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 20 th 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
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?
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
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.presidency.ucsb.edu
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
- 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
Part C: Conclusion - summarizes the results of the research and suggests some implications for language teaching and learning as well as for further studies
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
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 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
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 The notion of
‗clause complex‘ can be assumed to enable us to account in full for the functional organization of sentences (Halliday, 1994: 216) Here are some illustrations:
Clause simplex || They lived in a large house ||
Clause complex ||| You never can tell || till you try |||
According to Halliday (1994), the relationship between clauses can be interpreted as one of modification The enrichment of the concept of modification will enable systematic alternatives into two dimensions: interdependency (taxis) and logico- semantic relation
This dimension represents the relation of modifying, where one element modifies or is modified by other elements in the clause Therefore, the relation is dependent or equal due to the modification If it is unequal with at least one dominant factor, the relationship is named as hypotaxis If there is equality among elements, it is called as parataxis
Hypotaxis: the relation between a dependent element and its dominant
Hypotaxis structures will be described by the Greek letter notation (α, β)
Parataxis: the equal relation between elements In other words, the elements are independent For paratactic structures, numerical notation (1, 2, 3…) will be used for illustration
In fact, a typical clause complex is a combination of hypotactic and paratactic sequences, so it will be impractical if they are separated in analysis For instance, the following clause complex can be viewed as:
||| I would || if I could, || but I can‟t |||
The second dimension of clause combination looks at the nexus between clauses in a variety of logico-semantic relation However, two most fundamental relationships include (i) expansion and (ii) projection
(i) Expansion: the secondary clause expands the primary one by elaborating, extending or enhancing it This system consists of the following choices:
Elaborating (i.e.): restating in other words, making the clause clearer, commenting and giving illustration For instance:
||| That clock doesn‟t go; || it‟s not working |||
Extending (and, or): adding new information, providing a replacement or an alternative Here is an example:
||| I would have let you know, || only I couldn‟t find your phone number |||
Enhancing (so, yet, then): giving circumstantial characteristics of time, place, manner, cause, or condition For instance:
||| Alice didn‟t want to begin another argument, || so she said nothing |||
(ii) Projection: the secondary clause is projected by the primary clause as what somebody said (a locution) or thought (an idea) This system comprises the following choices:
Locution (say) : a construction of wording
||| „I‟m not so sure,‟ || replied the Fat Controller |||
Idea (think) : a construction of meaning
||| Dr Singleman believed || his patient would recover |||
Metafunctions
Halliday (1994) considers metafunctions one of basic concepts around which systemic grammar theory is constructed as the concept of metafunctions refers not simply as the characteristics of the clause but also the meaning running throughout the whole language Metafunctions, in his point of view, are divided into three broad functions of language, known as ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions
Ideational metafunction represents the idea that language serves for the expression of content; in other words, the speaker‘s background knowledge and experience, including his own awareness The clause plays a central role as representation including the principles, which are made up of processes Meanwhile the clause is also a mode of reflection achieved through the grammatical system namely transitivity referring to as a set of process types The process types, in general, express the ―goings-on, happening, doing, sensing, meaning, being and becoming‖ (Halliday, 1994) The transitivity system is concerned with six process types: material, mental, relational, behavioural, verbal and existential
The framework of a process involves three main components:
The process itself: realized typically by verbal groups
Participants in the process: realized typically by nominal groups
Circumstances associated with the process: realized typically by adverbial group or prepositional phrase
The concepts of process, participants and circumstances are semantic categories, which provide the linguistic structure of the events in reality
Each type of process contributes to the construction of English grammar and there are specific kinds of participants associated with it in particular circumstances
This type of process carries out the meaning of actions, or some entity
―does‖ something, - which may have some influences on other entities The ―doer‖ of the action is called Actor In many cases, the actions may be referred as affecting to the second participant in the process; this one is known as Goal The actor and goal can be either human or inanimate Here is an example:
The lion caught the tourist
Actor Process: material Goal Moreover, material processes are not necessarily a concrete or physical activity They might be abstract doings or happenings as what Halliday illustrates in the following example
In a number of material processes, when there are more than two participants, the one benefiting from the process is called Recipient For instance:
Tom gave me some flowers
Actor Process: material Recipient Goal
This type of process expresses the processes of feeling, thinking, and seeing
The participant who is the conscious being that is feeling, liking and seeing is named Senser The sensed, felt, liked, thought or seen participant is called the Phenomenon Furthermore, according to Hoang Van Van (2006), mental process is classified into 4 sub-types:
Cognitive: thinking, knowing, and understanding…
Tim could hear the speaker
Senser Mental process: perceptive Phenomenon
Senser Mental process: affection Phenomenon
The students understood the problem
Senser Mental process: cognitive Phenomenon
Kate wants a well-paid job
Senser Mental process: desiderative Phenomenon
