An Appraisal Analysis Of Address Forms In The Novel Eugénie Grandet

This thesis is an attempt to analyze address forms based on the Appraisal Theory as the theoretical framework, which positions itself within the background of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The data for analysis comes from the famous novel Eugénie Grandet written by French writer Balzarc. The present study will take a qualitative and interpretative approach to figure out appraisal meanings in these address forms and their distributive features. It will be conducted focusing on the following questions:1. Do the address forms in this novel realize appraisal meanigs?2. What kinds of appraisal meanings are included?3. How are these appraisal meanings distributed? In other words, do these appraisal meanings present attitudinal prosody?4. Is the attitudinal prosody related to the author's characterization?To answer these questions, it will take three steps: firstly, the types of the selected address forms will be analyzed. Secondly, the appraisal meanings of those address forms will be explored under three subsystems of Appraisal Theory. Thirdly, the relation between choice of address forms and the presentation of the character's motives and personal values will be revealed through the analysis of the distribution of Appraisal resources in address forms.There are four findings: (1) Positive and negative feelings of the character in the novel can be reflected in the use of address forms. (2)Address forms can explicitly express the character's personal judgment, especially related to normality and capacity. (3) Attitudinal meanings in address forms in three types of prosodic realizations: saturation, intensification and domination. (4) The distribution of Appraisal resources in address forms can also indicate the nature and personal value of the character.The present study tries to make the discourse analysis of address forms in the novel by taking advantage of Appraisal Theory. It is important for the following reasons: Firstly, from the macro level, the present study provides a good theory to analyze the use of address forms; meanwhile, it also provides a new area for the application of Appraisal Theory. Secondly, from the micro level, through the analysis of address forms with Appraisal Theory, the readers are able to get a better understanding of characters in the novel, their temperament, mental motivation and fluctuation of their feelings. Moreover, the prosodic features of attitude can be realized by means of varying address forms. Thirdly, the present study plays an important part pedagogically. The analysis of address forms provides a new way to improve the readers'reading capability and to figure out the author's stance. Fourthly, it also tells us that in real life, we should choose proper address forms to establish and maintain our relationships with others and we can also judge others through their use of address forms.