Analysis of Chapter One in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer from the Perspective of Interpersonal Meaning

【Abstract】Interpersonal meaning is an important part in functional grammar. It refers to that people use language to express their ideas or attitudes with others to set up their social relationship. Based on Mood of interpersonal metafunction， this paper is going to analyze some discourse of chapter one in the adventures of Tom Sawyer， which aims to analyze how the interpersonal meaning is playing a part in building social relationship and portraying peoples characteristics in literature text.

【Key words】interpersonal meaning； Mood； literature text

1. Introduction

As the tool for communication， language is playing an important role in human interaction. Language possesses lots of functions. Metafunction is the core of systemic functional grammar. Linguists holds that metafunction consists of ideational metafunction， interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction， and it is closely related to discourse.

Language can not only expresses ones life experience and mental thoughts， it can also describes the speakers social status，attitudes， motivations and communication with other social members. Based on Mood of interpersonal metafunction， this paper is intended to analyze chapter one in the adventures of Tom Sawyer. The purpose of it is to explain the application of Mood in discourse analysis.

2. Mood

Linguists believes that giving and demanding commodities are the basic aims of interpersonal meafunction. The commodities refers to not only goods-and-services， but also information. There are four basic speech roles： giving information； demanding information， giving goods-and- services and demanding goods-and-services. The labels for these functions are： statement， question， offer，and command.

Speech functions are realized by Mood. Statements are usually expressed by declarative clauses； questions are usually expressed by interrogative clauses； commands are usually expressed by imperative clauses.

In the adventures of Tom Sawyer， Mark Twain criticized the hypocritical social conventions and stereotyped school education by describing Toms adventure experiences. Tom is a clever， vivacious，resourceful but naughty boy. He likes adventures，freedom and desire to excel over others. In the beginning of the novel， it was written that Tom met a strange boy who was well-dressed， like a city boy， but Tom looked miserable and shabby， which made Tom angry and jealous. This caused quarrel between them and finally went up to fight with each other.

This paper has chosen the conversations between Tom and the strange boy in chapter one. Analyzed from the sentence patterns， There are 63 clauses in all. They consist of 44 declarative clauses， 10 interrogative clauses， 5 imperative clauses and 4 exclamative clauses.

2.1 Declarative Mood

According to the theory of systemic functional grammar， the function of declarative clauses is to show opinions， truth and give information. In the beginning of the conversation， there are following parts. （T represents Tom， and S represents strange boy）

T： （1）“I can lick you！ ”

S： （2）“I'd like to see you try it.”

T： （3）“Well， I can do it.”

S： （4）“No you can't， either.”

T： （5）“Yes I can.”

S： （6）“No you can't.”

T： （7）“I can.”

S： （8）“You can't.”

T： （9）“Can！ ”

S： （10）“Can't！ ”

These clauses are going to analyzed in the following from the perspective of Mood.

I can lick you

Subject Finite predicator complement

Mood Residue

I ‘d like to see you try it

Subject Finite predicator complement

Mood Residue

Well， I can do it

Subject Finite predicator complement

Residue Mood Residue

You cant

Subject Finite

Mood

Yes I can

Subject Finite

Residue Mood

In systemic functional grammar， Mood consists of Subject and Finite. When Subject is in the front of Finite， the clause is called declarative clause， which is used to express statement and attitudes. The conversations above are declarative clauses.

When the language is used to exchange information， the clauses are presented in the form of proposition. For example， the clause above “I can lick you” is a proposition. It is by speech that Tom provoked the strange boy. The sentence “I can lick you” indicated that Tom wanted to fight with the boy and put forward the warning to the boy.

The strange boy replied to Tom by the sentence “Well， Id like to see you try it”. Even though it is a declarative clause， it expresses imperative function. The implication of the strange boy is that “Come on， lick me at once. I am not afraid of you”. The strange boy replied to Toms provocation by using euphemistic way， which means he suspected Toms ability.

