A Study Of Interpersonal Meaning In Jack Ma's Overseas Speeches

Nowadays,public speaking has been one of effective tools to spread culture with the development of society.Speeches of entrepreneurs are becoming popular with valuable ideas.Jack Ma succeeds in influencing audiences when combining his experiences and language gift together,which greatly demonstrates the functions of interpersonal meaning in the analysis of public speaking.Interpersonal function,one of the three meta-functions in Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar,provides a theoretical framework for the analysis of interpersonal meaning and ensures a harmonious relationship in the process of communication.Eighteen speeches are selected to analyze how interpersonal meanings are realized in Ma's overseas speeches,explained through mood,modality and personal pronouns.Qualitative method is used to answer the research questions,simultaneously assisted by quantitative method.The current study concludes the interpersonal meaning magnified in Ma's overseas speeches,which goes as follows:(1)From the perspective of mood system,the declarative clauses take the vast majority when Ma uses interrogative and imperative mood a few times.Relative information and opinions are put forward when Ma chooses declarative mood frequently.The application of interrogative sentences makes sure an active atmosphere when the curiosity of audiences is stimulated.Imperative mood is used several times to sublimate the topics and benefit audiences.(2)In terms of modality system,Ma uses median value modal auxiliaries the most frequently,followed with low value modal auxiliaries,and high value modal auxiliaries are the least.The choice of modal operators in median and low values shortens the distance and keeps harmonious between audiences and the speaker.However,high value modal operators appear the least because of their intense voice,just used for persuasion.(3)In the aspect of personal system,first personal pronouns take the largest proportion,through which audiences understand the basic information;second personal pronouns are applied regularly to show equal status;third personal pronouns just make sense in the expression of irony or distance.In conclusion,the interpersonal meaning of Ma's overseas speeches is analyzed by means of mood,modality as well as personal system,which could be a full analysis for life speeches.This thesis proposes some suggestions to speakers who require a speech improvement and scholars who study life speeches from the perspective of IM.