A Contrasitve Study Of Interpersonal Function In Chinese And English Introductions Of Enterprises

Halliday's systemic functional grammar considers the realistic practice of language as its object of research and has been tested and improved in the process of application. It suggests that the systemic functional grammar has the characteristics of science, object and practice. If there is no one to use the language, there will no theory of systemic functional grammar. Many scholars have studied interpersonal meaning studies in different fields in which we can reveal interpersonal meaning easily. Whereas general introduction of enterprise, as an important form of discourse, has received less attention in this field of study. Even in the few related studies, there are less systematic and comprehensive researches with only less theoretical analysis and more objective descriptions. In fact, interpersonal meaning is an essential component of general introductions of enterprises both Chinese and English.In recent years, the researches on the interpersonal function of certain discourses become a trend in linguistic study. For example, Li Zhanzi(2000) makes a study of the realization of the interpersonal function of the biographies and Sultan(1994) makes an analysis of the interpersonal function of the discourse of the doctors' diagnosis reports while other scholars contribute to the interpersonal function in the discourse of speeches, literature works, critique, television advertisements and such kind of things. (Li Enyun,2006;Wang Yanping,2008;Wang Qin,2008) On the basis of the theories of Halliday's systemic functional grammar, this thesis used 60 general introductions of enterprises both Chinese and English as an example to demonstrate how interpersonal function is generally realized in introduction of enterprises. As one of the three meta-functions of systemic functional grammar, the interpersonal function plays a very important role in the communication process of people in daily life. It is found that the purpose of both Chinese and English general introduction is to provide correct and effective information for the readers, and another important purpose is to make the readers feel reliable on the products or services on the company so that become to its customers.According to Halliday, there are three meta-functions in every language. One of these three is named as interpersonal function. And interpersonal function is very important in establishing and maintaining the social relationships between two speakers through the use of language in daily life. Halliday (1994) thinks that the interpersonal function in communication is not only to realize the speaker's attitudes, role, status, opinions, intention and judgment but also to influence the hearer's opinions and actions. The relationship between the speakers and receivers is very dynamic. The researches on the interpersonal function of Halliday were almost carried out from the perspectives of mood, modality and person.Qualitative and quantitative approaches are used for the data analysis. Firstly, quantitative approach is used for statistical analysis of frequency and distribution of the language resources which make contribution to the realization interpersonal meaning. And then based on Halliday's systemic functional grammar theory, qualitative approach is used to analyze and discuss personal pronouns, mood, and modal expressions in the process of constructing interpersonal meaning of the 60 pieces of introductions.According to the analysis of the 30 Chinese general introductions and the 30 English ones, we find that, the realization of interpersonal meaning is mainly through three methods, they are, personal pronouns, mood (declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives), and modal expressions (modal verbs, modal adjuncts, and so on).The writers of both Chinese and English general introductions often make the interpersonal meaning realized through personal pronouns (first person, second person and other person). Also they like to use a number of declarative sentences to offer information to the readers and imperative sentences or exclamatory sentences to make the readers take action to buy their products or services. The writers of Chinese general introductions sometimes use the modality to express the willingness of the company as well as its employees, and several words with the meaning of usuallity to demonstrate the development process of events. Moreover, the modality system is used more often in Chinese general introductions than English ones to make the readers feel the willingness of the employers and the confidence to the future. However, in English general introductions, we almost can't find modal verbs, modal adjuncts and so on to realize the interpersonal function. Because the usage of modality system will add the uncertainty into the general introductions of which the purpose is to provide the readers with accurate information, in this case, most of the English general introductions include very plain sentences which have no modal verbs and so on.In one word, the appropriate usage of personal system, mood system and modality system can shorten the distance between the companies and the readers some of whom are potential consumers of the corporations, in this way, the companies can improve their reliability and achieve their goals. This thesis is just based on the theories about personal pronouns, mood, and modality system and use quantitative statistics and analysis of the words and sentences in both Chinese and English general introductions. The writer of this thesis is devoted to finding a more reasonable model of writing general introduction of enterprises and providing convenience to small and middle-sized enterprises; it is believed that this thesis will provide a new angle to study the interpersonal meaning of both Chinese and English general introductions.