Evaluation markers

In this part, we move to the Level 2 boundary markers indicating evaluations.

Only eight evaluative comments were identified; they may be a single phrase tightly

connected to follows-ups or form a separable unit itself. The specific markers

signaling the section are shown in Table 9.

Table 9 Boundary markers of evaluation (Level 2 boundary markers)

Boundary markers N %

Table 9 above shows that the amount of markers of this section ranges from zero to

three. Up to 62% of evaluations are at least marked by modified NP. The unmarked

evaluations only comprise 38% of the total evaluations. In fact, the amount of markers

is related to the size of the evaluative comments. For one thing, if the evaluations can

be distinctly separated from the follow-ups, they are at least marked by one marker; if

they are tightly connected to follow-ups, no boundary markers are found.

The markers of triple marking consists of a referential form, a temporal and a shot

shift, such as sizhe liangge libaiqian 死者兩個禮拜前 ‘Two weeks ago, the dead’

+ temporal + shot shift

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a

tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

and jiehun liunian de fuqi lianren 結婚六年的夫妻兩人原本 ‘the couple, married for

six years used to.’ Regarding the types of markers in double and single markings, we

only found modified NPs, including lixing nanzi liyianchuan tuoxu xingwei 李姓男子

一連串脫序行為 ‘a succession of Mr. Li’s crazy behaviors,’ yilianchuan kongbu

ciaohe 一連串恐怖巧合 ‘a succession of horrible coincidences,’ and ta de

jianyiyongwei 他的見義勇為 ‘his courageous deed.’ The evaluative comments

marked by no markers include: zhi liugei jiaren yongwuzhijin de zhuixincigu zhi tong

只留給家人永無止盡的椎心刺骨之痛 ‘leaving only endless pain to his family

members,’ shi buxingzhong de daxing 是不幸中的大幸 ‘fortunately,’ and weile

babaiwan tongxia shasou jingfang ye dagan yiwai 為了八百萬痛下殺手 ‘they killed

the man for only 8 million dollars.’

Concerning the evaluative comments marked by modified NPs, we found they all

referred back to previously mentioned participants or actions. The participants are

reintroduced to the discourse to bring out a previous episode; at the same time, the

temporal signal of the time frame is also traced back to the previous one. The

presentation of the past events serves as a contrast to the main news events. Here is

one example.

‧

Reporter: The couple, married for six years, once led a happy life. However, they are unable to solve the entanglements of love, leaving the relatives of the couple very sad.

(#6, CTV) The evaluation begins with a modified NP jiehun liunian de fuqi lianren 結婚六年的

夫妻兩人 ‘the couple, married for six years,’ which refers back to the two

participants. In addition to the referential form, the temporal yuanben 原本 ‘once’

brings the audience back to the time when the couple was happy.

Besides, the modified NP also refers back to the action. Generally speaking, the

action is the subject matter to be commented on. Here is an example.

(20)

40. Reporter: ..警局特別表揚這位,_

41. ..未來警界的優秀人才.\

42. ..他的見義勇為他的見義勇為他的見義勇為他的見義勇為也讓加油站老闆和受傷員工,_

43. ..心中無限感激.\

Reporter: The police officers praised the outstanding police college student. His brave behavior is also appreciated by the employer and the injured employee of the robbed gas station.

(#12, CTS) Example (19) is concerned with a police college student who caught a robber at a gas

station. IUs 40-41 belong to follow-ups, concerning the police college student having

been praised by the officers at the police station. The evaluation is initiated by the full Evaluation

Follow-ups

Evaluation Level 2 marker

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a

tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

staff of the robbed gas station. By reporting the staff’s appreciation of the student’s

brave deed, the journalist also made a comment concerning the whole news event.

Here is an example in which the evaluation is connected to the result so closely

that no explicit boundary marker can be found.

(21)

45. Reporter: ..兩人在墜落山谷後,_

46. ..意識還是很清醒,_

47. ..只有臉部受到擦傷,_

48. ..是不幸中的大幸是不幸中的大幸是不幸中的大幸是不幸中的大幸.\

Reporter: After the two people fell down into the valley, they were still conscious.

Fortunately, only their faces were hurt.

(#11 Era News) In the example, the news ends in an evaluative comment on the result of the car

accident shi buxing zhong de dashing 是不幸中的大幸 ‘fortunately.’ Apparently, no

explicit linguistic marker is used to signal the evaluative comment.