Interpersonal Function Analysis On Debate Text

In order to realize certain interactions under different conditions in our daily life, people use various languages to express their opinions and intentions as well as establish their interpersonal relations. Language can realize certain social functions, and the most important one is interpersonal function, by which people can establish and maintain their social status and relations. Political speech as a special tool advocates for a certain class and expresses the intention of the speaker. Political speech refers to giving a speech in which people show their stand, illustrate their view and propagate their intention (Li Yuanshou, Zhou Kunshan 2003: 29). Political public language can embody its interpersonal function.Presidential debate can be classified into one of the political public speeches, so the paper first has a review of the features on public speech, political speech and presidential debate and then describe the previous studies on presidential debate and the background of the first televised presidential debate in 2008. In the theoretical part, the thesis first makes a brief introduction to the interpersonal function in function grammar school, and states the development of interpersonal function from different perspectives. Then the writer adopts Halliday's interpersonal function, combining some expanding studies to form four aspects as mood, modality, pronoun and tense. Finally, the paper applies the four grammar systems to make a tentative analysis of interpersonal function of the debate.Through analyzing the text, we find that mood, modality, pronoun and tense system can achieve interpersonal function as the following:1) the debaters are good at using different moods. Interrogative sentences and imperatives are used in this debate in order to emphasize the debater's own opinions and arouse the resonance of the audience. Obama uses more declaratives and interrogatives to start a conversation and control the topic.2) The use of various modal operators indicates the debater's different opinions and attitudes. Obama uses more high-value modulations in modal operators.3) To use different pronouns can achieve contained interpersonal meaning and indicate different psychological distances between the speaker and the audience.'We'can be a major role to establish relations with people.4) Present tense can dominate the political speech and the speaker can give his judgment in it.Therefore, this paper reveals that the speaker can use mood, modality, pronoun, and tense to realize interpersonal function. In addition, functional-grammar as an analyzing tool is practical to analyze debate text and offer us new perspective on text analysis..