An Ecological Discourse Analysis Of The Animal Novel "The Call Of The Wild" From The Perspective Of Transitivity

Ecological discourse analysis is a key research area of ecological linguistics.Based on the theory of ecological philosophy,it makes a systematic analysis of discourse,determines the ecological types of discourse,and then puts forward ecological beneficial suggestions,so as to promote the positive ecological turn of human behavior.Based on the ecosophy,this study uses the transitivity system theory to analyze the animal novel The Call of the Wild,trying to explore how the text conveys the ecological discourse type through the transitivity system.This study uses a hierarchical ecological discourse analysis framework,including surface meaning and deep meaning.In the exploration of the surface meaning,the ecological semantic representations of the novel are presented by the transitivity system.In the analysis of the deep meaning,based on the ecosophy which is proposed by the deep ecology and ecological sense of place,this study combines the surface meaning of the transitivity system to discuss the ecological discourse type of this novel.In view of this,this study concludes the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.Firstly,this study presents the distribution of transitivity system.Secondly,based on the ecosophy,the ecological semantic representations of the ecological features are analyzed by the transitive system in this novel.Finally,the ecological discourse type of this novel is classified and the semantic representations of ecological meaning is summarized.Based on the analysis,this study finds that the ecological features are conveyed by the transitivity system in this novel which includes three types: eco-beneficial discourse,eco-ambivalent discourse and eco-destructive discourse.The transitivity system in this novel expresses eco-beneficial features account for the highest proportion.Therefore,this novel is an eco-beneficial discourse.Firstly,through the ecological analysis of transitivity process,the dogs are regarded as the main participants and serve as actors,giving the natural participants full initiative and respect.At the same time,dogs participants in this novel have perception,emotion,and cognitive abilities,conveying the thought of equal symbiosis between humans and natural ecology.The description of animals' living habits and natural phenomena helps to increase readers' knowledge of animals and nature.Secondly,the proportion of eco-ambivalent discourses in this novel is lower than that of eco-beneficial discourses.The eco-ambivalent discourse in this study mainly describes attributes and states,and its verbs of processes have undefined ecological semantic tendency.Thirdly,the eco-destructive discourses are mainly reflected in the exploitative relationship between human and dogs.In this relationship,dogs are traded and sold as profitable tools,and they are human' s appendages.Based on the above findings,this study considers that different ecological discourses are corresponding to ecological semantic representations.Theoretically,this study aims to contribute the application of the transitivity system within the paradigm of ecological discourse analysis.Practically,this study attempts to provide a critical perspective on reading animal novels for readers,and appeals to creators to reflect the ecological attitudes in their works,and encourages people to think,speak and act ecolinguistically.