VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************ NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F. KENNEDY IN 1961: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA BÀI DIỄN VĂN NHẬM CHỨC CỦA JOHN F. KENNEDY NĂM 1961: PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi - 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************ NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F.
KENNEDY IN 1961: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA BÀI DIỄN VĂN NHẬM CHỨC CỦA JOHN F. KENNEDY NĂM 1961: PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân Hanoi -2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I declare that the thesis entitled ―The meaning and structure of the inaugural address by John F.
Kennedy in 1961: A systemic functional analysis‖ reports the results of the study conducted by myself in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts. It has not been submitted for any other degree at any other institution. Hanoi, January 2014 Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân for his untiring and practical assistance throughout the process of my writing.
Without his responsible help and enthusiastic guidance, I would not have been able to complete this thesis. I greatly wish to acknowledge my thanks to my classmates at the University of Languages and International Studies for their informative and constructive comments on my study. Had it not been for their suggestions, this thesis could not have been fully completed. Finally, my big thanks go to my beloved husband for his constant support and unconditional care while I was writing this thesis.
Hanoi, January 2014 Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study applies systemic functional grammar in order to investigate the meaning and structure of the inaugural address by John F. Based on the framework of systemic functional grammar developed by Halliday, the study focuses on analyzing the text in terms of language functions (three metafunctions) and cohesion (grammatical and lexical cohesion). The findings reveal that in terms of transitivity, material process is predominant; in terms of mood, declarative mood is in the largest use; and in terms of theme, topical theme which forms unmarked one is the most notable feature in the whole text. Besides, grammatical cohesion presented by reference, conjunctive devices and structural parallelism and lexical cohesion illustrated through repetition, synonymy, and antonymy make a great contribution to the cohesion and coherence of the text.
Undeniably, the analysis proves that this text is really meaningful, concise, and highly cohesive with the diversified uses of lexis and structures and so systemic functional grammar is an effective tool for analyzing the structure and meaning of a particular text. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES.
vi LIST OF NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aim of the study.
Scope of the study. Methodology of the study. Design of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.
Form and meaning. Model of Context in systemic functional linguistics. Clause and Clause complex. Clause simplex and Clause complex.
Logico – semantic relation. Process types and participants. 14 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Textual metafuntion: theme and rheme identification.
The concept of cohesion. Types of cohesion. 22 CHAPTER 2: THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F. The context of the chosen text.
Contextual configuration of the text. Clause and clause complex analysis. The analysis of the text in terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme. The Transitivity pattern of the text.
The Mood pattern of the text. The Thematic pattern of the text. The Cohesion of the text. Implications of the study.
Suggestions for further study .I v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The principal types of relational process. 13 LIST OF NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS ||| Clause complex boundary || Clause boundary 1.3 … Paratactic relation α β …Hypotactic relation = Elaboration + Extension x Enhancement Anaphoric reference Cataphoric reference Exophoric reference LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Act Actor R: C Comparative reference ANT Antonym R: D Demonstrative reference Attr Attribute Re Relational Car Carrier REP Repetition Cir Circumstance R: P Personal reference Compl Complement SFG Systemic functional grammar Fin Finite Sen Senser Mat Material Subj Subject Men Mental SYN Synonym Phenom Phenomenon Verb Verbal Pred Predicator vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study The long history of linguistics has witnessed the development of various approaches to grammar study, among which systemic functional grammar (SFG) emerged as ―an effective tool of analysis, which solves the issues left out by traditional grammar‖ since it helps understand human language more deeply. Of the linguists investigating this approach, Halliday is the eminent one to suggest the most practical approach to the grammatical construction be meaning–centered as he considers language a ―system of meanings‖.
From this view, functional grammar emphasizes how linguistic structures express meaning and view language as a communicative resource, not just as isolated grammatical rules. However, the process of teaching and learning the language sometimes, in fact, seems to make a clear distinction between grammar and other linguistic areas, so the communicative language acquisition is not really completed. As a teacher of English for a number of grammar classes, I am deeply interested in improving the language proficiency along with the structure accuracy for my students. That is the reason why I have developed a great attention to SFG and my absorption in it helps strengthen my notion of its applications in language teaching and learning.
