Language Soothe

Verbal grooming is proposed by Robin Dunbar in Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language (1996). Robin Dunbar considers that verbal grooming is the spirit social communicating behavior by acoustic language, not by body contact. It is the method of transferring information and maintaining relationships, owned just by human beings. Dunbar thinks that the interpersonal function is the only function of verbal grooming, that is, language is used to organize, establish, consolidate and enlarge humans'association. However, the paper holds that there are other functions on verbal grooming. This paper, based on the theoretical framework of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar, demonstrates that the function of verbal grooming also includes persuasion, explaining and controlling. The demonstration analyzes different materials from transitivity, mood, modality, evaluation, thematic structure and theme-rheme patterns. In the process of analysis, the paper firstly introduces the definition and the function of verbal grooming from Robin Dunbar's point of view. Then there follows the review of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. With the help of statistical calculation, the main part of this paper has an elaborate analysis on advertisement, tour guide speech and the questioning language of the therapist respectively. Functions of verbal grooming, including persuasion, explaining, controlling, are proved from Halliday's ideational, interpersonal and textual functions. To sum up, the paper more clearly expounds verbal grooming, and it further enriches the functions of verbal grooming.