A Genre Analysis of Prefaces in Chinese Linguistics Monographs
School of Arts and Sciences, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology,, Xi’an 710021, China
| Abstract: | Genre analysis study in the past focused on abstract or introduction of research articles, less attention has been paid to the prefaces to monographs, and linguistic monographs in particular. In addition, previous research on genre analysis study revolved around the structure itself, ignoring the linguistic realization of the structure. Based on an analytical framework and self-constructed corpus consisting of Chinese Linguistics Monographs, the present study tries both to generalize the generic structure of the less-heeded preface of linguistic monographs and to explore the linguistic resources with which the structure is realized. Genre analysis of these prefaces indicated that: there are four moves in prefaces: Move 1 (Introducing the Research), Move 2 (Introducing the Book), Move 3 (Expressing Gratitude) and Move 4 (Self-gradating and Soliciting a Response), among which Moves 1, 2, and 4 are obligatory while Move 3 is not. Analysis of linguistic resources that realize generic structures showed that: among the four processes analyzed, relational process, material process, and mental process occur more frequently in “Introducing the Field”, while material process, verbal process and relational process are relatively frequent in “Introducing the Book”; The use of personal pronouns in Moves 1 and 3 are more frequent than in Move 2; Modal verbs occur more frequently in Moves 1 and 2 but less so in Moves 3 and 4, conjunction occurs more frequently in Moves 4 and 3 than in Moves 1 and 2. |
| Keywords: | Moves, Steps, Metafunctions, Prefaces, Chinese Linguistics Monographs |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.ssrf.2023.05.001 |
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Received: 22 August 2022
Accepted: 5 October 2022
Published Online: 9 October 2023
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