ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the Engagement system of Appraisal with a focus on interpreters’ interpersonal positioning in relation to ideological factors. While Chapter 6 investigates evaluation ‘proper’ in the discourse, Chapter 7 pertains more to evaluation ‘supra’, that is, the extent to which speakers and interpreters invest discursively in the propositions or arguments and the ways in which they invite the audience to align or dis-align with the discourse positions. This chapter integrates Positioning theory in social psychology in tandem with the Engagement system to examine the interpreter-introduced ideological shifts and interpreters’ discursive positioning, which constitutes another useful integration of an upper-level theory with the Appraisal system. The analysis revealed that the local linguistic shifts of Engagement could cumulatively reshape the entire ideological orientation, thus introducing ideological shifts and reconstructing the speakers’ discourse. As a result, interpreters not only position themselves discursively as ‘in-groups’ on one side, but also de facto re-position the speakers, thus serving as a key variant node of discursive positionings in a dynamic, agentive communicative network.
