Modality System of Job Advertisements on Needs of Business English Talents

陶媛媛 李敏芳

【Abstract】The thesis， based on Hallidays systemic functional grammar， aims to study the interpersonal meaning realized by modality system in job advertisements relating to Business English talents needs， and then to find out how the realization of interpersonal meaning in job advertisements reflects companies Business English talents needs.

【Key words】job advertisements； interpersonal meaning； mood

1. Data collection and processing

According to Haliday （1994）， interpersonal meaning can be comprehended from two aspects： interactional and attitudinal. In this thesis， the author focused on the interactional aspect of interpersonal meaning， modality.

Based on the research of Shi Hui （2010）， in data collection， all the samples are searched with key words as salesmen， assistants， secretaries， customer service cooperators， trading specialists， translators/interpreters， and teachers， and then 49 samples are randomly selected in terms of these occupational directions from the recruiting websites.

In the data processing procedure， AntConc 3.2.2.1 was applied to count the occurrence/frequencies of modal expressions.

2. Data analysis

As a major exponent conveying interpersonal meaning in SFG， modality indicates a speakers attitude towards， or opinion about， the truth of a proposition. The author adopts Hallidays division of modality to analyze modality in the job advertisements relating to Business English talents needs.

By using Antconc 3.2.2.1， it is showed that the highest frequency of modality is probability modalization， which is to enhance interaction and negotiation of job advertisements relating to Business English talents needs， and to realize the persuasive function. Expressions of possibility indicate that writers/speakers dont commit themselves to the truth of the proposition， indications of possibility can increase the accuracy of an utterance/discourse. Possibility expressions thus can indicate reliability， as the text does not claim more than it is justified to do. Whats more， it is found that finite modal operators of probability “will”， “can” and “may”， to implicitly express subjectivity， are frequently used in the discourse of job advertisements on Business English talents needs. They are either median or low value expressions of probability. By using these lower value expressions of probability， the speaker/writer mitigates his/her statement， making it appear less categorical and thus reliable. The frequent employment of implicit subjective finite modal operators with lower value of probability is to introduce the company， illustrate the job duties and responsibilities. The purpose is to describe the companys potential development， to soften personal assertion， and to increase reliability.

Modulation is concerned with proposal meaning to what degree the speaker/writer wants to command （obligation） or offer （inclination）. In the discourse of job advertisements on Business English talents needs， it is found that obligation of modulation accounts for 21.76% in the whole modal expressions， and inclination of modulation accounts for 12.98%.

It is showed that obligation of modulation accounts for the second largest proportion in the whole modal expressions.The frequent occurrence of implicit objectivity is to introduce the job duties and requirements. As for expressions of obligation， they are mainly used to describe the job duties and requirements. In most cases， obligation modulation is concerned with proposal meaning to what degree the speaker/writer wants to demand. It is obvious that it is a reflection of speech function of command. In a command， the readers/listeners positive face is threatened. However， it is not always a truth. Sometimes strategies can be used to avoid threatening their positive face. In the whole modal expressions， inclination of modulation accounts for 12.98%， ranking as the third largest frequency. Inclination of modulation is concerned with the proposal meaning to what degree the speaker/ writer wants to offer. In job advertisements on Business English talent needs， the advertisers main purpose is to attract qualified applicants with the reliability of his/her statement.

3. Summary

Through the analysis， it is found that in the discourse of job advertisements on Business English talents needs， expressions of probability can increase the reliability of the statement and reflect politeness strategy used when recruiting； expressions of usuality can be used to provide room to think about the future work environment； expressions of inclination can be used to attract applicants. Besides， it should be noted that lower value and implicit objective expressions are preferred in modality.

References：

[1]Halliday，M.A.K.（2008）.An introduction to functional grammar.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[2]石慧.商務英語課程設置的需求分析研究[D].黑龍江大學，2010.