An Appraisal Analysis on Joe Biden’s Rhetoric of Gun Control

Abstract

The recurring gun violence in the U.S. has been a prevailing issue for a long period. To tackle these, the government has implemented various policies and regulations. However, a transformation is nowhere to be seen. Having advocated for a change is Joe Biden, the president of the United States. In the light of recent unfortunate occurrences, Biden delivered a public speech that addressed this issue. This study aims to understand and thoroughly comprehend Biden’s speech using appraisal analysis, in which the elements of appraisal are used to classify the terms within Biden’s speech. This research uses qualitative methods, and it is concluded that it is clear from the performed research and supplementary data in the preceding sentence that Biden's speech contains a total of 37 evaluative items. 19 of these appraising items are positive, while 18 are negative. 19 of these appraising items are positive. This study found 12 findings for each of the appraisal parts of affect and appreciation, 7 findings of Judgment-social esteem and 6 findings of judgment-social sanction. Upon analyzing, it is found that Biden’s speech contains numerous meanings, some of which are how he is saddened by the unfortunate event, and subsequently advocates transformation on gun regulation in the future years. In conclusion, Biden’s position on gun issues as president of the U.S. is that the owner and the regulation, not the gun, are the issue.

Gun Control Laws in the Usa: A Comparative Global Review

“…Cultural factors play a significant role in shaping gun control models. Countries like the United States have a deep-rooted gun culture, where the right to bear arms is seen by many as a fundamental aspect of individual freedom (Al Fajri et al, 2022). In contrast, nations with stricter regulations often prioritize collective safety over individual gun rights.…”

An Appraisal Analysis of Attitude in Joko Widodo's ASEAN Summit Speeches

“…Ross and Caldwell (2020) analyzed Donald Trump's tweets, finding strategic use of negativity within the appraisal system to implement a 'going negative' political strategy with targeted character attacks. Furthermore, Fajri et al (2022) and Poucke ( 2023) conducted a study on appraisal analysis, revealing 37 evaluative items in Biden's speech, encompassing effect, judgment, and appreciation. Magfiroh et al (2021) investigated appraisal analysis in a related study, explicitly focusing on attitude types.…”

“…While appraisal analysis has been applied to diverse text types, studies explicitly focusing on presidential speeches at major international events are expected. Previous research has explored appraisal in sources such as Twitter (Fitriana et al, 2020), news articles (Lestari et al, 2023;Jin, 2019), political tweets (Ross & Caldwell, 2020) & presidential speeches (Fajri et al, 2022;Rohmawati, 2016), the analysis of presidential speech within the specific context of high-profile international summits represents a distinct and potentially valuable area of investigation (Munday, 2018). This study seeks to address this gap by focusing on the attitude subsystem within the appraisal framework, as it manifests within two speeches by President Joko Widodo at the 2023 ASEAN Summit.…”