A Study Of Personality In Wuthering Heights From The Perspective Of Modality

Modality is an important concept, and most studies on modality are carried out under the theory of Functional Grammar. The previous studies on modality can be divided into two groups: one kind is based on syntactic semantics, the other kind is based on formal semantics and pragmatics. This study combines the Halliday's theory and Paul H. Portner's theory as a whole to analyze the modality in Wuthering Heights.Wuthering Heights is the unique masterpiece of Emily Bronte. Attention of linguistics has been devoted to the grotesque style, the unusual narrative strategy, the wonderful characterization and the multiple themes. In recent years, the researches on Wuthering Heights have transferred into the plot analysis and personality analysis. Therefore, this study makes a research on the modality and personality of heroes in Wuthering Heights, and perspectives of it are polarity, value, type, orientation, epistemic modality, priority modality and dynamic modality.Both qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted in this study. Firstly, Hallidaly's modality theory is used as a study below the clause. Then Paul Portner's modality theory is used as a study at the level of clause.The findings of the study are as follows: At first, Halliday's theory can reflect the personalities of protagonists in Wuthering Heights. Secondly, In Paul Portner's theory, Sentential Modality such as Modality Epistemic Modality, Priority modality, and Dynamic modality can also describes the personalities of Heroes in Wuthering Heights. Thirdly, The analysis of modality in Wuthering Heights can provide a lesson for the further studies on other literary works. Firstly, the negative form of predicative modal verbs expresses the sentiments. The median and low value modal verbs can reflect the mildness, politeness and patience. Then the objective and implicit expressions are used to show the politeness, while the subjective and explicit expressions are used to show the firmness. Lastly, Epistemic Modality rely on the mutual knowledge to reflect his character. Priority modality describes the preference. Dynamic modality describes the ability and willingness. In addition, the modality analysis of the personality in Wuthering Heights is a new view to enrich the study of Wuthering Heights.