MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VÕ THÚY TRIỀU AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE OF EVALUATION IN THE FILM “GONE WITH THE WIND” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF APPRAISAL Field: English Linguistics Code: 8 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VÕ THÚY TRIỀU NGÔN NGỮ ĐÁNH GIÁ TRONG PHIM “CUỐN THEO CHIỀU GIÓ” THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA THUYẾT ĐÁNH GIÁ Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis “An Analysis of Language of Evaluation in the film “Gone with the Wind” from the Perspective of Appraisal” is entirely my own original work except where due reference has been made in the text. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis also contains no material accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any universities.
Binh Dinh, 2019 Võ Thúy Triều ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been completed without the support of many people, to all of whom I am profoundly indebted. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền, my supervisor, for her endless patience and experienced guidance in the process of completing this study. Definitely, I would not have been able to finish this study without her expertise and encouragement.
Secondly, I would like to express my grateful thanks to the lecturers of Foreign Language Department in Quy Nhon University for their valuable lectures, which provide essential knowledge for this thesis. Thirdly, I am deeply thankful to authors whose books and materials play a fundamental part in laying theoretical background for this study. Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my parents for their love and support during the fulfillment of this study. I am grateful to my husband for taking care of my child so that I could spend more time on my thesis and I also owe a deep debt to my child, who provide me with great support during the time I wrote this thesis.
iii ABSTRACT This study aimed at examining the evaluative values from the perspective of Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005) namely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation and their functions expressed in the language of the film “Gone with the Wind”. Then, the main objective was to compare the frequencies of occurrence of these values to reveal the choice of language of evaluation in the language of this film and highlight the functions and significance of those evaluative values. To answer the research questions, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The data was just limited in the language of the first part of the film “Gone with the Wind”, which is about 8,500 words.
The findings showed that the three categories of evaluation values –Engagement, Attitude and Graduation were all utilized in the data, but their proportions were totally different. The most frequently-used type was Engagement resources. Next, the second most popular resources belonged to Attitude, which comprehensively made Graduation resources at the bottom position with a small fraction. Additionally, the scriptwriter aimed to use a great amount of positive Attitude resources to vividly depict main characters’ love and inner feelings.
Some suggestions and implications to help English learners to effectively use evaluation values in daily communication and further researches were also justified. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS.
vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aim and Objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Previous relevant studies. Studies on film conversations applying different approaches. Studies on different genres using Appraisal Theory. 25 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Validity and Reliability. 31 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Engagement, Attitude and Graduation in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle. Engagement in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle.
Monogloss in the data. Heterogloss in the data. Attitudinal Resources in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle. Attitudinal Resources in the data.
Affect resources in the data. Judgement resources in the data. Appreciation resources in the data. Positive and Negative Attitude resources in the data.
Graduation in “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle. Force in the data. Focus in the data. 59 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.
Limitations and suggestions for further study. i vii ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS (A) Abbreviations in sample analyses: Red sentences for Monogloss Blue sentences for Heterogloss Jud : Judgement Appre : Appreciation + : Positive Attitude - : Negative Attitude (B) Conventions [GWTW.U1-Un]: “Gone with the Wind” film subtitle, utterance code from 1 to n - Italic words are used for examples and emphasis. -Underlined words are used to mark the use of what is being demonstrated. viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2.1 The Monoglossic and the Heteroglossic 9 2.2 Types of Heterogloss 12 2.3 Judgement - Social esteem 16 2.4 The Sub-categories of Appreciation 17 4.1 Types of Appraisal values in the data 33 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 An overview of Appraisal Theory 8 2.2 The Engagement system 9 2.3 The Heterogloss system 11 2.5 A preliminary outline of Graduation 22 4.1 Distribution of Engagement, Attitude and Graduation 34 in the data 4.2 Distribution of sub-types of Engagement in the data 35 4.3 Distribution of sub-types of Attitude in the data 42 4.4 Positive and negative Attitude resources in the data 51 4.5 Distribution of positive and negative subtypes of Attitude 51 in the data 4.6 Distribution of subtypes of Graduation in the data 56 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale In the 1980s and 1990s, the framework of Appraisal Theory was conducted by a group of scholars led by linguists James Martin and Peter White. This theory is considered as a new expansion in the linguistics field since it is concerned with the linguistic resources by which a speaker uses to express and negotiate a specific ideological position. As reported by White (2015), Appraisal Theory framework is a particular approach to exploring, describing and explaining the way language is used to evaluate, to adopt stances, to construct textual personas and to manage interpersonal positioning and relationships. Hence, the creation of Appraisal Theory as well as its subsequent development is an effective framework for analyzing attitude expressions and interpersonal meanings in various types of discourse such as literary works, news, academic and narrative discourse.
