VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN ROUP COMMUNICATION IN THE MOVIE “13 DAYS” A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS ANALYSIS HA NOI - 2021 ĐẠI HỌC QUOC GIA HÀ NOT. TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ_” - KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VAN HÓA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIENG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TÓT NGHIỆP Giang viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm (Ph.D) Sinh viên: Đồ Tâm Nguyên Khóa: QH2017.E2 HÀ NỘI - NĂM 2021 Thereby state that I: Do Tam Nguyen — Class QH2017.E2, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (B. Honours Programme) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Signature Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the first place, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Minh Tam for her immense support to the completion of this paper. As my lecturer in the ‘Functional Grammar’ course, she helped build a strong foundation and evoked my inspiration for conducting this study. As my supervisor, she provided me with enlightening consultation, which guides me through each step of the researching procedure.
Without her wholehearted and intellectual stimulation, it would be impossible for me to overcome the heavy workload and complete this thesis. Moreover, I am also immensely grateful to other peers of QH2017.E2 for their valuable assistance during the process of doing this research. Specifically, they were willing to offer helpful explanation and great encouragement, which motivated me to finish this study. Finally, I greatly appreciate my family’s love and mental support, which gave me strength to push forward with my thesis paper.
With sincere gratitude, ABSTRACT This study aims to examine the interpersonal resources employed by the protagonist in the movie ’13 days’ as well as their effects on group communication efficiency. Accordingly, the utterances extracted from the movie script were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Simultaneously, the systemic functional framework proposed by Halliday was also applied in the analytical process. The findings of this research reveal that declarative mood is the most prominent, followed by minor and imperative mood.
Meanwhile, only a small number of clauses follow the interrogative pattern. In terms of modality, probability and obligation account for the majority while there is no usuality. Besides, it is also noticed that median value and objective orientation are rather favored. The analysis also shows that plural first person and third person are the most frequently used as subjects compared to other pronouns.
With regard to communication efficiency, it can be included that the protagonist can wisely manage his employment of interpersonal resources to successfully communicate in his groups. Accordingly, he is able to closely cooperate with other members, and maintain his influence on them in distinctive contexts, while still welcome their participation and strengthen group identity. Concerning certain limitations of this paper, further studies are reccommended to investigate the interpersonal meaning more comprehensively and discuss how it is used by different characters in the same situations. Key words: Interpersonal meaning, group communication, the movie ’13 days’.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS0000. ii LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIA TIONS. Rationale of the Study. Research aims and research quesfion.
Scope of the SfUYy. Structure of the Study .- -- c1 12 111 S SH TH ng ket 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE ¡404101. Interpersonal meaning in Systemic functional linguistics. Review of previous sfudÌes.
- -- --c SH HH HH He 16 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Description of the data SOUFC€. Data Analysis Procedure .- - - - -- c1 1111221111111 1111181111181 1 1kg y 23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The protagonist’s employment of mood.
The distribution of mood patterns and realized speech functions. The distribution of pronouns as subjects. LH HH HH HH HH HH 30 3. The distribution and realization of modality.
The distribution of modality. HH TH HH HH kh 35 3. The contribution of interpersonal resources in the protagonist’s success IN øroup communiCafiÏ0In. Successful co-operation with others to achieve shared goals.
A good sense of group participation and belonging. Representation of group identity. Maintenance of mutual influence in group .- -- - LH nH nH HHHH n nHệp 49 2. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies.
Ăn HH HH HH krrh 52 3. Suggestions for Further Studies. 60 iv LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES LISTS OF TABLES Table 1.1: Three Metafunctions of Language .---- ----ssss + kssssee 5 Table 1.2: The Structure of Mood Patterns .3: The Association of Mood Patterns, Grammar Structures and Speech FunCtIOIS.4: The Classification of Modality .-----cs + +skssseeesvee II Table 3.1: Distribution and realization of modality in group 2.2: Distribution and realization of modality in group 3.-- 35 LISTS OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Metafunctions in Relation to Register and Genre (Martin, 2002).1: The Realization of Speech Functions via Mood Patterns .2: Modality types and vaÏu€s. --- -- << + vn ng 22 Figure 3.1: Distribution of Mood pattern in Group Ì.2: Distribution of Mood pattern in Group 2 .3: Distribution of Mood pattern in Group 3.4: Mood Pattern and Speech Function Association in Group 1 .5: Mood Pattern and Speech Function Association in Group 2.6: Mood Pattern and Speech Function Association in Group3 .7: The Distribution of Pronouns as Subjects .1: Distribution and realization of modality in group 2 .2: Distribution and realization of modality in group 3.
