An Analysis Of Interpersonal Meaning In English News Commentaries

Different scholars hold different views on interpersonal meaning of language. At present, the widely influential one is interpersonal function in Halliday's systemic-functional grammar, but his theory neglects the research on semantics of evaluation. James R. Martin, with this deficiency in mind, set up the Appraisal System based on Halliday's systemic-functional grammar in the early nineties of the 20th century, and developed interpersonal meaning.Guiding by Halliday's interpersonal meaning and Martin's appraisal system, 1 choose five news commentaries from different countries on Iraq War to make an analysis of them from mood, modality and attitude in order to supply a new perspective. Through analyses, we discover that the analysis of interpersonal meaning in English news commentaries can help readers achieve a better understanding, and make writers' attitudes and opinions clearly seen. Moreover, the analyses validate that Halliday's and Martin's theories are effective and scientific and supply a good way for reading American and English newspapers.