This is the process of saying, not simply the action of speaking out some notions but also the symbolic exchange of meaning Therefore, in I told you or The guide book tells everything, both ―I‖ and ―The guide book‖ are the participant which is named Sayer The verbal process includes not only Sayer but Receiver (the one to whom the process is aimed), Verbiage (content of what is said or name of the saying), and Target (the thing that is targeted by the process) as well The following are some illustrations:
He told me the truth
Sayer Process: verbal Receiver verbiage
She praised him to her friends
Sayer Process: verbal Target Receiver
The relationship of quoting or reporting is also demonstrated in this type of process
She said that she would go away
The third type of processes is relational, something is being said to be something else It comes under three main kinds:
(+) Intensive: X is A (+) Circumstantial: X is at A (refers to location) (+) Possessive: X has A
Each of these comes in two distinct modes:
(+) Attribute: A is an attribute of X
(+) Identifying: A is the identity of X Halliday offers the principal types of relational process as the following:
Intensive Sarah is wise The leader is Tom
Circumstantial The fair is on a Tuesday Tomorrow is the 10th
Possessive Peter has a piano The piano is Peter‟s
Table 2 1: The principal types of relational process
In Atributive mode, one participant is known as Carrier and the quality to represent the possessive relation of carrier is referred to as Attribute For instance:
Your story sounds completely nonsense
In Identifying mode, there is a clear distinction between the identifying and identified participants This pair is termed as Identifier/ Identified and Token/
Identified/ Token Process: relational Identifier/ Value
In some cases, the possessive relationship can be referred as Possessor and Possessed For example:
This type of process illustrates the physiological and psychological behaviors such as cough, smile, dream although it seems to share the characteristics of mental and material process The participant who behaves is the Behaver and this participant is always a conscious being, not a lifeless thing There are five kinds of this process as Halliday suggests:
Processes of consciousness as form of behavior: look, watch, stare
Verbal processes as behavior: chatter, grumble, talk
Physiological processes manifesting states of consciousness: cry, laugh
Other physiological processes: breathe, faint, sleep
Bodily postures and pastimes: sing, dance, lie
Normally, there is one participant in behavioral process:
This indicates that something exists or happens Normally, the word There will appear in the process as the subject without representational function This process typically involves the verb be and other verbs to express the existence or happening such as exist, remain, arise, occur
The object or event which is being said to be existent is known as Existent
It can be an entity or an event that takes place The following are some examples:
Process: existential Existent: entity Circumstance
Circumstances express the notion of ―When, where, how and why‖ the process takes place Circumstantial factors can be adverbial group or prepositional phrases Halliday (1994: 151) presents a ―fairly arbitrary list‖ of nine main circumstantial elements as the following:
1 Extent Distance, duration I walked for 10 miles
It occurs throughout the year
2 Location Place, time At the party
He sings loudly She is like a princess
Because of his illness For the sake of us
6 Accompaniment Comitation, addition He came with me
Jane came as well as me
7 Role Guise, product I talked as a representative
She is turning into another person
8 Matter She is worried about her son
9 Angle According to the author
Interpersonal metafunction is constructed on the idea that a clause can act as an exchange The communicative exchange purpose may be ordering, apologizing, confirming, inviting, rejecting, evaluating and so on However, the most basic ones are demanding and giving the language commodity, or information and ―goods and services‖ (Halliday, 1994) In carrying the exchange of interactive relations, a clause can be seen as consisting of two components: mood and residue
The mood shows what role the speaker selects in the speech situation and what role he assigns to the addressee In English, it includes two elements: (i) subject and (ii) finite
(i) Subject is a similar term from traditional grammar It supplies the rest of what it takes to form a proposition, something by reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or denied
(ii) Finite can be used to make reference to time of speaking (temporal operator) or to the judgment of speaking (modal operator) Sometimes, it is obvious to find out finite as in the cases when auxiliary or modal verbs are separated For example:
Did you invite her to the party?
However, finite can be mixed with lexical verbs in simple present and simple past tense Here are some examples:
The sun sets in the West
The other element of a clause is called residue This part consists of three subfactors: (i) predicator, (ii) complement, and (iii) adjuncts
(i) Predicator: is expressed by the verbal group It is also an indispensable section of any clause The predicator presents the action, happening state…in which the subject is involved
(ii) Complement: is realized by a nominal group The orders of complement and subject will have an influence on thematic purposes of the clause
(iii) Adjuncts: is performed by an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase
In summary, the following sample (Thompson, 1996) can illustrate the interpersonal metafunction once again:
In the following day he did not go out early
Adjunct Subject Finite Predicator Adjunct Adjunct
1.4.3 Textual metafunction: theme and rheme identification
The metafunction which gives the clause the characteristics of a message is the thematic structure In any clause, there is one element, which ―serves as the point of departure‖ namely Theme and the remainder of the clause, which develops Theme in order to complete the message of the clause, is known as Rheme
As ―the starting point of the message‖, theme is commonly supposed to be at the beginning rather than the end of the clause Theme can be a nominal group, an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase The following are some examples:
My husband is an engineer
Long ago, I lived in this village
In silence, he got into the house
When theme stands at the first place as a subject of the clause, it is unmarked due to the obvious role it is supposed to play On the other hand, any themes other than the subject in a declarative are referred to as marked theme
Most common form of marked theme is a circumstance or a complement Some illustrations are the following:
In 2010, we moved to this city
Cohesion
