”

watashi I

Typological studies have found that personal pronouns in different languages fit into different spots along the cline (for Thai and Polish see Siewierska 2004: 9–13), hence the complexity of personal pronouns and their idiosyncratic performances in discourse.

4.2  Grammaticalization: clitic Clitics are morphemes that share properties of both inflectional affixes and independent words. They “present analytic difficulties because they are neither clearly independent words nor clearly affixes” (Zwicky 1977: 1). Phonologically, clitics resemble inflectional affixes in that they generally do not take the stress and have to form a tonic group with their host; they also tend to be monosyllabic, while independent words are open to more than one syllable. Orthographically, clitics may look either like independent words because they are written separately on some occasions, or like affixes when they are attached to the host in writing. The essence of understanding clitics is that they function at group rank instead of word rank and a clitic always has a host to attach itself to. Clitics with

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meaning of person are regularly found in Romance languages; (22) and (23) are examples from Spanish. (22) Te me recomendó You sg dat I acc recommend 3 sg past “He/she recommended me to you.” (23) Dámelo give 3 sg imp^ I dat^ it acc “Give it to me!” The clitics te and me in (22) are separate words but are actually dependent on their host verb recomendó and function at the rank of the verbal group. They cannot occur alone nor can they take primary stress. However, they have some relative independence in that they are written separately from their host. In (23), two personal clitics are graphologically attached to the host. The sequence of the two clitics in each clause is determined by their respective functions. The mood of the clause determines the position of the clitics at the beginning or end of the verbal group and this mobility differentiates clitics from affixes, whose position in the verbal group is fixed. Consequently, cliticization of person forms is a further grammaticalization step than independent personal pronouns. Then, affixation, a still further step towards the grammar end, loses more independence and becomes fixed in relation to the Process of the clause.

4.3  Grammaticalization: affix The identification of speech roles can be realized by inflectional affixes, the most common forms of which are verbal conjugation suffixes such as those found in Indo-European languages. Through conjugation, a verb can derive from its dictionary entry form (or “principal part”’ following the Latinate tradition) a set of inflected forms that indicate number, tense, aspect, mood, voice and grammatical person. A conjugation paradigm is often offered to students learning languages with complex verb affixation, especially where portmanteau morphemes are involved (see Robins 1959). For example, from the ending -mus in the finite Latin verb donamus, the Actor of the clause is known to be we. Apart from suffixes, other types of inflectional affix indicating person, i.e. prefix, infix and circumfix are very rare and not found in major languages in the

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world. And in “polysynthetic” languages where words are composed of a number of morphemes, several Participants can be affixed simultaneously. Example (24) is the Mexican language Nahuatl, showing how such clause-­rank functions as Initiator, Actor, Goal, and Recipient are integrated into the Process so that the affixes indicating Participants function at word rank. (24) Ni-­mitz-tē-­tla-maqui-­ltī-­z I-you-­someone-something-­give-caus-fut “I shall make somebody give something to you” (Suárez 1983: 61). It should be noted that an inflectional affix is incorporated into the verb and thus becomes one part of it. It functions at the rank of word and represents a more general grammatical feature. It is fixed, inflexible, and fully dependent on the verb and hence affix is envisaged as taking a further step towards the grammar end along the lexicogrammar continuum.

4.4  Grammaticalization: zero form If the cline of grammaticalization of person is further extended, zero person form might be viewed as the ultimate state of grammaticalization, developing all the way from fully independent personal pronouns, clitics, and affixes. In English, the absence of a phonological form can be understood as implicit marker of person on some restricted occasions, such as unmarked realization of the imperative mood, as in (25), ellipsis across clauses, as in (26), and at times declarative clause in informal and colloquial usage, as in (27). The empty positions can be interpreted as referring to you, Mary and I respectively. (25) Φ Go away! (26) Mary hugged John and Φ left. (27) Φ Wasn’t home yesterday. In contrast to English with restricted use of zero person form, Japanese regularly adopts zero person form in clauses of all types of mood structure. See the conversation in Example (28). (28) A: Φ itsu nihon-­e ki-­mashi-ta-­ka when Japan-dir come-hon-past-int “When did you come to Japan?”

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B: Φ senshuu-­ni ki-­mashi-ta last week-tmp come-hon-past “I came last week.”

It is totally acceptable and normal for Japanese to omit person forms in discourse where the speech role is self-­evident and known to each party. It would sound very unnatural to put personal pronouns anata and watashi in the slots. Though speaker A may employ a nominal expression to refer to speaker B as discussed in 3.1.3, it is extremely unlikely and almost never possible for speaker B to use any phonological person form to refer back to him/herself. Here, at clause rank, the Participant is elided as a result of the tenor. Zero person marker may also result from the lack of explicit person form in the language system, hence the obligatoriness of a null in the clause. The set of personal pronouns realizing nominal group rank system pronominality simply does not have a certain member. A notable example can be drawn from Old Chinese,8 which lacks the third person nominative pronoun. The third person pronouns qí and jué are used only in the genitive case and zhī in the accusative case (Wang 1980: 264). See Example (29), where the third person subject has to be left empty for lack of such a pronoun. If not empty, the opening must be filled with a full nominal expression Zĭgòng. The English translation below supplies the proper nominal. (29) zĭ wèi Zĭgòng yuē Confucius say Zigong proj rŭ yŭ Huí yĕ shú yù you and Hui top who superior

Φ duì yuē Cì yĕ hé găn wàng Huí answer proj Ci top how dare look over Hui “Confucius, speaking to Zigong, said, ‘Who is superior? You or Hui?’ Zigong answered, saying, ‘How could I compare myself to Hui?’ ”9

5  Migration along lexis-­grammar continuum When all the aspects addressed in Sections  3 and 4 are taken into account, the lexical and grammatical means of expressing the concept of person can be summarized with a cline, starting from lexical item and developing all the way to the grammatical pole. As analyzed in 4.1, personal pronouns can be regarded as the transition between the lexis end and the grammar end, and the

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pronominality-­nominality scale stands as compelling evidence for the complementarity between lexis and grammar. Lexical item > independent pronoun > clitic > affix > zero form This cline is particularly significant in accounting for the complementarity between lexis and grammar in relation to person. The complementarity between lexis and grammar, according to SFL, is most prominent in the ideational metafunction. When it comes to the system of person, its ideational function is mainly performed in the identification of and reference to the speech roles in the clause. The specific expressions of person chosen by the addresser along the lexis-­grammar continuum reflect how he or she judges the accessibility of the particular entities for the addressee. The addresser chooses a person form with high mental accessibility to the entity (more to the grammar end) when the information of this speech role is not so difficult for the addressee to retrieve in the current phase of discourse. Likewise, when the information of speech role needs to be more specifically provided, the addresser would select a less attenuated form (more to the lexis end). All the choices come from the vast reservoir of meaning potential that language has to provide, either lexical or grammatical, for the construal of ideational meaning about person. Diachronically, person meanings characteristically move from the lexis end to the grammar end, a process also termed grammaticalization. The person markers are found to originate from lexical items, just as other grammatical items often begin their life as regular lexical items (Meillet 1912). From a lexical item to a grammatical marker, a certain person form goes through a series of changes in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Phonologically, the item undergoes reduction in sound and results in simpler pronunciation; morphologically, it loses independent word status through cliticization and affixation; syntactically, the position of the item becomes fossilized; and semantically, it drops full semantic content and assumes more abstract and general features. For example, the first person pronoun boku in Japanese originally means “servant” or “slave” when it was borrowed from Chinese, but it has now grammaticalized into a personal pronoun with no more such humbleness. Once grammaticalized into a personal pronoun, the person marker might continue moving along the lexis-­grammar continuum further to the grammar end and reduces to a clitic, a bound morpheme, or ultimately a zero form. Previous studies indicate that typologists have arrived at a consensus that most clitics and verbal inflections are gradual development of pronouns (Greenberg 1966; Givón 1976; Steele 1977; Dixon 1979, 1980; Comrie 1981; Bosch 1983;

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Lehmann 1987; Hopper and Traugott 1993; Ariel 2000). As the movement of personal forms from lexical items to grammatical structures cannot take place simultaneously for all persons, numbers, genders, or among different languages, intermediate states, such as the fuzzy boundary between nominal and pronominal features of personal pronouns, reflect the migration in progress.

6  Coda In construing meaning as either particularity or generality, lexis and grammar play their respective role along a continuum with different degrees of delicacy. Some phenomena can be looked at either way, since the boundary between the two aspects is obscure. Typologically, a same experience may be construed through varied levels of lexicalization and grammaticalization across languages. A meaning is also subject to migration along the lexis-­grammar continuum diachronically, which is by no means a transfer across strata. This chapter verifies the above points in terms of the system of person and addresses how the two types of realization complement each other in the construal of meaning related to person. It is suggested that lexis and grammar constitute a balanced entirety for the system of person, and different strategies of person meaning construal, both lexical and grammatical, are involved in the semogenic process as a unity, jointly exercising their function of transforming person-­related meaning into specific wording.

Notes 1 The author is profoundly indebted to Prof. J.R. Martin for many valuable suggestions for this chapter’s improvement. The abbreviations used are as follows—acc: accusative; agt: agentive; caus: causative; dat: dative; dir: directional; fut: future; gen: genitive; hon: honorific; imp: imperative; int: interrogative; nom: nominative; pass: passive; past: past; pl: plural; prog: progressive; proj: projection; sg: singular; tmp: temporal; top: topical; 3: third person. 2 Volume 65, Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (“诸人持议，甚失孤 望。”《资治通鉴》卷六十五). 3 Chapter 21, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, English translation by C.H. BrewittTaylor. (“今天下英雄，惟使君与操耳。”《三国演义》第二十一回). 4 Cited from the blog of Wei Chi Fan, who, nicknamed Fanfan, is a pop singer of Taiwan.

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5 King Lear, I. i. 6 Ageru is used in describing giving to an equal or a superior with an intrinsic element of politeness to the receiver; sashiageru is used when the giver is inferior to the receiver; yaru lacks politeness, usually used in an informal and plain manner. 7 Rush, by Zhu Ziqing, English translation by Zhang Peiji. (“但是，聪明的，你告诉 我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？”朱自清《匆匆》). 8 Old Chinese (上古汉语), also known as Archaic Chinese, refers to the Chinese language from the initial stage of written record (circa 1200 BC) until the third century BC. 9 “Gongye Chang,” The Analects of Confucius, English translation by A. Charles Muller. (“子谓子贡曰：‘女与回也孰愈？’对曰：‘赐也何敢望回？’”《论语•公冶 长》).

Semiotics

13

Issues Concerning the Disciplinary Status of Semiotics HU, Zhuanglin (胡壮麟) Peking University

1  Introduction I reported in my 1999 paper “Issues concerning the contemporary semiotic research” that there are two extreme positions on the disciplinary status of semiotic research,“one related to extreme subjective assertion and self-­confidence, another related to extreme disappointment and depression” (Hu 1999b: 1). I drew my impressions from the wordings of Marshall Blonsky and Jonathan Culler. Blonsky (1985: xviii) noted that internationally recognized authorities in this field used the expression “the agony of semiotics” to imply “the crisis of theory.” This makes one think of the reasons why general semioticians more often than not find themselves “at the crossroads,” doubting the relevance of the elaborated concepts and the validity of research and methodology. In contrast, Culler (1989) commented in his Presidential Address that “. . . the major problem for semiotics is its ambitions” and “The value of semiotics is linked to its unwillingness to respect disciplinary boundaries” as it sees everything in the world as sign.

2  A unified theory for semiotics In my 1999 paper, I touched upon the fact that there still lacks a unified theory to see semiotics as a discipline as well as a comprehensive rationale to link semiosis at the levels of culture, society, and nature. I drew this idea from John Deely, a professor of the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas. In the preface to his Basics of Semiotics (1990), Deely compared the image of the

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modern semiotic universe to that of astronomy in 1611 as suggested by John Donne: “ ’Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone; all just supply, and all Relation.” Deely attempted to draw people’s attention to the following point: in the second half of the last century, people showed more emphasis on semiotic research and began to publish writings with different viewpoints and emphases. With the development of this sort of discourse, one could feel the need of a clearer definition and objective. It is this positive attitude which urged Deely to work for a coherent and unified framework and inspired Deely to make the following statement: “This book is a remedy for that absence, a first approximation to a comprehensive rationale for the linking of semiosis at the levels of culture, society, and nature organic and inorganic.” Deely illustrated his point by saying that if one wants to look for the way to link the history of art and anthropology, he has to consult a semiotician, because semiotics is a matter of viewpoint: how to see the world. He further illustrated his point by saying that the semiotic view results from “the whole of our experience, from the most primitive origins in sensation to its most refined achievements of understanding, is a work of web of sign relations.” (Deely 1990: 13) Here, Deely’s view significantly differs from Saussure’s mere recognition of human language. In fact, the boundary of semiotics is much wider, which concerns the material field, the biological field, and the specific experience of human beings (Deely 2001). That is to say, all living beings play a role in semiosis, in spite of the fact that only human beings are involved in the investigation of semiosis as well as semiotic activities. The main concern of semiosis is realization, that is, how to mean the whole of human experiences. Unexceptionally, this is achieved by interpretative construction in the course of semiotic participation and support (Deely 1990: 5). With respect to the lack in a unified theory in semiotic research, Deely (1990: 9–12) also made a distinction between “a point of view” and “a method.” He argued that a method serves mainly to realize a point of view or some aspects of a point of view. Semiotics, like logical positivism or behaviorism, is a point of view, not a method. Next, it is doubtful that a point of view can only be realized by one method. In fact, the implicit contents of a well-­established point of view can be realized by more than one method. Based on this argument, Deely has managed to prove that semiotics should establish its own theoretical framework, comprehensive and flexible, so as to cope with various aspects of phenomena. It is for this reason that Deely’s viewpoint does not criticize semiotics for lacking a unified theory or framework. On the contrary, he has tried his best to establish a comprehensive theory or framework.

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What has caused Deely to think so? I think the main reason lies in Deely’s argument that “symbols do not just exist, they also grow” (Deely 1990: 23). In other words, the signifying relation of a sign has been changing over time, or the significance of a sign has been continuously extending. Because of this, a rational semiotic framework should welcome any method which is able to show the ongoing of semiosis. In the same way, it is dangerous to disguise a method with a point of view, because this will presuppose a privileged position to stop an investigation. If we stipulate a boundary in semiotic research, we will see those outside the boundary as heretic, non-­scientific, and irrelevant. This will for sure hamper the development of semiotic research.

3  The agony and crisis of semiotics With regard to Blonsky’s observation (1985: xviii) of “the agony of semiotics,” the emergence of “crisis” in semiotic theory and semiotic research being “at the crossroads,” Nazarova (1996) did try to explain that Blonsky’s sayings are due to the reason that some semioticians attempted to list every phenomenon in semiotic research as its general theory, which expands the boundary of semiotic research irrationally. This relatively extreme situation also reflects the inconsistency resulting from the separation between theory and practice. Some semioticians attempted to escape from the burden of practical work and were unwilling to be involved with concrete and practical investigation or the writing of procedures.

4  Does the discipline of semiotics exist or not? Scott Simpkins is a well-­known semiotician, teaching Critical Semiotics at the University of North Texas. His often-­quoted comment that “ ‘Semiotics’ could be said to exist only as a topic of discussion” originated in his first lecture of the course (Simpkins 1996). This utterance is directed toward the notion of “traditional semiotics” mentioned in the book co-­authored by Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress (1988) because “the ‘tradition’ of semiotics is not monolithic or even an agreed body of theories and concepts.” Some semioticians regard Saussure as the representative of traditional semiology and the dualistic relation between signifier and signified as fundamental theory. Such a tradition does not help with the development of semiotics as a discipline, nor does it comply with

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the practical situation of the development of semiotics. For instance, shortly after Saussure put forward his assumption of semiology as well as the dualistic theory of sign, Peirce (1931), in America, proposed his view of a tripartite division, the third element being “interpretant,” and Morris (1938) put forward the notion of “pragmatics,” focusing on the study of “context.” All these show that semiotics is the common concern of scholars and a unified theory is to be established. Hodge and Kress (1988) argued in favor of “social semiotics,” which covers research objects such as: How do members in a social community design and interpret meaning? How are texts analyzed? How is a sign system shaped by social interests and ideology? How is such a system adjusted following social changes? Owing to the fact that discussions of a semiotic nature is very sensitive and timely changeable, the existence of semiotics is an inherent dialogic process. Simpkins held the view that for centuries semiotics can be seen as repeated discussions of the nature of sign and meaning from various directions with various points of view, and could also be seen as a basic and solid discipline finally (Simpkins 1996). The reason for Simpkins to name his first talk as “the lingua franca of semioticians” lies in the fact that he intended to look for a language abstracting sameness from differences. We should try our best to strive for sameness if possible. By doing so, semioticians of different inclinations are able to discuss with the help of a lingua franca. In the same manner, John Deely’s textbook Basic of Semiotics (1990) harbors the same intention for its title. This shows not only Deely’s expectation of those who are interested in semiotic research, but also his own attempt to realize this objective. The same is true for Daniel Chandler with his Semiotics for Beginners (1994). The expressions found in the book are close to those terms commonly recognized, an illustration of the common understanding in many aspects reached by semioticians. Concerning this topic, I would like to mention an anecdote here, that is, Simpkins touched upon the message about “the Indiana Group” in his textbook. The group included researchers stationed in Language and Semiotics Studies at Indiana University, the University of Indiana Press, the general editor Thomas A. Sebeok of the series Advances in Semiotics. The Indiana Group openly declared that it did not represent a unified semiotic point of view. The name of this group was used to facilitate the discussion of semiotic questions of its members. Everyone could express his or her own view, such as: How is the semiotic system under study related to meaning? How is meaning expressed through signs? How

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do signs constitute the system? Is the system relation inherent and all-­inclusive? How is the validity of the system measured? What is “significance”? Is significance related to “context,” “intention,” “structure,” or “cultural convention”? With this in mind, it would be easier to capture Simpkins’ real intention of exploring “the lingua franca of semiotics.” Simpkins does not hesitate to discuss the existence of semiotics as a discipline. He holds the view that the most pressing matter is to seek the mutual understanding of lingua franca. Once we make the first move, it would be easier for us to make the second move.

5  The rebellion against current semiotic research Among the various comments concerning current semiotic research, J.L. Lemke openly used the term “rebel”: “We rebel, we transgress. We want the freedom to construct a materiality of mind, an intelligence of the body. We want to re-­situate cognition in a larger meaning-­making system of which our bodies and brains are only one part” (Lemke 1997: 1). Against what or whom did he want to rebel against? Why did he choose to do so? The way to answer these questions turns out to be my concern. Why does Lemke use such strong language? I think Lemke’s real purpose was to call on semioticians to breakout of those circles which inhibit their research efforts and turn to the view that mind and material, brain and body, all play a role in the system of meaning generation. It is better for semioticians not to play the role of overseers of those circles, but active and creative participants. Because of this, Lemke accepted C.S. Peirce as one of the first rebels who attempted to integrate logic and nature into a single system of meaning-­making processes. It is a natural “semiosis”; it is also a semiotic Nature. What should be noted here is that Lemke (1997: 2) expressed the view that meaningful activity is not arbitrarily bounded by the brain or the body; it is related to interacting “ecology,” which includes body, brain, tool, and environment. Lemke called attention to the work done by Jean Lave. Lave and her colleagues observed people in the daily activities in their lives, the activities in connection with problem-­solving and the immediate, concrete, specific, and meaningful contexts in practice. In these activities, both “things” and “minds” contribute to the coding of message and meaning (Lave 1988; Lave and Wenger 1991). Thus, Lemke (1997: 17) concluded that various “events, moments, practices, activities, communities of practice, historical periods, stages of life, texts, etc.” are all the constitutive elements of the network of ecosocial systems. Such ecosocial systems

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are layered, each having its own network. Thus, the ultimate purpose of Lemke’s rebellion was to clear the way for establishing his theory of ecosocial system, an ecological semiotics.

6  Afterthoughts Here I would like to mention some of my afterthoughts following the above discussion as well as my reflections in connection with the disciplinary status of semiotic research. First of all, it is to be expected that semioticians would have different perspectives on the role of semiotics. This reflects the exact situation in the course of the development of semiotic research. We have to recognize the fact that when Saussure mentioned that linguistic signs and linguistics serve as a branch of the yet-­to-come semiology at his time, the urgent task was to solve problems concerning the nature of language and consequently linguistics. This is the reason why most scholars in the last century focused on approaches such as structuralism, generativism, formalism, functionalism, cognitivism, and others. It was not the right time for the study of semiology or semiotics, to say nothing of becoming a dominant discipline. However, when it came to the last two decades of the last century, semiotic research did start to develop. Secondly, there are also various criteria to account for the disciplinary status of semiotics. People tend to take the process of the development of discipline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the norm of criteria, serving as the mould of discipline establishment. In contrast, many scholars today break away from this tradition in exploring new knowledge. People have begun to see that the world is multi-­dimensional; matter and mind co-­exist; reality is multi-­layered and complex; and various sources of knowledge are interacting and blendable. As a result, the exploration of new knowledge cannot be done by a single discipline, but only cross-­disciplinarily. Here, the notion of cross-­disciplinarity has also undergone several stages, such as multidisciplinary research (each based on its own discipline), interdisciplinary research (new disciplines being formed after integration) and transdisciplinary research (theme-­based research with participants from various backgrounds and areas of expertise, including governmental officials, representatives of the society and of different interests) (Hu 2012). The function of semiotics is a science to study meaning; meaning concerns the understanding and communication of the world, material and mental, and the production, uses, and changes of signs. Naturally, we ought to

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discuss its disciplinary status in accordance with all these features and not to limit ourselves with out-­dated disciplinary criteria. Thirdly, why did semiotics begin to flourish in the last two decades of the last century? Apart from the experience and knowledge gained in the last century, the development of science and technology also laid the foundation for semiotic research and widened the perspectives of semioticians. For instance, computer science has pushed forward the development of information technology. In addition to language, people can communicate and express meaning multimodally. This shows that our understanding of signs is not merely a matter of the relation between concept and sound image as we used to think, it is also related to elements such as participants, moments, context, tool, culture, history, and others. If a semiotician does not see differences and changes in all these elements, it would be difficult for him to make a break-­through in semiotic research. Fourthly, the development of modern science and technology since the Renaissance benefited from the notion of atomism, that is, things can be divided step-­by-step without end, or the philosophical notion “one divides into two,” which has proved true in physics, biology, chemistry, economics, and politics. Now, a new trend has emerged in the development of our knowledge of the society and the world, especially, integration, that is, different things can be integrated and can merge into a new form with greater energies than the original. With regard to semiotic research, if we only choose to stand either on the side of Saussure’s binarity or Peirce’s tripartite division, we cannot move far. At this point, Saussure’s arbitrariness shut the door on developing semiotic research. In China, I would like to mention Professor Wang Mingyu, whose book Modern Linguistic Semiotics (2013) put forward a clear-­cut stand that the production, comprehension, and application of sign are not separable from human body and society. Wang does not avoid the opposition between Saussure and Peirce; but as a courageous and creative semiotician, he tried his best to integrate the two in his framework. Fifthly, the comment that semiotics is at its crossroad is usually directed toward those researchers of general semiotics. As a matter of fact, this reflects the disjunction between general semiotics and applied semiotics in contemporary semiotic research. As we know, the development of a discipline is both theoretical and applicable, the two being inseparable. As pointed out by Eco (1984), science, whether it is hard science or soft science, should be able to change the status of things under discussion. A theory will have less effect if it fails to change the status quo, and fails to expound and solve emerging problems in practical life.

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Regrettably, in most periods of the twentieth century, semioticians showed greater concern over problems relevant to general semiotics, but did not care much about the applicability of relevant theoretical assumptions, the meta-­ concern of those assumptions, and enough acknowledgment of their values. If general semioticians are determined to lessen their “agony”, to judge the right direction at the “crossroad,” they have to unite their theoretical research with practice and solve any problems in the course of their practice. Lemke called on semioticians to get rid of the confinement of general semiotics, to be involved in actions to make changes through personal participation and to seek truth from practice. In the same way, only through actions can we be clear about what context is and how context determines meaning. Therefore, “action” and “participation” are helpful in solving problems arising from the separation of mind and matter, in answering the question how meaning is produced in the material system (Lemke 1997: 3). For sure, our ultimate objective is by no means the study of sign for sign. The basic objective of the study of sign is to understand the world better, to facilitate our communication and to improve and raise our living standard to a new height.

Multimodality

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Lexicogrammar and Text in Multimodal Discourse Analysis ZHANG, Delu (张德禄) Tongji University

1  Introduction In systemic functional linguistics, multimodal discourse analysis was mainly initiated by the study of the grammar of semiotic systems, especially the grammar of visual designs (O’Toole 1994; Kress and van Leeuven 1996). However, after nearly two decades, multimodal grammar was still in its developing stage. We still have many questions to answer, including: (i) Should we study multimodal grammar or not in studying multimodal discourse analysis (Bateman and Schmidt 2012)? (ii) Do the semiotic systems other than language have a grammar (Machin 2007)? And (iii) What is lexicogrammar and what is text in multimodal discourse? Accordingly, the present chapter is intended to study: (i) whether semiotic systems other than language have a grammar comparable to that of language; (ii) how we can differentiate units of grammar from the units of text and how the units of grammar realize elements of the text; and (iii) how a multimodal text can be analyzed in terms of text and lexicogrammar?

2  Semiotic systems Signs function in systems, that is, they function by being chosen from the semiotic systems to form texts. In social semiotics, the system is considered more essential than the individual signs and the communication is envisaged as a process of making choices from the semiotic systems. However, the system is not an arbitrary one, but motivated: “a semiotic ‘potential’ is defined by the

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semiotic resources available to a specific individual in a specific social context” (Kress and van Leeuven 2006: 10). In systemic functional linguistics, signs exist as resources of meaning or meaning potential. Therefore, when we talk about the sign, we should think of it as an item in a system and its relation with other signs in the same system. Then, what is a semiotic system? We know language is a semiotic system in which both spoken and written languages are sub-­systems and others are sign language, such as Morse Code and Braille. More simple semiotic systems are traffic light systems, gestures, and facial expressions. More difficult semiotic systems are dance, ballet, and music among others. Kress and van Leeuven (1996/2006) also talk about the grammar of visual design, but do all these signs of visual design belong to the same semiotic system, including color, diagrams, figures, and tables? According to Kress and van Leeuven (1996/2006), they are sub-­categories of the same semiotic system and are studied in the same visual grammar. Color is studied as a sub-­system of the visual grammar similar to modality in language for the realization of interactional meaning. But later, it is taken as an independent mode, which also has a grammar (Kress and van Leeuwen 2002) as it is used for the realization of ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings. In a way of challenging the theory of multimodal discourse analysis, Martin (2011c) asks thirty-­five questions on thirteen aspects of the theory of multimodality. Those concerned with stratification are: (1) For a given semiotic system, how many strata are you proposing and on which stratum is your description located? (2) Are your strata related by metaredundancy (as patterns of patterns)? (3) Are there distinct systems of value on each of the strata you propose? First, in terms of strata based on Halliday (1985b), Machin makes a difference between a simple semiotic system which is stratified into two levels: “sign → meaning”; and a complex semiotic system which is stratified into three levels: “sign → grammar → meaning” (Machin 2007: 3). If “the picture of a lion simply means a lion” (Machin 2007: 3), and there is no combination of signs in a sequence, then the semiotic system from which it is chosen is a simple system. A complex system is one like language, which has a grammar mediating between the sign and the meaning. But one question that remains here is what “the sign” stands for. Is it the material aspect of the sign like sound, image, written symbol, or form of the sign as a word? To Machin (2007: 3), the signs are “lexical items,” that is, the form of the sign in a simple semiotic system; but in language, the sign

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could be more than just the lexical item as a lexical item is at the level of lexicogrammar, as shown in Halliday (1978: 128): Semantic (the meaning) Lexicogrammatical (the wording, i.e. syntax, morphology and lexis) Phonological (the sound) So the sign stands for the sound or phonology (or graphology) together with the item at the upper level that it realizes. In this sense, in distinguishing between a simple semiotic system (a two-­level system) and a complex system (a three-­level system), we often confuse form (words) with substance or in multimodality, confuse mode with medium. So we should consider all semiotic systems as three-­level systems which consist of a medium level, a form level, and a meaning level. In a simple system, the form is the lexis, while in a complex system, the form is lexicogrammar (see Table 14.1). Table 14.1  Strata in different semiotic systems Strata

system simple

Complex

Semantics

meaning

meaning

Form

lexis

lexicogrammar

Medium

medium

medium

For a simple system (what is called a two-­level system), the text is only composed of words, one-­word text, or word-­follows-word text, such as a traffic light text, which consists of, maybe, a single word: red (stop), or series of words: red— amber—green. They are not forming one “sentence,” but are three separate ‘sentences’ in succession in a text:

Figure 14.1  Multimodal traffic light text.

