(Luận văn) an analysis of language of evaluation in the film “gone with the wind” from the perspective of appraisal

ABSTRACT This study aimed at examining the evaluative values from the perspective of Appraisal Theory by Martin and White 2005 namely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation and their functi

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

VÕ THÚY TRIỀU

AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE OF EVALUATION

IN THE FILM “GONE WITH THE WIND” FROM

THE PERSPECTIVE OF APPRAISAL

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8 22 02 01

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

VÕ THÚY TRIỀU

NGÔN NGỮ ĐÁNH GIÁ TRONG PHIM

“CUỐN THEO CHIỀU GIÓ” THEO QUAN ĐIỂM

CỦA THUYẾT ĐÁNH GIÁ

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8 22 02 01

Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis “An Analysis of Language of Evaluation in

the film “Gone with the Wind” from the Perspective of Appraisal” is

entirely my own original work except where due reference has been made

in the text To the best of my knowledge, this thesis also contains no

material accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any

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Secondly, I would like to express my grateful thanks to the lecturers of Foreign Language Department in Quy Nhon University for their valuable lectures, which provide essential knowledge for this thesis

Thirdly, I am deeply thankful to authors whose books and materials play a fundamental part in laying theoretical background for this study

Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my parents for their love and support during the fulfillment of this study I am grateful to my husband for taking care of my child so that I could spend more time on my thesis and I also owe a deep debt to my child, who provide me with great support during the time I wrote this thesis

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ABSTRACT

This study aimed at examining the evaluative values from the perspective of Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005) namely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation and their functions expressed in the language of the film “Gone with the Wind” Then, the main objective was to compare the frequencies of occurrence of these values to reveal the choice of language of evaluation in the language of this film and highlight the functions and significance of those evaluative values To answer the research questions, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed The data was just limited in the language of the first part of the film “Gone with the Wind”, which is about 8,500 words The findings showed that the three categories of evaluation values –Engagement, Attitude and Graduation were all utilized in the data, but their proportions were totally different The most frequently-used type was Engagement resources Next, the second most popular resources belonged to Attitude, which comprehensively made Graduation resources at the bottom position with a small fraction Additionally, the scriptwriter aimed

to use a great amount of positive Attitude resources to vividly depict main characters’ love and inner feelings Some suggestions and implications to help English learners to effectively use evaluation values in daily communication and further researches were also justified

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the study 3

1.2.1 Aim 3

1.2.2 Objectives 4

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Scope of the study 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Appraisal Theory 7

2.1.1 Engagement 8

2.1.2 Attitude 13 luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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2.1.2.1 Affect 13

2.1.2.2 Judgement 14

2.1.2.3 Appreciation 16

2.1.3 Graduation 17

2.1.3.1 Force 18

2.1.3.2 Focus 22

2.2 Previous relevant studies 23

2.2.1 Studies on film conversations applying different approaches 23

2.2.2 Studies on different genres using Appraisal Theory 25

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 Research methods 30

3.2 Procedure 30

3.3 Data collection 31

3.4 Data analysis 31

3.5 Validity and Reliability 31

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32

4.1 Engagement, Attitude and Graduation in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle 33

4.2 Engagement in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle 35

4.2.1 Monogloss in the data 35

4.2.2 Heterogloss in the data 37

4.3 Attitudinal Resources in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle 41

4.3.1 Attitudinal Resources in the data 41 luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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4.3.1.1 Affect resources in the data 43

4.3.1.2 Judgement resources in the data 45

4.3.1.2 Appreciation resources in the data 49

4.3.2 Positive and Negative Attitude resources in the data 50

4.4 Graduation in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle 55

4.4.1 Force in the data 56

4.4.2 Focus in the data 59

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 61

5.1 Conclusions 61

5.2 Implications 63

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 64

REFERENCES 66

APPENDIX i

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ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

(A) Abbreviations in sample analyses:

Red sentences for Monogloss Blue sentences for Heterogloss Jud : Judgement

Appre : Appreciation + : Positive Attitude

- : Negative Attitude

(B) Conventions

[GWTW.U1-Un]: “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle, utterance code from 1

to n

- Italic words are used for examples and emphasis

-Underlined words are used to mark the use of what is being demonstrated luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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LIST OF TABLES

