ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates a ‘top-down’ approach to describing Mandarin Chinese from a systemic functional linguistic perspective. This approach takes meaning made at the level of context (genre and register) as a point of departure and explores how contextual choices influence language choices. It focuses specifically on the ways in which logical relationships between scientific activities are established, drawing on recent developments of the register variable field—implication relations between activities in particular. The study reveals that implication relations between activities can be realized through temporal and causal connections in discourse and in addition through a range of lexicogrammatical resources, including expanding and downranked clauses, verbal aspect and modal verbs. The chapter offers a productive way of revealing language features, complementing the more common ‘bottom-up’ approach to language description.
