MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THREE METAFUNCTIONS IN INSPIRATION STORIES VIDEOS OF JAY SHETTY MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH Binh Dinh, 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THREE METAFUNCTIONS IN INSPIRATION STORIES VIDEOS OF JAY SHETTY Field: English Linguistics Code: 8 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN CÁC SIÊU CHỨC NĂNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ THỂ HIỆN TRONG CÁC VIDEO CỦA JAY SHETTY Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền I STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis with the title “An Investigation into Three Metafunctions in Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty” is entirely my own original work. In addition, I emphasize that this thesis has not been submitted for any purposes in any materials.
Any works of other authors consulted in this thesis are listed in the reference. Quy Nhon, 2020 NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is impossible for me to complete this thesis in time without the huge support and assistance of all individuals around me. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, who has devoted her time and effort to giving guidance and valuable comments for me in spite of her huge workload.
Without her patience, encouragement and immese knowledge, my master thesis could not have been done. Secondly, I am deeply grateful to all lecturers not only from Quy Nhon University (QNU) but also from other universities for their whole-hearted contribution to sharpening my academic knowledge during the previous semesters. Thirdly, I expect to express my warmest thanks to the cooperation and support of the Department of Postgraduate Training and the Department of Foreign Languages of QNU. Last but not least, my special thanks are given to my beloved family and my friends who has always given me their encouragements to motivate and assist me during the course and the period of doing this thesis.
Quy Nhon, 2020 III ABSTRACT This thesis is carried out with an aim to explore the three linguistic metafunctions of Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty based on Systemic Functional Grammar developed by Halliday. In details, the study deals with realizing the three metafunctions including experiential metafunction, interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction of the language in the videos. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to serve the process conducting this research. In this study, twenty-five Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty with various topics, each of which lasts no more than 5 minutes, are under investigation.
The findings from the study are related to the three metafunctions identified in the chosen videos of Jay Shetty. More specifically, in experiential metafunction, that relational process and material process are more dominant than other processes in the data proves that Jay’s video language is used to depict a picture of his outer world experience and to show the relationship of the entities in the stories. As for interpersonal metafunction, declarative mood is employed with the higher proportion than imperative and interrogative moods in the clauses in IVoJ, which means language of the video is used to give information rather than to ask the viewers for the action or the reply. Regarding textual metafunction, unmarked topical theme is the most frequently used theme type among the others.
Hopefully, the results of this study may contribute to confirming the findings in previous studies related to functional grammar and becoming a useful material for teachers and learners who are interested in studying English. IV TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. III TABLE OF CONTENT. IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
VI LIST OF TABLES. VII LIST OF FIGURES .VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aim and Objectives. Aim of the Study.
Objectives of the Study. Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study. Organization of the Study.
4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Systemic Functional Grammar. The application of SFG in Discourse Analysis. Data Collection and Description.
Reliability and Validity of the Study. 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Experiential metafunction in IVoJ. Interpersonal metafunction in IVoJ.
Mood system in IVoJ. Modality system in IVoJ. Textual metafunction in IVoJ. 61 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.
Limitations and suggestions for further researches. DATA: LIST OF 25 INSPIRATION STORIES VIDEOS OF JAY SHETTY. iii VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFG Systemic Functional Grammar IVoJ Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty VII LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page number number 2.1 Types of circumstances 11 2.2 System of types of modality 13 4.1 The frequency of modality in IVoJ 53 4.2 Occurrence of modal verbs in IVoJ 54 4.3 Occurrence of modal adjuncts in IVoJ 58 4.4 Occurrence of Unmarked and Marked Themes in 61 IVoJ 4.5 Occurrence of Interpersonal and Textual Themes 64 in IVoJ VIII LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page number number 4.1 Frequency of process types in IVoJ 23 4.2 Occurrence of Circumstances in IVoJ 41 4.3 Mood types in IVoJ 48 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Language is ultimately important because it is the primary means through which humans have the ability to communicate and interact with one another.
Halliday (1994) mentions that language is used to interact with people and hold the relations with them, also to express our opinion about what happens around us. So far, there have been a considerable number of studies on Systemic Functional Grammar made by Halliday (1994), Bloor and Bloor (1995), Martin & White (2005), etc., proving that it is one of the most important fields in many studies investigating into the nature of language. According to Halliday (1994), functional grammar is conceptual framework on which it is based. It is a functional one rather than a formal one.
