An Analysis Of President Nixon’s Toasts From Appraisal Theory

Diplomatic work is part of a country’s overall work. It is not only immensely important, but also is rigorously scientific and highly artistic. In diplomatic activities, diplomatic personnel are always inseparable from the diplomatic instruments—diplomatic documents and are required to be familiar with the various diplomatic discourses.Diplomatic Discourse is a general term and refers to all the categories of diplomatic documents that deal with international affairs, conduct international relations, present a specific country’s policy and position towards international events etc. It usually includes Credentials, Notes, Declarations, Statements, Communiques, Memoranda, Treaties, Letters, Telegrams, Remarks, Speeches etc. As a category of Remarks and with its unique stylistic features, Toast occupies a large part, has been the main vehicles of expressing sincere feelings between Heads of State of countries and is the incarnation of etiquette and ceremony of high standard. Toast is highly political, too. Namely, the speaker—the host or the guest, will endow the toast with strong political values and propositions of their respective countries, will take this opportunity to advertise the diplomatic policies of his country and will express a certain inclination towards international affairs. Due to the unique stylistic features of Toast and the special banquet occasions, the speaker is requested to harmonize the intended feeling and political stance of his country with the help of all kinds of linguistic resources.Appraisal Theory or Appraisal System was mainly developed since1990s. It is concerned with evaluation of language—the positive or negative attitude of the speaker towards people, places, things, events, phenomena etc and how to negotiate meaning with audience and align the audience. Since its very birth, Appraisal Theory has been applied to the analyses of various genres and many achievements have been made. However, so far no attempt has been made to apply it to the analysis of English Toast. Therefore, on the bases of Appraisal Theory, this thesis will take as the study material the historic documents, two English toasts delivered by US President Richard Nixon during his visit to China in1972, with the purpose to get insight into the stylistic feature of the two toasts, and how he reveals his political positions, aligns the audience and makes a balance between expressive functions and evocative functions of his utterances. The study is of some theoretical and practical significance by expanding the scope of Appraisal Theory, further certifying the strong explanatory power of the theory and contributing to the appreciation and teaching of Remarks of all kinds.The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One is the general introduction to the thesis, presenting rationale of the thesis, the aim and significance of the study, data and methodology and organization of the thesis. Chapter Two presents a general review of previous studies on Appraisal Theory and Diplomatic discourse and English Toast. Chapter Three is the theoretical framework of the thesis. The tool of Appraisal Theory is illustrated in details. Chapter Four details Diplomatic discourse and English Toast, including the definition of Diplomatic discourse, its classification and features; remarks; the definition of Toast, its classification, features and organizations. Chapter Five is the main body of the thesis. The author analyzes Nixon’s two toasts delivered during his visit to China in1972. Chapter Six concludes and summarizes the whole study, points out the limitation of the current study and suggests the future study.