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Judgement and Adjective Complementation Patterns in Biographical Discourse: a Corpus Study

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Judgement and Adjective Complementation Patterns in Biographical Discourse: a Corpus Study Judgement and Adjective Complementation Patterns in Biographical Discourse: A Corpus Study by HANG SU A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics School of English, Drama, American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham July 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis, drawing on insights from Appraisal Theory, Pattern Grammar and Corpus Linguistics, explores the association between grammar patterns and attitudinal meanings. Particular attention is paid to adjective complementation patterns and Judgement, i.e. the ethical evaluation of human behaviour and character. Using a corpus compiled of biographical discourse, this study addresses four research questions: 1) whether the current JUDGEMENT system is sufficiently comprehensive and systematic to deal with the Judgement resources identified in this corpus, 2) what insights a detailed scrutiny of adjective-in-pattern exemplars can offer into the description and characterisation of attitudinal resources, 3) how local grammars of evaluation can be developed with the help of grammar patterns, and 4) what local grammars of evaluation may be useful for. It is suggested that the original JUDGEMENT system should be refined so as to enable it to deal effectively with the Judgement resources found. Drawing on evidence from both personality psychology and corpus analysis, Emotivity is proposed as a new sub-type of Judgement to account for those resources which construe attitudes towards emotional types of personality traits. The examination of adjective-in-pattern exemplars in terms of Attitude shows that grammar patterns are of limited use in distinguishing types of attitudinal meanings but that grammar patterns are a very useful heuristic to investigate attitudinal resources. Further, it is demonstrated that grammar patterns are a good starting point for the construction of local grammars of evaluation, which is exemplified by the local grammar of Judgement developed in the current study. Lastly, it is argued that local grammars of evaluation, in theory, provide an alternative way to model attitudinal meanings, and in practice, offer some insights into the automation of appraisal analysis. Other related issues (e.g. local grammar analyses of some special cases, replicability of the methodology) are also discussed. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks goes to The University of Birmingham and The China Scholarship Council for jointly providing The Li Siguang Scholarship which financially enables me to pursue my PhD study. My utmost gratitude and respect goes to my supervisor Prof. Susan Hunston for her encouragement, expertise and enlightenment. Susan encouraged me when I was applying her PhD programme, then supervised me with her expertise and enthusiasm; and the supervision meetings always enlightened me to develop further and better my thoughts. She is, academically, professionally and personally, a mentor to me forever. I would like to thank Prof. Geoff Thompson (University of Liverpool), Dr. Monika Bednarek (University of Sydney), Dr. Caroline Tagg (University of Birmingham) and Dr. Charlotte Hommerberg (Linnaeus University, whom I have not yet had the chance to meet with in person): all of them have kindly sent me the papers I requested, most of which were sent to me before they officially come out! There are many others to whom I am also grateful: my MA supervisor Prof. Liu Chengyu (Southwest University) who prepared me well for the PhD study; Dr. Dong Min (Beihang University) for her comments on the thesis and for her help on the job application; the staff members at the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics for their inspiring and entertaining lectures; my fellow PhD students at the Department, in particular Li Shuangling, Zou Yanli and Chau Meng-Hua, who helped me ‘survive’ at the very beginning; and my friends in China, Mr. Xiao Guohua, Ms. Li Ying, Ms. Xie Tingting, Ms. Zou Siyan, Mr. He Le, Ms. Zhao Sha’na, Ms. Xiao Yi, among many others, for being truly friends of mine. The completion of the PhD study would not be possible without the support of my family. My aunts and uncles, and my beloved open-minded and far-sighted parents supported by all means my PhD journey throughout; my big brother, who has sacrificed a lot and has been taking good care of my parents during my absence, could have completed a remarkable PhD if I have not. To them all I dedicate this thesis. ii CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………..