A Discoursal Analysis Of Political Speeches In Perspective Of Interpersonal Function

In the light of Hallidayan theory of interpersonal function, combined with theviewpoints of other scholars, as G.Thompson and the Chinese scholar Li Zhanzi, thisthesis takes as sample texts the Present Vice President of The United States of America,Joseph Biden’s two speeches on Sino-US relations to illustrate the realization ofinterpersonal function in political speeches.According to Halliday, by interpersonal function it is meant that people use languageto communicate with others, to establish and maintain social relationship of some kind, toinfluence others’ acts and to express their opinions. Halliday focuses on the realization ofinterpersonal function at grammatical level; that is, from the perspectives of mood,modality and key.This thesis makes a detailed study on the general realization of interpersonal functionfrom the perspective of mood and modality.In perspective of mood system, this study shows that the declarative mood plays apredominant role, with imperative mood as secondary, and interrogative mood is barelyused. In the sample English political speeches by Biden, when the speaker intends to giveinformation, declarative mood is frequently used so as to state his political beliefs andopinions. When the speaker intends to demand action, imperative mood is employed tocommand and request.In respect to the studying of grammatical subjects, this thesis focuses on the use ofpersonal pronouns. With skillful manipulation of personal pronouns, the speaker succeedsin enhancing his authority to the hearers while attracting hearers’ attention, maintainingthe two parties’ relationship.From the perspective of modality system, the speaker adopts various modal operatorsand modality metaphor to make the speaking more credible and acceptable.Ultimately, this study proves that the realizations of interpersonal function in theEnglish political speeches are diversified, and the interpersonal function is applicable inthe research of the English political speeches.It is expected that the findings in the research are of certain value for people to be agood public speaker and an effective communicator in English.