Attitude In Language Analysis

ABSTRACT Language is a means for expressing the addresser’s/addressee’s opinion on people, things, situations and events. There are meanings associated with opinion, viewed as resources of evaluation or appraisal in language. The Appraisal theory represents a classification which encompasses the systems of Graduation, Attitude and Engagement. Attitude, which is one kind of appraisal resources, plays a fundamental role in the expression of interpersonal meanings in language. Therefore, attitude deals with a way via which one behaves towards someone or in a situation, in particular, when this indicates how someone feels. Although they have received a fundamental importance in many recent studies, not all the aspects and features of attitude

Therefore, it explores how addressers give judgments on addressee, their utterances, material objects, events, and related circumstances, and accordingly makes association with those who share these views and distance themselves from those who fail to do so. It examines how individuals’ attitudes, judgments and emotive responses are explicitly displayed in texts and how they can be more indirectly implied, presupposed or assumed. Furthermore, it examines how representation of such attitudes and judgments can be carefully managed in order to take into consideration the ever-present probability of challenge or contradiction from those who hold contrasting views. In sum, Appraisal Framework is a system of interpersonal meanings. Addressers/ addressees use the resources of Appraisal to negotiate their social relationships, by stating their listeners/readers how they feel about things, people, and events, in other words, what attitudes they possess. It provides us an analytical tool to understand the issues related to evaluative language and to the negotiation of intersubjective positions. Evaluation can be studies by virtue of the system of evaluative lexis or

There are different researches being carried out on media discourse as Dijk (1991) has worked on the roles of news reports in ethnic relation, McGregor (2003) has worked on the role of news reports on dominant forces of society, Behnam and Moshtagi ( 2008) have referred to the existence of a biased reporting arising from the particular world-view of the papers, amounting to legitimization or de-legitimization of the Iran nuclear program, and Kress (1990) has manifested the application of particular ideological discursive structure in ideological system. Newspapers play a leading role in creating discourse on the statements of national and international prominent politicians. Newspaper editors try to build up the ideologies of what is talked about and in which manner (Henry &Tentor 2002 as cited in Taiwo). “Ideology is manifested in many fields with different, but through overlapping shades of meaning” (ibid p.221). Hence, newspapers stand as a source of imposition power in a society. Not only do the news stories work for shaping ideologies, but also headlines appear as a notable means for attraction to the