Text: Lexis: Medium:

go---ready to stop---stop---ready to go----go [green]---[amber]---[red]---[amber]---[green] green----amber------red ----amber------green

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We consider it a two-­level system because the medium and the word have a one-­ to-one relationship, that is, their relationship is characterized by redundancy. Secondly, the complex three-­level systems have a grammar, so it becomes much more complex as the grammatical system is really composed of system networks in which systems of different delicacy are interwoven and the choices from the system are not once for all, but a succession of sequential and simultaneous choices, which will result in syntagmatic structures. In such a system, there is a complex system for each level and there are different complex systems although they are related by the realization relationship. At the same time, each system is realized by certain syntagmatic patterns, that is, structures; and different levels will also be characterized by different structures. So they are of a different kind of redundancy, as patterns of patterns at different levels. Thirdly, the semantic level is meaning-­oriented, the lexicogrammar is the mediation level in terms of organization of meaning and the medium is the material carrier of the meaning. Each has its own value in the communication system. From a systemic functional point of view, a sign is recognized as a sign because it has a function in realizing meaning. The sign red is functional in directing the traffic by ordering it to stop, while an image is functional in depicting an animal like a lion.

3  Text and grammar in multimodal discourse When we talk about the grammar of visual design, we assume that different modes interact with and complement each other at the level of lexicogrammar. But if we look closely at the multimodal text, we can find that it is not the case: what are interacting with and complementing each other are mostly small texts or segments (elements) of texts realized by different modalities. The image text as a multimodal one is an advertisement of purified water branded Vittel. As an advertisement, it takes place in a certain context of situation, which consists of the following three variables: (i) field: promotion of the sale of purified water; (ii) salesmen and readers as potential customers; relations: distant and unfamiliar; (iii) mode: written and drawn to be read in newspapers; written words, pictures and layout design interact and synergize with each other. However, the context of situation, or register in Martin’s term (Martin 1992: 497), is made effective by the genre motivated for the communicative purpose of interactive event. The purpose of promoting the sale of mineral water is the most important motivation for the production of the ad multimodal text. The function

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Figure 14.2  Vittel advertisement (New Idea, December 5, 1987) (Kress and van Leeuven 2006: 67).

of the water, apart from quenching thirst, is to keep the customer healthy. Healthy water should be purified, containing healthy minerals and, at the same time, people like to do what the majority of people do; it also appeals to the desire of the people to buy the product. So its healthiness, purity, and popularity become the main features for promotion. The total effect of the advertisement is achieved by the whole image which is a combination of three small texts: a written text and two picture texts, specifically the picture of water-­drinking, the written words, and the water bottle. They are related to each other by certain kinds of logical semantic relations. In the picture part, the man seems to try to drink the water from a pool (which is what can be seen), while the woman looks at him with a smiling face. It does not show where the water comes from, whether it is drinkable or not, and where and when the event takes place. In the written text, “Pure Vitality” can be seen as the title of the passage, which shows the source of the water and the healthy elements the mineral water contains. The water bottle itself can stand independently as a “one-­word” text as it represents a real entity. But it is not so simple, as it contains the brand and the introduction to the water on the surface of the bottle, which are embedded texts within the bottle text. Then the three “passages” or texts join together to form a multimodal text, in which each serves as a constituent of generic structure in the text and has its own function in the generic structure. The water bottle text shows the identity of the product to be advertised; the

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written text and picture text together show the quality and function of the product, so they are used to enhance the bottle text. The picture invites the viewer’s desire of purchase by showing such an event, while the written text complements it by adding more detailed information about the quality, use and source of the water. The relations among the three texts can be shown in Figure 14.3:

Figure 14.3  Relations among component texts in multimodal mineral water ad text.

At the level of lexicogrammar, the written text is realized by five clauses. In terms of transitivity, the first is a material process with a human actor with Vittel, the mineral water as the circumstance of place. The other three are elliptical. The second is an attributive relational process, showing the essential quality of the water; the third is existential, denying the existence of any negative factors (additives and bubbles); the fourth is another identifying relational process, foregrounding the purity of the water, and the fifth is another attributive relational process, further highlighting the quality of the water (see Figure 14.4). In terms of mood, all are declaratives; and in terms of thematic structure, the theme of the first clause is human (Australians) and the following are elliptical ones mainly with Vittel as theme. The text provides background information about the water: how people like it, its source and quality. The picture can be said to be realized by two clauses: one actional which corresponds to the first clause of the written text as an instance, and one mental showing the reaction of another participant, who seems to be the wife of the

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Figure 14.4  Transitivity analysis of the written text in Vittel advertisement.

Figure 14.5  Transitivity analysis of the picture text in Vittel advertisement.

“Actor” drinking water from the pool from where the mineral water was taken (Figure 14.5). Interactively, as there is no direct gaze to the viewer, the picture mainly offers information about the quality of the water and shows people’s attitude towards it. The size of the frame is medium close, showing that the distance is social in

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nature, which means that buying and selling is a social event. In terms of perspective, the picture is taken from a horizontal angle, showing the high involvement of the viewer in the event. Compositionally, the man drinking water is placed in the center and in the foreground, highlighting the eagerness of the man for the water and, at the same time, the woman in the background reacts favorably to his act. The picture text forms the main body of the multimodal text. It clearly and specifically shows that the water is really liked by people like the man and the woman. The bottle text is realized by one clause, an existential one with the bottle of water as existent. The above two texts serve to enhance the last one, an existential process, which is also the macro-­new of the multimodal text. Taken together, the representational (ideational) meaning of liking, drinking, and reacting is formed of the integration of the three sub-­texts, as shown in Figure  14.3. Their meanings and relationship are further realized by the lexicogrammar of the three sub-­texts. The material process of the written text elaborates the actional process of the picture; the quality of the water is represented by relational and existential processes of the written text; the affection is derived from the high quality of the water. The interpersonal meaning of informing and persuading is realized by the declaratives of the written text, indirect gaze, medium close shot, and horizontal perspective, showing that the multimodal text mainly gives information about the quality of the water and invites the viewer to buy the product illustrated in the ad. The textual or compositional meaning is realized by framing, salience, and information value. The text is framed into three parts with the picture text looming large in relation to other parts, while the written text on the left as given information and the bottle text as new. The title is placed at the top as an ideal to be pursued, while the nominal group at the bottom represents the actual quality of the water. So the design of the ad will be controlled and regulated by this essential factor. Then the advantages of the modes should be considered first. The written language is good at giving detailed explanations and illustrations, while the picture is good at showing the concrete details and attracting the attention of viewers. So the picture text and the written text complement each other, and synergize to accomplish the communicative purpose. But there are certain types of visual designs that are more appropriately analyzed at the lexicogrammatical level. It means that a complete grammatical sentence or clause is not formed by a choice of words and grammar from one mode, but is complemented by choice of elements from other modes. Take

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Figure 14.6  Australia: the segments (Bulletin, January 10, 1989) (from Kress and van Leeuven 1996/2006).

Figure  14.6 for example. It seems that the verbal part is integrated with the elements of the visual structure to realize the multimodal text. In Figure 14.6, the verbal components do not form their own independent text but are integrated with the elements of the visual structure to realize the visual text. In terms of the image, the total map of Australia is divided into six parts, with each occupying a certain percentage of the total. If it is taken as a clause (figure), it is an analytic process in terms of transitivity, which is as shown in Figure 14.7. The verbal part can be seen as a series of relational processes with the same pattern: Token—Process—Value (See Figure 14.8). So here the multimodal text is seen as consisting of one image text and six verbal segments, with each seen as a separate unit. The verbal text segments are each first independently related to one element of the image text and then

Figure 14.7  The proportions of different types of people in Australia shown in an analytic process.

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Figure 14.8  The identifying relational processes shown by the language segments in the image.

related with each other in terms of intertextual cohesion (see Figure 14.9). Note that the full line indicates text structure and the dotted line indicates clause structure. So the verbal part can independently form a small text with the method of classification, that is, the Australians are classified into six types and each occupies a certain percentage of the total. But when they are integrated with the image, they become isolated parts of an analytic process of the visual image, with the whole being cut up into six segments. Taken together, the image text is the dominant mode, which is realized by a clause, an analytic process. The verbal part can be seen firstly as six separate isolated text segments as they are not related to each other, but are directly related to the segments of the visual image, and each of them is realized by an identifying relational process. Here we can find that the meaning of the image in one figure as a two-­ dimensional unit is comparable to a series of clauses in language. As language is linear, what is a part in a two-­dimensional image becomes a whole in the language.

Figure 14.9  Lexicogrammar and text in Australia: the segments.

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This suggests that different semiotic systems may have different grammatical patterns. Language has a linear grammar while the image has a two-­dimensional grammar. Interpersonally, all the language segments are declaratives; there is no direct gaze; the shot is medium and perspective is a bit vertical. So it is objective and strictly to give information, and the designer is supposed to have more power over the viewer. Compositionally, the visual image is framed in the center and occupies the major part of the layout, leaving some isolated places to the verbal segments. It is foregrounded as the most salient part, meaning that the visual image is highlighted. This is again motivated by the context of situation, in which the field is concerned with classification of the Australians into different groups and types; the tenor is news reporter and the reader: social distance: great; and the mode is written and drawn to be read, with the visual image as the main mode for representation, and the verbal part complementing and supplementing the visual part. Newspaper readers mainly read newspaper articles to get new information or to get pleasure from it. They are often selective in reading the articles. So the reporter has to make his product easily accessible to the reader; and visual image is much more conspicuous and appealing than words, so in the visual design here, the image is the main mode and the words only serve to supplement it by adding some details.

4  Discussion In Kress and van Leeuven (1996/2006), it is assumed that an image is like a clause or sentence which can be analyzed by a visual grammar like the grammar of human language. However, when we look closely at the various types of images, we can find that the image may be composed of segments of texts larger than a sentence; segments of texts realized by different modes, such as verbal elements, pictures, diagrams. So we need to re-­examine them in a more detailed way from more than one perspective. First, an image is a text or segment of text, not a grammatical unit like a clause. An image may stand independently as a text in a context of situation. Second, an image as a multimodal text may consist of sub-­texts constituting the generic structure of the text realized by lexis and grammar of different modes. An image text may not be realized directly by a multimodal grammar, but formed of

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texts of different modes, each serving as an element as the generic structure of the multimodal text as an instance of a genre. Third, elements of one mode, such as words in language, may be included or inserted as a sub-­element in the structure of another mode as its complement or supplement, as is shown in Figure  14.6. Therefore, a multimodal text has very complex relationships at both the semantic level manifested by the discourse structure and the meaning of each element in the structure, and the lexicogrammatical level with the grammatical units of each mode joined together to realize the text of that mode. It also shows that modes of different dimensions may have grammar of different kinds, exhibiting the features of that dimension. In that case, what can be dealt with easily with grammar in one mode may not be possible in another mode. In this sense, in multimodal discourse analysis, the first thing we should do is to find out if the multimodal text can be analyzed into their components in terms of generic structure and if the different components are realized by different modes. If they are, then analyze each component text in terms of its generic structure, and method of development and then how it is realized by lexis and grammar of that modality from a functional perspective. Then study how the component text functions in the multimodal text to find out how the component texts of different modalities synergize and interact with, and complement each other in social communications. As a result, we shall further study how different modes synergize and interact with, and complement each other lexicogrammatically in the multimodal text. If they do not, then it means that the multimodal text is predominantly realized by lexicogrammar of one mode and the segments of the text realized by another mode or modes only serve as elements or sub-­units of the text. In that case, we should analyse the text mainly in terms of the predominant mode in terms of its generic structure, and then lexicogrammar, and then find the appropriate positions for the elements realized by the other mode in the overall generic structure and also the grammatical structure. These segments of the text mainly supplement the main text in terms of providing details and background information. However, if the multimodal texts cannot be analyzed into their component texts, then we should be careful in finding out the exact relationship between the different modes. Some word units, clause units, or even passages of text of one mode may serve as elements and complements of the elements of the clause structure of another mode. Here, the text or segment of text may be realized by one-­word unit, or clause unit, or a sequence of clauses, or clause complexes.

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The general procedure of multimodal discourse analysis is the same for all. First, look at the context to see what meanings are likely to be exchanged in such an environment; then, look at how meanings or patterns of meaning are realized by the lexocogrammar of different modalities, and finally, find out how the different modes synergize and interact with each other in cooperatively realizing the meaning of the text.

15

A Study of Multimodal Engagement Resources and Voice Interaction in Pedagogic Discourse CHEN, Yumin (陈瑜敏) Sun Yat-­sen University

1  Introduction The present research attempts to locate the semiotic examination of linguistic and visual construction of dialogic engagement in the context of teaching English as a foreign language (henceforth EFL). This concern has partially grown out of what is presumably lacking in the given pedagogic setting. Dialogic process is advocated throughout classroom teaching in China and this textbook is considered to be an essential component in this process (Zhong 2006). Given the evolving multimodal features in ­pedagogic materials, modes other than language may further enable diversity in editor-­ reader alignment. Nonetheless, the way multimodal resources can be manipulated to mediate the heteroglossic space in pedagogic materials remains under-­ examined. It is believed that a close reading that takes into account multiple semiotic systems will hopefully enable deeper understanding of how multimodal resources “multiply” (Lemke 1998) meaning potential, which may in turn have implications for designing and utilizing pedagogic materials. In recent years, Chinese scholars have conducted extensive research on multimodal discourse in foreign language teaching (Zhang 2009; Zhang 2010). Continuing the social semiotic analysis of multimodal pedagogic discourse along this line, this chapter investigates the multimodal construction of dialogic engagement by drawing upon and extending the engagement system within appraisal (Martin 2000; Martin and White 2005).

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2  The engagement system The engagement system sets up networks of options for modeling the expansion and contraction of heteroglossic space in a text. The engagement network covers “all those locutions which provide the means for the authorial voice to position itself with respect to, and hence to ‘engage’ with, the other voices and alternative positions construed as being in play in the current communicative context” (Martin and White 2005: 94). The taxonomy of engagement meanings includes four main categories, i.e. “disclaim,” “proclaim,” “entertain,” and “attribute.” More delicately, these engagement meanings can be divided into sub-­categories. For instance,“disclaim” is further divided into “deny” and “counter” to specify dialogic positioning. Less delicately, the four types of engagement meanings can be generalized into two broad categories “dialogic expansion” and “dialogic contraction.” Those resources that “entertain” alternative voices within the text and those that “attribute” propositions to voices outside the text function to open up the heteroglossic space (hence classified as dialogic expansion), while those that “disclaim” oppositional opinions and those “proclaiming” a given proposition function to close down the heteroglossic space (hence categorized as dialogic contraction). In adapting and extending engagement to multimodal discourse, this study will investigate the multimodal features that encode heteroglossic meanings.

3  Multimodal resources as engagement devices 3.1  Labeling as an engagement resource for editor’s proclamation The term “labeling” used in the present study refers to the practice of inserting certain labels into a visual image to indicate information concerning some objects in the image. In primary and junior secondary EFL textbooks labeling is frequently observed in the images depicting contexts for language in use. See Figure 15.1 below for example. Figure 15.1 is taken from a teaching unit entitled “How do you make a banana milk shake?” in a junior secondary EFL textbook. It embraces an image of “narrative representation” (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 45). Through the use of labels indicating the names of utensils, fruits, and other ingredients, editor voice intrudes upon the image that depicts Marie and Katie making fruit salad. The

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Figure 15.1  Labeling as an engagement resource (Go for it Students’ Book I for Year 8, 2005: 42. Reproduced with permission).

reader of the textbook is required to fill in the table on the left of the image with the labels proclaimed by editor voice. The proclamations like “yogurt” and “apples” actually rule out other possibilities such as milk and strawberries, and such emphasis or insistence implies some degree of resistance to any potential opposing viewpoint. Therefore, the formulation of labeling recognizes the heteroglossic diversity in the communicative context through presenting editor voice as challenging against any dialogic alternative. These labels function to close down the heteroglossic space in the text and help concentrate the reader’s attention on the pronounced vocabulary items, which are supposed to be part of the language goals that are prescribed to achieve. It can be inferred from the above analysis that editor voice is interpolated into the text through the use of labeling so as to stress the prescribed teaching goals and confront possible contrary positions. These instances of “pronouncement,” according to Martin and White (2005: 129), are dialogic in the sense that they acknowledge the presence of counter viewpoints in the given communicative setting. They are “contractive” in terms of dialogic management due to their challenge or resistance to possible dialogic alternatives.

3.2  Dialog balloon as an engagement resource for   character’s demonstration Dialog balloon, with an oblique protruding line, links the sayer with the utterance. Along with its other functions as an engagement device (Chen 2010), dialog balloons can function to explain the rules of games by demonstration, as illustrated in Figure 15.2.

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Figure 15.2  Dialog balloon as an engagement resource (Go for it Students’ Book I for Year 8, 2005: 5. Reproduced with permission).

In Figure 15.2, two visual images lie beneath a verbal text that serves as an instruction given by the editor to show how to conduct a mimic survey on “Who is the healthiest?” Through the use of three imperative clauses (i.e. “Add five questions to the survey on page 81,” “Then ask three classmates the questions and take notes,” and “Discuss and decide”) and one WH-interrogative clause (i.e. “Who is the healthiest student”), the editor demands action and information from the reader. The accompanying two images provide a visual demonstration to support the verbal text. The image on the left (henceforth Image I) takes a “public distance” shot (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 124) and includes within the picture frame the figures of eight students who are interviewing each other and taking notes. The other image on the right (henceforth Image II) portrays at the “close personal distance” (ibid.) a student reporting his findings to the class. While the verbal text primarily conveys editor voice, the two visual images mainly express character voice. A corresponding relationship can be found between the two semiotic resources. Take speech function (Halliday 1994a: 69) for instance. Table 15.1 below summarizes the speech functions in the verbal text of Figure 15.2 and their corresponding visual patterns in Images I and II. It can be inferred from Table  15.1 that the verbal instruction and visual demonstration in Figure 15.2 work in tandem to encourage the reader to carry out a similar survey about habits and health, with the visual demonstration already setting a good example for the reader to follow. Here character voice echoes editor voice in the way that the dialog balloons demonstrate what kind of questions should be added to the survey and how a report should be made. Therefore, it may be justified to say that the dialog balloons in Figure 15.2 have the dual functions of explaining the rules of games by demonstration as well as lending support to editor voice. The images as a whole, on the one hand, can be

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Table 15.1  Speech functions and their corresponding visual patterns in Figure 15.2 speech functions

verbal instances (editor voice)

corresponding visual patterns (character voice)

command

add five questions

In Image I, a demonstration of two of the questions is given, as is presented in the dialog balloons (i.e. How often do you eat vegetables? and What sports do you play?).

command

ask three classmates In Image I, students ask each other questions, the questions, take take notes and have free discussion in groups of notes, discuss four people.

command

decide

question

who is the healthiest student

In Image II, a demonstration of a student reporting to the class on Maria’s healthy lifestyle is provided, as is indicated in the dialog balloon (i.e. Maria exercises every day. She likes to play . . .).

read as an elaboration (Halliday 1994a) of the verbiage, that is, as an example of how to conduct the survey, while on the other, they work together with the verbal texts in giving instructions to the reader, though in an implicit way. It is noteworthy that the visual demonstration with dialog balloons can be frequently observed in the task-­oriented teaching sections such as “Let’s play,” “Task time,” “Pair work,” and “Group work.” In those teaching sections the interaction between readers is required in fulfilling the tasks and at least one way of accomplishing the tasks is vividly demonstrated by the characters in the visual images. Here the dialog balloons actively make allowance for character voice, hence opening up the heteroglossic space and encoding the engagement meaning of “attribute.”

3.3  Jointly-­constructed text as an engagement resource for   inviting reader’s participation “Jointly-­constructed text” refers to any text intentionally unfinished, which aims at involving the reader’s participation in its ultimate completion. It takes a great variety of forms, and the multimodal modes of communication further enrich the ways of engaging reader voice. Take Figure 15.3 below for example, which is taken from a senior secondary EFL textbook. In Figure 15.3, editor voice is explicitly conveyed in the instruction that lies above a speech draft as well as four stamps that depict the new Tangshan:

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Imagine that after your speech, Zhang Sha asks you to give a short talk about the new stamps to honour the city. You may use the model or write your own little talk.

By using an imperative clause, editor voice directs the reader to envisage preparing for a short talk about the four new stamps designed to honor Tangshan City. The use of a finite modal operator “may” in the second clause indicates the low degree of obligation. In other words, the reader is allowed to make use of the model provided in the draft, while the alternative choice of not using the draft is still valid. The character Mr. Zhang Sha is verbally introduced into this text but not visually represented. His identity was indicated in the previous teaching sections as an officer from the government of Tangshan City. Through the introduction of this external character voice, the heteroglossic space of the text is expanded. Reader voice is invited to engage interactively with editor voice as well as character voice, in that the exophoric references of the second person “you” and the possessive deictic “your” associate the external reader voice with the proposal being advanced in the verbal instruction. Nevertheless, the jointly-­ constructed speech draft will not be finalized until the reader’s contribution is considered. The multimodal resource of jointly-­constructed text brings in reader voice and is identified in the engagement network as encoding “attribute.” Character voice is often introduced into the jointly-­constructed text through a variety of semiotic modes and the relationship of power and solidarity in EFL textbook discourse can be negotiated through the play of the multiple voices.

Figure 15.3  Jointly-­constructed text as an engagement resource (New Senior English for China Student’s Book 1, 2004: 30. Reproduced with permission).

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3.4  Readership construal in jointly-­constructed texts In this section I will further examine the construal of readership in jointly-­ constructed texts. As Martin and White (2005: 163) point out, it is the act of reader interpretation that is at the end of the “cline of instantiation” from system to reading. Therefore, the lowest level of instantiation is the meaning taken from the text based on the social subjectivity of a reader, rather than the text itself. The cline from the system of meaning-­making potential to the final reading position is summarized in Table 15.2. Following Martin and White’s (2005) view on alignment and the putative reader, I consider that the jointly-­constructed texts construe for themselves an “ideal,” “intended,” or “envisaged” reader, with whom the textbook editor aims to align. As was analyzed above, jointly-­constructed texts open up the space for the dialogic alternative from the reader, thus aligning the reader in the final completion of the texts. A text construes or models its reader by presenting the writer as taking for granted that the reader shares with the writer a particular viewpoint, or as assuming that the proposition being advanced is problematic/unproblematic, or as supposing that the reader needs to be convinced of a particular viewpoint (Martin and White 2005: 95). In the case of jointly-­constructed texts, the editor assumes that the reader shares with him/her a certain amount of knowledge to understand the requirements of the texts. In Figure 15.3, for instance, the English language level of the intended reader is assumed to be advanced enough to comprehend and perform the tasks. Table 15.2  Cline of instantiation—from system to reading (Martin and White 2005: 163) 1. system (the global meaning making potential provided by the language) 2. register (contextual variants or sub-­selections of the global meaning making potential—involving more fully institutionalized reconfigurations of the probabilities for the occurrence of particular meaning-­making options or for the co-­occurrence of options) 3. text type (groups of texts with comparable configurations of the probabilities of occurrence of options—involving less fully institutionalized configurations of the probabilities) 4. instance (individual texts—the actualization of the global meaning making potential, typically in conformity with the sub-­potential settings of a given register) 5. reading (the uptake of meanings in a text according to the listener/reader’s subjectively determined reading position.)

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However, the issue of alignment or solidarity is by no means a matter of total agreement between the communicative parties. As Martin and White point out: . . . solidarity can turn, not on questions of agreement/disagreement, but on tolerance for alternative viewpoints, and the communality into which the writer/ speaker aligns the reader can be one in which diversity of viewpoint is recognized as natural and legitimate. Martin and White 2005: 96

The blanks or gaps in the jointly-­constructed texts mentioned above are left for the reader to complete, while the reader still has a certain degree of freedom, which depends largely on the context, to provide alternative answers other than the keys stipulated by the editor. Take the three examples in our data, for instance. The reader of Figure 15.3 enjoys more freedom in composing the speech draft, as long as the writing agrees with the communicative context of accepting the invitation to give a talk about the stamps to honor the city. Based on the orientation of reading position, Martin and Rose (2007: 312–3) classify different types of reading into three categories, i.e. compliant reading, resistant reading, and tactical reading. Compliant readings take up, or subscribe to, the reading position which is naturalized by the general trajectory of meanings in a text; resistant reading positions work against the naturalized reading position; while tactical readings rework the reading position naturalized in a text for some specific interests or social purposes. It can be inferred from the above analysis that the reading position construed in the jointly-­constructed texts in multimodal EFL textbooks is generally a compliant one, in that the completion of the texts requires the cooperative performance of the ideal reader. This dialogic editor-­reader alignment permits to some extent the possibility of answers other than those prescribed by the editor. Nevertheless, the construed putative reading position only allows for the possible alternatives that comply with the communicative context.

3.5  Background/foreground illustration as an engagement resource for lending support to editor voice In our data, character voice is found to lend support to editor voice through the use of illustration, in which the supportive image is backgrounded or foregrounded. A case in point is Figure  15.4, which is taken from a senior secondary EFL textbook. In Figure 15.4 the verbal text entitled “Anne’s Best Friend” tells the story about a Jewish girl named Anne Frank, who had to hide away from German Nazis in

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Figure 15.4  Background/foreground illustration as an engagement resource (New Senior English for China Student’s Book 1, 2004: 2. Reproduced with permission).

World War II. She treated her diary as her best friend who she called Kitty, and recorded her experiences and feelings in it. At the end of the verbal text an imperative clause is used (i.e. “Now read how she felt . . .”) to direct the reader to read an extract of Anne’s diary, which takes the form of a piece of torn paper from the diary. A monochromatic photograph of Anne is presented as the background of the first paragraph of the verbal text “Anne’s Best Friend,” where the character Anne is first introduced. Anne’s voice is further detected in the image of the extract of diary, at the foot of which the sepia-­tone photograph of her diary is foregrounded. The photographs of Anne and her diary represent Anne as a real person and her diary as a tangible genuine document, which bear evidence of the facticity of the anecdote. Here the voice of the character Anne lends support to editor voice in the verbal text via illustration, which functions to expand the heteroglossic space and can be identified as the engagement device encoding “attribute.” Meanwhile, through supporting editor voice, this attribution further enhances the authenticity of what is described by the editor in the story, hence reinforcing the engagement meaning of “proclaim” in the text.

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4  Voice interaction in multimodal EFL textbook discourse In the previous section I identified four types of multimodal engagement devices in EFL textbook discourse (i.e. labeling, dialog balloon, jointly-­constructed text, and illustration), and accounted for how these multimodal resources realize the engagement meanings. These multimodal engagement devices contribute to the expansion and contraction of the heteroglossic space in a text. This section will be devoted to the discussion of interplay of the multiple voices and will also explore the interactive meaning encoded in multimodal EFL textbook discourse in terms of contact/observe, social distance and point of view.