In the field of literary works, there are a range of scholars who analyze the Attitude resources using Appraisal Theory in various features of discourses. For instance, Shuhong and Yali (2006) use Appraisal resources at three levels (word, clause, and discourse) to analyze the power relation between the characters in “Blackmail” from “Hotel”. Besides, Xia and Li (2011) exploit the Attitude meanings by Elizabeth in “Pride and Prejudice”, and then evaluate her attitudes. Similarly, Nuraisiah, Nababan, and Santosa (2018) examine Attitudes toward sexism in Gone Girl novel.
Concerning news discourses, Shizhu and Jinlong (2004) figure out the three sub-systems of Appraisal Theory in news discourses and their dominant features. Besides, 2 Zhang and Liu (2015) explore the distribution of Appraisal resources in 32 news coverage from New York Times and China Daily (English version) under the guidance of Engagement system. Moreover, many studies involving the application of Appraisal Theory are also found in the field of academic discourse such as the practical application of Appraisal Theory on reading skill in college respectively done by Liu (2010) and Ruomei (2016). In addition, a different study of Appraising research to take stance in Academic writing is conducted by Hood (2004).
With respect to narrative texts, Horarik (2003) considers the role of Appraisal systems in narrative discourse from the point of view of writer/reader relations. Additionally, Shiro (2003) examines Venezuelan children's developing abilities to use evaluative language in fictional and personal narratives. Basically, film genres refer to types of films or classifications or groups of films. Stephen (2018) divided films into 20 genres which were Action, Adventure, Animation, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family, Fantasy, History, Horror, Music, Musical, Mystery, Romance, Sci-fi, Sport, Thriller, War and Western.
Generally, every film is made in a particular genre and usually belongs to the established form and plot lines of that genre. The language of films is similar to novels or short stories in that they tell a story. The academic study of film often involves looking at generic conventions and especially the use and function of various aspects of film language. As a result, a variety of studies have been taken to approach different angles of film language.
To illustrate, Amela (2016) explores lexical blends in the English of animated films and presents the identification of blends in animated films and their morpho-semantic analysis. In the field of translation, another research is carried out by Spanakaki (2007) to maintain humor in translating film language. In another study , Khalid (2016) identifies the main 3 challenges for translators during subtitling process and solutions to overcome them. In pragmatic field, Rose (2006) investigates implications of compliments and compliment responses in film for pragmatic research and language teaching.
Taylor and John (2008) explore the specific identifiable characteristics of film language that distinguish it from genuine spontaneous discourse. With reference to language teaching, Quinn (2013) uses Narrative Film in Second Language Acquisition to enable learners to achieve target language easily. However, it can be seen that there are not many studies that have been carried out on conversations in film language. This is because the researchers often focus on the contents of the film more than the language that the scriptwriter uses to convey ideas in a conversation.
It is visible that many researchers are attracted by the aspect of studying language from various perspectives. However, an investigation into language of evaluation in film language has not received much concern. As a result, Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005) is an effective way to interpret film language so as to help readers understand the film language fully and concisely. For all the reasons mentioned above, the topic “An Analysis of Language of Evaluation in the film “Gone with the Wind” from the Perspective of Appraisal” has been chosen hoping to fill the gap to a certain extent.
Aim and Objectives of the study 1. Aim The study aims at examining the evaluative values suggested by Appraisal Theory by Martin and White (2005), namely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation and their functions expressed in the conversations of the film “Gone with the Wind”. Objectives The study attempts to achieve the following objectives: - To identify and classify different values in terms of Attitude, Engagement and Graduation in the American epic historical romance film “Gone with the Wind”. - To compare the frequencies of occurrence of these values to reveal the choice of language of evaluation in the language of this film.
Research questions In order to achieve the above aim and objectives, the research will collect and process the data in order to answer the following questions: -How are Engagement resources utilized in the film “Gone with the Wind”? -How are Attitudinal resources used in the film “Gone with the Wind”? -How are Graduation resources realized in the film “Gone with the Wind”? 1. Scope of the study The study focuses on identifying and classifying evaluative values found in the conversations of the American epic historical romance film “Gone with the Wind”. Because of time limitation, the data was just limited in the first part of the film, which is about 8,500 words long on the website Scripts.