Human-nature relationships in experiential meaning: transitivity system of Chinese from an ecolinguistic perspective

Abstract

Following a systemic functional approach to ecolinguistic studies, this study explores the Chinese transitivity system's interpretative potential in revealing the dynamic relationship between human beings and their living places. The research extends the transitivity system under the ethical framework of Ecological Sense of Place, drawing on theories from human geography and traditional Chinese philosophies. Within such a premise, the system of process configurations and participants of Chinese process types are reinterpreted, arguing that both the participant and the process should be judged through an ecological lens concerning their function in construing the human-place relationships. The scale of influence and environmental stances of Participant roles is addressed, following a belief that every entity contains participative potential as -er/ed role of a process. Place as a circumstantial role is expressly acknowledged for their contribution to circumscribe people-place relationships. Regarding the process types, a reconsideration of their emotive, cognitive and agentive features is proposed to reveal the embedded attitudes toward places. These observations extend the knowledge on how the transitivity system can be refined to show the speaker/writer's attitude toward the ecology and its further influences on the collective understanding of human-nature relationships.