A Comparative Study On The Realization Of Interpersonal Meaning In Chinese And English Public Service Advertisements From The Perspective Of Systemic Functional Grammar

Language can not only be used to describe the world, but can also be used to establish and maintain the interpersonal relation between the speaker and the listener. People use language to interact with others, to express their own viewpoints, to influence other people’ s attitudes or behaviors. This function is called interpersonal meaning. Interpersonal meaning derives from Halliday’s systemic functional grammar. Halliday points out that language has three meta-functions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. And the three meta-functions can be realized through the grammar system of a language. Due to the close relation between language and culture, the realization of interpersonal meaning may vary from different cultures. This thesis aims to compare the realization of interpersonal meaning in Chinese and English public service advertisements from the perspective of systemic functional grammar and explain cultural factors affecting the differences.Unlike traditional commercial advertisements, public service advertisements are primarily created to educate the public rather than sell products or services. The goal of public service advertisementsis not to make a big sale, but rather to change public opinion and arousetheir awarenesses of social issues.The study of public service advertisements has been neglected for a long time by many scholars. Therefore, this thesis picks up fifty articles from websites and magazines, twenty five of which are selected from Chinese public service advertisements and others are selected from English public service advertisements. This thesis makes an analysis of the realization of interpersonal meaning in Chinese and English public service advertisements by mood, modality, person and evaluation system respectively.The thesis consists of four parts. In Chapter One, literature review is presented. In Chapter Two, it provides a theoretical support for the study. In Chapter Three, a comparative study on the realization of interpersonal meaning in Chinese and English public service advertisements is discussed in terms of mood, modality, person and evaluation system. In Chapter Four, cultural factors affecting the differences are analyzed. Through the above studies, the thesis reveals that Chinese and English public service advertisements share many similarities, while there exists a huge difference in terms of the realization of interpersonal meaning. We can find that many declaratives, low and medium value modal operators, judgment and appreciation are frequently used in both Chinese and English public service advertisements. Difference between them are also very conspicuous. Firstly, more imperatives and interrogatives are adopted in English public service advertisements, while more exclamatives are used in Chinese public service advertisements. Secondly, more low value modal operators are used in English public service advertisements, while Chinese public service advertisements prefer to median value modal operators. Thirdly, the use of person pronouns is more frequently in English public service advertisements than that in Chinese public service advertisements.The development of public service advertisement is relatively slow in China compared with many western countries. By exploring and comparing the realization of interpersonal meaning in Chinese and English public service advertisements, this thesis is expected to enrich studies on public service advertisements and trys to contribute to the further development of public service advertisements in China.