Emotion and evaluation are the subjects of increasing interest in applied linguistics. Ideology also provokes new investigations. However, studies of valuation and ideologies go back to the very beginning of linguistics as an independent science. Bally (1913) developed an evaluative theory about the omnipresence of emotion in living forms of language, and Voloshinov (1929) developed the notion of dialogism and tried to reconcile it with the Marxist theory of ideologies. In the years that followed, these lines of inquiry were pushed aside in favor of more formalistic approaches to language.
Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005) has provided a functional and systematic theoretical framework. Correlatively, Critical Discourse Analysis (Van Dijk, 2008) allows a sociocognitive approach to group ideologies.
Although valuation and ideologies are interrelated linguistic phenomena, AT and CDA do not explain the origin of social values, nor do they explain the sociocognitive processes that regulate ideologies. The Theory of Communicative Action itself (Jürgen Habermas, 1981), the ultimate foundation of the CDA, is accused of starting from an ideological approach, just like other approaches to social values from the field of pragmatics. In this aspect, the investigations seem to have entered a dead end.
In our analysis of the linguistic evaluation systems in the work of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Ramírez, 2022), we have applied a methodological interface that links AT with the contextual models of CDA. The Method Based on Constituents (MBC) starts from the rudiments of universal grammar, analyses several linguistic levels, and has allowed the reconstruction of contextual models and, especially, of social values, leading to the study of the relationship between social values and ideologies. At all times, we have maintained the perspective of systemic and functional grammar, but towards a pragmatic, comprehensive, and even holistic view of language.
However, the analysis indicates the existence of more spheres of value than those postulated by TA, and contrary to what is postulated by the CDA, some social values seem to transcend the framework of group ideologies and even stimulate inter-ideological dialogue.
The paper briefly presents new results of our research and finally proposes a new hypothesis about the origin of social values and their socio-cognitive relationships with ideologies.
Bally, Charles ([1913] 1965). Le langage et la vie. Génève: Librairie Droz.
Habermas, Jürgen (1987). Teoría de la acción comunicativa I y II. Madrid: Taurus.
Martin, James Robert y Peter Rupert Rupert White ([2005] 2008). The Language of Evaluation. Appraisal in English. Nueva York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ramírez, José M. (2022). Los sistemas de valoración lingüística en la obra de Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Un estudio del diálogo y los valores sociales en torno a la ciencia. Ciempozuelos, Madrid: ACVF – La Vieja Factoría.
Van Dijk, Teun A. ([2008] 2017). Discurso y contexto. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Voloshinov, Valentin Nikólaievich ([1929] 1992). El marxismo y la filosofía del lenguaje. Madrid: Alianza.