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LIST OF FIGURES

4.1 Distribution of Engagement, Attitude and Graduation 34

in the data

4.2 Distribution of sub-types of Engagement in the data 35

4.3 Distribution of sub-types of Attitude in the data 42

4.4 Positive and negative Attitude resources in the data 51

4.5 Distribution of positive and negative subtypes of Attitude 51

in the data

4.6 Distribution of subtypes of Graduation in the data 56 luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the 1980s and 1990s, the framework of Appraisal Theory was conducted by a group of scholars led by linguists James Martin and Peter White This theory is considered as a new expansion in the linguistics field since it is concerned with the linguistic resources by which a speaker uses to express and negotiate a specific ideological position As reported by White (2015), Appraisal Theory framework is a particular approach to exploring, describing and explaining the way language is used to evaluate, to adopt stances, to construct textual personas and to manage interpersonal positioning and relationships Hence, the creation of Appraisal Theory as well as its subsequent development is an effective framework for analyzing attitude expressions and interpersonal meanings in various types of discourse such as literary works, news, academic and narrative discourse

In the field of literary works, there are a range of scholars who analyze the Attitude resources using Appraisal Theory in various features of discourses For instance, Shuhong and Yali (2006) use Appraisal resources at three levels (word, clause, and discourse) to analyze the power relation

between the characters in “Blackmail” from “Hotel” Besides, Xia and Li

(2011) exploit the Attitude meanings by Elizabeth in “Pride and Prejudice”, and then evaluate her attitudes Similarly, Nuraisiah, Nababan, and Santosa (2018) examine Attitudes toward sexism in Gone Girl novel Concerning news discourses, Shizhu and Jinlong (2004) figure out the three sub-systems

of Appraisal Theory in news discourses and their dominant features Besides, luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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Zhang and Liu (2015) explore the distribution of Appraisal resources in 32 news coverage from New York Times and China Daily (English version) under the guidance of Engagement system Moreover, many studies involving the application of Appraisal Theory are also found in the field of academic discourse such as the practical application of Appraisal Theory on reading skill in college respectively done by Liu (2010) and Ruomei (2016) In addition, a different study of Appraising research to take stance in Academic writing is conducted by Hood (2004) With respect to narrative texts, Horarik (2003) considers the role of Appraisal systems in narrative discourse from the point of view of writer/reader relations Additionally, Shiro (2003) examines Venezuelan children's developing abilities to use evaluative language in fictional and personal narratives

Basically, film genres refer to types of films or classifications or groups

of films Stephen (2018) divided films into 20 genres which were Action, Adventure, Animation, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family, Fantasy, History, Horror, Music, Musical, Mystery, Romance, Sci-fi, Sport, Thriller, War and Western Generally, every film is made in a particular genre and usually belongs to the established form and plot lines of that genre The

language of films is similar to novels or short stories in that they tell a story

The academic study of film often involves looking at generic conventions and especially the use and function of various aspects of film language As a result, a variety of studies have been taken to approach different angles of film language To illustrate, Amela (2016) explores lexical blends in the English of animated films and presents the identification of blends in animated films and their morpho-semantic analysis In the field of translation, another research is carried out by Spanakaki (2007) to maintain humor in translating film language In another study , Khalid (2016) identifies the main luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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challenges for translators during subtitling process and solutions to overcome them In pragmatic field, Rose (2006) investigates implications of compliments and compliment responses in film for pragmatic research and language teaching Taylor and John (2008) explore the specific identifiable characteristics of film language that distinguish it from genuine spontaneous discourse With reference to language teaching, Quinn (2013) uses Narrative Film in Second Language Acquisition to enable learners to achieve target language easily However, it can be seen that there are not many studies that have been carried out on conversations in film language This is because the researchers often focus on the contents of the film more than the language that the scriptwriter uses to convey ideas in a conversation.

It is visible that many researchers are attracted by the aspect of studying language from various perspectives However, an investigation into language of evaluation in film language has not received much concern As a result, Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005) is an effective way to interpret film language so as to help readers understand the film language

fully and concisely For all the reasons mentioned above, the topic “An

Analysis of Language of Evaluation in the film “Gone with the Wind” from the Perspective of Appraisal” has been chosen hoping to fill the gap to a

“Gone with the Wind”

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1.2.2 Objectives

The study attempts to achieve the following objectives:

- To identify and classify different values in terms of Attitude, Engagement and Graduation in the American epic historical romance film

- To compare the frequencies of occurrence of these values to reveal the choice of language of evaluation in the language of this film

1.4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on identifying and classifying evaluative values found in the conversations of the American epic historical romance film

Because of time limitation, the data was just limited in the first part of the film, which is about 8,500 words long on the website Scripts.com (2019)

1.5 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this study emphasizes the significant role of Appraisal Theory as an analytical framework which helps to highlight the language of luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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evaluation in not only newspapers as usual but also in different areas Practically, the study is hoped to be a reference for other researchers who are keen on considering film and its language Additionally, this study may provide the teachers with the overall knowledge of Appraisal Theory to teach their students productive skills and the findings will be regarded as a valuable source of reference for students of English

1.6 Organization of the study

The study consists of five chapters, and each one takes responsibility for a particular function

