Stylistic Differences and Functional Interpretation of Mirative Expressions
There are significant differences in the distribution of 14 typical mirative expressions among the five genres. Ranking from the most to the least,their occurrence frequency is:network>art>conversation>news>science. What accounts for this is the combined effect of the pragmatic functions of mirative expressions and genre features themselves. By way of a case study of Juran(居然),a Chinese mirative modal adverb with the most significant difference in genre distribution,is found to make its two most frequently used functions meet the needs of both unexpected emotion and the adaptability of style.