VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VI THỊ BẢO THOA A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GEORGE BUSH’S SPEECH ON SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS (PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA TỔNG THỐNG MỸ GEORGE BUSH VỀ SỰ KIỆN NGÀY 11 THÁNG 9) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VI THỊ BẢO THOA A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GEORGE BUSH’S SPEECH ON SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS (PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA TỔNG THỐNG MỸ GEORGE BUSH VỀ SỰ KIỆN NGÀY 11 THÁNG 9) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn Hanoi, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I certify my authority of the study project report submitted entitled A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GEORGE BUSH’S SPEECH ON SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Hanoi 2015 Vi Thi Bao Thoa i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I own great debt to all my teachers, my classmates, my family members and my friends in accomplishing this graduation thesis.
I would like to register my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Huynh Anh Tuan, for his enthusiastic instruction throughout the process, his great suggestions and comments from the title to every minor detail of my study, and his valuable materials, without which my study could not have been completed. My most sincere thanks would also be sent to many lecturers and my classmates at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, for their constant concerns, assistance and encouragement. Lastly, I am greatly indebted to my family members who have provided me with continual spiritual support and care during my completion of the thesis.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study attempts to discover the relationship between power, ideology and discourse embraced in the speech delivered by President G. Bush on the September 11, 2001, using the CDA framework suggested by Norman Fairclough. The analysis is carried out in three separated phases namely description, interpretation, and explanation. Major aspects selected for analysis include vocabulary, grammar, and macro-structure.
An analytical framework is also built up in order to specify goals and analytical units in each stage. Following this framework, in-group and out-group lexicalization, voice, pronouns, large-scale structure and emotion techniques are investigated. The findings show that ideology and power are expressed throughout the address in a number of ways. Arousing the nation pride and heroism with tactful choices of vocabulary to construct two contrastive sides, exerting power and affirming utmost leader position with flexible uses of pronouns and voices, asserting ideology with shifts of focuses well- combined with emotion techniques, Bush actually makes the speech his powerful weapon in political battles.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv PART A - INTRODUCTION. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Aims and objectives of the study. Design of the study. 6 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definition of CDA. Three principal approaches to CDA .1 The discourse – historical approach by Ruth Wodak. The socio-cognitive approach by Van Dijk. The Systemic Functional Grammar approach by Norman Fairclough.
Fairclough’s framework of CDA. Overview of previous studies. Description of the data. 16 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.
Description of vocabulary use. Description of grammatical features. The use of voice. 20 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
The use of personal pronouns. Description of macro-structure. Large-scale structure. Interpretation of grammatical features.
The use of voice.2 The use of personal pronouns. Interpretation of macro-structure. Large-scale structure. Explanation of vocabulary use.
Explanation of grammatical features. The use of voice. The use of personal pronouns. Explanation of macro-structure.
Large-scale structure. Summary of the main findings. Limitations and suggestions for further studies. 40 APPENDIX 1: LIST OF QUESTIONS AND SUB-QUESTIONS SUGGESTED BY NORMAN FAIRCLOUGH IN DOING CDA.
I APPENDIX 2: GEORE BUSH’S SPEECH ON THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS (ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001). III APPENDIX 3: LIST OF QUESTIONS FOLOWING ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK. VI APPENDIX 4: LIST OF LEXICAL ITEMS FOR IN-GROUP. VII AND OUT-GROUP.
VII APPENDIX 5: LIST OF PRONOUNS OCCURENCES. IX v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A - INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Since its naisance, language has been used as an effective tool of communication, serving mankind in communicating to one another and reflecting both physical outside, and mental inside worlds. Language, by this way, is also addressed as a social phenomenon.
It reflects the world, and expresses the way we apprehend and perceive the world. Therefore, any study of language should be the study of language in use. Only by this way can the exact nature of the intended messages be revealed. This understanding has paved the way for my choice of investigating the selected speech under the perspective of CDA.
As a part of society, language can be regarded as a social, and a socially conditioned process (Fairclough, 1989). According to Wareing (2004), the affective function of language is concerned with who is allowed to say what to whom, and which is ‘deeply tied up with power and social status’ (Wareing, 2004, p. In other words, how individuals choose and use different language systems varies according to who the speakers are, how they perceive themselves and what identity they want to project. Language use also varies according to whether the situation is public or private, formal or informal, who is being addressed and who might be able to overhear.
