A Comparative Study Of Modality In Letters To Shareholders Between Chinese And American Energy Companies

As an important medium,Corporate Annual Reports(CARs)can gain trust of the public,communicate with the stakeholders,and establish a good corporate image.The letters to shareholders usually occur in the beginning of the CARs,and it is one of the communication tools between the enterprises and stakeholders or potential investors.At the same time,letter to shareholder is the most readable part in the CARs,which can better reflect the deep situation of the corporations.Therefore,it is of great significance to investigate letters to shareholders.Taking the energy industry as an example,the thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods,including statistical method,comparative study and case study,to discuss the modality differences of some energy companies? English letters to shareholders based on attitude system under Martin?s appraisal theory and Halliday?s modality theory.And this thesis selects 30 English-vision domestic letters to shareholders and 30 American letters to shareholders as the research objects,and try to conduct the discussion in the aspects of mood,modality,person,attitude resources and so on,then find the differences as well as the reasons behind them.The research shows that there are some similarities between Chinese and American energy companies? English letters to shareholders in modality:(1)The general frequency of the modal verbs is low;the median value modal operators occur most frequently,this not only shows that the author has a positive attitude towards the propositions he has put forward,but also avoids the problem of excessive distance between the reader and the author due to the status gap.And the negative modality doesn?t occur in the two corpora.(2)The frequency of attitude system is highest in the appraisal system.Among the attitude system,appreciation accounts for the largest share,followed by judgement and affect.And in the judgement resources,the capacity takes the largest share.And the positive feelings such as “happiness” occur more frequently,whose expression is more likely to arouse the reader?s resonance.(3)As for clauses,the declarative clause accounts for the vast majority in the two corpora.And there are few interrogative and imperative clauses.In terms of tenses,both domestic and American letters to shareholders adopt variety of tenses.The differences of letters to shareholders between China and America are also identified:(1)As to person,the first person pronoun is more common in the American letters to shareholders;(2)Compared to the American letters to shareholders,the domestic English letters to shareholders use less low-value and high-value modal verbs,which may cause by the cultural difference between the two countries;Among the judgement resources,Americans tend to use more capacity resources.Among the appreciation resources,domestic enterprises tend to use less composition resources and more valuation and reaction resources.The research broadens the research perspective of letters to shareholders.Meanwhile,it provides some enlightenment for letters to shareholders? composers and English teachers.