A Study On Chinese TV Talk Show From The Perspective Of Interpersonal Metafunction

Language is adopted by speakers not only for describing the world around them, but also for interacting with listeners in order to establish and maintain relations with them,to influence their attitudes or behaviors,to express personal viewpoints and to elicit or change others.This function of language is termed as interpersonal metafunction in Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar(SFG).Exploring how the host or guests in the TV talk show realize the interpersonal function through their utterances is a workable way to reflect the transmitting role of mass media.However, seldom has there been work of discourse analysis from the perspective of SFG on TV talk show,especially on discourse in Chinese.The present study,mainly applying Halliday's theory of the interpersonal function and Martin's appraisal theory as the analytical framework on this type of discourse in Chinese as far as the natural speech is concerned,is a linguistic attempt which analyzes the interpersonal function based on the samples that are collected from the Chinese TV talk Show A Date with Luyu.After identifying the contexts of situation-Field,Mode and Tenor of A Date with Luyu,the research is carried out at the micro-social level and the macro-social level.At the micro-social level an investigation is made in terms of Mood,Modality,Person system from grammatical-lexical aspect;at the macro-social level,an analysis is conducted from semantic aspect,on the basis of Martin's appraisal framework,i.e. attitude,graduation and engagement.Followed by the comprehensive and multi-level analytical model,via authentic data collection and qualitative approach,the fmdings of the study are considerably reliable.It is revealed that various lexical-grammatical patterns have been skillfully used by the host or guests to manipulate the interaction with the others during the talk. Mood structures have been used typically and non-typically by the host and guests in the TV talk show to realize their speech roles,which enable the oral interaction;the careful choice of modal expressions serving as interaction or politeness strategy enhances the relationship between the speaker and the listeners during the talk show; various personal pronouns creates intimacy and facilitates the negotiation with the other; by means of appropriate appraisal resources,the speaker,especially the host,expresses self-opinions and constructs solidarity with the listeners,including the guest and the audience.Halliday's systemic-functional grammar together with Martin's appraisal theory can be proved to be a very comprehensive way to analyze the interpersonal function in Chinese discourses like TV talk show.Meanwhile,only when the interpersonal function of the TV talk show is realized,can the social function of the mass media,i.e. transmitting information to the public be realized.It is hoped that the thesis may enrich linguistic studies on Chinese TV talk show and mass media studies on social-function as well as supply authentic data for spoken discourse analysis in Chinese.Accordingly, the study can be regarded theoretically and practically oriented.