Evidentialitv In International Journal Research Articles:A Cognitive Functional Perspective

In recent years,there has been much interest in the studies on evidentiality in the field of linguistics and applied linguistics.However,few studies have reported on the use of evidentiality at the discourse level from the perspective of cognitive functional linguistics.Drawing on data from the three self-built corpora comprised of 240 international journal research article RAs,the present dissertation is an attempt to investigate evidentiality in the three sections of abstract,introduction,discussion(conclusion included)of RAs.The approach adopted in this study is both quantitative and qualitative.Within the tradition of functional cognitive linguistics and guided by the three theoretical frameworks,the study first examines the frequencies and distribution patterns of evidentiality and the relationships between the use of evidentials and the generic structures of RAs.It then probes into the interpersonal functions of evidentiality,the cognitive mechanism of the lexico-grammatical realizations of evidentiality and the cognitive mechanism of the online meaning construction of interpersonal meanings of evidentials in the data.The major results obtained in this study are listed as follows:(1)The generic structures of RAs affect the frequencies and distribution patterns of four different types of evidentials.(2)Evidentiality performs four interpersonal functions,i.e.,evidentiality as a promotion strategy,as an author identity indexing strategy,as metadiscourse and as a stimulus of relevance.(3)The lexico-grammatical realizations of evidentiality are co-governed by the factors of RA authors'epistemological stance,perspectives,context,audience expectations,and interpersonal functions of evidentiality.(4)The online meaning construction of evidentiality can be elucidated by the conceptual blending network.Based on the findings,conclusions as well as research and pedagogical implications are discussed.It is hoped that this exploratory research on evidentiality in the discourses of journal research articles will spark researchers' further research interest in investigating evidentiality at the discourse level.