从奥巴马胜选感言看语言人际功能实现5-9.docVIP

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the previous literature related to the central issues of the present study: the interpersonal function in public speech. This review introduces background materials used in the study, which provide theoretical support for this thesis. 2.1 Previous studies on interpersonal function The interpersonal function of language has been studied for a long time by many linguists with different perspectives. Malinowski first used the concept of phatic communion to describe the interpersonal function of language when he studied the language of the natives on the Trobrinad Islands (Hu Zhuanglin, 2005:12). Actually, phatic exchange is a very common phenomenon in everyday intercourse. The social encounters between individuals who have never met or are unfamiliar with each other are usually initiated by phatic conumunion and involve simple topics such as weather, environment or shared opinions. In this process, language is used to build and maintain social relationship from the first contact between strangers. Phatic communion helps to establish atmosphere and convey feelings, but it is only one representation of interpersonal function, and its range is limited to the initial social contact. Bakhtin, a Russian linguist and literature theorist, is the founder of a school of literary criticism known as dialogism, which emphasizes the special dynamic relation between an author and his or her work, the work itself and its readers. He (1929) suggests that people use language to realize social interaction and assumes that dialogue is one of the basic structural principles of all the discourses. Interaction of language is the core of his theory, so we can see Bakhtins Dialogue Theory also concerns the interpersonal aspect of meaning although he never used the term interpersonal. J. R. Firth made great achievements, which won him an esteemed reputation at the University of London. The School of Linguistics he repr