A Study Of Dialogues In The Merchant Of Venice From The Perspective Of Interpersonal Meaning

Halliday holds that language features can be achieved by three meta-functions,namely,conceptual function,interpersonal function and texture function.One of the purposes of constructing systemic functional grammar is to provide a theoretical framework for discourse analysis.This framework can be used to analyze any verbal or written text in English(Halliday,2004).The three functions are interrelated,forming a semantic potential.The interpersonal function conveys the interaction between the speaker and the receiver in the context of discourse,which is embodied by the mood system.Interpersonal function expresses communicators' attitude,motivation and judgment,which is embodied by the modality system.The identity and status of the speaker and his attitude and motivation can be reflected through the analysis of interpersonal functions.And interpersonal meaning mainly refers to the relationship between the speakers.The Merchant of Venice is a satirical comedy by the British dramatist William Shakespeare.Many scholars at home and abroad have analyzed the work from a literature angle,but few people have studied this comedy from the perspective of interpersonal meanings.Drama texts emphasize the importance of dialogues and the interaction between characters.The relationship between characters is reflected through dialogues.Therefore,using the knowledge of systemic functional linguistics to analyze the dialogues of characters can help us to analyze the personality of characters and reveal the relationship between characters.This study chooses the main characters' conversations in The Merchant of Venice to make an analysis.The study adopts both quantitative and qualitative analysis to explore the main charactersy dialogues from the perspective of mood system and modality system.There are three main research questions for this study.(1)How are characters' personalities and attitude revealed through interpersonal meaning?(2)How is the relationship between characters expressed through language?(3)Whether the theme of the play can be revealed through interpersonal meaning analysis?Through the analysis of the mood and modality system of the characters'dialogues in The Merchant of Venice,here are the main findings of the study.1.The study finds that different characters will choose different mood types,speech roles and modal operators which play an important role in shaping the characters' image,revealing the relationship between the characters and enhancing the theme of play.Through the analysis of the characters' dialogues in The Merchant of Venice from the perspective of interpersonal meaning,we find that different characters have different personalities.Portia is a beautiful and witty girl who is brave enough to pursue her love.Shylock is a selfish misery.2.Through the analysis of mood system,we know that the numbers of clauses,speech roles and speech types are different when Portia and Shylock face different listeners.When Portia talks to the Prince of Morocco,she has fewer words and uses more imperative utterances.This shows that Portia is relatively quiet in the face of people she doesn't like.When Portia talks to Bassanio,she utters a lot and uses more declarative utterances.This shows her smart and courageous personalities and she dares to pursue her own love.When Portia talks to Shylock,both of the characters talk a lot.Portia uses more declarative and imperative clauses which are used to be against Shylock.This shows her wisdom.However,Shylock uses more declarative,interrogative and exclamative clauses which show that he is in the weak position in the conversation.Portia has a higher status than Shylock.When Shylock talks to Bassanio,Antonio and the servant,he uses more declarative and imperative clauses.This shows the image of the usurer.3.Through the analysis of modality system,we know that the characters have different choices in modal operators.The functions of modal operators are also different.Portia and Shylock use more high and median modal values.They give the listeners some choices and negotiation space in the conversation.Through the study of the dialogues in The Merchant of Venice from the perspective of interpersonal meaning,the study further proves that interpersonal function analysis is of great significance to reveal the status of characters and the characteristics of characters.It not only enriches the interpersonal meaning theory of systemic functional linguistics,but also provides reference for the analysis of interpersonal function of other literary works.Then,the interpretation of this work and the personalities of the characters from a different angle reveals the powerful explanatory ability of systemic functional linguistics for literary works.