ABSTRACT

Language has a close connection with social background, including politics, economy, history, culture and so on, of one region or one country. Proverb is an important part of language. From the perspective of discursive construction, this paper makes a study on the English proverbs about Chinese with Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar and Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Model as its theoretical framework. By analyzing the discursive construction of Chinese images in the English proverbs, this paper tries to interpret the hidden ideology, power relations and social background behind the discourse. In terms of theory, this thesis is of help to broaden the research category of Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar to a certain extent, and also widen the research perspective of the relevant topics, namely, research about Chinese images in English proverbs. In practice, this article is intended to help people have a certain command of the English proverbs about Chinese and help people know more about the ideologies, power relations hidden behind the English speakers. Further, this study is designed to help people learn more about the social background of English speaking countries. 

Key words: Chinese image; discursive construction; English proverb; Systematic Functional Grammar; Three-dimensional Model

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 An Overview of English Proverbs-3

2.1.1 Definition of English Proverbs-3

2.1.2 Classification of English Proverbs-3

2.1.3 Characteristics of English Proverbs-4

2.2 English Proverbs about Chinese Image-4

2.3 Previous Studies at Home and Abroad-5

Chapter Three METHODOLOGY-7

3.1 Research Questions-7

3.2 An Overview of Discursive Construction-7

3.3 Theoretical Framework-8

3.3.2 Halliday's Systematic Functional Grammar-8

3.3.3 Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Model-9

3.3.4 Summary-..10

Chapter Four Discursive Construction of Chinese Images in English Proverbs-11

4.1 Description-11

4.1.1 Classification of Words-11

4.1.2 Modal Verbs-13

4.1.3 Textual Function-14

4.2 Interpretation-15

4.2.1 Ideology-15

4.2.2 Power Relations-15

4.3 Explanation Stage of English Proverbs about Chinese-16

Chapter Five CONCLUSIONS-18

WORKS CITED-20