A Contrastive Study Of Interpersonal Meaning In English And Chinese Cover Letters

Interpersonal meaning is an important research topic in linguistic studies. It is a term from Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar, serving to establish and maintain relations. In recent years, the research on different discourses from the perspective of interpersonal meaning has gained popularity. Since the realization of interpersonal meaning may vary across different cultural and social contexts, this thesis intends to explore the similarities and differences in the realization of interpersonal meaning between English and Chinese discourses.Based on Halliday's conceptual framework and guided by Martin's appraisal theory and Li Zhanzi's framework of interpersonal meaning, a contrastive analysis of interpersonal meanings in 30 samples of English cover letters and 30 Chinese ones is carried out through mood, modality, tense, person and appraisal system. To ensure the reliability and validity of the study, both quantitative and qualitative analysis are employed so as to examine how and to what extent English and Chinese cover letters are represented from the perspective of interpersonal function.Through the analysis and discussion, it is shown that both similarities and disparities are found in the English and Chinese cover letters. The main similarities lies in 1) the majority of the sentences in English cover letters and Chinese ones are declarative mood; 2) both English and Chinese cover letters share the same communicative function of imperative that is, to express the writer's eagerness to get a chance for interview; 3) both types of cover letters tend to use modal operators with low or median values, performing the same function, polite and persuasive; 4) most sentences take the tense of simple present and simple future; 5) the frist person is predominant in English and Chinese cover letters; 6) large amount of positive appreciation are employed in both English and Chinese cover letters; 7) force-raise are widely used.The disparities are also outstanding: 1) exclamative sentences are just used in Chinese cover letters, while no one is used in English cover letters; 2) low value modal operators are more commonly used in Chinese cover letters. But English samples frequently use the median value modal operators; 3) high value modal operators are used in Chinese samples while no one is used in English ones; 4) in terms of person system, the frequency of use of second personal pronouns in English is higher than in Chinese; Chinese samples have two kinds of forms'你','您'in the second person in order to show politeness, while English ones only have form'you'; 5) in appraisal system, the writers of English cover letters used more'reaction', whereas the writers of Chinese ones tend to employ more'valuation'; in Chinese samples, writers use more force-raise value than that in English ones; English cover letters use more comparatives and superlatives and lexicalization, while Chinese ones employ more maximization and repetition than English ones.These differences can be attributed to the different social-cultural background. Therefore, in order to provide an effective cover letter, it is necessary for the applicants to improve their cultural awareness and understand and learn about each other's culture.