The Construction of MODALITY in Chinese from a Text-Based Approach

摘要

Based on the present descriptions of the Chinese modality system revealed in Zhu (1996), Halliday & Mcdonald (2004) and Li (2003, 2007), the present study examines the choices of modality revealed in a Chinese novel entitled Tai Bei People written by Bai Xian Yong, intending to come up with a system network of MODALITY of the Chinese language. This paper discusses the challenges encountered in the construction of the system, and describes the association between the author's choices of modality type with the level of intensity inside the same network, as well as the associations between the author's choices of modality type with the choices in the other interpersonal language systems, namely FREEDOM, MOOD TYPE and POLARITY.