Abstract
Based on the engagement system in Appraisal Theory and taking 100 Chinese criminal judgments as data, this paper analyzes the distribution features and interpersonal functions of engagement resources in Chinese criminal judgments. The findings are as follows. First, in Chinese criminal judgments, dialogic contractive resources outnumber dialogic expansive ones. Of the nine types of engagement resources, Deny takes the largest proportion. Entertain, Acknowledge, Pronounce, and Endorse are also favored by judges, while Counter, Endorse+Pronounce, Concede, Endorse+Acknowledge, and Distance are much less favored. Second, the dialogic space is adjusted in different parts of judgments due to different engagement strategies, narrowing down in the Head, Fact, and Reason parts, then nearly closing up in the Result part, and finally opening up in the Ending part. Third, Deny, Pronounce, Endorse+Pronounce, Endorse, and Distance are used to show that criminal judgments are just, authoritative, persuasive, and compulsory. By acknowledging the arguments and submissions that have been presented, judges are showing respect for the litigation rights of the various parties, while the featured strategies of Counter, Concede, and Entertain increase the acceptability of the judgments.
References
Bhatia, V. K. 1993. Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Du, J. B. 2003. âOn the research and development of Legal Linguisticsâ. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies 14(1). 14â17.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. 1994. An introduction to functional grammar (2nd edition). London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
He, J. Q. and H. Q. He. 2016. âPragmatic interpretation of criminal judgmentsâ. Journal of Chongqing Jiaotong University 16(1). 112â116+133.Search in Google Scholar
Hood, S. 2010. Appraising research: Evaluation in academic writing. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230274662Search in Google Scholar
Huang, P. 2010. âInterpersonal meaning of hedges in legal texts â A case study of Chinese judgmentsâ. Academic Exchange 2. 159â161.Search in Google Scholar
Hyland, K. 2005. âStance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourseâ. Discourse Studies 7(2). 173â192.10.1177/1461445605050365Search in Google Scholar
Iedema, R., S. Feez and P. R. R. White. 1994. Media literacy. Sydney: Disadvantaged Schools Program, NSW Department of School Education. Extract available at: https://www.grammatics.com/appraisal/media/medialit-comment.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Jiang, T. and X. Yang. 2018. âA comparative study of authorship construction in English and Chinese academic papers on law: An engagement perspectiveâ. Journal of Xiâan International Studies University 26(4). 8â13.Search in Google Scholar
Kurzon, D. 2001. âThe politeness of judges: American and English judicial behaviourâ. Journal of Pragmatics 33(1). 61â85.10.1016/S0378-2166(99)00123-XSearch in Google Scholar
Li, D. 2011. âIntertextuality of civil judgmentsâ. Journal of Language and Literature Studies 21. 73â74.Search in Google Scholar
Li, S. F. 2008. âA study of interpersonal meaning in Chinese criminal judicial judgementsâ. Foreign Language Research 2. 60â64.Search in Google Scholar
Maley, Y. 1994. The language of the law. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. 2004. âMourning â how we get alignedâ. Discourse and Society 15(2/3). 321â344.10.1177/0957926504041022Search in Google Scholar
Martin. J. R. and D. Rose. 2003. Working with discourse: Meaning beyond the clause. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. and P. R. R. White. 2005. The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230511910Search in Google Scholar
Mazzi, D. 2010. âÊ»This argument fails for two reasonsâŠâ: A linguistic analysis of judicial evaluation strategies in US Supreme Court judgmentsâ. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 23(4). 373â385.10.1007/s11196-010-9162-0Search in Google Scholar
Miller, D. R. 2004. ââŠTo meet our common challengeâ: Engagement strategies of alignment and alienation in current US international discourse. In Gotti, M. and C. Candlin (eds.), Intercultural discourse in domain-specific English. Textus: Sense Publisher.Search in Google Scholar
Nie, Y. J. 2013. âThe study of civil judgments under appraisal system: Based on the engagement as a dialogueâ. Journal of Xidian University 4. 91â96.Search in Google Scholar
Pan, H. T. 2008. âOn the principles of English translation of legal terms in Chinese criminal judgmentsâ. Journal of Petroleum Educational Institute of Xinjiang 1. 98â101.Search in Google Scholar
Pan, Q. Y. 2002. Comments on legal documents. Shanghai: Shanghai Peopleâs Press.Search in Google Scholar
