The significance of the study
The significance of the study can be seen the most clearly in its contribution to investigate the use of modality in texts Geoff Thompson (1996) says modality is an extremely complicated area of English grammar Although a number of linguists have been working on this field, the results achieved do not satisfy the researcher‘s inquisitiveness Many linguists have pointed out the definition, classification, and degree of modality but everything just stops at the theory and a limited number of typical examples In other words, the exemplification is not attached to any specific original texts Writers of some PhD theses have been applying SFG framework or modality to analyze real texts but none of them have taken commencement speeches as sources of data This thesis, which aims to investigate the realization of modalization and modulation in some authentic commencement addresses, thus fills the blanks of studying how modality is realized in commencement speeches
An additional point motivating the researcher to carry out this study is derived from the realistic demand In textbooks currently used in Vietnamese schools, the realization of modality in texts are mostly introduced and analyzed in terms of only modal verbs Other means to realize modality are not fully presented and exploited, which in some way limit students‘ understanding and ability to flexibly use modality in creating their own texts This thesis is hoped to give clear clarification of all means to realize modality in English and how the good exploitation of these means can, to some extent, support developments of students‘
Aims of the study
The research aims at studying and finding out the use of modalization and modulation in some English commencement addresses Moreover, the researcher also has her ambition to see how effective the modality is In short, the study aims to find the answers to the question:
How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement addresses?
Scope of the study
This minor M.A thesis first focuses on the theory of modality in the light of systemic functional grammar, and then it shows the realization of modalization and modulation – two categories of modality in five commencement addresses made by Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), Joanne "Jo"
Rowling (J K Rowling, 2008), and Barack Obama (2009).
Methods of the study
This study is carried out with the combination of both descriptive and explanatory methods In detail, the research is conducted according to several steps below:
Firstly, data about theories of modality and the commencement addresses was collected from different books, articles, and other researches in libraries or on the internet
Secondly, the collected information was synthesized and categorized to withdraw the basic knowledge about modality in many perspectives, especially Halliday‘s framework about modality Moreover, the collected commencement addresses were read and chosen carefully based on several criteria set in advance by the researcher
Finally, the commencement addresses were analyzed in order to discover the realization of modalization and modulation in each one by using Halliday‘s view about modality as the theoretical framework Each type of modalization and modulation is distinguished from the other by a set of symbols so that the researcher could easily control and bring out the exact figures for the study.
Design of the study
The structure of the study is based on the basic design of a scientific research which includes three main parts Part A – INTRODUCTION presents the rationale, significance, aims, scope, and design of the study Part B –
DEVELOPMENT comprises two chapters Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background of the study Chapter 2 shows the findings of the study in terms of the realization of modalization and modulation in all four speeches with some possible explanations about the types of modality used and the discussion about the effect of modalization and modulation in those commencement addresses Part C –
CONCLUSION summarizes the findings and points out the implications of the study Some suggestions for further studies are also included in the last part.
Theoretical background 1.1 Semantic-oriented approaches
Pragmatic-oriented approaches
Boyd and Thorne (1969) base on the theory of speech acts which is introduced by Austin (1962) to describe modality in English Unlike other linguists who try to classify modal auxiliary verbs in English, they use Speech Act Theory to paraphrase English modal auxiliary verbs They focus on the meanings of modals in specific instances of use As in the case of Speech Act Theory, ―the illocutionary force‖ of any verbs is considered as being determined by a set of formal features such as ―first person‖, ―present tense‖, ―non-progressive aspect‖, and ―non-habitual aspect‖ (Boyd and Thorne, 1969: 58) Therefore, the selection of modal auxiliaries verbs indicating the illocutionary potential of the utterances are also subject to these restrictions.
