Discourse Analysis of COP28 News Reports from the Perspective of Attitude in Appraisal Theory

Abstract

Conference of the Parties is the world’s largest and most important annual climate-related conference. Taking the attitude system of Martin’s Appraisal Theory as the theoretical framework, this study collects news reports on the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties from China Daily as the corpus. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of the corpus, this study explores the distribution pattern and realization of attitudinal resources in these news reports, aiming to reveal the attitude and stance of China Daily towards COP28. According to the study, attitudinal resources consist mostly of appreciation resources, which comprise over half of the total. Affect and judgement resources follow, with a greater proportion of positive than negative resources. Additionally, China Daily frequently adopts a positive viewpoint regarding COP28 through the use of attitudinal materials. This research aids in the efficient comprehension and expression of attitudes and positions in discourses.