4.1  Focalization and eye contact A large number of the images in the EFL textbooks depict people or human-­like creatures with eyes and facial expressions, while the majority of these animate participants in the picture frame do not gaze at the viewer. In other words, they are “observe” images (Painter 2007). Some of these represented participants in our data are characters in a story (e.g. Figure  15.1), while others provide demonstrations for the reader to follow (e.g. Figure 15.2). The reader views them impersonally as items of information and objects of observation. This observation mainly happens directly instead of vicariously. There are, nevertheless, exceptions to the dominant “observe” type of image. In these cases, the character looks directly at the viewer, and therefore the viewer is engaged in an eye contact with the character. The character requires the reader to do the exercises or answer questions according to the requirements, and the character’s gestures and/or utterances further specify what is required. In other words, the character is often portrayed as directly addressing the reader instead of passive phenomena merely for observation. These images belong to the “contact” type and more often than not they are also jointly-­constructed texts that demand reader’s participation. Together with the imperatives and interrogatives in the dialog balloons, the “contact” images invite the reader to participate in the jointly-­constructed texts, bringing in reader voice and encoding the engagement meaning of “attribute”.

4.2  Reader involvement and social distance The choice of social distance is another parameter indicating various types of interaction between the viewer and the character inside the picture frame. In

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visual communication, the different degrees of social distance are interpreted as the continuum of the “size of frame” of shots (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 124). Our data cover a wide range of shots from “extreme close-­up” to “long shots,” which suggests the extent of distance variations from “intimate distance” ’ to “public distance” with intermediate degrees. The social distance implied in the visual displays corresponds with the voice interaction. Some images in our data show the full figures of the represented participants and their surroundings and thus the relationship between the viewer and the character(s) is that of “public distance,” which is often adopted in the images where editor voice engages with character voice (e.g. Figure 15.1). In these cases, the reader is addressed by the proclamation or disclamation from editor voice instead of actively engaging himself/herself with the voices within the discourse. This low degree of reader involvement also echoes the choice of public distance. The high degree of reader involvement can be found in jointly-­constructed texts. The medium shots that show the figure from waist up suggest the “far personal distance,” while the extreme close-­up implies “intimate distance.” As observed in our data, the characters in jointly-­constructed texts are often presented within easy touching distance to the viewer. This agrees with the meaning of “attribute” encoded in the jointly-­constructed texts, in which the reader is invited to participate in the ultimate completion of the texts and thus has access to the field of heteroglossia. While the association between voice interaction and social distance is significant, voice interaction does not necessarily play the decisive role in the choice of social distance. The choice of shots that conveys the degree of social distance is a complex issue. Other factors such as the conventions in visual genres (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 126) should also be taken into account before a comprehensive understanding of the social distance in visual images is achieved.

4.3  Character engagement and point of view The third factor that should be considered in relation to voice interaction is point of view, which can be approached along the horizontal axis and vertical axis. The horizontal angle implies whether the interactive participant (i.e. image producer and viewer) is involved with the represented participants (i.e. frontal angle) or is detached from them (i.e. oblique angle). The vertical angle indicates whether it is the interactive participant who has power over the represented participants (i.e. high angle) or vice versa (i.e. low angle) or whether their relation is an equal one (i.e. eye level angle) (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 133–43).

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The majority of the images under examination adopt the frontal and eye level angle, and hence what is depicted in the image is presented as “part of our world.” In other words, the relation between the character and the viewer is one of equality. The frontal angle indicates a high degree of reader identification and involvement, which has a lot to do with the engagement of character voice. Although the power differences do exist between the textbook editor and reader, due to the unequal possession of knowledge, the interpolation of characters into the heteroglossic setting enables the reader to negotiate alignment with the characters on an equal footing. That at least partially explains why the characters in textbooks are often seen from the point of view of the eye level, rather than from a low angle to demonstrate power to the viewer. In closing, I summarize the interaction between editor voice, reader voice, and character voice in the multimodal EFL textbook discourse in Figure 15.5 below. The functions of the multimodal engagement devices (i.e. labeling, dialog balloon, jointly-­constructed text, and illustration) are indicated above or underneath the arrows between the multiple voices. To be specific, the broken-­line arrow between editor voice and reader voice indicates that editor voice overtly instructs the reader through the use of section titles that may take the forms of imperatives or nominal groups, whereas the real-­line arrow represents the way in which reader

Figure 15.5  Voice interaction in multimodal EFL textbook discourse.

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voice interpolates editor voice via jointly-­constructed text. The arrows between editor voice and character voice show that dialog balloon and illustration introduce character voice into the otherwise monoglossic texts, while editor voice intrudes itself into character’s visual story or verbal recount by attaching labels in verbal texts. As for the interaction between character voice and reader voice, a character may undertake the responsibility of instructing the reader via dialog balloon, whereas reader voice is engaged in the co-­construction of multimodal text in which character voice often provides the visual communicative setting. The multimodal engagement devices, along with other semiotic resources, work in concert to construe the heteroglossic harmony in EFL textbook discourse.

5  Summary I have analyzed and discussed the multimodal resources for the management of heteroglossic space in multimodal EFL textbook discourse. Four types of multimodal resources have been identified as the engagement devices encoding engagement meanings. To be specific, the practice of labeling in multimodal texts signals the intrusion of editor voice, thus encoding the engagement meaning of “proclaim.” Dialog balloons and illustrations bring in character voice and a given proposition or viewpoint is thus attributed to the character(s). Jointly-­constructed texts open up the space for dialogic alternatives, contributing to the construal of an ideal or putative readership. In addition to the identification of engagement resources, voice interaction has also been examined in relation to contact/observe, social distance and point of view. It is found that the character’s eye contact with the reader is only established in those images where the character gives directions and requires actions from the reader. The different choices of social distance indicate various types of relationship between the character(s) inside the picture frame and the reader who observes them. Moreover, the interpolation of characters’ accounts for the adoption of the frontal and eye-­level angle in most of the images. Based on the investigations above, a triangle involving editor voice, reader voice, and character voice is set up, demonstrating the roles of multimodal engagement devices in the play of multiple voices in multimodal EFL textbook discourse. Drawing upon the engagement system and a social semiotic approach to visual images, this semiotic exploration has sought, albeit briefly, to suggest ways in which semiotic resources function to realize various kinds of heteroglossia. It is hoped to shed some light on the understanding of dialogic process in multimodal pedagogic context.

16

Meaning-­making in Multimodal Visual Narrative: Patterns of Visual Weaving YANG, Xiran (杨翕然) & Jonathan J. Webster City University of Hong Kong

1  Introduction and rationale The measurement and quantification of reading as a perceptive and cognitive process is made possible by technological developments in eye-­tracking devices (Rayner 1998; Crowe and Narayanan 2000; Cowen et al. 2002; Jacob and Karn 2003; Holmqvist et  al. 2011). Although the eye-­mind hypothesis (Just and Carpenter 1980; Holmqvist et al. 2011) does not endorse an unconditional link between physical movement and mental activity, using eye movements to reflect on-­the-spot attention has proven to be a substantial and reliable methodology to bridge the gap between oculomotor cue and cognitive activity (Henderson 1992; Rayner 1998; Graesser et al. 2005). This chapter aims to build on a previous systemic functional theory (SFT)based multimodal study of meaning-­making in Japanese shonen manga by relating meaning-­making in manga reading to readers’ eye movements (see Yang and Webster 2015).1 Even without standard eye-­tracking equipment, Ingulsrud and Allen (2009), who adopted simplified eye-­tracing methods in surveys, found that the verbal contents in manga, compared to graphics, were less likely to be skipped. Later research that applied eye tracking to comics reading has focused on certain aspects of manga as visual art such as panel sequencing (Cohn 2013) and participant identification (Jain et al. 2012). These studies have opened up new possibilities for incorporating eye-­tracking methodology into the study of visual discourse, but have not scrutinized the ways in which meaning is weaved and organized inside manga panels.2 Entering the third phase of eye-­movement study (Rayner 1978, 1998), researchers have gradually turned their foci of research from traditional text to

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multisemiotic reading materials which accommodate diversified visual targets such as written texts, images, and real-­world scenes (see Henderson 1992, 2003; Henderson and Hollingworth 1998; Henderson et al. 1999; Hyönä 2010). This is exactly where the present study becomes feasible and timely—to shed some light on the multimodal meaning making and comprehending against the backdrop of a sub-­genre of widely read and enjoyed comics. In recent years, eye-­tracking experiments have largely been carried out in studies related to pedagogical applications such as measuring the efficiency of multisemiotic instructional materials (Graesser et al. 2005; Boucheix and Lowe 2010; de Koning et al. 2010). Owing to recent progress in eye-­tracking equipment as well as software support, it is now possible to not only record but also to replay the readers’ eye movements during eye-­tracking sessions (van Gog and Scheiter 2010). However, there are two crucial differences between studying multimedia learning and comics reading. Firstly, the standard of understanding is different. Multimedia learning usually aims at memorization and application of certain knowledge that is conveyed by the reading material. The standard of understanding could be equalized to participants’ capability of solving related questions. With comics, however, the absorption of information is subjected to the reader’s individualized needs in reading for fun. There is hardly a model answer that is standardized and comprehensive enough to measure every aspect of understanding a manga story. Secondly, the purpose of reading is different. Reading learning material exerts a sense of mission on the participants to learn something new and may evoke in them greater effort and engagement. As was found to be the case in early studies, such task-­related factors may lead to differences in eye-­moving patterns (Yarbus 1967). However, reading comics for entertainment is supposed to be a relaxed activity. Moreover, it should be noted that eye tracking in multimedia learning has an underlying purpose: to identify the optimal cognitive processing pattern which could be manipulated by visually cueing or training the readers. In comics reading, however, it might not be necessary to look for the most efficient way possible to cover everything. Considering the particularity of comics as experimental material and multiple factors that may affect results such as gender-­age matching and individualized preference, a case study instead of a group study has been carried out in order to (a) gather empirical data for tentative analysis and theorization under the SFT framework, and (b) minimize the discrepancies brought about by individual difference.

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2  A short review of literature on earlier eye-­tracking researches 2.1  Key concepts in eye tracking Eye movements reflect the pattern in which a normal reader’s eyes move across a certain page or screen. While different readers have different reading habits and may display varied eye-­moving patterns, some phenomena reflected by eye tracking are universal, among which saccade and fixation play the most important roles. Following Gilchrist (2011: 85): “Saccades are fast ballistic movements of the eye. A saccade is followed by a fixation—a period of time when the eye is relatively stationary and useful visual information is gathered.” Fixation is essential to analyzing eye movement since “acuity and color sensitivity [in human vision] are greatest at the point of fixation and fall off rapidly as visual eccentricity increases” (Henderson 2011: 593). In viewing pictures or scenes, information is gathered through fixating on certain parts of the target. Saccade itself is jerky and rapid, with comparatively little information being absorbed. Yet the saccadic length, direction, and landing point (fixation) are useful in reflecting the viewer’s mental activity (see Gilchrist 2011; Ludwig 2011). Under different experimental conditions, the range and frequency of saccades together with the number and duration of fixations are basic variables reflecting the patterns of readers’ attention. Secondary measures may be produced by performing relevant calculation and comparison (e.g. percentage, rate) or adding constraints (e.g. interest area) on saccades and fixations (Jacob and Karn 2003).3 In recent years, eye tracking as a valuable methodology that accurately and objectively records human eye movements has been used in different fields such as reading research (Rayner 1998; Liu 2005), language processing (Allopenna et al. 1998; Dussias 2010), multimedia learning (de Koning et al. 2010; Mayer 2010), and neuroscience (Katsanis et  al. 1997; Ettinger et  al. 2005; McDowell et al. 2011).

2.2  Eye-­tracking data analysis: top-­down and bottom-­up Admittedly, various target materials and different research questions and concerns will highlight miscellaneous aspects of data analyses, and will define the guiding principles according to specific research purposes, yet a recurrent dichotomy underlies this issue which has been frequently labeled as top-­down and bottom-­up (approaches).

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Goldberg et al. (2002: 51) defines the top-­down approach as eye-­tracking data analyses that “start with a cognitive or other goal-­driven internal model, then use eye tracking results to confirm or deny aspects of the model,” and the bottom-­up approach as analyses that “attempt to develop behavioural inferences, starting from model-­free eye tracking derived data.” In practical studies, the top-­down approach may have implications for memory, domain knowledge, and certain cognitive schemas, while the bottom-­up approach may center on the stimulus presented to subjects and their perceptual processes (Henderson 2003; Canham and Hegarty 2010; Gilchrist 2011). It is possible to rely on only one approach in interpreting data. Yet, however variable and particularized the meaning of top-­down and bottom-­up analyses may be in a specific research context, they are mutually dependent in helping disclose the relation between eye movements and mental activities. In this study, SFT as a top-­down framework will be guiding the integration and inference of eye movement data, and the patterns displayed by bottom-­up eye-­moving data will provide feedback to the theoretical framework.

3  Top-­down framework of the present study 3.1  SFT-based top-­down framework Systemic functional theory, pioneered by Halliday (1994a, 2002a, 2002b) and further developed by other scholars (see Halliday and Hasan 1985/1976; Caffarel et al. 2004; Hasan et al. 2007; Halliday and Webster 2014), has been widely applied in multimodal study and other related researches (Kress and van Leeuwen 2001, 2002, 2006; O’Halloran 2004; Jones and Ventola 2008; Martin and Rose 2008; Huang and Archer 2014). SFT studies how people use language to mean (Martin and Rose 2008), adopting a metafunctional approach toward the study of language, which takes into account the ideational (experiential and logical), interpersonal, and textual (or more commonly referred to as compositional in multimodal studies) metafunctions of language (Halliday 1994a, 2002a, 2002b). According to Yang and Webster (2015) where manga analyses have been conducted within SFT framework, the experiential metafunction in manga is realized by a range of components in different modes: image, effect line, onomatopoeia, word, etc. (Figure 16.1). The world of a comic story is different from the realistic world. The time-­space system of the story can be termed as diegetic to distinguish it from that of reality (Bordwell & Thompson 2008).4

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Figure 16.1  Multimodal continuum/cline of manga (braces indicate the possibility of balloons) (Yang and Webster, 2015).

Along the multimodal cline consisting of various manga components, the more verbal elements (that mainly perform symbolic function) such as words and onomatopoeias (+DTL) display a stronger connection to diegetic time lapse as they represent on spot conversation and other physical action or sound.5 On the other hand, the more graphic elements (that mainly perform iconic function) such as images and emblems (−DTL) do not incur direct perception of diegetic time. The manga components marked as +DTL can be further understood as conveying narrative information, whereas those with −DTL property impart descriptive information. The logical metafunction that forms the inner structure amongst different components is realized through two-­dimensional positioning. The relative positions of different elements: emitting, accompanying, or backdropping, indicate their logical correlation (subordinate, adjunctive, or circumstantial). The elements connected by 2D-positioning formulate meaningful modules, which are usually intra-­panel meaning-­bearing units but may stretch over multiple panels. A typical example of meaningful module may include a sayer, his/her verbiage inside a balloon (usually with a tail pointing to the sayer), and (sometimes) a listener (Figure 16.2). The compositional metafunction is in charge of the coherence and cohesion of a comic work through establishing a consistent diegetic space both intra-­ panelly and inter-­panelly. Within panels cohesive devices such as ellipsis can be used to imply unchanged locale of the story; outside panels, the shape of the panel frame is used to indicate flashback or other modes of narration. Taking different levels of visual representations, a step further would render a map of stratification in comics, which is typically modeled as “nested co-­ tangential circles” in SFT (Martin and Rose 2008: 29). The typical stratification of language consists of phonology, lexicogrammar and discourse semantics (ibid.), with phonology as the lowest core. Manga as a multimodal discourse is a

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Figure 16.2  A meaningful module in manga (Oda 2013/1997: 70).

system of meaning, but instead of speech sounds or phonology, visual contrast is the fundamental expression—perceptible visual contrasts (monochromatic or chromatic, paper-­printed, or digitalized) function as distinguishing features of visual meaning and enable comics to function as a meaning bearing medium (Figure 16.3).

Figure 16.3  Stratification of manga/comics as a multimodal discourse.

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Table 16.1  The formation of the texture of manga (Yang and Webster 2015) Metafunctions echoing with the key features of narrative diegetic time lapse—temporal—experiential metafunction 2D-positioning—cause-­effect—logical metafunction diegetic locale—spatial—compositional metafunction

complemented and interconnected by interpersonal metafunction

Mode, as a higher stratum, refers to how scrambled lines and shapes are recognized as different elements of meaning-­making semiotics. In manga, different modes can be arranged along a multimodal cline, stretching from Image to Word. Each element may function by itself or with other elements (of same or different modes) to build larger units—meaningful modules. The interpretation of meaningful module is crucial to understanding manga stories, which consists of multiple meaningful modules along an overriding diegetic time line. The metafunctional structure of manga echoes features of narrative in general. According to Bordwell and Thompson (2008: 75), time, space, and cause-­effect relationship are all integral to the definition of narrative, and the systemic functional inspection of manga has made possible a more comprehensive account for manga as a functional multimodal narrative (Table 16.1). An SFT framework has guided this empirical case study to gather first-­hand data that could reflect eye-­moving patterns of reading multimodal narrative. The methodology of eye tracking has been applied to record reading activity with Japanese manga as stimuli. Other methods such as interview and questionnaire have also been used when necessary to make the data set specific for carrying out qualitative as well as quantitative analyses. A single case is not sufficient for conclusive and comprehensive results, but nonetheless demonstrates the appliability of SFT in guiding and interpreting eye-­tracking data analyses.

3.2  Bottom-­up data analysis 3.2.1  Online and offline data Hyönä (2010: 173) points out the following widely-­held concern about eye-­ tracking method: “Even though it provides highly valuable information (i.e., about what is perceived as task-­relevant) it does not as such tell the researcher anything about the success or failure of comprehending the relevant piece of information.” In practice, uncertainty over the degree of comprehension is usually compensated for by conducting different types of performance measures

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according to the specific needs of the experiment. The performance tests or other types of data collected together with eye-­tracking tasks could be termed as offline in contrast to the eye-­movement data which is online (see Hyönä 2010; Canham and Hegarty 2010; Henderson et al. 1999). In the present case study, the online data consists of eye-­movement records and statistics. The offline data that helps ensure the reliability and authenticity of the experiment includes a pre-­experiment questionnaire that investigates the participant’s familiarity with manga reading and a short follow-­up interview that explores the participant’s degree of comprehension and appreciation of manga as reading material. There are basically two reasons why an interview instead of a gradable test is carried out as offline complement in this study: first, information such as personal preference and introspective understanding of manga reading obtained through interview will be useful in interpreting eye movements in a more specific manner; second, the way to interpret a certain manga story varies and the researcher is in no position to prescribe a so-­called “correct” way of understanding manga.

4  Case study 4.1  Method The respondent was a male Japanese undergraduate exchange student who likes manga and has abundant experience in reading different genres of manga. The stimuli included two sets of manga pages and one set of manga panels. Excerpts from Japanese manga books were scanned into the computer and adjusted for the use of the experiment.6 Pages or panels from one manga story were arranged in sequence and programmed as a single set of stimuli to be read in one recording session. There are three sets of stimuli altogether: set A consists of whole pages of a part of Hunter X Hunter (Togashi 1998/2012); set B consists of sequential panels from One Piece (Oda 1997/2013); set C consists of whole pages of an excerpt from Liar Game (Kaitani 2005/2010).7 While sets A and B are typical Japanese shonen manga, set C is youth manga and includes more verbal contents.8 The length of each set varied from ten pages to around thirty, depending on the contents of the story. Efforts were made to make the short excerpts as unambiguous as possible so that no new character or confusing setting abruptly appeared.

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4.2  Procedure The respondent, who was unaware of the nature and the purpose of the eye-­ tracking experiment, first filled in a questionnaire that evaluated his familiarity with manga and general preference for genre of comics/manga.9 The respondent was then shown the instructions. A mock test was carried out before the actual recording to help ensure the data quality.10 After the recordings, the respondent was asked to take part in a short semi-­open interview which checked his understanding of manga and his personal preferences in manga reading.

4.3  Results and discussion of online data11 4.3.1  General statistics On the level of experiential metafunction, the salience of foregrounded narrative elements (+DTL) as well as descriptive ones (−DTL) is demonstrated by fixation patterns. On the logical and compositional level, the texture of meaningful modules is materialized by saccadic movements. The following table contains basic statistics for each set (Table 16.2). Table 16.2  Basic measures of the three sets Set

Average duration per page (ms)

Average Average Average fixation count fixation interest area per page duration (ms) count per page

A (pages) B (panels) C (pages)

12270.00 6268.18 22539.67

35.23 18.88 60.83

302.74 292.69 305.80

  4.46   2.58 10.17

In general, more fixations are made on one page than on one panel, but not proportionately—one panel usually takes up ¹⁄₅ to ¼ of one page, but the total fixation number was only reduced by half in shonen manga sets. This may have been due to the enlargement of the panel, which made it easier for the reader to look at the finer details of each panel. Thus it is possible to acquire a higher level of engagement with the reader by using larger panels.

4.3.2  Experiential layer: towards the verbal end of the multimodal cline Verbal elements impart narrative information. Since set A, B, and C are from works by three different authors, the idiosyncratic difference alone is considerable. However, while different authors have used varying amounts of purely

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descriptive/graphic panels (44 percent in A, 0 percent in B, 6 percent in C), they have structured narrative panels similarly: 77 percent of the +DTL panels in A, 92 percent in B and 86 percent in C all have verbal texts (diegetic or extra-­ diegetic) in upper-­right or upper-­central positions of the panel. This means the reader is expected to first look at the textual elements in the panel according to the reading sequence of Japanese manga. To acquire detailed information on the respondent’s eye movements when it comes to verbal parts, all the verbal elements (with or without balloons of various shapes) have been defined as interest areas (IAs) in data analysis.12 The area of verbal elements, which is a combined outcome of verbal length and verbal typography, shows a positive correlation with the number of fixations in the interest area and holds through all three sets (statistically significant at the 0.01 level). Yet the weight of verbal components relies not only on the correlation between IA area and fixation count, but also on the percentage of fixations on IAs of one page in comparison to all the fixations on the page and the area percentage of the IAs (Table 16.3). The data obtained indicates that verbal areas attract fixations more than non-­verbal areas, and fixation density peaks on verbal components in manga. Table 16.3  Percentage of interest area fixations (average) Set Overall IA fixation percentage

IA area percentage Fixation density ratio (fixation (average on one density in interest areas : overall page) fixation density)

A B C

  7% 23% 18%

88% 98% 87%

7.44 2.77 3.92

4.3.3  Experiential layer: towards the graphic end of the multimodal cline The analysis of eye movements on descriptive elements(−DTL) was carried out using eye track images and fixation maps.13 Among foregrounded graphic elements, the most common agents are animate ones, namely the characters in the story. Certain patterns are evident from the examination of the fixations which fell on animate agents. For an agent whose full body was depicted in manga, the fixations were mostly directed to the head. There were occasions when fixations fell on other parts of the body, and when they did, there was a high probability that the agent was presented as descriptive, namely, with few or no accompanying +DTL elements such as verbiage or onomatopoeia (Figure 16.4).14

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Figure 16.4  Fixations away from the character’s head (Togashi 1998/2012: 20).

In those instances where the body of an agent was not shown, but the head or face was present, the respondent’s fixations largely fell on the character’s facial area. Faces are typically co-­presented with +DTL elements such as verbal balloons as a common way of depicting conversation. Compared to purely descriptive images, fixations on images that appear with verbal elements tend to fall in a smaller range with a relatively low density (Figure  16.5). There are exceptions, however: for example, when a certain part of a face is exaggerated (e.g. an oversized mouth, etc.), fixations increase in number and become more dispersed. Among all the images, faces appear to be more powerful in attracting fixations. In set A, 71 percent of the faces were fixated; in set B, the percentage was

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Figure 16.5  Fixations on verbal elements and graphic elements in +DTL modules (Togashi 1998/2012: 21, 24).

87 percent; in set C 75 percent.15 Such results are in line with what has been found when viewing real-­world scenes, where the face provides an important clue for the viewer to grasp the meaning of the scene (Castelhano et al. 2007). In this study of manga, it has also been noticed that faces accompanied by speech balloons were skipped more often than purely graphic faces. Since the respondent has no problem understanding the flow of the story (known from offline data), one possibility is that the verbal information was sufficient for understanding the scene, and the respondent was able to tell the identity of the speaking character without fixating on them. In general, the respondent has demonstrated high efficiency in processing images when reading manga. Such performance reminds us of real-­world scene/ picture viewing, where the scene could usually be understood through a single eye fixation (VanRullen and Thorpe 2001; Henderson 2011). While manga pages are far from realistic in most cases, the iconic nature of graphic elements and recurrent graphic contents (e.g. the same character) are likely to make visual processing easy on the reader’s part. For backgrounded graphics, which mainly function on the compositional level and contribute to coherence and cohesion, fixations were much scarcer. While sporadic fixations could be found on detailed backgrounds, almost no fixation fell on elliptical backgrounds. In processing visual information, “efficient performance requires an attention mechanism that selects features from the possible locations and suppresses features from irrelevant locations” (Geisler and Cormack 2011: 440). The scarcity of fixation on backgrounds implies that the respondent has been able to distinguish foregrounded information from backgrounded information.

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4.3.4  Experiential layer: towards the center of the multimodal cline The distribution of fixations reveals salience at both ends of the multimodal cline, but whatever falls in between verbal elements and graphic elements awaits further examination. Based on the current data, onomatopoeia and effect line are examined. Onomatopoeias which are common in shonen manga are intrinsically verbal but come in stylistic and transformed shapes. However, the fixation pattern on onomatopoeia is different from that on verbal text, even though the fixation rate on onomatopoeia is not low (67 percent for set A and 61 percent for set B). The fixations on verbal text have a more complete coverage, while the fixations on onomatopoeias resemble those on graphics and usually have a limited coverage. For example, an onomatopoeic expression would only receive fixation on one or two of its characters (usually the initial and the middle characters). Thus, despite its inherent textual nature, onomatopoeia is viewed more like graphic elements than verbal elements. This might be explained by the relatively monotonous information and predictable relevance to the context carried by onomatopoeic words—almost always related to sound or manner, and from a relatively small repertoire.16 Effect lines are less graphic than images yet may still perform iconic function, and roughly coincide with the DTL zero point along the multimodal cline. Their DTL values are dynamic or sometimes even ambiguous. Effect lines usually accompany agents or actions, and add dynamism to otherwise static images. They are partly symbolic but not arbitrary, substantiating certain features (trace, speed, or momentum) of the agents or actions. Yet throughout this case study, the respondent never fixated on effect lines despite their slightly higher frequency of appearance than onomatopoeias (there are sporadic cases where fixation fell on elements superimposed with effect lines). The effect lines, where present, have never been regarded as a piece of information that deserves deliberate visual processing. Therefore, at least in this respondent’s reading experience, effect lines were backgrounded. However, the effect lines may have been processed by parafoveal sight and their function could still be justified on the logical and compositional levels (Reilly and Radach 2006; Schotter et al. 2014).

4.3.5  Logical layer: saccadic realization of 2D-positioning In eye movement data, fixations stand for discrete attentional foci that fall on different components; saccades occur between fixations and connect discrete foci sequentially. In other words, logical relations are mainly reflected by saccades in eye-­ movement recordings. According to SFT-based interpretation of Japanese comics, the most common forms of 2D-positioning are shown in the following table (4).

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Table 16.4  2D-positioning: forms and functions (Yang and Webster 2015) Forms of 2D-positioning

Functions

emitting/pointing backdropping surrounding/splitting overlapping

pointing to participant(s); locating process; specifying manner; adding sound effect; depicting physical relation

In this study, saccades happen within, as well as in between, components. The more accurate statement would be: logical relations are mainly reflected by inter-­ componential saccades (usually visibly longer) in eye movements. Emitting and pointing 2D-positions, which serve to connect sayers to verbiages, are seen everywhere in comics. According to the data, the respondent would read through the verbal balloons first and then follow the balloon tails to the speaking characters. Wherever more than one speech balloon was interrupted by foregrounded images, the most deterministic factor of reading sequence seemed to be the relative positions of the components inside a panel: the respondent would read through each component (with different fixation patterns) along the line of general reading sequence of Japanese comics (right to left, up to bottom). Surrounding or splitting 2D-positions are realized by saccadic moves that target the surrounding or split components such as onomatopoeic expressions. These components provide circumstantial information and are usually placed nearby the images that are agents of the narration or description. Backdropping and overlapping 2D-positions, like the backgrounded information discussed in the previous section, are not visited by conspicuous eye movements in this case. They are probably neglected or have been processed by the respondent using peripheral attention. To sum up, logical relations in Japanese shonen manga that are materialized by saccadic movements have the most prominent form in connecting speech balloons to their speakers, and circumstantial messages to their attributants. The sequence in which the participant conducts saccades is decided by the logical relations among the components as well as the relative positions of the components inside a panel.