Criticisms of the semantic-oriented and pragmatic-oriented approaches
Those semantic and pragmatic approaches mentioned earlier have been attracting several criticisms
Joos‘ approach and Perkins‘s one are considered ―mono-semantic‖ (Coates, 1983: 9) since they attempt to provide a ―basic meaning for each modal‖ It is very difficult to decide which meanings constitutes the ―core meaning‖ for a particular modal auxiliary As a result, the definition of each modal is both unclear and general in order to account for the diversity in the possible interpretations of the modal (Hermeren, 1978: 18)
Marino‘s modal auxiliary divisions are not clear and subjective because he does not present an analysis of modals in English and gives the inadequate explanation for his decision For example, he assigns a value ―+execution‖ for
Future and ―-execution‖ for Imperative (Marino, 1973: 315) without any detailed explanations
Hermeren (1978), like most of his predecessors, restricts his description, classification, and analysis to modal auxiliary verbs mainly although his criticism on the earlier approaches seems to promise that he will list the various forms of modality
Palmer also insists on discussing only modal auxiliary verbs because they can be distinguished by formal criteria It seems that he is only interested in the phenomenon that one modal form can be used to express more than one meaning, and this makes ‗form‘ of primary importance in his account
Boyd and Thorne (1969) receive several criticisms of their approach
Hermeren (1978) points that if we apply their above-mentioned criteria, the past forms of auxiliary verbs such as ‗would‘, ‗could‘, ‗might‘, etc would not be considered modal In addition, there is some confusion in the differentiation between ‗illocutionary force‘ and ‗illocutionary potential‘ since they both refer to the same instance of language use in two different places in these authors‘ article (Hermeren, 1978: 28) Finally, their choices of examples is not only de- contextualized, but also selected in such a way ―to avoid possible confusion‖ like those which arise ―from the existence of considerable dialectal variation‖ (Boyd and
Thorne, 1969: 62) In short, such an account presents a very restrictive view of modality in general, so it is not useful at the practical level
To sum up, each account of modality has its limitations and it seems that most of the linguists mentioned above just put the emphasis on modal verbs when discussing the issue about modality Obviously, modal verbs are easily seen signals of modality but the researcher believes there are also other means which convey modality in the propositions and utterances Halliday‘s account of modality which will be presented below may be the most suitable theoretical base for the researcher find out the interpersonal links in the commencement addresses Therefore, modalization and modulation in those speeches are brought to light based on the theory of Halliday‘s systemic functional grammar.
Halliday‘s functional approach
Halliday‘s account of modality is based on his multifunctional view of language According to Halliday, language is organized around three metafunctions: the ideational, the textual, and the interpersonal metafunctions The ideational metafunction is the function for construing human experience and it is realized through the transitivity system The textual metafunction is the function for organizing discourse and creating continuity and flow in our texts It is realized through the systems of theme-rhyme and information focus And the interpersonal metafunction is the function for enacting our personal and social relationships It is realized through the mood and modality systems
According to Halliday (1994: 75), modality is ―the speaker‘s judgment of the probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what he is saying‖ He describes modality as representing those choices in language which lie between two polarities
―yes‖ and ―no‖, thus covering all ―intermediate degrees‖ as well as the ―various kinds of indeterminacy‖ that fall in between two extremes (Halliday, 1994: 88)
Halliday‘s functional view continues being shown more clearly as he divides modality into modalization and modulation, depending on the two types of communicative activities to which it relates, the two areas of meaning which it covers The first area of meaning deals with propositions and is tackled under modalization and the second area of meaning deals with proposals and is covered under modulation
It is necessary to distinguish Halliday‘s concept about proposition and proposal before discussing the issues of modalization and modulation According to Halliday (1994: 68), the fundamental types of speech role are always ―giving‖ and
―demanding‖ This means the speaker gives the hearer something (for instance, the given thing is a piece of information) and he also requires something from the speaker (what is required maybe also information or an action) When the thing demanded is information or in Halliday‘s words ―the nature of commodity being exchanged‖ is information, the speech function now is conveyed through propositions In contrast, when the thing demanded is an object or an action and language is just brought in to help the process along, the speech function is conveyed through proposals (See figure 1)
Speech function Role in exchange
He’s offering her a cup of tea
Would you like a cup of tea?
