A Discourse Analysis On President Trump's State Of The Union Address From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

State of the Union Address(SUA),as a administrative program of the U.S.government,it is an important way to illuminate the major problem faced by the country and the policy which the President will take.At the same time,the state of the union address is also an important way for the President to reflect the previous work and strengthen the people's confidence.In the State of the Union Address speech,the President of the United States will conclude the previous work and illuminate his opinion and the policy which will be taken on the areas of economy,education,national security,science and technology.It is no doubt that the State of the Union Address has a great significance on the understanding of the American domestic and foreign policies.So the publish of the State of the Union Address will attract the eyes of all over the world.A better understanding of such speech can help the audience get a better understanding on the direction of the U.S.federal government domestic and foreign policy.This thesis based on Martin's Appraisal Theory,selecting the SUA of the President Trump made in 2017 as the research data.This thesis employed the qualitative and quantitative methods and comes to the conclusions that:1.the SUA of the President Trump made in 2017 used a large number of appraisal resources.Among them,graduation resources occupy the highest proportion.And the next is the attitude resources,while the engagement resources occupy the least proportion.In the sub-systems of appraisal system,the use of appreciation and judgement resources are more than affect resources.The use of affect resources make a shorter distance between government and the public.It can help the government found a more harmonious social relationship.2.in the engagement system,both the expansion and the contraction resources have a vital role on constructing the interpersonal meaning.3.In the graduation system.the use of force resources is more than the use of focus resources,it indicates that the President kept strengthening his views and beliefs to win the audiences' confidence and trust.