4.3.6  Saccadic reflection of meaningful modules Meaningful modules are groups of components that are logically connected and physically adjacent. Meaningful modules go beyond 2D-positioning, which could be piecemeal and fragmented, and form consecutive scenes within the

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story. Ultimately, the demarcation of meaningful modules is achieved on the interpersonal level and is left for readers to decide, because (a) there are finer details in manga that may or may not draw readers’ attention, and (b) how to go about and visit each component within a module partly depends on personal reading habit. Simply put, the author has a final say in how detailed the story could be in the process of creating comics, but the author does not get to decide how detailed the story actually is for each individual reader in each reading. Through studying panel-­based eye movements, we find that the respondent sometimes indicated what might be called closure or boundary of a meaningful module during reading (McCloud 1994). The respondent did so by revisiting previously fixated component(s) after having finished reading all other major components of the module (Figure 16.6). In some other cases, the respondent

Figure 16.6  Meaningful module closed by revisited component (Oda 1997/2013: 14).

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simply finished off without going back, leaving the modular boundary to be decided naturally by panel frames. By revisiting modular components, the reader seems to be reinforcing the logical relationship among them. In Figure 16.6, for example, the respondent’s saccadic movements could be mapped as follows: Speech balloon (verbiage) → Character 1 (sayer) → Character 2 (addressee) → Character 1 (sayer)

Even if the addressee has his back turned to the sayer, we can recognize him as the other interlocutor from his outfit, position, and laughing (marked by effect lines) posture. The respondent’s going back to the sayer could be understood as the confirmation of the module composition as well as the intra-­modular relationship of the components. It might be safe to speculate that if the respondent found the logical connections dubious, he would linger and search for other components to close this module before going further.

4.3.7  Interpersonal and compositional layers: reading as an organic whole Reading sequence is a set rule for most narrative comic stories and graphic novels. It is a piece of common knowledge presumed on the readers’ part by comic artists. Reading sequence thus performs as a guiding principle through the process of creating comics on the author’s side and digesting comics on the reader’s side, and stands as a crucial part of interpersonal exchange. While the artistic appeal—another central reflection of interpersonal metafunction, cannot be easily measured by eye-­tracking experiments, reading sequence has been shown to provide an embracing impetus in the generation of eye movement patterns in comics reading: even a seemingly chaotic piece of comics that may be processed in any order would likely be read with orderly eye movements. The compositional aspect of meaning-­making in manga is also reflected by eye movements. One thing noteworthy in this case study is the absence of fixation on elliptical backgrounds—the reader appears to have understood the empty background as a continuation of the previous setting and spares no extra attention on it. Another indirect reflection has to do with the ease with which the respondent recognizes the characters, for the respondent only needed to make highly concentrated fixations that have limited coverage on the image to grasp the identity of the character.

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4.4  Offline data Following the comprehension test that helped verify the reliability of the data, the respondent was asked a series of questions to obtain more particular information on his understanding of eye-­tracking material and some of his usual reading habits. Some of the offline data was reflected by the respondent’s eye movements, such as careful reading of the characters’ lines that led to dense fixations on textual components, or attention toward characters’ faces was reflected by facial fixations. Apart from the fact that most narrative or +DTL panels used in eye-­tracking session have verbal elements positioned such that they are the first thing along the line of reading sequence, the respondent exhibited his personal preference for reading texts first even if it is the image that he noticed first. Some of the respondent’s answers, however, did not agree with the online data. To begin with, the respondent said he would read emblems, but there was no fixation found on emblems in the data. It is possible that the respondent saw emblems as part of the image and absorbed the general impression rather than seeing them as independent symbols. Another discrepancy between online and offline data is the attention directed to backgrounds. As discussed in previous parts, backgrounds have not been much fixated in online data. However, the respondent was positive that he does read backgrounds. This may be justified by the large amount of information the viewer is capable of taking in with a single fixation (Henderson 2011), but should be better explained with more specifically targeted eye-­tracking tasks.

5  Conclusion: top-­down and bottom-­up combined for a more comprehensive interpretation 5.1  Fixational patterns Based on this case study as well as the SFT-based theoretical framework which has highlighted the importance of words and images for narrative and descriptive information respectively, it would be safe to infer that for most manga readers, the general tendency to fixate will increase towards both ends of the multimodal cline. Fixations mostly fall on foregrounded components in manga, and usually multiple fixations would fall on one piece of manga component, forming a fixation group. It has been observed from this case that different types of manga components attract fixations (groups) of different nature (Table 16.5).17

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Table 16.5  Features of fixations for different manga components Manga components Fixational pattern Word (diegetic and extradiegetic) Onomatopoeia Image in +DTL modules Image in −DTL modules

First landing

Coverage Distribution

Sequentiality

Regular

High

High

Less regular Regular for characters (on head/face) Irregular

Mid Low

Mid

Dense with high coverage Sparse Concentrated with low coverage Dispersed

Mid Mid

Low

The fixation groups on words are dense along extended texts and cover a wide range of the verbal component. Since they follow a conventionalized reading path of text, their positions are more predictable than those of graphic elements. Fixation groups on graphic elements in +DTL modules are more concentrated and cover a comparatively small portion of the image while fixations on graphic elements in −DTL modules, which mainly perform descriptive function, usually appear to be more dispersed within the bound of the image, with their landings being less regular. Fixations on onomatopoeia are sparse and only directed to certain part(s) of the element.

5.2  Saccadic patterns Unlike fixation which mainly functions intra-­panelly and on the experiential level, saccade reflects meaning-­making in experiential, compositional as well as interpersonal levels (Diagram 16.1). In this study, there has been a major distinction between inbound saccades and outbound saccades in terms of the typological relation between saccades and manga elements underneath (Table 16.6). Inbound saccades occur within the boundaries of each component of manga and serve to connect fixations within the same fixation group. They could be seen as forming texture of eye movements on a certain type of component—on verbals the saccades are more compact and orderly than those on graphics, helping reinforce the sequentiality of the fixational pattern. Outbound saccades occur across the boundaries of different components and serve to establish connections among different elements (fixation groups).

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Table 16.6  Saccades on different metafunctional levels Type of saccade Shape

Function

Inbound

Interconnects a fixation Experiential group Establishes logical Logical; interpersonal relations among different components Provides Compositional; compositional clue interpersonal

(Outbound) Intra-­panel (Outbound) Inter-­panel

Comparatively short; zigzag Comparatively medium-­length; linking Comparatively long; trajectory

Level(s) of function

Outbound saccades could be further divided into intra-­panel saccades and inter-­panel saccades. Intra-­panel outbound saccades usually glue meaningful modules together, endowing different elements/modes different logical roles; inter-­panel outbound saccades cross panel boundaries and reflect the direction of diegetic time flow as well as the flow of “conversation” between the author and the reader. The pattern of saccadic movement is not solely determined by logical relations among different components, but is also influenced by interpersonal factors such as reading sequence and conventional arrangement of the components within a panel.

5.3  Eye-­movement reflection of metafunctional and   multilevel meaning-­making Through examining eye-­movement data, the ways in which the reader of manga interprets different modes of components and their relations have been reported and discussed. It seems that at least for the present case study, the reader has displayed an intuitive yet highly accurate and economical ability in decoding manga as a type of multimodal discourse. The corresponding relations between multilevel meaning-­making of manga based on SFT and eye movements are summarized in Diagram 16.1. What remains an important topic in eye movement study (especially in viewing real-­world scenes) is the degree to which eye movements are determined by the properties of stimulus (color, lighting, etc.) versus top-­down factors such as the overall meaning of the given scene and the purpose of viewing/ reading (Henderson 2003). Reading visual narrative is different from viewing realistic scenes. However, the graphic components in manga also carry

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Diagram 16.1  Eye-­movement reflection of multilevel meaning-­making in manga.

similarities with real-­world scenes. So far this case study has initiated a functionally based discussion of this topic. Within the context of reading manga, the properties of stimulus are concentrated in its multimodal composition, which is established through a mix of iconicity, symbolization and other tunnels that generate interpretation in the reader’s mind. In this case study, some of the properties of stimulus have been reflected by the respondent’s fixational patterns on different modality. More importantly, with the metafunctional framework of SFT, this study has provided concrete evidence of the ways in which top-­down factors guide and help interpret the reader’s overt eye movements. Fixations (groups) function primarily on ideational level and mark the salience identified by the reader through discerning and demarcating various modes. Saccades function on ideational and compositional levels and help establish logical relations among fixations. Therefore, saccadic patterns could be interpreted on multiple levels (in/outbound, intra-/inter-­panel) which prioritize different metafunctions. The absence of fixation and saccade (economy of eye movements) reflects the compositional organization underlying the reading process and downplays peripheral information. The reciprocating results between SFT-based top-­down framework and multimodal discourse as bottom-­ up stimulus of this study have demonstrated the appliability of systemic functional theory as a theoretical scaffold in organizing and interpreting eye movement data as well as multimodal visual narrative.

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Notes 1 Shonen is the romanized spelling of the Japanese word 少年 (Kana: しょうねん), which means teenage boy. Manga (Kanji: 漫画, Kana: まんが) is the Japanese word for comics. Content-­wise, shonen manga mainly refers to a widely read type of Japanese comics that features adventurous stories. Following SHUEISHA Inc.’s requirements, all the manga pages/panels are reproduced with copyright label and solely for academic study. There is no intention of tampering with the original manga work, fixations and saccades are only marked for academic purposes. 2 There are atypical panels such as unframed panels in Japanese manga. However, for the sub-­genre (shonen manga) that is being studied here, panels are usually framed and regularized, so irregular panels or gutters are not considered in this study. 3 Interest area, or area of interest, defines (usu. smaller) regions in the stimulus that the researcher is interested in gathering more detailed or more specific data (Holmqvist et al. 2011: 187). 4 The concept of diegesis is especially important in discussing the language used in visual narrative. See Yang and Webster (2015) for detail. 5 DTL stands for Diegetic Time Lapse in the manga story, and the “+/−” mark indicates the presence/absence of DTL (see Yang and Webster 2015 for detail). 6 The adjustments of the scanned pages include page division, adjustment of contrast ratio, adjustment of brightness, adjustment of file background and file type. 7 The panels were amplified for easier view but their shape and original proportion in one page were reserved. 8 While shonen manga is usually understood as teenager comics, youth manga usually targets young people around/above twenty. The purpose of including youth’s manga is to prevent the respondent from assuming that this study is about a particular manga genre. 9 Only someone who is experienced in manga reading would be asked to do eye-­ tracking recording. 10 During the eye-­tracking recording, the head of the respondent was held still by a chin holder. The stimuli were displayed at 1024×768 pixels (resolution). The refresh rate of the screen was 85 Hz. 11 All decimals in this study are rounded to two decimal places (percentages shown as integers). 12 In the present study, interest areas will mainly be referring to the verbal components of manga. The boundaries are determined as such that (a) all verbal contents are covered, (b) shape of speech balloon is reflected, and (c) certain margin area for unframed verbal elements is reserved. 13 Eye track image usually shows fixations as dots and saccades as lines. Fixation map summarizes fixations through coloring. Typically, regions with many fixations are

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highlighted with warmer colors and regions with few fixations are highlighted with colder colors (Holmqvist et al. 2011). 14 For all fixation/saccade overlay pictures in this study, red circles indicate fixations and blue lines indicate saccades. There is no intention of tampering with the original manga work, fixations and saccades are only marked for academic purposes. 15 Here the faces may be with or without body, frontal or profile, complete or partial, human or inhuman, but the facial expression must be distinguishable. 16 It should be noted, however, that Japanese is rich in onomatopoeia compared to many other languages such as English (Schodt 1986; Fukuda 1993). 17 All the features summarized in this table only reflect this case study and are described in a comparative sense within this case study. The methods of calculation are explained as follows: (a) First landing: qualitative calculation based on the feature of the components and fixational data. First landing regularity refers to the landing position of the first fixation on the component. (b) Coverage: quantitative calculation based on fixational map, which show fixational coverage page by page and are automatically generated as a part of eye movement data. (c) Distribution: quantitative calculation based on fixational data. (d) Sequentiality: qualitative calculation based on fixational and saccadic data. Sequentiality refers to the predictability of fixational path on a certain element.

Stylistics

17

Ways of Illustrating and Ways of Explicating: Multimodal Symbolic Articulation in Illustrated Shì Shuō Xīn Yuˇ1 LIU, Shisheng (刘世生) Tsinghua University

SONG, Chengfang (宋成方)

University of International Business and Economics

1  Introduction Hasan (1989: 94–9) proposes a semiotic model to account for the art of verbal art, holding that it lies in the symbolic articulation of theme through verbalization. It is our contention that such a model could be revised and employed in the exploration of the art of multimodal art. Aiming to investigate how symbolic articulation mediates between theme and verbalization in multimodal texts, this chapter first proposes a revised semiotic model of multimodal art and semiotic modes, and then introduces the data and the method to be used in the analysis. On the basis of the analysis, ways of illustrating in terms of image-­text relations and ways of explicating in terms of manners of articulation are finally discussed.

2  Theoretical framework 2.1  Semiotic model of multimodal verbal art Systemic functional linguistics holds that language is a multiple coding system, which consists of three strata: semantics, lexicogrammar and phonology, with semantics being realized by lexicogrammar and lexicogrammar in turn by phonology (e.g., Halliday and Matthiessen 1999: 5). Hasan (1989: 96) holds that verbal art can be theorized as a semiotic system, resembling that of the semiotic

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Figure 17.1  A semiotic model of multimodal art and semiotic modes.

model of language as proposed above. The lowest stratum of the semiotic model of verbal art is verbalization, which means that a literary text is like any other text: the reader knows the meanings encoded in it through knowing the language; while the stratum of theme is “the deepest level of meaning in verbal art” (Hasan 1989: 97). These two levels interrelate with each other through the stratum of symbolic articulation, which functions in the semiotic model of verbal art in a way similar to that of lexicogrammar in language: like a power generator, it turns the meanings of language into signs having a deeper meaning (Hasan 1989: 98). This semiotic model of verbal art and language on the one hand makes clear what accounts for verbal art, and on the other provides an explanation for the relationship between the understanding of a text and its thematic articulation. We contend that a revision of this model, as presented in Figure 17.1, can be used to explain multimodal art as well, for multimodal texts differ from verbal texts in that they deploy more than one semiotic mode to make meanings.

2.2  Multimodal literal articulation in narratives In Hasan’s (1989) model, the meaning of a text which is to be decoded through understanding language in which the text is written (i.e. the literal meaning of a text) is termed as verbalization. As the literal meaning of a multimodal text is construed through language and also other non-­verbal modes, we use a more general term, multimodal literal articulation, to replace verbalization. This multimodal literal articulation has its own features. Zhang and Mu (2012) point out that, although words and images realize a single text and are mostly complementary to each other, each of them makes its own

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contribution to the meaning of text. This is especially the case with illustrated texts, where illustrations are mostly added to verbal texts at a later time. To add this feature into the semiotic model of multimodal art, we identify articulations of different modes at this bottom level. As will be shown below, the multimodal texts to be analyzed in this chapter are verbal-­pictorial texts. Therefore, two types of articulation are identified in Figure 17.1: verbalization and pictorial articulation, with a double arrow drawn between them to show their interaction. Hasan’s (1989) analyses at the level of verbalization generally fall into two categories: those of structural resources and those of non-­structural resources. And when she analyses short stories, she (1989) also includes what are traditionally called narrative techniques and devices in her analyses. Although some of them can be equally accounted for in terms of grammatical notions, for example, presenting thoughts and speeches in terms of projection, others are mainly at the discourse level, such as planes of narration. Martin (1992) has argued that the line drawn between structural and non-­structural resources sometimes unnecessarily classifies into different categories resources that construe the same semantic motif at the level of discourse, failing to provide a coherent framework for discourse analysis. Therefore, our revised model (see Figure 17.1) adopts Martin’s (1992) more elaborate language model, which, by proposing an opposition between grammar and discourse semantics, provides a more powerful tool to analyse text-­oriented resources for making meanings.

2.3  Theme As defined in Hasan (1989: 97), theme is the meaning of the deepest level and “is what a text is about when dissociated from the particularities of that text.” By analogy with the grammatical notion “Theme” in SFL (i.e. Halliday 2004: 64), we contend that the theme of a text consists of both a thematic topic and a thematic statement.

2.4  Multimodal symbolic articulation and   semiotic foregrounding Hasan (1989: 98) holds that the stratum of symbolic articulation in the semiotic model of verbal art is analogous to that of lexicogrammar in the semiotic model of language, and defines the stratum of symbolic articulation as the place “where the meanings of language are turned into signs having a deeper

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meaning.” Moreover, her analysis (1989: 14) also shows that symbolic articulation differs from lexicogrammar in that it takes the form of non-­structural patterns of foregrounding in making meaning. Foregrounding has, up to now, been a concept used to analyze verbal texts, or, at most, monomodal texts, and foregrounded items are identified through being compared or contrasted with items at the same level and of the same rank. Nevertheless, multimodal texts pose challenges to this notion, as the architecture of a multimodal text consists of several sets of components, which means that contrast and comparison across modes have to be included in stylisticians’ agendas to find out foregrounding across modes. In fact, studies on intersemiotic relations in multimodal discourse analysis have proposed several terms to account for multimodal construal of meaning in multimodal texts: namely, “resemioticization” (Iedema 2003: 30), “multiplication of meaning” (Lemke 1998), “semiotic metaphor” (O’Halloran 1999), and “translation” (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 78). By analogy with O’Halloran’s (1999) semiotic metaphor, we propose to analyze the motivated patterning across modes in terms of “semiotic foregrounding.” As far as the analysis in this chapter is concerned, this means that the level of multimodal symbolic articulation has to take account of three types of foregrounding: verbal foregrounding, visual foregrounding, and semiotic foregrounding.

3  Method 3.1  Data The study of multimodal symbolic articulation, the intermediary level of the three-­layered semiotic model, will be easier if the other two strata are constants or are simple enough to be given a clear account. The illustrated version of Liu Yiqing’s Shì Shuō Xīn Yuˇ published by Zhonghua Book Company in 2007 provides ideal data for such a kind of study. This version contains all thirty-­six sections from the original work, but it just selects 255 texts from the entire collection. Among the 255 texts, 106 are illustrated with one or two images, contributing altogether 149 illustrations. And these illustrations are also of various kinds, including portraits, calligraphy, wall paintings, and spring festival drawings. Therefore, these texts with their illustrations are both quantitatively sufficient and qualitatively adequate for exploring ways of multimodal symbolic articulation. Moreover, the title of each section makes clear the thematic topic of the texts included in each section;

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and each text is usually three or four lines long and is convenient to analyze in full.

3.2  Analysis Martin’s (1992) discourse semantics theory presents a powerful toolkit for analyzing verbal texts, and recent developments in multimodal discourse analysis have also put forward “grammars” of other modes to analyze non-­verbal meaning-­makings (e.g. Kress and van Leeuwen 2006) and have devised frameworks to explore intersemiotic relations in multimodal texts (e.g. Martinec and Salway 2005). Therefore, we are now equipped with a rich assembly of tools to conduct detailed multimodal discourse analyses. Visual analyses are conducted first by employing Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework, which proposes to analyze images in terms of SFL’s metafunction theory. However, the visual analyses, due to limitation of space, are largely confined to the ideational component of images. Then image-­text relations are examined by adopting as the framework Halliday’s (for example, 2004) theory concerning clause relations and Martinec and Salway’s (2005) system of image-­text relations which is based on Halliday’s theory for its exhaustiveness and applicability. However, some revisions will be made as narratives have their own principles, such as “part for whole” as discussed in Section 4. The analyses in the first two steps, taken together, should produce a summary of the various ways in which illustrations are made. In a multimodal text, despite their contribution to the overall effect, each semiotic mode is said to construe meaning independently as well (Royce 1998; Zhang and Mu 2012). Similarly, they should also articulate their own themes. Since themes of verbal texts have been identified, the visual articulation of these themes is explored as the third step. And on the basis of the above discussions, ways of multimodal symbolic articulation will be finally analyzed.

4  Results 4.1  Ways of illustrating The preliminary distinction Martinec and Salway (2005) make in analyzing image-­text relations is between image-­and-text-­independent and image-­andtext-­dependent. The analyses of intersemiotic relations show that the two types

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of intersemiotic relations are both employed in the illustrated book. However, due to limitation of space, only cases where a text and an image are independent of each other are discussed in this chapter.

4.1.1  Image and text independent, exposition The first type is exposition. As far as the ideational aspect of images is concerned, Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) propose that a distinction should be made between narrative and conceptual representations. Images involved in this type of relation with texts usually have a narrative structure. For instance, Figure 17.2, entitled “The elder brother ordering his younger brother, Cao Zhi, to compose a poem,” depicts Cao Zhi (the young man facing the other three) composing a poem at Court in accordance with his royal brother’s (the one sitting) instructions, and with two other people in their company (the lady is half hidden). The following is the multimodal text,2 from Section 4 “Letters and Scholarship”: Example 1 Emperor Wen of Wei (Ts’ao (sic.) P’ei (Cao Pi),3 r.  220–6) once ordered the Prince of Tung-­o (Ts’ao Chih) (Cao Zhi) to compose a poem in the time it would take to walk seven paces. If it was not completed [in time], [a heavy penalty would be imposed on Cao Zhi]. On the spur of the moment Chih (Zhi) then composed the following poem: “Boiled beans are taken to make a soup, Strained lentils utilized for stock. While stalks beneath the pot are blazing up, The beans within the pot are [sobbing]. Originally from the same root grown, For one to cook the other, why such haste?” The emperor looked profoundly ashamed (Liu 1976: 126). Strictly speaking, the illustration only provides a snapshot of the event. If the strict criteria proposed in Martinec and Salway (2005) are applied, the image is just related to part of the verbal text, because the detailed instructions, including a possible penalty, and the poem itself are not included in the image; consequently, the relation between them is one of “image dependent on text.” But such an analysis is weird, especially to a native speaker of Chinese, because other details are like elements that, together with information provided in the illustration, create a “historical gestalt,” to coin a term. Mei (2004:

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Figure 17.2  The elder brother ordering his younger brother, Cao Zhi, to compose a poem.4

209–16) identifies “part for whole” as a narrative principle in Shì Shuō Xīn Yuˇ. We hold that this principle applies equally to visual narration and thus analyze the relation in this case as “independent”’ with respect to status and “exposition” in terms of logico-­semantics as they are at the same level of generality. In the illustrated edition, this type of illustration is also employed in “Xie An inviting his relatives to compose poems on snow,” “Xie An playing Weiqi with others,” and another two stories concerning Zhao Jun and Shi Chang.

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4.1.2  Image and text independent, extension The second type is extension. Images of this type are the same as images of the first type, having a narrative structure, serving to trigger readers’ stored historical knowledge and telling a complete story. This type differs from the first one in that the story is narrated through the image “extending” the verbal story in the sense of “addition” (Halliday 2004: 378). The following are two examples from Section 1 “Virtuous Conduct” and Section 2 “Speech and Conversation.” Example 2 Wang Hsiang (Wang Xiang) in serving his stepmother, Madam Chu, was extremely conscientious. There was a plum tree (li) in their home whose fruit was exceptionally good, and his stepmother always had him protect it. Once when a storm of wind and rain [came to pass], Hsiang (Xiang) embraced the tree, weeping. On another occasion Hsiang was sleeping on a separate bed when his stepmother herself came over and slashed at him in the dark. As it happened, Hsiang (Xiang) had gotten up to relieve himself and her vain slashing struck only the bedclothes. After Hsiang (Xiang) returned to the room he realized his

Figure 17.3  Wang Xiang breaking ice to catch carp.

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stepmother bore him an implacable resentment and kneeling before her he begged her to end his life. His stepmother then for the first time came to her senses and loved him ever afterward as her own son. (Liu 1976: 8) Example 3 When K’ung Jung (Kong Rong) was apprehended, those both inside and outside the court were panic-­stricken. At that time Jung’s (Rong) older son was in his ninth year and the younger in his eighth. The two boys continued[,] as before[,] their game of throwing spikes (cho-­ting) without the slightest agitation showing in their faces.

Figure 17.4  Liu Bei Rescuing Kong Rong at Beihai.

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Jung (Rong) said to the officer who had come for him, “I trust the punishment ceases with my own person. May my two sons be spared?” The sons came forward gravely and said, “Father, would you expect to find any unbroken eggs under an overturned nest?” In a short while officers came to apprehend them as well. (Liu 1976: 27) In the above two examples, each illustration tells a story different from the one narrated verbally. Figure 17.3 shows another of Wang Xiang’s filial acts of devotion: his stepmother wanted to eat fish on an icy winter day, so Wang Xiang came to the river and decided to melt the thick ice with his body heat; and finally when he was almost frozen to death he caught some fish which leaped out of the hole under his body. Figure  17.4 depicts a story about Kong Rong from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: when he held his position at Beihai, he was attacked and was in danger; so he pleaded with Liu Bei to save him and Liu Bei agreed and finally sent troops and helped him get out of trouble. Both stories, although related to the verbal ones presented alongside them in different ways, as discussed in the following section, are independent and can stand alone. This type of illustration is predominant in the 2007 edition, where about twenty multimodal texts follow this practice. Maybe this is a result of “intertextuality,” a popular phenomenon in literary work.

4.1.3  Image and text independent, enhancement The third type is enhancement. Different from images in the above two types, the images in this type belong to the category of conceptual representation. Example 4 from Section 26, “Contempt and Insults” is an instance. Example 4 After Fu Huang (Fu Hong) had rebelled against the Later Ch’in (384–417) and returned his allegiance to the Chin (Jin) (in 384), the grand tutor, Hsieh An (Xie An), often entertained him. Hung (Hong) considered himself to be very self-­confident and in most cases enjoyed getting the better of other people. On one occasion there was no one present who could [get the better of] him, but it happened that Wang Hui-­chih (Wang Huizhi) arrived and the grand tutor had them converse together. Wang merely stared at him for a long time, then, turning, said to the grand tutor, “He, too, in the end is no different from the others.” Fu withdrew in great embarrassment (Liu 1976: 339–40). Figure  17.5 is a photo of an ancient tile, which was made and used in the Early Qin Dynasty. Since the ancient tile is not mentioned in the accompanying

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Figure 17.5  Tiles of the Former Qin.

verbal text, we analyze the relation between images and texts in this case as independent. In his analysis of typography, van Leeuwen (2005) mentions that written signs sometimes indicate meaning through the principle of discursive import. It seems that the illustration can be interpreted as denoting a symbolic process (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006: 105-6), in which the carrier is identified by means of its temporal location due to the period from which it, as a sign, originates. That is, Figure 17.5 makes clear the period in which the story narrated in the verbal text happened.

4.1.4  Image and text independent, metaphor Elaboration (of which exposition, discussed in Section 4.1.1, is a type), extension and enhancement are the three logico-­semantic relations proposed in Martinec and Salway’s (2005) framework. Nevertheless, the 2007 edition also contains some multimodal texts whose intersemiotic relation can hardly be interpreted as one of them. Example 5 from Section 1 “Virtuous Conduct” is such a case. Example 5 After Yin Chung-­k’an (Yin Zhongkan) had become governor of Ching Province (Jing Province) (Huan-Hupei) (Hubei), he encountered a shortage of food due to

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Figure 17.6  Celadon sheep from the Jin Dynasty.

floods. His meals always consisted of five bowls, and there was no extra food beyond what was in the dishes. If a grain of rice fell between the dishes and the mat, he would always pick it up and devour it. Although in doing so he wished to set an example for others, he was also following the true simplicity of his nature. He would often say to his sons and younger brothers, “Don’t imagine, because I have accepted office in the present province, that I have given up my usual attitude of earlier days. At present the situation in which we are living is not easy, but ‘poverty is the gentlemen’s normal state.’ Why should he climb out on [to] the branches and lose contact with his roots? You [should all] preserve this principle!” (Liu 1976: 19). Like the images discussed in the last section, Figure 17.6 is probably intended to present another instance in which meaning is created through a symbolic process. The most obvious interpretation is as follows. The carrier is the Celadon sheep of the Jin Dynasty, and as a priceless antique, it has the attributes of beauty, elegance, antiquity, rarity, and so forth. But in the verbal text, neither the carrier nor these attributes are mentioned. If the two components indeed define a coherent text, the relation seems not to be at the logico-­semantic level but at a higher level, most likely that of theme, where a sound interpretation can be made that Yin Zhongkan’s conduct, just like the Celadon sheep, is beautiful, elegant, and full of ancient virtue. Therefore, this type of illustration is referred to as “image and text independent, metaphor.” There are, in fact, other cases of this type in the 2007 edition.

