Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

On“GrammaticalLogic”inSystemic-FunctionalLinguistics, by FENG Zongxin, p.5

Systemic-Functional Grammar is a theory of grammar and grammatics, based on “grammatical logic”.This paper, starting from the origins of and relations between grammar and logic, discusses essential characteristics of grammatical logic and the issues it deals with, and points out that grammatical logic evolves from natural logic, parallels mathematical logic, but is more inclusive and more explanatory than mathematical logic.In modeling natural language, grammatical logic has touched upon some fundamental problems in many fields of modern logic.

TransitivityAnalysisoftheBa-StructureinModernChinese:ACardiffGrammarPerspective, by ZHANG Jingyuan & WANG Shen, p.12

Ba-structure is a common pattern in Chinese grammar.Although many domestic grammarians have done a lot of researh and made achievements on this language pattern, there are still many deficiencies at theoretical level.By introducing the transitivity system of the Cardiff grammar, this paper categorizes theba-construction into four process types: action process, mental process, relational process and influential process, and then elaborates the semantic function of theba-structure.

ExploringInterpersonalMeaningofPoliticalAddressfromthePerspectiveofAppraisalTheory:With“IHaveADream”asaCase, by YANG Xiaohong, p.16

This paper studies application and distribution of appraisal resources in political addresses from the perspective of the Appraisal Theory with “I Have A Dream” as a case.Results show that attitude, graduation, and engagement resources being abundant in this master political address, attitude resources operate as a circle, graduation resources with preference to force overlap with engagement resources, which mainly make the theme prominent and the address persuasive.This paper, by demonstrating the unique charm of “I Have A Dream”, also verifies the feasibility and practicability of the Appraisal Theory in analyzing political addresses.

TheTheoryConstructionofRT-SLA:SecondLanguageAcquisitionStudyfromthePragmaticPerspective, by YU Cuihong, p.21

Beginning with the pragmatic principle of relevance, Relevance Theory engenders a profound impact on the field of pragmatics and linguistics.SLA, integrating the pragmatic orientation and major theoretical points of Relevance Theory, brings about a new revelation to a number of important issues.Based on the reviews of the mainstream research in SLA within the theoretical framework of Relevance Theory, this paper probes into the explanatory power of RT-SLA from the aspects of theory construction and research methods, demonstrates its advantages and limitations, proposes amendments from three aspects, and puts forward the trend for future research.

OnSocio-cognitivePerspectiveinSecondLanguageAcquisition, by LIU Donglou & WANG Xiangde, p.27

Situated cognition develops and shapes the theory of situated learning under the guidance of social practice philosophy in cognitive science.It helps to form a socio-cognitive approach to second language acquisition (SLA) which narrows the gap between social and cognitive linguists in SLA field, and enhances their cooperation.Researchers adopting socio-cognition view put forward three principles in SLA: inseparability, adaptability and alignment, and explain SLA in the models of connectionism, alignment and interaction.Nowadays, there are three views about socio-cognition approach to SLA, which are socio-cultural theory, holistic theory and synthetic theory.

AContrastiveAnalysisofSentenceswithInanimateSubjectsinEnglishCompositionsbyChineseandAmericanUniversityStudents, by HE Mingzhu, p.32

This paper conducts a contrastive analysis of the sentences with inanimate subjects (SWIS) in 98 English compositions by 49 Chinese and 49 American university students respectively.The study shows that: (1) although the distribution ratio of SWIS in English compositions (EC) by Chinese university students (CUS) is higher than that in EC by American university students (AUS), SWIS in EC by AUS are better or more proportionally distributed; (2) AUS are better able to make English SWIS with simple verbs like “make; come, go; bring, take; give, provide” etc.in forms of set phrases, idiomatic collocations and common sentence patterns than CUS; (3) CUS and AUS are accustomed to making SWIS with two different kinds of special verbs respectively, and therefore some SWIS by CUS are less metaphorical or vivid than those by AUS due to a lower degree of animacy.

OntheEver-existingLinguisticBottleneckforChineseLiteraturetoRunfortheNobelPrize:AReflectionoverMoYan’sSuccess, by FAN Wuqiu, p.38

It’s no exaggeration to say that translation is a profession with no lack of regret.While the translator himself can comprehend and admire the literary grace and elegance of the source language, it is from time to time no easy job to render this literary grace and elegance exactly into the target language.Things become much more prominent when C-E translation is concerned, which is of certain significance for Chinese writers to run for the Nobel Prize in Literature.Mo Yan’s success is of certain help to ease the Chinese anxiety about the Nobel Prize breakthrough, while the language bottleneck will last for long, as it can be said that generally the process of C-E translation is of complementing continuously “meaning blank”, of changing “meaning indeterminacy” into “determinacy of meaning”, and also of turning the romantic poetic realm down into the realistic logical world.

OntheEnglishTranslationofChineseAvant-GardeFiction:WithTranslationsofYuHua’sWorksasExamples, by LI Ke, p.42

Chinese avant-garde fiction, which has been considered as a symbol of revolution and rebellion, plays an important role in the history of Chinese contemporary literature.With his distinctive personal literary style, Yu Hua has become one of the most accomplished representatives among Chinese avant-gardists, whose works have been continuously translated into English since the early 1990s.It is the common efforts, made by western translators with personal interests, overseas editors with cultural duty, as well as foreign sinologists, that promote the translation of those works.Nevertheless, problems are still there.Yu Hua’s manipulation of language and narration, including the violence depicting, the employment of repetition and others avant-garde writing skills, can hardly be fully reproduced in translations.

LiberatingThemselvesinPoeticRhymes:OnHowAfro-AmericanWomenPoetsInterpretandRe-constructBlackWomen’sIdentities, by WANG Yezhao, p.47

For African Americans, poem is a unique way to express their inner minds.In the poems analyzed in this paper, from women’s perspective, Afro-American women poets interpret black women’s diligence and persistence, extremely marginalized social identities, and their vital role in maintaining the developments of black nation.Through depicting the true images of black women, the poets aim at dissolving their negative stereotypes in mainstream society so that they can re-construct their identities as soon as possible.Based on identity theory, this paper demonstrates that, as an artistic means, poem owns distinctive powers to interpret and re-construct black women’s identities.

TechnologyandSubjectivityinDonDeLillo’sFiction, by ZHU Ronghua, p.51

Impacts of technology on human beings’ subjectivity are implied in Don DeLillo’s fiction.A close reading ofWhiteNoiseandUnderworldwill show DeLillo’s examination of technocracy in modern society and his worries about the technologization of human subjectivity.On the other hand, DeLillo has reflected on human beings’ reconstruction of technological discourse to go beyond the limits of technocracy and rebuild a healthy technological world.