Nguyen Hoa (2000: 23) defines cohesion as ―the formal relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together‖ It is a wide range of semantic relationships conveyed through clauses It occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another, the one presupposes the other
Actualization of cohesion depends on both selection of some option from systematic resources (reference, ellipsis, substitution, conjunction and structural parallelism) and the presence of some other elements (repetition, synonym, antonym, meronymy and collocation) which resolves the presupposition that this sets up They all fall into two main types of cohesion namely grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion which will be discussed in the following parts
1.5.2 Types of cohesion 1.5.2.1 Grammatical cohesion
Grammar, in linguistics, refers to the logical and structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases or words of any given languages
Grammatical cohesion, thus, refers to the logical and structural content of a text
According to Hoang Van Van (2006: 66), reference illustrates the relationship of identity which exists between units in discourse It can be classified into six main sub-types:
Anaphoric reference : directs listeners or readers to refer ―backwards‖ to the preceding text to get a comprehensive understanding of the discourse In the analysis, it is indicated by a backward arrow For example:
Look at the sun It‟s going down quickly
Cataphoric reference : refers ―forwards‖ the clause so as to specify the reference meaning In the analysis, it is illustrated by a forward arrow For instance:
As she arrived home, Janet noticed that the door was open
Exophoric reference : refers ―outwards‖ the clause to some participants in the previous part In the analysis, it is indicated by a vertical arrow For example:
The man turned out to be a thief
Personal reference : is the reference to the category of human participants, using pronouns In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: P) Here is an example:
I and my mother are at the market We want to buy some fruits
Comparative reference : is for the purpose of illustrating comparison, similarities or identities, comparative reference are expressions such as the same, similar to, more than, the most, as good as… In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: C) Here is the example:
She cooks much better than her sister
Demonstrative reference : is a form of verbal pointing by speakers who identifies the referent by locating it on the scale proximity in terms of time and space It‘s normally expressed through determiners like this, that, these, those, and adverbs like here, or there In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: D) Here is an example:
She won the first prize This made her parents really pleased
Substitution refers to the process or result of replacing one item by another at a particular place in discourse There are three subtypes of substitution including nominal, verbal and clausal substitution
Nominal Substitution: is the use of a substitute word to replace the Head of a corresponding nominal group For instance:
This branch is not open I need to find another one
Verbal Substitution: is ―do‖ This functions as Head of a verbal group, in the place that is occupied by the lexical verb For instance:
The gas price increases considerably than it did last year
Clausal Substitution: is the type in which what is presupposed is not an element within the clause but an entire clause For instance:
- She will get the first prize in that contest
Ellipsis is used in the sense that something is omitted by a structure but the missing part can always be retrieved from another structure within a sentence or beyond a sentence Elliptical cohesion can be discussed in terms of nominal, verbal and clausal ellipsis
Nominal Ellipsis: when the thing is omitted, one of the elements in the modifier must take the role of the head, but the reader can recover the omitted thing from the presupposition
For example: - I like the red bike - I prefer the yellow (bike)
Verbal Ellipsis: the mood element is present but the residue is omitted For example:
- Have you ever been here? - Yes, I have (been here)
Clausal Ellipsis: takes the presupposing clause as a basic structure where ellipsis occurs in constituents like the subject complement, predicator and adjunct For example:
- I think you have to tell them the truth
- Why? (do I have to tell them the truth?)
The term ―conjunction‖ is used to describe the cohesive tie between clauses or sections of text in such a way as to demonstrate a meaningful relationship between them It is also understood as the linking of ideas, or events This ―linking‖ is conveyed by the use of a wide range of conjunctive adjuncts (an adverbial group or prepositional phrase) ―within the domains of elaboration, extension and enhancement‖ (Halliday, 1994: 324)
Apposition : the restatement or represented of some factors
(i) Expository: in other words, that is to say, I mean…
(ii) Exemplifying: for example, for instance, to illustrate…
Clarification : summary and clearer reinstatement for the discourse purposes (i) Corrective: rather than, at least, to be more specific…
(ii) Distractive: by the way, incidentally…
(iii) Dismissive: in any case, anyway, leaving that aside…
(iv) Particularizing: in particular, especially…
(v) Resumptive: to resume, as I was saying…
(vi) Summative: in short, to sum up, in brief…
(vii) Verifactive: actually, as a matter of fact, in fact…
(i) Positive: and, also, moreover, in addition…
Adversative : but, yet, on the other hand, however…
(i) Replacive: on the contrary, instead of (ii) (ii) Subtractive: apart from that, except for that … (iii) (iii) Alternative: alternatively
Spatio - temporal : The spatial relations serve as ―text-creating cohesive devices‖
(i) Simple: following (then, next, afterwards…), simultaneous (just then, at the same time…), preceding (before that, previously…)…
(ii) Complex: immediate (at once, immediately…), interrupted (soon, after a while…), repetitive (next time, on another occasion…)…
(iii) Simple internal: (next, secondly…), simultaneous (at this point, here…), preceding (up to now…)…
Manner : cohesion is created by manner conjunctives through comparison and reference to means
(i) Comparison: positive (likewise, similarly…) or negative (in a different way) (ii) Means: thus, thereby, by such means…
Causal – conditional : the causal expressions can be in general or specific while the conditionals can be positive, negative or concessive (i) Causal expressions: general (so, then, hence…); specific (as a result) (ii) Conditionals: positive (in that case), negative (if not) or concessive (yet, still, through…)
Matter : with this type of conjunction, the cohesion refers to the matter which happened previously
