| This thesis is a positive discourse analysis (PDA) on political speeches. The material of the research includes nine speeches delivered by the presidents and statesmen in the general election. The appraisal theory is an extension and complement of the interpersonal meta-function in systemic functional grammar proposed by Halliday. The appraisal theory can be employed to find the author's attitudes, opinion and stance embedded in the various appraisal resources. PDA and CDA are two complementary perspectives for analyzing texts. Instead of focusing on the ideology and imbalance of power in a text, PDA takes a constructive view and proposes methods to solve problems in a peaceful way. The author has made the final conclusions by adopting the methodology mentioned above. The distribution of appraisal resources follows certain rules and has its functions. Through a positive discourse analysis on political speeches, the author concludes four positive functions of political speeches. |
