An Analysis of Attitude Resources of New York Times News 
Reports about TikTok from the Perspective of Appraisal 
Theory

Chaoqun Yin

doi:10.70711/rcha.v3i5.7392

An Analysis of Attitude Resources of New York Times News Reports about TikTok from the Perspective of Appraisal Theory

Chaoqun Yin

Abstract

Appraisal Theory, developed within systemic functional linguistics by Martin and others, comprises three subsystems - Attitude
(the core component reflecting speakers emotions and evaluations), Engagement, and Graduation. Since its inception, scholars have extensively explored this framework through both theoretical refinements and practical applications across various discourse types including news,
speeches, and advertisements. While news discourse has been analyzed through this lens, TikTok-related news remains understudied. This
study examines 13 TikTok-focused reports from The New York Times (September 2024-January 2025) using Appraisal Theory and UAM
Corpus Tool for manual annotation. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of affect, judgment, and appreciation resources, it investigates: (1) attitudinal positioning in NYTs TikTok coverage, (2) the constructed image of TikTok, and (3) how evaluative language shapes this
representation.

Keywords

Appraisal Theory; Attitude System; TikTok; News Report

Full Text:

PDF

Included Database

References

[1] Ann Engelbrecht. 2020. An Appraisal Theory approach to news reports on Rhino Poaching in South Africa[J]. Language Matters, (51):

86-112.

[2] Breit B W. 2013. The wine tasting sheet as a linguistic genre an its appraisal theory based analysis[J]. Revista espaola de lingstica

aplicada, (1): 71-90.

[3] Coffin C. 2002. The voices of history: Theorizing the interpersonal semantics of historical discourses[J]. Text & Talk, 22(4): 503-528.

[4] Eggins, S & D. 1997. Analyzing Casual Conversation[M]. London & Washington: Cassell.

[5] Fairclough, N. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language[M]. New York: Longman Publish.

[6] Fairclough, Norman. 2001. Language and Power[M]. London: Longman.

[7] Fowler, R. 1991. Language in the news: Discourse & ideology in the press[D]. London: Routledge.

[8] Francis John Troyan. 2021. "Alors, on va faire une activity?": An SFL perspective on student engagement in contextualized world language instruction[J]. System, (98): 1-13.

[9] Hinds. 1983. Contrastive rhetoric: Japanese and English. Text-Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse[J]. 3(2), 183-196.

[10] Hodge, R. & G. Kress. 1993. Social semiotics. Cambridge: Cornell University.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/rcha.v3i5.7392

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.