The Study On Interpersonal Meaning Of The Modal Verbs In Chinese Arbitration Award Based On The Appraisal Theory

When the human civilization steps into the twentieth century, the arbitration, whichis one of the main means to resolve international trade disputes, has been universallyadopted and carried out by all different nations. Arbitration activities are an importantcomponent in Chinese judicial system due to their judicature. Meanwhile, combined thecontractual, self-governing, with the quasi-judicial nature, arbitration is similarlysupervised by the nation according to the principle of law. Thus, arbitration hasoccupied a more significant position in legal fields. As an important branch of generallaws, the arbitration law has played a decisive role in our legal society. The award,known to represent one of the most unique presents of arbitration language, possesses aparticular interpersonal meaning. Based on Martin&White’s (2008) Appraisal Theory,this study tries to analyze the modal verbs in Chinese arbitration award which canembody emotion, attitude and the negotiation meaning of the interpersonal relationship.By means of the analysis of the modal verbs, the purpose of this study is to explore thecharacteristics of the modal verbs in use, the distribution law of the modal verbs in theaward. Moreover, this study tries to analyze how to reflect the value concept system, aswell as the expression of the attitude, viewpoint and standpoint of the speakers and thesocial communities they belong to. This study also attempts to illustrate how the modalverbs in the arbitration discourse convey the interpersonal meaning and how the modalverbs realize their interpersonal functions.Based on the Systemic-Functional Grammar, the Appraisal Theory (Martin andWhite,2008) is a system of interpersonal meaning in nature, which is the theoreticalbasis of this research. Meanwhile, combined with the research theory and results of themodal verbs both in Chinese and English, this paper is aimed at analyzing the usesituation of modal verbs in the arbitration award, as well as the embodied interpersonalmeaning. As a result, the research methodology of this research is both qualitative andquantitative. The referred corpus are firstly made information processing like wordsegmentation by CIPP-JS, and then employing the antconc3.2.4w to pick out the keywords for analyzing. All analytical materials in this thesis are real corpus from thearbitral tribunal. Thus, effectiveness of the research can be guaranteed because of theauthenticity of the corpus. By analyzing the modal verbs in arbitration awards, thisthesis aims to explore: (1) In general, which modal verb categories can be used in Chinese arbitrationaward? How are they used in the Chinese arbitration awards?(2) In which areas will the use of modal verbs in Chinese arbitration discoursereflect interpersonal meaning?This research reveals the following results:(1) In arbitration discourse, verbs in high value and low value are more frequentlyused, specifically including15main modal verbs:应;(不)应;应当;(不)应当;不得;必须;(不)愿意;(不)需要;要求;不能;(只，仅)能;(不)可以/可;(不，不予)认可;认可;适用. Among them, High value modal words are the most commonly used toexpress interpersonal meaning, as it can reflect the compulsory and majesty of the legaldocuments. For example, high value verbs “应” and “应当” are the most frequentlyused modal verbs in arbitration award, which indicates the mandatory rule of legallanguage. The median value verbs “要求” and “愿意” carry out meaning of evaluation,which express the willingness. The low value verbs “不能” and “可以” are moreeuphemism in tone than the high value verbs.(2) Based on the analysis of modal verbs in Chinese arbitration awards,interpersonal meaning can be realized by modal verbs. Meanwhile, according to theinterpersonal meaning presented by modal verbs, as a kind of legal discourse, thepreciseness and objectivity of arbitration discourse can be embodied by heavy use ofthose verbs with meaning of possibility and necessity. The interpersonal meaningexpressed by the modal verbs mainly refers to helping the legal document makers to getbetter communications with the readers aiming at elucidating their viewpoints andattitudes, furthermore, unfolding the majesty and irresistibility of the legal discourse.This study can do significance to the language research on the microcosmic levelin legal discourse, both in guidance and practice, which, to some extent, can also enrichthe research foundation for the interpersonal function in Systemic-Functional Linguistic.Meanwhile, this research can provide research foundation for the label of word-class inlegal discourse. However, the research methodology and theoretical basis still need tobe improved and expand to the other genre research.