Intertextual Analysis On Academic Book Reviews Through Engagement System Of Appraisal Theory

Intertextuality, according to Russian theorist Bahktin, refers to the presence andinteraction of different voices in an utterance or discourse. The actual reality of languagespeech is not the abstract systems of language forms, and not the isolated monologicutterance, not the psychological act of the implementation, but the social event of verbalinteraction implemented in an utterance or utterances. Though long been recognized andemployed by literature critics, intertextuality remains new, both in concept and inapplication, in the field of linguistics. Appraisal Theory, the theoretical framework that forms this study, is a functionalmodel of interpersonal meaning at the level of discourse semantics. Engagement, one of itssubsystems deeply influenced by Bahktin's notion of intertextuality, covers all linguisticresources, by which the textual or authorial voice is positioned inter-subjectively.Compared with the other two subsystems, the engagement in linguistics field has not beenexplored seriously yet. This is what the current thesis is aiming at. This thesis, relating intertextuality and engagement system of Appraisal Theory with aform of non-fictional text –---academic book review, examines the intertextual pattern of15 English book reviews extracted from linguistic journals or websites abroad throughEngagement System of Appraisal Theory and tries to find the way a book reviewer takesthrough different engagement resources to position his/her voice with respect to the variouspropositions and proposals conveyed by the book, readers and other book reviewers,therefore, negotiate an interpersonal space for his/her own positions within that diversity.