4.2  Ways of multimodal symbolic articulation Every illustrated text is a new text. So how does the new text articulate its theme? Figure 17.1 shows that this question needs to be answered by taking into account

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two factors: one is the semiotic foregrounding, that is, the patterning of the patterns of the multimodal text; the other is the theme articulated by each component. Semiotic foregrounding, as discussed in Section 2.4, involves comparison and contrast of items of the same nature across modes. The analysis of image-­text relations in the above section provides a basis for such a type of comparison and contrast. As text-­image relations have been firstly classified according to status relations, multimodal articulation in terms of semiotic foregrounding can also be divided into two groups. The first group can be termed compound articulation, by analogy with compound words, just as the verbal text and its illustration, like the components of a compound, can stand alone. The second group can be referred to as inflectional articulation (again a term from morphology) as in this case either the text or the image is independent with the other dependent on it. As only cases of image-and-text-independent are discussed in Section 4.1, only compound articulation is discussed here. Moreover, another preliminary distinction should be made between identical and different in order to account for the thematic contributions of each mode. Consequently, compound articulation can be further classified into duplicate articulation if the themes articulated by the verbal text and by the image are identical; and combinational articulation if the themes articulated through the different modes are different from each other.

4.2.1  Compound articulation: duplicate Reduplication is defined as “the repetition of all or part of the radical element” and regarded as one of the grammatical processes in Sapir (1921: 79). We use it here to refer to cases in which images and texts are of equal status and articulate the same theme as discussed above. The foregrounding in this case is achieved through repetition. Examples 1 and 2 are two illustrations. But as the analysis of their logico-­ semantic image-­text relations shows, there are some subtle differences. In Example 1, the verbal text and its corresponding illustration narrate the same story, which shows that Cao Zhi excels in letters, and the duplicate articulation is that of re-­articulation. In Example 2, the verbal text and its illustration, in fact, tell two different stories, which provide two pieces of evidence as to Wang Xiang’s filial piety. As it is widely accepted that there is an iconic relation between the quantity of form and the quantity of meaning, that is, “the more form, the more meaning” (Hiraga 1994: 11), and the duplicate articulation in Example 2 can be more concisely termed “amplification,” if the rhetorical effect is taken into account.

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4.2.2  Compound articulation: combinational This category differs from the first one in that the themes articulated in each component are different. Thus, the foregrounding in this category results from the differences. This category, like the first one, is also subject to finer distinctions. Examples 3 and 5 are two illustrations. The difference between the verbally articulated theme and the visually articulated theme in Example 5 is larger than that in Example 3, as the verbal text is a narrative which reports Yin Zhongkan’s virtuous conduct, while the image is a photo of a Celadon sheep from the Jin Dynasty. Our previous analysis has noted that the interpretation of this multimodal text needs to be based on the parallelism between attributes of the Celadon sheep and those of Yin Zhongkan’s conduct. That is, the articulation of theme in the multimodal text is through the interaction of two different themes. With reference to Peircean semiotics (for example, Pharies 1985), we refer to this combinational articulation as metaphorical articulation. In Example 3, the difference is smaller, as both the verbal text and the image tell stories about the same person, Kong Rong. Nevertheless, the themes of the two texts are different: the verbal story is about his two sons’ unexpected reaction and artful speech in face of his apprehension, while the visual story is about how Liu Bei came to his rescue when he held positions in Beihai. Kong Rong was a great man of letters and was also famous for his righteousness. The two stories, providing two accounts of his miserable life, make us feel sorry for him, which in turn makes us admire more his sons’ swiftness and keenness in understanding the situation and in giving an artful answer. That is, in this case the visual story facilitates the articulation of the theme, which is, technically speaking, a scaffolding articulation. In addition to the 4 examples discussed above, there is one more example, Example 4, in Section  4.1. As the illustration in it just functions to provide circumstantial information, it does not contribute much to the articulation of the theme.

5  Concluding remarks Illustrated classics are now becoming more and more popular. The descriptive analysis conducted in this chapter on the basis of visual grammar and multimodal semiotics shows that multimodal texts comprised of verbal texts and illustrations

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construe meanings in different manners and themes originally explicated only by verbal texts are, consequently, mostly modified in one way or another in the new multimodal texts. A comparison of the two groups of findings, that is, the ways of illustrating and those of explicating, reveals that status relations between images and texts play a more important role than logico-­semantics in identifying ways of illustrating and that ways of explicating are, to a certain extent, independent of ways of illustrating, which, as contended by Hasan (1989: 98), is perhaps a reflection of the loose relationship between theme and verbalization (i.e. multimodal literal articulation in this chapter).

Notes 1 For Chinese proper names, the system of Hànyuˇ Pīnyīn is adopted in this chapter. In cases where other systems, for example, Wade-Giles, are originally used, their Pīnyīn counterparts are provided in brackets. 2 The text is originally in Chinese. The English version included in this chapter is taken from Liu (1976) with some revisions, which are put in square brackets. Liu (1976) includes many notes giving extensive background information. Readers not familiar with Chinese culture of the Wei and Jin Dynasties are encouraged to read these. The position of the image in the multimodal text is not identical with that in the original text for technical reasons. Other examples follow suit. 3 In this and the following examples, all the Pīnyīn transcripts in brackets are our own notes. 4 Liu (2007) does not provide any information concerning the illustrations it makes use of. As most of them are pictures, photos, spring festival drawings, which are freely available online, we assume that there is no need to obtain permissions to use them. But if anyone happens to have the copyright of the illustrations used in the chapter, they are encouraged to contact the authors as soon as possible.

Translation

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Searching for Metafunctional Equivalence in Translated Texts HUANG, Guowen (黄国文)

College of Foreign Studies South China Agricultural University, P.R. China

1  Introduction As an appliable linguistics or “an appliable kind of linguistics” (Halliday 2012/2013: 150), systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is characterized and recognized as “a problem-­oriented theory” (Halliday 2009b: 61). It has been designed to identify and solve problems that are related to language and language use in a social context. As a result, SFL has been applied to many fields of studies, including translation. It is an opportunity as well as a challenge to investigate issues and problems related to translation studies within the framework of SFL. For the past years, Halliday has used his theory of language to handle issues and problems concerning translation studies, especially translations between Chinese and English. He takes an SFL approach to translation studies and he believes that the study of translation from a linguistic perspective is impossible without a theory of language. As early as 1962, in a paper on linguistics and machine translation, Halliday argued that the description of language and language use, including translation studies, should need a theory of some kind: “It is impossible to describe language without a theory, since some theory, however inadequate, is implicit in all descriptions; but it is quite possible to make a description that is in practice unsystematic, with categories neither clearly interrelated nor consistently assigned” (Halliday 1962/2005: 23). Recent years have witnessed publications of translation studies from an SFL perspective, such as Halliday (2001, 2009c/2013, 2012/2013), Matthiessen (2001), Steiner and Yallop (2001), and Huang (2006), not to mention many other early

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studies such as Halliday (1962/2005) and Catford (1965), or SFL-oriented studies such as Bell (1991). The literature to date indicates that scholars of different ideological, social, cultural, educational, and professional backgrounds approach translation issues from many different perspectives with different motivations and purposes, and they are proposing different theoretical models for studying translation. As Halliday (2001: 13) points out, “for a linguist, translation theory is the study of how things are: what is the nature of the translation process and the relation between texts in translation.” For Halliday, an SFL theory of translation is a “declarative” rather than “imperative” theory, which studies how things are rather than how they should be. In defining the “environments of translation” in relation to translation equivalence, Matthiessen (2001) theorizes that the environments are defined by the various dimensions in line with the organizing principles of human language, which include stratification, rank, instantiation, metafunction, delicacy, and axis; these six dimensions are respectively illustrated by Halliday in a number of places (e.g. 2001, 2009c/2013, 2012/2013). In line with the ideas and suggestions made by Halliday and others in the SFL field, the aim of this chapter is to discuss issues concerning metafunctional equivalence with special reference to translated texts of a section in the Confucian Analects (i.e. Lun Yu)1.

2  The notion of equivalence One of the important issues in translation studies is that of equivalence, as it is related to the nature of translation. As Meethan and Hudson (1972: 713, cited in Bell 1991: 6) put it, “translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language.” This clearly outlines the nature of translation: to express the meaning in a text realized in one language by using another language with the aim of having the equivalent message in the translated text. As is observed by Munday (2001: 35), equivalence has been one of the most prominent issues being debated for translation studies since the 1950s. This concept has been at the center of theoretical approaches to translation studies, because “equivalence is obviously a central concept in translation theory” (Chesterman 1989: 99). Or in Yallop’s (2001: 241) words, equivalence is regarded as “a clear aim of translation,” as almost everyone in the translation field has been thinking of this issue, no matter whether they are interested in translation theory or translation practice.

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Jakobson, in his paper entitled “On linguistic aspects of translation” (1959/2002), distinguishes three kinds of translation: intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic, and he assumes that in interlingual translation, “translation from one language into another substitutes messages into one language not for the separate code-­units but for entire messages in some other language” and that “translation involves two equivalent messages in two different codes” (1959/2002: 272). For both scholars of translation studies and practitioners in the field, the hope is that the translated text, though in a different language, will have an equivalent message, which serves the same communicative function in context. Since Jakobson (1959/2002: 272) takes a linguistic approach to translation studies, he argues that “equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics.” Like Jakobson (1959/2002), Nida also adopts a linguistic approach to the study of equivalence in translation and his theoretical basis is partly influenced by Noam Chomsky’s transformational-­generative model of language. Discarding traditional terms such as “literal” and “free” translation, Nida (1964: 159) proposed two “basic orientations” or two types of equivalence (i.e. formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence) and introduced a receptor-­based (or reader-­based) orientation to translation theory. According to Nida (1964: 159), “formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content,” and “the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language”; this is in contrast with his idea of dynamic equivalence which is based on his “principle of equivalent effect,” where “the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message.” To achieve dynamic equivalence, Nida suggests that one should try to seek “the closest natural equivalent to the source-­language message” (Nida 1964: 166) and the message should meet the receptor’s linguistic needs and cultural expectation if one “aims at complete naturalness of expression.” Nida’s receptor-­based orientation to translation theory has aroused great interest in the field and at the same time it has led to many criticisms, one of which is that “the whole question of equivalence inevitably entails subjective judgement from the translator or analyst” (Munday 2001: 43), and this in fact has been used to challenge the claimed “scientific” nature of Nida’s theory of translation. Influenced by Nida (e.g. Nida 1964, Nida and Taber 1969), Koller (1979/1989: 99–104) proposes to describe and define five different types of equivalence: denotative equivalence, connotative equivalence, text-­normative equivalence, pragmatic equivalence, and formal equivalence. The literature shows that there

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have been many others in recent years who are still working on issues and ideas concerning the concept of equivalence in translation studies (see Munday 2001). Although achieving equivalence is usually regarded as “a clear aim of translation” (Yallop 2001: 241), it must be remembered that it is very difficult (if not impossible) to achieve equivalence in all aspects (both linguistic and contextual) on the one hand and that “there is no absolute equivalence or absolute non-­equivalence” (Halliday 2009c/2013: 121) on the other hand. This issue will be discussed in more detail later. To summarize, it is generally assumed that aiming at equivalence is vitally important in evaluating translated texts but that there are occasions when equivalence is an impossible goal to attain. Thus, what needs to be done is search for ways of tackling problems in relation to “non-­equivalence” (shift) both at the level of form (e.g. grammatical, lexical, phonological, graphological) and at the level of meaning (semantics). A good model of translation theory should include parameters of equivalence and the relationship between different kinds of equivalence.

3  SFL studies on equivalence In 1962, Halliday (1962/2005), in his discussion on linguistics and machine translation, touched upon concepts such as “grammatical equivalence” and “lexical equivalence.” But these concepts are not closely related to metafunctional equivalence that is being talked about in this chapter. Catford (1965), using an early systemic model of language (i.e. Halliday’s Scale and Category Grammar, Halliday 1956) to study translation, states that translation is “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” (Catford 1965/2002: 281). He also illustrates the concept of “textual material” by explaining that ‘in normal conditions it is not the entirety of an SL text which is translated, that is, replaced by TL equivalents’ (Catford 1965/2002: 282). As Halliday (2001: 15) observes, Catford describes the concept of equivalence “explicitly by reference to the different strata in language,” and Catford’s rank of translation is involved with differentiation in translation in relation to the rank in the language “hierarchy at which translation equivalence is established” (Catford 1965/2002: 286). Like Catford (1965), Meetham and Hudson (1969), whose theoretical framework is more or less systemic-­functional, also treat translation as “the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of

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an equivalent text in a second language” (Meetham and Hudson 1969: 713, cited in Bell 1991/2001: 6). They argue that “texts in different languages can be equivalent to different degrees (fully or partially equivalent), in respect of different levels of presentation (equivalent in respect of context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis, etc.) and at different ranks (word-­for-word, phrase-­for-phrase, sentence-­ for-sentence)” (Meetham and Hudson 1969: 713, cited in Bell 1991/2001: 6). Catford (1965/2002: 290) makes a distinction between “textual equivalence” and “formal correspondence” by regarding the former as “any TL text or portion of text which is observed on a particular occasion . . . to be equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text” and the latter as “any TL category (unit, class, structure, element of structure) which can be said to occupy, as nearly as possible, the ‘same’ place in the ‘economy’ of the TL as the given SL category occupies in the SL.” The ideas presented by Catford (1965) and Meetham and Hudson (1969) have proved useful in establishing a theory of translation from a SFL perspective (e.g. Halliday 2001; Matthiessen 2001). Baker (1992), though not within an SFL framework, uses SFL ideas in her discussion on translation studies by organizing the chapters around different kinds of equivalence: “equivalence at word level,” “equivalence above the word level,” “grammatical equivalence,” “textual equivalence,” and “pragmatic equivalence.” Although Huang (2014) focuses on the discourse structure of the dialogic sections in the translated texts of Lun Yu, he also discusses the English translations by asking whether the translated text is experientially, logically, interpersonally and textually equivalent of the source text, and he points out that in translation studies the focus should be on the communicative effectiveness of the meaning expressed. In a number of papers published in recent years, Halliday argues that “’in any particular instance of translation, value may be attached to equivalence at different ranks, different strata, different metafunctions” (2001: 17). In terms of the relationship between equivalence and metafunctions, Halliday (2001: 16) points out, “as a general rule, ‘translation equivalence’ is defined in ideational terms; if a text does not match its source text ideationally, it does not qualify as a translation, so the question whether it is a good translation does not arise.” For Halliday, the ideational metafunction is the most important of all the metafunctions in relation to translation equivalence. Matthiessen (2001) discusses translation equivalence in relation to “’translation shift,” and he hypothesizes that “there is a high degree of ‘equivalence’ or congruence between language as far as metafunctions are concerned and that

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this applies along the full extent of the cline of instantiation, from translation of text instances and to mappings between systems” (Matthiessen 2001: 99). He then argues that “in translation metafunction tends to be preserved,” which echoes Halliday’s (2001: 16) argument that when a (translated) text and the source text do not match ideationally, it is not considered as a translation. As can be seen from Halliday’s recent publications on translation equivalence, one of the most important contributions made by Matthiessen (2001) is that he treats ‘translation as a semiotic process (mapping)’ and highlights “the semiotic environments of translation.” Matthiessen (2001: 78) assumes that “translation equivalence and translation shift are two opposite poles on a cline of difference between languages . . . from maximal congruence to maximal incongruence.” And he further argues that “the general principle is this: the wider the environment of translation, the higher the degree of translation equivalence; and the narrower the environment, the higher the degree of translation shift.” What Matthiessen suggests here, as postulated by Halliday (2009c/2013: 106), is the principle of contextualization: “the widest” environment is that in which the translation is “maximally contextualized” and therefore, by the same token, is likely to be “maximally effective.” Matthiessen (2001: 115) also looks at the location of translation in relation to “an ordered series of contextualization from the most global (widest) environments to the most local (narrowest),” suggesting that these two translation clines “move from the most global environment to the most local ones: both ‘free’ translation and ‘translation equivalence’ are located as poles on these clines within the most global environment and both ‘literal’ translation and ‘translation shift’ are located as the opposite poles on these clines within the most local environments.” As Halliday (2009c/2013: 106; 2012/2013: 147) summarizes, Matthiessen’s (2001: 115) “environments of translation” are defined by the dimensions of language organization: stratification, rank, instantiation, metafunction, delicacy, and axis.

4  Metafunctional equivalence Broadly speaking, metafunction in SFL is used to refer to “a complex of three orders of meaning” (Halliday 2009c/2013: 108) in any instance of language (text). Basically, metafunctions are to do with the different strands of meaning in the clause. The experiential metafunction is about the representational aspect of

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meaning; that is, meaning as the construal of experience, and typically experiential metafunction is analyzed by focusing on the Transitivity of process types and participant roles as well as circumstantial elements. The logical metafunction is concerned with the relationship between the messages and the ways the connection between messages is signaled. Typically, the logical metafunction is analyzed in terms of logical dependency and logico-­semantic relations. In the SFL framework, the experiential metafunction and the logical metafunction together form the ideational metafunction. The other two metafunctions are interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction. The interpersonal metafunction is related to the ways of interacting with people and the interactants’ attitudes, evaluations, judgments, and negotiation in communication, and this is typically realized by the choice of Mood, modality, and evaluation. The textual metafunction involves the organization of the message and information, and this metafunction is typically realized by the choice of thematic structures, information structures, and cohesive elements and cohesive ties. Metafunctional equivalence has to do with the match of metafunctional equivalence in the translated text with the corresponding source text, and the match should be examined by looking at different metafunctions in different contexts. If we are looking at metafunctional equivalence in the translated text, we should first of all identify the importance of order of the three (or four) metafunctions, although in the SFL framework there is no fixed order among them. In the context of translation studies and the evaluation of translation equivalence, the experiential metafunction should be given the priority, since if the translated text does not match its source text experientially it does not qualify as a translated text, a point made by Halliday (2001: 16). However, we should note that when Halliday says that “ ‘translation equivalence’ is defined in ideational terms,” what he means is the experiential metafunction rather than both the experiential metafunction and logical metafunction.

5  Analysis In this section I shall analyze a number of examples in respect of metafunctional equivalence with the hope that this will help us to understand the relationship between the different kinds of metafunctional equivalence. I shall begin with the experiential equivalence.

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5.1  Experiential equivalence In SFL, the experiential metafunction is mainly concerned with the clause (the figure) in terms of the representational aspect of meaning, the construal of experience, and this function is typically recognized by the process and the expected participants associated with it. When we talk about experiential equivalence, we consider the match of the experiential meaning. Let us now look at two very simple examples of Chinese-English translation: (1a) Chinese: tā [他/he/Head] shì [是/be/Verb] gè [个/a/Deictic] yīngyuˇ [英语/English/Classifier] lăoshī [老师/teacher/Head] (1b) English: He is a teacher of English. (2a) Chinese: tā [他/he/Head] jiào [教/teach/Verb] yīngyuˇ [英语/English/ Head] (2b) English: He teaches English. Looking at the process type, (1a) is a Relational Process (shì/be) with a Carrier (tā/he) and an Attribute (gè/a+yīngyuˇ/English+lăoshī/teacher: a teacher of English), and (2a) is a Material Process (jiào/teach) with an Actor (tā/he) and Goal (yīngyuˇ/English). In (1a) the focus is on the membership of the person: he belongs to the group of people who are teachers of English, and in contrast in (2a) the focus is on the activity the person engages in: what he does (every day) is teaching English. In daily communication, one may use either (1b) or (2b) to express the meaning in (1a) or (2a) without conveying seriously incorrect information. But, in terms of translation evaluation and translation equivalence, (1a) and (1b) are experiential equivalents and by the same token (2a) and (2b) are equivalents in their experiential metafunction. If we use (2b) to translate (1a) or (1b) to translate (2a), then there is translation shift in experiential terms. However, if we use (3) below to translate either (1a) or (2a), then there is nothing to be said about translation equivalence as (3) is not a translation at all. (3) They are taxi drivers. Although both (1a) and (3) are relational processes, there is no similarity between them, as (1a) is describing a person with a job of teaching English while (3) is saying about people (two or more persons) with a totally different job. Here the focus is on equivalence at the rank of group, not the clause. The analysis and discussion here may suggest that in talking about equivalence of experiential metafunction of translation both the process type (at the rank of

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clause) and the corresponding (expected) participant roles and circumstantial elements (at the rank of group/phrase) are of vital importance.

5.2  Interpersonal equivalence The interpersonal metafunction is about the clause as exchange, the way the speaker interacts with other people and how he expresses his attitudes, opinions, and evaluations. This function is usually examined by the choice of Mood and modality. When we look at interpersonal equivalence, we take into consideration the match of the interpersonal meaning. Let us now turn to the issue of interpersonal equivalence by looking at the following example: (4a) Chinese: tā [他/he/Head] shì [是/be/Verb] gè [个/a/Deictic] yīngyuˇ [英语/English/Classifier] lăoshī [老师/teacher/Head] má [吗/ Mood/question marker] (4b) English: Is he a teacher of English? The difference between (1a) and (4a) lies in the fact that (1a) is a statement (a declarative clause) while (4a) is a question (an interrogative clause). Although both (1a) and (4a) are concerned with the same process and participants in respect of Transitivity, (1a) is giving information whereas (4a) is seeking formation. Thus, the roles of both the speaker and the listener are totally different in these two situations. Experientially, (1a) and (4a) are the same but they are different in terms of interpersonal metafunction. Thus, strictly speaking, (4b) cannot be regarded as a translation of (1a) because of interpersonal non-­ equivalence. However, if we look at translated examples by referring to the idea of grammatical metaphor (Halliday 1985), then we may come across other interesting examples and interpretations. Let us now look at the following pair of examples: (5a) Chinese: wŏmen [我们/we/Head] huí [回/return/Verb] jiā [家/ home/Head] ba [吧/Mood marker] (5b) English: Let’s go home. (5c) English: Shall we go home? Suppose that the context of situation in (5a) is that a married couple is away from home and one suggests to the other that they return home. Clearly (5a) is a suggestion for action and in terms of the communicative function either (5b)

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(an imperative clause) or (5c) (an interrogative clause) can be treated as a translation of (5a), the difference being in the tone of speaking: (5b) is more direct or (5c) is more tentative due to their different lexicogrammatical structures. If we have to ask which of the two, (5b) or (5c), is a more equivalent translation, then the answer is (5b), because the original Chinese utterance is a direct suggestion. However, it must be remembered that although (5c) is an interrogative clause in form its function is a suggestion as well, though not as direct and straightforward as (5b). By the same token, both “Please close the door” and “Can you close the door?” can be used in the same context of situation in which one is requesting the other to close the door, the difference between them being that the imperative clause is more straightforward whereas the interrogative clause more polite. With examples such as (5c) and “Can you close the door?” respectively in connection with (5b) and “Please close the door,” we can treat them as examples of grammatical metaphor, which are incongruent in the present context. Unlike the pair of (1a) and (4a) which are not translation equivalents, (5b) and (5c) can be treated as more or less equivalent of the same source utterance of (5a). This is because both (5b) and (5c) have more or less the same communicative function in the same context of situation, which is in contrast with (1a) and (4a), each of which has a different communication function: in (1a) the speaker is giving information whereas in (4a) the speaker is expecting the listener to give information, although the experiential meaning of both clauses is the same.

5.3  Logical equivalence The logical metafunction is involved with the semantic relations between the clauses in the clause complex, one of which is the primary clause and the other the secondary clause. The semantic relations between the clauses in the clause complex are recognized in terms of logical dependency and logico-­semantic relations. With logical equivalence, we pay attention to the logical relationships between the clauses in the nexus. The example below is taken from Chapter Six of the Confucian Analects (Lun Yu)2: (6a) Chinese: Zĭ [子/Confucius/Proper name/Head] jiàn [见/see/Verb] Nánzĭ [南子/Nanzi/Proper name/Head] Zĭlù [子路/Zilu/Proper name/Head] bú [不/not/Adverb] yuè [说/pleased/Adjective] (6b) English: Confucius visited Nanzi; Zilu was displeased.

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Example (6a) is made up of two clauses from a section in the Confucian Analects (Lun Yu), which was compiled in ancient Chinese (which did not have any punctuation and clear segmentation) more than 2,500 years ago. In the Chinese text there are eight characters: 子见南子子路不说 (zĭ + jiàn + nán+zĭ + zĭ+lù + bú + yuè). “Zi” was Confucius, “Nanzi” was “the concubine of Prince Ling of Wei,” and “Zilu” was a disciple of Confucius. The literal (direct) English translation of (6a) is (6b). In terms of the logical metafunction, the two simple clauses in (6a) are not connected by any Linker or Binder in lexicogrammatical terms, and their possible semantic relations are implicit, one of which can be a time-­sequential one in a narrative manner. However, as translated versions such as (6c), (6d), (6e), and (6f) below will show, the logico-­semantic relations of the two processes were interpreted quite differently by different translators. As will be illustrated in the following section, these four translated examples are far from being fully equivalent in terms of logical metafunction, with (6f) as the obvious example of shift. By contrast, (6h) is fully equivalent and (6g) is nearly fully equivalent. More on the logical metafunction and logical equivalence will be discussed in the following section.

5.4  Textual equivalence The textual function treats the clause as message and is concerned with organizing the message and information in the clause. This function is typically discussed by looking at the choice of the Theme in the clause or clause complex, apart from the information structure and cohesive elements and/or cohesive ties. Lexicogrammatically speaking, there are two simple clauses in (6a) and each has its own simple Theme realized by a Head of the nominal group (i.e. a proper noun), as is illustrated in Table 18.1 below: Table 18.1  Thematic structures of Example (6a) Theme

Rheme

Clause 1 Explanation

zĭ (子) zĭ: Proper name → Confucius

Clause 2 Explanation

zĭlù (子路) zĭlù: Proper name → a disciple of Confucius

jiàn nánzĭ (见南子) jiàn: Process → visit + nánzĭ: Proper name → concubine of Prince Ling of Wei bú yuè (不说) bú: Negator → not + yuè: Adjective: pleased

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As there is no subordinating or coordinating marker or connective word in (6a), it gives the translator the responsibility to interpret the relationship between the two messages/clauses. The following is the translation rendered by James Legge, a noted Scottish sinologist in the 1800s, who was the first person who translated the whole Confucian Lun Yu into English (Legge 1861/2011). (6c) The Master having visited Nan-­tsze, Tsze-­lu was displeased . . . (Legge 1861/2011: 193). From (6c) above one can see that although there is no subordinating or coordinating conjunction the two independent clauses in the source text are treated as a clause complex in the relationship of expansion-­enhancement, with the first clause functioning as the secondary clause of time: After Master had visited Nan-­tsze, Tsze-­lu was displeased. Below is the translation of (6a) by Waley (1938: 121): (6d) When the Master went to see Nan-­tzu, Tzu-­lu was not pleased. Like the translation by Legge in (6c), Waley’s version also treated the two clauses as a clause complex, with the first clause in the source text as a dependent clause in a semantic relationship of expansion-­enhancement, clearly signalling the time relationship. Thus, the second clause in the source text became the primary clause in the clause complex. Similarly, in Ku’s (1898: 46) translation, which was the first complete translation rendered by a Chinese scholar, the translator treated the first clause as a prepositional phrase (a circumstantial element), similar to the when-clause in (6d): (6e) On one occasion when Confucius allowed himself to be presented to a princess of a State who was notorious for the irregularities of her life, his disciple, the intrepid Chung Yu,3 was vexed. The translated versions in (6c), (6d), and (6e), though structurally different, are similar in their semantic relations. By contrast, Roberts (2007: 85) regarded the first clause in the source text as a secondary/dependent clause by making it a that-clause expressing reason: (6f) Tsze-­lu was displeased that Kung Fu-­tsze had visited Nan-­tsze. According to Quirk et al. (1985: 1222–3), the that-clause in (6f) is an adjective complementation; this dependent clause specifies the reason why Tsze-­lu was not pleased.