Figure 1: Speech functions and responses (Halliday, 1994: 69)
Halliday‘s concept of modality, in short, can be seen through the three variables which modality is subject to The first is the above-mentioned distinction between the two main types of modality: modalization and modulation The second is what Halliday (1994: 355, 358) refers to as ―orientation‖ in modality These are four which either subjective-explicit (I think Mary knows) or subjective-implicit
(Mary will know) on the one hand, or on the other hand it could be either objective- explicit (It‘s likely that Mary knows) or objective-implicit (Mary probably knows)
Finally, the third variable is what Halliday calls the values attributed to modal forms and these can be low, median, high (Halliday, 1994: 358) In that sense, modalization would include various intermediary degrees of probability
(possible/probable/certain) and usuality (sometimes/usually/ always), while modulation would cover different degrees of obligation (allowed/ supposed/ required) and inclination (willing/ keen/ determined) (Halliday, 1994: 358) These correspond respectively to the low, median, and high degrees (See figure 2)
Low Median High Probability: possible probable certain MODALIZATION
(Proposition) Usuality: sometimes usually always
(Proposal) Obligation: allowed supposed required MODULATION
Figure 2: Three values of modality (Halliday, 1994: 357)
1.4.2 Modalization 1.4.2.1 The notion of modalization
This subdivision of modality is seen to reflect the speaker‘s judgment on the likelihood of the propositions Halliday further subdivides modalization into two sections depending on two kinds of intermediate possibilities: degree of probability (possibly/ probably/ certainly) and degree of usuality (sometimes/ usually/ always)
The degree of probability is equivalent to ―either yes or no” and the degree of usuality is equivalent to ―both yes or no‖ (Halliday, 1994: 89)
Halliday‘s concept of modalization can be visualized in the figure below
Positive pole: asserting (‘It is so.’)
Negative pole: denying (‘It isn’t so.’)
(sometimes/usually/always) either yes or no both yes and no
Figure 3: Modalization 1.4.2.2 The realization of modalization
Halliday suggests that modalization is typically realized by (i) finite modal operators in the verbal group (such as might, will) and/ or (ii) modal adjuncts of probability and usuality (such as certain, probably) and other subtypes (Halliday,
Modality is first realized by finite modal operators or modal auxiliary verb (Halliday, 1994: 89) He classifies finite modal operators based on two criteria as degree of modality and polarity In terms of degree, he points out three levels as high, median, and low In terms of polarity, he shows the two poles that are positive and negative (See figure 4)
Figure 4: Modal operators (Halliday, 1994: 76) (ii) Modal adjuncts
According to Halliday (1994: 49), modal adjuncts ―are those which express the speakers‘ judgment regarding the relevance of the message.‖ He subdivides modal adjuncts into two categories that are mood adjuncts and comment adjuncts
All these two types of modal adjuncts as well as their wordy realization are summarized in the table below
Probability How likely? probably, possibly, certainly, perhaps, maybe Usuality How often? usually, sometimes, always, (n)ever, often, seldom Typicality How typical? occasionally, generally, regularly, for the most part Readiness How ready? willingly, readily, gladly, certainly, easily
Obligation How compulsory? definitely, absolutely, possibly, at all costs, by all means
Time When? yet, still, already, once, soon, just Obviousness How obvious? of course, surely, obviously, clearly
Intensity How intense? just, simply, merely, only, even, actually, really, in fact, indeed Degree What degree? quite, almost, nearly, scarcely, hardly, absolutely, totally, utterly, entirely
Degree of modality Low Median High
Positive can, may, might, could (dare) will, would, should, is/was to must, ought to, need, has/have to
Negative needn‘t, doesn‘t/didn‘t + need to/have to won‘t, wouldn‘t, shouldn‘t, (isn‘t, wasn‘t) mustn‘t, oughtn‘t to, can‘t, couldn‘t, (mayn‘t, mightn‘t, hasn‘t/hadn‘t to)
Opinion I think in my opinion, personally, to my mind Admission I admit frankly, to be honest, to tell you the truth Persuasion I assure you honestly, really, believe me, seriously Entreaty I request you please, kindly
Presumption I presume evidently, apparently, no doubt, presumably Desirability How desirable? (un)fortunately, to my delight/distress, regrettably, hopefully Reservation How reliable? at first, tentatively, provisionally, looking back on it Validation How valid? broadly speaking, in general, on the whole, strictly speaking, in principle Evaluation How sensible? (un)wisely, understandably, mistakenly, foolishly Prediction How expected? to my surprise, surprisingly, as expected, by chance
