الفهرس 
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Abstract
The thesis seeks to explore the representation of nature in fables, from an ecolinguistic perspective, taking Further Fables for Our Time and Animal Farm as two examples. The aims of the study are: 1) to explore the language patterns which are used to depict nature, e.g., the repetition of certain lexis, ideas, and switching between opinions, so that the reader may understand both sides; 2) to investigate the tendencies and attitudes found in these fables toward nature through examining whether these fables encourage respect and care for the ecosystems, or encourage ecological destruction; 3) to provide an ecolinguistic example by tracing the animals’ relationships, how they treat the elements of nature, and how they reflect human social relations and attitude towards nature. The study seeks to answer the following questions: 1) What language patterns do the writers use to explore nature? 2) How do the fables either encourage respect and care for the ecosystems, or encourage ecological destruction? 3)What makes the fables a model for ecolinguistics? 4) To what extent do the fables succeed in portraying human social relations and attitude towards nature? The thesis draws on ecolinguistics as a new perspective of looking at language, adopts five types of ecosophies categorized by Stibbe (2015), i.e. frame, evaluation, erasure, salience, and identity, relying on these theories in the analysis: Lakoff’s frame theory, Martin and White’s appraisal theory, and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar theory. Besides, the researcher uses corpus linguistics as a tool to achieve the objectives of the thesis, depending on LancBox version 4.0. The data is comprised of 47 fables written by James Thurber and a novel written by George Orwell collected from the internet in pdf form. The analysis shows the possibility of studying fables from an ecolinguistic perspective. In addition, the conclusion elucidates that the interactions between animals, to a large extent, resemble human social relations and manner of exploiting nature.
Keywords: Ecolinguistics, Corpus, Fables, Further Fables for Our Time, Animal Farm