(i) Positive: here, there, as to that…
(ii) Negative: in other respects, elsewhere…
Obviously, the various kinds of conjunction are not definite; they can, in fact, overlap with one another The above clarification, which is provided by Halliday
(1994) ―are those which have been found most useful in the interpretation of texts‖
According to Nguyen Hoa (2000: 27), if two or more clauses have identical or very similar structure, this parallelism may serve as a means of connecting clauses or clause complexes with the connection being further reinforced by lexical equivalence and implications of semantic relationship Obviously, in the following example, the construction ―wherever there‟s we bring ” recurs in the second clause complex apart from such synonyms as despair/ fear and hope/ confidence
Wherever there‟s despair, we bring hope Wherever there‟s fear, we bring confidence
The choice of lexical items can determine the discourse cohesion Lexical cohesion involves the employment of repetition, synonymy, antonym, meronymy and collocation
Repetition looks at the same lexical item with the same meaning occurring more than one time in the same discourse (Hoang Van Van, 2006: 81) For instance:
Reza saw a dog The dog was wounded by the children
Ali arrived yesterday His arrival made his mother happy
Synonymy refers to the relation between different words bearing the same meaning or nearly the same meaning for a particular person, object, process or quality For instance:
What people want from the government is frankness
They should explain everything to the public
It describes a relationship between two words, in which the meaning of one of the words includes the meaning of the other For instance:
A dog is a symbol of loyality That animal is mine
Cohesion results from the choice of a lexical item that is in some sense in part-whole relationship with a preceding lexical item For instance:
He wounded his left hand in the war, and he could not bend his index finger since then
Antonyms are able to effectively convey lexical cohesion which comes about by the selection of an item which is opposite in meaning to a preceding lexical item
Ali received a letter from bank yesterday He will send answer next day
This means of lexical cohesion seems to be only dependent on particular associations between items Collocation is ―one of the factors on which we build our expectations of what is to come next‖ (Halliday, 1994) as in the following case; there is a collocation bond between the bank and bankrupt
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt
There are three subtypes including resultative, modificational, and contextual
Resultative: refers to the relation of one item leading to the outcome of another item e.g kill – die, rain – wet, dark – night,
Modificational: illustrates the relation holding between an item and one of its inherent qualities e.g run – fast, bright – sun,
Contextual: introduces the co-occurrence of words in one context but not related in other contexts e.g mother – housework,
Summary
This chapter has provided the theoretical background relevant to the objectives of the study The researcher has illustrated an overview of the notions of form and meaning and the context model in SFL The combination of clauses based on interdependency and logico-semantic relation as well as the metafunctions including interpersonal metafunction, ideational metafunction and textual metafunction have been represented in some detail Finally, the concept of cohesion and its major types as a means of analyzing texts have also been introduced as the last fundamental concept for the study In the next chapter, the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 will be investigated, using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework.
THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL
Introduction
The title ―inaugural address‖ is supposed to be related to a spoken piece of language in use; however, from the point of view of systematic functional grammar, the term text is used ―to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole ‖ (Halliday and Hasan, 1985) Of the same opinion, Nunan (1993: 7-8) defines a text as ―any written record of a communicative event
The event itself involves oral language or written language‖ The title of the minor thesis ―The meaning and structure of the inaugural address‖, therefore, refers to the analysis of the address as a text based on functional linguistics
The procedures and conventions used in the following analysis will be carried out using Halliday and Hasan (1976) Cohesion in English; and Halliday
(1994) An introduction to Functional Grammar as the theoretical framework The analysis will be implemented on the context of the chosen text; the context situation of the text in terms of field, tenor and mode; clause and clause complex; transitivity pattern; mood pattern; theme - rheme pattern; and cohesion of the text.
The context of the chosen text
As mentioned, the text is the inaugural address delivered by President John
F Kennedy in the inaugural ceremony at the United States Capitol on January 20 th
John F Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29 th 1917 to a businessman/politician and a philanthropist In 1936, he enrolled at Harvard College and developed an interest in political philosophy After serving in the military as commander during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts' 11th congressional district in the U.S House of Representative from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat Thereafter, he served in the U.S
Senate from 1953 until 1960 In 1960 presidential election, he defeated Vice
President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon to become the 35th President of the United States at the age of 43 with the policy known as the New Frontier
However, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963, which became one of the most shocking events in the history
The inaugural address was delivered to American citizens in the inaugural ceremony and even to a televised audience worldwide It is widely considered to be among the best presidential inauguration speeches in American history The main theme of the address is to emphasize optimism and idealism in a time of constant panic and anxiety of American people since the start of the Cold War Specifically, it reveals Americans‘ determination to protect their freedom and their willingness to help improve people‘s lives and co-exist peacefully with other countries Then, the speaker calls for the action from all American citizens to do what is right for the greater good and puts a focus on maintenance of international relations in order to create a sort of utopia where any problem that comes at mankind could be resolved.
