MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY PHAN VAN HIEP COMMISSIVES IN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS’ RECENT INAUGURAL SPEECHES Major: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Assoc. NGUYEN QUANG NGOAN Binh Dinh - 2024 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN PHAN VĂN HIỆP HÀNH VI KẾT ƯỚC TRONG DIỄN VĂN NHẬM CHỨC GẦN ĐÂY CỦA CÁC TỔNG THỐNG MĨ Ngành: Ngôn Ngữ Anh Mã ngành: 8220201 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN Bình Định - 2024 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the master thesis entitled "Commissives in American Presidents‟ recent inaugural speeches" is the result of my own research. The thesis contains no document previously published or written by others except where the reference is made in the thesis.
The thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Binh Dinh, December 2024 Author’s signature Phan Van Hiep ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been completed if I did not have support of many different individuals. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Nguyen Quang Ngoan for his enthusiasm, patience, motivation and friendliness.
In the process of conducting this thesis, he helped me to shape the study and always gave me valuable advice. I am also grateful to all the lecturers in the English MA Course, who gave me a lot of useful knowledge and comments as well as valuable documents, which helped me so much in completing this research. Last but not least, I would like to send my thanks to my family and my friends, who always encouraged, supported and helped me to complete this thesis. iii ABSTRACT The study aims to investigate the commissives produced by four recent American Presidents with the data collected from these presidents‘s inaugural speeches with a total of 7,984 words.
The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings show that in their inaugural speeches, regarding the types of commissives, the four recent American presidents used seven types of commissive and each Democratic president used four types, while each Republican resorted to only two. In addition, the findings indicate that the percentage of commissives used by the Democratic presidents is much higher than that by the Republican ones. In terms of each type of commissive, ―pledge‖ was used with by far the highest percentage, followed by ―Guarantee‖.
Both ―warning‖ and ―vow‖ come third with the same percentage, followed by ―promise‖ and ―threat‖ with also the same percentage. ―Refusal‖ accounts for the least percentage. Given the commissive-denoting linguistic devices, the findings indicate that the percentage of commissive-denoting linguistic devices used by the Democratic presidents is higher than that by the Republican ones. As for the number of commissive-denoting linguistic devices, the findings show that the highest percentage belongs to former President Obama, followed by former President Trump, President Biden, and former President Bush.
Considering the levels of commitment in the commissives, the findings show that the presidents used 11 types of linguistic devices displaying the levels of commitment. With the strong commitment, the presidents used nine types of linguistic devices and with the weak one two types. The findings also indicate that the Republican presidents used more strong commitments than the Democratic ones. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. viii LIST OF TABLES. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .2 Aim and Objectives of the Study .1 Aim of the Study .2 Objectives of the Study .4 Significance of the Study .5 Scope of the Study .6 Organization of the Thesis.
4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.2 Speech Act Theory .1 Definition of Speech Act.2 Direct and Indirect Speech Act. Classification of Speech Acts .4 Speech Act of Commissive. Linguistic Devices Denoting Commissives .2 Modal Verbs Indicating Intention .5 Future Time References .6 Adverbs of Certainty or Intensity .4 Linguistic devices denoting the degree of commitment in commissives .1 Verbs Denoting Levels of Commitment. Parallelism and Repetition .8 Formality and Ceremonial Language.5 Brief Biographies of American Presidents George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trum, Joe Biden and Presidentian Inaugural Speeches.1 Brief Biographies of American Presidents George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden.
Presidential Inaugural Speeches. 32 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES. Validity and Reliability. 38 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Types of Commissive in the Four Recent American Presidents‘ Inaugural Speeches.2 Linguistic Devices expressing commissives in the Four Recent American Presidents‘ Inaugural Speeches .1 Linguistic Devices expressing commissives in the four recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speech commissives .2 Pledge-denoting linguistic devices in four recent American presidents‟ inaugural speech commissives .3 Guarantee-denoting linguistic devices in commissives in four recent American Presidents‟ inaugural speeches .4 Refusal-denoting linguistic devices in four recent American presidents‟ inaugural speech commissives .5 Threat-denoting linguistic devices in four recent American presidents‟ inaugural speech commissies .6 Warning-denoting linguistic devices in commissives in four recent American presidents‟ inaugural speeches .3 Linguistic Devices expressing Levels of Commitment in Four Recent American Presidents‘ Inaugural Speech Commissives .1 Linguistic Devices Displaying Level of Strong Commitment in Four Recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speech Commissives .2 Linguistic Devices Displaying Levels of Weak Commitment in Four Recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speech Commissives .1 Summary of Types of Commissives in the Four Recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speeches .2 Summary of Commissive-denoting Linguistic Devices in the Four Recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speech Commissives .3 Summary of Levels of Commitment in the Four Recent American Presidents‟ Inaugural Speech Commissives .2 Implications of the Study .3 Limitations of the Study .4 Suggestions for Further Research.
