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A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies

Received: 12 June 2021    Accepted: 22 June 2021    Published: 30 June 2021
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Abstract

Initially proposed by Biber, the multidimensional analysis is used to examine the linguistic variation among different registers, shedding light on the linguistic features and differences among different genres. Through the tool of MAT, this study compared the register features in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American advanced equipment manufacturing companies (AEMCs). It is found that: 1) the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs are both informational, non-narrative, contextually independent, non-overt in expressing views, abstract and well-planned, belonging to the text type of learned exposition; 2) In comparison, the letters to the shareholders by Chinese AEMCs are relatively more informational, narrative and abstract, but less dependent on context and lower in on-line informational elaboration while letters by American AEMCs show more features of interaction with the readers, focusing on the present actions, context-dependence and on-line informational elaboration; 3) The key linguistic features that account for these differences include nouns, nominalizations, first-person pronouns, present tense verbs, past tense verbs, phrasal coordination, phrasal coordination, prediction modals, conjuncts, passives, demonstratives and that-clauses. 4) The future Return on Equity (ROE) of the Chinese AEMCs is related to the dimensions of “explicit/context-dependent references” and “on-line informational elaboration”. 5) In comparison to the previous study, industry is found to have an effect on the linguistic variation of letters to the shareholders. This study gave a comprehensive view of the linguistic features and differences in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs and had some pedagogical implications for business English teaching and learning.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14
Page(s) 161-168
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Multi-dimensional Analysis, Linguistic Variation, Letters to the Shareholders, Chinese and American Equipment Manufacturing Companies

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Liao Shunzhu. (2021). A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(4), 161-168. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14

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    ACS Style

    Liao Shunzhu. A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(4), 161-168. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14

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    AMA Style

    Liao Shunzhu. A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(4):161-168. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14,
      author = {Liao Shunzhu},
      title = {A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {9},
      number = {4},
      pages = {161-168},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210904.14},
      abstract = {Initially proposed by Biber, the multidimensional analysis is used to examine the linguistic variation among different registers, shedding light on the linguistic features and differences among different genres. Through the tool of MAT, this study compared the register features in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American advanced equipment manufacturing companies (AEMCs). It is found that: 1) the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs are both informational, non-narrative, contextually independent, non-overt in expressing views, abstract and well-planned, belonging to the text type of learned exposition; 2) In comparison, the letters to the shareholders by Chinese AEMCs are relatively more informational, narrative and abstract, but less dependent on context and lower in on-line informational elaboration while letters by American AEMCs show more features of interaction with the readers, focusing on the present actions, context-dependence and on-line informational elaboration; 3) The key linguistic features that account for these differences include nouns, nominalizations, first-person pronouns, present tense verbs, past tense verbs, phrasal coordination, phrasal coordination, prediction modals, conjuncts, passives, demonstratives and that-clauses. 4) The future Return on Equity (ROE) of the Chinese AEMCs is related to the dimensions of “explicit/context-dependent references” and “on-line informational elaboration”. 5) In comparison to the previous study, industry is found to have an effect on the linguistic variation of letters to the shareholders. This study gave a comprehensive view of the linguistic features and differences in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs and had some pedagogical implications for business English teaching and learning.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Multidimensional Analysis of Letters to the Shareholders by Chinese and American Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Companies
    AU  - Liao Shunzhu
    Y1  - 2021/06/30
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14
    T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    SP  - 161
    EP  - 168
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0221
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.14
    AB  - Initially proposed by Biber, the multidimensional analysis is used to examine the linguistic variation among different registers, shedding light on the linguistic features and differences among different genres. Through the tool of MAT, this study compared the register features in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American advanced equipment manufacturing companies (AEMCs). It is found that: 1) the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs are both informational, non-narrative, contextually independent, non-overt in expressing views, abstract and well-planned, belonging to the text type of learned exposition; 2) In comparison, the letters to the shareholders by Chinese AEMCs are relatively more informational, narrative and abstract, but less dependent on context and lower in on-line informational elaboration while letters by American AEMCs show more features of interaction with the readers, focusing on the present actions, context-dependence and on-line informational elaboration; 3) The key linguistic features that account for these differences include nouns, nominalizations, first-person pronouns, present tense verbs, past tense verbs, phrasal coordination, phrasal coordination, prediction modals, conjuncts, passives, demonstratives and that-clauses. 4) The future Return on Equity (ROE) of the Chinese AEMCs is related to the dimensions of “explicit/context-dependent references” and “on-line informational elaboration”. 5) In comparison to the previous study, industry is found to have an effect on the linguistic variation of letters to the shareholders. This study gave a comprehensive view of the linguistic features and differences in the letters to the shareholders by Chinese and American AEMCs and had some pedagogical implications for business English teaching and learning.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

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