1.4.3 Modulation 1.4.3.1 The notion of modulation
Review of previous studies
Although many books about the theories of modality have been written by many linguists so far, the number of studies about the use of modality has been limited and not many studies have been based on the systemic functional approach
Some previous studies are reviewed below
Recski (2006) did a systemic functional research on examining the use of modality U.S dissertation defenses In the thesis, he analyzed eight U.S dissertation defenses with more than thirty thousand clauses to find out the answers for three research questions ―(i) the probabilities attached to the system of modality;
(ii) the functional modality of the mental process I think; (iii) the most common interpersonal strategy employed by committee members to ask questions and to give recommendations and/or suggestions‖ (Recski, 2006: v) The answer to the first question is that the probabilities make us to describe overtly the disparity of language according to the variation of context To the second question, the function of I think is only identified when we considering both the nature of propositions and the meaning of the co-texts To the last question, the most common interpersonal strategy is to expand metaphorically the speech functional system
Takahashi (2009) with his article called ―Modality in L2 Legal Writing: A functional Analysis‖ presented a research on modal expressions in legal memoranda written by six international students at a U S law school The systemic functional framework was claimed to be used in this study to investigate how modality was realized in those writings through lexical-grammatical resources However, the semantic perspective was still made used of when its terms frequently appeared in the study such as ―epistemic modality‖, ―hedges‖, ―boosters‖, etc The study does not present the specific quantity of each type of lexical-grammatical resources that were used to convey modality Moreover, the number of analyzed clauses was very limited and the study just stops at showing some examples of modality usage in those memoranda
Khalid (2013) carried out a research on analyzing three genres namely business letters, newspaper articles, and promotional brochure which were associated with the ship RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1938 This thesis not only focuses on investigating the use of modality but also on the generic structures and the lexico-grammar of the texts from a range of theoretical perspectives including systemic functional grammar The purpose of the author is to explore the constructing method of the texts by creating an interpersonal relationship However, when examining the use of modality, the author only paid attention to the lexical properties of modal verbs and he used the Sinclair‘s (1996) and Stubbs‘ (2002) Models of Extended Lexical Units to interpret the meanings of them
As mentioned above, the number of studies which examine the realization of modality is not plentiful and up to now there have not been any studies about the use of modalization and modulation in commencement addresses by using the systemic functional framework Therefore, the study is expected to fill the gap and to a certain extent, will contribute to the clarification of different ways of realizing modality in real texts and offer some suggestions to the practice of language teaching and learning in Vietnam.
Research question
The conducted research aims to find out the answer to the following question: How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement addresses?
Data collection
The data of the study was collected from the analysis of five commencement addresses by Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), J K
Rowling (2008), and Barack Obama (2009) All of these speakers are very famous in their fields Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have been known as two successful businessmen in the science of computer and information technology On the other hand, Barbara Kingsolver and J K Rowling have been well-known for their works in the realm of literature Barack Obama, especially, is popular name for not only politicians but also many people all over the world when he was elected to be the
44 th President of the United States of America.
Analytical framework
The analytical framework adopted in this research is based on the systemic functional theory of modality of M A K Halliday (1994) All the aspects of modality which includes modalization and modulation are presented in the chapter
1 The framework of the analysis can be summarized as follows:
Modal adjunct Modal operator Modal operator An adjective predicator
It must happen (modal operator/ high)
You’re required to be confident!
