Text Analysis on English Tourist Spot Introductionsfrom the Perspective of Systemic-Functional Linguistics

Abstract

With the rapid growth of China’s domestic tourism and its rising international status, English tourist spot introductions have become vital information carriers for cultural output. While many scholars examine tourism texts through vocabulary and syntax, few focus on the discursive mechanisms of cohesion and coherence. This paper analyzes English-translated tourist spot introductions based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). It first explores the linguistic features of tourism discourse, emphasizing its persuasive and descriptive nature across lexical, syntactic, and textual levels. Then, it investigates the practical application of cohesive devices—including reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion—through specific examples such as the Forbidden City and Xinjiang Tianshan. The study reveals that a strategic reorganization of cohesive ties is essential for achieving textual coherence and functional equivalence in translation. Finally, the paper provides optimization strategies for the writing and translation of tourism texts, aiming to enhance readability and cross-cultural communication efficiency.