Chapter 1 Introduction

This first chapter reveals an overview of the study including the rationale, research aim and objectives, research questions, the scope of the study, the significance and organization of the study

Chapter 2 Literature Review

In this second chapter, all the related concepts in Appraisal Theory developed by Martin and White (2005) are described in details to be treated as theoretical background for the study to be processed Then, previous relevant studies are introduced as well

Chapter 3 Methodology

This third chapter shows the core methods applied to collect and analyze data for the study In addition, this chapter also mentions a description of the data, the research procedures, the data analysis, validity and reliability of the study

Chapter 4 Findings and Discussions

This chapter depicts the results of the study from the collected data to answer the research questions and a detailed discussion with illustration, luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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interpretation, and comments about evaluative values in the film “Gone with

the Wind”

Chapter 5 Conclusions and Implications

This final chapter summarizes the main findings of the research, brings out the implications, indicates the limitations of the study and gives suggestions for the further researches related to the study

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This second chapter mentions all the related concepts in Appraisal Theory developed by Martin and White (2005) in details to form the theoretical background for the study to be processed Furthermore, previous relevant studies are introduced as well

(Peter, 2015, p.1) Appraisal Theory, the evaluative use of language, offers a framework for the assessment of people, things, happenings, places or processes Its main

function is to help “writers/speakers positively or negatively evaluate the

entities, happenings and states-of-affairs with which their texts are concerned” (Martin & White, 2005, p.2)

The term “language of evaluation” is made up by grouping these resources of evaluation together

The outline of Appraisal framework is introduced as in Figure 2.1 luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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Figure 2.1 An overview of appraisal resources (Martin & White, 2005, p.38)

As seen in Figure 2.1 Appraisal is divided into three groups of evaluation resources, namely Engagement, Attitude and Graduation

2.1.1 Engagement

Whenever speakers want to engage listeners in discourse, they use Engagement Engagement resources help people engage into the interaction of the conversation and also keep listeners engaged interpersonally

According to Martin and White (2005), there are two categories of

Engagement: Monogloss and Heterogloss as shown in Figure 2.2

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Figure 2.2 The Engagement system (Martin & White, 2005, p104)

While Monogloss relates to factual information (single voice),

Heterogloss involves in multiple voices which consist of Contract and Expand Table 2.1 will illustrate some examples related to Monogloss and

Heterogloss

Table 2.1 The Monoglossic and the Heteroglossic

(Martin & White, 2005, p.100)

Monoglossic (no recognition of dialogistic alternatives)

Heteroglossic (recognition of dialogistic alternatives)

The banks have been greedy There is the argument though that the banks have

been greedy

In my view the banks have been greedy

Callers to talkback radio see the banks as being

greedy

The chairman of the consumers association has stated

that the banks are being greedy

There can be no denying the banks have been greedy Everyone knows the banks are greedy

The banks haven’t been greedy

From the above examples, it is clear that the sentence “The banks have

been greedy” is a fact and makes no reference to other voices or viewpoints

However, the sentence “In my view the banks have been greedy” is only an

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idea among a range points of view and it does actively allow for dialogistic alternatives

With respect to Heterogloss, it involves in multiple voices including

Contract and Expand In Contract, the speaker usually engages his own

opinion with other people’s views In Expand, the speaker presents current proposition which is one view among a possible range of views By the same token, it opens space as well as engages more speakers to the conversation

“Follain punctures the romantic myth that the mafia started as Robin

Hoodstyle groups of men protecting the poor He shows that the mafia

began in the 19th century as armed bands protecting the interests of the absentee landlords who owned most of Sicily He also demonstrates how the mafia has forged links with Italy’s ruling Christian Democrat party since the war.” [Cobuild Bank of English]

In the above example of Contract, the authorial voice presents the

proposition through the reporting verbs “shows” and “demonstrates” and

aligns itself with the external voice Therefore, they close down the space for any dialogic alternatives

“Tickner said regardless of the result, the royal commission was a waste of money and he would proceed with a separate inquiry into the issue headed by Justice Jane Matthews His attack came as the Aboriginal women involved in the case demanded a female minister examine the religious beliefs they claim are inherent in their fight against a bridge to the island near Goolwa in South Australia.” [Cobuild Bank of English]

(Martin & White, 2005, p.102)

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In the above example of Expand, the verb “claim” distances the textual

voice and the proposition, so it invites other dialogic alternatives to the dialogic space

Contract includes disclaim (deny and counter) and proclaim (concur, pronounce and endorse) Expand consists of entertain (internal voice of speaker) and attribute (external sources) In Figure 2.3, the Heterogloss

system is generally presented as following

Figure 2.3 The Heterogloss system (Martin & White, 2005, p.134)

