The Influence Of Tenor On The Lexico-grammatical Choices In ECST Texts

Language occurs in a certain context. When we analyze language, we must keep the influence of a specialized context in mind. The theoretical basis for this thesis is Systemic-Functional Grammar (SFG for short) formulated by M. A. K. Halliday. As a fairly mature ideological system, SFG doesn't neglect the influence of context on the meaning and linguistic choices. Halliday put forward the term register in 1964. Here, register is a manifestation of the context. Halliday sub-classified the context of situation into three parts: field of discourse, mode of discourse and tenor of discourse. This classification is not accidental since each of them corresponds to one of the three metafunctions: experiential functions, textual functions and interpersonal functions. The change of any variable of context will bring about change in linguistic expressions and meanings. Relying on SFG's theoretical framework concerning the triune relationship among context, meaning and linguistic choices, this thesis will start from one of the three variables of context—tenor of discourse, and investigate its relation with the lexico-grammatical choices. In the study of linguistics especially in the field of context study, tenor of discourse is a very important concept. In the view of functional linguists, tenor of discourse plays a very important role in the study of the relationship among context, meaning and lexico-grammatical expressions. Tenor of discourse is constituted of role relationships. On the one hand, there exists a relatively stable and static relationship between people in our society. On the other hand, when we are communicating with one another, there exists a relatively changeable and dynamic relationship. The interpersonal meaning embodies all uses of language to express social and personal relations, while the interpersonal components which are used to express the interpersonal meaning mainly include the mood, the modality, and the evaluation, etc. Tenor of discourse is just the corresponding contextual factor that determines the interpersonal meaning and its linguistic choices. This is just the guidelineemployed by the analysis in this thesis.It is noteworthy that until now the studies on tenor of discourse at home and abroad have been concerned about its theoretical investigations. These studies focused on setting up the dimensions and theoretical models of tenor and exploring the realizations associated with tenor. However, there were few studies applying the theory of tenor analysis to a specific genre of language. As a variety of EST (English for Science and Technology), ECST (English for Common Science and Technology) is becoming more and more important and popular, owing to the development of science and technology and globalization. In ECST texts, the participants are professionals and the lay public. The writers as the professionals know more than the lay public, so they are in a power relationship. However, they also have a desire to maintain an equal and trusty relationship with the lay public. On the one hand, the writers want to impart the information to the lay public without making them feel suppressed. On the other hand, the writers have a desire to maintain and strengthen their authorative status. This contradiction will be inevitably reflected on the lexico-grammatical choices. Therefore, the present study aims at applying SFG to analyze the influence of tenor on the lexico-grammatical choices in ECST texts. This study is significant in that it can help us get to know the linguistic features of ECST texts better and throw light on writing and translation.The thesis consists of five chapters, plus introduction and conclusion.Introduction gives a general introduction to some key factors concerning this study, namely, the reason, purpose, methodology and data collection.Chapter One is the literature review of studies on scientific texts and tenor of discourse. At the end of this section, the author points out the focus of this thesis.Chapter Two displays the theoretical basis for this thesis. In this part, the tenor of discourse, the interpersonal meaning and the lexico-grammatical choices are discussed, which provides a guideline for the exploration of tenor on lexico-grammatical choices in ECST texts.Chapter Three and Chapter Four are the backbone of the whole thesis. The former mainly discusses the content of tenor of discourse in ECST texts whereas the latter provides examples to analyze how tenor of discourse influences the lexico-grammatical choices in ECST texts. In this analysis, we focus on linguistic choices such as mood patterns, personal pronouns "we" and metaphors that relate to tenor of discourse in some way. They contribute to construing the interactive relationships between participants in ECST texts.Chapter Five mainly presents this research's implications for writing and translation.The last part is a brief summary of the whole thesis. Furthermore, limitations of the research and plans for future studies are also touched upon.