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Unlike Legge (1861/2011: 193), Waley (1938: 121), or Roberts (2007:85) who either treated the first clause in the source text as secondary clause of time serving an enhancement function of time or an enhancement function of reason, Slingerland (2003: 62) regarded both clauses in the source text as of equal status and in an equal relationship, and thus translated them as a clause nexus of parataxis: (6g)  The Master had an audience with Nanzi, and Zilu was not pleased. In terms of the logical metafunction, (6g) is much better than any of (6c), (6d), and (6e). Unlike the translations in (6c), (6d), (6e), (6f), and (6g) which consider the two clauses in the source text as a clause complex, Leys (1997: 27) regarded the two clauses in the source text as independent simple clauses and he thus translated them into two simple (independent) clauses: (6h) The Master went to see Nanzi, the concubine of Duke Ling. Zilu was not pleased. In terms of the logical metafunction, (6h) is fully equivalent/congruent and by contrast (6f) is shift/incongruent. As there are over sxity English versions of the Confucian Lun Yu, there will be many other variations if we keep on quoting them. But the examples cited so far are good enough to serve our purpose of discussing the issue of translation equivalence in respect of logical and textual metafunctions. If we analyze examples of (6c), (6d), and (6e) in terms of their thematic structures, the elements that serve as Theme are similar on the one hand and different on the other: similar because the thematic element signals time-­ relationship and different because the thematic elements are of three different lexicogrammatical types: (6c) a non-­finite clause, (6d) a dependent finite clause, and (6e) a prepositional phrase.

Table 18.2  Thematic structures of Examples (6c), (6d), and (6e) Example Theme

Rheme

(6c) (6d) (6e)

Tsze-­lu was displeased Tzu-­lu was not pleased his disciple, the intrepid Chung Yu, was vexed

The Master having visited Nan-­tsze When the Master went to see Nan-­tzu On one occasion when Confucius allowed himself to be presented to a princess of a State who was notorious for the irregularities of her life

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The element serving as Theme in (6c) is a non-­finite clause realizing a Material Process and the two clauses are in a nexus of expansion-­enhancement relation. With (6d), the first clause in the source text was translated as a dependent clause of time and it is a secondary clause. The Theme in (6e) is realized by a prepositional phrase serving as a circumstantial element, and it has been packed with much information, violating the principle of “end-­weight” (Quirk et  al. 1985: 323). With (6f), it is “Tsze-­lu” that serves as a simple Theme, with “was displeased that Kung Fu-­tsze had visited Nan-­tsze” as Rheme. This is an example of translation shift in terms of textual metafunction. Since (6g) is a clause complex in a paratactic relationship, there are two thematic structures, each with a different Theme, as illustrated in Table  18.3 below: Table 18.3  Thematic structures of Example (6g) Clause

Theme

Rheme

(a) (b)

The Master had an audience with Nanzi and Zilu was not pleased

Clause (a) in (6g) has a simple Theme (the Master) and Clause (b) has a multiple Theme with ‘‘and’’ as the textual Theme and ‘‘Zilu’’ as the Experiential/ topical Theme. And finally, with (6h), the analysis of the thematic structures is straight forward: each of the two simple clauses has their own simple Theme: Table 18.4  Thematic structures of Example (6h) Clause

Theme

Rheme

(a) (b)

The Master Zilu

went to see Nanzi, the concubine of Duke Ling was not pleased

The thematic analysis of the source text in Example (6a) and the analyses of different English translations in (6c)–(6h) can be summarized as follows: (i) The translation in (6h) by Leys (1997: 27) is fully equivalent, because both the source text and the translated text have two simple (independent) clauses with two simple Themes realized by two proper nouns and because the logical relation is the same as that in the source text.

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(ii) With the translation in (6g) by Slingerland (2003: 62), it is thematically equivalent though not as fully equivalent as (6h). (iii) With (6c), (6d), and (6e), the Theme is not equivalent as the first independent clause in the source text was translated as a circumstantial element signalling time relation to the other (major) clause, which became the primary clause in the translation. (iv) The translation in (6f) is exceptional in that the second clause in Chinese was treated as the first, primary clause with the original first clause translated as a secondary clause of adjective complementation expressing reason. If we put the six different translations on the cline of “equivalence/congruence— shift/incongruence” in terms of logical metafunction and textual metafunction, the picture will look like this:

Figure 18.1  The cline of “equivalence—shift.”

Although the distance between each translation is not as exact as what is represented in Figure 18.1 above, we can use this to illustrate the relative position of each of the translations in the cline of “equivalence—shift,” which tells us something about the translation equivalence of each of the different interpretations and translations. These examples may serve as evidence for Matthiessen’s (2001: 78) assumption that “translation equivalence and translation shift are two opposite poles on a cline of difference between languages . . . from maximal congruence to maximal incongruence.”

6  Discussion The section above illustrated roughly how close or different is each of the translated versions from translation equivalence in respect of different metafunctions. Specifically, (6c), (6d), (6e), and (6f) can be regarded as examples of translation shifts, if we take into consideration the textual metafunction and

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the logical metafunction. The question to ask now is: Can we simply use one or more of the metafunctions as a criterion or criteria to determine whether a certain translation is a good/effective or bad one? The answer is obviously “No” and the issue is quite complicated. There are translations which are ideationally (experientially, logically), interpersonally and textually equivalent and Example (6h) (by Leys 1997: 27) is such an example. Translation (6g) (by Slingerland 2003: 62) is a nearly metafunctionally equivalent example, since the Linker “and” in the translation only signals a time-­sequential relationship, which is implicit in the source text. Therefore, we can say that (6h) is a fully metafunctional equivalent. By contrast, translations in (6c), (6d), (6e), and (6f) are experiential and interpersonal equivalents but not textual and logical equivalents. It can be assumed that in translation practice there are many cases (especially long texts) which are not textually and/or logically equivalent, and this may be argued as the norm rather than deviation in translation practice. As Halliday (2009c/2013: 108) observes, in translation practice “priority is usually given to the ideational (‘denotative’) meaning, partly because it is felt to be more important and partly, perhaps, because it is easier to decide whether the translation is right or wrong.” Here we should understand that the “ideational meaning” used by Halliday is better to be understood as “experiential” without “logical” meaning. However, we would assume that even if a certain translated text is fully metafunctionally equivalent, it does not guarantee that it is always an effective text in the particular context of situation and the context of culture. Although in the SFL framework there is no fixed order of importance among the three or four metafunctions, we should try to identify the order of importance of different metafunctions when we evaluate translated text in terms of metafunctional equivalence. We agree with Halliday (2001: 16) who assumes that translation equivalence is defined in experiential terms, because if the translated text and the source text do not match experientially, then we are not dealing with anything that can be called translation. Obviously, experiential equivalence is the essential element in any good examples of translation. Based on the analysis of the translated versions in (6c), (6d), (6e), (6f), (6g), and (6h), we would hypothesize that the order of importance for the metafunctions will be like this: the experiential metafunction is the most important and the textual metafunction the least important, with the interpersonal metafunction more important than the logical metafunction, as illustrated in Figure 18.2 below:

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Figure 18.2  Order of importance of metafunctional equivalence.

Although the focus of this paper is on metafunctional equivalence, we maintain that there are many different kinds of equivalence that exist and that should be further studied. For example, Matthiessen (2001) talks of the environments of translation in relation to equivalence in terms of stratification, instantiation, rank, delicacy, and axis, apart from metafunction, and these are identified as the parameters that define translation equivalence. It will be more complicated if we talk about translation equivalence of different kinds at the same time in the same paper, and this will help us to see the justification that Halliday (2012/2013) mainly discusses equivalence in respect of stratification and axis. As the analysis of the examples in this chapter shows, there are different degrees of equivalence and “there is no absolute equivalence or absolute non-­ equivalence,” as Halliday (2009c/2013: 121) asserts; it is always “a matter of more or less.” Therefore, equivalence is a matter of degree and should be discussed in relative rather than absolute terms, because there is rarely full equivalence or full non-­equivalence. There are so many kinds of equivalence, which makes it impossible to achieve all kinds of equivalence in the same translated text. Yallop (2001: 242) emphasizes the “relative nature” of equivalence by arguing that “equivalence is not a relationship that is fixed once and for all, and the question is, as always, what kind of similarity we are prepared to accept as equivalence in a particular context for a particular purpose.” Thus, for Yallop (2001: 242), “equivalence is constructed, not out of absolute identity but out of a rich diversity of similarities.” Therefore, there is “no ultimate guarantee of equivalence, whether in the translation of technical manuals, contracts or commercial correspondence, or in the translation of more obviously unique texts”’ (Yallop 2001: 242.). However,

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we may argue that different text types may require different degrees of effort in achieving equivalence, as it is easier to reach equivalence of a technical manual than a poem. But this is another complicated issue that needs further investigation. The equivalence with different metafunctions carries different values. As was pointed out earlier, in terms of the metafunctional equivalence, experiential equivalence is the most important element, which means that it carries the highest value and by contrast textual equivalence carries the lowest value. As Halliday (2009c/2013: 119) argues, “different kinds of equivalence have differential value, and that the value accorded to different kinds of equivalence will vary according to the context, both the context of situation and the context of culture.” We should be aware of the concept of ‘‘value’’ used here, as it is a subjective concept and may yield different interpretations and explanations. Similarly, equivalence at different linguistic strata (phonological/ graphological, lexcogrammatical, semantic) has different values. It is argued that lexcogrammatical equivalence carries more value than phonological/ graphological equivalence, and semantic equivalence more than lexicogrammatical. But as Halliday (2001: 15) warns us, “these relative values can always be varied, and in any given instance of translation one can reassess them in the light of the task.” Since there are different kinds of equivalence and different degrees of metafunctional equivalence, we should look at the translated text by considering different factors involved. In all the cases, the translator has to decide, consciously or unconsciously, the priority of the forms of equivalence, and such decisions will, at the same time, produce results of translation shifts or non-­ equivalence. It is often the case that when the focus is on certain kinds of equivalence this will lead to obvious shift or non-­equivalence in other aspects/ kinds of equivalence.

7  Conclusion Although everybody understands that translation equivalence is the aim of translation and it is a concept that has been studied for many decades, scholars in the field have not yet agreed on the criteria of determining equivalence, partly because there are so many kinds of equivalence and partly because the relationship between the different kinds of equivalence is so complicated that focusing on one of them may affect another, as it is impossible to reach equivalence of all kinds in the same translated text in the given context. The

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focus of this paper is on metafunctional equivalence within the SFL framework and our argument is that of all the metafunctional equivalences that are involved in the translation process, the experiential equivalence is the most important of all, because if the text is said to be a translated text it must at least be experientially equivalent in respect of the source text. As Halliday (2009c/2013: 106–7) observes, “all translators know from their own experience that there are different kinds of equivalence whose demands very often conflict; but beyond very general labels like ‘literal’ and ‘free’ we seldom come across a clear typology of equivalences which can put them into a coherent frame.” In the general framework of SFL, there are different strata of language, and for Halliday, the lexicogrammatical stratum is the core. Whether we are talking about discourse analysis or the evaluation of translated text, linguistic analysis is of vital importance. As Halliday (e.g. 1994a: xv, 2001: 13) argues, by doing linguistic analysis we are able to explain why the text means what it does and why we understand the text the way it is; we are also able to evaluate the text: why the text is valued as it is. With translated text, we also have these two goals: understanding of the text and evaluation of the text. The goal of evaluating a text is harder to attain: “It requires an interpretation not only of the text itself but also of its context (context of situation, context of culture), and of the systematic relationship between context and text” (Halliday 1994a: xv). Therefore, in talking about an SFL approach to translation studies we need to be able to analyse language in both the source text and the target text, and at the same time we need to be able to evaluate, by using the principles and assumptions in SFL, the translated text, only by then can we say that what we are doing is an SFL attempt to the study of translation.

Notes 1 The research that is drawn on here was in large measure carried out as part of the 2014 Chinese National Social Sciences Project entitled “A Functional Approach to Contrastive Studies of the Confucian Lun Yu and Its English Translations” (No. 14BYY027). 2 According to Wu (2012: 195), the historical fact of this section is this: Confucius was then in the State of Wei, and the state ruler was Prince Ling of Wei. He was old and incapable and the state was under the control of Nanzi, his favorite concubine, who was a woman of bad repute. She respected and admired Confucius because of his knowledge and talents and hoped to meet him. At first Confucius did not want to meet her, but later he went to see her simply out of courtesy. Zilu, one of his favorite

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disciples, was not pleased by the fact that Confucius met Nanzi because illicit activity may have occurred during Confucius’ audience with the notoriously lascivious Nanzi. 3 “Zilu” is the courtesy name of “Chung Yu” (Zhong You), and “Chung” (Zhong) is the family name and “Yu” (You) is the given name. Also note that the proper name of “Nanzi” (which refers to a definite person) was not translated; instead, it was paraphrased as someone who was not definite: ‘a princess of a State who was notorious for the irregularities of her life’. This is another example of translation shift.

Teaching

19

Genres in Chinese Students’ MA Theses: An SFL-based Contrastive Analysis and Implications for Teaching SUN, Yinghui (孙迎晖) Beijing Normal University

JU, Zhiqin (鞠志勤)

Qingdao Agriculture University

1  Introduction Genre research has been gaining popularity over the last two decades and, among various studies, great attention has been paid to research papers. Researchers have shown interest in nearly every section of a research paper, and studies have been conducted in genres of introduction (Bunton 2002; Samraj 2002, 2005; Skulstad 2005; Sun 2008; Swales 1981, 1990, 2004; Swales and Najjar 1987), literature review (Chen 2006; David and Penny 2005; Krishnan and Kathpalia 2002; Kwan 2006), result (Brett 1994; Williams 1999; Yang and Allison 2003), discussion (Bitchenera and Basturkmenb 2006; Holmes 1997; Hopkins and Dudley-Evans 1988; Peacock 2002), conclusion (Bunton 2005; Yang and Allison 2003), and even abstracts that precede research articles (Hyland 2000; Martin 2003; Samraj 2005). These studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of different genres in a research paper. However, issues worth further exploration are far from being exhausted. Most genre studies are confined to research papers of expert writers and studies on those of students are limited. Moreover, most studies examine the inclination for one specific section of a research paper, but research on exploring the generic features of a whole paper is not enough. Recent years have seen a rising number of English majors pursuing an MA degree in China, many of whom find it difficult to write a satisfactory MA thesis. However, little is known about their actual writing situation.

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This chapter will therefore explore how Chinese students of English (CSEs) go about the task of writing their MA thesis. Five genres which are most typical of a thesis will be examined, namely, the genres of introduction, literature review (LR), research design (RD), result, and discussion. A contrastive analysis has been carried out with theses written by Native English Students (NSs).

2  Analytical framework and data Martin defines genre as staged, goal-­oriented social processes (Martin 1992; Martin and Rose 2003). According to Martin (2009: 13), a genre is staged “because it usually takes more than one phase of meaning to work through a genre”; it is goal-­oriented “because unfolding phases are designed to accomplish something”; and it is social “because we undertake genres interactively with others.” To paraphrase the definition, a genre comprises a series of phases which fulfil a general communicative function. These phases are arranged in a sequence and unfold as the social interaction progresses. Each phase is supposed to accomplish a specific communicative function so as to support the general function of the genre. Hasan (1985) proposed a model of genre, aiming to explain text structure. Genre in Hasan’s model refers to texts that are embedded in the same situation type and share the same text structure. The description of the shared text structure of a genre can be achieved by analyzing the obligatory structural elements in texts within a particular genre. Hasan’s (1985: 64) Generic Structure Potential (GSP) describes “the total range of optional and obligatory elements and their order.” For the present study, genre is understood to be structured by its obligatory phases and elements in a genre-­phase-­element hierarchical pattern. Swales (1990) once established his famous “Creating a Research Space” (CARS) model to characterize the generic structure of a research article introduction. Three moves are identified in his model: Establishing a Territory, Establishing a Niche, and Occupying the Niche, with each containing a number of component steps. The first move includes Claiming centrality, Making topic generalization(s), and Reviewing items of previous research; the second move may include any of the following steps: Counter-­claiming, Indicating a gap, Question-­raising, or Continuing a tradition; and the third move includes Outlining purposes, announcing present research, and Announcing principal findings. Swales’ terminology, “moves” and “steps,” is similar in many respects to “phases” and “elements” in SFL. The data are from MA theses in the field of applied linguistics within the past ten years. The NSs data was selected randomly from PQDD, which is the

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world largest and one of the most authoritative databases for master and doctoral theses and the CSEs data were from a full-­text database of a university library in China. As far as the size is concerned, forty texts are chosen, with twenty from NSs and twenty from CSEs.

3  Analysis of phases For current study, only those phases and elements occurring with above 50 percent regularity are counted as stable or obligatory. Analysis shows that, for the five genres—introduction, LR, RD, result, and discussion, twenty-­seven phases were identified for each group, among which twenty-­two were found to be stable for each group. Detailed demonstration of the findings is summarized in Table 19.1 with pairs of numbers of phases for each genre. The first number indicates the total number of phases in each genre and the second obligatory phases (or stable phases). Phases in brackets refer to optional choices. Similarities as well as differences were detected between the two groups in the choice of phases. As shown in Table 19.1, CSEs share the same phases with NSs for the first two genres—genres of introduction and LR. For the genre of introduction, the three moves in Swales’ CARS model (1990), Establishing a Territory, Establishing a Niche, and Occupying the Niche, which constitute the main generic structure of the texts, were all present in the introduction part of both groups’ MA theses, indicating that both groups of the students were actively constructing their role as researchers in the process of creating their research space. A fourth phase was found, that is, making introductory statements. While not providing information out of the content, this phase employs some transitional sentences or paragraphs. As for the genre of LR, four phases were identified in both groups’ data, Making introductory statements → Establishing a thematic territory → Evaluating the state of the field → Occupying the research niche, and these four phases are all effective means to achieve the communicative purpose of the genre. Among phases for RD, eight phases were abstracted, with six obligatory for CSEs and five for NSs. Phase 1 making introductory statements, while obligatory for CSEs was optional for NSs. The resemblance in phases of RD suggests that like NSs, CSEs have also attached great emphasis to presenting preliminary information, instruments, procedure, and methods related to data collection as well as data analysis when constructing the RD of MA theses. The additional obligatory phase in the CSEs’ texts shows that they prefer to make a brief

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Table 19.1  Phases in the five genres Genres

Groups

Phases

Introduction

CSEs (4/4)

Making introductory statements → Establishing a territory → Establishing a niche → Occupying the niche Making introductory statements → Establishing a territory → Establishing a niche → Occupying the niche

NSs (4/4)

LR

CSEs (4/4) NSs (4/4)

RD

CSEs (8/6)

NSs (8/5)

Result

CSEs (5/4) NSs (4/3)

Discussion

CSEs (6/4)

NSs (7/6)

Making introductory statements → Establishing a thematic territory → Evaluating the state of the field → Occupying the research niche Making introductory statements → Establishing a thematic territory → Evaluating the state of the field → Occupying the research niche Making introductory statements → Presenting preliminary information → (Describing experimental procedure and materials) → Describing data collection instruments → Describing data collection methods → Describing data analysis methods → (Summarizing the whole chapter/study) (Making introductory statements) → Presenting preliminary information → (Describing experimental procedure and materials) → Describing data collection instruments → Describing data collection procedure → Describing data collection methods → Describing data analysis methods → (Summarizing the whole chapter/study) Presenting preparatory information → Reporting results → Commenting on results → Summarizing results → (Evaluating the study) Presenting preparatory information → Reporting results → Commenting on results → (Summarizing results) Introducing background information → Reporting results → (Summarizing results) → Commenting on results → (Evaluating the study) → Making deductions from the research Introducing background information → Reporting results → (Summarizing results) → Commenting on results → Summarizing the whole study → Evaluating the study → Making deductions from the research

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introduction to the whole chapter at the beginning of the RD. While for NSs, directness is preferred. They usually begin the RD with Phase 2 Introducing the preliminary information. Among the five phases discovered in the genre of result, CSEs are found to be alike with NSs in the first three phases when demonstrating the result: first presenting the preparatory information (Phase 1), then reporting the results (Phase 2), which is followed by commenting on results (Phase 3). These three phases are obligatory for both CSEs and NSs. The similarity means CSEs share the same procedure with NSs when presenting what they have discovered in their studies. Variation was also demonstrated in the result section. The number of phases in the CSEs group outnumber those of the NSs group. CSEs tend to summarize the results and take it as an obligatory phase, while NSs regard it as optional. Some CSEs would like to evaluate the study (Phase 5) to conclude the result section. None of NSs did so, probably thinking that the aim of the result section is mainly for reporting what has been found, and the tone should be as objective as possible. Seven phases are abstracted in the genre of discussion. CSEs adopt the same first four phases with NSs: Phase 1 Introducing background information, Phase 2 Reporting results, Phase 4 Commenting on results obligatory, and Phase 3 Summarizing results optional. Discussion is the only genre where CSEs resort to fewer phases than NSs do. NSs employ a more complex phase pattern than CSEs by utilizing two extra phases, namely, Phase 5 Summarizing the study and Phase 6 Evaluating the study. The discussion section, as the name suggests, calls for writer’s opinions. Here NSs strive to demonstrate the uniqueness of their studies and tint the writing with personal characteristics. CSEs on the other hand do not attach as much importance to this phase, preferring instead to keep themselves in the background and not express their point of view.

4  Analysis of elements Both CSEs and NSs have resorted to a variety of elements for constructing each phase, showing that both groups have tried to construct the phase pattern from different perspectives. However, differences exist. The analysis of elements shows NSs have a more abundant reservoir of elements than CSEs, with 105 elements in NSs’ data and ninety-­eight elements in CSEs’ data. Further comparison shows

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that deviations also exist in the choice of specific elements for each phase. As the elements in the five genres are too enormous to be exhaustively presented, we present one example in each genre which best reflects how CSEs differ from NSs in their choice of elements. As is revealed in the previous section, NSs and CSEs share the same phases while composing the genre of introduction. When the phases are segmented into smaller units—elements, differences become visible. We take elements in the phase of Establishing a Niche for example. Nine elements have been used by NSs and seven by CESs. The specific elements and their percentages of occurrence are presented in Table 19.2. The function of this phase is to show the reason for carrying out the research. From the elements chosen for the phase, we can see that all the nine elements used by NSs are very effective means for achieving this purpose. CSEs tend to make heavy use of some elements and avoid use of others, with three elements

Table 19.2  Elements in the phase of Establishing a Niche Elements

Groups

Percentage

1.  Counter-­claiming

CSEs NSs

  0% 15%

2.  Indicating the gap

CSEs NSs

70% 50%

3.  Question-­raising

CSEs NSs

50% 20%

4.  Continuing a tradition

CSEs NSs

  5% 15%

5.  Showing disagreements among researchers

CSEs NSs

  5% 10%

6.  Pointing out existing problems

CSEs NSs

45% 30%

7.  Stating personal reason/research interest

CSEs NSs

15% 15%

8.  Showing challenges

CSEs NSs

  0% 20%

9.  Indicating necessity to do the research

CSEs NSs

35% 10%

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over or around 50 percent and two elements—Element 1 Counter-­claiming and Element 8 Showing challenges, not appearing at all. As the terms indicate, Counter-­claiming and Showing challenges are perhaps the two strongest arguments in this phase, through which the student is encouraged to propose a totally different idea. While 15–20 percent of NSs have employed the two elements in their introductions, neither of them is found in CSEs’ data. For CSEs, who have long been educated to respect authority, this element is not regarded as appropriate. Instead, most CSEs would like to choose milder ways for pointing out the gap (70 percent), indicating the real world problem (45 percent) and illustrating the necessity to do the research (35 percent). The elements identified are not evenly distributed in the LR of each group either. An interesting contrast between NSs and CSEs is seen from the elements chosen in phase of Establishing a thematic territory. Both groups have employed seven of the eight elements identified in this phase. However, the focus of each group is not the same, as can be seen from the percentages listed in Table 19.3.

Table 19.3  Elements in the phase of Establishing a Thematic Territory Elements

Groups

Percentage

1.  Describing social background

CSEs NSs

  0% 10%

2.  Surveying related knowledge and theories

CSEs NSs

65% 80%

3.  Surveying research activities

CSEs NSs

45% 40%

4.  Claiming centrality

CSEs NSs

20%   5%

5.  Providing real world examples

CSEs NSs

  5%   5%

6.  Defining and clarifying terms

CSEs NSs

15%   5%

7.  Describing previous research

CSEs NSs

  5%   5%

8.  Listing previous research topics

CSEs NSs

  5%   0%

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As we can observe from Table 19.3, the most preferred element in this phase by the two groups is Element 2—Surveying related knowledge and theories, with 80 percent for NSs and 65 percent for CESs. The students’ second concern comes from Element 3 Surveying research activities, which lags behind Element 2 but still surpasses. As LR is the part where previous studies should be reported, it is very necessary to choose these two elements. NSs are very focused in this phase by choosing mainly these two elements, with other elements nearly to be ignored in percentage. For the CSEs, two more elements, claiming centrality (Element 4) and Defining and clarifying terms (Element 6) are also present as main constituent components of this phase, which makes the propositions for this quite diverse. Table 19.4  Elements in the phase of Presenting preliminary information Elements

Groups

Percentage

1.  Stating the purposes of the study

CSEs NSs

  90%   40%

2.  Proposing the research questions

CSEs NSs

  95%   40%

3.  Describing the subjects/samples/participants

CSEs NSs

100% 100%

4.  Introducing more related information about the study

CSEs NSs

  70%   70%

Both groups show differences in their choice of the elements in the genre of RD. Typical differences are seen in the elements used for phase of Presenting preliminary information. Table 19.4 shows the detailed information. As we can observe from Table 19.4, all the four elements identified for this phase are very frequently used for CSEs, ranging from 100 percent to 70 percent, indicating that CSEs attach great importance to all of them; while for NSs, two of these four elements, i.e. Element 3 Describing the subjects/samples/participants (100 percent) and Element 4 Introducing more related information about the study (70 percent) are used with a very high frequency. The first two elements, Stating the purposes of the study and Proposing the research question, are relatively lower in percentages for the RD. With the function of indicating what is the research about, the first two elements are usually introduced in the first section—the introduction part and

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may be re-­mentioned in the second section—the literature review part. As the purpose of RD is mainly about how the research is designed, the details of the data and the procedure for carrying out the research receive greater attention. We can see that without taking research purposes and research questions as necessary elements in this phase, NSs pay more focused attention than CESs on presenting detailed description about the research. For the elements in the genre of result, we take the phase of Commenting on results as an example to show differences between the two groups. Commenting on results serves the purpose of establishing the meaning and significance of the research results which goes beyond the “objective” results. Four elements have been identified and the percentages of each can be seen in Table 19.5. Table 19.5  Elements in the phase of Commenting on results Elements

Groups

Percentage

1.  Interpreting results

CSEs NSs

100%   80%

2.  Comparing results with literature

CSEs NSs

  45%   10%

3.  Accounting for results

CSEs NSs

  50%    5%

4.  Evaluating results

CSEs NSs

   5%    0%

We can see from the table that NSs and CSEs differ greatly in their element choice. Among the four elements identified, only Phase 1 Interpreting results appears regularly enough (80 pecent) to be counted as an obligatory element for NSs. However, for CSEs, besides Element 1, Element 2 Comparing results with literature (45 percent) and Element 3 Accounting for results (50 percent) are also of very high frequency. We can see that CSEs employ more obligatory elements than their native counterparts for this phase. After demonstrating the results, CSEs prefer to provide diverse comments ranging from the comparison with other sources to some statements of underlying reasons. For NSs, they simply present results and interpret whenever possible. For the genre of discussion, differences in the elements of the last phase, Making deductions from the research, are presented in Table 19.6. Among the three elements, CSEs take Drawing pedagogical implication as a stable element while for NSs, Making suggestions and Recommending further

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Table 19.6  Elements in phase of Making deductions from the research Elements

Groups

Percentage

1.  Making suggestions

CSEs NSs

10% 65%

2.  Recommending further research

CSEs NSs

30% 80%

3.  Drawing pedagogic implications

CSEs NSs

50% 35%

research are stable ones. This result suggests that CESs are more concerned about establishing the pedagogical relevance in this section. For NSs, they would like to go deeper in the discussion section by proving concrete suggestions based on the research result and pointing out the line for future research.

