Analysis Of Interpersonal Meaning In English Public Speeches By Chinese University Students

Interpersonal function is one of the three metafunctions of language which is proposed by Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar meaning that language has a function of building up and maintaining relationships between speakers and listeners. The purpose of language is not only to express their identity, position, attitudes and prediction, but also persuade and influence listeners' views and behaviors so as to maintain interpersonal relations. In recent years, there have been numerous studies on interpersonal meaning, which tend to focus on discourse analysis based on Halliday's model of interpersonal meaning. There are many related studies on Obama's speeches, but few studies on public speeches by Chinese university students. The purpose of this thesis is to improve college students understanding and performance of public speaking as well as to increase their awareness of English language through a study of the realization of interpersonal meaning in the "21st Century Cup" English Speaking Competition.Mood and modality are two key concepts in interpersonal function. Mood consists of the subject and the finite and shows the role the speaker plays in communication. Modality is classified as modulization and modulation. The former refers to the judgement of the possibility,the latter is concerned with the judgment of the hope. The choice of personal pronouns in discourse indicates the relation between the reader and the writer. Evaluation is another aspect of interpersonal meaning and a core part of discourse meaning which is used in the analysis of interpersonal meaning of any discourse.This thesis conducts a qualitative and quantitative study of the devices of interpersonal meaning realization based on Halliday's interpersonal function, Martin's evaluation and LiZhanzi's person system through a case analysis of the speeches in the "21st Century Cup"English Speaking Competition. The research shows that mood, modality, evaluation and person system are major means to realize interpersonal meaning. The widespread application of declarative mood helps the speaker to interpret the relationship between Yin and Yang; the use of low modality words and different personal nouns helps to build and maintain the relationship between the speaker and the audience, to indicate his own attitude and serve the purpose of convincing the audience. The study on the interpersonal meaning and its realization devices is conducive to improve the students' understanding and performance of public speaking and is of guiding significance to English speaking when students participate in such contests.