A Comparative Study On The Realization Of Interpersonal Meaning In Chinese And Western University Introductions-Based On Appraisal Theory And Systemic-Functional Grammar

Under the background of globalization, the communication and cooperationbetween China and foreign countries is not restricted to economic spheres. Moreattention has been paid to the field of education. Chinese education is stepping into theinternational track. As the means of publicity, the university introductions on theInternet directly affect the image of universities. Therefore, it is significant to study therealization of interpersonal meaning of university introductions.In this thesis, interpersonal meaning of university introductions is studied based onboth Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar and Martin’s Appraisal Theory.According to Systemic-Functional Grammar, language serves ideational, textual andinterpersonal functions. Interpersonal meaning originates from the metafunctions inSystemic-Functional Grammar. Interpersonal meaning is concerned with how peopleuse language to interact with each other, to establish and maintain relations with others,to express their viewpoints, and to influence others’ attitudes or behaviors. In Halliday’sSystemic-Functional Grammar, interpersonal meaning is mainly realized by mood andmodality. Systemic-Functional Grammar has only focused on the lexico-grammaticalstudy. Martin’s Appraisal Theory shows how the language is employed to evaluate so asto express attitudes and construct positions. It analyzes interpersonal meaning at thesemantic level, thus it fills the gap of the Systemic-Functional Grammar and provides anew perspective for the study of interpersonal meaning. Appraisal Theory includes threesub-systems—Attitude, Engagement and Graduation. Engagement functions to adjustthe attitude of speakers or writers. Engagement resources can be used by speakers orwriters as an interpersonal strategy to realize the alignment or disalignment with theaudiences or readers. In order to make a comprehensive analysis of interpersonalmeaning, this study combines the Engagement system in Appraisal theory and Modalitysystem in Systemic-Functional Grammar as its analytical framework to explore thesimilarities and differences in the realization the interpersonal meaning in Chinese andWestern university introductions at both semantic and lexico-grammatical levels.This study collects30Chinese university introductions and30Western universityintroductions (Britain and America) to compare their realization of interpersonalmeaning, by adopting both of quantitative and qualitative approach.The following findings are obtained through analysis. Firstly, in terms of the distribution of general Engagement resources, there aremore monoglossic resources (78.06%,77.69%) than heteroglossic resources (21.94%,22.31%), and more dialogic expansion resources (62.08%,62.06%) than dialogiccontraction resources (37.92%,37.94%) in both sets of university introductions. Thisfeature of distribution can contribute to the realization of informative and persuasiveinterpersonal meaning in university introductions. On the one hand, universityintroductions serve to provide information about universities for the readers. Thus, moremonoglossic resources are employed in the university introductions to ensure theobjectivity of university introductions. On the other hand, university introductionsfunction to create a good image of universities and to attract students. Therefore, moredialogic expansion resources are used to make allowance for alternative positions inorder to keep on good terms with readers.Secondly, this study explores the distribution of the resources in eachsub-categories of Engagement system. In the sub-category of disclaim, Chineseuniversity introductions writers have an inclination of using counter resources, with aproportion of65.67%, while their Western counterparts are more likely to use denyresources, with a percentage of71.23%. As for proclaim, it is found that there are noconcur resources in both sets of introductions. Chinese university introductions writersare more inclined to use endorse resources, reaching up to83.33%, whereas there aremore pronounce resources in Western university introductions, amounting to80.77%. Inthe sub-category of entertain, the resources are divided according to the modality valueand orientation in Systemic-Functional Grammar. First of all, this thesis analyzes low,median and high value modal operators from the perspective of modality value.Compared with other two kinds of modal operators, high value modal operators coverthe smallest proportions in both Chinese and Western university introductions,12.07%and11.49%respectively. More median value modal operators are in Chinese universityintroductions, namely72.41%, while low value modal operators account for a largeproportion in Western university introductions, namely65.52%. In the aspect ofmodality orientation, this thesis studies the subjective vs. objective and implicit vs.explicit orientation. In Chinese university introductions, there are less subjectiveresources (48.84%) than objective ones (51.16%) and more implicit resources (88.37%)than explicit ones (11.63%). On the contrary, in Western university introductions, thereare more subjective resources (77.15%) than objective ones (22.85%) and less implicitresources (49.24%) than explicit ones (50.76%). In the sub-category of attribute, Chinese university introductions tend to cite the authoritative sources, namely80%, andtheir viewpoints are mainly from the people or institutions that have high social status.By contrast, diversified materials are cited in the Western university introductions,reaching up to84%. The propositions are from newspapers, website, individuals, etc.Thirdly, based on the results above, it is found out that the different distributions ofspecific Engagement resources in Chinese and Western university introductions showthe different ways of the realization of interpersonal meaning. Chinese universityintroductions are inclined to provide information in an indirect way. They are morelikely to quote external voices when expressing viewpoints, and they give less space forthe readers to express their own opinions. They attach importance to the objectivenessof the information, which are conveyed implicitly. They prefer to cite authoritativesources to enhance the reliability of university introductions. By contrast, Westernuniversity introductions are more likely to give information directly. They preferauthorial voices and leave more dialogic room for readers. They tend to expresssubjective views and convey information in an explicit way. They are inclined to makeuse of the diversity of information sources to enhance the credibility of universityintroductions.The present study enriches the research framework of interpersonal meaning. It isuseful and helpful for Chinese people to write English university introductions.