Data analysis and major findings
After more than four hundred clauses in five speeches were analyzed, the achieved results reveal that modalization was realized 435 times which overtake the number of modulation uses that only count 42 times
The details about the quantity of the modalization occurrences in each commencement address are represented in the table below:
Modal adjunct Modal operator Total
Table 1: Modalization in five speeches
Table 1 shows the number of times that modalization is realized in five commencement addresses In the total of 435 times of occurrences, modalization apportions its realization between modal adjuncts and modal operators by 202 and
233 times respectively Generally, modalization is recognized the most in Bill Gates‘ speeches with 101 times and this first position only has a narrow lead over Barbara Kingsolver‘s one Her speech ranks the second with 100 times of modalization Following these two top positions are Barack Obama‘s, J K
Rowling‘s, and Steve Jobs‘ with 91, 78, and 65 times of modalization respectively
In further details, there is an imbalance in using two subdivisions of modalization
Although the total number of modal operators in five speeches overtakes that of modal adjuncts, specific numbers in each commencement address are not exactly the same While modal operators are twice as many as modal adjuncts in Barbara Kingsolver‘s speech, modal adjuncts are twofold compared to modal operators in Steve Jobs‘ address Besides, there is just a slight imbalance in the number of modal adjuncts and modal operators in J K Rowling and Barack Obama‘s speeches With
46 times of using modal adjuncts and 45 times of using modal operators, Barack Obama seems to equalize the frequency of the two subtypes of modalization
In the following parts, modal adjuncts and modal operators with their subcategories are analyzed more specifically
Figure 5 in chapter 1 presents the subtypes of modal adjuncts according to Halliday (1994) In spite of the fact that these kinds of modalization were not all employed in the speeches, the ten types which were used also show the variety in the choices of modal adjuncts for expressing modalization The table below summarized the number of modal adjuncts in each subtype that appears in the separate commencement addresses
Speech made by Types of modal adjuncts
Table 2: Modal adjuncts in five commencement addresses
Table 2 illustrates how many times modal adjuncts were used in each commencement address in ten categories The highest number of modal adjuncts,
46 times, belongs to Barack Obama‘s speech which is neatly followed by two other speaker‘s ones with the equal numbers 42 times of using modal adjuncts, namely Steve Jobs‘ and Bill Gates‘ speeches J K Rowling‘s commencement address ranks the third with 41 times when modal adjuncts were adopted The last position of the frequency usage of modal adjuncts comes to Barbara Kingsolver‘s speech with approximately one-third less than J K Rowling‘s one
The table also displays ten categories of modal adjuncts and the frequency of applying these subtypes is represented from the highest to the lowest Usuality adjuncts are received the highest numbers of usage by 59 times and it is followed by intensity and time adjuncts Probability adjuncts with 18 times stand on the fourth position in the table and with more than ten times, degree adjuncts occupies the fifth rank The lowest frequency of modal adjuncts usage belongs to four kinds which were used less than five times, namely obligation, opinion, obviousness, and persuasion adjuncts
Table 2 reveals that among five speakers, Barbara Kingsolver and J K
Rowling are the authors who used the most various types of modal adjuncts in their own commencement addresses Barbara Kingsolver employed eight out of ten types and J K Rowling used seven out of ten types of modal adjuncts Not only having the same frequency of using modal adjuncts, but Steve Jobs and Bill Gates also made use of the same six types of modal adjuncts However, Steve Jobs favored using usuality the most while Bill Gates preferred to use intensity adjuncts instead
Like Bill Gates, Barack Obama would rather use intensity adjuncts than usuality adjuncts and he also favored in taking advantage of time adjuncts
In this section, modal operators were investigated in five commencement addresses and counted before being shown statistically in the table below
Table 3: Modal operators in five commencement addresses
Table 3 displays the number of times that modal operators with their three degrees were employed to convey modality in five commencement addresses
Barbara Kingsolver takes the lead in using modal operators with 69 times of applying them in her speech The runner-up is Bill Gates when he used modal operators 59 times throughout his commencement addresses 45 times of using subdivision of modality are the achieved results from analyzing Barack Obama‘s speech J K Rowling and Steve Jobs have the least number of times of using modal operators with 37 and 23 times respectively
The table also shows that modal operators with low degree were used the most among three degrees by appearing 105 times The median operators come the second and the high ones come last in the list However, in specific cases, we can see that Bill Gates, Barbara Kingsolver, and Barack Obama used low operators the most compared to their uses of median and high operators in their addresses Steve Jobs used median operators the most in his speech J K Rowling, on the other hand, seems to favor both low and median operators so that she used these two kinds with nearly equal times Moreover, the statistics show that high operators are used the least by all of the speakers
In this part, the results of the analytical process of five commencement addresses will reveal the frequency of modulation is used Unlike modalization, modulation is not counted up to hundreds of times, but its realization in this genre proves that it also contribute to the success of these speeches
