Functional Grammar Analysis Of Abstracts In Research Articles

Abstract, as a short, highly summarized style, is the key factor which decideswhether a paper can be used, published and searched. It is an epitome of the long paper,directly reflecting the overview of the thesis and research results. Meanwhile abstractplays a very important role in attracting readers and providing main research contents forthem. With the rapid development of the social globalization, English abstract plays asignificant role in international communication.This thesis selects40abstracts of academic papers from different disciplines as acorpus. Based on Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar, this thesis describes andanalyzes the language features of abstract using quantitative and qualitative approach withthe help of the scientific tool of Ant Concord. Halliday’s three metafunctions are widelyapplied in discourse analysis. Halliday points out that there are three metafunctions in theadult language: ideational, interpersonal and textual. This thesis mainly studies therealization of language features and its rules of the three metafunctions in abstract ofresearch articles from the perspective of six processes of transitivity system, passive andactive voice, mood system, theme-rheme and cohesion.According to the study, from the perspective of ideational function, material process isof the highest frequency in the abstracts, followed by relational process, verbal process,and mental process. From the perspective of interpersonal function, statements appearmore. In abstracts, statements are the most simple and effective way to communicateinformation. Information is the communication exchange. The author plays the role ofinformation giver and the reader is the information receiver. This process is different fromgeneral communication activities. The author and readers do not need to communicateface to face. So the communication can not be very direct and timely. Therefore thestatements are relatively frequent in abstracts. From the perspective of textual function,thematic structure and cohesive system make abstract coherent and integrated. Theme andRheme can not only help the author form coherent discourse effectively but also help thereaders understand discourse correctly. Furthermore, abstract is a meaningful and independent discourse and in abstracts all kinds of cohesive devices is an importantmethod to form discourse.This study aims to expand the research scope of abstracts of research articles, deepenthe understanding of its language features, reveal their functional styles and languagefeatures and provide some help and reference for academic paper writing.