VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ YẾN A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DONALD TRUMP’S 2015 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán bài phát biểu phát động chiến dịch tranh cử Tổng thống Mỹ năm 2015 của Donald Trump) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Hanoi, 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ YẾN A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DONALD TRUMP’S 2015 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán bài phát biểu phát động chiến dịch tranh cử Tổng thống Mỹ năm 2015 của Donald Trump) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201. Nguyễn Hòa Hanoi, 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Donald Trump‟s 2015 Presidential Campaign Announcement Speech ” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees. Lê Thị Yến i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Nguyễn Hòa for helping me complete this study. This paper would not have been accomplished without his expert, constant and valuable guidance and encouragement.
His patience and helpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper. I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoretical background as well as practical knowledge. My special thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for their enthusiastic help and support with my teaching schedule at school which gave me precious time to deal with my thesis. Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my family who gave me time and encouragement to overcome all obstacles during the completion of this study.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The study aimed to investigate how the language used in Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech positions various actors. It not only attempted to reveal how the language used serves ideology and power but also how it provided a better understanding of the political purpose of the speech. Data was chosen from selected representative excerpts resident in Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech. The study was oriented on the theoretical basis of Critical Discourse Analysis.
It used Systemic Functional Linguistics as an adjunct theory and employs Fairclough‟s (1989, 2010) three tier model of description, interpretation and explanation for the analysis. The study approached qualitative research design. The findings shown that linguistic representation helped bring out power imbalance among the participants involved. Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Terrorists were portrayed as having the capacity to act upon the others while USA was cast as lacking the ability or capacity to perform certain duties or tasks.
The study also shown that Donald Trump positions himself in the first place of the sentence with biggest emphasis, which, in my opinion, describes him as arrogant and divisive. Key words: Discourse analysis, Critical discourse analysis, political speech, Donald Trump‟s speech, systemic functional grammar, ideology iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OFABBREVIATIONS DA : Discourse Analysis CDA : Critical Discourse Analysis SFL : Systemic Functional Linguistic ISIS : Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Pr : Process Rel : Relational Circ : Circumstance iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 4.1 Frequency of process types in the selected text 27 Table 4.2 Frequency of modals in the selected text 39 Table 4.3 Deontic modals by sub-category in the texts 41 Table 4.4 Frequency of counts of modals of desirability 41 Table 4.5 Frequency count of modals of obligation in the selected data 44 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION……………………………………………………………….iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………….iv LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………….v TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………….vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….4 Scope of the Study……………………………………….5 Significance of the Study………………………………………………….3 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………………….1 An overview of DA ………………………………………………….2 An overview of CDA………………………………………….2 Key Concept to the study……………………………………………….1 Discourse as social practice……………………………………………….2 Discourse and Power Relations…………………………………………….1 Main views of ideology……………………………………………………….2 Implicit or explicit ideology………………………………………………….4 CDA and SFL……………………….1 Transitivity Systems as a Framework of Experiential Meaning………….2 Modality System as A Framework of Interpersonal Meaning…………….3 Main approaches to CDA ………………………………………….4 Review of previous studies on political discourse…………………….…15 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.16 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY…………………………………….3 Data and its social context………………………………………………….4 Data analysis procedure………………………….20 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISSCUSSION………………….1 Ideology realized in the recurring themes………….1 Ideology of self- promotion and other- rejection…………………….2 Ideology as a tool of Persuasion………………………………………….3 Ideology as a tool of Negotiation……………………………………….2 Transitivity systems realizing the recurring themes……….1 Process Types and Participant Roles in the Theme of Immigration…….2 Process Types and Participants roles in the Theme of National Security.3 Modality types realizing the recurring themes…………………….1 Modal of Desirability in the selected text……………………………….2 Modal of Obligation in the selected text………………………………….3 Modal of Permission in the selected text………………………………….46 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION …………………………………………….1 Main findings of the study…………………….47 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.4 Limitations and Recommendations for Further Research………….I Appendix : Donald Trump‟s Presidential Announcement Speech.I viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This chapter highlights the statement of the problem, the objectives of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study as well as the significance of the study.1 Rationale Political discourse just like any other genre of discourse has its own unique structures of language and an investigation on the particular nature of such a structure is an important academic pursuit. According to Fairclough, political discourses are decision and action oriented. He also added that such decisions are made in the context of uncertainty and disagreement as can be seen in campaign speeches where politicians not only use language to express their ideas and feelings but also to re-shape the opinions of the electorate.