Their following conversations are about “can” and “cant”， which relates to polarity. “Can” means that Tom is sure to defeat the strange boy， whereas “cant” means that the strange boy denies Toms ability. Their conversation makes the relationship between worse and worse.

2.2 Interrogative Mood

When the Finite is in the front of the Subject， the clause expresses Interrogative Mood. The function of interrogative clauses is usually to ask information. Look at the following example.

what ‘s your name

complement Finite Subject

Residue Mod

From the conversation we referred to above we can see， the subject of all the clauses is Tom， and the topic they quarreled is whether Tom can defeat the strange boy . But this sentence “Whats your name” makes the subject turn to the boy. Tom changed the topic， which showed Tom was intended to break the deadlock. Thus， this interrogative clause tries to soften their relationship. Then， they continues to pose challenge to each other by language.

Well， why dont you

Adjunct Finite Subject

Residue Mood

In the chapter one of the adventures of Tom Sawyer， the strange boy uses the sentence pattern “Why dont you...” five times in all. It implies “You should fight with me”， which expresses imperative mood to demand others to do something. This sentence pattern reflects the strange boys strong anger when they are quarreling.

There are two tag questions in their conversation. One of them is chosen to be analyzed in the following.

You [present] think Youre mighty enough dont you

Subject Finite predicator complement Finite Subject

Mood Residue Mood

Tom uses the tag question with “dont you” two times. It means that he expects to receive the response of the boy and agree with his ideas.

From the analysis we can see， with the conversation processing， the relationship between the boy and Tom is becoming tenser and their contradiction is intensifying. It also reflects the two boys characteristics that both of them are indomitable.

2.3 Imperative Mood

The function of imperative clause is to express command. Two marked imperative clauses in the conversation are analyzed in the following.

（Do） Lets see you do it

Finite Subject Residue

Mood

Dont you crowd me now

Finite Subject Residue

Mood

The sentence pattern “Lets...” indicates demand. The sentence “Lets see you do it” implies the strange boy is provoking Tom. Toms response “Dont you crowd me now” uses an imperative clause with the subject “you”， which can strengthen the speakers feeling of command.

2.4 Exclamative Mood

The function of exclamative clauses is to give information， state the facts and express strong feelings. In the exclamative clauses， Subject is in the front of Finite like declarative clauses. There are 4 exclamative clauses in the conversation. They are：

（1）Much一much一MUCH.

（2）Smarty！

（3）Oh， what a hat！

（4）By Jingo.

Take the sentence “Oh， what a hat” as an example to analyze. The whole form of this sentence is “Oh， what a hat it is”.

what a hat （it） （is）

complement Subject Finite

Residue Mood

The sentence shows a strong feeling， which reflects the two boys are very excited and surprised.

From the analysis we have discussed， we can see clearly that the interpersonal meaning is playing an very important role in describing the characters and create social relationship.

3. Conclusion

Discourse is the unit which consists of meaning， and it is also the result of vocabulary choices. To some degree， the success of conversation depends on the form of language expression. In this paper， we have discussed how the the interpersonal meaning realized by Mood in chapter one of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. From the analysis we can get the conclusion： Mood is of great importance in interpersonal function realization of discourse. Mood analysis helps us to understand peoples characteristics and their inner world more easily. The theory of systemic functional grammar is a very useful tool for discourse analysis， and its interpersonal meaning is beneficial to create and maintain social relationship.

References：

[1]Halliday M A K，Matthiessen C.An Introduction to Functional Grammar（Third Edition）[M]Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press & Edward Arnold（Publishers）Limited，2008.

[2]Hu Zhuanglin，Jiang Wangqi.Linguistics：An Advanced Course Book[M]Beijing：Beijing University Press，2002.

[3]Thompson G.Introducing Functional Grammar[M].Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press & Edward Arnold（Publishers）Limited，2000.

作者簡介：曾衛平（1993.6-），女，漢族，江西贛州贛縣人，研究生在讀，貴州師范大學，外國語言學及應用語言學。