The Study Of Chinese Medicine Advertisements From The Perspective Of Interpersonal Meaning

Interpersonal function in System Functional Grammar enjoys great popularity inrecent years. Vocabulary grammar continuum is formed from mood and modality toMartin’s appraisal theory, which constantly perfects framework of interpersonalmeaning. At present, studies of interpersonal meaning in advertising field mainly focuson English advertisements. Chinese advertisements are fewer, especially, Chinesemedicine advertisements. However, medicine advertisements are omnipresent in dailylife. Therefore, the thesis studies interpersonal meaning on Chinese medicineadvertisements from five aspects: mood, modality, attitude, engagement and graduationsystems based on Halliday’s interpersonal function and Martin’s appraisal theory.The research selects fifty Chinese medicine advertisements from television andnewspaper, and adopts qualitative method to make a detailed analysis. Through theanalysis, the findings are concluded as follows. Firstly, in mood aspect, declarativemood takes the highest frequency, next to imperative mood and exclamatory mood,interrogative mood the least. These mood structures function as not only informationgiving but also action demanding. The alternate use of these mood structures makesmedicine advertisements more interactive and communicative. Secondly, in modalityaspect, the researcher finds that medicine advertisers are inclined to use low-valuepossibility modalization and inclination modulation, which intentionally put themselvesin an inferior status to communicate with potential consumers, expecting to get potentialconsumers’ cognition. Thirdly, in attitude aspect, it is found that appreciation resourcesoccupy the highest percentage, next to affect resources, but judgment resources seldomappear. Most of positive appreciation resources are easier to arouse potential consumers’desire to purchase. While expressing affect resources, medicine advertisers employ notonly positive words but also negative words. Most of medicine advertisers employpositive words after taking medicine products, while negative words before taking medicine products, which makes a sharp contrast to strengthen the persuasive power.Fourthly, in engagement aspect, medicine advertisements are mainly embodied bymonogloss, but there still exists heterogloss. The occasional use of heterogloss increasesmedicine’s reliability. Fifthly, in graduation aspect, medicine advertisers mainly utilizeforce-raising and focus-soften to publicize medicine products. Force-raising expressionscould win potential consumers’ trust. While the use of focus-soften to evaluate medicineproducts decreases responsibilities medicine advertisers should have. For potentialconsumers, these vague meanings are deceptive to some extent, but are attractive.The thesis tentatively explores interpersonal meaning on Chinese medicineadvertisements, aiming to extend the application of interpersonal function in advertisingfield. At the same time, the thesis not only shows characteristics of medicine productsbut also explores how medicine advertisers interact with potential consumers andpersuade them to purchase medicine products ultimately. To some extent, the studyhelps the readers identify the truthfulness of Chinese medicine advertisements andprovides medicine advertisers some illuminations of Chinese medicine advertisementswriting.