Table 2.2 will describe each sub-type of Heterogloss in details with the hope of giving insights into this genre

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Table 2.2 Types of Heterogloss (adapted from Martin & White, 2005, p.97-98)

Types of Heterogloss

Disclaim Proclaim Entertain Attribute

Disclaim means that

“the textual voice

Entertain refers to the explicit presentation

about “the proposition

as grounded in its own contingent, individual subjectivity, the authorial voice represents the proposition as but one

of a range of possible positions”

Attribute is demonstrated by

“representing proposition as grounded in the subjectivity of an external voice, the textual voice represents the proposition as but one

of a range of possible positions”

-You don’t need to

give up potatoes to

lose weight

(deny – negation)

- Although he ate

potatoes most days he

still lost weight

(counter- concession)

- naturally…, of course

…, obviously

…,admittedly…etc.; some types of ‘rhetorical’ or

‘leading’ question

(concur) -I contend …, the truth of the matter is …, there can

be no doubt that … etc

(pronounce) -X has demonstrated that

…; As X has shown

…etc.(endorse)

-it seems, the evidence suggests, apparently, I hear -perhaps, probably, maybe, it’s possible, some types of

‘rhetorical’ or

‘expository’ question

- X said , X believes …,

according to X, in X’s view (acknowledge)

- X claims that, it’s rumoured that… (distance)

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2.1.2 Attitude

“Attitude is concerned with our feelings, including emotional reaction,

judgements of behaviour and evaluation of things” (Martin & White, 2005,

p.35) This system is composed of three kinds: Affect, Judgement and Appreciation

2.1.2.1 Affect

Affect is involved in “registering positive and negative feelings: do we

feel happy or sad, confident or anxious, interested or bored?” (Martin &

White, 2005, p.42) Generally, Affect deals with resources for construing emotional reactions as in the following example about feeling of shock in relation to the events of 9/11:

“The terrible events of the past week have left us with feelings – in order of occurrence – of horror, worry, anger, and now, just a general gloom.” (Mourning 2001)

Affect is divided into two sub-types, including Authorial Affect

(author’s own emotions) and Observed Affect or Non-authorial Affect (the

characters’ emotions in the text) Attitude resources in general and Affect

values in particular are either positive (+) such as “the captain was happy” (Martin & White, 2005, p.47) or negative (-) such as “the captain was sad”

Under Affect, it is concerned with positive and negative emotional responses and dispositions According to Peter (2014), it can be indicated by

 verbs of emotion (Mental Processes) such as to love/to hate, to

frighten/to reassure, to interest/to bore, to enrage/to placate …

 adverbs (typically Circumstances of Manner) such as happily/sadly …

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 adjectives of emotion such as happy/sad, worried/confident,

angry/pleased, keen/uninterested …

 nominalisation such as joy/despair, confidence/insecurity …

The emotional values of Affect are grouped into three main sets which

are un/happiness, in/security and dis/satisfaction

The un/happiness set of meanings is related to “affairs of the heart” (Martin & White, 2005, p.49) such as sadness, hate, happiness and love

Obviously, they are typical emotions whenever we think about Affect values

For instance, “the captain felt sad/happy” (Martin & White, 2005, p.49) In

addition, this un/happiness set of meanings also involves the possibility of

directing these feelings at a “Trigger” by liking or disliking it

The in/security set of meanings is identified with “ecosocial

well-being” feelings (Martin & White, 2005, p.49) such as anxiety, fear, confidence and trust For example, “the captain felt anxious/confident”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.49) This sentence shows the mood of anxiety/confidence

The dis/satisfaction set of meanings covers emotions with “the pursuit

of goals” (Martin & White, 2005, p.49) – ennui, displeasure, curiosity, and respect For instance, “the captain felt fed up/absorbed” (Martin & White,

2005, p.49) This sentence indicates the mood of displeasure

2.1.2.2 Judgement

Judgement deals with “attitudes towards behaviour, which we admire

or criticise, praise or condemn” (Martin & White, 2005, p.42) Generally, this

concept concerns with positive or negative judgement of human behaviour

and their character Judgement has two broad categories: Social Esteem and Social Sanction

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Social Esteem assesses people conduct from the perspectives of social ethics and the standard of appropriateness In the opinion of Martin and White

(2005), Social Esteem has to handle with Judgement of Normality (how

unusual someone is), Judgement of Capacity (how capable someone is) and Judgement of Tenacity (how resolute someone is)

Items of Judgement of Normality are lucky, fortunate, charmed …;

unlucky, hapless, star-crossed …; normal, natural, familiar …; odd, peculiar, eccentric …; celebrated, unsung …; obscure, also-ran … (Martin & White,

2005, p.53) Some typical examples of this group are as follows

- “She’s a real one-off [+], there’s no one who can learn a

language as quickly as she does.”

