| Nominalization is a very common phenomenon in English and represents the direction of the development of human cognition (Halliday, 1996: 44). Bussmann even said "virtually any word can be nominalized"(Bussmann, 2000: 328). Many linguists, including the systemic-functional grammarians, have contributed to the study of nominalization. However, in Systemic-functional Grammar (SFG), nominalization is just treated as a species of grammatical metaphor and scholars only mention it a little in their discussion about grammatical metaphor. This thesis studies the types of transference in nominalization, the functions of nominalization and the relationship between nominalization and register from a systemic-functional perspective. The first chapter gives a very brief introduction to the significance of the study and the three major approaches to nominalization other than SFG. The second chapter introduces some basic ideas about SFG and grammatical metaphor. The third chapter explores the types of transference in nominalization. The study shows that nominalization is a concept far more complex than Halliday and his followers have defined. Nominalization involves all the six process types and the variable components of, below, around or above the clause. The fourth chapter probes the various functions of nominalization, based on the tripartition of metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. Ideationally, nominalization can add another semantic dimension to what already exists in the congruent form; nominalization can create partial ambiguity; nominalization can offer the expression a greater potential for description; and nominalization can reshape human experience. Interpersonally, nominalization can conceal the time, the space, the participant and the modality to make the expression more objective; and familiarity with conventional nominalizations in a certain circle can be a symbol of identity in that circle. Textually, nominalization can shift the focus of information,... |
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