Evaluation In Political Speech

Evaluation is a complex and important phenomenon in language. Over the last few decades there have gradually emerged diverse approaches to evaluation, and there are a variety of terms having been used in exploring this aspect of language.As a sub-genre of public speaking, political speech is employed by the speaker to expound his viewpoint, attitude and position. It plays a great role in the political life. As one of the most salient persuasive discourses in our daily life, it is obvious that political speeches are saturated with evaluative languages and appraisal resources.This thesis attempts to investigate evaluation in political speech by employing the parameter-based approach. Based on Bednarek's (2006) parameter-based framework and preliminary analysis of the data, the study proposes a model for evaluation in political speech. According to the proposed model, this thesis explores semantic meanings of evaluation in the present data by using manual analysis complemented by quantitative analysis. Through the analysis, the research reveals seven parameters which appear in the present data and they are the parameter of Emotivity, Expectedness, Possibility/Necessity, Reliability, Evidentiality, Mental State and Style. Among them the parameter of Emotivity is the most important parameter due to its highest occurrences. The distributions of these parameters indicate that in political speech the speaker prefers to choose attitudinal expressions to show his approval or disapproval in order to express his viewpoints, attitudes and positions. In addition, the speaker will employ expressions involved in high expectedness, possibility, and reliability to convince audiences to take action or reinforce the existing attitude of listeners.This thesis proves that the parameter-based approach can be employed to analyze evaluation in political speech. The findings in the present study are also very helpful and instructive for the teaching, appreciation and learning of political speech.