Multimodal Contrastive Analysis Of Interpersonal Meaning In The Official Websites Of Chinese And American Profiles Of Financial Institutions

This thesis attempts to make a contrastive analysis on the ways profiles of Chinese financial institutions and profiles of American financial institutions realize interpersonal meaning and on the effectiveness of interpersonal meaning construction on official websites.Based on the 30 pieces of collected written profiles and relevant images,this thesis adopts Mood and Modality system and Interactive Meaning in Visual Grammar to probe into the underlying differences in the ways PCFIS and PAFIS realize IM via written texts and images respectively.And with the purpose to make a contrastive study on the effectiveness of interpersonal meaning construction,the thesis applies Strategic Credibility model to explore whether American profiles and Chinese profiles manage to create strategic credibility.The thesis finds that the ways in which Chinese profiles and American ones realize interpersonal meaning by written texts do share some similarities and differences.As for Mood System,both prefer to play ?giving? roles,which are realized by statements,to provide stakeholders with general information.However,American financial institutions tend to play ?giving? roles via ?offer? more,aiming to render more information on the products and service they can offer customers while Chinese financial institutions focus more on the rewards and reputation they have gained over years to win stakeholders' trust.Besides,American profiles greatly outnumber Chinese ones in ?demanding? roles.The written texts in American ones question or place demands on customers to directly involve their interaction.But they are almost avoided or alleviated by a model verb ?qing? in China to keep the big power distance with potential stakeholders.As for Modality system,Chinese profiles outnumber American ones in ?usuality? and ?inclination? sentences while American profiles outnumber Chinese ones in ?obligation? sentences,with Chinese ones emphasizing more on the times they have gained rewards and the blueprint in the future.However,American profiles lay more emphasis on the obligations they should fulfill in the interest of customers.In terms of the visual texts on the official websites,the images on American profiles manage to build interpersonal meaning in a more positive way than Chinese ones do.American profiles tend to interact with viewers via genuine smile and direct eye contact in the eye-leveled close-shot images,while Chinese ones create distance with viewers via the rigid products,the serious expression,the shadowy figure in the high-leveled long-shot images.When it comes to the Strategic Credibility,American profiles manage to realize IM in an effective way because they create strategic credibility but Chinese ones fail to do it.In a nutshell,this thesis finds that American profiles realize interpersonal meaning in a comparatively effective way because they manage to exert influence over customers' attitudes and behavior in a favorable way,but it's a different story for Chinese ones.