Acomparativeanalysis Ofattitudinal Meanings In The Campaignspeeches Of Barack Obamaand Mittromney

As a new approach to discourse analysis, Appraisal Theory has been developedfrom the interpersonal function within Systemic Functional Linguistics since1991.Appraisal Theory is about language resources, through which the writer/speaker cangrade the assessments of meaning, get involved in propositions, and express their. Itincludes three sub-systems: Graduation, Attitude and Engagement. More specifically,this theory deals with how to express appreciations of things, personal emotions, andjudgments of event by language.This thesis applies the Attitude of Appraisal Theory to the exploration ofpresidential campaign speeches. Six pieces of speeches from each of the candidates(Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney) are selected randomly to probe how they extend theirAttitude including Appreciation, Affect, and Judgment the public, what are thesimilarities and differences when they present their Attitudinal meanings; and whatare the possible reasons for the discoursal similarities and differences in the light ofAttitude System.This research is of great importance in that, first of all, it is a complement tothe application of the Theory; Secondly, up to now this thesis will be the first one tomake a corpus-based comparative analysis of the Attitudinal meanings in thecampaign speeches delivered by two president candidates; At last, it can offer theChinese with some reference of the basic political situation in the USA.Finally, the author finds that Mr. Obama has mostly used un/happiness andin/security to convey his affect meanings; While Mr. Romney has mainly adoptedlarge numbers of Dissatisfaction to convey his affect meanings. In terms ofjudgment meanings, Mr. Obama’s Judgment is realized through positive Capacitylexis though he has also adopted a few Tenacity and Propriety. And Mr. Romney’s judgment is realized by relatively half positive and half negative. As to Appreciation,both of them has employed Reaction and Valuation similarly.Through Happiness and Security, Mr. Obama creates a strong sense ofsolidarity among the public, and set up a safe and powerful image of America. Byemploying positive Capacity, he has set up a capable reliable and trustable image.While as to Mr. Romney, on the one hand he succeeds bonding the public with him;on the other hand, he manages to employ attitudinal lexis to attack Mr. Obama aspossible as he can.