A case study: an appraisal analysis of president joe Biden’s speech on sustainable development goal 13 ‘climate change’ on the aftermath of hurricane Ida

Salma Mohammad Adel Elmagairy, Nashwa Elyamany, Nashwa Elyamany, Riham Abdel Maksoud Debian, Riham Abdel Maksoud Debian, Abeer M. Refky M. Seddeek, Abeer M. Refky M. Seddeek

Abstract


This case study examines the appraisal resources of Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Change in the presidential speech of the American President Joe Biden on the Aftermath of Hurricane Ida after his tour of the storm damage in New Jersey and New York adopting an appraisal analysis method. Following Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Model with special focus on the three systems of attitude, engagement, and graduation, this qualitative study aims to reveal how Joe Biden engages with the American audience in his climate change speech in alignment with the United Nations (UN) agenda for sustainable development. For the purpose, the transcript of President Joe Biden's speech on the aftermath of Hurricane Ida was obtained from The New York Times media source to identify the main Appraisal systems that dominate his speech on climate change and to reveal how Joe Biden's speech contributes to enhancing Sustainable Development Goals awareness as far as climate change is concerned. Key findings showcase that President Joe Biden relies heavily on the Attitudinal Resources (namely, Affect of insecurity and dissatisfaction) to convince the public that climate change is everybody’s crisis, oscillates between two Engagement choices (dialogic contraction and dialogic expansion) to sound objective, and incorporates the Graduation system under Force, employing lexicalization and repetition to convince the public that the worst is imminent, bold actions should be taken, and public co-operation is urged. The study offers several implications for future research works including expanding the analysis to different speech types and comparing Biden's language use on climate change with other political figures to identify communication style variations.

Keywords: Appraisal, Attitude, Climate Change, Engagement, Graduation, Presidential Speeches, Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Received: 02 July 2024

Accepted: 05 October 2024

Published: 10 October 2024


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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21622/ILCC.2024.04.2.912

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Copyright (c) 2024 Salma Mohammad Adel Elmagairy, Nashwa Elyamany, Riham Abdel Maksoud Debian, Abeer M. Refky M. Seddeek

Insights into Language, Culture and Communication
E-ISSN: 2812-491X
P-ISSN: 2812-4901 

Published by:

Academy Publishing Center (APC)
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)
Alexandria, Egypt
ilcc@aast.edu