A Study on Engagement Resources in Concession Addresses

Qi Li

(School of Foreign Languages, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China)

Abstract: Drawing on the system of Engagement within the Appraisal Theory, the author carries out an analysis of engagement resources which are used for aligning putative addressee in concession addresses by U.S. presidential candidates. The results show that U.S. presidential candidates tend to close down dialogic space to make their authorial voices more warrantable with Dialogic Contraction resources (60.09%) are almost 1.5 times as many as Dialogic Expansion resources.

Key words: engagement, expansion, contraction, concession address