On Interpersonal Meaning In The World Cup Official Song Lyrics

Lyric is a special text created for the purpose of singing, which has the common characteristics of oral and written discourse. It reflects people’s thoughts and feelings in life, which is full of life philosophy. The World Cup is held every four years, which is a much-anticipated sporting event. Millions of fans pin their hope and enthusiasm on the creation of official songs. Lyrics of the songs reflectthe passionate and thrilling moment on the football ground in the World Cup, as well as the expectation and love of the songwriters and the audience, which fully embody the characteristics of specific language and culture in different times and places.This study makesboth a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the realization of interpersonal meaning in the World Cup official song lyrics. Based on Halliday’s interpersonal function and Martin’s attitude system in appraisal, this study analyzes 76 pieces of the World Cup official song lyrics from 1986 to 2014 from four aspects: mood system, modality system, person system and attitude system.The research questions of this study are:(1) How is interpersonal function realized in the Mood System in the World Cup official song lyrics?(2) How is interpersonal function realized in the Modality System in the World Cup official song lyrics?(3) How is interpersonal function realized in the Person System in the World Cup official song lyrics?(4) How is interpersonal function realized in the Attitude System in the World Cup official song lyrics?Findings of the research are as follows:(1) In mood system, declaratives have the highest frequency following by imperatives and interrogatives. Adjuncts of polarity are used most frequently with usuality and intensity following far behind, while time has low frequency.(2) In modality system, there are more positive modal verbs with median and low value to express probability, inclination, usuality and obligation.(3) In person system, first person pronouns have the highest frequency following by the second person in the WCOSLs (World Cup Official Song Lyrics).(4) In attitude system, affect and evaluation are used most frequently. The majority of affect is happiness following by dissatisfaction and security, which shows the songwriters’ and the audience’s deep pleasure and faith from hearts. In terms of evaluation, quality in the item of reaction and the balance in the item of composition of things and people have the highest frequency. The use of various devices shortens the relationship between the songwriters and the audience, which enhances the audience’s sense of participation.This study explores the particular ways to realize the interpersonal meaning of the World Cup official song lyrics. Moreover, it yields new insights into interpersonal meaning of lyrics, which provides some reference to spread the spirits of the World Cup.Besides, this study helps the audience to have a better understanding of the spirit of the World Cup from different cultural backgrounds.