- “He’s a real weirdo [-] – he eats hamburgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

(Peter, 2014, p.18)

Items of Judgement of Capacity are powerful, vigorous, robust …;

mild, weak, whimpy …; sound, healthy, fit …; unsound, sick, crippled …; adult, mature, experienced …; immature, childish, helpless … (Martin &

White, 2005, p.53) Following are some illustrating examples

- “She’s an absolute genius [+] when it comes to learning

languages.”

- “I’m afraid I’m completely incompetent [-] when it comes to

mechanical things.”

(Peter, 2014, p.18)

Items of Judgement of Tenacity are plucky, brave, heroic …; timid,

cowardly, gutless …; cautious, wary, patient …; rash, impatient, impetuous

…; careful, thorough, meticulous hasty, capricious, reckless … (Martin &

White, 2005, p.53) There are some examples of this type as following

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- “She was incredibly resolute [+], she keeps going even when she’s exhausted.”

- “He’s so lazy [-], he never helps with the housework.”

Social Sanction assesses people conduct based on legal or religious

rules It is composed of two kinds, namely Judgement of Veracity and Judgement of Propriety Table 2.3 will illustrate more about them

Table 2.3 Judgement - Social sanction (Martin & White, 2005, p.53) Social Sanction

‘mortal’ Positive [praise] Negative [condemn]

veracity [truth]

‘how honest?’

truthful, honest, credible …;

frank, candid, direct … discrete, tactful…;

dishonest, deceitful, lying …;

deceptive, manipulative, devious …; blunt, blabbermouth …

propriety [ethics]

‘how far beyond reproach?’

good, moral, ethical …;

law abiding, fair, just …;

sensitive, kind, caring …;

unassuming, modest, humble …;

polite, respectful, reverent …;

altruistic, generous, charitable…

bad, immoral, evil …;

corrupt, unfair, unjust …;

insensitive, mean, cruel …;

vain, snobby, arrogant …;

rude, discourteous, irreverent …; selfish, greedy, avaricious …

2.1.2.3 Appreciation

“Appreciation looks at resources for construing the value of things, including natural phenomena and semiosis (as either product or process)”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.36) It is separated into 3 sub-types: Reaction

(emotional impact of something on the reader or listener), Composition (the

texture of something) and Valuation (social value of something) The below

table is giving more details about Appreciation sub-categories

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Table 2.4 The Sub-categories of Appreciation (Martin & White, 2005, p.56)

arresting, captivating, engaging

fascinating, exciting, moving …;

lively, dramatic, intense …;

remarkable, notable, sensational

dull, boring, tedious …;

dry, ascetic, uninviting …;

flat, predictable, monotonous … unremarkable, pedestrian … Reaction:

quality ‘did I like it?’

okay, fine, good …;

lovely, beautiful, splendid …;

appealing, enchanting, welcome

bad, yuk, nasty …;

plain, ugly, grotesque …;

repulsive, revolting, off-putting …

together?’

balanced, harmonious, unified, symmetrical, proportioned …;

consistent, considered, logical…

shapely, curvaceous, willowly

unbalanced, discordant, irregular, uneven, flawed …;

contradictory, disorganised …; shapeless, amorphous, distorted Composition:

Complexity

‘was it hard to follow?’

simple, pure, elegant …;

lucid, clear, precise …;

intricate, rich, detailed, precise…

ornate, extravagant, byzantine ; arcane, unclear, woolly …;

plain, monolithic, simplistic

penetrating, profound, deep …;

innovative, original, creative …;

timely,long awaited,landmark…;

inimitable, exceptional, unique…;

authentic, real, genuine …;

valuable, priceless, worthwhile ;

appropriate, helpful, effective …

shallow, reductive, insignificant

worthless, shoddy, pricey …;

ineffective, useless, write-off …

2.1.3 Graduation

Graduation is defined as the one “attends to grading phenomena

whereby feelings are amplified and categories blurred” (Martin & White,

2005, p.35) Similarly, Becker (2007) also agreed that Graduation is luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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formulations by which speakers graduate (raise or lower) the interpersonal impact, Force or volume of their utterances, and by which they graduate (blur

or sharpen) the focus of their semantic categorization It includes two types,

namely Force and Focus

2.1.3.1 Force

Martin and White (2005) claim that Force covers assessments as to

degree of intensity and as to amount It is in the form of Intensification and Quantification

With regard to Intensification, it assesses the degree of intensity

through the scaling of qualities or processes It is realized via Isolating

(up-scaling/down-scaling), Infusing or Repetition (Martin & White, 2005)

The Isolating realizations are illustrated by the up/down-scaling of qualities, verbal processes or modalities; comparatives and superlatives Following are some illustrating examples

