本文是一篇英语毕业论文，本研究在各部分对两部城市形象宣传片进行对比分析，探讨二者差异与特色，并探讨归纳造成不同城市形象差异的原因。最终目的在于为我国城市形象宣传片制作提供新的思路，在推动我国城市形象宣传片在保留中国优秀传统文化的同时，提升国际受众接受度，更好走向国际化。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
With the background of the new era,the society has entered a brand new eraof information,and the rapid development of modern information technology hasmade language no longer the only way to disseminate information.Traditionalways of information expression cannot fully meet people’s needs.Various formsand media such as images,sounds,colors,gestures,etc.are increasingly promotedin communication and playing an increasingly important role.Thus,multimodalinformation dissemination has been widely used in interpersonal communicationand media publicity.
With the development of economic globalization and fierce internationalcompetition,various countries are striving to build and enhance their city image.Therefore,in recent years,mulitmodal video composed of text,image,sound,color and other various elements has become a popular way of publicity anddisplay window for major cities.It plays an important role in displaying city image,shaping city brand,attracting foreign investment and promoting tourismdevelopment,and has also become a research hit for scholars in different fields athome and abroad.
1.2 Research Purpose and Significance
With the above research background,based on the principle of authenticityand objectivity,the city image promotional videos selected in this study are fromthe official media:Yibin TV and Visit Bath.Thus,this study chooses the Yibin’scity image promotional video What IS YIBIN and the Bath’s city imagepromotional video Think You Know Bath?Think Again.These two promotionalvideos not only provide introductions to the corresponding cities,but also show thecultural heritage and vitality,including three modalities of audial,visual andverbal,which are typical materials for multimodal discourse analysis.In additionto using quantitative research methods,this study also combines qualitativeresearch methods.The research focuses on the historical and cultural cities ofYibin,China and Bath,UK,and combines verbal modality and visual modality toachieve the following three goals.Firstly,analyze verbal modality in constructingmeaning.Secondly,analyze visual modality in constructing meaning.Thirdly,discuss how verbal modality and visual modality interrelate in the process ofconstructing meaning.At last,explore and summarize the differences of the cityimage between Yibin and Bath.In the process of achieving these goals,withcomparing the image promotional videos of Yibin with the foreign city,Bathinternationally,identify differences and learn from Western propaganda,combining with excellent Chinese culture to provide new ideas for promotingChinese cities.
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Overview of Multimodal Discourse Analysis
Human perception is divided into visual,auditory,tactile,olfactory,andsenses.This sensory is closely related to the concept of multimodality,formingvisual,auditory,tactile,olfactory,and gustatory modes based on the five senses.When using a single sensory organ,it is called monomodality,and using three ormore senses for communication can be called multimodality(Gu,2013).Modalitypertains to the genuineness and dependability of diverse symbolic representationsin the external world(Zhu,2007).Kress&Van Leeuwen(2001)viewed theconcept of modality as various symbolic resources that successfully engaged incommunicative activities through one or more production media.Jewitt(2006)believed that modality referred to regular and organized communicative symbolicresources such as static images,gestures,vocal speeches,music,and writing.Hu(2007)also regarded modality as a semiotic system.
Gu(2007)held the view that the word“multimoality”originated from acombination of modes and the prefix“multi”,which referred to various symbolsystems,and he conducted an analysis of the intricate linkage between multimediaand multimodal discourse,with the adjective"multimodal"being first introducedby Charles Goodwin in the Journal of Pragmatics in 1988.This term denotes the utilization of diverse means or symbols for effectively communicating information(Jewitt,et al.,2016).According to Baldry&Thibault(2006)and O’Halloran(2004),multimodality includes every symbolic element used in creating all-encompassing discourse,which spans oral and written language,imagery,spatialaspects,and more.Furthermore,Kress&Van Leeuwen(2006)held a view thatconsidering that each modality corresponded to unique semiotic resources,theyexhibited diverse potentialities in terms of meaning-making,particularly whenlinked to the occurrences depicted by systemic functional grammar and themodalities utilized to present the essence of truth.
2.2 Previous Studies on Multimodal Discourse Analysis atHome and Abroad
The abundance and combination of semiotic resources make monomodalanalysis limited,while multimodal analysis is of great significance in explainingmodal construction.Multimodal discourse analysis emerged in the West in the1990s.With the rise and development of research on MDA,it has become a hottopic for foreign linguists and has also attracted the attention of domestic scholars,resulting in various perspectives and theories.This part provides a review of theresearch on MDA both domestically and internationally.
2.2.1 Studies abroad
The earliest researcher abroad to explore MDA is Ronald Barthes,whoinvestigated the grammatical connections that existed between words and imageswhen expressing meaning.In his 1977 book Rhetoric of the Image,he deliberatedupon the mutual influence of language and images in the formation of meaning(Zhang,2009).He also focused on how to achieve the best results of semanticpatterns.Since then,researchers have begun to focus on multimodal discourseanalysis.
Chapter Three Theoretical Framework.......................23
3.1 Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar...........................23
3.1.1 Ideational Function.....................24
3.1.2 Interpersonal Function.............................25
Chapter Four Research Design.............................36
4.1 Research Questions................................36
4.2 Research Instruments.............................36
Chapter Five Results and Discussion..............................39
5.1 Comparison of Meaning Construction of Verbal Modality.......................39
5.1.1 Ideational Function.................................39
5.1.2 Interpersonal Function......................45
Chapter Five Results and Discussion
5.1 Comparison of Meaning Construction of Verbal Modality
In the two promotional videos,subtitles primarily serve as the verbalmodality,playing a crucial role in constructing meaning.Consequently,it isimperative to delve into the functions of subtitles in these videos.The pragmaticmodality analysis will be guided by the three meta-functions of SFG,specifically,ideational function,interpersonal function,and textual function.
5.1.1 Ideational Function
The implementation of ideational function primarily hinges on two keyelements:transitivity and voice.Among these,transitivity holds the utmostsignificance.However,for the purposes of this discussion and in accordance withour research objectives,we will refrain from addressing the concept of voice.Transitivity consists of three components:participants,processes,and environment.Due to the fact that all activities and events described by empirical functions inclauses reflect different characteristics,they can be divided into six differentprocesses,namely material process,mental process,relational process,verbalprocess,behavioral process,and existential processes.Each process has its ownparticipants,process verbs,and environment.After analyzing and labeling theclauses in these two videos,the distribution of transitivity in each process is shownin the table 5.1 and table 5.2.
Chapter Six Conclusion
6.1 Major Findings of the Research
Firstly,from the perspective of systemic functional grammar,this thesisanalyzes the verbal modality and reveal how the three meta functions areconstructed in the two city image promotional videos.Firstly,ideational functionmainly consists of the relationship process in the city image promotional video ofYibin.Besides,relationship process accounts for the largest proportion,accountingfor 44.44%.Narrative and summary sentences are used to describe to the audiencewhat Yibin city is like.In contrast,ideational function of the city imagepromotional video of Bath is mainly composed of material process,accounting for53.84%,showcasing the development of Bath.In terms of interpersonal function,both city image promotional videos mainly focus on declarative mood,which alsoprovides objective information for the audience.However,it is worth mentioningthat in the city image promotional video of Bath,the proportion of imperativemood is as high as 30.76%,which is also a major feature of the city promotionalvideo of Bath.In terms of textual function,ellipsis in the city image promotionalvideo of Yibin is far greater than that in the city image promotional video of Bath.The reason behind this is that Chinese propaganda emphasizes simplicity andefficiency,which is in line with China's high context culture.
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