Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
There are usually two different approaches which involves describing language: one goesin through form－the Transformation-Generative and the other goes in through function－Systemic Functional Grammar. The aim of the Transformation-Generative is to discover therules which govern how constituents can be put together to form grammatically correctsentences. However, the aim of Systemic Functional Grammar is to discover psychologicalprocesses and language function when language users are communicating in particularcontexts. The latter leads us into language function.Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar makes a great contribution to the analysis oflanguage function. He holds the view that all language functions can be assigned to the threebroad functions as meta-functions in the clause: the first is the experiential function; thesecond is the interpersonal function; and the third is the textual function. Interpersonalfunction refers to how people use language to interact with other people by exchangingmeanings and to establish and maintain appropriate social links with others. Halliday claimsthat interpersonal meaning has two groups: interactional meaning and attitudinal meaning.The former studies how the speaker communicates with other people. The latter refers to thespeaker’s attitude toward the proposition. In short, interpersonal function is the function oflanguage participation. By interpersonal function, the speaker as an intruder can participate incommunicative actions with other people in which the speaker can express his or her attitudeand influence other people behaviors. In Halliday’s view, interpersonal meaning is mainlyrealized under the headings of Mood, Modality and Personal Pronoun.
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1.2 Significance of the Research
The aim of this thesis is to explore how interpersonal meaning is realized in popularmedical English journal. This aim has a great significance in the following: previousresearches on the means which are used to realize interpersonal meaning are not thorough.Therefore by absorbing the merits of the previous investigation, the author of this thesis wantsto discuss how interpersonal meaning is established and realized in popular medical Englishjournal combining Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar Theory and Martin’s AppraisalTheory. The study discusses the realization of interpersonal meaning from Mood, Modality,Personal Pronoun, and Evaluation. In theory, the combination of the two theories makes themeans of realizing interpersonal meaning deeply and various. In practice, it seeks to provide anew perspective for the teaching and reading of popular medical English journal articles. Theauthor hopes that this thesis will provide some implications for teachers and students so as toimprove students’ writing and reading ability in medical English discourse.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Interpersonal Meaning
Interpersonal function is the most important sociological use of language. “People usethe interpersonal function of language to establish and maintain their status in a society.”(Thompson, 2002) In the framework of functional grammar, this function is concerned withinteraction between the speaker and the listener in the discourse situation and the addresser’sattitude toward what he speaks or writes about. Through interpersonal function, the speakersas intruders attempt to influence other people’s attitudes and actions by expressing theirattitudes in a certain communicative context. It also concludes role relationship between thespeaker and the reader in the communicative situation. In Halliday’s point of view, language has three meta-functions: ideational function,interpersonal function, and textual function. Halliday holds the view that interpersonalmeaning is a speech role relationship between a speaker and a reader. He classifiesinterpersonal meaning into two types: one is interaction meaning and the other is attitudemeaning. Interaction meaning is that the speaker interacts with other people. And the attitudemeaning is that a speaker’s attitude towards a proposition. In the field of Systemic FunctionalGrammar, Mood contains Subject and Finite. Mood has a polarity which contains positive andnegative. But the intermediate space between positive and negative is called Modality.Halliday regards Mood and Modality as major means to realize interpersonal meaning.
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2.1.2 Researches on Interpersonal Meaning in China
Chinese researchers also make contribution to investigate interpersonal meaning.HuZhuanglin thinks that language can be used to express social and personal relationship in therealization of interpersonal meaning. (Hu Zhuanglin, 2002) Hu Zhuanglin analyzes metaphorfrom the perspective of language function in his article Grammatical Metaphor . In this article,he presents the definition of metaphor. Based on different ages, he gives some features ofmetaphor to readers and then he deeply studies metaphor from the view of interpersonal function in academic books. Hu Zhuanglin, Zhu Yongsheng, Zhang Delu and Li Zhanzipublish a Chinese book called Introduction of Systemic Functional Linguistics, in which theygive readers information about Systemic Functional Grammar and Appraisal Theory. In thebook, they summarize core thoughts about Systemic Functional Grammar : metafunctionthought, systemic thought, hierarchical thought, functional thought, context thought,approximative thought or probabilistic thought. Also, they insist that there is a relationshipbetween Appraisal Theory and social ideology. They apply Appraisal Theory into discourseanalysis.
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Chapter Three Theoretical Framework...... 7
3.1 Systemic Functional Grammar.... 7
3.2 Halliday’s Analysis of Interpersonal Meaning.... 8
3.2.1 Mood ......... 8
3.2.2 Modality ......... 15
3.2.3 Personal Pronoun........ 19
3.3 Martin's Appraisal Theory......... 20
3.3.1 Attitude..... 21
3.3.2 Engagement.... 23
3.3.3 Graduation...... 24
3.4 Summary ..... 25
Chapter Four Analysis and Discussion the Realizing of Interpersonal Meaning..... 26
4.1 The Definition and Features of Popular Medical English Journal ......... 26
4.2 Data Collection and Data Analysis ........ 26
4.3 The Realization of Interpersonal Meaning in Mood ...... 27
4.4 The Realization of Interpersonal Meaning in Modality ....... 30
4.5 The Realization of Interpersonal Meaning in Personal System ....... 34
4.6 The Realization of Interpersonal Meaning in Martin’s Appraisal Theory......... 36
Chapter Five Findings and Implications....... 41
5.1 Findings.... 41
5.2 Implications..... 42
5.3 Limitations ..... 42
Chapter Five Findings and Implications
In order to master the skills of popular medical English journal articles,writing ,reading，and good teaching is required．Popular medical English journal articlesteachers play a leading role in the process of students’ learning．In China, students alwaysfocus on words and grammar, so they less pay attention to interpersonal meaning in discourse.The teacher should view interpersonal meanings as a important point because popular medicalEnglish journal articles are not a simple combination of technical terms and contents and notto convey abstract information, but an interactive communication between the writer andpotential readers．Only by mastering the linguistic features can students understand themedical articles. This thesis aims to analyze how interpersonal meaning is realized in popular medicalEnglish journal. The above analysis and discussion reveal that Mood, Modality, PersonalPronoun, and Evaluation make special contribution to interpersonal meaning realization andthey occur in different parts with various intention and functions in popular medical Englishjournal.
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结论
This thesis has the following limitations．First of all，because of the limitation of timeand data, the author can not study the realization of interpersonal meaning comprehensively inpopular medical English journal. For instance，tenses are not explored in this thesis，especiallysimple past tense and present tense，though tense are also important elements in popularEnglish journal articles. Secondly, although our data indicates general tendency，the numberof 15 samples may be not sufficient to apply to every case．Thirdly, this study is merely theauthor’s bird view，and it is hoped that it can be a valuable supplement to further studies onpopular medical English journal in terms of interpersonal meanings.
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Reference (omitted)
