Judgement (2)

Anna Bączkowska, University of Gdansk, Poland
anna.baczkowska@ug.edu.pl

The term ‘judgement’ has been well-defined in linguistics by the so-called Appraisal Theory, which rests on the theoretical foundations of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The Appraisal Theory is often used in various disciplines; apart from linguistics, it is also popular among scholars representing media studies, social and political sciences, or working on the intersection thereof. In line with the Appraisal Theory, judgement is the act of evaluating a subject with regard to their moral behaviour, i.e., in terms of ethics. Judgement can be positive (admiration) or negative (criticism), and it can assess social esteem and social sanction. Social esteem deals with normality of behaviour (e.g., standard, avant-garde; eccentric, unfashionable); capacity, i.e., a person’s skills and competencies (e.g., strong, clever; stupid, clumsy); and tenacity, i.e., it signals whether a person is dependable and/or well-disposed (e.g., brave, reliable; lazy, cowardly, unreliable). Social sanction encompasses a person’s truthfulness and honesty (veracity) and a person’s, ethical behaviour (propriety). Examples of veracity comprise honest, frank, and credible for positive assessments; and deceitful, dishonest, and fake for negative assessments. On the other hand, propriety involves the following examples: moral, just, considerate, etc. for the positive assessment; and cruel, brutal, corrupt, etc. for the negative assessment. Judgement is one of three subcategories of Attitude, which, along with judgement also distinguishes affect (emotional responses) and appreciation (the aesthetics). Attitude in turn is one of the three sub-types of Appraisal. Judgement is a crucial device in expressing opinions, and due to its strong focus on ethical behaviour evaluation, it is vital in the analysis of political discourse.

Keywords: appraisal theory, social esteem, veracity

Related Entries: Attitude, Judgement (1)

References:
Bednarek, M. (2006). Evaluation in media discourse: Analysis of a newspaper corpus. Continuum.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar. Edward Arnold.
Martin, J. R. (2000). Beyond exchange: Appraisal systems in English. In S. Hunston & G. Thompson (Eds). Evaluation in text. Authorial stance and the construction of discourse (pp. 142–75). Oxford University Press.
Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan.