A Diachronic Studv On Evidentialitv In The Reports On The Work Of The Government Of China From The Svstemic Functional Approach

Evidentiality marks information sources in language.Those makers which indicate sources of information are evidentials.Earlier studies on evidentiality focus on theoretical construction while exploration on functions of evidentiality in discourse gradually attracts the attention from scholars nowadays.Scholars delve into the discourse functions of evidentiality from stylistic,pragmatic and Systemic Functional Linguistics approaches.However,little research is conducted on political discourse.On the other hand,diachronic studies on evidentiality in discourse are barely done.On such background,this thesis makes a diachronic study on the Reports on the Work of the Government of China,aiming at revealing the diachronic changes of ideology publicity.Forty-seven Reports on the Work of the Government of China are selected.Seven reports are from 1954 to 1960.One report is in 1975.Thirty-nine reports are from 1978 to 2016.Fifty-eight evidentials are selected from those reports on the basis of the definition of evidentiality.Based on Aikhenvald's(2004)classification,those evidentials are classified into three types:the reporting,the belief and the inferential.The frequencies of the reporting evidentials,the belief evidentials,the inferential evidentials and the overall evidenitals in each year are presented.The results show a decline trend of evidential distribution in those years and three distinct stages are identified.The thesis makes a discussion on the results within the analytic framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics:transitivity structure and Appraisal theory.Ideational and interpersonal functions of evidentiality in the Reports on the Work of the Government of China are analyzed.Based on Halliday's(2004)transitivity structure,the ideational functions of evidentiality are discussed to explore the ideational meanings evidentiality construes in those reports.Based on Martin's(2005)engagement system in Appraisal theory,the interpersonal functions of evidentiality are discussed to explore the relationship between the reporter and listeners.The ideational functions of evidentiality in those reports show that evidentials construe reliable information via authoritative and collective information sources in verbal and mental process,making the listeners believe the contents of the reports and accept the ideology.The interpersonal functions of evidentiality show that evidentiality creates a heteroglossic environment in which the reporter achieves alignment and solidarity with the listeners and makes the listeners accept the ideology.The ideational functions and interpersonal functions illustrate that evidentiality constructs information reliability and manipulates reporter-listener relationship to enhance ideology publicity.The decline of evidential frequency indicates a weakened ideology publicity in the Reports on the Work of the Government of China.Three stages of evidential distribution correspond with three historical periods.Such correspondence proves the correlation of evidential distribution and ideology publicity in those reports.Via the discussion on diachronic changes of evidentiality in the Reports on the Work of the Government of China,this thesis explains how evidentiality realizes ideology publicity and concludes a weakened ideology publicity in those reports.At the same time,the correlation of evidential distribution and ideology publicity is proved.This thesis contributes to the understanding of government reports and studies on evidentiality in political discourse.