-Up/down-scaling of qualities - [pre-modification of an adjective]

“a bit miserable, somewhat miserable, relatively miserable, fairly miserable, rather miserable, very miserable, extremely miserable, utterly miserable”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.141) -Up/down-scaling of modalities

“ just possible, somewhat possible, quite possible, very possible”

“reasonably often, quite often, very often, extremely often”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.142) -Comparatives and superlatives

-“less miserable, least miserable, more miserable, most miserable”

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-“more probable, most probable”

- “happier, happiest” (Martin & White, 2005, p.142)

In reference to Infused Intensification, separate lexical form conveying

the sense of up-scaling or down-scaling cannot be obtained “Rather the

scaling is conveyed as but one aspect of the meaning of a single term” (Martin

& White, 2005, p.143) The following illustrations characterize different modes of Infused Intensification

-Quality: “(she performed) competently, skillfully, brilliantly.” -Process: “The clouds drifted across the sky The clouds raced across the sky.”

-Modality: “possible, probable, certain; rarely, occasionally, sometimes, often, always”

In the above examples, the Infusion of Quality describes the girl’s excellent performance with increasing degree by using various adverbs In the Infusion of Process, the two sentences describe the move of the clouds by

using “drifted” (move slowly) or “raced” (move fast) to depict the movement

in a more concrete way The Infusion of Modality includes adjectives showing possibility and the adverbs of frequency

In respect of Repetition, it is realized as a mode of Intensification

which is in two primary forms: “the repeating of the same lexical item” or

“the assembling of lists of terms which are closely related semantically”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.144) To illustrate, some examples are presented as following

“It’s hot hot hot.”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.144) luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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The above examples are the typical realization of repeating lexical item

“hot” and “laughed” Otherwise, the following example is the typical

realization of repeating the assembling of lists of adjectives which are semantically related

“In fact it was probably the most immature, irresponsible, disgraceful and misleading address ever given by a British Prime Minister.”

(Martin & White, 2005, p.144) The realization may be either figurative or non-figurative as in the below illustrations

"crystal clear”

“prices sky-rocketed”

In a figurative sense, the word “crystal” describes a completely clear and bright status and “skyrocketed” describes the commercial situation in

which price rockets up at the highest value By contrast, the below example exemplifies Intensification with no referential meanings, but they seem to convey attitudinal overtone

“very clear , greatly reduced, moved rapidly”

Being the second type of Force, the term Quantification involves

“scaling with respect to amount (eg size, weight, strength, number), and with respect to extent, with extent covering scope in time and space (ie how widely distributed, how long lasting) and proximity in

time and space (ie how near, how recent).”

(Martin & White, 2005, p148-149) luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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It is complicated to clarify the semantics of this sub-system due to the

quantified entity which may be either concrete (e.g large shark, many sharks,

nearby sharks) (Martin & White, 2005, p.149) or abstract (e.g a large problem, many problems; a few anxieties, a slight fear; a great success, her many betrayals) (Martin & White, 2005, p.149) Regarding the abstract

entities, they normally convey attitudinal meanings A system network for different modes of Quantification is provided in Figure 2.4

Figure 2.4 Force: Quantification (Martin & White, 2005, p.151)

Quantification is realized via “an isolated term acting as a modifier of

the graduated entity” (Martin & White, 2005, p.151)

To make the discussion clear, some examples of Quantification are

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In the above example, the Isolation - mofifier describes the graduated

entities through the words “many”, “large” … while the Infusion estimates the quantity of graduated entities through the nouns “trickle” and “stream”

themselves

2.1.3.2 Focus

Force values in most cases are gradable, but it is not in the case of Focus With reference to Focus, it deals with class membership and points out how strong or weak that membership is (to our mind) The following Graduation network will demonstrate its organization

Figure 2.5 A preliminary outline of Graduation (Martin & White, 2005, p.138)

The above outline has shown that “sharpen” (up-scale) and “soften”

(down-scale) are the two elements under Focus In the following example of

sharpen, the prototypicality is indicated at upper scaling

“a real father, a true friend”

On the other hand, it is possible to down scale in the next example of soften, the specification so as to characterise an instance as having only

marginal membership in the category

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“they sort of play jazz, they are kind of crazy, it was an apology

of sorts”

2.2 Previous relevant studies

2.2.1 Studies on conversations applying different approaches

It is worth noting that the film language is basically realized in the form

of conversations, so the investigation of film language, itself, is a study of conversation dialogues For that reason, the review of previous relevant studies is going to be limited to the relevant studies on conversations

The concept of conversation may refer to different communicative situations It involves interactive, communicative exchanges between two people or a group of people Through conversations, people exchange information, build up relationships and attain different goals Therefore, as mentioned above, there are a range of scholars analyzing the conversation applying different approaches such as Pragmatics, Applied Linguistics, Discourse Analysis …