74 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CDLD Commissive-denoting linguistic device H Hearer MM Modality Marker S Speaker ix LIST OF TABLES Page No Title number 1 Types of communicative illocutionary act 10 2 Functions of speech act 11 Types of commissives used in 4 American Presidents‘ 3 39 Inaugural Speeches Linguistic Devices expressing commissives in the four 4 47 recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches Promise-denoting linguistic devices in four recent 5 49 American Presidents‘ Inaugural Speech commissives Pledge-denoting linguistic devices in four recent 6 50 American presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives Guarantee-denoting linguistic devices in four recent 7 54 American Presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives Refusal-denoting linguistic devices in four recent 8 55 American presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives Threat-denoting linguistic devices in four recent 9 56 American presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives Warning-denoting linguistic devices in commissives in 10 57 four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches Vow-denoting linguistic devices in four recent American 11 58 presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives Linguistic Devices Displaying Levels of Commitment in 12 Four Recent American Presidents‘ Inaugural Speech 59 Commissives x Page No Title number Linguistic Devices Displaying Level of Strong 13 Commitment in Four Recent American Presidents‘ 61 Inaugural Speech Commissives Linguistic Devices Displaying Levels of Weak 14 Commitment in Four Recent American Presidents‘ 66 Inaugural Speech Commissives 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Inaugural speeches, addresses delivered at inaugural ceremonies, are said to set the tone for the incoming administration. Sometimes they are intended to persuade, or to heal and reconcile, after socially divisive elections. Clearly, the inaugural speech gives the newly elected president the first opportunity to introduce his vision to the whole nation and the world. Inaugural addresses aim to evoke strong emotional reactions toward the new change in leadership within a nation.
These addresses serve as an initial item of propaganda that sets the tone for the presidency. Within the context of the United States, inaugural addresses have been present throughout its political history. On the day presidents elect are sworn into office, they must address the nation in a way that expresses their plans and policies as they come into power while also being packaged neatly in a speech that focus on their dreams, hopes, and ideologies (Chung & Park, 2010). Newly elected presidents often begin their speeches by commemorating their victory and espousing the values of their party and over time this translated directly into addressing national problems or the new vision within the oval office (Korzi, 2004).
Inaugural addresses are considered as a preserved portion of the historical record, one in which every president understands that their word will echo as a reflection of themselves throughout their presidency and beyond (Whissell & Sigelman, 2001). It is for these reasons that every facet of these addresses are carefully examined in order to find out about what presidents-elect represent and how they present themselves. In the United States of America, presidents-elect‘s addresses are considered as important documents and carefully stored in libraries and widely disseminated to a variety of audiences, from the public, to politicians, to historians (Whissell & Sigelman, 2001). 2 As remarked by Chung and Park (2010), the literary style of inaugural addresses reflects personal expression of the speaker and helps the audience to gain insight into the speaker.
In the case of the four presidents mentioned in the present study, who are George W. By specifically selecting some forms of expression, these speakers draw from it a greater image or amount of charisma attributed to themselves. A candidate's action plan is the basis for voters to evaluate the candidate's competence, qualifications, and attributes, which have an enormous influence on to which candidate voters will give their support. An action plan is a form of promise, a personal commitment.
This commitment must be fulfilled when the candidate wins the election. Voters will monitor and evaluate the implementation of this candidate‘ commitments made during the election campaign and reaffirmed in the inaugural addresses. Therefore, an action plan must contain candidates‘ great commitment and responsibility. The present study focuses on the contents of four presidential inauguration addresses in terms of commissives to help readers gain some insight into the policies and action plans via the inaugural addresses of George W.
Bush and Donald Trump from the Republic Party and Barrack Obama and Joe Biden from the Democratic Party.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study 1.1 Aim of the Study The study aims to investigate the commissives in the inaugural speeches of the four recent American Presidents: George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, in terms of the types of commissives, commissive-denoting linguistic devices and the levels of commitment.2 Objectives of the Study In order to achieve the aim of the study, the following objectives are to be achieved: (1) To investigate the types of commissives in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches. (2) To examine the linguistic devices expressing commissives in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives. (3) To examine the linguistic devices the levels of commitment in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speech commissives.3 Research Questions In order to achieve the aim and objectives of the study, the following research questions are addressed: 1.
What types of commissives are used in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches? 2. What are the linguistic devices expressing commissives in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches? 3. What are the linguistic devices denoting the levels of commitment of commissives in the four recent American presidents‘ inaugural speeches? 1.4 Significance of the Study Theoretically, the study helps advance knowledge of speech act and contributes to a better understanding of political communication strategies, leadership communication, textual analysis and interpretation in political discourse. Practically, the study provides readers with a deep knowledge of commissives and their significance in political speeches, especially American presidents‘ inaugural speeches.
Specifically, the study helps students of English language gain insight into how American presidents formulate their inaugural speech commissives to the American people.5 Scope of the Study The present study centres only on the commissives used in the inaugural speeches made by four recent American Presidents: George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, together with the linguistic devices denoting these acts and their levels of commitment. Due to the constraints of time and reference materials, the study does not mention the linguistic features, structures and functions of the inaugural speech commissives.