«An important issue’: a corpus-based contrastive study of evaluation along the parameter of relevance in English and Spanish newspaper opinion discourse

María Pérez Blanco

Autores/as

María Pérez Blanco Universidad Complutense de Madrid http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2707-4347

Resumen

Abstract

This paper approaches the expression of the evaluative parameter of relevance in English and Spanish journalistic opinion discourse. The case-study presented here analyzes adjectives of importance as lexical markers contributing to the construction of writer stance in a persuasive genre. The main aim of the study is to engage in a cross-linguistic analysis which identifies and compares the evaluated entities (Thetela, 1997) in English and Spanish opinion texts. Authorial evaluation along the parameter of relevance may be considered to surpass the idiosyncratic features of individual texts and reflect the underlying value system of the society that has produced those texts (Thompson & Hunston, 2000: 6). Corpus linguistics provides the methodological framework for a contrastive analysis focused on the primary function of evaluation, the expression of the writer’s views, in this case, against a scale of importance.

Keywords: evaluation; relevance; newspaper opinion discourse; English-Spanish

Resumen

Este artículo aborda la expresión lingüística de la relevancia como dimensión evaluativa en textos periodísticos de opinión en inglés y español a través del análisis de los adjetivos de importancia más frecuentes en los mismos y las entidades evaluadas (Thetela, 1997) en una y otra lengua. La presencia de estos elementos léxicos contribuye a determinar el carácter persuasivo del género, al tiempo que deja entrever el sistema de valores de las sociedades que han producido dichos textos (Thompson & Hunston, 2000: 6). La lingüística de corpus proporciona el marco metodológico de este estudio contrastivo de la expresión del posicionamiento del autor, en concreto, de su evaluación de la importancia de entidades o proposiciones.

Palabras clave: evaluación; relevancia; discurso periodístico de opinión; Inglés-Español

Citas

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