Interpersonal Meaning Of Modality System In English News Discourse: A Study Based On Appraisal Theory

Modal verbs,as the major expression of modality,play a crucial role in the realization of interpersonal meaning.Within the framework of the Systemic Functional Linguistics,Appraisal Theory is a development and extension of the study of the interpersonal meaning.It pays attention to appraisal resources in discourse and provides a new theoretical framework for the research of interpersonal meaning.The previous studies on the interpersonal meaning of modal verbs mainly focus on the analysis of the classification,orientation and value of modality system based on Halliday's modality theory,which rarely involve the evaluative meaning of modal verbs.However,Appraisal Theory explores various attitudes,the intensity of affect and various ways of indicating values and allying readers in discourse from the perspective of semantics.Therefore,based on a self-compiled corpus,the present study is an attempt to explore the interpersonal meaning of modal verbs in English editorials from the perspective of Appraisal Theory.It aims at answering the following three questions:1)What are the distribution features of modal verbs(can,may,could,might,will,shall,would,should,must,ought to and their negative forms)in the English editorials of Brexit? 2)How do modal verbs reflect evaluative meaning based on Appraisal Theory?How do they distribute in three systems: attitude,engagement and graduation? 3)What is the interpersonal meaning realized through the use of modal verbs with evaluative meaning in English editorials of Brexit?Firstly,the author selects 140 pieces of English editorials of Brexit from The Guardian,The Telegraph,The Observer and Reuters which range from June to December in 2016.Then TextEditor 3.0 is utililized to clean raw materials and build a corpus.Next,Antconc 3.4.4 is employed to retrieve the use of modal verbs(can,may,could,might,will,shall,would,should,must,ought to and their negative forms)in corpus,and analyze the quantity and proportion of modal verbs in the expression of attitude,engagement and graduation based on Appraisal Theory.Finally,the realization of interpersonal meaning is discussed with typical examples.The study finds out that in English editorials of Brexit,in terms of value,the median and high value of modal verbs are most frequently used,while the low value of modal verbs has the lowest frequency.In terms of polarity,the positive forms of modal verbs outnumber the negative forms.Moreover,modal verbs are endowed with evaluative meaning,and have the highest proportion in engagement showing that modal verbs are mainly employed to establish dialogue space to interact with readers so as to achieve the purpose of persuasion.Modal verbs also have a relatively high proportion in judgment which mainly express the writer's evaluation and attitude on leaders,country and the impact of Brexit.Meanwhile,the writer modulates the force of evaluation to convey his attitude and position with the employment of various value of modal verbs.Thus,modal verbs have the interpersonal meaning of expressing the writer's viewpoints,attitudes and positions,interacting with readers,raising or reducing the force of evaluation,and showing editorials' objectivity,interaction and authority.The study testifies the feasibility and strong explanatory power of Appraisal Theory in the analysis of interpersonal meaning of modality system,and offers a new perspective and method for the research of modality system.Furthermore,the study enables to improve people's appreciation of English discourses and give inspiration to the teaching and learning of English modality system.