| Public speaking delivered by the state leaders carries a big weight in international communication with the growing linkages between nations. China America are the biggest developing country and developed country respectively, and therefore their state leaders’ speeches made in the famous universities wield a very great deal of influence in the world.The thesis makes a thorough study of 20 Chinese leaders’ campus speeches(CLCS) and American leaders’ campus speeches(ALCS),adopting qualitative and quantitative methods in the framework of Appraisal Theory. This study reveals the overall distribution features of Attitude resources, Engagement resources and Gradation resources in CLCS and ALCS, and makes the intensive analysis of Affect resources, Judgment resources, Appreciation resources, Dialogical Contraction resources, Dialogical Expansion resources, Force and Focus resources. This paper also explores the similarities and the differences of appraisal resources in CLCS and ALCS, as well as the reasons causing them. Major findings have come to light through the careful analysis: three subsystems of appraisal resources show the similar distribution in CLCS and ALCS, and positive appraisals outnumber negative ones significantly. Chinese leaders show more preference to Appreciation resources, whereas American leaders prefer Affect resources under Attitude system. There is a slightly gap in Engagement resources in CLCS and ALCS. Force resources dominate over Focus resources both in CLCS and ALCS within Gradation system.As a tentative research, this study is of significance to inform the readers of cultural disparities between China and America profoundly, and meanwhile it expands a new perspective for the further study of state leaders’ campus speeches and the investigation of Appraisal Theory. |
