2. Modality and attitudinal meanings 6
2.1 The definition of modality 6
2.2 Modality system 6
2.3 Linguistic modal expressions 7
2.4 Modal orientations 9
2.5 Modality values 10
3. Corpus analysis 11
3.1 The frequency of modality occurrence 11
3.2 Explicit subjective orientation 11
3.3 Explicit objective orientation 12
3.4 Implicit subjective orientation 15
3.5 Implicit objective orientation 17
4. Conclusion 20
4.1 Major findings 20
4.2 Limitations and suggestions 21
References 22
Appendix 23
List of tables
Table 1 System of types of modality 7
Table 2 Realizations of modalization and modulation 8
Table 3 The classification of modal adjuncts 9
Table 4 Orientations of modality 11
Table 5 Values of Modality 11
Table 6 Polarity of Modality 12
Table 7 Distribution of modal expressions in the news selections 13
Table 8 Distribution of projecting clauses of mental process 14
Table 9 Distribution of projecting clauses 15
Table 10 Distribution of nominalization 16
Table 11 Distribution of finite modal operators in the news samples 18
Table 12 Distribution of mood adjuncts in news samples 21
Table 13 Distribution of passive verb predicators in news samples 22
Table 14 Presence of modality orientations in the news samples 24
1. Introduction
With the development of globalization, the mass media is playing a more and more important role in transmitting information. Since English is the most widely used language in the world, the impact of America and western countries on news is stronger than China’s. It is possible that the national image of China is discursively constructed by the foreign reporters so as to help Japan win supports.
1.1 Literature Review
1.1.1 Studies on news report
News reports, a common style of news discourse have received much attention from scholars and linguists at home and abroad. News is the latest event which attracts people's attention and is experienced by people in practice, while news reports are statements which are constructed by true proposition. In other words, news is the truth. News reports are statements of proposition and reflect reporters’ self-awareness. Reporters' different stands, views, emotions and values can influence the elaboration of the same news. Hence, it will further interfere in readers’ judgments and make them believe what reporters intend to present. Analysis tools like general stylistic analysis, discourse analysis or critical discourse analysis as analytic tools are adopted to analyze news reports.