| Author: | Liu, Xiangdong |
| Title: | On the language of projection across registers |
| Advisors: | Matthiessen, Christian M. I. M. (ENGL) |
| Degree: | DALS |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Subject: | English language -- Grammar Functionalism (Linguistics) Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Humanities |
| Pages: | xiii, 307 pages |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This thesis adopts a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach to the study of some traditional language phenomena which have been dealt with under the names such as direct and indirect speech, citation, attribution, intertextuality, and quoting and reporting. Drawing on SFL for the theoretical background as well as the methodological framework, this thesis recontextualizes the above traditional issues under the scope of the projection grammar in order to examine the cross-registerial variation of projection. Then, based on the analyses of the varied patterns, this research also makes an attempt to bring about more systemic descriptions of the projection grammar of English. Finally, it brings the findings and conclusions into the actual contexts to explicate the socio-semiotic reasons that motivate the language choices in projecting others' texts into one's own. Specifically, this research investigates the projecting resources employed by writers of two different registers: news reports and academic articles. Set against the socio-semiotic matrix of matafunction, stratification, instantiation and realization, it uses a self-built corpus to conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of the linguistic features and the corresponding discursive functions of the projecting resources used in the two registers. In doing so, it draws particularly on the theory of Register Typology developed by Matthiessen and his colleagues within the tradition of the classic Hallidayan conceptualization of register. In achieving these goals, this research contributes to language studies both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, this research further systematizes the systems and subsystems of the projection grammar of English. In this case, a "scale of projection" is proposed to rank the projecting resources according to their "projection power", which serves as the indicator for the projecting effects created by different choices of projection. It also restructures the traditional projection grammar of English by means of a dimensional perspective to address the structure-altering functions of three sub-systems: nominalization, split projection and free indirect speech. Practically, this research brings the projecting resources into two different contexts to examine the cross-registerial variation and systemic patterns. In this case, the concept of "projection density" is proposed to evaluate the involvement of others' realities and voices in one's own discourse. Then, the cross-registerial variation is brough under the overall socio-semiotic system for interpretation. The purpose is to reveal the correlations among the linguistic choices of projection, the cross-registerial variation and the contextual value configurations. In this case, projection is seen as a semantic strategy through which people with varied social relationships and different institutional roles to realize their communicative functions in varied contexts. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5268.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.76 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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