美国对华贸易政策情态系统的人际意义研究——基于评价理论视角

Interpersonal Meaning of the Modality System in American Policy on US-China Trade−Based on the Perspective of Appraisal Theory

基于自建语料库,从评价理论角度研究美国对华贸易政策中情态系统的使用特征和人际意义。研究发现:(1)与特朗普对华贸易政策相比,拜登对华贸易政策中情态系统的使用率更高,且更多使用道义情态,而认识情态和意志情态的分布无明显差异,从量值的使用情况来看,拜登对华贸易政策更多使用高值情态词,较少使用中值和低值情态词;(2)美国对华贸易政策中使用不同的情态类型进行判断,使用不同量值的情态词调节评价语势,同时将评价性词汇资源与情态词搭配,转移压力来源,实现对话的扩张与收缩。因此,情态系统具有表达主体不同程度的态度和立场、转移情态责任、扩张与收缩对话空间的人际意义。

The interpersonal meaning of American policies on US-China trade can be explored by comparison of the characteristic Modality System in the foreign trade policies of Biden and Trump administration from a self-constructed corpora within the framework of Appraisal Theory.The findings are as follows:1)Compared with the trade policies of Trump administration,the frequency of Modality System in Biden’s policies is higher especially with more Deontic Modality,whereas the distribution of Epistemic Modality and Volitional Modality is not significantly different;in terms of the value of modality,more modalities of high-value and fewer that of medium-value and low-value are used in Biden’s trade policies;2)different types of Modality are used for judgment,different values are used to regulate the force of discourses,and the pairing of evaluative lexical resources with modal words shifts the source of pressure and achieves the expansion and compression of the dialogue.Thus,the Modality System has the interpersonal meaning of expressing different degrees of the subject’s attitude and position,shifting the responsibility of modality,and expanding and compressing the dialogue space.