Functional Analyses Of English And Chinese Dating Advertisements

As dating advertisement is becoming increasingly important and common in people's daily life, it has profound impact on the choice of dates, revealing various kinds of values people hold. As a result, studies in this area have flourished. This paper is a discussion on the crucial issues of dating advertisement (DA) based on functional theories. Hopefully it can provide a foundation for further studies on DA. The writer analyzes the differences and similarities between the Chinese dating advertisement (CDA) and English dating advertisement (EDA) under the framework of Halliday's metafunction theory, that is, experiential function, interpersonal function, and textual function.Chapter One is a review of previous studies of DA and language of advertising. While Chapter Two lays the theoretical basis of the thesis: Halliday's theory of Systemic-Functional Grammar. After classifications of advertising, Chapter Three proposes a tentative definition of DA. This chapter also proposes the economical principle of DA, the reasons to be economical and the way to implement the principle. The end of the chapter demonstrates four models of DA.Chapters Four, Five and Six make up highlights of the thesis. Chapter Four analyzes experiential function of CDAs and EDAs. The experiential function is to convey information, to communicate content between the speaker and the listener. It includes transitivity, voice, and polarity. In this thesis CDAs and EDAs will be studied respectively from the angle of transitivity. Chapter Five focuses on the interpersonal function analyses of CDAs and EDAs, in which mood is explicated as a relevant element. Following is the contrastive analyses of the speech role of CDAs and EDAs. Chapter Six is textual function analyses...