论被动语态的评价功能

An Exploration into the Evaluation Function of Passive Voice

评价理论是功能语言学在对人际意义的研究中发展起来的词汇—语法框架。基于美国当代英语语料库的语料,检索被动语态的用法发现,被动语态在不同语体中分布不均衡。被动语态具备的评价功能使其更多地聚集于学术语篇、新闻报道等正式语体。此外,以评价理论为理论基础,通过分析语料库中随机采样的被动语态用法,发现其评价功能主要体现在:表达说话者的态度;通过调整语序强调受动者和施动者;通过投射评价规避责任;以及通过改变语气传达不同的信息。

Appraisal theory is a lexico-grammatical framework for studying interpersonal meaning in Functional Gram-mar.By searching passive sentences in Corpus of Contemporary American English, passive voice is found to be unevenly distributed among various genres.Due to the evaluation function of passive voice, there are more passive sentences in for-mal genres like academic texts and news report.Based on appraisal theory, by analyzing samples from the corpus, evalua-tion function of passive voice is explored from the following aspects: the writer's attitude is indicated by using passive voice;the agent and the recipient are emphasized by changing the order of the sentence;the writer escapes the responsi-bility by projecting evaluation;and different information is expressed by changing mood.