Contextual configuration of the text
Context is undeniably an integral part to help understand a great deal about the language used Halliday (1994) develops a model for contextual analysis which includes three main elements namely field, tenor and mode These features of the text can be summarised as follows:
Field of discourse refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place (Hoang Van Van, 2006: 40) In terms of field, the text is a speech written to be delivered at the inaugural ceremony to the American audience in particular and public worldwide in general in order to mark the commencement of the president‘s term and more importantly to express his thoughts and visions and then to ask for specific actions In the text, processes of different types are used, dominantly material process that indicates the author‘s visions in which Americans will do all in their power to protect the liberty and Americans‘ willingness to maintain peaceful international relations with other countries and the support to improve people‘s lives around the world Relational, mental and verbal processes are also used in quite high frequency in the text While mental process reflects values and beliefs of the author as well as the American nation, verbal process emphasizes the author‘s commitments and the call for the American audience to dedicate themselves to service and sacrifice and for the international audience to unite to protect their own freedom and resolve any problems Also, numerous participants occurring throughout the text include actor, senser, sayer, identified, carrier and existent
Eggins (1994: 63) defines tenor as ―the social role relationships played by interactants‖ In this text, there exists the relationship between the speaker and the audience (listeners) This relationship is equal, which is exposed through the use of friendly address “fellow citizens” and inclusive pronoun “we” Besides, the speaker, President John F Kennedy, uses political and formal lexis in his speech
Various kinds of mood including declarative, interrogative and imperative are used, among which declarative mood is predominant Appearing in 70 clauses, declarative mood makes the speech coherent and easy to follow and lets the speaker proclaim things Imperative mood in 24 clauses also helps convey the speaker‘s message Although used in only 2 clauses, interrogative mood allows speaker to attract more attention from the whole audience and thus makes the speech more motivating for them
Mode is concerned with textual meaning or thematic structure of the text In this spoken text, it is a face-to-face communication, and the speaker uses his own language to express his visions for the future of the country in which Americans will do anything to protect their freedom and support other countries to improve people‘s lives worldwide and then to call for action from the domestic and international audience The channel of this text mainly belongs to the auditory one
There is a high lexical density with a large number of content words and low grammatical intricacy.
Clause and clause complex analysis
As can be seen from the detailed analysis of the text into clauses and clause complexes provided in Appendix 2 at page IV, the text consists of 121 clauses which comprise 53 clause complexes Most of the clause complexes are composed of two or three clause simplexes such as II, V, VII, XIII, XIV, XVI, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII, XXVI, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXV, XLI, XLIII, XLIV, XLVII, XLVIII, L, and XLXII Notably, there are nine clause complexes made up by 4 or 8 clause simplexes, among which clause complex numbered IX ―Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty” is a typical instance containing eight clause simplexes It is obvious that the use of clauses of such varying sizes contributes to keep the speech dynamic and engaging
As it can also be seen, there is an inequality between paratactic and hypotactic relation among clauses in the clause complexes Specifically, there are only five clause complexes including II, XIII, XXXIV, XLVII, and L being of paratactic relation whereas hypotactic relation is represented in 22 complexes such as V, VII, VIII, IX, XIV, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXVI, XXVII, XXXI, XXXIII, XXXV, XXXVI, XLI, XLIII, XLIV, XLVIII, LII, and LIII to indicate the dependent relationship among clauses in complexes One more notable thing is that a number of clause complexes do not contain only one kind of relation but two or even more Clause complexes numbered XVI, XVII, XXVIII, and XXXII are taken as examples In these clause complexes, paratactic and hypotactic relation are combined to make the text cohesive and persuasive Surprisingly, no quoting and quoted clauses are found
Moreover, the majority of semantic relation is elaboration (used in 19 complexes like II, IX, XXVII, XLIV, XLVII, XLVIII, L, and so on) further specifying or describing the given one and followed by enhancement relation (appearing in 16 complexes such as V, IX, XIII, XIV, XVII, XXIII, XXXV, LII and so on) qualifying the given one by reference to time, place, manner, cause or condition This really helps make the speaker‘s point of view clear to the listeners and thus to persuade them to act in the desired way.
The analysis of the text in terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme
The analysed text is the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 through which the president emphasizes his visions for the future of the country in which Americans will do anything to protect their freedom and Americans‘ willingness to co-exist peacefully with other countries worldwide and then calls for action from the American public to do what is right for the country and from the people around the world for the maintenance of international relations to resolve any problem coming at mankind together The ―What is going on‖ of the text is well represented in the experiential component of meaning For detail, please see Appendix 3 at page XV
From the point of view of transitivity, of 121 clauses 79 are of material process which is represented through a wide variety of verbs In the text, the most frequent use goes to the causative structure of the verb let such as let the word go in clause 12, let every nation know in clause 17, let all our neighbours know in clause
49, let every other power know in clause 52, let both sides explore in clause 73, let both sides formulate in 75, let both sides seek in 78, let both sides unite in 85, let both sides join in 88, let us begin in 67 and 94, let us never negotiate in 71, let us never fear in 72, and let us explore in 80 The use of material process with this verb let helps outline the author‘s visions for the future of the country in which Americans will do all in their power to secure the liberty and Americans‘ willingness to maintain international relations with other countries and the support to improve people‘s lives around the world Relational process is also used in quite high frequency Specifically, it appears in 15 clauses with symbolizing in clause 3, signifying in clause 4, is in 6, 42, 69, and 70, are in 11, 60, 89, 102 and 115, become in 48 and 6 and be in 121) presenting the state of beings Besides, mental process is used in 12 clauses such as clause 2 ―we observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom”, clause 10 ―we dare not forget today”, clause 34 ―we shall not always expect to find them supporting our view” clause 35 ―but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom”, and clause 109 ―I do not believe” reflecting the values and beliefs of the author as well as the American nation Although not used as frequently as those three processes, verbal process plays a vital role to convey the author‘s message throughout the speech In 10 clauses of this process exists the outstanding appearance of two verbs pledge and ask The use of pledge in clause 25, 26, 31, 38 puts an emphasis on the author‘s commitments to support those who are friends and oppose those who are enemies to assure the freedom of his own country and any other country With the use of the verbs ask in clause complex L ―And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country”, and clause complex LI ―My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”, the speaker calls on the American people to commit themselves to service and sacrifice and requires international audience to unite to protect their own freedom and resolve any problems together In the text, however, there are only two clauses using existential process (is in clause 27 and 28) while behavioural process is absent from the text
