Evaluation in Text' Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse '

This is an accessible and wide-ranging account of current research in one of the most central aspects of discourse analysis: evaluation in and of written and spoken language.Evaluation is the broad cover term for the expression of a speaker''s - or writer''s - attitudes feelings and values. It covers areas sometimes referred to as ''stance'' ''modality'' ''affect'' or ''appraisal''. Evaluation (a) expresses the speaker''s opinion and thus reflects the value-system of that person and their community; (b) constructs relations between speaker and hearer (or writer and reader); and (c) plays a key role in how discourse is organized. Every act of evaluation expresses and contributes to a communal value-system which in turn is a component of the ideology that lies behind every written or spoken text. Conceptually evaluation is comparative subjective and value-laden. In linguistic terms it may be analysed lexically grammatically and textually. These themes and perspectives are richly exemplified in the chapters of this book by authors aware and observant of the fact that processes of linguistic analysis are themselves inherently evaluative.The editors open the book by introducing the field and provide separate contextual introductions to each chapter. They have also collated the references into one list itself a valuable research guide. The exemplary perspectives and analyses presented by the authors will be of central interest to everyone concerned with the analysis of discourse whether as students of language literature or communication. They also have much to offer students of politics and culture.