MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THẢO TRINH EXPERIENTIAL MEANINGS OF AMERICAN POLITICIANS’ SPEECHES ON COVID-19 Field: English Linguistics Code: 8 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ THẢO TRINH NGHĨA KINH NGHIỆM TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA CÁC CHÍNH TRỊ GIA MỸ VỀ COVID-19 Chuyên ngành : Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số : 8 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền e i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP This thesis represents my own work and due acknowledgment is given whenever information is derived from other sources. No part of this thesis has been or is being concurrently submitted for any other qualification at any university except where due reference has been made in the text.
Quy Nhon, 2021 NGUYỄN THỊ THẢO TRINH e ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my great thanks in particular to Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, my supervisor, who has supported me a lot during the time I work on my thesis. Her invaluable reading of the drafts as well as her useful feedback has contributed to the final form of this thesis. Without her kind encouragement, her endless patience, her critical comments and her valuable materials, I cannot finish this thesis.
Besides, I would like to send my deep gratitude to all lecturers having taken part in the training process of MA course at Quy Nhon University. Also, I take this opportunity to thank my family for their love and kind support during the time I worked on this work. I am also grateful to my friends and classmates for their warm encouragement, help, and valuable materials. e iii ABSTRACT Based on Halliday & Matthiessen‟s Systemic Functional Grammar framework, the present study aimed to investigate experiential meanings by Transitivity System in 20 speeches made by American politicians on COVID - 19.
The main purpose of the study is to explore kinds of processes and circumstances of clauses in their speeches, to find out the most dominant type of process and circumstance used in the speeches, and then to interpret how the American politicians experience the world in COVID-19 time. The study is a combination of qualitative, quantitative, descriptive, analytic, and synthetic method. The results indicate that Material process, which is largely concerned with actions and events of the external world, seems to occupy all of the speeches. Relational and Mental process also play a very important role in those speeches because they help the politicians express the reality from the point of view of onlookers as well as their feeling and thinking in their speeches.
The analysis also reveals that the circumstances center round where and when activities happen with the high proportion of Location, which reflects that the speakers strongly explain or describe the time and place of the events. The findings of the study could serve as data for further understanding. To learners, this kind of material is proved to be one of the effective instruments for improving their English skills and vocabulary. e iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.
iii ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Aim and Objectives of the Study. Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study. Structure of the Thesis.
Systemic Functional Grammar. Processes of Transitivity. Reliability and Validity .29 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Summary of the findings.
Limitations and suggestions for further research .59 APPENDICES e vi ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS (a) Abbreviations Cir.: Process C1S5: Clause 1 in speech 5 (b) Conventions - Boldface is used to mark the first use of technical terms. - Italics are used for examples, emphasis, and technical terms. e vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Summary of the process types.
Summary of circumstances and examples of realization. Distribution of process types. Distribution of circumstances in the speeches .47 e viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Context in relation to discourse- semantics and lexical-grammar.
The grammar of experience: types of process in English. Rationale Speech is a form of discourse that has been utilized to express thoughts, feelings, and opinions, but sometimes, listeners do not comprehend it clearly because the information about what is happening around and inside us is not uttered. Fairclough (1995) proves that speech is made up of linguistic features that cannot be apart from the set of grammar that even the smallest of which possibly has a meaning. Clause is one of grammatical units that have meaning.
Then, we can analyze the meaning of the speech by analyzing the function of each clause in that speech. In terms of analyzing functions of language, Systemic Functional Linguistics also known as Systemic Functional Grammar – a theory introduced by Micheal Alexander Kirkwood Halliday and his followers since 1960s is a famous framework which can be applied. Halliday (1994) believes that language has three metafunctions: interpersonal, textual, and ideational. The interpersonal metafunction uses language to encode interaction, to show how defensible we find out our propositions, encode ideas about obligation and inclination and to express our attitudes.
It treats clauses as exchanges. To find out interpersonal meanings, mood system is used. The textual metafunction relates to mode. Mode is the internal organisation and communicative nature of a text.
This function considers clauses as messages. Structure Theme and Rheme is used to analyze textual meaning. The ideational metafunction is the function of construing human experience. It is how we make sense of reality.
Halliday divides the e 2 ideational into the logical and the experiential metafunctions. The logical metafunction refers to the grammatical resources for building up grammatical units into complexes, for instance, for combining two or more clauses into a clause complex. The experiential function refers to the grammatical resources involved in construing the flux of experience through the unit of the clause, and it can be explored by transitivity. Studies on Transitivity have been done in two directions.
The first type deals with raw analysis of transitivity system to help reveal the grammar elements appearing in clauses as representation. The second way bases on the analysis of transitivity system element to interpret the experiential meaning. It is clear that Transitivity system is proved to be popular since the Functional Grammar approach appeared, which can be seen in many different genres, such as academic, news, speeches… for example Sukma et al (2013), Suparto (2015), Dadjo ( 2018), Xuan (2018), Vathanalaoha (2018), Trinh (2018), Kamal & Hamied (2012)… As for understanding experiential meanings of politicians' speeches, transitivity system has also been popularly used to discuss various topics or themes. For example, Chen (2008) conducted a transitivity analysis on President Bush's inaugural address in 2005 and found the distribution of the six processes.
Besides, Wang (2009) analyzed the different kinds of processes from the perspective of transitivity in Obama's inaugural address in 2008. Li (2010) conducted a transitivity analysis on Franklin D.Roosevent and Barack Obama's inaugural addresses. Arina Isti‟anah (2014) also explored how transitivity model was used in four selected Opinions about Jakarta Governor election. So far, COVID 19 has been a really serious disease.
Not only do the medical forces try their best to fight the pandemic, but all people living in e 3 the globe also work together to wipe out the dangerous virus. There have been numerous tragic losses throughout all nations despite the determination of the world. As experiential meaning shows the writer/ speaker's experience of the outer and inner world, it is assumed to be different in different fields such as political, environmental, educational topics. Until now, there have been no studies about how people experience the COVID 19 pandemic, which has been spread so far.
Thus, this study sets out to explore how experiential meanings are realized in American politicians‟ speeches on COVID- 19 on the base of Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Grammar via transitivity. Aim and Objectives of the Study 1. Aim This study aims to investigate the experiential meanings through analyzing Transitivity system including various processes, their participants and circumstances in speeches by American politicians on COVID -19. Objectives To achieve this aim, the following objectives are fulfilled: - To explore kinds of processes and circumstances of clauses in American politicians‟ speeches.
- To find out the most dominant type of process and circumstance used in the speeches. - To interpret how the American politicians experience the world in COVID- 19 time. Research Questions To achieve the above aim and objectives, the researcher collected and analyzed data to answer the following questions: (1) What kinds of processes and circumstances of clauses are used in e 4 American politicians' speeches? (2) What is the most dominant type of process and circumstance used in the speeches? (3) How do the American politicians experience the world in COVID - 19 time? 1. Scope of the Study This study is conducted with the aim of exploring the experiential meanings based on Halliday & Matthiessen‟s Systemic Functional Grammar framework in speeches that have been made by American politicians on COVID-19.
Hence, it is necessary to find out kinds of processes and circumstances used in clauses of speeches. Besides, the frequency of each type of processes and circumstances used is also investigated. From there, the idea, feelings, thoughts of American politicians are shown. Twenty speeches made by American politicians from the official websites consisting of https://www.int/, https://www.gov/, https://www.org/en/media/, and CNBC TV are used as the main source of the research.
Other aspects relating to functional grammar such as interpersonal meanings or textual meanings are not paid attention to in this study. Significance of the Study The significance of the study can be seen both theoretically and practically. In terms of theory, the study is expected to confirm the important role of systemic functional grammar in discourse analysis, especially on experiential meanings with its powerful tool- transitivity system. As for practical application, this study can help learners of English know the way to use language to express their experience of the world.
Consequently, they can use the research as a useful material to develop their English as a foreign language. This study can be treated as reading/ listening aids to improve e 5 learners‟ proficiency, enrich their vocabulary and structures. This study also gives a clear picture to the speakers who want to convince the listeners by using appropriate processes and circumstances. Structure of the Thesis The study consists of 5 chapters, each of which is for a particular function: Chapter 1 is an introduction which reveals the overview of the study including the rationale, research aim and objectives, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, and structure of the thesis.
Chapter 2 presents theoretical concepts including speech, Systemic Functional Grammar and Transitivity, and a review of previous studies related to this study. Chapter 3 describes the research methods used in the study. Additionally, data collection, data analysis and research procedure are also presented. Chapter 4 depicts the results of the study that the researcher found out from the collected data based on three research questions and a detailed discussion on the research findings.
Chapter 5 gives the summary of the study, major findings, implications, limitations as well as suggestions for further studies. e 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents general concepts including speech and Systemic Functional Grammar as the chosen theoretical framework. Transitivity System which is the major focus of the study will be discussed in detail. The review of previous studies supporting the present study is also discussed in this chapter.
Speech Speech is a great medium in which human cooperation is brought about. It is how the diverse activities of men are coordinated or correlated with each other for attainment at common and reciprocal ends.