Besides, a large number of the processes are in the present tenses including simple present and present perfect (35 clauses) characterising the current states or actions which occur or have occurred whereas future tenses are used in over 20 processes illustrating the actions possibly happening in the future
In terms of circumstance, the text uses a wide variety of circumstantial components The main one is location of time and place like in 25 clauses (now, today, here, around the globe, from this time and place, in this century, in the past, anywhere, in Americas, from our course, and so on) Some circumstances are of manner (this much, little, at odds) Some are of accompaniment (with them, with weakness, instead of its terrors, together), extent (still, for the first time), frequency (always, never), cause (out of fear, for the inspection and control of arms, for all mankind), role (into good deeds, not as a call to bear arms) and the others are of degree such as like
2.5.2 The Mood pattern of the text
The mood patterns of the text reveal the relationship between the politician and the public in his own nation and around the world It can be seen from the analysis of mood pattern of the text illustrated in Appendix 4 at page XXII that nearly fifty percent of Subjects in the clauses are personal (we - 21 times; I – 4 times, it – 4 times; you – 2 times; they – 1 times) The high frequency of pronoun we which includes both the speaker himself and the listeners as a united subject proves the sense of solidarity, rapport and responsibility of the author with the audience In contrast, the pronoun you is used as a subject only twice referring to the audience when the speaker wishes to call on every single individual of them for actions
In addition, various kinds of mood including declarative, interrogative and imperative are used in the text The majority goes to declarative mood which appears in 70 clauses (2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28,
104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 115, 121), which makes the speech coherent and easy to follow It also allows the speaker to proclaim things – the situation of the world and his country, his plan to fix it, and the core values he will uphold The interrogative mood is used in clauses 103, 104 ―Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?” and clause 105 ―Will you join in that historic effort?” This use of interrogative mood besides numerous clauses of declarative mood lets the speaker attract more attention from the whole audience and thus make the speech more motivating for them In other words, by raising these two questions, the author seems to encourage his citizens to unite in order to struggle against all kinds of enemies Notably, the use of imperative mood in 24 clauses in the text is regarded as a powerful means to convey the speaker‘s message
Specifically, the author uses imperative mood in a number of clauses starting with the verb let like let (both sides) in clause 73, 75, 78, 85, 88, and let (the word in 12, every nation in 17, all our neighbours in 49, every other power in 52) in which let means ―allow‖ This use contributes to emphasizing his claim of America‘s freedom and his future plans to secure it as well as to co-exist peacefully with other countries In addition to this, when choosing this shade of meaning of let, he seems to assume that America is the most powerful nation in the world In some other clauses of imperative mood starting with the verb let like let us in clause 67, 71, 72,
80, and 94, the author uses let with a view to making suggestions and the mood is also considered inclusive mood indicating that both the speaker and listeners will join the actions This helps get the audience more excited and inspired about creating changes Besides, the imperative mood with the verb ask is used in clause
112, 113, 114, and 116 to illustrate the author‘s request for service and sacrifice from the audience
It can also be seen from the analysis that there are 22 modal elements used in the text (clauses 19, 32, 34, 35, 40, 44, 43, 48, 50, 61, 62, 63, 87, 92, 93, 95, 103,
104, 105, 110, 111, and 121) among which four modalities express willingness in positive form (shall and will) and one in negative form (shall not) , three modalities show probability in positive form (may, will and would) and one in negative form (shall not), four modalities represent ability in positive form (can) while three in negative form (cannot), three modalities convey prediction in positive form (will) and one in negative form (will not) and only one modality indicates obligation in positive form (must)
As the text is a speech, the first clause in the greeting part, considered as a minor clause, does not carry mood pattern Neither do a number of non-finite clauses such as clause 3, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 24, 33, 36, 51, 55, 56, 57, 68, 74, 77, 79,
2.5.3 The Thematic pattern of the text
As can be seen from the analysis of thematic pattern of the text presented in Appendix 5 at page XXVII , of 86 clauses and clause complexes analysed for theme
66 have unmarked theme and 20 have marked theme The circumstances of some types including time, place, and manner are mainly used as marked themes such as in the past, now, in the long history of the world, in your hands, here, together, this much Marked themes in the text are also realized by prepositional phrases like to those old allies, to those new states, to those people of half the globe, to our sister republics south of our border, to that world united nations, to those nations, which present people and countries America promises to support as well as co-exist peacefully with
Furthermore, the analysis proves that most of the themes in the text belong to ideational component, or topical theme The animate nouns (We, I, You, or each generation of Americans) are themes predominant in the text showing the most vital entity the speech made about Predicators realized as topical themes including let, ask appear in quite high frequency in the text This illustrates the actions Americans and people around the world need and will do for a brighter prospect Besides, there is a wide use of inanimate nouns such as the world, the same revolutionary beliefs, the torch, this country, a free society, this peaceful revolution of hope, civility, sincerity, the energy, the faith, the devotion helping emphasize Americans‘ belief and determination to protect their own freedom In the text, textual themes are chiefly the positive addition and, adversative but and the word that They occur in 49 clause complexes to make the text more cohesive and coherent It is quite normal that there are only six interpersonal themes , most of which are presented by finites can and will as this is a written text to speak out.
