According to Martin (1997: 21), tenor can reflect power or solidarity.Both power and solidarity can be expressed by the lexicogrammatical devices such as evaluative lexis, modal verbs, and modal adjuncts.Based on the studies of Gregory (1967/1978), Halliday (1978: 224), and Martin (1992: 523), Zhu (1997）indicates that the tenor of discourse may refer to personal tenor only or both personal tenor and functional tenor.If the tenor of discourse is considered to involve both personal and functional aspects, then the modality conveyed by MVs and modal adjuncts should reveal the interpersonal roles involved and the nature of genres concerned from the angles of both participants and discourse communities.
In studying the tenor of discourse, Zhang (1998）mentions that modality in discourse can reflect social status.For instance, people of high social status tend to use high-valued modal devices like must, certainly and surely whereas those of low social status low-valued or median-valued ones like perhaps, possibly and may.Yang (2003）endorses the idea that modality as a system of appraisal can reflect the degree of the writer/speaker’s desire to express his/her personal idea, attitude and judgment, and analyzes three types of discourse accordingly.All these studies strongly demonstrate that modality can reflect genres and vice versa.
3.3.1.3 Modality supplementing in four genres
PS is a genre between written and spoken modes.Like university lectures, public speeches are usually transmitted to the audience using the medium of speeches, but they may well have many of the features associated with the mode of a written genre (cf.McCarthy & Carter, 1994: 4).Nevertheless, this does not seem to reduce the dialogical nature of public speeches.Martin (1992: 511-513）considers public speeches to be reply-likely and two-way in communication because there are both visual and aural contacts in them.Coulthard (1994: 1-11）proposes the term of imagined reader for interpersonally-rich writings like travel brochures.This situation occurs in public speeches as well.In public speeches the speakers must first of all think about what the imagined audience is (even if the audience is known, their reactions on the site could vary somehow from the speakers’ expectations.Thus, speakers still have to think about the ways of speech delivery and the content of the speeches）when they compose the speeches, and they must somehow adapt their speeches in the process of speaking.
Therefore, for public speeches the audience is both imagined and real; hence, the term “imagined-cum-real audience” is used.Figure 3.6 displays how attitudes or judgments are delivered in public speeches given the tenor, i.e.the relationship between the imagined-cum-real audience and the addresser, in relation to modality supplementing through MSAs.
Figure 3.6 shows that in public speeches the addresser has to consider how attitudes or judgments should be delivered to the imagined audience first, then the real audience, and finally should face the imagined-cum-real audience.Thus, there are three levels of attitudes or judgments involved.Accordingly, modality supplementing through MSAs can occur on many occasions in this genre.Consider the following:
Figure 3.6 Tenor and modality supplementing through MSAs in public speeches
(104）What I do say is, that if we would supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand; and most surely not in a case whereof we ourselves declare they understood the question better than we.
(105）A nation may be the victim of such a mistake, but the journalist usually always gets away with it.
In Example (104), the idiomatic MSA in any case co-occurs with the MV would while even is the MSA of the MV should, and most surely that of the MV cannot.This shows that modality supplementing through MSAs does occur in public speeches.In Example (105), the MV may co-occurs with two MSAs: usually and always.It seems that the MSAs in public speeches reflect the addresser’s care for the audience’s minds and expectations.In Examples (104）and (105), attitudes or judgments are delivered through the three levels described in Figure 3.6.Hence, modality supplementing through MSAs is the generic realization concerned.
JI is an area of social life.Myers (2000: 121-137）indicates that face and sociability are crucial for interviews.To achieve this end, agreement is somehow typical in this genre.To reach agreement, interviewers or interviewees, or both of them may well adopt modality and especially modality supplementing on some occasions.Brown & Levinson (1987）and Watts (2003）mention that modal expressions can help to mitigate FTAs (face threatening acts), compared with the bald expressions of request.
Watts (ibid）analyzes a TV interview between a journalist and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the analysis includes the pragmatic roles of modality and modality supplementing in the negative politeness strategy concerned, though he does not mention the two terms.Myers (ibid）shows that face-work is important even between people of equal social status.Consider the following example:
(106）Moderator: …in this case the imagery at the end doesn’t have to connect with the product.
A: =It could have been anything in that fridge couldn’t it? You’d still probably you’d have watched that.
B: = you’d have watched it to see what was coming up.
Moderator: mmm