A Methodological Framework of Stance-Taking and Appraisal in the Parliament

The chapter proposes a methodological framework to study stance/appraisal in parliamentary discourse. Little previous research exists on the marking of stance/appraisal, despite its pervasiveness in such contexts. The researcher is currently unaware of any framework that has been developed to help analysts situate the phenomenon of stance-taking in parliamentary discourse. The first section defines the concept of parliament and discusses its roles as a political institution. The second section highlights specific features relevant to the nature of interaction in parliaments by considering the sequential nature of its discourse, shedding light on how stance is uttered and embedded in both parliamentary questions and parliamentary answers. The final section presents a proposed methodological framework combining Van Dijk's conceptual approach on parliamentary context, Du Bois's stance triangle, Ilie's account on political arguments, and Martin and White's Appraisal Framework to contextually and theoretically frame stance-taking in parliamentary discourse.