THE INTERACTION OF NEWSPAPER COMMENTARIES ON “THE PANAMA FILE” WITH POTENTIAL READERS: AN APPRAISAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The popularity of Appraisal Theory in discourse interpersonal meaning analysis has been increasing, especially in journalism discourses. Engagement is chosen as a tool to investigate the authors’ stance and interaction with the potential readers of 30 commentaries on “The Panama file”. The findings reveal that Heterogloss is used much more than Monogloss and that Expansion is more popular than Contraction. This result has proved a high level of communication between the writers and their imaginary readers. Moreover, the commentators have implicitly either made the readers follow their attitude by Contraction or given the readers chances to choose their own evaluation on the information by Expansion.