20/12/2011
Language, Function, Cognition:
Week 6: Appraisal: The
Speaker’s evaluation of
things in the text
Mick O’Donnell
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.1 What is Appraisal
• NOTE: Most of these slides lift content directly from:
J.R. Marin and P. White 2005. The Language of
Evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave.
The author of these slides makes no claim of
original contribution. Consider every slide to be
surrounded by quotation marks.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.1 What is Appraisal
• Appraisal Theory is used to analyse how the
speaker/writer values the entities (people and
things) within the text that they produce.
• Developed by Peter White (a journalist who got
interested in SFL) and Jim Martin (one of the main
Systemicists).
• Developed during the 1990s.
• Now used worldwide.
• Just starting: getting computers to automatically
assess appraisal in text.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.2 Main components of Appraisal
•
ATTITUDE: encompasses different options for expressing
positive or negative evaluation.
• a good man; etc.
•
ENGAGEMENT addresses options for expanding and
contracting space for other voices (how much does the
writer endorse the statements of others):
• He claims/states/informs us etc.
•
GRADUATION: adjustments of attitude and engagement in
terms of strength.
• A very good man; I was reasonably happy.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude
• Attitude is divided between:
– Affect: Emotional evaluation of things, processes or
states of affairs (e.g., like/dislike)
– Judgement: Ethical evaluation of human behaviour
(e.g., good/bad)
– Appreciation: Aesthetic or Functional evaluation of
things, processes and states of affairs (e.g.,
beautiful/ugly, useful/useless).
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude
Emotion
Ethics
Aesthetics
Affect
Judgement
Appreciation
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect
• Attitude: Affect
– Evaluates an entity, process or state emotionally:
• That makes me happy.
• This building bores me.
• John was happy.
– But note: A BORING building is APPRECIATION:REACTION
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect
• Attitude: Affect
– Not only coding the writer’s own emotions, but also the
emotions of those within the text.
Jack Aubrey’s heart had been sealed off
– Can be an explicit stated: He was happy.
– or can be realised via a statement of the bodily reaction
that the emotion causes: He wept.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect: Realisation
• Grammatical Realisations of Affect
Type
Grammatical Function
Example
Quality
Epithet
Attribute
Circumstance
a happy man
He was sad.
He left happily
Process
He liked her.
She pleased him
He smiled.
Comment
Modal Adjunct
Happily, he won.
Nominalisations
Subject, Object, …
Sadness, Grief, etc.
Process
-mental
-behavioural
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect: Kinds
• Main subclasses of Affect (from Martin and White)
UN/HAPPINESS
Behaviour
Disposition
unhappiness
-misery
-antipathy (directed)
whimper/cry/wail
rubbish/abuse/revile
happiness
-cheer
-affection
chuckle/laugh/rejoice
cheerful/bouant/jubilant
shake hands/hug/embrace be fond of/love/adore
IN/SECURITY
Behaviour
down/sad/miserable
dislike/hate/abhor
Disposition
insecurity
-disquiet
-surprise
restless/twitching/shaking uneasy/anxious/freaked out
start/cry out/faint
started/jolted/staggered
security
-confidence
-trust
declare/assert/proclaim
delegate/commit/entrust
together/confident/assured
comfortable with/confident in
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/trusting
6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect: Kinds
DIS/SATISFACTION
dissatisfaction
-ennui
-displeasure
satisfaction
-interest
-pleasure
Behaviour
fidget/yawn/tune out
caution/scold/castigate
Disposition
flat/stale/jaded
cross with/angry with/furious
bored with/sick of/fed up with
attentive/busy/industrious involved/absorbed/engrossed
pat on the back
satisfied/pleased/chuffed
/compliment/reward
impressed/charmed/thrilled
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect: Exercise
• Identify the Attitude tokens in the following, and their type
The Prime Minister surprised the House of Commons
yesterday by admitting that he was not happy with the
policy, which has caused outrage among countryside
groups, MPs and members of the public.
Mr Cameron has been shocked by the hostility to the
sell-off of state-owned forestry and has admitted
defeat.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Affect: Exercise
Red: negative Blue: positive
Italic:
dis/satisfaction
Bold:
un/happiness
Underline: in/security
• Identify the Attitude tokens in the following, and their type
The Prime Minister surprised the House of Commons
yesterday by admitting that he was not happy with
the policy, which has caused outrage among
countryside groups, MPs and members of the public.
Mr Cameron has been shocked by the hostility to the
sell-off of state-owned forestry and has admitted
defeat.
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Judgement
Judgement: Evaluates human behaviour ethically:
– Morally:
– Legally:
• language which criticises or praises, which
condemns or applauds the behaviour (the actions,
deeds, sayings, beliefs, motivations etc. of human
individuals and groups).
E.g., “this is a miserly administration” (they don’t
spend money)
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Judgement
Judgement: Two types:
Social Esteem
Social Sanction
• ‘normality’ (how unusual someone is)
• ‘capacity’ (how capable they are)
• ‘tenacity’ (how resolute they are)
• ‘veracity’ (how truthful someone is)
• ‘propriety’ (how ethical someone is).
Tends to be policed in the oral culture,
through chat, gossip, jokes and stories of
various kinds.
Most often codified in writing, as
edicts, decrees, rules and laws about
how to behave as surveilled by church
and state – with penalties and
punishments as levers against those
not complying with the code.
Sharing values in this area is critical to the Sharing values in this area underpins
formation of social networks (family,
civic duty and religious observances.
friends, colleagues, etc.).
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Appreciation
Attitude: Appreciation
• Evaluates things, processes and states of affairs
aesthetically.
– Reaction:
• Impact:
• Quality:
Did it grab me?
Did I like it? (it is nice, ugly, etc.)
– Composition:
• Balance:
Did it hang together?
• Complexity: Was it hard to follow?
• Valuation: Was it worthwhile?
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Appreciation
• Distinguishing from Judgement:
– Judgement if assessing human behaviour:
– Appreciation if assessing the human itself: the assessment
does not directly focus on the correctness or incorrectness
of behaviour, but rather the appearance of the person
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Appreciation
Distinguishing from Affect:
• Affect construes the emotions someone feels,
• Appreciation ascribes objects the power to trigger such
feelings:
– AFFECT:
“I find this building boring”
– APPRECIATION: “It’s an extremely BORING building
– AFFECT:
“The view depresses me”
– APPRECIATION: “A DEPRESSING sight met our eyes”
– AFFECT:
“The song bought tears to my eyes”
– APPRECIATION: “A SAD song”
• (but Affect: “A sad man”)
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6. Appraisal Theory
6.3 Attitude: Summary
Summary
• Judgement and Appreciation talk about qualities of entities
or behaviour (he is good, it is boring, …)
• Judgement: Social qualities
• Appreciation: Aesthetic qualities
• Affect concerns someone’s reaction to the thing, behaviour
or event (He pleases me, I am bored of your talk)
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