Abstract

Within the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics, the dissertation aims to analyze how conjunctive markers could construe authorial stance in English academic papers written by the authors who are doing researches in different disciplines and at the same time who are from English-speaking countries and non-English speaking countries respectively.

The current study defines conjunctive markers as the explicit formal conjunctive resources which could form expansive clause complexes. Based on the British National Corpus, the conjunctive markers to be analyzed in this dissertation comprise 44 conjunctions, 51 conjunctive adverbs,8 numerals and 29 prepositional phrases. Authorial stance in the dissertation is defined as the epistemic and affective judgements and attitudes conveyed by the author in the author-reader interaction, which could fulfill or counter the reader’s expectations.

A literature review shows that the previous researches,whether abroad or at home, mainly lay emphasis on the textual function and logical function of conjunctive markers and a systematic study of how conjunctive markers construct authorial stance in the interpersonal dimension is underresearched. In this dissertation, 240 English academic papers are selected from three disciplines. For natural sciences, the disciplines of physics and biology are chosen; for social sciences, linguistics and sociology; and for humanities, history and literature. At the same time, these English academic papers are written by the professionals who are native English speakers and non-native English speakers respectively. It is presupposed that the conjunctive markers will display similarities and differences based on the nature of various disciplines and different linguistic-cultural backgrounds of the authors.

On the basis of the analyzing model of the conjunctive markers in the English academic papers, the dissertation divides the conjunctive markers into two types: the conjunctive markers which fulfill the expectations and those which counter the expectations. The former type comprises appositive, clarificative, causal, spatio-temporal, positive additive,positive comparative and positive conditional conjunctive markers, while the latter type contains adversative, varying, concessive, negative additive, negative comparative and negative conditional conjunctive markers.

On the one hand, this study compares the features of conjunctive markers in different disciplines. Based on the quantitative results, it is found that the English academic papers in humanities and social sciences always take larger proportion in using conjunctive markers than those in natural sciences. This phenomenon is greatly influenced by the nature of harder disciplines such as natural sciences and softer disciplines such as humanities and social sciences in that they are different in the research methodologies, the authors’ roles, the knowledge types and writing demands, etc. On the other hand, the current research analyzes the similarities and differences in using the conjunctive markers by the authors who are native English speakers and non-native English speakers. It is noted that the frequencies of conjunctive markers are higher in the English academic papers written by those who are native English speakers.Moreover, the authors from English-speaking countries not only use more conjunctive markers but also explore high-frequency types more diversely in English academic papers. When referring to the sub-types of conjunctive markers, there are differences in their frequencies. The main influencing factors of this dimension are writing conventions, roles of the authors and readers, kinds of cultural shifts and rhetorical patterns between these two types of authors.

Theoretically, the current study could contribute to the research of the interpersonal function of the conjunctive markers in construing authorial stance. This research shows that there is a close relationship between stance construing and the social organization of disciplinary communities,between the choice of conjunctive markers and the linguistic-cultural backgrounds of the authors.

Practically, the findings shed light on the teaching and learning of English writing. Firstly, the teachers could inspire the students’ sensitivity of discourse community, in which the students can specify what kinds of linguistic resources are chosen. Secondly, the research will offer the teachers a useful way of assisting students towards controlling over disciplinary writing practices. Thirdly, this dissertation points out that Chinese students are inexperienced in considering social-cultural factors and not so good at critical thinking in their writing. The comparison of conjunctive markers between the English academic papers written by the authors from English-speaking countries and non-English speaking countries could be considered as an effective instruction for the students from non-English speaking countries, especially Chinese students, in their English writing.

Key words: conjunctive markers, authorial stance, English academic papers