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2. EVALUATION
2.1. Language which expresses the opinion, attitude and point of view of a speaker/writer about something. Evaluation is the indication of whether the speaker thinks that something is good or bad Evaluation is the very basis of persuasion in politics as in life Charles Darwin regards it as a natural element of human life, due to mechanisms of survival It can be implicit or explicit: Implicit evaluation is not overtly expressed but can be recognised as good or bad when it occurs: Large parts of the Middle Eaast have little experience of democracy More women are finding top posts in US politics and business
Explicit evaluation
- Grammatical evaluation Ex. use of comparatives / transitivity (doer/done to)
- Textual evaluation Ex. positioning or ordering of blocks of language
- Lexical evaluation Ex. lexical choices
- Comparatives (better/worse than, richer/poorer than, etc,) are an obvious indication of evaluation. because Britain deserves better ... Because you deserve better (Labour) Transitivity is the grammatical structuring which tells us ‘who does what to whom (and how)’. It enables the language user to place the participants and events in a particular order and allows him/her to express evaluations of responsibility. John argued with Sue; Sue argued with John; John and Sue argued
2.2. Evaluation by language choice
The choice of vocabulary a speaker/writer uses tells a
lot about how he/she evaluates the topic in question.
1) Denotation vs. 2) connotation
1) Literal meaning
2) The associations that word has for us
Ex. used, second-hand, pre-loved, vintage, antique
Ex. The Arab revolts / The Arab uprisings / The Arab Spring
/ The Arab awakening
2.3. Insider words/outsider words
Words express whether the issue is seen from the inside or
the outside of a group:
Resistance movement vs. extremist organisation
2.4. Hooray words and boo words Positive or negative social connotation They may easily arouse approval or disapproval in their audience In politics they include modernisation, justice, equality, sustainable, freedom, diversity,… Ex. you are against ethnic or religious diversity brought about by immigration you focus on national traditions Task 5 2.5. Evaluation by selection of information Textbooks on journalism often teach that a story should include answers to the six “wh- questions” What happened? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who was involved (who did what to whom)? How did it happen? Why did it happen?
COMPARISON BBC Seems information-poor What happened? A four-year old girl has been found dead When did it happen? At around 15:00 on Thursday Where did it happen? In East London Who was involved (who did what to whom)? All we are told is that the mother has been arrested on suspicion How did it happen? All that we are told is that there was a knife incident Why did it happen? We are not told, but the mother has been confined under the Mental Health Act. We might infer that she had mental health problems DAILY MAIL Seems information-rich What happened? A four-year-old girl name given has been found dead, disembowelled, etc. When did it happen? On Thursday Where did it happen? Clapton, East London Who was involved (who did what to whom)? The mother name given who is from Somalia, the neighbours as witnesses, the father name given who discovered the scene. The woman has two other children How did it happen? The journalist implies that the girl was stabbed and dismembered by the mother using a kitchen knife Why did it happen? The headline focuses on “religious ritual”. The journalist claims that the mother was “chanting verses of the Koran” though no evidence is given. The claim was then repeated that she was listening to the “Muslim Holy Book”. Only in paragraph four do we learn that the mother has been confined under the MHA, and mental illness rather than religion, might be the reason for the killing of the child
2.6. Evaluation and modality
Grammatically, modality refers to the system that speakers can use to express their degree of commitment to a belief that: (^) Something happened or didn’t Someone did or didn’t do something Thompson (1996) defines modality as “the space between yes and no” (^) The politician took the bribe from YES The politician probably took the bribe (^) The politician might have taken the bribe The politician probably didn’t take the bribe (^) The politician didn’t take the bribe to NO
US DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
The United States Declaration of Independence is the pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. The Declaration explained why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
