This article investigates the syntactic and semantic properties of Chinese flip-flop sentences in terms of Labeling Theory（Chomsky 2013, 2015）. In particular, it is pointed out that a“flip”sentence shares the same basic structure with its“flop”counterpart, and that the different surface structure of the two sentences actually reflects two logical possibilities of solving labeling issues at the v P level. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the interpretive differences between the flip-flop constructions are mainly related to the inflectional layer of the clausal spine. Although both sentences are labeled as Mod（a silent modal category）, the types of modality involved are not entirely the same: while the flip construction may involve either capacity or deontic modality, the flop construction only allows deontic interpretations.
Based on the pragmatic identity theory and rapport management theory, this study analyzed data from the posts of“Voice of Friendly Shandong”, the public account of Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, with the purpose of exploring the construction of pragmatic identities and the implementation of interpersonal functions in the posts according to strategies in the discourse, stylistic and illocutionary domains. It was found that the poster used rapport management strategies to construct the identities of scenery exhibitor, food sharer, product promoter, readers. friend, advocate of history and culture, and information provider, so as to realize the corresponding interpersonal functions, such as shaping a positive face of the institution,maintaining readers. right of equity and association, and achieving the interactional goals of cultural tourism publicity and the building of harmonious relationship. By means of the dynamic construction of pragmatic identities, the poster managed to shape a good image of the tourist destination, improve regional soft power, as well as promote the integrated development of culture and tourism.
Ideational grammatical metaphor（IGM, henceforth） is one of the theoretical innovations in systemic functional linguistics. However, its application in second language studies（L2,henceforth） remains to be enhanced. The present paper aims to show the frontiers and trends of L2IGM studies. We first review L2 IGM in the literature, finding that the research topics cover IGM features in learners-related texts and IGM pedagogy. In terms of research methodology, text analysis is mainly employed, and a combination of quantitative and qualitive analysis is also adopted. Based on the review, we then discuss the directions for future study, including enhancing the study of nonnominalizing IGMs, broadening the pedagogical scopes of L2 IGM, and deepening the theoretical construct of L2 IGM. As IGM indicates the advancedness of language development and plays a critical role in academic discourse, we argue that L2 IGM is significant for Chinese foreign language education.
Multimodal discourse analysis provides a new perspective for the study of legal discourse.In the closing arguments of the trial, the prosecution and defense attorneys deploy multimodal resources to present evidence, demonstrate views, and take stances in order to achieve their communicative intentions. Focusing on the closing arguments in the trial of George Floyd case, this paper builds an analytical framework based on the attitude system and paralinguistic categories proposed by Martin et al., qualitatively annotates and quantifies the language and paralinguistic information in the trial with the help of UAM Corpus Tool and Praat, and analyzes the multimodal representation of the case by both the prosecution and defense attorneys in their closing arguments.This research shows that the prosecution and defense attorneys utilize different multimodal resources such as language and paralanguage to express their attitudes towards different participants, thus constructing different narratives and demonstrating how justice is seen to be done.
Previous studies have disputes concerning whether Chinese native speakers have difficulty in counterfactual reasoning. Using eye-tracking technique, the present study investigated the cognitive process underlying Chinese counterfactual comprehension, as well as the influence of L2 proficiency on L1 processing. Our study had two major findings.（1） Chinese native speakers can quickly integrate upcoming information into a counterfactual world, and their eye-movement pattern was similar to the processing pattern of Indo-European native speakers. The result pattern supports the dual representation hypothesis: both the literal suppositional representation and the implied factual representation are initially activated. But as discourse unfolds, readers can quickly make contextually appropriate inferences and inhibit the inappropriate representation based on evolving linguistic cues.（2） Higher L2 proficiency predicted larger semantic anomaly detection effects in the early stage of counterfactual processing. This positive correlation indicates that more advanced L2 learners are better at inferring and retrieving counterfactual meaning. This paper discussed the present results with respect to bilingual advantage, rather than the reverse conceptual transfer. Bilingual experiences may enhance mental flexibility, which could in turn promote counterfactual processing.
