Interpersonal Meaning of Commercial Advertisements

杨宇 魏本力

【摘要】本論文从韩礼德的系统功能语法理论中人际系统，语气系统及情态系统三个方面，来研究商业广告中人际功能意义的实现，以期揭示商业广告是如何运用语言的人际功能来引导，劝诱消费者进行消费以实现商业目的。

【关键词】商业广告 系统功能语法 人际功能

1.Introduction

With the increasing development of the commodity economy，commercial advertisements has penetrated into many aspects in our life.It is important to establish and maintain good interpersonal relationship with customers using commercial advertisements.In the perspective of systematic functional grammar，one of the most important functions of language is the interpersonal function.This paper is carried out in three aspects of interpersonal meaning，namely，personal system，mod system and modality.

According to Halliday，of the various speech roles，two are the most basic：giving and taking.In interpersonal communications，the commodities exchanged can also fall into two kinds：goods-&-service and information.Thus，speech roles and commodities exchanged make up four principal speech roles：offer，command，statement，and question （Hu Zhuanglin，2006，p.314）.

This paper uses the quantitive and qualitative methods to analyze the way of realizing the interpersonal function of commercial advertisements texts from three aspects：person system，mood system and modality.

2.Person system

Halliday （2000：191） makes it clear that interpersonal meanings are embodied in the person system，both as pronoun （she，you） and as possessive （her，your）.In commercial advertisements，the person system is more complicated，due to the reason that the advertiser strives to creative an intimate atmosphere and bridge the social and mental distance with the customers.

We lead，others copy.（Liguang Copier）

Obey your thirst.（Spirit）

On a clear day，you can see THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

From what has been demonstrated above，we can see that the adoption of person system in commercial advertisements make them being more considerate and close to the readers，which warms the heart of potential customers in this cool and detached modern society.

3.Mood system

In commercial advertisements，the effect of two important language roles——giving and taking are prominent.This function of commercial advertisements is closely related to the mood system in systematic functional grammar.

Declarative mood is the favorite mood structure for the advertiser to give information to the readers.Plenty examples can be easily found，like：

Qwest takes responsibility for every box，every network and every application.（Qwest）

The interrogative mood structure and imperative mood structure can also have the same effect，for example：Could it be more graceful to the eyes，more responsive to the will，more in tune with the soul？ （Land Rover）

Widen your world with Camival.Make smarter choice for our exciting life.

4.Modality

Modality is the one of the most important components in interpersonal meaning.According to Halliday （1985：340），modality is a representation of standing point of the speaker either “on validity of the assertion or on the rights and wrongs of the proposal”.

In commercial advertisements，these words——“will”，“must”，“can”，“may” are frequently appeared to convey the advertisers idea to pass on the information on the goods or services best advantages to the reader.Like：

Only when you sit in Passat，will it become really strong.（Passat）

Modulation expresses the speakers inclination or the listeners obligation to carry out the proposal.Inclination in commercial advertisements is common，for the advertiser really wants to offer the potential customers the goods or services.

Well get your partners on-board and connected in real-time-in no time.（Viacore）

5.Conclusion

This paper reveals that the persuasion force of commercial advertisements mainly depends on the applying of the three aspects——person system，mood system and modality.By adopting different person pronouns，the commercial advertisements succeed in creating an intimacy relationship and shortening the social and mental distance with the readers.By choosing different mood to express information，the commercial advertisements are able to attract the readers and provide more information.Through the modality，the advertiser expresses his opinions and attitudes towards his goods and services as well as confidence.

References：

[1]Dyer，G.（1982）.Advertising as Communication.London： Methuen.

[2]Halliday，M.A.K.（1985）.An Introduction to Functional Grammar.London： Edward Arnold.

[3]Halliday，M.A.K.（2000）.An Introduction to Functional Grammar.Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[4]胡壯麟（2006）.《语言学教程》.北京：北京大学出版社.

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