BİR KADIN HATİP: DEĞERLENDİRME KURAMI-SOJOURNER TRUTH’UN “BEN KADIN DEĞİL MİYİM?” KONUŞMASI

This paper uses Appraisal Theory (AT hereafter) (Martin & White, 2005) as a framework and aims to analyze how discourse, managing the dialogic space, accounts for the interpersonal dimensions of language in Sojourner Truth’s famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman.” Two versions of the speech are used as data to analyze the role of discourse in creating communities and using language effectively. Scholarly interest in African American literature (Siebler, 2010; Campbell 1986), Feminist studies (Collins, 1989; bell hooks, 1999), African American Rhetoric (Gilyard, 2018; Atwater, 2009; Royster, 2000) highlights the importance of her speech in women’s rights, as a voice of African American women, and for social equality. However, her speech has not been subjected to discourse analysis, in which we create new opportunities for new knowledge. Utilizing AT, this study aims seek answer to the following questions such as How does language function, influence and reflect ideas/beliefs in interpersonal communication in Truth`s speech? How can we identify and categorize the attitudinal language used in a text or speech? How does the selected text interact with a wider audience and beyond the occupied space of the text? The study demonstrates that Appraisal theory, as a critical framework, provides a critical lens to fill this space and contributes to the evaluation of interpersonal meaning-making in semantic discourse domain.