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Aleksandra Bizjak Končar Evaluation and Argumentation in Slovenian Sermonic
Research Centre of the Slovene Academy Discourse: A Systemic Functional Analysis
of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia
aleksandra.bizjak-koncar@zrc-sazu.si
This presentation examines evaluation and argumentation in contemporary
© 2026 Aleksandra Bizjak Končar Slovenian sermons, drawing on systemic functional linguistics and discourse
analysis. It begins by outlining key concepts from the systemic functional model
of evaluation (Martin & White, 2005), which offers a framework for describing
evaluative resources in texts, particularly in the domains of emotion, ethics and
aesthetics.
Although evaluative resources can, through abstraction and categorisation, be
organised into three basic domains, they do not function as discrete or isolated
elements in discourse. Rather, they are patterned and configured in specific ways
and are closely aligned with the rhetorical effects of the text. From this perspec-
tive, the rhetorical work of evaluation is especially salient in argumentative texts,
including sermons. The second part of the presentation therefore illustrates the
descriptive potential of the model through an analysis of a corpus of contempo-
rary Slovenian sermons.
The dataset comprises 50 Catholic sermons broadcast during Sunday church ser-
vicesonSloveniannationaltelevision.Usingamixed-methodapproachthatcom-
bines corpus-based grammatical analysis with qualitative annotation of evalua-
tivelexis,thestudyexamines thecoupling ofattitudinalmeanings withdominant
ideational entities. More specifically, the analysis focuses on identifying recurring
evaluative patterns which, through their combined effect, construct a positive
representation of Jesus Christ. By contrast, other biblical and contemporary fig-
ures are evaluated either positively or negatively, depending on their alignment
with the ideals of obedience, righteousness, love, and faith required by God. Fi-
nally, the sermon is conceptualised as a configuration of positive and negative
frames, which is interpreted in light of inductive reasoning, as defined by Aristo-
tle (2004) in the second book of the Rhetoric, and related to the preacher’s Chris-
tian worldview and the broader ideological framework within which sermons are
situated.

Aristotle. (2004). Rhetoric (W. Rhys Roberts, Trans.). Dover Publications.
Martin,J.R.,& White,P.R. R.(2005). Thelanguageofevaluation:AppraisalinEnglish.
Palgrave Macmillan.

Meaning-Making, Multiliteracies
and Multimodality
Abstracts of the International
Symposium
Koper, 19–20 March 2026

https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-565-8.4 7