A Contrastive Study Of The Realization Of Interpersonal Meaning In Chinese And English Financial News Reports

The present study adopts a Systemic Functional approach to the contrastive analysis of the realization of interpersonal meaning in a corpus of 10 pieces of Chinese financial news reports from Caijing and 10 pieces of English financial news reports from The Economist. The primary aim of this study is to examine what linguistic choices are made by the journalists in two different social-cultural contexts to communicate with the readers and influence their attitudes and find out how Chinese financial news reports are similar to and different from English ones in the employment of linguistic resources to realize interpersonal meaning. Based on the analytical framework integrating Halliday?s model of interpersonal meaning, Martin?s Appraisal theory and Hofstede?s Culture Dimension, this thesis explores various linguistic resources employed by the journalists to realize interpersonal meaning from the perspectives of Mood system, Modality system, Attitude system, Engagement system and Graduation system with the combined research methods of qualitative method and quantitative method.Through a detailed contrastive analysis, it is found that various linguistic resources are employed skillfully in both Chinese and English financial news reports and that the similarities and differences concerning their realization of interpersonal meaning are also revealed. Firstly, with respect to Mood system, declaratives take up the overwhelming majority in both discourses to provide the latest financial information for the readers, which is in accordance with the communicative aim of financial news reports. As for the differences, Chinese journalists mainly play the role of information-provider by use of declaratives and exclamatives while English journalists tend to employ more interrogatives to engage the readers in the dynamic interaction and imperatives to solicit actions directly. The reason for different choices of Mood types is that China is a a large-power-distance culture where there is a high level of class distinction whereas Britain is a small-power-distance culture where equality is emphasized. Secondly, in regard to Modality system, Probability resources and Modality of low and median value are both favored by Chinese and English journalists to avoid a pushy tone as the nature of financial news reports is to provide objective financial information for the readers. However, the overall number of modal expressions is larger in the Chinese financial news reports, revealing that Chinese journalists are inclined to exhibit more uncertainty and deference to the readers but less assurance in their own judgments and opinions. Besides, low-value Modality enjoys a bigger proportion in Chinese financial news reports while high-value Modality expressions are preferred in the English ones, which also has something to do with their different power relations between the journalists and the readers. Thirdly, in terms of Appraisal system, Engagement resources take up the largest proportion in both Chinese and English financial news reports. As for the disparities in the realization of interpersonal meaning in both discourses, more Attitude resources are found in the English discourses because the British media are more fearless to express affections, impose judgments and make evaluations than Chinese media. Chinese journalists tend to employ positive Judgment and Valuation resources whereas both positive and negative resources are found in the English ones, which is due to the fact that China is a collectivist culture that advocates group benefits and harmony while West is individualistic culture that stresses individual identity, rights, and freedom. It is also found that more Dialogic Contraction resources are employed in the Chinese discourses to directly express the journalists? attitudes and opinions and close down dialogic space for alternative voices, which is consistent with Chinese media?s nature of mouthpiece. On the other hand, English financial news reports tend to adopt Dialogic Expansion resources more frequently to make the propositions more objective, authoritative and persuasive, which is in line with the nature of western media— lookout.Hopefully, this research could provide some useful theoretical and practical implications for the writing and teaching of financial news reports.