5  Pedagogical implications The above contrastive analysis between CSEs and NSs shows that CSEs have the awareness of employing various rhetorical devices to construct each genre by resorting to different phases which are in turn achieved through a variety of elements. However, problems also exist, as can be seen in the overuse of some unnecessary phases and elements and avoidance of some necessary ones. One reason is that some students do not understand fully the communicative purpose of the genre; another reason is that they lack the skill of employing effective means to achieve their purpose. This finding is of great significance for academic writing teaching in Chinese circumstances. First of all, it is essential for students to understand the function of each genre in thesis writing. Following that, practices for the construction of genre by employing some necessary phases and elements should be emphasized. Focusing on conveying some necessary genre knowledge and on the practice of how to achieve the communicative function, genre-­based teaching approach is an important method for teaching academic writing. Rothery (1989, 1996) designed a genre-­based pedagogy cycle featuring three stages: the deconstruction stage, which foregrounds modeling and requires teachers to expose students to the models of the target genre; the joint

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construction stage, where teachers are expected to describe another example of the same genre based on suggestions from students; and an individual construction stage, which hands over the responsibility to students for writing in a genre for the first time on their own. Rothery’s genre-­based pedagogy cycle has been further developed by Rose (2004), and by Martin and Rose (2005) and applied in the “reading to learn” model. Combining the genre-­based pedagogy cycle designed by Rothery (1989, 1996), the “reading to learn” model proposed by Rose (2004), and Martin and Rose (2005), we have elaborated a detailed schema in the form of cycle as can be seen in Figure  19.1, which can be applied to the teaching/learning of specific genres in an MA thesis for CSEs. The proposed cycle schema consists of 6 steps. Step 1: Distribute good samples of genres from research papers and MA theses by NSs to students and ask them to abstract the communicative function of each genre. The purpose of this step is to expose the students to some defining features of genres, namely, goal-­oriented and social. Let them understand that each genre in a research paper and an MA theses is aimed to realize certain communicative functions. Step 2: Ask students to segment the sample genre into phases and phases into elements. The purpose of this step is to make students aware of the constructs of the genre. Let them understand that phases are arranged in certain sequential order. Each phase is supposed to accomplish a more specific

Figure 19.1  Schema for MA thesis writing cycle.

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communicative function as so to back up the general one of the genre and elements are woven together to form the texture of phase. Step 3: Let students work in groups. Students are required to take notes about what are obligatory phases and elements in thesis composition, and to sketch out their framework for these genres. Step 4: Distribute samples of genres in MA theses and ask students to repeat Step 2. This step aims to expose students to some differences and possible problems on writing patterns. Students are also asked to discuss the reasons contributing to these differences and problems. Step 5: Ask students to organize their writing, bearing in mind the differences in the choice of phase-element types between NSs and CSEs and possible problems. Encourage them to vocalize their opinions when structuring their own theses. Step 6: Ask students to revise their writing independently. Make it clear to them that genre is purpose-­driven and let them choose phases and elements which can better serve the genres they are writing. The purpose of this schema is to facilitate CSEs’ composition of academic articles. Through the recommended procedures, students can gain a general understanding of certain genre and gradually develop a routine of connecting purposes with the proper generic patterns. Of course, learning the conventions of certain genres means no rigid copying in the actual writing. To avoid an overly prescriptive approach that might lead to stereotypical view of genres, when applying genre analysis in the classroom, it is very important to stress the aspects of schematic variation, as well as cultural influences, and expose students to different example of texts from the same genre and across different genres so as to sensitize them to the notion of generic variation.

Lexicography

20

Defining English Idioms in a Bilingual Learner’s Dictionary: Applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Lexicography CHANG, Chenguang (常晨光) Sun Yat-­sen University

1  Introduction English idioms make up a large part of our knowledge of the language. They facilitate communication as they serve to limit processing effort and ensure rapid production. For learners of English as a foreign language, English idioms are in many ways crucial if they want to achieve native-­like fluency. As far as Chinese EFL learners are concerned, these expressions pose many problems. As a special category of English vocabulary, English idioms are characterized by their compositeness, institutionalization, and non-­compositionality. Moreover, they are often culture specific and have particular sociocultural connotations and associations (Fernando 1996: 3; Moon 1998: 6–9). As a result, Chinese EFL learners often misinterpret English idioms (as “false friends”) and use them in inappropriate contexts. As important reference books to help Chinese learners cope with English idioms, many English-Chinese dictionaries of English idioms often seem insufficient in their treatment of them. This chapter will explore how insights from SFL may guide the compilation of an English-Chinese learner’s dictionary of English idioms so that it can better accommodate both the decoding and encoding needs of the learners.

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2  Studies of English idioms from a functional perspective There is a long tradition of the study of English idioms, especially within the fields of lexicology and lexicography. In fact, the field of idiomatology is one of the most heavily explored in lexicology. In addition to work in Britain and the USA, there is a rich literature produced by those working in German and Russian/East European lexicology (for a select bibliography, see Cowie and Howarth 1996). Outside the immediate domain of lexicology/lexicography, researchers of English idioms in the past have largely focused on the syntactic and semantic properties of such expressions, e.g. Fraser (1970), Healey (1968), Makkai (1972), Mitchell (1971), Weinreich (1969), with a few exceptions, notably Strässler (1982), Fernando (1996), and Moon (1992, 1994, 1998), who analyze English idioms from a broadly functional approach. Commenting on the treatment of idiomaticity, Béjoint (2000: 220) points out that traditional dictionaries have tended to emphasize words in isolation. In many dictionaries, very little is said about how they are used in discourse. To improve on the situation, it is essential to emphasize the functions of idioms in use when providing definitions for idioms in the dictionary, and SFL has a lot to offer in this respect. Halliday (1994a) points out that language is structured to make three main kinds of meanings simultaneously. All languages are organized around two main kinds of meaning, the “ideational” or reflexive, and the “ ‘interpersonal” or active. These components, called “metafunctions” . . ., are manifestations in the linguistic system of the two very general purposes which underlie all uses of language: (i) to understand the environment (ideational), and (ii) to act on the others in it (interpersonal). Combined with these is a third metafunctional component, the “textual”, which breathes relevance into the other two. Halliday 1994a: viii

In SFL, language is treated as a resource for mapping ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings onto one another in virtually every act of communication. The three metafunctions, as Eggins and Slade (1997: 48) argue, can be identified in linguistic units of all sizes: from a word and phrase to a text. This insight into the functions of language provides the basis for the functional exploration of English idioms. Several studies of English idioms have been conducted based on this multi-­functional perspective. Fernando (1996), for example, applies Halliday’s

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metafunctions to the study of English idioms and analyzes how they are used to convey representations of the world (ideational idioms), evaluate people and situations, signal conviviality and conflict (interpersonal idioms), and create coherent, cohesive texts (relational idioms). Moon (1998) provides a more comprehensive account of English fixed expressions and idioms. Based on an 18-million-­word corpus of contemporary English, her study reports on the frequencies, forms, and functions of fixed expressions and idioms in English, and tries to establish correlations between function, form, and frequency. Chang (2004a) is another researcher on English idioms based on Halliday’s metafunctional perspective. It is found in this study that, as complex packages of information, English idioms differ from single words in terms of their construal of experience. They are typically imagist, concrete, and metaphorical (e.g. skate on thin ice, rock the boat, make a mountain out of a molehill). In addition, they are complex in the sense that their lexical format and semantic make-­up enable a great deal of information to be packaged into small units like phrases and semi-­clauses. Due to their etymological origins, many idiomatic expressions (e.g. fiddle while Rome burns, burn one’s boats) denote segments of experience mediated by collective perceptions and come trailing clouds of shared cultural knowledge and background with them. In terms of interpersonal meanings, Chang (2004a) maintains that idioms play an important role in maintaining and stabilizing relationships between interactants. The choice of different types of idioms can also be linked to the relative status of communicative partners. It is argued in the study that the use of idioms serves as a membershipping device, providing a resource for indicating degrees of solidarity, especially when idioms are intentionally manipulated in discourse. The punning or word-­play memberships communicative partners as “belonging” to a community with shared linguistic and cultural values. Moreover, many idioms serve an evaluative function (Chang 2004a). Working within the Appraisal framework in SFL (Martin 2000; Martin and Rose 2003/2007), it is shown that idioms are used to express different kinds of attitudinal meanings and to provide grading or scaling. As regards the relation of English idioms and the textual metafunction, it is found that many English idioms serve to organize text or to signal textual information. The tendency for idioms to appear in macroThemes/hyperThemes and macroNews/hyperNews, or other positions to signal topic termination or transition, can be tied to the evaluative functions of idioms (Chang 2004a).

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The Hallidayan functional approach essentially equates meaning with function. This is especially true when we attempt to provide definitions for English idioms. Therefore, the way we treat English idioms in a dictionary, both in terms of the microstructure of each entry and the macrostructure of the overall listing of the entries, should be guided by this functional, meaning-­ orientated principle.

3  Defining idioms in an English-Chinese learner’s dictionary English idioms come in many different types. In this chapter, an English idiom is taken to be a conventionalized multi-­word expression whose syntactic and lexical form is to a greater or lesser degree fixed, and whose semantics are opaque and discoursal functions specialized, also to a greater or lesser degree. This broad definition of idioms will include both figurative fixed expressions, which are the focus of most idioms dictionaries, as well as other multi-­word items that are particularly associated with functions, such as stock phrases, proverbs, and discoursal formulae. For Chinese learners of English, the more figurative type of idioms often cause problems in comprehension, whereas the other kinds may often be used inappropriately. Thus it is advisable for a Chinese learner’s dictionary of English to include both types. In view of the functional principle reviewed above, it is essential that definitions of English idioms in a dictionary should take into account all the multiple strands of meanings that idioms are often used to express. As the meaning of an idiom is more than the sum of the individual words, it will not work if one simply defines it with the traditional “genus + differentia” formula. Instead, a style of definition that explains the idioms in terms of function is needed. The usage-­style definition, which is often associated with the COBUILD learner’s dictionaries, seems to provide a better solution. The main advantage of this style of definition is that it places a lexical item in a complete sentence, which provides its context of usage. This style has been adopted by other EFL dictionaries. The following examples are taken from some recent editions of EFL dictionaries published in Britain. blow the whistle on sb/sth If you blow the whistle on someone, or on something secret or illegal, you tell another person, especially a person in authority, what is happening. Collins COUBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, 2009

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(You) mark my words! old-­fashioned something that you say when you tell someone about something that you are certain will happen in the future. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005 knock on wood AmE spoken something you say when you want your good luck to continue. People sometimes knock on something made of wood when they say this. Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners of American English, 2002 be/get tarred with the same brush if someone is tarred with the same brush as someone else, people think they have the same faults or have committed the same crimes, even if they have not. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2003

Halliday (1993) regards the COBUILD “folk-­style” definition as “a highly innovative approach to defining, classifying and contextualizing English words,” although it has been criticized by others as being too “clumsy” and a waste of space. Indeed, if we are to define idiomatic expressions like excuse me, with all due respect, if you ask me, we will have to explain how they are used by contextualizing them in a way similar to what is exemplified in the dictionary definitions above. This style of definition, however, is yet to make its impact on English-Chinese dictionaries in China. The following, for example, is how an English-Chinese dictionary defines the expression if you ask me: if you ask me 你若不见怪，不瞒你说，要说呢就是. . . . A New English-Chinese Dictionary, The Commercial Press, 2000

If the Chinese definition is translated into English, it would mean something along the lines of “if you don’t mind, to be honest with you . . ., etc.” The reason why this definition is not clear enough and may even be misleading is that it does not tell us clearly how the expression is actually used. Compare the following version: if you ask me spoken in my opinion (to emphasize that you are stating your personal point of view) 在我看来；我认为(强调纯属个人观点): If you ask me, this is a complete waste of time. . . .

Here, the function and the interpersonal aspect of meaning are made more explicit. The following is a more extended example, where the different functions of the expression excuse me are explained following the same principle:

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excuse me spoken (1) (used when you want to politely get someone’s attention, especially when you are about to ask them a question) （用于引起他人注意， 特别是准备提问时的礼貌用语）： Excuse me, is anybody sitting here? . . . (2) (used to apologize to someone when you have disturbed or interrupted them) （在打扰或打断某人时的道歉用语）：Excuse me interrupting, but there’s a thing I feel I’ve got to say. . . . (3) (used for disagreeing with someone, for expressing a contradictory point of view or for showing that you are annoyed) （用于表示不赞 成某人的意见，发表相反的观点，或表示不悦）：Excuse me, but I think you are mistaken . . . (4) (used as a polite way to indicate that you are about to leave the room, or to indicate that you are about to stop talking to someone) （表示 自己要离开房间，或要停止与某人交谈时的礼貌用语）： Excuse me a minute, I’ll be right back . . . (5) (used to ask someone politely to move so that you can walk past) （用于请求别人让路的礼貌用语）：Excuse me, could I just squeeze past you? . . . (6) (used to apologize when you have done something slightly embarrassing or impolite, such as burping, hiccupping, or sneezing) （做了有点令人尴尬或失礼的事情时用作道歉用语）：Oh, excuse me, I didn’t know anyone was in here. . . . (7) AmE (used to apologize when you hit someone accidentally, make a small mistake, etc) （碰到别人或犯小错误等时用作道歉用语）： Excuse me, did I step on your toe? . . . (8) especially AmE (used when you have not heard or understood something) please repeat that （用于没有听到或听懂某事时）请 再说一遍，请重复一下： “What time is it?” “Excuse me?” “I asked you what time it is.” . . . (Chang, forthcoming). With many discoursal expressions, this seems to be the best way of definition. As Thompson (1996: 26) points out, sometimes some sort of “circumlocution” is necessary to explain the functions of such idiomatic expressions. With regard to interpersonal meanings, many English idioms are highly evaluative, or they can often serve to augment attitudinal meaning and raise or intensify the interpersonal impact or force (Chang 2004a). The interpersonal aspects of meaning in idioms can be explicitly signalled in the definitions,

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sometimes with the help of parentheses. For example, the graduated evaluation in idioms can be incorporated in the definitions, as in the following: come hell or high water informal (used for emphasis) whatever the difficulties or opposition may be . . . like a bull in a china shop used to say that someone is very clumsy, especially in a situation where they need to be careful . . . The textual meanings of some English idioms can also be indicated in a similar manner. As we mentioned earlier, many English idioms have textual functions: serving to organize text or signalling textual information. Here is an example of how this can be shown in a dictionary entry: It never rains but it pours saying (used as a preface to or a summary of a series of unpleasant things) when one bad thing happens, a lot of other bad things also happen, making the situation even worse: First of all, it was the car breaking down, then the fire in the kitchen and now Mary’s accident. It never rains but it pours! . . ./ It never rains but it pours! First, I found that the car had been stolen and then discovered I had lost the keys to my apartment. . . . In this example, it is indicated explicitly how this idiomatic expression is often used as a textual device, i.e. “as a preface to or summary of a series of unpleasant things.” This is further exemplified in the example sentences, which serve to illustrate how the expression is actually used in this function. As far as experiential meaning is concerned, definitions of idioms in a dictionary can also be inaccurate or incomplete at times. For instance, the idiom “climb (jump, get) on the bandwagon,” is defined as follows in an EnglishChinese dictionary. climb (jump, get) on the bandwagon 参加（支持）胜利在望的政党 （运动等）   (A New English-Chinese Dictionary, Shanghai Yiwen Press, 2000.) The English translation of the Chinese definition would be “to join or support a winning political party, movement, etc.,” which is obviously incomplete. The definition also misses the interpersonal aspect of meaning, since the idiom clearly involves negative appraisal. The evaluative meaning, which is negative here, can be made more explicit in the definition “to support a plan or a cause for personal profit or advantage.” In light of Halliday’s view of the complementarity between lexis and grammar, many English idioms, as multi-­word expressions, can be said to lie at an

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intermediate point in the lexis-­grammar continuum (Halliday 2008b), which lend themselves easily to word-­play and manipulation. Without knowledge of their etymological origins, it is hard to appreciate the meanings of the idioms in manipulated forms. For example, experientially speaking, the idiom “climb (jump, get) on the bandwagon” often lends itself to manipulation, as attested in the following examples. Fewer and fewer people are pulling the economic wagon and more and more people jumping on it. David Duke, candidate for governor of Louisiana, November, 1991 Many companies hustled into the Eighties hotel boom, ignoring the principle of the old-­fashioned “personalized” proprietor. They assumed they would make megabucks out of country-­house hotels whose managing directors sat in an office block somewhere, leaving managers to run them all. Long established hotels also have the edge over the bandwagon crowd in that they have “customer muscle”—in other words, return business. Sunday Telegraph, May 17, 1992

In a learner’s dictionary of English idioms, where we can afford a more thorough treatment, it is necessary to provide information about the origins of such idioms so that learners can better understand them, such as the following: Note: In elections, political rally used to be heralded by a band playing on board a horse-­drawn wagon. The candidate would be up there on the wagon with the band and he would be joined by people who wished to show their allegiance. Some of them were loyal supporters; others were just looking for reward if the candidate were elected. Since corpus studies have shown that many of fixed expressions and idioms in English are often played upon or manipulated (Moon 1998; Langlotz 2006), information about the origins of idioms are sometimes essential in the understanding of their creative use. Halliday (2007a), commenting on language play of this kind, highlights that such play involves “departing from a norm,” and it cannot be meaningful unless learners are aware of the norm that is being played upon. Sometimes the manipulation can even be institutionalized, so it is necessary in some instances to indicate possibilities of exploitation in a note form or provide actual examples of such creative use. put two and two together guess the truth from what one sees, hears, etc. . . .: Joan’s car is often outside Tom’s house, but only when his wife is at work; so it’s not difficult to put two and two together . . .

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Note: People sometimes say someone has put two and two together to make five, meaning that they have guessed wrongly about something. . . .

Such notes about origin and manipulation can be easily incorporated in an English-Chinese learner’s dictionary of idioms, to help learners better comprehend or use these expressions. To briefly summarize, we can make use of the different elements in the microstructure of an entry in an idioms dictionary to explain the meaning and use of an idiom. The examples, usage notes and information about origins of idioms can all work together with the definitions to bring out the meanings of idioms more comprehensively.

4  The macrostructure of an idioms dictionary To better help Chinese learners with their encoding needs, we may also need to look into the macrostructure of an English idioms dictionary and change the way the idioms are listed from the perspective of meaning. Halliday (2007b: 5) points out that there are two principal methods for describing lexical items: one is by writing a dictionary and the other is by writing a thesaurus. In a thesaurus, lexical items that are similar in meaning are grouped together, whereas in a dictionary, the entries are arranged in alphabetical order. The two methods can be combined in various ways. The advantage with the alphabetical ordering is that it is by far the easiest and the fastest system for the dictionary user, especially for decoding purposes, yet it is obviously not a satisfactory arrangement if the dictionary is to be used to find “ideas” rather than forms (Béjoint 2000: 15). With most English idioms dictionaries, the items are generally arranged according to the keywords contained in the idioms, although the way of determining a keyword in an idiom may differ from dictionary to dictionary. In any case, the place where an idiom occurs in the dictionary often tells us virtually nothing about what it means. For example, all the idioms with the keyword “CAT” may be listed together as follows, where neighboring entries often have nothing to do with each other in meaning: CAT cat and mouse a cat on hot bricks the cat’s pyjamas a fat cat

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fight like cat and dog grin like a Cheshire cat let the cat out of the bag like a scalded cat like the cat that got the cream look like something the cat dragged in no room to swing a cat put the cat among the pigeons see which way the cat jumps . . . In contrast, a thesaurus groups words together on the basis of their meaning under one and the same concept that is part of a layered umbrella system of concepts. This kind of arrangement was inspired by the idea that the reality in the world around us can be roughly divided into a system of concepts. As lexical items are arranged semantically in a thesaurus, the location of an entry-­item is in itself a piece of semantic information. In Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852), for example, all the words are divided into six main categories (e.g. Abstract Relations, Space, Matter, Intellect, Volition, and Affections), each of which is divided into smaller and appropriate subdivisions. As Halliday (2007b: 12) explains, a thesaurus arranges all the lexical items it contains “in a single comprehensive taxonomy.” Another well-­known thesaurus-­type reference book is the Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (McArthur 1981), which contains 15,000 lemmas, subdivided into fourteen main categories of the following types: Life and Living Things, The Body: its Functions and Welfare, People and the Family, etc. These categories are each in turn divided into subcategories. As a result, the whole vocabulary is organized in three tiers in the Lexicon. Life and living things Verbs: Existing and causing to exist exist, be, create, animate Verbs: Living and dying live, live on, exist, die, decay, decompose, rot, survive Adjectives: Living and dead living, alive, live, animate, dead, dying Nouns: Life and death life, existence, creation, animation, birth, nativity, death, mortality . . . . . .

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The body: its functions and welfare . . . People and the family . . . A more recent example is the Longman Language Activator (1993), which is essentially an encoding dictionary due to the thesaurus-­like nature of its macrostructural arrangement of the entries. The Activator groups together “individual word-­meanings or phrase meanings that generally share the same idea, concept, or semantic area.” These concepts or ideas are referred to as Keywords in the Activator. Each Keyword is divided into smaller sections, which are shown in a numbered menu of meanings. The user can start from a general concept (a Keyword such as “walk”), and select the menu number that most closely corresponds to the idea that they want to express (such as “to walk quietly”), and then go to that section to find the most appropriate word or phrase needed (such as “tiptoe”) (for a review, see Chang 1996). The main advantage of the thesaurus-­like arrangement, as Halliday (2007b: 15) argues, is that words grouped together in this way “share the same address, as it were, within our overall semantic space.” This principle of organization can be applied to an English idioms dictionary. An attempt is made in An Active Learner’s Dictionary of English Idioms (Chang 2004b), an English-Chinese bilingual dictionary, where all the idioms included in the dictionary are grouped under 110 notions or functions. These notions/functions include “admiring people and things, admitting something, agreeing and disagreeing, telling people to go away, giving an opinion, telling people to be quiet,” etc. Included under “telling people to be quiet,” for example, are the following idiomatic expressions: telling people to be quiet button up/it cut the cackle drop dead shut your face/mouth shut your gob get knotted button one’s lip(s) pack it in hold one’s peace/tongue pipe down give it a rest

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shut it/up put a sock in it zip up Each expression is then defined and illustrated separately as in a normal dictionary entry, taking into consideration the different strands of meaning discussed in the previous section. There are still many obstacles that this type of semantically-­arranged dictionary should overcome. First, there is the problem of coverage: how can the dictionary include as broad a range of idioms as possible within the limited number of concepts/functions. Then there are problems with polysemous idioms and overlapping categorization. Moreover, as with most semantically-­arranged reference books, consultation is not easy (especially for encoding purposes), since it is based on an organization of human knowledge that is bound to vary from person to person. Some of these difficulties can be easily resolved. For example, the problem with consultation can be partly resolved by equipping the dictionary with an alphabetical index. With polysemous idioms and overlapping categorization, we can resort to cross-­referencing. However, the system of notions/functions and the classification of idioms under these categories are to be further revised and refined so that the dictionary can really meet the learners’ encoding needs. With more experimentation, the two methods for describing idioms as well as other lexical items, the dictionary and the thesaurus, can be better combined.

5  Summary In this chapter, I have discussed some of the insights that may be gained from SFL in guiding our lexicographical practice, in this case defining English idioms in a bilingual learner’s dictionary. I argued that it is essential that definitions of English idioms in such a dictionary should take into account all the different strands of meanings that idioms are used to express, especially interpersonal and textual meanings, which have tended to be neglected. It is shown that all the elements in the microstructure of an entry can work together in the delineation of meaning. As far as the macrostructure of an idioms dictionary is concerned, the two methods for describing lexical items, the dictionary and the thesaurus, can be combined. The advantage of the thesaurus-­like arrangement lies in its semantic

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orientation and should be further explored if the learner’s encoding needs are to be better accommodated. Although the discussion here has focused primarily on an English idioms dictionary for Chinese learners, the principles of SFL are also apparently applicable in the treatment of word meaning in general-­purpose bilingual dictionaries.

Register Variation

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The Linguistic Features of Knowledge Construction in Chemistry Textbooks YANG, Xinzhang (杨信彰) Xiamen University

1  Introduction In the past few years, some scholars have focused their attention on disciplinary discourses in school textbooks in such subjects as history, geography, mathematics, and chemistry. The aim of textbooks is to enrich students’ knowledge in a particular field. Chemistry has traditionally been among the major school subjects of natural sciences for students. Due to its importance in social life and in schools, the discourse of chemistry has entered the academic vision of researchers and some insightful studies have been done. To enhance the understanding of how chemistry knowledge is presented linguistically in textbooks, a study of the linguistic features of knowledge construction in chemistry textbooks would be worthwhile. Based on a self-­built corpus of chemistry textbooks, this chapter is an attempt to examine how ideational, interpersonal, and multimodal resources are used to construct chemical knowledge in textbooks. To facilitate this study, the corpus, which includes three widely-­used undergraduate chemistry textbooks, i.e. Carey’s (2004) Organic Chemistry, Cooper’s (2004) Biophysical Chemistry, and Harvey’s (2000) Modern Analytical Chemistry, consists of 525,392 words. Since chemical knowledge is constructed mostly by the use of language, this study takes the systemic perspective and examines the use of semiotic resources from three perspectives. Ideationally, this chapter will examine the use of technical terms, grammatical metaphor, and transitivity patterning. Interpersonally, the use of modal adjuncts and personal pronouns will be explored. Textually, the use of multimodality will be discussed to see how chemical knowledge is constructed by different semiotic resources.

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2  Linguistic studies in textbooks Sjöström (2007) gives a study of the discourse of chemistry and takes the discourse of chemistry as a cultural activity within the broader cultural context. Sjöström (2007) discusses, on the one hand, how chemists look at their science and how chemical knowledge is understood by the public and, on the other hand, how chemists look at their own role and the role of chemistry within society. The language of textbooks has caught the attention of many scholars in the fields of linguistics and education, and has been analyzed and described in systemic functional linguistics. Wignell et al. (1990) studies junior high school geography textbooks and explores how language is used in geography to observe, order, and explain the experiential world (Wignel et  al. 1990: 360). Besides geography textbooks, Eggins et  al. (1993) studies how language is used to represent knowledge in junior high school history textbooks and finds that the major grammatical resource used is grammatical metaphor, especially nominalizations. Also from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics, Sriniwass (2010) describes the lexicogrammatical features of the chemistry textbook and explores how the disciplinary knowledge of chemistry is constructed by the use of the clause complex. Based on Halliday’s (2004) system of clause complexing resources, Sriniwass (2010) examines in detail the systemic choices of taxis and logical-­semantic relations in 3,265 clauses from three different chemistry textbooks and finds that paratactic exposition and hypotactic elaboration through finite relations are the preferred modes in elaboration relations and paratactic extension relations are used more to extend knowledge (Sriniwass 2010: 446–50). These studies enhance our awareness of the way disciplinary knowledge is constructed lexicogrammatically, which would help students to be familiar with the linguistic features of chemistry textbooks and make chemistry knowledge more easily accessible to students. To Engberg (2006), the characteristics of the participants and the purposes pursued by them can determine the way texts are written. Chemistry textbooks have their own special characteristics and exemplify a special field of knowledge in the curriculum. The three chemistry textbooks used in this study are those used in undergraduate chemistry courses, the purpose of which is obviously to introduce to students the fundamental concepts and methods in chemistry. They naturally involve the interpersonal relationship between chemistry textbook writers and student readers who are beginning to enter the world of chemistry.

