Abstract
Our hypothesis in this article is that Julia Álvarez chooses several anomalous syntactical structures in English in the short stories My English and A Genetics of Justice to point out certain facts or certain feelings that are important in her life. In this sense we can say that there is a relationship between the use of words or structures and the author’s ideology. This article is within the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar for two main reasons: a) the importance of context for the analysis of the main syntactical processes of thematization and postponement in English and b) because it studies language in relation to society and analyses the main reasons for choosing between some linguistic forms or others, fact that is always determined for the function that those linguistic forms have in society. The main purpose of this article is to show that presenting ideas using certain syntactical structures in English (existential sentences, extraposition, pseudo-cleft sentences, passive, cleft sentences, reversed pseudo cleft and left dislocation) is not at random because those structures have specific communicative implications, as we will see when we analyse the examples in the two short stories we have chosen.
Highlights
In a functional grammar approach, the interpretation of language is understood as a system of meanings together with the forms that those meanings express (Halliday, 19942: xiii-xiv)
Instead of having chosen independent examples coming from a computational corpus, we have decided to analyse some anomalous syntactical processes in English in two short stories written by the Hispanic writer Julia Álvarez: My English and A Genetics of Justice
The end of the second short story is really representative since it emphasizes the genetics of justice as something the Hispanic population got: If there is such a thing as genetic justice that courses through the generations and manifests itself full-blown in a family moment, there it was (Álvarez, 2001: 211)
Summary
In a functional grammar approach, the interpretation of language is understood as a system of meanings together with the forms that those meanings express (Halliday, 19942: xiii-xiv). Having spent the majority of her life in the United States, Álvarez considers herself influenced by American culture, yet her writing bridges the realms of Latino and American culture Her Dominican roots are often traced in her stories, but they are flooded with insights about the human experience. Her works reflect the multiple identity she has assumed as a woman, a Latin American, and an American In these two short stories My English and A Genetics of Justice, she unveils such powerful issues as the male chauvinism characteristic of Hispanic families, the role of women under dictatorships, and the misogyny manifested in political structures.
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