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[摘要]By using Appraisal Theory，this paper analyzes discrimination exposed in Black Elvis: Discrimination on the Chinese， the black and the senior.

[關鍵詞]Appraisal Theory;Transitivity Processes;Discrimination

Geoffrey Becker is the author of Dangerous Men， a collection of short stories (University of Pittsburgh Press， 1995)， which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize， and Bluestown， a novel (St. Martin’ s Press， 1996). His story， “Black Elvis，” which tells of a black Elvis imprisonator discovers the real power of the legend he had made his life， was first published in Ploughshares:the literary journal at Emersoncollege，then selected by E.L. Doctorow for The Best American Short Stories， 2000.

The Appraisal Theory

The Appraisal System is composed of attitude， engagement and graduation. Attitude comprises affect， judgment and appreciation. Engagement covers monogloss and heterogloss. Graduation involves force and focus.(Martin Rose， 2007:54).

In Systematic Functional Linguistics， process belongs to Transitivity and can be subdivided into : Material process， mental process， relational process， behavioral process， verbal process and existential process ( Hu Zhuanglin， Zhu Yongsheng:75).

Discrimination embodied in the story Black Elvis

While discrimination against the colored and aged permeates into the whole story， this paper principally discusses discrimination on the Chinese， the Black and the senior.

1.Discrimination on the Chinese.

Even the widely-discriminated black people look down upon Chinese as can be seen in the following examples:

(1) Black Elvis just stared. The man was Chinese.

(2 )That just didn’ t seem likely with a Chinese man， even one that came from Memphis.

Example 1.1 contains two sentences， one is mental process and the other is relational process.The latter sentence signifies evaluation by token， Chinese is a neutral word.Combined with medium value judgment verb “stare” ， the two sentences express surprise of Black Elvis that a Chinese actually know black music and dare to play it on the stage. In 1.2， engagement verb “seem” is an entertain verb in engagement subcategory which exhibits that Black Elvis’s voice is one of the manytherefore entertains the dialogue.

2.Discrimination on the Black.

While describing discrimination on the black， relational process， mental process and physical process are applied. Let’ s look at the sentences below:

(1)His hair was cornrowed， and one eye peered unnaturally to the side.

(2)He was about the same size as Black Elvis， and he smelled strongly of underarm.

The first two sentences is the description of the two boys Black Elvis met at the bus stop. The story didn’ t tell bluntly that the two boys are black instead the narrator utilizes the appreciation adjective “cornrowed” which is typically seen on minorities to reach his destination. The judgment adjectives “unnaturally” and “strongly” depicts timidity in personality and lousiness of the boys， which implies that the black depicted in this story are from low social classes， they live in terrible situation and has no mood for personal cleanliness. Low classes are surely discriminated by middle or upper classes.

3.Discrimination on the senior.

Sentences below reveals what Black Elvis see and feel

(1)“Oh， you know， same old， same old. You got me?”

(2) He had seen it happen to other people his age， the shadows who walked around his neighborhood， vacant-eyed， waiting to die.

By repetition of judgment adjectives “same old”， the author portrays deep worry and exclamation of Black Elvis. By using judgment words:“shadows”，“vacant-eyed”and appreciation words:“all the way up”“only once”， the narrator depicts the sad lonely sad life of the aged.

Conclusion

Using Appraisal Theory and Transitivity Processes of Systematic Functional Linguistics， this paper analyzes discrimination exposed in the short story Black Elvis: Discrimination on the Chinese， the black and the senior.

參考文獻:

[1] Martin，J.R. David Rose. Working with Discourse: Meaning Beyond the Clause[M]. Continuum， Peking University Press， 2003.

[2] 胡壯麟，朱永生等. 系統功能語言學概論[M]. 北京: 北京大學出版社.2005.

作者單位:復旦大學外文學院