Shi, G. 2020. âSpeech reporting in Chinese criminal judgementsâ. Chinese Semiotic Studies 16(2). 277â296.10.1515/css-2020-0016Search in Google Scholar
Sun, Y. X. 2010. âAn appraisal analysis of engagement resources of narrative public service advertisementâ. Journal of Sichuan University of Science and Engineering 25(1). 129â133.Search in Google Scholar
Swain, E. 2007. Constructing an effective âvoiceâ in academic discussion writing: An appraisal theory perspectiveâ. In McCabe, A., M. OâDonnell and R. Whittaker (eds.), Advances in language and education. London: Continuum. 166â184.Search in Google Scholar
Thompson, G. 1996. Introducing functional grammar. London: Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Thompson, G. and Y. Ye. 1991. âEvaluation in the reporting verbs used in academic papersâ. Applied Linguistics 12(4). 365â382.10.1093/applin/12.4.365Search in Google Scholar
Wang, J. 2010. A contrastive analysis of Chinese and American court judgments: From the perspective of discourse semantics. (MA Thesis, Shandong Normal University.)Search in Google Scholar
Wang, Z. H. 2012. Collection of Martinâs works.Shanghai: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.Search in Google Scholar
White, P. R. R. 1998. Telling media tales: The news story as rhetoric. (PhD dissertation, University of Sydney.)Search in Google Scholar
White, P. R. R. 2005. Subjectivity, evaluation and point of view in media discourse. In: Coffin, C. and K. OâHalloran (eds.), Grammar, text and context: A reader. London/New York: Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Xin, B. 2000. Intertextuality from a critical perspective. Suzhou: Suzhou University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Yuan, C. Y. 2008. âInterpersonal meanings in police interrogations: An appraisal-engagement perspectiveâ. Modern Foreign Languages 2. 141â149.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, D. Q. 2014. âEvaluation and voice of academic papers: An engagement perspectiveâ. Journal of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics 2. 97â103.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, F. L. and L. P. Zhang. 2014. âOn the translation of criminal judgments from the perspective of pragmatic enrichmentâ. Chinese Translators Journal 35(3). 93â97.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, Q. 2019. âComparative study on ancient judgments and modern criminal judgments in Chinaâ. Journal of Comparative Law 3. 131â141.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, Q. and M. Y. Gong. 2013. âA comparative study of modality in American and Chinese criminal judgementsâ. Journal of Shanxi University 1. 82â87.Search in Google Scholar
Zhu, D. H. 2011. âA corpus-based study of evaluative language patterns on argumentations by Chinese English major students from attitude and engagement perspectivesâ. Journal of Beijing International Studies University 190(2). 67â74.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, PoznaĆ, Poland
Articles in the same Issue
- Table of contents
- A dependent case approach to complex event nominals in standard Arabic
- Word-formation and reduplication in standard Arabic: A new distributed morphology approach
- Predicting foreign language skills based on first languages: The role of lexical distance and relative morphological complexity
- Formulaic language in oral academic discourse socialization of graduate students in a Northern Cyprus university
- âLeftover womenâ: A sociolinguistic study of gender bias in Chinese
- The syntax of plurals of collective and mass nouns: Views from Jordanian Arabic
- Attitudes of Nigerian expatriates towards accents of English
- Synthetic -BLE compounds VS. -BLE adjectives: Issues in the external and internal syntax
- English loan translations in Polish in the area of computers: Syntactic aspects
- Engagement in Chinese criminal judgments
Articles in the same Issue
- Table of contents
- A dependent case approach to complex event nominals in standard Arabic
- Word-formation and reduplication in standard Arabic: A new distributed morphology approach
- Predicting foreign language skills based on first languages: The role of lexical distance and relative morphological complexity
- Formulaic language in oral academic discourse socialization of graduate students in a Northern Cyprus university
- âLeftover womenâ: A sociolinguistic study of gender bias in Chinese
- The syntax of plurals of collective and mass nouns: Views from Jordanian Arabic
- Attitudes of Nigerian expatriates towards accents of English
- Synthetic -BLE compounds VS. -BLE adjectives: Issues in the external and internal syntax
- English loan translations in Polish in the area of computers: Syntactic aspects
- Engagement in Chinese criminal judgments