| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第5-6页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第6-7页 |
| 摘要 | 第8-13页 |
| CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION | 第13-18页 |
| 1.1 Operational Definitions of Two Key Terms | 第13-14页 |
| 1.2 Research Rationale | 第14-16页 |
| 1.2.1 Necessity of Studying Letters to Shareholders | 第14-15页 |
| 1.2.2 Necessity of Studying the Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第15-16页 |
| 1.3 Research Questions | 第16页 |
| 1.4 Significance of the Present Study | 第16-17页 |
| 1.5 Outline of the Thesis | 第17-18页 |
| CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW | 第18-28页 |
| 2.1 Previous Studies of Letters to Shareholders | 第18-24页 |
| 2.1.1 Review of Domestic Studies of Letters to Shareholders | 第18-22页 |
| 2.1.2 Review of Overseas Studies of Letters to Shareholders | 第22-24页 |
| 2.2 Previous Studies of the Adjectives in Business English | 第24-26页 |
| 2.3 Evaluation of Previous Studies and the Effectiveness of the Present Study | 第26-28页 |
| CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK | 第28-35页 |
| 3.1 Sinclair’s Lexical Model | 第28-29页 |
| 3.2 Appraisal System | 第29-32页 |
| 3.2.1 Attitude | 第30-31页 |
| 3.2.2 Engagement | 第31-32页 |
| 3.2.3 Graduation | 第32页 |
| 3.3 Buildup of the Tentative Analytical Framework | 第32-35页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY | 第35-39页 |
| 4.1 The Corpus-Based Method | 第35-36页 |
| 4.2 Corpora Used in the Present Study | 第36-37页 |
| 4.2.1 LTSC | 第36页 |
| 4.2.2 Brown Corpus | 第36-37页 |
| 4.3 Data Collection | 第37页 |
| 4.4 Analytical Instrument Used in the Study | 第37-38页 |
| 4.5 Data Analysis Method | 第38页 |
| 4.6 Specific Analytical Procedures | 第38-39页 |
| CHAPTER FIVE DATAANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION | 第39-69页 |
| 5.1 Occurrence Frequency of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第39-41页 |
| 5.2 Semantic Prosody of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第41-51页 |
| 5.2.1 Sample Analysis of the Semantic Prosody of Adjectives | 第42-49页 |
| 5.2.2 General Findings about the Semantic Prosody of Adjectives | 第49-51页 |
| 5.3 Functions of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第51-69页 |
| 5.3.1 Affect Analysis of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第51-57页 |
| 5.3.2 Judgement Analysis of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第57-62页 |
| 5.3.3 Appreciation Analysis of Adjectives in Letters to Shareholders | 第62-69页 |
| CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION | 第69-73页 |
| 6.1 Summary of the Findings | 第69-70页 |
| 6.2 Implications | 第70-71页 |
| 6.3 Limitations | 第71页 |
| 6.4 Suggestions for Future Study | 第71-73页 |
| REFERENCES | 第73-77页 |
| APPENDIX Distribution of Attitude Resources | 第77-79页 |