Rationale of the study Communication has been the subject of numerous studies in various fields, such as linguistics, psychology, education, technology and culture, owing to its significant roles in many aspects of life. Researchers have made enormous attempts not only to identify its nature but more importantly to develop practical strategies to enhance communicative efficiency, especially in a group in which there are a number of participants. It can be seen that language serves as a vital tool for human interaction and therefore, motivates linguists to make a crucial contribution to the body of literature. In a broad view, linguistics has claimed its basic importance as the science for ‘the interpretation of human conduct in general’ (Sapir, 1929).
It is, therefore, a crucial tool for the study of the society, which inevitably evades other fields such as anthropology, culture, psychology and philosophy. In our modern world, it is not the nature of language but the strategies to use language effectively that matters most in the goal of this science (Tomic & Shuy, 1987). From this perspective, systemic functional linguistics is considered to be one of the most important approaches toward language studies as it focuses on the functional aspect of language (Matthiessen, 2012). With regard to the interactive nature of communication and group, it is essential that the Interpersonal line of meaning might play an indispensable part in a successful conversation.
Considering the discourses in the political area, it is hardly possible to gather real data due to its confidential content. An alternative to an authentic conversation would probably be a mediated version with professional approval. In this research, the script of the movie ‘13 days’ was chosen as the target data source, and thus, the researcher aims at discovering the influence of Interpersonal resources on communication efficiency in a political communicative discourse. Significance Theoretically, this analysis can make a positive contribution to the body of literature, which can be helpful for future research of the same topic.
Specifically, it can be seen that there are only a few studies conducted to apply the framework of systemic functional linguistics in mediated discourses in the political area. This may not be an ideal sample for actual politicians; however, it can still be useful for general conversation in which the communicators may face serious topics or complex relationships among themselves. From a more practical perspective, in order to measure the value of this paper, it is essential to look back at its data source — the movie ‘13 days’. Regarding the film’s primary inspiration, the Cuban Missile Crisis is considered one of the most critical events in the second half of the Cold War, and thus, proved its significance as a noticeable subject for studies in various fields including politics, military and international relationship (Allison, 1969).
The movie, in its turn, was prized for its success in depicting the contemporary situation of the U., and the White House specifically, as a great attempt was made to eradicate the possibility of warfare (Doherty, 2001). Interestingly, it also received attention from course designers as a resource for teaching and learning. In 2020, the movie was included in the course ‘Teamwork Skills: Communicating Effectively in Groups' by University of Colorado Boulder, which raised researcher’s interest in how the language in the movie can be a sample for learning effective communication skills. After this study, the researcher expects to systematically describe the realization, contribution and possible effects of interpersonal meaning in group communication, concerning the specific case of Kenneth P.
To academics, this can serve as a helpful reference for their future comparative discussion among different findings on similar data in the literature. To educators and students, it is anticipated to make certain implications of the employment of the interpersonal resources as reliable support for enhancing communication efficiency. Research aims and research question The thesis aims at exploring how interpersonal resources are employed by the protagonist in group communication in the movie “13 days”. To fulfill this aim, the thesis writer sets out two research objectives, which are 1.
To investigate the use of interpersonal meaning of the protagonist’s utterances when communicating in groups; 2. To analyze the effect of interpersonal meaning in group communication. In accordance with the two objective above, the research question is formulated as follows: - How are interpersonal resources used by the protagonist when communicating in groups? 4. Scope of the study In this study, it is essential to notice that the analysis exclusively targeted the mood and modality resources used by the protagonist in group communication.
Firstly, only what is said can be included in the raw data, which means that other factors of a conversation such as meaningful silence and body language were not analyzed despite their significance in the communication process. Secondly, the specific type of discourse to be investigated was limited to group communication, excluding other genres, namely, monologues and two-sided dialogue. Moreover, the researcher also scoped the range of raw data down to the utterances made by the main character Kenneth P. O’Donnell of the movie only.
Finally, regarding different aspects of interpersonal meaning, the research solely concentrated on mood and modality as the key resources of interpersonal meaning. Methods of the study The researcher followed a mixed design which combines both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Accordingly, the script extracts were investigated and processed into concrete statistics. These numbers were then generalized to specific conclusions.
Simultaneously, the Hallidayan framework is also applied to work on the interpersonal resources, specifically mood and modality, in the collected data. Structure of the study The study is divided into the parts as follows: Introduction presents general information about the research problems and rationale for the research, together with the research aims, the research question, the significance and the scope. Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature Review provides an overview of the theories and previous studies related to the research topic. Chapter 2: Research Methodology specifies the research methods, the data corpus, the analytical framework, data collection and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion is concerned with the findings and discussion in accordance with the research question. Conclusion summarizes the main findings, clarifies the limitations of the study and provides suggestions for further research.