A Study Of Interpersonal Meta-Function In Steve Job’s Stanford Commencement Address:a Systemic Functional Perspective

The commencement address is an inseparable part of campus culture. It belongs to the subcategory of the public speech. It is generally given to the college graduating students as the last lecture. There are a large number of studies focusing on the commencement address from different perspectives. However, few studies are conducted to analyze its interpersonal meaning.Systemic-functional grammar emphasizes the language as the system of meaning making, and concerns with the meaning of the language and how the language is used. Halliday put forward the concept of meta-functions of language in his book An Introduction to Functional Grammar. He argues that language serves ideational, textual and interpersonal meta-functions. Through the interpersonal meta-function, language is used to establish, negotiate and assume personal position in social relationships. Interpersonal meaning is an important component of the interpersonal meta-function. It is related to how people use language to interact with others, to establish and sustain social relationships, to convey their viewpoints, and to influence others’attitudes or behaviors. In Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar, interpersonal meaning concentrates on the lexico-grammatical level and is realized through mood and modality system. Martin’s Appraisal Theory has opened up areas of the interpersonal meaning on the discourse semantic level. It shows how the language is used to explore, express and explain the way of evaluating and managing the interpersonal stances and relations.From the perspectives of Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar and Martin’s Appraisal Theory, the present study establishes a multidimensional analytical framework from the grammatical and discourse levels and uses the method of qualitative description and quantitative statistics to explore the comprehensive understanding of the interpersonal meaning in Steve Jobs’commencement address.It is found that among the three types of person pronouns, the first person pronouns (I and We) are used most frequently, taking up the dominant position in Steve Jobs’ commencement address. The use frequency of the second person pronoun (You) is less than the first person pronouns. The least used type is the third person pronouns (They, He and She). The first person singular pronoun "I" reflects the speaker’s leading role of providing information in the address, and takes individual responsibility for his remarks which enforces the credibility of the address."We" aligns the speaker with his audience to establish an intimate and natural relationship between them. The second person pronoun "You" as the direct call, invites the audience into the conversation with the speaker in the address."They" refers to the third party and indicates that the speaker inclines to sound objective.There are three main categories in mood system:the declarative mood, the imperative mood and the interrogative mood. The use frequency of the declarative mood is in the dominant position in Steve Jobs’commencement address. The following are the imperative and interrogative mood. Declaratives serve to provide information, illustrate worldview, make suggestions and express expectations. Interrogatives are not for the clear answers, but serve to draw the audience’s attention and build the interaction. Imperatives are used to inspire the audience’s passion and confidence, and urge them to take actions as required directly and explicitly. In terms of modality system, median-value modal auxiliary (will and would) and low-value modal auxiliary (can) are adopted more than high-value modal auxiliary. The speaker attempts to avoid being radical and aggressive to the audience, and conveys his opinions in a more polite and acceptable way.In Appraisal Theory, attitude system and graduation system jointly realize the interpersonal meaning of the commencement address. In the scope of attitude system, the positive evaluation plays a leading role in Steve Jobs’commencement address, which indicates the speaker’s intention to express confident emotions, evaluate optimistic behaviors and reveal positive appreciative attitudes. When it comes to graduation system, it is used to adjust the degree between subjectivity and objectivity to strengthen or weaken the speaker’s attitude through the sub-categories of focus and force.The present study contains the theoretical and practical meanings. Theoretically speaking, it broadens Halliday’s analytical framework of the interpersonal meta-function to some extent and provides a new analytical perspective of the commencement address. Practically speaking, it deepens people’s understanding of western campus culture and public speeches.The thesis consists of five parts. Chapter1presents a general introduction of the thesis, including research background, objectives, the significance and the organization of the present study. The research method is also involved in this section. Chapter2depicts the notions of interpersonal meaning and commencement address, as well as offers the further exploration to the research of interpersonal meaning and commencement address at home and aboard. Chapter3presents the theoretical framework of the thesis from the perspectives of interpersonal meta-function in Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar and Martin’s Appraisal Theory. Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar contains the theories of person pronoun system, mood system arid modality system. Appraisal Theory mainly focuses on the attitude system, the engagement system and the graduation system. It gives a comprehensive analysis to the interpersonal function of Steve Jobs’ commencement address under the framework of person pronoun system, modality System and mood system, as well as the systems of attitude and graduation in Appraisal Theory. Chapter5is the conclusion part of the thesis. The major findings, the Implications of the study, limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are involved in this part.