Functional grammar is a purely natural grammar where everything can be explained with reference to how language is used. In addition, functional grammar is utilized to deal with both spoken and written language and focuses on the functions of language. That is the reason why it is different from traditional grammar, which concentrates on written language and solves rules of correct usage. In a variety of studies about discourse analysis from the perspective of functional grammar, there have been a large number of written data collected in both oral and written forms.
Spoken discourse is one of the most practical and common ways in which language is used, and it is employed to exchange information, answer questions, guide discussions or give directions. Besides, spoken discourse is always a source of significant data chosen in many different fields, so it becomes an interesting aspect concerned by many investigators. There have been a variety of studies using Functional Grammar on spoken language such as Shakila Nur (2015), Pham Thi Minh Phuong (2017), etc. Inspiration Videos, 2 created by motivational speaker Jay Shetty, with millions of views on Youtube, are oral discourses.
Because of the great influence of IVoJ on people’s awareness, they have been discussed in many shows and articles; at the same time Jay Shetty has appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Today Show. Inspiration Videos with various topics are an interesting source of data attracting the interests of many people. Many articles and papers are written about the popularization of IVoJ, for instance, The Success Elite (2018) or Sanchita Dash (2018). All in all, as can be seen from above, there have been materials about IVoJ, but a study on functional linguistic features of IVoJ seems to be untouched area.
For above reasons, I decided to carry out the detailed analysis: “An investigation into three metafunctions in Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty. Aim and Objectives 1. Aim of the Study The thesis is carried out with the aim of investigating Ideational, Interpersonal, and Textual metafunctions of Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty from perspective of functional grammar. Findings of the thesis helps us to have a look at an overall picture of the ways functional linguistics features employed in Jay Shetty’s talks.
Objectives of the Study In order to attain the aim of the study, three specific objectives were set as follows: To identify and analyze the experiential features utilized in IVoJ from the perspective of SFG. To identify and analyze the interpersonal features employed in IVoJ from the perspective of SFG. To identify and analyze the textual features used in IVoJ from the 3 perspective of SFG. Research Questions From the aims above, the thesis resolves the three following questions: 1.
How are experiential features realized in IVoJ? 2. How are interpersonal features realized in IVoJ? 3. How are textual features realized in IVoJ? 1. Scope of the Study The study focuses on analyzing three grammar tools namely Transitivity, Theme – Rheme and Mood system expressing three functions of language, including experiential, interpersonal and textual functions in the corpus in the light of SFG.
Specifically, the research uses Halliday’s theory of SFG to analyze the experiential, interpersonal and textual metafunctions of inspiration stories videos. There are hundreds of inspiration stories videos by Jay Shetty about different topics. But in this study, just twenty-five Inspiration Stories Videos of Jay Shetty with different themes from Youtube (https://www.com/channel/UCbV60AGIHKz2xIGvbk0LLvg) are collected for the investigation. Specifically, each video lasts no more than 5 minutes and each transcript contains about 300 to 1000 words.
Significance of the Study The benefits that the study brings are considerable, not only in theory but also in practice. Theoretically, from the thesis, it may be helpful for further researchers related to three metafunctions in terms of SFG. The study is also expected to have the possible contributions to the body of knowledge of functional grammar via bringing about insights into three metafunctions in inspiration stories videos. Practically, there are a significant number of studies related to three metafunctions in terms of SFG, but there has not been thorough 4 research done in inspiration stories videos.
Therefore, the findings of the study will offer the overall description of IVoJ. It may be useful for those who are learners of English and who are interested in IVoJ. Organization of the Study The study is structured as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, reviews the related theory about Systemic Functional Grammar and previous studies from the perspectives of the theory.
Chapter 3, Methodology, focuses on the research methods, the procedures of the study, the research design, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, devotes to unveiling the results from data analysis and discussing the results. Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, embodies the summary of the content of the investigation and gives the answer for the research questions which are put forward. Also, pedagogical recommendations for learners as well as suggestions for further research are concretely displayed.
5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the theoretical background that includes a brief overview of concepts of Systemic Functional Grammar. Specifically, the theory of the three metafunctions including experiential, interpersonal and textual one as the foundation of the thesis is presented. Some previous studies using Systemic Functional Grammar as the theoretical framework to analyze various discourse genres are also reviewed. Systemic Functional Grammar Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) is an approach to linguistics developed by Michael Halliday in the early 1960s after Firth’s theory about his system-structure.
There are in fact a number of different views on what Systemic Functional Grammar actually is. Functional grammar is defined by Halliday (1985, p. 58) as “application of systemic linguistics is to understand the quality of texts: why a text means what it does, and why it is valued as it is.