A Research On Interpersonal Meaning In TV Interview Discourse From The Perspective Of Systemic-functional Grammar

Systemic functional grammar is one of the most influential theories in modern linguistics, which was initiated by Halliday in the 1950 s and continued to develop and innovated from then on. The concept of interpersonal meaning derives from the partition of metafunctions of language in systemic functional grammar. It refers to the language people use to interact with others, to establish and maintain relations, to express their views and behaviors that influence even change ideas of others.According to Halliday, the mood and modality are the basic resources to realize the interpersonal meaning in the lexico-grammatical level. The former can reflect the interaction of interlocutors while the latter can show the speaker’s attitude and judgment. In his third edition of An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Halliday proposes a new concept, called “subject person” system which can be used to show whether the speaker or addressee are involed in the exchange of information interaction. Therefore the subject person system can also be seen as one of the means to realize interpersonal meaning. In recent years, researchers at home and broad have conducted extensive studies on the interpersonal meaning in various types of discourse, such as speech, advertisement, autobiography and so on. However, till today, researches on the interpersonal meaning of TV interview discourse are rarely found.Based on the theoretical framework of Halliday’ s systemic functional grammar,this thesis aims to explore the interpersonal meaning in television interview discourse from three aspects, namely mood, modality and subject person. 10 sample texts which are transcribed from the America famous interview program Talk Asia are selected as the research data and a detailed analysis and discussion are carried out on the realization of interpersonal meaning in TV interview discourse. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are adopted for the present research. Through the quantitative method, the distribution and percentage of mood, modality and subject person resources are calculated, and then based on the statistical results the qualitativeanalysis and interpretation are provided.By analysis and discussion, the results can be summarized as follows: Firstly, in terms of the mood system, both the host and guest prefer to use various types of mood namely declarative, interrogative and imperative to construct and maintain the interactive relations. The host employs declarative clauses to provide background information about the topic discussed before asking. Interrogative clauses are mainly used by the host to pose questions while the imperative clauses to invite the guest into discussion or change the topic. As for the guest, they mainly employ declarative clauses to answer the questions put forward by the host and express their opinions on the topic discussed. The author also identifies the phenomenon of metaphor of mood in the television interview that the host employs declarative mood to propose questions and the guests express their viewpoints by using interrogative mood, aiming to make their speech more impressive and interesting. Secondly, in terms of modality system, the host and guests are inclined to employ various kinds of expressions of modality to realize interpersonal meaning. In respect of the type of modality,probability and obligation occupy a relatively large proportion in the host and guest’ s language. In terms of the value of modality, both host and guests are prefer to employ the low and median value modal expressions to make their speech more credible. As for the metaphor of modality, they are all inclined to use subjective explicit orientation to make their viewpoints more subjective and more persuasive. Thirdly, in terms of the subject person system, the choice of subject person can reflect the host’s and guest’s standpoints and attitudes even reveal the relationship between them. In their speech, the interactant subject person occupies a large proportion means they are personally engaged in the interactive event and should be responsible for the validity of the information they exchanged. Guests prefer to use interactant-involved as the subject of clause to make their viewpoints more official and authentic. While pesudo-interactants are used to tell audiences a truth or a common phenomenon existing in society with the purpose to strike a chord. While the clauses that used non-interactant as the subject can provide more information of the outside world to the audience and help them to have a comprehensive understanding about theinterview.The results indicate that mood, modality and subject person can all be used to realize the interpersonal meaning, which verifies the feasibility and applicability of systemic functional grammar to the analysis of interpersonal meaning in TV interview discourse. In addition, the present research provides a theoretical basis for the study of different genres and broadens the scope of study for future research. Meanwhile, the study can not only help audience to deepen the understanding and appreciation of TV interview program, at the same time can help English learners know how to conduct effective communication, so as to express themselves in a more accurate and tactful way. It is sincerely hoped that the present study can make contributions and be a significant reference for future related researches.