Attitude System Realization of News Texts in Light of Appraisal Theory

Abstract

Introduction: Journalistic texts, as a common source of knowledge, are meant to be realistic and emotionless. However, the ideologies and emotions of journalists can be traced while representing the same event in various ways using different media. Accordingly, the present study aimed to clarify the evaluative realizations of the news texts using the Appraisal Model. The present study also scrutinized the occurrence of the appraisal sub-categories throughout the text using the sentence as a unit of analysis.

Methodology: Having employed Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and drawing on Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin and White (2005), this article examined three semantic regions of meaning, namely affect, judgment, and appreciation.

Results: By analyzing aspects of clause grammar relevant to the three dimensions of meanings, the article marked “judgment” as the highest frequent sub-system in the delivered speech, followed by the other two sub-systems of “affect” and “appreciation”. Moreover, results obtained from the analysis of the mentioned aspects corroborated the ideological orientations acting upon the speakers.

Conclusion: The interpretations of the delivered speech in this article construed the appraisal system as the path to achieving the interpersonal function of language in light of SFL.