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3  Use of technical terms Allan (2006: 109) defines jargon as the language peculiar to a trade, profession, or other groups and as the language used in a body of spoken or written texts dealing with a circumscribed domain in which speakers share a common specialized vocabulary, habits of word usage, and forms of expression. In this sense, technical terms are a special feature of jargon. Scientific discourse, as observed by Engberg (2006), is characterized by a high degree of abstraction and a considerable amount of terminology. The creation of technical terms results from the need to classify things and phenomena in the world. Wignell et  al. (1990: 367) puts technical vocabulary under the heading of technicality and points out that there are two ways to set up a technical vocabulary: naming and defining (Wignell et al. 1990: 373). The naming of things and phenomena from the chemical perspective necessarily involves the use of technical terms. A brief survey of the chemistry textbooks shows that the majority of technical terms are nouns. By using nouns, chemistry construes natural phenomena as things. Nouns, as Huddleston and Paullum (2008: 84) defines, can be classified into pronouns, common nouns, and proper nouns. Common nouns can be further divided into countable and uncountable nouns. According to Biber et al. (1999: 242–3), countable nouns are used to denote persons, concrete objects, actions/events, and other abstractions while uncountable nouns are used to denote substances, emotional states, qualities, events, relations, and abstract concepts. These nouns often appear in the form of single nouns, noun phrases, and abbreviations. In chemistry textbooks, the technical terms take the forms of single nouns such as hypochromicity, ellipticity, fluorophore, depolarization, polarizability, noun phrases such as diffusion coefficient, isosbestic point, and abbreviations such as DNA, CCD. For example, (1)  DNA and RNA spectra are quite sensitive to conformation, since the regular stacking of the nucleotide chromophores in helical structures leads to the phenomenon of “hypochromicity”. Cooper 2004: 37

In this example, DNA and RNA are abbreviations acting as pre-­modifiers of spectra in the nominal phrase. Words like conformation and hypochromicity are single nouns while nucleotide chromophores and helical structures are noun phrases. All these nouns are technical terms which denote things and phenomena in the field of chemistry.

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As noted in Wignell et al. (1990: 373), technical terms can be named by using the grammatical resources of projecting and non-­projecting processes. In chemistry textbooks, similar cases are found but in most cases non-­projecting processes are used. Chemistry textbooks use lexicogrammatical resources such as identifying relational processes, embedded clauses to give names to things and phenomena and thus specify the specialized meaning of technical terms. For example, (2)  Because water molecules have such a high affinity for each other, nonpolar molecules have difficulty fitting into aqueous solutions. This is known as the hydrophobic effect. Cooper 2004: 14 (3)  Helium, neon, and argon belong to the class of elements known as noble gases or rare gases. Carey 2004: 10 (4)  The components of interest in the sample are called analytes, and the remainder of the sample is the matrix. Harvey 2000: 36

In these examples, the lexicogrammatical resources of be known as, be called, and be are used for naming and establishing chemical terminology. In Examples (2) and (4), known as, called and is are the predicator whereas in Example (3) known as is used in the embedded clause known as noble gases or rare gases.

4  Nominalization Nominalization is a type of grammatical metaphor. In their study of history textbooks, Eggins et al. (1993) regards grammatical metaphor as the principal linguistic resource used for distancing in history textbooks and identifies grammatical metaphor, especially nominalizations, as the major linguistic resource for representing historical knowledge and experience. Halliday (1994a) finds instances of nominalizations in his study scientific English. In the process of nominalization, processes are mapped into things. To find out the workings of nominalizations in chemistry textbooks, this study takes a search of words ending with such suffixes as -tion, -ment, -ity, -ancy, and -ency. The search results are shown in Table 21.1. This table shows that among the 525,392 words in the corpus, the most frequently used nominalizations are those that end with -tion. They appear 12,642 times in the corpus. Those ending with -ity rank second. Thus, the use of

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Table 21.1  Occurrences of suffixes Suffixes -tion -sion -ity -ment -acy

Occurrences 12642 909 2004 1182 119

Suffixes

Occurrences

-ancy -ency -ness -ance -ence

14 391 74 921 1149

the suffix -tion becomes the most favorite type of nominalizing process and quality in chemistry textbooks. These nominalizations are mostly chemical terms and abstract common nouns. For example, (5)  In a single-­point external standardization, we first determine the value of k by measuring the signal for a single standard containing a known concentration of analyte. Harvey 2000: 117 (6)  Consequently, it is found that the electrophoretic mobility of DNA is just proportional to the length of the chain. Cooper 2004: 150

Example (5) uses the nominalizations of standardization and concentration while Example (6) adopts the nominalization of mobility. Nominalization helps theorize chemical phenomena and thus increase the abstractness of text. The use of nominalizations meets the requirements of chemists to set up chemistry as a science and to talk about chemistry in a scientific way.

5  Transitivity patterning Transitivity is closely related to the field of discourse. When dealing with transitivity, Halliday (1994a) identifies several process types, i.e. material processes, relational processes, mental processes, verbal processes, behavioral processes, and existential processes. In their investigation of the discourse of geography, Wignell et  al. (1990: 374) points out that the frequently used grammatical resource for defining a technical term is an identifying relational clause, in the patterning of “x is defined by y,” or, “y serves to define the identity of x.” These processes include verbs such as equal, add up to, come out at, signify, mean, define, spell, indicate, express, suggest, act as, symbolizes, play,

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342

represent, stand for, refer to, exemplify (Wignell et al. 1990: 373–4). Based on this list, a search for the verbs used was conducted and the results are shown in Table 21.2. Table 21.2  Occurrences of verbs Verbs

Occurrences

Verbs

Occurrences

Define indicate Act as Stand for Represent Exemplify Function as Add up to Signify Spell

126 125   16   10   91    1    3    0    3    0

Express Suggest Symbolize Refer to Stand for Know as Equal Come out at Mean

81 64  2 24 10 72 51  0 11

Table 21.2 shows the occurrences of the verbs used in the chemistry textbooks. The table indicates that the frequently defining verbs in the corpus are indicate, define, and represent, though other verbs can be used. (7)  The rate of reaction at any time is defined as the overall rate of formation of products, or loss of reactants. Cooper 2004: 124 (8)  The tendency of an atom to draw the electrons in a covalent bond toward itself is referred to as its electronegativity. Carey 2004: 15 (9)  Alternatively, and in the absence of determinate errors, the 95% confidence interval indicates the range of values in which we expect to find the population’s true mean. Harvey 2000: 82

In Examples (7) and (8), define and refer to are used in the passive voice and in the structure “be defined as” and “be referred to as” respectively, whereas in Example (9) indicate is used in the active voice to explain “the 95% confidence interval.” Table 21.2 also shows that verbs like add up to, come out at, and spell are not used in chemistry textbooks but there are a few occurrences of exemplify, signify, and symbolize. In addition to the above-­mentioned list of verbs, there are others, such as involve, be. A corpus search shows that involve occurs 154 times, much

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343

more frequently than the above-­mentioned verbs in the corpus. It is mostly used to define chemical terms and phenomena. For example, (10)  Static quenching involves the formation of an equilibrium complex between the quencher (Q) and the fluorescent group (F). . . . Cooper 2004: 48 (11)  Proteins are polymers made up of specific sequences of L-amino acids linked together by covalent peptide (amide) bonds (Figure 1.1). Cooper 2004: 2

The verb involve in Example (10) is used to define what static quenching is. A close survey of the use of these verbs in the corpus indicates that although they can be used to define technical terms, these verbs can also be used to define chemical phenomena and symbols. For example, (12)  Digits to the left of the decimal are not included as significant figures since they only indicate the power of 10. A pH of 2.45, therefore, contains two significant figures. Harvey 2000: 14 (13)  We use a double-­headed arrow to represent resonance between these two Lewis structures. Carey 2004: 24 (14)  . . . where N represents the “native” or folded form of the protein. . . . Cooper 2004: 133

In Examples (12), (13), and (14), indicate and represent are used to define digits, a double-­headed line, and the symbol N mentioned in the textbooks. What is worth noting is that in some cases they are not used as the identifying relational process but as other process types. For example, (15)  It is more conventional to express sedimentation coefficients in Svedberg units (S), in honour of the Swedish scientist T. Svedberg (Nobel Prize 1926). . . . Cooper 2004: 89

In Example (15) express is used as a verbal process, but not as a relational identifying process. Halliday (1988, 1994b, 1998) studies scientific English and identifies two types of clause as the favorite clause types of the language of science: “a causes/is caused by x” and “b proves/is proved by y.” According to Halliday (1994a), there are several types of logical-­semantic relations with clause, group and phrase

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complexes. In his study of the language of science, Halliday (1994b) notes that the logical-­semantic relations can be grammaticalized in English by conjunctions and prepositions or lexicalized by verbs. In the case of grammaticalization, according to Halliday (1994b: 141), the causal logical-­semantic relationship can be realized typically by conjunctions and prepositions such as so, because of while the temporal logical-­semantic relationship can be realized typically by then and after. The result of a search for these conjunctions and prepositions in the corpus is shown in Table 21.3. Table 21.3  Occurrences of conjunctions and prepositions conjunctions and prepositions

occurrences

conjunctions and prepositions

occurrences

So Then

238 355

Because of After

  40 322

Note: The counts for then exclude those used for indicating condition and past time.

Table 21.3 indicates that among the four typical conjunctions and prepositions, then occurs most frequently and that the occurrences of after rank second. A glance at the search results shows that both then and after are typically used to establish temporal relations. So, which ranks third, is typically used to set up causal relations. The conjunction then in Example (16) is used to suggest the temporal order of “produced” and “accelerated.” (16)  When a photon of sufficient energy strikes the first electrode in the series, a photoelectron is produced which is then accelerated towards the next electrode in the cascade. Cooper 2004: 30

As is known, the causal and the temporal relations can also be realized by conjunctions and prepositions such as thus, because, therefore, and before. Thus, another search is done of these four words and the results are shown in Table 21.4. Table 21.4  Occurrences of conjunctions and prepositions conjunctions and prepositions

occurrences

conjunctions and prepositions

occurrences

Thus Because

  27 338

Therefore Before

240 220

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345

It can be seen from Table  21.4 that because occurs most frequently in the corpus whereas therefore and before rank the second and the third respectively. Taking both Table  21.3 and Table  21.4 into consideration, we can find that then and because are preferred for the expression of the causal relation and that after and before are most frequently used for the expression of the temporal relation. In the case of lexicalization, the causal relation can be established by verbs such as produce, arise from, depend on, lead to while the temporal relation can be set up by verbs such as follow, precede, anticipate, co-­occur with (Halliday 1994a: 141). To find out how these verbs function in chemistry textbooks, we did a corpus search. The search results are listed in Table 21.5 and Table 21.6. Table 21.5  Occurrences of verbs for the causal relation Verbs

Occurrences

Verbs

Occurrences

Produce Depend on

   7 101

Arise from Lead to

   9 110

Although there are 168 instances of produce in the corpus, there are only seven instances used for the causal relation and the other instances are used as the material process. Table 21.5 shows that the favored verbs used for the causal relation are depend on and lead to. For example, (17)  Simple electrostatics dictates that the work needed to separate these charges will depend on the polarity or dielectric constant (relative permeability) of the surroundings. Cooper 2004: 39

In Example (17), depend on establishes the causal relation between “the work needed to separate these charges” and “the polarity or dielectric constant (relative permeability) of the surroundings.” Table  21.6 lists the search results of the occurrences of verbs for temporal relations. The table shows that the use of verbs for temporal relations is not very Table 21.6  Occurrences of verbs for temporal relations Verbs

Occurrences

Verbs

Occurrences

Follow Anticipate

5 2

Precede Co-­occur with

4 0

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346

significant. Clearly, lexicalization is not the favorite method for the textbook writer to construe temporal relations. Both Table 21.5 and Table 21.6 indicate that the chemistry textbook writer uses lead to and depend on frequently when talking about the causal relation. For temporal relations, the chemistry textbook writer prefers to use grammaticalization.

6  Interpersonal meanings From the interpersonal perspective, the textbook involves the relationship between the textbook writer and the student reader. Interpersonal meanings are realized by a variety of ways. This writer-­reader relationship can be established lexicogrammatically by the explicit use of person of pronouns. Table 21.7 shows the use of first person pronouns in the corpus. Table 21.7  Occurrences of personal pronouns Pronouns

Occurrences Pronouns

Occurrences Pronouns

Occurrences

I We

  13 943

 4 89

 9 93

Me Us

My Our

As can be seen in Table  21.7, the first person pronoun we is the most frequently used among all the first person pronouns. By using we, the textbook writer brings the student reader into his text and thus shortens the distance between them. This will arouse the student reader’s interest in chemistry and enable the student to obtain chemical knowledge in a friendly atmosphere. For example, (18)  That is why the milk “looks” white in color: what we see is the light scattered back to our eyes. Cooper 2004: 27

The first person singular pronoun I is used in the Introduction of the textbook to show the author’s identity. However, interpersonal meanings can also be presented through the expression of modality, which, according to Halliday (1994a: 88), is the intermediate degrees between yes and no. Modality indicates the attitude, judgment, and opinion of the speaker/writer and is often expressed by the use of lexicogrammatical resources such as modal verbs and modal adjuncts.

Linguistic Features of Knowledge Construction

347

7  Modal verbs Biber et al. (1999: 73) classifies can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would into the category of central modal verbs. These modal verbs can be used to express the modal meanings of permission, possibility, ability, obligation, necessity, volition and prediction (Biber et al. 1999: 485). Different modal verbs, when used in different contexts, can have different modal meanings. Halliday (1994a: 362) attaches the values of high, medium and low to different modal verbs. To see the degree of the chemistry textbook writer’s involvement in the text, we conducted a corpus search of the occurrences of central modal verbs in the corpus. The results are shown in Table 21.8. Table 21.8  Occurrences of central modal verbs Modal Verbs

Occurrences

Must May Might Will Would

381 625   98 515 128

%

11.43% 18.76% 2.94% 15.46% 3.84%

Modal Verbs

Occurrences

Can Could Shall Should

1 383 39 7 156

% 41.51% 1.17% 0.21% 4.68%

Table 21.8 indicates that can and may occur most frequently, taking up 41.51 percent and 18.76 percent of all the central modal verbs in the corpus. These two modal verbs, according to Halliday’s (1994a) classification, belong to the category of low value modal verbs. This means that the textbook writer, when describing chemical phenomena, tries to avoid being too authoritative and assertive and takes a moderate tone. Most of the instances of can are used to indicate the writer’s judgment of possibility and ability. For example, (19)  A mole, for example, contains 602,213,670,000,000,000,000,000 particles, and some analytical techniques can detect as little as 0.000000000000001 g of a compound. Harvey 2000: 12 (20)  All of these anomalous properties can be attributed to the polarity and hydrogen bonding ability of the water molecule. Cooper 2004: 11

Can in Example (19) is used to express the ability of some analytical techniques while can in Example (20) is used to indicate possibility. May in the corpus is used to show the writer’s judgment of possibility, as can be seen in Example (21).

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Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics

(21)  These reactions may involve any combination of precipitation, acid–base, complexation, or redox chemistry. Harvey 2000: 38

8  Modal adjuncts Apart from modal verbs, modal adjuncts can also be used for the expression of modality. According to Halliday (1994a: 82), adjuncts of probability include items such as probably, possibly, certainly, perhaps, and maybe whereas adjuncts of usuality include items such as usually, sometimes, always, never, ever, seldom, and rarely. Moreover, adjuncts of obligation include items such as definitely, absolutely, at all costs, and by all means. Adjuncts of readiness include items such as willingly, readily, gladly, and easily. Based on this distinction, we conducted a search for the four types of adjuncts in the corpus. The occurrences of these adjuncts are shown in Table 21.9. Table 21.9  Occurrences of modal adjuncts Adjunct Types

Occurrences

Probability Usuality Obligation Readiness

  29 324    1 115

Table 21.9 reveals that the most frequently modal adjunct used in the corpus is those of usuality. Adjuncts of readiness rank the second. This means that the chemistry textbook writer pays more attention to the usual and normal aspects of the chemical phenomena, thus avoiding being too assertive in presenting chemical knowledge. Among adjuncts of usuality usually is used most frequently whereas among adjuncts of readiness easily is the most frequent one, as can be seen in Examples (22) and (23). (22)  Adjacent peaks will usually differ in both charge and mass by one unit. Cooper 2004: 76 (23)  Homogeneous solutions are easily sampled by siphoning, decanting, or by using a pipet or syringe. Harvey 2000: 193

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349

9  Multimodality Kress and van Leeuwen (2001: 20) defines multimodality as the use of several semiotic modes in the design of a semiotic product or event. In the multimodal society, meaning-­making is often done with the use of two or more semiotic systems. The use of multimodality can be seen everywhere in the chemistry textbooks, where different semiotic resources of language, pictures, symbols, graphs, tables, figures, formulae are used together to construct chemical knowledge. There are two special features of multimodality in chemistry textbooks. The first feature is that formulae have become an integrated part of a clause, without which it would be difficult for the writer to present chemical knowledge in the textbook. For example, (24)  Since there are four carbon atoms in butane, and one carbon atom in CO 2, we write 4 × moles C4H10 = 1 × moles CO 2. Harvey 2000: 22

In Example (24), the equation “4 moles C4H10 = 1 × moles CO 2” is part of the clause complex. The second feature has to do with the fact that pictures, symbols, graphs, tables, figures, and formulae are used as complements to elaborate, extend, and enhance the meanings made by language. Language plays the principal role in the construction of chemical knowledge, but without other semiotic resources the meaning-­making enterprise seems impossible.

10  Conclusion From the above corpus-­based analysis of chemistry textbooks, we can see that there are several interesting findings. First, technical terms take the form of single nouns, noun phrases and abbreviations. The use of the suffix -tion becomes the most favorite type of nominalizing process and quality in chemistry textbooks. Second, the favorite verbs to be used for defining chemical terms and phenomena are involve, indicate, define, and represent. We also find that then and because are preferred for talking about the causal relation and that after and before are preferred for talking about the temporal relation. Third, the first person pronoun we is more frequently used in chemistry textbooks to create a friendly atmosphere and to bring the textbook writer and the student reader together to

350

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics

share chemical knowledge. In terms of lexicalization, lead to and depend on are used to deal with the causal relation, but for temporal relations, grammaticalization is preferred. Fourth, adjuncts of usuality and readiness and the modal verbs of can and may are the favorite lexicogrammatical items used in chemistry textbooks for the expression of modality. Fifth, pictures, symbols, graphs, tables, figures, and formulae play an important role in the construction of chemical knowledge. They can be integrated with language or act as complements of meaning. So far, a picture of how chemistry textbooks present and construct knowledge is formed. Although this study is limited by the size and variety of its corpus, it reflects the general tendency of the use of certain lexicogrammatical resources in the construction of chemical knowledge. The study can be helpful for content-­ based instruction, which is committed to teaching both language and content. Moreover, the examination of the language of chemistry can give insights into classroom instruction and textbook writing. An understanding of the role of language in the construction of chemical knowledge will make chemistry textbooks more accessible to students and invoke active learning. This kind of study can be extended to textbooks of other school subjects.

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Index Analects 202, 286, 294–5 anaphora 37, 151, 154–8, 166 appliable 38, 285 Appraisal 20–2, 31, 35, 37–8, 47, 51, 58, 75, 169–73, 176, 183, 189–90, 193, 229, 323, 327 attitude 37, 51, 61, 63, 98, 169–75, 189–90, 192–3, 206, 221, 278, 346 axis 18, 21, 28, 59, 126, 239, 286, 290, 301 ‘ba’ 35, 37, 59, 69, 78, 121, 143–50, 155, 293 behavioural 84, 88, 92, 96–8, 100, 139–40, 246, 341 ‘bei’ 107–8, 112, 115–17, 148–9, 164–5, 275–6, 280 Bernstein, B. 15–17, 23, 28–9, 32 Catford, J.C. 286, 288–9 causal 152, 344–6, 349–50 cognitive 11, 17, 90, 109, 243–4, 246 cohesion 66, 87, 224, 247, 254 cohesive 58, 66, 247, 291, 295, 323 comics 38, 243–4, 247–8, 251, 255–8, 263 complementarity 16–17, 37–8, 159, 188, 200, 327 Confucius 199, 202, 294–7, 303–4 construal 38, 88, 90, 200–1, 235, 241, 270, 291–2, 323 construe(-ing) 36, 44, 60, 63, 76, 80, 82, 87–8, 90, 92, 94, 96–8, 111, 114, 133–4, 142–3, 188, 201, 235–6, 241, 268–9, 271, 281, 346 contrastive 39, 58, 119, 160, 303, 307–8, 316 corpus 35–7, 39, 59, 72, 76, 79–80, 86, 100, 169–72, 323, 328, 337, 340, 342–50 curriculum 15, 18–20, 23–32, 338 ‘de’-construction 159, 161, 166 deictic 36, 114, 119–21, 123, 126, 130, 133–4, 195, 234, 292–3

delicacy 37, 59–60, 100, 201, 218, 286, 290, 301 delicate 60, 72, 75, 87, 188 dialogic 38, 208, 229–31, 235–6, 241, 289 diegetic 246–7, 249, 252, 260–1, 263 evolution 13, 45, 50 experiential 9–10, 35, 44, 47–8, 58, 88, 113, 193, 246, 251–2, 255, 260–1, 290–2, 294, 298, 300, 302–3, 327, 338 eye-­movement 243, 250, 261–2 eye-­tracking 38, 243–50, 258–9, 263 Fawcett, R.P. 4–5, 18, 88, 99, 188 fiction 37, 91, 101, 172–83 foregrounding 20, 220, 270, 279–80 foregrounded 20, 24, 94, 225, 236–7, 251–2, 254, 256, 259, 270 genre 18, 20–6, 31, 37, 101, 171, 173, 175, 177–80, 218, 226, 251, 263, 307–18 grammaticalization 38, 126, 194, 196–8, 200–1, 344, 346 grammaticalized 120, 126, 133, 194, 200, 344 Halliday, M.A.K. 3, 5, 18, 20, 36, 43–4, 47, 60, 62, 66, 71, 75–6, 80, 83–5, 87–8, 91–2, 100–1, 105, 111, 114, 119–22, 139–41, 144–5, 151–2, 154, 156, 163, 188, 216–17, 232–3, 246, 267, 269, 274, 285–91, 293, 300–3, 328–31, 340–8 Hasan, R. 5, 19, 36, 75–6, 87, 101, 188, 246, 267–9, 281, 308 heteroglossic 38, 229–31, 233–4, 237–8, 240–1 idioms 39, 321–33 imperative 59, 64, 70, 78, 198, 201, 232, 234, 237, 294

380

Index

interpersonal 9, 11, 35, 39, 47, 51, 59–60, 64, 88, 115–17, 169, 191–2, 216, 222, 246, 249, 257–61, 291, 293, 300, 322–3, 325–7, 332, 337–8, 346 interrogative 59, 64, 68–9, 201, 293–4 intersemiotic 270–2, 277, 287 Jakobson, R. 287 Kress, G. 43, 207–8, 215–16, 219, 223, 225, 230, 232, 239, 246, 270–2, 277 van Leeuwen, T. 216, 230, 232, 239, 246, 270–2, 277, 349 Lemke, J.L. 209–10, 212, 229, 270 lexical 17, 26, 36–7, 44, 59, 75, 77, 87, 89, 100, 140, 143, 149, 164, 187–9, 191, 193–4, 199–201, 217, 288, 323–4, 329–30, 332 lexicogrammatical 26, 35, 39, 47, 59–60, 62, 68–9, 72, 75, 159, 217, 222, 226, 294–5, 297, 302–3, 338, 340, 346 lexis 35–7, 72, 75–6, 87–8, 90, 100, 188, 199, 200–1, 217, 225–6, 289, 327 literacy 18, 20, 23–4, 27–9 logico-­semantic 151, 154, 156–7, 161, 166, 277–8, 291, 294–5 manga 38, 243–64 Martin, J. 4–5, 15–25, 28, 30, 32, 47, 51, 75, 82, 84–5, 87, 100–1, 117, 169, 191, 193, 201, 216, 218, 229–31, 235–6, 246–7, 269, 271, 307–8, 317, 323 Martinec, R. 271–2, 277 Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. 5, 12–3, 30, 76–7, 80, 83, 139, 188, 267, 285–6, 289–90, 299, 301 metafunction(-al) 6, 11, 21, 35, 38–9, 47, 60, 63–5, 111, 200, 246–7, 249, 251, 258, 261–2, 271, 285–303, 322–3 metaphor(-ical) 39, 100, 106, 116, 270, 277–8, 280, 293–4, 323, 337–8, 340 modal 35, 39, 59, 72, 80, 88, 234, 337, 346 modality(-ies) 20–1, 59–60, 62, 116, 216, 218, 226–7, 262, 291, 293, 346, 348 multimodal(-ity) 20, 22, 35, 38–9, 212, 215–63, 267–72, 277, 279–81, 337, 349

narrative 38, 243, 245, 247, 249, 251–63, 269, 272–4, 280, 295 Nida, E.A. 287 nominal(s) 36, 88, 99, 105–17, 141–2, 145–7, 149–51, 158–66, 189, 193–4, 196, 199, 201, 222, 240, 295, 339 numerative 105, 111–14 onomatopoeia 135, 246, 252, 255, 260, 264 Painter, C. 30, 238 paradigmatic 11, 60, 187, 195 parataxis/paratactic 37, 151–8, 165–6, 297–8, 338 pedagogy 15, 18–20, 23–5, 28–9, 31–2, 316–17 pedagogic(-al) 28, 38–9, 229, 241, 244, 315–16 phonology(-ical) 3, 7, 10, 21, 35, 39, 59–72, 188, 198–200, 217, 247–8, 267, 288 pragmatic 287 prosodic 3, 60, 62–3, 68 Range 36–7, 139–50 rank 10, 21, 35, 43–51, 58–60, 62, 120, 189, 196–9, 270, 286, 288, 290–3, 301, 340, 344–5, 348 Rothery, J. 23, 316–17 saccade(s)(-ic) 38, 245, 251, 255–6, 258, 260–4 de Saussure, F. 44, 87, 206–8, 210–11 semantic(s) 21–2, 26, 30, 37, 44, 60, 66–8, 71–2, 75, 77–8, 85, 87–9, 139, 143, 145, 147–8, 187–9, 194–5, 200, 217–9, 226, 247, 267, 269, 271, 288–9, 294–6, 302, 322–4, 330–2 semiosis 43, 47, 205–7 semiotics 15, 38, 47, 52, 66, 84, 87, 202, 205–12, 215–17, 225, 229, 232, 234, 241, 249, 267–71, 279–80, 290, 337, 349 speech 35, 37, 49, 51, 60, 62–3, 68–9, 121, 123–6, 129, 134, 187–9, 192–3, 197, 199–200, 232–4, 236, 248, 254, 256, 258, 263, 280 strata/stratum 21, 31, 38, 60, 66, 77, 188, 201, 216–17, 249, 267–70, 288–9, 302–3

Index symbolic articulation 38, 267–70 syntagmatic 11, 60, 218 syntax 32, 200, 217 tense(s) 36, 119–35, 153, 187, 197 textual 9–10, 35, 37, 47, 58, 60, 68, 87–8, 140, 142, 144, 216, 222, 246, 252, 255, 259, 288, 291, 295, 297–300, 302, 322–3, 327, 332

381

thematic 37, 47–8, 148–9, 220, 268–70, 279, 291, 295, 297–8, 309–10, 313 Thompson, G. 141, 147, 246, 249, 326 translation 4–5, 10, 13, 19, 35, 39, 119, 153, 171, 199, 201–2, 281, 285–304, 327 writing 4, 6–7, 10, 18, 22–32, 35, 39, 43–7, 58, 100, 107, 193, 196, 207, 236, 307–8, 311, 316–18, 329