A Contrastive Study Of Modality In Chinese And English Fictional Discourse

Modality has long been considered a hot spot of interest in the studies ofcognitivism, semantics and functional grammar, which is also one of the mostimportant parts in natural language. In view of Halliday’s Systemic-FunctionalGrammar, along with Mood, modality represents an essential role in performing theinterpersonal function that is the focus of language evolution. Halliday (2000)believes that the natural language is designed to realize three metafunctions:experiential, interpersonal and textual functions. Modality is a core in realizinginterpersonal function and categorized to be degrees of obligation, probability,inclination, and usuality.This thesis selects the fictional corpora and investigates the English and Chinesemodal expressions suggesting probability. It is mainly realized by modal operators(auxiliaries in Chinese), modal adjuncts (adverbs in Chinese) and other modalexpressions. It intends to locate the similarities and the differences in modality usebetween the English and Chinese language through a thorough study of the modalexpressions based on three dimensions-modal realization, orientation and value. Thestatistics suggest that the two languages lay priority to modal adjuncts, and the majordifferences are sought out in terms of modal realization and orientation.Furthermore, multiple instances are extracted from the corpora, especially thetwo novels Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, in order to illustrate the contributionsmade by modality for probability in performing the interpersonal metafunction. Afterconducting the exhaustive analysis of modal expressions in both the original andtranslated versions of the chosen novels, this thesis also put emphasis on theimplications to modality interpretation as well as an all-round comprehension of modality in fictional discourse as describing the characters and culture. Modalityinterpretation can be diversified and unconfined by word categories; the contextshould be taken into consideration to conduct the functions of language as a socialsemiotic.