A Critical Discourse Analysis on U.S President Barack Hussein Obama''s State of the Unions

THE UNIVERSITYOFDANANG UNIVERSITYOF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC ÁNH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON U S PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNIONS Major ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Cod[.]

THE UNIVERSITYOFDANANG UNIVERSITYOF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC ÁNH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON U.S PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNIONS Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 822 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES (A SUMMARY) Da Nang, 2020 This thesis has been completed at University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lưu Quý Khương Examiner 1: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn Examiner 2: Ph.D Dr Lê Tấn Thi The thesis was orally defended at the Examining Committee Time: June 2020 Venue: Tay Nguyen University This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at: - Library of University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang - The Center for Learning Information Resources and Communication, The University of Da Nang CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Critical linguistics is also called Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) For Fairclough (1995a, p 133), CDA is a “discourse analysis which aims to systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events, and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations and process” The main focus of CDA is public speeches, such as political speeches, advertisements, newspapers, official documents and so on In the past, Barack Obama, the first African-American president in American history, captured the world’s attention when he applied his rich language expressions, impassioned speeches and whole hearted attitude to try to gain the public’s support Through analyzing his speeches, the readers can have a better understanding about the political purpose of the selected speeches In fact, there have been quite a variety of researchers working on language and power connection through the addresses of President Obama However, most of them tended to study a single speech and there are still few studies of the language used in political speeches according to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Norman Fairclough In order to discover the ideology which is hidden within the discourses, thereby, to serve a better understanding of these famous political discourses, so I decide to conduct the thesis entitled: “A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON U.S PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNIONS” 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.2.1 Aims This study aims at analyzing the discourse features of Barack Obama’s States of the Unions in order to explore his underlying and ideologies in general Besides, the author hopes that the findings of the study enable to recommend implications in English learning and teaching, and researching speeches of President Barack Obama in the future 1.2.2 Objectives of the study This study is intended to examine the textual description in terms of vocabulary analysis, grammar analysis and textual structure in SOTUs of President Barack Obama from critical discourse analysis viewpoints and then find out the ideology manifested in the discourses 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study aims to find out the answers to the following questions: What is the description in the SOTUs by President Barack Obama in terms of vocabulary, grammar and textual structure analysis in CDA perspective? How is ideology manifested in the SOTUs by President Barack Obama? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is confined to written aspects of the speeches and to some characteristics of the United State context at the time speeches were given In this critical discourse analysis, I am just concerned especially with the transcripts of speeches, neglecting the spoken version (including non-linguistics features, voice, stress, intonation, etc.) although the author is very much aware of its importance in comprehending of the whole speaker’s message The study analyzes seven addresses delivered by President Obama from 2010 to 2016 During studying, the researcher conducts the analysis based on Fairclough’s framework for CDA The texts are systematically analyzed by looking at linguistic features such as choices in vocabularies (wording and metaphors), grammatical properties (pronouns, modality) and text structure (macro-structure, rhetoric techniques) In order to unravel the hidden meaning or the speaker’s ideology in the speeches, these linguistic properties should be interpreted with a critical mind In other words, the researcher should answer why the speaker choose choices on his addresses 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study of President Obama’s SOTUs is expected to be a valuable contribution to find out the role of language in expressing political purposes effectively The findings of the research will help Vietnamese learners aware and achieve the beauty of using language in political speeches and understand why President Obama is considered as one of the great orators in American history 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION Chapter 2, LITERATURE REVIEW and THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Chapter 3, RESEARCH DESIGN and METHODOLOGY Chapter 4, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Chapter 5, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICALBACKGROUND 2.1 LITERATUREREVIEW CDA approach has been applied in the analysis of the most SOTUs of President Obama Recently, Ameen (2019) carried out a linguistic study to investigate the pragma-rhetorical devices and strategies utilized by Obama in his speech to the Americans on “chemical weapons” claimed to be used in Syria Kazemian and Hashemi (2014) focused on the investigating and analyzing Barack Obama’s 2012 five SOTUs from the point of frequency and functions of Nominalization, Rhetorical strategies, Passivization and Modality Based on the critical discourse analysis viewpoints, Bui (2014) analyzed the speech by President Barack Obama on the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 1st, 2011 in order to find out the ideology embedded in the discourse, an uncovered the relationship between language and power Wudie (2013) studied the adequate exploitation of language manipulation politics could grant a political benefit an d firmly control (regulate) people against their interests (Machiavellianism) or totally emancipate to be vibrant citizens in their own through Obama’s SOTU regarding the Middle East and (North) Africa Wang (2010) studieds Barack Obam’s presidential SOTUs (Obama’s Victory Speech 2008 and Obama’s Inaugural Address 2009) mainly from the point of transitivity and modality based on Critical Discourse Analysis