Modal operator Passive verb predicator
Table 4: Modulation in five commencement addresses
Table 4 represents the frequency of using modulation in five chosen speeches The total number of modulation occurrences is 42, in which modal operators count to 36 times and two other types of modulation realization were recognized six times Furthermore, passive verb predicator modulation is as twice as adjective predicator modulation Among values of modality, high modulation was used the most by the orators with 26 times Meanwhile, median modulation and low modulation were employed equally with five times for each kind
The summary table, moreover, shows that Barbara Kingsolver is the speaker who used the highest frequency of modulation in her speech with 12 times Steve Jobs and Bill Gates one more time have a similar statistics in using modulation with ten times and nine times respectively With nearly half of Jobs and Gates‘ number modulation occurrences, Barack Obama and J K Rowling both have almost equal frequency of employing modulation with six times and five times respectively
In terms of variety in types of modulation, Steve Jobs seems to vary modulation types quite frequently, and he had at least one modulation in each type
Like Jobs, Barbara Kingsolver also used different types of modulation when delivering her speech She used four in five subcategories of modulation J K
Rowling and Barack Obama seem to just focus on using modal operators to convey modulation Especially, almost of modulations they used are high modulations Like two earlier mentioned speakers, Bill Gates also used high modulation the most in his speech with seven out of nine times that modulation appears in his commencement address.
Discussion
In this section, the comments, explanations, and examples are going to be given to take modality in five commencement addresses into more careful considerations The discussion is divided into four main parts First, a comparison and a possible explanation for the fact that modalization overtakes modulation in these speeches is going to be mentioned Second, the expressions that fall into many categories of modal adjuncts will be demonstrated as well as the comments of how effective they are Third, modal operators with their three degrees as high, median, and low values first, will be pointed out in specific contexts of each commencement address, and then a further discussion about their functions in imparting the speaker‘s attitude Finally, it is necessary to have a deeper look into the issue of modulation Why high modulation was used the most is one of the researcher‘s curiosities All the analyzed clauses mentioned in this part are found in appendix 2
Table 5 shows how frequently modalization and modulation are realized in the speeches As can be seen in the table, in 477 times modality is realized in the clauses of five commencement addresses, modalization occupies 435 times (about 91.2%) and modulation only accounts for 42 times (8.8%) This imbalance also can be seen in separate speeches Except for Steve Jobs‘ speech, all of four other ones have the low rate of modulation (under 10%) Especially, modulation takes a smallest percentage in J K Rowling‘s speech with about 6%
It is not an easy task to find out an explanation for this phenomenon, but a possible answer will be presented as follows:
Theoretically, modalization refers to the speaker‘s judgment to proposition including information commodity: statement and question in which statement are the majority Meanwhile, modulation expresses the degrees of obligation and inclination in relation to proposals The speakers of those commencement addresses do not have many reasons or purposes to use their wordy power to force the listeners to do something or take any actions In other words, the contents of the commencement addresses mainly focus on the speaker‘s experiences and thoughts
Therefore, it can be inferred that their primary purposes are to inform or give information The functions of modalization would serve these objectives well because modalization reflects personal opinions on propositions and the clauses of this type can be counted to more than 90% in the commencement addresses As a result, modalization was chosen as the main tool to express modality in the commencement addresses mentioned above
2.5.2 Modal adjuncts - realization and meanings
Modal adjuncts, along with modal operators, are devices which help to transfer modalization According to the results in table 1 and table 3, it seems that there is not a significant imbalance between modal adjuncts and modal operators‘ usage because modal adjuncts were employed 202 times and modal operators were used 233 times However, it is clear that the speakers still favored using modal operators instead of modal adjuncts
Table 1 clearly shows that there are ten classifications of modal adjuncts which were used in these commencement addresses Among them, usuality, intensity, and time adjuncts are top three kinds which appear the most frequently in the chosen speeches All of these types of adjuncts are now investigated carefully in the specific clauses of the speeches to see what effects they can cause
In terms of usuality adjuncts, a wide range of frequency adjuncts from low degree to high degree were employed to transfer modality meanings The readers can come across the use of them in all five commencement addresses
First, the high modality can be seen in clause (64) ―Dad, I always told you
I‘d come back and get my degree‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (70) ―There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (74)
