A Brief Study of Interpersonal Meaning of Nine Sampled English Advertising Discourse
Abstract: The current study is focused on analyzing nine sampled English advertisements selected from magazines Time and Newsweek to demonstrate how the interpersonal meaning is realized in the advertising English and how the advertisers establish and maintain the interpersonal relationship with consumers. The study is based on Halliday’s conceptual framework of interpersonal meaning and other related research such as Li Zhanzi's work (2002) Interpersonal Meaning in Discourse. The analysis will be carried out from four aspects: person, mood, modality and evaluation. In the current study, it can be seen that the appropriate choice of the interpersonal elements will help the advertisers to gain better effect which attract the readers/potential consumers and persuade them to take action to purchase the product/service.
Keywords: English advertising, interpersonal meaning, person, mood, modality
Contents
Abstract 1
摘 要 1
Chapter 1 Introduction 3
1.1 Research background and situation 3
1.2 Objectives of the study 4
Chapter 2 Literature Review 5
2.1 Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL) 5
2.2 Interpersonal Meaning 5
2.3 Some other theories on interpersonal meaning 6
2.3.1 J. R. Martin's Appraisal System Theory 6
2.3.2 Li Zhanzi’s Interpersonal Meaning in Discourse 7
Chapter 3 Data collection and methods of the current study 7
Chapter 4 Presentation of Sampled Scripts and Analysis 8
4.1 Person system 8
4.1.1 Interpersonal meaning of the first person pronouns 9
4.1.2 The interpersonal meaning of the second person pronouns 11
4.1.3 The combination of the first and second pronouns 11
4.1.4 The interpersonal meaning of the third person pronouns 12
4.1.5 Conclusion 12
4.2 Mood 12
4.2.1 Speech role 12
4.2.2 Mood system 13
4.3 Modality system 16
4.3.1 Types of modality 16
4.3.2 Interpersonal meaning of modality in advertising discourse 17
4.4 Evaluation 19
Chapter 5 Conclusion 20
5.1 Summary 20
5.2 Limitations 21
5.3 Implications 22
References 23
Acknowledgements 23