In this study, the analysis of structure and meaning of the inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in 1961 is conducted. This political text is chosen to investigate due to the fact that it has been considered one of the best speeches of 20th century worldwide. It may provide a rich context of language for applying SFG to analyze.
Aim of the study The main aim of the thesis is to analyse the inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in 1961 in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework. 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com To realize this aim, the research question is as follows: How is the inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in 1961 organized in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion? 3.
Scope of the study Within the scope of a minor thesis, it is impossible to analyze the text in all aspects as developed by systemic functional grammar framework. Therefore, the thesis will focus on re-examining the theoretical concepts relevant to the study and will use them to analyze the meaning and structure of the inaugural address by John F. Methodology of the study Description and analysis are two main methods to analyze the meaning and structure of the speech. The former deals with the illustration of the crucial areas of functional grammar and the latter is concerned with the analysis of the text for discussion.
Data Collection The inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in 1961 is retrieved from the official and popular website http://www. Design of the study There are three main parts in this thesis as follows: Part A: Introduction - gives an overview of the rationale, aims, scope, methodology and design of the study Part B: Development - Chapter 1: Theoretical Background – provides an overview of systemic functional grammar in which crucial concepts relevant to the study are examined. - Chapter 2: The analysis of the inaugural address by John F.
Kennedy in 1961 – focuses on analysing its meaning and structure, based on the framework provided in chapter 1. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Part C: Conclusion - summarizes the results of the research and suggests some implications for language teaching and learning as well as for further studies. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This section will re-examine some fundamental concepts in systemic function grammar to provide theoretical orientations for the analysis of the inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in 1961 including form and meaning, model of context in systemic functional linguistics, clause and clause complex, metafunctions, and cohesion.
Examples are extracted from functional grammar works by well-known linguistics such as Halliday and Hasan (1976), Halliday (1994), Thompson (1996) and Hoang Van Van (2006). Form and Meaning Both form and meaning approaches try to find out the answer to the question of language features. Beginning in 1950s, formal grammar, which was developed by Noam Chomsky and his followers, is concerned with description of the structure of individual sentences. These linguists intend to explain the language structure in the way it is.
At the same time, a set of rules for grammatically correct or incorrect usage are established as the guide for language users. In other words, that a sentence or utterance is viewed to be wrong or right is due to its obedience to the laws of grammar. Unlike the formal linguists, functional linguists have generally dedicated themselves to addressing practical concerns of the application of grammar as well as relating grammar to its function within society. Specifically, Halliday (1994) views language not as a system of rules but ―a system of meanings‖.
It shows how people use language to make meaning in order to navigate their social interactions on their lives. He suggests the most practical approach to the grammatical 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com construction should be meaning–centered. In other words, the communicative purposes and choices, or the sentence-utterance meaning plays an indispensable part in linguistics. That is the reason why systemic functional linguistics takes language to its functions through meaning, not just formation.
Model of Context in systemic functional linguistics Considering linguistics a branch of sociology, a social semiotic which enables people to exchange meaning and therefore act socially, Halliday used the concept of context of situation and cultural context as the basis of his work. He developed the conceptual framework for illustrating the context including three dimensions named as field, tenor, and mode. In Halliday‘s view: Field of Discourse: refers to the subject matter: what is happening, to whom, where and when, and why it is happening … Tenor: deals with the social relation existing between participants. Tenor influences interpersonal choices in the linguistic system, and thereby it affects role the structures and the strategies chosen to activate the linguistic exchange.
Mode: describes the way the language is being used in the speech interaction, including the medium (spoken, written, written to be spoken) as well as the rhetorical mode (expository, instructive, persuasive). Briefly, these three components offer a system which helps illustrate any socio-linguistic occurrence. They are also the working hypothesis of metafunctions. Halliday (1994) figures out that the field determines ideational meaning, tenor represents interpersonal meaning, and mode corresponds to textual meaning.
Clause and Clause Complex 1. Clause simplex and Clause Complex Halliday classifies clauses into two types named clause simplex and clause complex. A clause simplex contains only one clause whereas a clause complex is composed of a head clause together with other clauses that modify it.