In this study, we attempted to bring out some descriptive and interpretive aspects of Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech. I chose Trump‟s Speech for the following reasons. First, it is easy to see that so far there have been many research papers on political speeches of famous and influential people like Barrack Obama, John McCain, Tony Blair, etc. However, little attention has been given to seemingly banal speech such as Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech.
Secondly, as a representative of the most powerful country in the world, his political ideologies, if any, may have implications for the rest of the world. This study therefore intends to fill this gap by investigating how the experiential and the interpersonal meanings are realized through the systems of transitivity and modality choices. Since representations in texts are socially, politically and economically motivated and since they are increasingly becoming influential, it is important to try and find out how these hidden meanings should be understood.2 Research Objectives The current study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model to unmask the use of power and hidden strategies through language use. Also the study analyzes and uncovers the experiential, interpersonal meanings of the wordings and grammatical structures of Trump‟s language use.
1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In summary, the specific objectives are to provide a critical analysis of Donald Trump‟s political discourse based on Fairclough‟s framework to find out the way hidden power and ideologies are shown in the speech and to study Donald Trump‟s use of language to win favor with his audience.3 Research Questions To obtain the aims of the study, the following research questions have been posed: 1. How is ideology represented in Donald Trump‟s Campaign Announcement speech? 2. How does Donald Trump use language to achieve his goals? 2.1 How do the choices of Process Types and Participant Roles made in the Announcement Speech realize experiential meaning? 2.2 How do the Modality choices made in the Announcement Speech realize the interpersonal meaning? 1.4 Scope of the Study The study adopted Fairclough‟s (1989, 1995, 2010) tenets of CDA as well as the works of the CDA theorists such as Van Dijk (195, 2001) and Wodak (1997). It only concerned itself with the principles of CDA in sync with the research questions.
It also employed Systemic Functional Linguistics by Halliday (1985, 1994, 2004) to provide analytic tools. It similarly, made references to other theoretic studies on Systemic Functional Linguistics. Specifically, reference was made to Halliday‟s model of transitivity and modality patterns. On this, the study analyzed the major process types: Material, Mental and Relational processes.
The other process types: behavioral, verbal and existential were only analyzed when their occurrence was salient in the selected text. The study similarly, analyzed modality purely as contextually conceived in modal auxiliary. Within the Announcement Speech, the study only concerned itself with the transitivity systems and the modality choices within the themes of Immigration and National Security because they were the most salient. The other themes: Obamacare, Economy, Education and Unemployment were only used to illustrate the concepts: Ideology and Power.
2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.5 Significance of the study This is one of the newest attempts to explore and discover interrelation of discourse structures and ideological structures of Donald Trump‟s Presidential Campaign Announcement speech in the United States Presidential Election, 2016 as a good sample of his language use in presidential campaign. Theoretically, this study provides a support to CDA theories. From an objective view as linguists when approaching discourses, CDA analysts can find out ideology and power hidden behind words. Practically, this study is submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements of my degree of Master in English Linguistics.
Moreover, with the investigation of Donald Trump‟s speech it may provide the researcher another approach to political speech analysis from CDA viewpoint. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter presents literature review which includes an overview of DA and CDA. Then it goes to introduce some key concepts for the study which focuses on both CDA and SFL.1 An overview of DA Discourse analysis is a broad field which is related to use of language in context. According to Tistcher (2000, p.
42), ''discourse is a broad term with different definitions, which 'integrate a whole palette of meanings''. Discourse analysis takes into account different theoretical and methodological approaches such as linguistic, anthropology, philosophy, psychology and sociology. The nature of language is closely related to the demands that we make on it and the functions it has to serve. In the most concrete terms, these functions are specific to a culture.
''The particular form has taken by the grammatical system of language is closely related to the social and personal need that language is required to serve'' (Halliday, 1978, p. One of the important features of DA is to study authentic texts and conversations in the social context. The early DA was concerned with the internal structure of texts. Halliday's systematic functional linguistics is a new evolution against internal structure of texts.
According to Halliday (1978), texts should encode both personal and social processes. In other words, texts should be generated, comprehended and put into a social context. Discourse analysis is based on micro and macro levels. Therefore, both linguistic and social analyses are important.
Discourses are interpreted as communicative events because discourses between people convey messages beyond that of what is said at directly. What is important in such discourse is the social information which is transferred allusively.