摘要： 人际元功能是系统功能语言学中的一个重要概念。M. A. K. Halliday (1994) 认为其反映了说话者与听者之间的关系，并且使得语言使用者能够表达自己的态度、观点、意图等，从而帮助人们建立、维持多种多样的社会关系。在《呼啸山庄》中，仆人约瑟夫作为唯一主要使用约克郡方言的角色显得十分引人注目。同时，约瑟夫的遣词造句和与人谈话的方式均与其仆人的身份息息相关。基于这两点，作者开展了此次研究。本研究主要有两个目的：一是从单词、句子、语篇的层面探索约瑟夫的话语中的主要特征；二是分析这些特征是如何帮助约瑟夫实现其所要执行的人际元功能的。本研究共选取了十五段约瑟夫的话语片段。分析结果显示，约瑟夫倾向于使用疏远礼貌体的第二人称代词、中值情态动词、陈述语气、现在时态，以及通过明确和不明确两种方式表达负面态度。这些特征表明，约瑟夫拥有社会阶级意识并且愿意遵守相应的风俗礼仪。希望本研究能够为大学英语课堂中文学作品的研读和教学提供一定的新见解。

关键词：人际元功能；《呼啸山庄》；方言性话语；约瑟夫

ABSTRACT

An Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis of Joseph’s Dialectal Speech in Wuthering Heights

Interpersonal metafunction is an important element in systemic functional linguistics. M. A. K. Halliday (1994) argues that interpersonal metafunction reflects the relationship between the speaker and the listener, enabling language users to express their attitudes, ideas, and intentions, and thus help people establish and maintain various kinds of social relationships. In Wuthering Heights, the servant Joseph stands out as the only one that speaks heavily accented English, a dialect known as Yorkshire dialect. His use of words, ways of making sentences and carrying out dialogues are all dedicated to maintain his role as the old servant at Wuthering Heights. Considering such fact, the author decides to carry out this study. This study has two research objectives: first, to find out the distinct traits of Joseph’s speech on word, sentence, and discourse levels; second, to analyze how these traits contribute in the realization of interpersonal metafunctions that he is supposed to perform. Fifteen pieces of discourses containing Joseph’s speech are selected for the present study, and the result of analysis shows that Joseph tends to use distant and polite forms of second person pronoun, median value modal auxiliary verbs, declarative mood, present tense, and negative attitudes with both implicit and explicit expressions. These traits demonstrate that Joseph is aware of the social classes and customs and is willing to maintain them. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide a new insight for the studying and teaching of literary works in college English class. 

Key words: interpersonal metafunction; Wuthering Heights; dialectal speech; Joseph