A Contrastive Analysis Of Attitudinal Resources In English And Chinese Editorials From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

As a subgenre of news comments,editorials are timely comments on some important events happening both at home and abroad.They are used to show the newspapers'attitudes and stances towards these events with the aim to guide public opinions and persuade the readers.Thus,appraisal resources are abundant in editorials.Plenty of overseas and domestic studies of editorials mainly focus on the structural and rhetorical features of editorials,and little has been focused on the comparative studies based on the attitudinal system.Thus,the present research attempts to make a comparative analysis of attitudinal resources under the framework of Appraisal Theory,and probes into the causes for similarities and differences from the perspective of cultural and political factors.To conduct a comparative study of attitudinal resources between English and Chinese editorials,the present research selects 8 Chinese editorials and 8 English editorials about“the 19~thh National Congress of the Communist Party of China”from People's Daily and the Washington Post respectively as the research data.The present study employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the similarities and differences of attitudinal resources in the selected editorials.The study also examines how the attitudinal resources are employed to realize the interpersonal meanings.Through comparative analysis and discussion,the present study concludes some similarities and differences.Their similarities are showed as follows:1.As for the overall frequency of attitudinal resources,both English and Chinese editorials employ a large amount of attitudinal resources.They both employ more Judgment and Appreciation resources,with the least use of Affect resources.Besides,they use more positive attitudes than negative ones.2.In the aspect of Affect,both English and Chinese editorials impress more on readers by the usage of non-authorial Affects to avoid the responsibility of evaluation.3.As for Judgment resources,Social Esteem is more often employed in English and Chinese editorials.4.In the aspect of Appreciation,English and Chinese editorials show a similar tendency in the employment of Appreciation resources.Both of them employ Reaction more frequently,which is followed by Valuation and Composition successively.The major differences are listed as follows:1.The applications of Affect and Judgment resources in Chinese editorials are fewer than those in English ones,while the employment of Appreciation is more than English ones.In addition,English editorials employ more negative attitudes compared with Chinese editorials;2.As regards Affect resources,in Chinese editorials,Dis/satisfaction takes up the largest proportion;while in English editorials,In/security takes up the largest proportion;3.On the aspect of Judgment resources,more judgments are given to the individuals in English editorials,while the Chinese editorials are more inclined to attach much importance to the behaviors of the groups;4.As for Appreciation,though English and Chinese editorials share a similar tendency in the employment of Appreciation resources,English editorials place much emphasis on the value of the Congress.By conducting a comparative study of attitudinal resources between English and Chinese editorials under the framework of Appraisal Theory,the present research expands the scope of the application of Appraisal Theory.It is hoped that the present research will help promote a better understanding of English editorials for the readers.