Browsing by Author "Wang, Pin"

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    Chinese Nominal Groups: The Metaphorical Realization of Figures
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD, 2022) Hao, Jing; Wang, Pin
    In this paper, we examine how nominal groups in Mandarin Chinese are involved in the realization of experiential grammatical metaphors, drawing on data from a history textbook chapter that recounts historical activities in the Opium War. We approach nominal group realizations of historical activities from a 'top-down' perspective along the hierarchy of stratification. While the discourse semantic figures construing activities can be realized congruently through a clause, the academic discourse of history favors nominal realizations. Previous descriptions of nominal groups in Mandarin Chinese have focused predominantly on the realization of entities. The nominal realizations of figures, however, have yet to be given sufficient consideration. We will show that some elements involved in such nominal groups do not share the functional characteristics of congruent ones. In addition to recognizable functions including Thing, Epithet, Measurer, Deictic and Qualifier, two distinctive functions, named here as Target and Orientation, are also identified. Our study aims to illustrate a descriptive method that considers multiple strata and provide a description of nominal groups involved in metaphorical realizations. The study suggests that grammatical descriptions need to reason from above, as well as round about and below - taking into account both discourse semantics and register variation.
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    Systemic Functional Grammar: a text-based description of English, Spanish and Chinese
    (2023) Martin, J.R.; Quiroz, Beatriz; Wang, Pin
    Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a usage-based theory of language, founded on the assumption that language is shaped entirely by its various functions in the contexts in which it used. The first of its kind, this book advances SFL by applying it comparatively to English, Spanish and Chinese. By analysing English alongside two other, typologically very different major world languages, it shows how SFL can effectively address two central issues in linguistics – namely typology and universals. It concentrates in particular on argumentation, carefully explaining how descriptions of nominal group, verbal group and clause systems and structures are motivated, and draws on examples from key texts which display a full range of ideational, interpersonal and textual grammar resources. By working across three world languages from a text-based perspective, and demonstrating how grammar descriptions can be developed and improved, the book establishes the foundations for a groundbreaking functional approach to language typology.