……………..1 1.1 Corpus Approaches to Appraisal Research………………….……………….1 1.2 JUDGEMENT and Adjective Complementation Patterns………..…....…….5 1.3 Research Questions…………………………………………………….……...7 1.4 Corpus and Methodology……………………………………………….……10 1.5 An Overview of the Thesis…………………………………………….……..11 C H A P T E R 2 PATTERN GRAMMAR AND APPRAISAL: AN INTRODUCTION…..................................................................................................13 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………13 2.2 Pattern Grammar………………………………………………..…………….13 2.2.1 Historical context……………………………………………..…………..13 2.2.1.1 Sinclair (1991)……………………………………..……….…………….13 2.2.1.2 Francis (1993, 1995)…………………………………………………...…14 2.2.2 Pattern Grammar in Hunston and Francis (1998, 2000)………………15 2.2.2.1 Pattern identification…………………………………………………….15 2.2.2.2 Pattern representation…………………………………………………….18 2.2.2.3 Complementation patterns………………………………………………18 2.2.2.4 Patterns and meanings………………………………………………….19 2.2.3 A brief evaluation…………………………………………………………22 2.3 Appraisal Theory…………………………………………………………….23 2.3.1 An overview of Appraisal………………………………………………….23 2.3.2.1 ATTITUDE……………………………………………………………..24 2.3.2.2 GRADUATION………………………………………………………..24 2.3.2.3 ENGAGEMENT……………………………………………………….25 2.3.2 The ATTITUDE system………………………………………………….27 2.3.2.1 AFFECT…………………………………………………………………27 2.3.2.2 JUDGEMENT………………………………………………………….28 2.3.2.3 APPRECIATION………………………………………………………..30 2.3.3 Appraising APPRAISAL………………………………………………….30 2.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………..…34 iii CHAPTER 3 PATTERN GRAMMAR AND APPRAISAL: EXPLORING CONNECTIONS…………………………………………………………………..35 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………….35 3.2 Grammar Patterns as a Diagnostic and Grammar Patterns as a Heuristic.35 3.2.1 Grammatical frames in Martin and White (2005)……………………..35 3.2.2 Grammar patterns as a diagnostic and ATTITUDE…………………….38 3.2.2.1 Bednarek (2009a)……………………………………………………….38 3.2.2.2 Hunston (2011: 119-150)………………………………………………41 3.2.3 Grammar patterns as a heuristic and ATTITUDE……………………..42 3.3 Patterns, Appraisal and Local Grammars of Evaluation…………………..44 3.3.1 Local grammar………………………………………………….…………..44 3.3.2 Local grammars of evaluation…………………………………………….45 3.3.2.1 Appraisal theory and local grammars of evaluation……………………..46 3.3.2.2 Grammar patterns as a starting point for local grammars of evaluation................................................................................................47 3.3.3 A review of previous studies ……………………………………………..48 3.3.3.1 Hunston and Sinclair (2000)………..……………………………………..48 3.3.3.2 Hunston (2003a)…………..………………………………………………51 3.3.3.3 Bednarek (2008a)…………………………………………………………52 3.3.3.4 Hunston (2011)…………...………………………………………………57 3.4 About the Current Study…………...………………………………………….59 3.5 Summary……………………………………………………………………….59 CHAPTER 4 REFINING JUDGEMENT: TYPOLOGICAL AND TOPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES…………………………………………….…61 4.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………...………61 4.2 Systemic Typology and Topology………………………………….………….62 4.3 Contextualising the Problem…………………………………………...……..64 4.3.1 Modification on AFFECT (Bednarek 2008a: 152-172) …………...……..64 4.3.2 Multilayered evaluation (Hunston 2011: 140-142)……………….………65 4.3.3 The scope of AFFECT (Thompson 2014a: 53-56)……………….………67 4.4 Refining JUDGEMENT: A Typological Perspective …………………..……69 4.4.1 Emotivity as a new sub-type of Judgement……………………….………69 iv 4.4.1.1 Evidence from personality psychology: emotion terms can be used to describe personality traits……………………………………….………69 4.4.1.2 Evidence from corpus analysis: massive linguistic representation of attitudes towards emotional types of personality …………………..…………..…..71 4.4.2 Typological representation of JUDGEMENT…………………………….74 4.4.2.1 A typological perspective on the meaning categories in JUDGEMENT…..74 4.4.2.2 The modified JUDGEMENT system…………………………………….77 4.5 The JUDGEMENT System: A Topological Perspective………….………….79 4.5.1 A topological representation of the ATTITUDE system………………….80 4.5.2 A topological description of the JUDGEMENT system………….………82 4.5.2.1 A topological perspective on the distinctions made in JUDGEMENT…..83 4.5.2.2 A topological perspective on the meaning categories in JUDGEMENT....84 4.6 Summary………………………………………………….……………………86 CHAPTER 5 CORPUS ANALYSIS: PROFILING LEXICAL ITEMS…………88 5.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………...…88 5.2 Criteria for the Analysis……………………………………………………….88 5.2.1 Criterion
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