With regard to Pragmatics, Janice, Brian, and Mayhew (1977) investigate Pragmatics in memory through natural and purposeful communication The pragmatic information, which is referred to the interactional content of an utterance, includes the speaker's intentions, beliefs, and attitude toward the listener The control studies on memory indicate that there is a difference in memory for high and low interactional content statements because of the differences in the textual properties of the sentences

or the reconstruction based on knowledge of the speaker's stylistic habits Another study to be mentioned here is the study conducted by Brasdefe (2006) to provide pedagogical advice in teaching students through the luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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enhance of the teaching of Pragmatics in various discourses of conversations.The findings broaden our understanding of second language Pragmatics and confirm that the use of pragmalinguistic resources is essential to produce and comprehend speech acts in conversations In addition, Nguyễn Thùy Gia Ly

(2014) conducts an investigation into conceptual metaphors used in "Gone

with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and its Vietnamese translational version

of “Cuốn Theo Chiều Gió” by Vũ Kim Thư The author wants to study how conceptual metaphors in “Gone with the Wind” are translated into Vietnamese

translational version and then makes a comparison of metaphors between them From the findings, the popularity of conceptual metaphors used in the data seems to dominate the application of some expressions of metaphors in translating the conversations, and then, affects the translational efficiency in the conversations

With reference to Applied Linguistics, Wong (2002) explores English telephone dialogues as a second language textbooks against the backdrop of what is reported about real telephone interaction in conversation analysis research The results lead us to the conclusion that there is a notable difference in what conversation analysts say about natural telephone conversation and the examples found in the data of eight textbooks Specifically, the textbook dialogues rarely include summon answer, identification, greeting, and how-are-you sequences That difference, therefore, shows the tension between linguistic competence and linguistic performance Moreover, Michael (1983) carries out a linguistic study on native speaker/non-native speaker conversation Then, it is found that modifications of the interactional structure of conversation are more important in the speech modifications of native speakers The researcher luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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names fifteen devices which work for eliminating conversational trouble, tactics, as well as repairing the discourse

Regarding Discourse Analysis, Dijk (1984) aims to analyze the discourse characteristics of social dimensions in prejudice talks about ethnic minorities As a result, prejudiced talks are prominent forms of social

interaction and in some cases they are verbal discrimination Under the

umbrella of Conversation Analysis, Horton (2017) analyzes the interpersonal and psychological determinants of spoken discourse The results mention a model of conversation comprehensive which provides a description of how these components come together in every discourse context Also, it is necessary to incorporate interpersonal factors like politeness, and socio-cultural variation into every conversation

It is obvious that a large amount of studies are carried out on conversation in different discourses They are related to various fields of linguistics and serve with practical purposes All of the findings in these studies, to some extent, have revealed certain features of conversations

2.2.2 Studies on different genres using Appraisal Theory

In the light of Appraisal Theory, a productive theoretical framework, a lot of scientific investigations have been conducted in different discourses like English literary works, news discourse, academic and narrative discourse

In respect of English literary works, Shuhong and Yali (2006) utilize Appraisal resources at word, clause, and discourse level to clarify the power

relation between the characters in “Blackmail” from “Hotel” In another study, Xia and Li (2011) analyze the Attitude resources in “Pride and

Prejudice” and after that they consider the attitudes of the main

character-Elizabeth Those two studies come to the conclusion that Attitude resources luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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seem to be essential elements to express emotional feelings and develop characters’ personalities Similarly, in translation field, Khrisna and Dyah

(2016) make an Appraisal Analysis on the main character of the novel “The

Old Man and the Sea” (Santiago) and its three Indonesian-translated versions

This framework is employed as an approach to evaluate Santiago’s physical appearance (Appreciation), emotional feelings (Affect), and personality (Judgement) In almost the same way, Nuraisiah et al (2018) examine

Attitudes toward sexism in “Gone Girl” novel to disclose the unequal

evaluation of applying Attitude resources toward male and female, which portrays writer’s sexist point of view.The research reveals how speaker/writer negotiates his/her social relationship in sexism From the two studies above, the noticeable role of Attitude resources has been exploited to portray characters’ appearances, emotions and personalities as well as expose the writer’s viewpoint of certain social issues

In addition, a variety of studies have used Appraisal Theory for news discourse analysis For instance, Shizhu and Jinlong (2004) conduct a research which chiefly analyzes the three systems of Appraisal Theory in news discourse and their dominant features This study has also proposed