The Cohesion of the text
As mentioned in chapter 1, grammatical cohesion contains five main types, four of which identified by Halliday and Hasan (1976) include reference, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunction and the rest suggested by Nguyen Hoa (2000: 27) is structural parallelism The uses of substitution and ellipsis, however, are not of high frequency in the text so they will not be noticed The main focus is, therefore, on reference, conjunction and structural parallelism
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), there are three main kinds of reference including personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference, all of which can be anaphoric, cataphoric, or exophoric reference As can be revealed from the analysis of reference of the text supplied in Appendix 6 at page XXXII, the most frequent use belongs to demonstrative reference expressed through determiners like this, that, those and especially the (the power, the belief, the rights, the word, the free, the back, the chains, the prey, the quest, the cost, the life and so on) The personal reference is also widely used in the text with different pronouns such as I, my, you, your, we, our, us, it, they, them, and his Specifically, pronouns I, my in clause 114, 112, 108, 107, 95 refer to the speaker, while pronouns we, our, us in clause 121, 117, 111, 103, 102, 101, 100, 94, 92, 80, 74, 73, 72, 71,
61,58, 54, 48, 11, 9, 5, and so on refer to both the speaker and the audience
Another instance is that you in clause 113 refers to the fellow Americans whereas you in clause 114 refers to the fellow citizens of the world Not used as commonly as those two kinds of reference, comparative reference is realized through the expression the same in the text The comparative expression the same used both in clause 5 the same (solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago) and clause 9 and yet the same (revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought) helps to remind all the American citizens of their forebears with respect and tribute
The analysis also indicates that the total number of reference used in the text is 205, among which the anaphoric and cataphoric is 113 and 54 relatively
Especially, the number of exophoric is 38/ 205, which suggests that the text, as it is a speech, is highly linked to the outside non-linguistic environment For instance, the use of the (state), this (time and place), the (past), the (communists), the (Americas), the (deadly atom), the (absolute powers), the (stars), the (earth), this (Administration), or this (planet) in the text requires the listeners to have a background knowledge of the situation to fully understand the speech One more important thing is the text has 121 clauses while there are138 cohesive ties In other words, the number of ties per clause is 1.14, which reveals the fact that the text is highly cohesive
It is obvious that the text makes a heavy use of conjunctive devices to describe the grammatically cohesive ties between clauses and clause complexes of the text in such a way as to demonstrate a meaningful relationship between them
As can be seen in the text, 45 conjunctive devices are used, one third of which are employed to constitute the cohesion between clause complexes like for in clause 5,
6, 60, but in 35, 48, 63, 72, 94, and in 9, 52, 87, 112 whereas the two thirds are employed to establish the cohesion between clauses in clause complexes such as because in clause 40, 41, 42, though in clause 3, 4 or since in clause 96 and so on
It can also be seen that conjunctive word and is the most widely used in the text to show the elaborating relation among clauses Moreover, conjunctions but, yet are used to add adversative information to the text To enhance the relation among clauses in terms of reasons the text uses for, because, so and in terms of concession it uses whether, though Besides, there are uses of conjunctions of subsequent time (finally), of positive condition (if), of place (where), of time (since, only when) and of variation (instead of); however, they are not really frequent In short, it is the heavy use of conjunctive devices that contributes to make the text more cohesive and coherent to follow
Structural parallelism seems common in political texts and this text is no exception Throughout the text, parallelism is strongly utilized in order to make it cohesive and better convey the author‘s message Near the beginning of the text, the author mentions adamantly that America will ―pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, [and] oppose any foe," for the preservation of liberty This example of parallelism of clauses makes clear his determination to do anything it takes for the survival of peace and liberty of his own country Besides, the parallel constructions ―To those we pledge ” in clause 26, 31, 38 or “to we offer ” in clause 45, 58 allow the speaker elaborate upon his ideas while still keeping them connected The ideas are that he will see to and care about all nations, regardless of their type of government, wealth and location in the world Another typical example of structural parallelism is “Let both sides ” in clause 75, 78, 85,
88, which helps emphasize the speaker‘s willingness to work things out with countries America is having problems with as well as his determination to bring people together Structural parallelism is also used in the clause complex “Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need - not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle” allowing the author to build a greater power for the text In summary, the text is kept flowing thanks to the use of structural parallelism This flow keeps the audience‘s attention while still accomplishing the purpose of illustrating the speaker‘s points
Halliday and Hasan (1976) view lexical cohesion as the ―phoric‖ cohesion established through the structure of the lexis, or vocabulary with some main types including repetition, antonymy, synonymy, meronymy, hyponymy and collocation
The uses of hyponymy, meronymy and collocation, nevertheless, are not notable to help constitute cohesion for the text; accordingly the lexical cohesion analysis mainly focuses on repetition, antonymy, and synonymy Based on the analysis represented in Appendix 7 at page XXXIX, the lexical cohesion in the text can be summarised as follows:
Undeniably, repetition is used as one of the most powerful device to constitute lexical cohesion As can be seen from the analysis, there are about 70 instances of lexical items repeated throughout the text The most striking instance is the verb let which is repeated 16 times in clause 17, 49, 52, 67, 71, 72, 73, 75, 78,
80, 85, 86, 88, 94, and 11 This repetition helps illustrate the author‘s points clearly and thus motivate the audience to act in his desired way Besides, the speaker uses phrases (fellow) citizens addressing the listeners four times in clause 1, 95, 114, 115 in order to constantly attract their attention to what he is saying as well as establish a rapport with them Moreover, the repetition of the word nation (8 times), free, freedom (8 times), and unite, united (3 times) helps emphasize the aim of the president to continue to protect the freedom and equality for the nation and the determination that the whole nation will unite to secure their own liberty Besides, the verb pledge in clause 25, 26, 31, 38 is repeated in the form of a noun in clause