―It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (204) ―They always manage to have the last word, even when they are dead‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (337) ―no matter how much you've done, or how successful you've been, there's always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Although all clauses belong to high modality, but the usuality adjunct ―always‖ have some slightly different nuances of meaning In two clauses (64) and (70), by using ―always‖, Bill Gates showed his annoyance when he was always reminded to come back to college by his farther and when he had to put up with his roommates Obviously, his judgment on the given information in two propositions was mainly expressed by the usuality adjunct In clause (74), there is a combination of using two usuality adjuncts ―sometimes‖ and ―always‖ in one clause This combination perfectly expresses Bill Gates‘ feeling about the studying environment at Harvard His tones of emotion change from maybe a little bit excitement (exhilarating) to a bit scare (intimidating) and it was raised up to higher level of some tiredness (sometimes discouraging) and much stress (always challenging) Therefore, in this clause,
―always‖ not only shows the frequency but it also shows how worse and how strong the speaker‘s feeling was In clause (204), Barbara Kingsolver used ―always‖ with
(the novelists) ―manage to have the last word‖ with nearly one hundred percent
Therefore, in this clause she used the adjunct to convey the nearly highest frequency of the action In Barack Obama‘s clause, he used ―always‖ three times and they continued one another like a refrain By this way, he showed his certainty about the fact that it is no longer enough for people to strive for mastery As a result, he sent a message to the graduates that they need to try more and more to make them more perfect
Second, the median and nearly lowest modality can be seen in clause (41)
―Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005); (276)
―Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression‖ (J K Rowling, 2008);
(218) ―Previous generations rarely asked about the hidden costs‖ (Barbara
Kingsolver, 2008); (270) ―Hardly had my parents‘ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) Especially, the lowest usuality adjunct ―never‖ was used many times and counted up to 28 times in all five commencement addresses Due to its most frequency, several examples are taken to see how effective and what modality it transfers Instead of saying ―I didn‘t graduate from university‖, Steve Jobs said: ―I never graduated from university.‖
―Never‖ does not mean absolutely ―no‖, but it conveys the meaning of ―no‖ and the attitude of the speaker He did not graduate from one university and he did not intend to be a graduate of any university However, the listeners can realize that he graduated from many ‗universities‘ of his own so that he could become one of the pioneers in his working field In another clause, this modal adjunct, once more time conveys some other judgments of the author In other clause in the same speech
―the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts‖, the author could replace ―never‖ by ―wouldn‘t‖, but the use of ―never‖ here emphasizes that the action or the thing did not happen in the past, does not happen at the present, and will not happen in the future Moreover, the author may imply that dropping out of college is the best decision he has ever made and he had no regret for what he has done
In summary, usuality adjunct not only express the frequency of actions, but they also convey other senses of meaning and the speakers‘ opinions and attitudes
In terms of intensity adjuncts, ―even‖ and ―just‖ are two adjuncts that were employed the most because they are counted 19 and 17 times respectively in all five commencement addresses Generally, intensity adjuncts were used to emphasize the action or the state and they are also implied the speaker‘s opinion However, the two adjuncts above have different modality meanings
First, ―even‖ was used to emphasize something unexpected and surprising in
(69) ―I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn‘t even signed up for‖ and (52) ―I didn‘t even know what a pancreas was‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005) In clause (69), Steve Jobs wanted to show his surprise when he took part in a lot of classes that he did not register on purpose In other words, that he learnt in those classes happened unexpectedly as he made quick decisions ad followed his sudden inspiration In clause (52), he was quite shocked when he was informed that he had a pancreas cancer, which he had never expected before The listener can feel his insecure state of mind Undoubtedly, modalization helps him to show his judgment on the given information in each sentence
Second, ―even‖ was used to emphatically introduce a more exact description of a thing or an issue Several examples from the commencement speeches contain this modal adjunct in this sense as: (74) ―It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (136)
Implications
As discussed earlier, each type of modality has its own effectiveness To the type of speech like commencement address, modalization is taken advantage and it plays an important role in contributing the success of the speech However, modulation is still employed when necessary on purpose to create the impression on the listeners From these findings, some suggestions to the teachers and students in the context of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam are as follows:
In teaching reading and listening skills, teachers can apply the results of this study in their teaching of grammar, or language use, which is usually integrated in post-reading and post-listening activities To be specific, apart from modal verbs, teachers should focus on other devices for manifesting modality in the text as well
Listening and reading texts are to be analyzed in terms of modality by groups of students in these activities Possible explanations about the actual realization of modality in the texts are also stimulated from students for the sake of clear understanding and critical evaluation
In teaching writing skills, classroom activities and home assignments should be designed so that students are to make difference choices of language to realize modality of different types and degrees in creating texts of different genres
