IDEOLOGICAL STANCES IN AHMAD AL-SHARAA’S SPEECHES: ATTITUDE AND GRADUATION APPROACH

Oleh :
Abdulmajid Fallaha - B0322083 - Fak. Ilmu Budaya

This study investigates the utilization of the Attitude and Graduation frameworks of Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin & White (2005) in realizing the ideological stances and how these positions are scaled in three key speeches delivered by the Interim President of Syria, Ahmad Al-Sharaa. It also examines how these resources develop ideological stances of the president along the stages of speeches. Previous research applying Appraisal to analyze ideological orientations, has largely overlooked genre-based analyses of speech stages, and has paid limited attention to the role of the Graduation subsystem in scaling evaluation. The ideological stances that are of concern here are four stances, especially: nationalism, religiousness, liberalism, and communitarianism. This research was conducted using a qualitative descriptive paradigm with an embedded single case study design. The data was collected from a primary source, using documents as its data source, consisting of three speeches delivered by Ahmad Al-Sharaa. This study shows that most subcategories of Attitude and Graduation actively realize and construct Al-Sharaa's core ideological stances. Nationalism emerges as the most dominant and sustained ideology across all three speeches, heavily amplified by Graduation, particularly Force resources to emphasize absolute state sovereignty, self-reliance, and territorial unity. The religious stance is highly prominent in the initial speech to establish moral legitimacy and frame victory as a divine blessing, but it gradually recedes into a subtle cultural anchor in the later addresses. Conversely, liberalism is entirely absent in the first speech but experiences a dramatic surge in the second and third speeches as it marks Al-Sharaa's transition toward formal governance, constitutional legality, and the rule of law. Additionally, communitarianism maintains a significant, active presence throughout the texts, acting as a vital bridge to unite the populace through shared trauma, resilience, and collective responsibility.