Realization Of Persuading Function In English Public Service Advertisements-A Systemic Functional Approach

Language is used by people in daily communication not only to describe the world around them but also to interact with each other in order to establish and maintain appropriate relations between them. Such function is called interpersonal function of language in systemic-functional linguistics. Persuading function is realized through and influenced by interpersonal function. The present paper sets out to investigate the realization of persuading function in public service advertisements based on an elaborated Halliday's conceptual framework. Data for the present research come from English magazines: Fortune, Newsweek, Time, National Geography and other magazines. Forty sample texts are randomly collected from these foreign magazines for the analysis of realization of persuading function in public service advertisements. The research is carried out in three aspects of interpersonal meaning, namely, person system, mood system and modality with an aim to find out the possible realization of persuading function in these three aspects in public service advertisements. The analysis reveals that a variety of linguistic patterns have been used skillfully by the advertiser/writer to realize the persuading function derived from the tenor of public service advertisements. It has the following findings: 1) mood structures have been used non-typically by the advertiser/writer to facilitate the interaction and negotiation with the readers; 2) modality is used to indicate the advertiser/writer's attitude and at the same time as a politeness device to enhance his or her intimacy with readers; 3) the various uses of person pronouns help the advertiser/writer interact and negotiate with the readers. Thus, the advertiser/writer can persuade readers to think and act in certain way...