Authentic texts such as the five speeches used in this thesis and peer writing pieces are both good sources of data for analyzing the use of modality in texts The activity of modality analysis can develop students‘ critical thinking of how to make language choices in different contexts and students‘ efficient use of language
In teaching speaking, especially in teaching presentation skills, the influence of modality types and degrees in construing the interpersonal function of the presentation should be focused by teachers Speaking tasks should be designed to elicit students‘ practice of varied manifestation modes of modality in their presentation
In teaching translating skills, teachers should ask students to seek for equivalents of modality manifestation means in Vietnamese, compare and contrast them with those means in English, thus give students chances to practice brainstorming and making decision on the best language choice to be made when translating texts from source language to target language
Understanding of the use of modality is beneficial to students‘ language skill development, both receptive and productive skills However, as this thesis studies the realization of modalization and modulation and the frequency they are used in commencement addresses, the most explicit suggestion to students can be seen in developing their own presentation skills
When making a presentation or a speech, it is essential for students to know that the appropriate use of modality is vital in realizing the interpersonal function of the text – how the speaker wants language to affect the listener, and that modality can be realized flexibly in different ways and at different degrees Every student can make a presentation but how to make it effective is another problem Many commencement addresses have their own power because they were enthusiastically welcome by thousands of students The persuasiveness, attractiveness, and pervasiveness of those speeches can result from the presence of interpersonal metafunction in general and modality in particular may give students some suggestions in learning how to produce excellent presentations by creating interpersonal relation However, students should also be aware that inappropriate use of modality manifestation devices because it can lead to unsuitable tones of their presentations or speeches, which might be the cause for communication breakdown In order to learn how to balance personal points of view and facts, students need to study carefully the meanings of each modal operator or each modal adjunct, as well as the way to use adjective and passive predicators effectively to express modality in authentic speeches delivered by native speakers, and then practice the use of them in their own creation of presentations and speeches
Such understandings and skills mentioned above should also be applied by students in creating written texts when learning writing skill, or in text analysis when learning reading, listening, or translation skills.
Suggestions for further studies
Due to the limitation of time and the allowed scope of a minor thesis, this study only surveys the realization of modalization and modulation and discusses the effectiveness of such modality devices within a limited number of clauses in five speeches Therefore, other studies may be carried out to make more detailed discussions as well as to compare and contrast the application of modalization and modulation in five or more speeches and in different genres of texts Moreover, other researches should be carried out to compare and contrast the use of modality in English and Vietnamese documents in the light of SFG
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Retrieved on December, 10 th , 2012 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/09/steve-jobs-stanford- commencement-address
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world I never graduated from college Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation Today I want to tell you three stories from my life That's it No big deal Just three stories
The first story is about connecting the dots
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school She refused to sign the final adoption papers She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college
And 17 years later I did go to college But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition After six months, I couldn't see the value in it I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting
It wasn't all romantic I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple I loved it And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me
And we designed it all into the Mac It was the first computer with beautiful typography If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever
This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life
My second story is about love and loss
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20 We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30 And then I got fired How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him So at 30 I was out
And very publicly out What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating
I really didn't know what to do for a few months I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit I had been
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife
Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple
It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick Don't lose faith I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did You've got to find what you love And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work And the only way to do great work is to love what you do If you haven't found it yet, keep looking Don't settle As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on So keep looking until you find it Don't settle
My third story is about death
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something