Journal abstracts in China English

Abstract

Building upon the macro analysis of the rhetorical structure of the text, Systemic Functional linguistics (SFL), in which Thematic structure and Transitivity processes and other grammatical features are examined, will be utilised to investigate how language is organized to make meaning in journal abstracts in the current study. The purpose of this study is to investigate patterns of similarities and differences between journal abstracts written for a local Chinese readership and international readership by investigating the linguistic features embedded in the abstract part of research articles (RA). The analytical approach facilitated by Santos’s (1996) five move analysis model and the informing SFL linguistic theory is intended to explore the gene structure and features of Chinese English RA abstracts in comparison to the international academics in the World Englishes (WE) context.