EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE IN POLITICAL INTERVIEWS WITH PAKISTANI POLITICIANS: AN SFL-BASED APPRAISAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study investigates the evaluative language employed by key Pakistani politicians in their political interviews. Six interviews, two each of Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Shahbaz Sharif were selected for analysis. Following Martin and White’s appraisal framework (2005), the percentage of frequencies of different appraisal resources was calculated through the UAM corpus tool. The findings revealed that all types of major appraisal resources like attitude, engagement, and graduation were used in their interviews, along with their subcategories like affect, judgment, appreciation, monoglossia, heteroglossia, force, and focus, etc. Imran Khan employed more negative attitudinal resources than others. He evaluated his opponents negatively and held them responsible for the downfall of Pakistan. Bilawal Bhutto was found in using more appreciation resources and appraised the coalition government for lifting Pakistan from the crisis. Shahbaz Sharif employed the attitudinal subtype “affect” in greater numbers to promote his ideology of bringing Pakistan back on track economically. On the contrary, Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto employed monoglossia in their interviews. It was also observed that Shahbaz Sharif employed graduation’s subtype “force” mostly in both of his interviews at the time of his premiership. The study concluded that politicians use evaluative language as a powerful tool in their political interviews and speeches for positioning themselves positively, criticising, and discrediting opponents in political discourse. By employing evaluative language, they influence public opinion and promote their political agendas.