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Abstract Abstract: Corpus-based local grammar research of evaluative language has provided a new approach to investigating form-meaning features in different texts. However, no further research has investigated the features of evaluative language used by different L1 scholars within a specific academic discipline. Based on the Corpus of Academic Research Essays of Business, the researcher conducted a contrastive investigation into Western and Chinese business scholars' local grammar patterns associated with the evaluative patterns of "v ADJ to-inf.”and"v ADJ that". The research results showed that the two groups showed more differences than similarities in using the functional labels, evaluative meanings and co-selection relationships of the evaluative language. They shared the high-frequency evaluative patterns and meanings. Compared with Chinese scholars, the western scholars used apparently more local evaluative patterns and had their preferred local grammar patterns, such as “action + evaluative meaning [desirably] + action”. The findings may be helpful to increase the readability of academic discourse and enrich the means of meta-discourse by Chinese scholars.
Key words: local grammar; appraisal language; functional labels; evaluative meaning
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