An Analysis Of The Attitude Resources In The Ellen Degeneres Show From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

TV talk show in essence belongs to a kind of conversation. Therefore, the study of the TV talk show can be regarded as the study of the conversation between the guests and the host. Originated in America, TV talk show has become a very popular public program style in Europe as well as in China, especially among the young people. As a kind of media discourse, the TV talk show has its own features which can be reflected in different aspects, such as society, culture, customs, genre and language, etc. Therefore, in the past few decades, this specific genre has attracted the attention of lots of researchers, whose efforts have led to countless achievements in this field. However, the study of interpersonal meaning mostly focuses on novels, newspapers, advertisements, public speech, etc. Few researchers have put much emphasis on the TV talk show under the framework of the appraisal theory.The appraisal theory on the other hand intends to find out the evaluation resources in the discourse and explore the way in which the language users express their attitude through evaluation. This thesis aims to explain how one subsystem of the appraisal theory i.e. attitude system can guide the analysis concerning the TV talk show. This thesis is an attempt to investigate the realization of the attitudinal resources in TV talk show. In order to reveal the amount, distributions, frequencies and realization of attitudinal resources existing in TV talk show, this thesis gives a careful analysis of attitudinal resources chosen from the conversation in the Ellen Degeneres Show (the Ellen Show for short) from the perspective of the appraisal theory. This thesis therefore adopts the appraisal theory as its theoretical framework.Based on previous studies, this thesis makes an attempt at applying the appraisal theory to the representative American TV talk show program:the Ellen Show through the use of the quantitative and qualitative method. It tries to reveal how to realize and embody the attitudinal meanings linguistically through the analysis of different attitudes towards different persons, events and topics. Apart from the vast scope of the Systemic Functional Grammar, this thesis provides a new way for researching the appraisal theory and the TV talk show. The author also attempts to analyze the attitudinal resources in the Ellen Show to make up the deficiency of this area.The whole study is an extension of the application of the appraisal theory and a very comprehensive way to analyze the specific genre of the TV talk show. On the one hand, it provides a brand-new perspective for the study of the TV talk show. On the other hand, it can break a new way in the analysis of the interpersonal meaning different from Halliday’s traditional Systemic Functional Grammar. That is to say, this thesis employs the attitude system from the appraisal theory to analyze the interpersonal meaning implied in the TV talk show instead of using the traditional Systemic Functional Grammar represented by mood and modality. It can definitely enhance Martin’s appraisal theory and improve the practicability as well as universality of this theory. It is expected that the findings in this study can help the TV talk show audiences gain a rational comprehension of the TV talk show instead of just focus on the entertainment effect of the TV talk show. It is also hoped that this thesis will make contribution to the TV talk show and enrich the study of the appraisal theory.