A Systemic Functional Approach to Applied Linguistic Article Conclusions
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A Systemic Functional Approach to Applied Linguistic Article Conclusions by Viktoria Volkova A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2012 Viktoria Volkova Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-93617-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-93617-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Lynne Young who not only introduced me to Systemic Functional Linguistics but encouraged my research projects throughout my graduate studies. Her close reading and valuable advice helped me to shape the ideas and observations into this thesis. I have never met such an inspiring thesis supervisor before. Every conversation with Dr. Young enriched me academically and gave me positive energy to take any sort of challenge with dignity and strength. I could not have done without her. I would like to thank the faculty and staff in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Carleton University for their dedication, knowledge, and support. I would also like to thank Dr. Betty Samraj (San Diego State University) and Dr. Graham Smart (Carleton University), the reviewers of this MA thesis, for their valuable opinions and time. And, of course, I am very grateful to my mother Nina Volkova, my arduous supporter, for her faith and love that helped me to overcome the obstacles and pursue my professional and personal perfection. ABSTRACT This thesis studies and attempts to interpret the meanings of the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions in the discourse of applied linguistic article conclusions. The objective of this research is to apply an SFL model of three metafunctions to the analysis of the clauses and their constituents in order to track some common features in the structural and semantic frameworks of AL conclusions. I explored four research article conclusions from four different applied linguistic branches in order to determine the common lexico-grammatical and semantic features that result in producing the systemic constructs of the AL discourse. The SFL analysis shows that mental processes are prominent in the AL discourse and the declarative Mood is clearly preferred over interrogatives and imperatives. Temporal Finite Operators, terminological density and content-carrying Theme patterns are also prominent commonalities to be noticed. The mapping of the common features reported as the research results of my SFL metafunctional analyses may assist the present and future applied linguists in composing their RA conclusions and in focusing on their meanings within the clause structure and semantics. The systemic functional approach reveals the mysteries of language as a set of language users’ choices and their conscious incentives to make the realizations of these choices function properly and efficiently in discourse. Thus the discourse becomes a successful social event that initiates the responsive reactions. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One - Introduction ......................................................................................................1 1.1 Overall Aims.......................................................................................................................1 1.2 Social and Pedagogical Significance of Discourse Analysis.........................................1 1.3 Research Motivation and Research Question ..................................................................2 1.4 Theoretical Background ..................................................................................................... 3 1.5 Limitations ..........................................................................................................................3 1.6 Organization of Chapters ................................................................................................... 4 Chapter Two - SFL Approach to Analysis of Academic Discourse ..................................6 2.1 Language as Meaning-making Process........................................................................... 6 2.2 Meaning-making Processes in Academic Discourse ......................................................7 2.3 SFL Postulates ................................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Systemic Functional Approach to Grammar and Semantics.. ..................................... 12 2.5 SFL Metafunctions ...........................................................................................................14 2.5.1 Ideational Metafunction: Clause as Representation ........................................... 15 2.5.2 Interpersonal Metafunction: Clause as Exchange .............................................. 19 2.5.1 Textual Metafunction: Clause as Message .......................................................... 21 2.6 SFL Experiences in Discourse Analysis ......................................................................... 22 2.7 SFL Diversification of Discourse Analysis of Academic Texts: Comparisons 24 Chapter Three - Methodology ...............................................................................................32 3.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Ideational Metafunction Elements ..................................................................................35 3.2.1 Transitivity (experiential dimension) ...................................................................36 3.2.2 Taxis and Logico-semantic Clause Type (logical dimension) ..........................40 3.3 Interpersonal Metafunction Elements ............................................................................ 43 3.3.1 MOOD and RESIDUE ........................................................................................... 43 3.3.2 Mood ........................................................................................................................ 48 3.3.3 Modality ...................................................................................................................49 3.3.4 Attitudinal Items ......................................................................................................51 3.4 Textual Metafunction Elements ...................................................................................... 51 3.4.1 Nominalization ....................................................................................................... 52 3.4.2 Lexical Density ....................................................................................................... 53 3.4.3 Theme...................................................................................................................... 54 3.5 Context and Data ...............................................................................................................57 Chapter Four - SFL Analysis of Text 1 ...............................................................................59 4.1 Ideational Metafunction Analysis ...................................................................................60 4.2 Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis ..............................................................................62 4.3 Textual Metafunction Analysis ...................................................................................... 70 V Chapter Five - SFL Analysis of Text 2................................................................................78 5.1 Ideational Metafunction Analysis ...................................................................................79