The Discourse Semantics of Attitudinal Relations: Continuing the Study of Lexis

Abstract

Abstract. This paper explores some aspects of the problem of categorizing attitudinal relations in English, as part of a description of evaluation informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL) -APPRAISAL. It reviews paradigmatic and syntagmatic orientations to lexis within this tradition, and the development of typological and topological representations of systemic relations. Corpus based argumentation is considered in relation to work on evaluation by Bednarek 2008; and proposals for continuing the study of lexis are suggested, focusing on resources for negotiating sadness and negative reactions to behavior (e.g. embarrassed, ashamed) and the affordances of topological representation. The paper highlights the possibilities and challenges involved in continuing the study of lexis in descriptions using SFL as their informing theory.

Adjective complementation patterns and judgement: Aligning lexical-grammatical and discourse-semantic approaches in appraisal research

“…This in turn leads to the speculation that it is the construction, rather than lexis, that is the most delicate grammar (cf. Hasan 1987;Martin 2017), though exploration of this possibility lies beyond the scope of this paper.…”

“…This raises the possibility of Target types being an important distinction within the AFFECT system, and the further possibility that some patterns or constructions are limited in the target types they permit. Target types distinguish between JUDGEMENT and APPRECIATION but are not used to distinguish beyond that in the classic APPRAISAL framework (though see references in Martin [2017]). However, as Martin (2017) has pointed out, classification systems based on meaning are multidimensional.…”

“…Our proposal effectively closes the circle of attitudinal interaction. In APPRAISAL, categories can be represented topographically, as adjoining or overlapping spaces in a two-dimensional map, as well as typographically as a system of binary alternatives (Martin and Matthiessen 1991;Bednarek 2007;Martin 2000Martin , 2017. The topographical representation goes some way to addressing a concern that representing meaning as a set of oppositions is an oversimplification, by showing that two categories can be more or less similar to each other, or indeed can merge into each other.…”

A corpus analysis of online news comments using the Appraisal framework

“…It belongs in the systemic functional tradition of Halliday (Halliday, 1985;Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014), and is located in the discourse semantic stratum, the part of language concerned with meaning beyond the clause. Appraisal is both a linguistic system of meanings for evaluation (what language users deploy to make meaning) and a description of resources for evaluation (what linguists apply to analyze text) (Martin, 2017). We will use 'Appraisal' and 'Appraisal frame-work' most often in the second sense, but always bearing in mind that what we are trying to capture is how language users make (evaluative) meaning.…”

Rhetoric, Grammar, Discourse and Homeostasis

“…Когда лингвисты отвергают устойчивое значение слова и предлагают обратиться не к словарю, а к тезаурусу (Martin 2017), они поступают прямо противоположно французским синонимистам (Ору 2000), которые в духе эпохи Людовика XIV (для функциональной стилистики длящейся и сегодня) стремились развести смыслы по дискретным гнездам. При Людовике как раз и властвовала риторика декорума, этикета, и даже было изобретено слово «этикет».…”