An Appraisal Analysis Of The Commencement Address

Appraisal Theory or Appraisal System, first proposed by James Martin in1900s, is a development of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics. The theory concerns the various ways in which people use language to convey their attitude, evaluation, stance in order to establish a personal relationship or to strengthen ties with the audience or readers. Appraisal theory consists of three sub-systems:Attitude, Engagement and Graduation. A commencement address is a specific type of public speaking. Although many scholars have studied public speaking with their focus on the political public speaking, the researches of commencement addresses based on the Appraisal Theory have received little attention.This thesis attempts to analyze commencement addresses applying the theories of Appraisal System with the selection of four most popular Harvard commencement addresses, hoping the analysis of this paper will figure out the preferred evaluation resources in this kind of discourse, and how to use these appraisal resources to realize the communicative functions of the discourse and the communication with listeners. This thesis mainly analyzes and concludes the features of evaluation resources with the method combining quantitative and qualitative analysis through analyzing data and tables.In the process of Attitude analysis, the Affect resources account for a higher percentage than Judgment and Appreciation for the unique situation of commencement addresses. Capacity and Tenacity within the subsystem of Judgment are frequently applied in these addresses for the specific function of inspiring and encouraging.In the Graduation analysis, the address makers take advantage of plenty of Force resources to highlight the importance of their points. Additionally, most Graduation resources are connected with grading up resources (Force-raising or Focus-sharpening), which is concerned with the persuasive and instructive functions of commencement addresses.Concerning Engagement, the dialogistic contractive resources occur more frequently, which provide a favorable device to add persuasiveness to the speeches. Moreover, Modal markers of Entertain resources within the Dialogic Expansion are most preferred in these commencement addresses to negotiate and establish a harmonious relationship with the students.This paper will help readers master the features of commencement addresses thoroughly, thus shed light on the reading and writing of this discourse. Meanwhile, it will promote the applicability of Appraisal Theory in this specific discourse and provide a new insight into the research of the Appraisal Theory.