Likewise, Meyerhoff (2006) points out that we draw very powerful inferences about people from the way they talk. Among various fields, politics appears to be leading the way in employing this advantage of language, with numerous applications in linguistic practice of world most famous leaders throughout the history. In the hands of tactful politicians, language is sharpened as a powerful weapon in order to best serve political purposes. One example of this is political speeches.
The function of these formal pieces of language is not barely the delivering of the information, but also carrying embedded ideology and expressions of power which normally are not displayed 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com straightforwardly, but tactically hidden behind the choice of words and expressions. Therefore, recognizing and understanding these hidden messages require in-depth analysis and consideration. CDA, as Fairclough (1996, p.287) claims, is ‘a perspective which is concerned with showing up often opaque connections between language and other aspects of society and culture’. In addition, Van Dijk (1993) suggests examining the style, rhetoric or meaning of texts for strategies that aim at the concealment of social power relations and the exercise of power.
In order to obtain certain ideologies that the group with power wants to construct, the circumstances of text construction such as who, when, where, and how, and a deep analysis of the texts themselves cannot be ignored, as CDA suggests (Van Dijk, 1993). It can be inferred from above implications that doing discourse analysis involves not merely analyzing texts, processes of production and interpretation, but also analyzing the relationship between texts, processes, and their social conditions, or in other terms, the relationship between texts, interactions, and contexts. CDA is critical in the sense that it shows connections and causes which are hidden such as the connection between language, power and ideology, the problems of inequality and racism, through discourse analysis. To clarify it clearly, CDA is critical when it explicitly addresses social problems and seeks to solve social problems through the analysis of accompanying social and political actions.
The intention of analysts in this view of ‘critical’ is explicitly oriented toward locating social problems and analyzing how discourse operates to construct and historically constructed by such issues. They must work from the analysis of texts to the social and political context in which the texts emerge. CDA, thus, can be considered a very practical form of discourse analysis. It seeks not only to describe language but also to offer critical resources to those wishing to resist various forms of power.
Significance of the study In Vietnam, CDA has received increasing attention within the last decade although, 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com generally speaking, it is still a quite new research area. Among official publications, the book written by Professor Nguyen Hoa in 2006 on CDA has contributed greatly to the popularization of CDA in Vietnam. Nevertheless, the number of studies on CDA among Vietnamese researcher remains restricted. Therefore, this study is intended to, though at the minimum scale, enhance the consciousness of how power and ideology are embedded in language in particular, and the relation between language and society in general.
Through the study, furthermore, the researcher hopes to raise a voice in approval of applying and advancing CDA in doing linguistic research. This study is also expected to make certain contribution to English language education. It is a popular challenge for Vietnamese learners to fully comprehend authentic discourses due to their failure to interpret the author’s underlying assumptions, which can be overcome once the learners are aware of the ideology driving the discourse. Scope of the study The analysis of Bush’s speech after the September 11 attacks is confined to verbal aspects of the speech and the social context when the speech was delivered.
Nevertheless, the limitations of time and the author’s capacity preclude it from discovering all the features available in the data. Instead, only salient features relevant to the aims of the thesis are given focus on. The paper also excludes paralinguistic (intonation, speed, loudness, etc.) and extra-linguistic (facial expression, eye contact, etc.) factors although the author is fully aware that they are important in conveying the speaker’s ideology. This is a pure linguistic study and for academic purposes only.
The author does not express her own political view; nor is this study for or against any parties or to change any one’s political viewpoint. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims and objectives of the study The study aims to discover the connection between discourse and power as well as to raise the awareness of using CDA as an effective tool in practical social studies. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, this study also looks forward to playing a role, though minimal, to the development of English language education by giving suggestions to investigate into authentic discourses which are, currently, challenges for most learners.
In order to achieve these aims, objectives are specified to find out how power and ideology are expressed via linguistic elements of the speech given by G. Bush after September 11 attacks. First, focus is pointed at demystifying how Bush employs linguistically devices to meet the public expectations. Secondly, effort is also given to discover the way the socio- political context influences Bush’s strategic representation of ideology in the speech.
Methodology The study follows CDA approach in which all underlying patterns and principles are drawn from description of data and generation of findings. Generally, the study is chiefly based on the approach proposed by Norman Fairclough, which is done in three phases: Phase 1: A general textual description of the speech is made in terms of lexis and syntax to uncover power and ideology hidden behind the text. Phase 2: The speech is analyzed under a broader perspective. The focus is on the relationship between the productive and interpretative process.