| The study on modal verbs in news discourses has drawn a lot of attention from many scholars.These scholars have analyzed in detail the functions of modal verbs,types of modality metaphor and patterns of ideology that modal verbs embody in news discourses from perspectives of Systematic Functional Grammar,Critical Discourse Analysis,Speech Act Theory and Pragmatic Functions etc.While,as for the linguistic phenomenon why modal verbs expressing personal attitudes and judgment are utilized in news discourses that require objectivity and reality,previous studies haven’t given a deep explanation.Only Deng Huan(2009)researches this phenomenon through analyzing the pragmatic functions of non-source modal verbs in news discourses,but this is still not enough.Therefore,this thesis intends to explain that phenomenon.Verschueren holds that Pragmatics is the study on linguistic phenomena from a comprehensive perspective which involves cognitive,cultural and social aspects to decompose linguistic problems.On the basis of that,Verschueren further puts forward linguistic adaptation theory and develops it.This theory regards the use of language as a process of making choices from every layer of language.These hierarchies consist of phonetic aspects,lexical aspects,syntactic aspects,textual cohesion and linguistic strategies and so on.At the same time,those choices are influenced unavoidably by factors which are both inter-linguistic and extra-linguistic.That is to say,contextual correlates,internal linguistic structures,the dynamic process of adaptation as well as the salience of adaptation are necessary to be considered when a linguistic phenomenon is interpreted.Relied on the above description,it is clear that Adaptation Theory has certain explanatory power of analyzing and explicating linguistic problems.Therefore,this thesis aims to solve the puzzle why modal verbs representing subjectivity can be used in news discourses which require objectivity under the framework of Adaptation Theory.Taken as a medium of news reports or news contents,news discourses deliver certain information,which is a kind of communication between news media and news readers.In the light of the specialty that news media or news agencies are under the control of political force,it is overt that news serves as the role of bridging politicians and audience.Hence,in order to reach communicative goals and produce expected communicative effects,it becomes necessary to adopt some communicative strategies.According to the description from Adaptation Theory,the speaker not only chooses forms of language,but also selects utterance strategies.And the choice of strategies will finally be reflected on linguistic structures(He Ziran,Chen Xinren,Xie Chaoqun,2007).So this thesis holds that to choose modal verbs is to choose communication strategies.And these strategies are embodied by modal verbs.For the purpose of further illustrating the reasons for using modal verbs in news discourses,this thesis designs the following questions.(1)What communication strategies do modal verbs represent in English news discourses?(2)How do modal verbs generate those communication strategies in the light of Adaptation Theory?(3)What communicative functions or effects are produced?For exploring the answers to those questions,there are total 160 pieces of news taken from New York Times,The Washington Post,Daily Mail,China Daily and Global Times.They contain political,economic,cultural and technical patterns,among which each type has 40 pieces.Based on the collected material,this thesis summarizes the use features of modal verbs in English news discourses: 1)can and will are applied the most frequently;2)the frequency that modal verbs appear changes because of the disparity in news discourses types;3)in collected news discourses,the quantity of modal verbs in directive speech sentences is larger than that in indirect speech sentences.This thesis also finds that 8 kinds of communication strategies are displayed by modal verbs through the analysis of collected news discourses,including vagueness strategy,refusal strategy,politeness strategy,strategy of discourse roles transformation,strategy of attitudinal token,perspective strategy,understatement strategy as well as labeling strategy.According to the statement in Adaptation Theory,the application of these strategies is the result of modal verbs making adaptation to contextual factors covered in the physical world,social world and mental world.In this thesis,modal verbs adapt to temporal factor in the physical world,social power,social authority,social occasions,and social ideology in the social world,motivation and emotion in the psychological world,where they produce abundant contextual meanings that have obvious effects on the choice of communication strategies.During the process of adapting to the above factors,those strategies produce the following pragmatic functions which meet the need of news communication and realize the communicative goals.(1)Due to the wide source and rapid speed of innovation that news features,the reliability of information remains to be verified.Therefore,the vagueness in expressions can justly deliver authenticity,which shapes an image of justice for speakers.(2)On one hand,directly refusing unreasonable requirements or conditions can clearly show political stance,and on the other hand,it helps to avoid getting in unnecessary troubles of being a soft head.(3)To show politeness is beneficial for establishing and maintaining a good relationship.(4)The change of discourse roles gives an implication about the true party responsible for the information conveyed,which means the spokesperson will take less responsibility for what he said.(5)With the application of attitudinal token,some attitudes or opinions are implied.And they have an influence on news readers in an unconscious way.(6)Different perspectives are adopted by quoting opinions about an event from other spokespersons or newspaper agencies,which makes the news reported seem reliable.(7)Understatement usually plays its role in mitigating tense and sensitive atmosphere,and promoting the success in communicating with the other party.(8)Attaching labels to the reported figures or events is the reflection of world outlook and views on value,which is exactly the process of inputting ideology.Based on the above findings,from the perspective of AT to analyze the application of modal verbs in English news discourses,this thesis on one hand solves the puzzle that news always shows reality and objectivity to news readers,but when going deep into the analysis of language in news discourses,information of subjective level is just like a steady flow.And on the other hand,this thesis reveals the nature of news.English news is the product of social practice and is controlled by the benefits of political groups and power blocs,which causes that an event to be reported in the end has to go through the process of being picked up before it is made public.Therefore,English news is not a pure vehicle for acquiring information.The content that language expresses in news is embedded with some belief or views on value which can guide the orientation of public ideology and lead public opinions.The use of modal verbs exemplifies the communication strategies and produces expected communication effects,which is just the need of news media.So,the findings in this thesis can bring enlightenment to news readers.When getting acquaintance with news,they can keep a clear mind,analyze the content objectively and form their own judgment on news events. |
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