The Literature Review of A Brief Analysis of Chinese Disaster Reporting in New York Times from the Perspective of Systematic-Functional Grammar The 21st century has witnessed the fast development of mass media, from the prevailing newspaper to the booming Internet. Along with the rapid development of information network and communication technology, mass media is playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives in modern society. As an important means of communication and a particular type of media discourse, news report serves as the source of information, entertainment and enrichment of the cultural lives of people, and subtly influences and changes people’s cognition, behavior and values. Almost everyday, more or less, people are exposed to news media, influenced by news media, even rely on news media. As van Dijk points out that media discourse is the main source of people’s knowledge, attitudes and ideologies, both of elites as well as of ordinary citizens (Van Dijk, 1998a, p. 51). What the author wants to uncover in this thesis is the underlying ideology hidden in disaster news discourse through a case study of disaster news reports from NYT with Halliday’s Systematic-Functional Grammar as its framework. There are four main reasons for being interested in studying media discourse: Firstly, media is a rich source of readily accessible data for research and teaching. Secondly, media usage influences and represents people’s use of and attitudes towards language in a speech community. Thirdly (and related), media use can tell us a great deal about social meanings and stereotypes projected through language and communication. Fourthly (and again related), media reflects and influences the formation and expression of culture, politics and social life (Bell & Garrett, 1998, p.3-18, 24). What all these shows that media functions not only as providers of information, but also a shaper of perception. 1. Overview of News Discourse Study Abroad The early studies of news, just as Van Dijk mentioned, are characterized by anecdote (Van Dijk, 1988, p.5). Among those studies; journalists often narrate their own experience to provide news media with well-intentioned advice and sharp criticism. The typical approach they adopted is case study. In the early 20th century, many analysts started to show great interests in news
1 Functional grammar
Study of language: structure
system
Sound grammar sound
Grammar
Meaning
Sound system
Constituency: larger unit are made up out of smaller ones: a line out of feet; a foot out of syllable, a
syllable out of phonemes
Melodic unit, line
rhythmic unit, foot
Rhyme: rhyming segment
Syllable
Onset: preceding segment attached to rhyme
Articulation and prosody
Articulation: smaller sound segment, phonemes; arbitrary
Prosody: larger sound units, intonation and rhythm; natural
If all the world was apple pie,
And all the see was ink,
And all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have to drink?
Even-numbered beat syllable
Beat syllable: one strong, or salient, syllabl
Systemic-Functional Grammar
Originator
M.A.K. Halliday, is the founder of systemic functional linguistics.
In1947-1949, he studied at Beijing University and in 1949-1950 at Ling
Nan University. In 1955, he got doctor’s degree at Cambridge University
with The Language of the Chinese. Halliday has developed ideas
stemming from Firth’s Theories in the London School. He is probably the
most important representative of the System-Functional School. His
system-functional grammar has had great effect on various disciplines
related to language, such as language and machine translation.
Definition
Systemic-functional grammar is a form of grammatical description
originated by Michael Halliday. It is a sociologically oriented functional
linguistic approach and one of the most influential linguistic theories in
Cultural and Religious Studies, September 2023, Vol. 11, No. 9, 444-449 doi: 10.17265/2328-2177/2023.09.005
Discourse Analysis in Translation of Chinese Literature:
The Case Study of Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s
Translation of Kong Yiji
LIU Miao
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China
Since the early 1970s, discourse analysis has garnered significant attention across various academic disciplines,
marked by the proliferation of numerous theoretical frameworks. Then the profound impact of discourse analysis on
the field of translation research has become increasingly apparent, with a substantial body of translation studies
embracing the discourse analysis approach. The disciplinary significance of discourse analysis has become
undeniable. Contemporary China is in a relatively weak position in global cultural communication. To advance