45, 54, 58, which reveals the flexible lexical use of the author However, above all, this repetition of the lexeme pledge - the pledge to assure the survival and success of liberty, the pledge of loyalty to faithful friends, the pledge of struggling to break the bonds of mass misery and the pledge to convert our good words into good deeds- contributes to grabbing the audience mind of the importance of those commitments Repetition is seen again with the phrase both sides when the speaker extends his proposals for the future of the adversaries He utilises this phrase five times throughout the text like in ―Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us”, “Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science, instead of its terrors” and “Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah - to 'undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free” so as to bring focus to the importance of making peace One more instance which cannot help being mentioned is the repetition of the word God As the first Catholic president, at the beginning of the speech, the speaker mentions God in ―for I have sworn before you and Almighty God”, and
“the belief that the rights of man from the hand of God” and at the end he mentions God again in ―with history the final judge of our deeds , asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God‟s work must truly be our own”, which seems to reveal that the author is a deeply religious man In short, the use of repetition helps not only make the speech have far greater cohesion but also convey the speaker‘s message to the audience effectively
Recapitulation
This minor thesis is a study on the meaning and structure of the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework In part A, the topic, the aim, the scope, and the methodology of the study are illustrated After the research question is identified, SFG, especially the framework developed by Halliday is chosen to be the theoretical framework to analyse the text Therefore, in the first chapter of part B, some fundamental concepts in SFG including form and meaning, model of context, clause and clause complex, metafunctions (ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunction), and cohesion are re-examined The detailed analysis of the text in terms of transitivity, mood, theme and cohesion is discussed in chapter 2 of this part The findings show that in terms of transitivity, material process is predominant in the whole text, followed by relational, mental and verbal process showing determination and actions Americans will do to protect their own freedom and their willingness to coexist peacefully with other nations In terms of mood, although declarative mood is used more frequently than interrogative and imperative mood, all of them play essential parts in conveying the speaker‘s message to the audience
In terms of theme, topical theme is mainly unmarked realized by animate nouns (We, I, You, or each generation of Americans) and predicators (let, ask) Marked theme is presented by circumstances of time, place, and manner and prepositional phrases like to those old allies, to those new states, to those people of half the globe, to our sister republics south of our border, to that world united nations, to those nations, which present people and countries America promises to support as well as maintain peaceful relations with The wide use of reference, conjunctive devices and structural parallelism as grammatical cohesion and repetition, synonymy, and antonymy as lexical cohesion really makes the text far more cohesive, and coherent In short, through this analysis, it can be confirmed that this text is tremendously meaningful, concise, and highly cohesive with the diversified uses of lexis and structures It completely deserves to be considered one of the greatest speeches of all time Also, SFG is a really effective tool for analysing the structure and meaning of a particular text.
Implications of the study
The applications of Systemic Functional Grammar can be practical both in language teaching and learning and in language in use
First, as for language teaching and learning, the functional grammar perspective enhances the communicative teaching movement and insights on specific areas of cohesion, modality and theme choice Undeniably, they are the main factors thanks to which students may determine the language usage in writing for coherence improvement, in speaking for fluently expressing ideas, in listening for understanding the speakers‘ choice of confirming given or new information, and for realizing the relationships within the passage in reading Teachers can also gain some benefits from the implications of functional grammar, especially when they design syllabi This is due to the fact that they are based on the functions of language items to decide what to teach for their own kinds of students and to direct students instead of only focusing on the formation of the language structures
Moreover, SFG helps improve the communicative effectiveness in grammar classes
Rather than explain only the structure of a tense, for instance, the teacher may provide students with various examples of different contexts in which this tense is used, and then ask them to exploit the meaning of the tense usage in those contexts
By that way, students will understand not only the formation but also the reasons for using this tense and therefore they will apply it for their own purpose effectively
Second, SFG is useful for analysing text structure even in newspaper editorials, academic journals or literary works Any interpretation of text needs to be based on understanding of the structure and lexico-grammatical devices It also serves as a fundamental framework in evaluating the language used in specific discourses as far as linguistics study such as the approach of Critical Discourse Analysis.
Suggestions for further study
Due to time limitation and material restriction, this study has only dealt with an English public speech using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework, which makes it impossible to point out any characteristic features in terms of meaning and structure of this genre Therefore, for further research, it is recommended that far more texts of the same type should be analysed in order to generalise what are their characteristic features Another potential approach can be the contrastive analysis of the meaning and structure of English and Vietnamese public speech to explore the differences in characteristic features of this text type between the two languages
Alexander, T (2004) Basic Concepts of Discourse Analysis
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Halliday, M A K (2004) Dẫn luận Ngữ pháp chức năng (Hoàng Văn Vân dịch) Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia
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APPENDIX 1 INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F KENEDY IN 1961
Vice President Johnson, Mr Speaker, Mr Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice president Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:
We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom symbolizing an end as well as a beginning signifying renewal as well as change For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago
The world is very different now For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe-the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty
This much we pledge and more
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures Divided, there is little we can do for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom-and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside
To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is because it is right If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge to convert our good words into good deeds in a new alliance for progress to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction
We dare not tempt them with weakness For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war
So let us begin anew remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof Let us never negotiate out of fear But let us never fear to negotiate
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah to "undo the