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Article published In:
Language, Context and Text
Vol. 5:1 (2023) ► pp.161–192

Graduating points of view in Spanish written language

The role of modality

ORCID logo | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile , Chile

This paper focuses on some language resources for graduating points of view in written Spanish language in the field of history. The analysis is framed in systemic functional linguistic theory, a multifunctional theory of language (Halliday with Matthiessen 2014), and focuses on the appraisal system, which organises interpersonal meanings at the stratum of discourse semantics in language (Martin and White 2005; Martin 2019; White 2021). In particular, it considers the coupling and necessary complementarity of graduation and engagement subsystems, as part of the appraisal system, for building intersubjectivity in texts. To achieve this purpose, the analysis explores the role of the Spanish lexicogrammatical system of modality (modalisation and modulation) in the construction of dialogicity in historical documents.

Keywords: appraisal , engagement , graduation , Spanish modality , dialogicity, discourse of history
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical and methodological framework
    • 2.1The graduation system
    • 2.2The engagement system
    • 2.3Graduation “meets” engagement: The role of mood and modality
  • 3.Analysis: Graduating points of view in a Spanish written historical document
    • 3.1Analysis of the establishment of the mission and role of the Commission
    • 3.2Principles that guided the task of the Commission: Plurality and diversity
    • 3.3Historical contextualisation: Suffering of indigenous peoples
    • 3.4Historical contextualisation: Relationship between the Chilean State and the indigenous peoples
    • 3.5Difficulties encountered by the Commission in fulfilling its duty
    • 3.6Current principles of a democratic society
    • 3.7Establishing the meaning of the “New Treatment”: The Commission proposal
  • 4.Final remarks
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 26 May 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.00045.ote
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