“evaluative reading”- a new method of reading news at that time

Additionally, Zhang and Liu (2015) explore the distribution of Appraisal resources in 32 news coverage from New York Times and China Daily (English version) under the guidance of Engagement system to analyze the conveyance of ideology maintained by news reports The final results show that similar distributions of Engagement resources in the news reports are adopted when engaged in an ideological attitude In another study, Sabao (2016) carries out a research about arguments for an Appraisal linguistic

discourse approach to the analysis of “objectivity” in “hard” news reports

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The data comparatively analyze two news reports on the death of retired General, Solomon Mujuru in two Zimbabwean newspapers The conclusions indicate the importance of Appraisal Theory in providing logical explanation about the way(s) in which language interprets Attitude, and allowing the reporters to place themselves evaluatively with the viewpoints of other speakers In addition, Hien (2016) examines the interpersonal function in English press commentaries from functional grammar and evaluation theory The results of the study emphasize the importance of Appraisal Theory in discovering layers of sentiments such as the appraisers and objects of appraisal, the Attitudes and the ways of engaging in the different sentiment expression

Besides, a large number of studies involving the application of Appraisal Theory are also found in the field of academic discourse (Liu, 2010) and Hood (2004) try to apply Appraisal Theory into teaching process in

an attempt to get better results for students of English In line with that study,

a practical application of Appraisal Theory on critical reading in college English teaching is done by Ruomei (2016) to realize the critical Judgment and identification to author’s value Affect Furthermore, Pascual and Unger (2010) conduct a research about Appraisal in research genres The findings of the study show that most proposals are highly Heteroglossic, and the Engagement resources are mainly utilized which means that the authors tend

to engage instead of challenging their colleagues’ views

With reference to narrative discourse, Horarik (2003) considers the role

of Appraisal systems in narrative discourse from the point of view of writer/reader relations The analysis concentrates on considering the contribution of Appraisal resources, their trends, co-patterning and transformation to the production of a text axiology What’s more, the work on luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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Attitude also unpacks the meaning of reader positioning in a certain text type Shiro (2003) examines Venezuelan children's developing abilities to use evaluative language in fictional and personal narratives with the detailed

question “How does the use of evaluative language vary in fictional and

personal narratives?” For this study, 444 personal and fictional stories are

elicited in semistructured interviews in 6 different schools with 113 monolingual native speakers of Venezuelan Spanish between the ages of 6 and 11 Then, the findings assert that both age and socio-economic status create huge impacts on the use of evaluative language in fictional stories than

in personal narratives A similar study uses the Appraisal framework to analyze the attitudinal evaluation offered by women and men when narrating experiences about childbirth In the line with narrative, Ruth (2003) investigates childbirth narratives with special consideration of gender and storytelling style The stories analyzed in this study are a set of 23 oral narratives that were elicited in an informal interview situation Key findings indicate that the relative proportion of Affect and Appreciation found in the narratives of the women and men exposes subtly differing story-telling styles Through the expression of Judgement, the writer also emphasizes the vital role of gender in understanding the speakers’ self characterization

Apart from the above studies, Ngan (2017) clarifies the evaluative language in English advertising slogans, and the study realizes that the frequencies of occurrence of the evaluative values are unequal and different in every sub-type However, they cooperate tightly to contribute the success of

an English advertising slogan From a social semiotic perspective, Chen (2010) examines how multimodal resources in EFL textbooks are deployed

to enable dialogic Engagement with readers The researcher bases on the Appraisal systems of Engagement and Graduation to show the functions of luan van tot nghiep download luanvanfull moi nhat z z @gmail.com Luan van thac si

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the semiotic resources and then indicate degrees of Heteroglossia The way of scaling a certain Engagement value is associated with the intrinsic property of

a given multimodal resource In the same field, Gordon (2015) employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate evaluative language in Canadian secondary school and university history textbooks The results point out a higher frequency in secondary school than university textbooks of inscribed Attitude, a high overall occurrence of the resources of Affect, and a low overall occurrence of extra-evaluation

From the above previous studies related to the language of conversations from different perspectives and the application of Appraisal Theory in certain areas, it can be seen that the exploration of evaluative values

in film language is still uncommon The functions of those values construct to those art works, therefore, are neglected There are still rooms for this paper

to closely follow the previous ones of the same area to give insights into this gap

In summary, a detailed discussion about the framework of Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005) is presented in this chapter In addition, the remaining parts of the chapter present a general review about the relevant previous studies related to the topic of this study

Tiêu đề	An Analysis of Language of Evaluation in the film “Gone with the Wind” from the Perspective of Appraisal
Tác giả	Võ Thúy Triều
Người hướng dẫn	Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền
Trường học	Quy Nhơn University
Chuyên ngành	English Linguistics
Thể loại	thesis
Năm xuất bản	2019
Thành phố	Bình Định

Định dạng
Số trang	86
Dung lượng	1,06 MB