A comparative study of interpersonal meanings of traditional hymns and contemporary Christian songs in China

Xingrong Wang; Lei Zhang

doi:10.1515/text-2019-0240

Article

A comparative study of interpersonal meanings of traditional hymns and contemporary Christian songs in China

Xingrong Wang
Xingrong Wang received her BA and MA from Tianjin Foreign Studies University, and is now studying in the PhD program of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. Her research interests include discourse analysis. Address for correspondence: 13800 Biola Ave, La Mirada, CA 90639. E-mail: xingrong.wang@biola.edu
and Lei Zhang
Lei Zhang is a professor in Tianjin Foreign Studies University. Her research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics and discourse analysis. Address for correspondence: College of English Studies, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, 300204, No. 117 Machang Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, China. E-mail: zhanglei@tjfsu.edu.cn

Published/Copyright: August 30, 2019

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From the journal Text & Talk Volume 39 Issue 6

Abstract

Contemporary Christian songs (CCSs) are gaining more favor in Chinese churches than traditional hymns (THs) nowadays; however, many scholars have criticized the intimate relationship established with God in CCSs from the perspective of theology. This study aims to explore whether the God-human relationship built in THs and CCSs has experienced a change by carrying out a comparative analysis of their respective constructed interpersonal meanings. Combining Halliday’s framework with judgment in Martin and White’s Appraisal system, this study compares 100 CCSs and THs from the aspects of modality, judgment, mood and projected roles with the help of UAM Corpus Tool 3.0., with some changes of the original categories of judgment system due to the specific nature of the judged subject in the data. The semantic analyses show that the God-human relationship constructed in hymns has changed, with the encompassing view of God narrowed to one focused on love, the sinful nature of humans replaced by their incapability, and the assurance in and reverence to God outweighed by closeness and intimacy with Him. Some cultural realities and the situation of the church are referred to as a way of explaining this change.

Keywords: contemporary Christian songs; traditional hymns; the interpersonal meaning; God-human relationship; corpus-based discourse analysis; modality; mood; judgment

About the authors

Xingrong Wang

Xingrong Wang received her BA and MA from Tianjin Foreign Studies University, and is now studying in the PhD program of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. Her research interests include discourse analysis. Address for correspondence: 13800 Biola Ave, La Mirada, CA 90639. E-mail: xingrong.wang@biola.edu

Lei Zhang

Lei Zhang is a professor in Tianjin Foreign Studies University. Her research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics and discourse analysis. Address for correspondence: College of English Studies, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, 300204, No. 117 Machang Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, China. E-mail: zhanglei@tjfsu.edu.cn

Acknowledgements

We owe many thanks to the two reviewers and the editor, who gave freely their time and expertise to read our manuscript and provide insightful comments and suggestions.

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Published Online: 2019-08-30

Published in Print: 2019-11-26

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2019-0240

Keywords for this article

contemporary Christian songs; traditional hymns; the interpersonal meaning; God-human relationship; corpus-based discourse analysis; modality; mood; judgment