theory and Systematic Functional Linguistics In another study, Munday (2012) explores the use of the potential of appraisal theory of evaluation (Martin & White, 2005), centering on the realization of interpersonal meaning, for the uncovering of translator decision-making The analysis is applied to a case study of two of President Obama's SOTUs, including the subtitles of President Obama's SOTU of 25 January 2012 In this research, by collecting seven transcripts of SOTUs of President Omama, which were delivered from 2010 to 2016, the author uncovered discourse features including the use of vocabulary, grammar and discourse structures with experiential, relational, expressive values according to questions framework by Fairclough (2001) The main focus of research analyzing seven SOTUs is to clarify what the ideology of the President is and how ideological loading had been manifested in these discourses From the results of this analysis, the author hopes that the readers can have a better understanding of the political purposes of president Obama and the talent of the President of the United States, who is considered as one of the greatest political orators 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Theory of Critical Discourse Analysis 2.2.1.1 Definition 2.2.1.2 Some concepts of CDA 2.2.1.3 The development of CDA 2.2.2 Fairclough CDA Model 2.2.3 Principles of CDA 2.2.4 Difference between Traditional Discourse Analysis and CDA 2.2.5 Fairclough’s analytical framework of CDA 2.2.6 Definition of State of the Union 2.2.7 A brief profile of Barack Hussein Obama CHAPTER RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 METHODOLOGY In order to achieve the set goal, the method of this study was both qualitative and quantitative methods The qualitative method would used to analyze discourse description features including vocabulary, grammar, and discourse structure with experiential, relational, expressive values in the discourse within the framework of CDA Qualitative method was necessity in the way that the frequency of key words in each word domain counted and the frequency of items featuring grammatical value determined 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 3.2.1 SAMPLING The population of the study consisted of seven speeches transcripts of Barack Obama’s State of the Unions from 2010 to 2016 collected from the website https://www.americanrhetoric.com/barackobamaspeeches.htm The length of each speech varies from 6044 to 7304 words Table 3.1 List of seven SOTUs transcripts of Barack Obama’s SOTUs from 2010 to 2016 Name of speech 2010 State of the Delivery data Total words January 27th 2010 7304 January 25th 2011 6878 January 24th 2012 7059 Union 2011 State of the Union 2012 State of the Union 10 Obama could be finally were determined, discussed and evaluated to clarify the using of language of president Obama and how effectively Obama employs these discourse features to convey his ideology and messages to the audiences The software WordSmith 5.0 was employed to support partly in figuring out the analysis results to meet the aims and objectives of thethesis 3.2.4 RESEARCH PROCEDURE The study was done as follows: • Revising previous researches and studies that related to the research • Reading the theories about CDA to gasp the theoretical backgrounds as the basic for the analysis of the data • Collecting seven transcripts of speeches from the web in English • Analyzing collected data in terms of textual description comprising vocabbulary analysis, grammar analysis and textual structure according to CDA approach • Synthesizing and discussing the findings • Drawing conclusion and putting forward some implication 3.3 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY The data collection of this study was done with the major sources which were the samples collected from an official website In addition, the author analyzed the samples basing on Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis approach that be considered as an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse It was important 11 that these speeches should be carefully read and that examples should be cautiously analyzed so as ensure the results 12 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 REALIZATION OF OBAMA’S IDEOLOGIES THROUGH HIS USE OF VOCABULARY IN THE STATE OF UNIONS 4.1.1 Using overwording Obama’s message of unity is reworded on speeches, becoming one of the most salient linguistic features Some his repetition of “America”, “American”, “Americans”, “country”, “United States/ states”, “nation” refer to America, which express the spirit of patriotism, of social responsibility for each other not just oneself Unity is also instantiated repeatedly by many phrases with “together” such as work together, make together, come together, get together, together, act together Besides, by repeating some key words in the address such as “economy”, “jobs/job”, “taxes/tax”, “education”, “health”, “world”, the ideology of President was presented Those repeated words helped to speak out what he thought, what he concerned about and what the United States was contorting the world According to Obama’s strategy, Americans will only provide support for the building of democracy in the target countries, while this task should be performed by the locals themselves 4.1.2 Using metaphor Firstly, In Obama’s SOTUs, he used construction metaphor The words like “create”, “plan”, “form” or “build” are used many times his speeches to refer either to the economy or clean energy as in the following examples: (4.4) A strong, healthy financial market makes it 13 possible for businesses to access credit and create new jobs (line 176, 2010) (4.5) In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs (line 56, 2012) Secondly, Obama framed the American reality as if it was “a dream”– a perfect country to live where everything is possible in the speeches According to Obama, American Dream is defined as “what drove the Allen Brothers to reinvent their roofing company for a new era It's what drove those students at Forsyth Tech to learn a new skill and work towards the future And that dream is the story of a small business owner named Brandon Fisher” (line 472, 2011) In the given example, Obama did not speak of the basic meaning of a dream “something that you experience in your mind while you are sleeping” Instead, he maked a reference to the future that can be improved: “something good that you hope you will have or achieve in the future” All of Obama’s metaphors representing the concept of the American Dream conveyed to illustrate strength of America It is a belief that life can always be improved, and anything depends on one’s individual ambitions regardless ethnicity and social background Thirdly, The State as a Family is another metaphor exploited in speeches There are some examples: (4.10)We are part of the American family We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed; that the dreams of a little girl 14 in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled (lines 19-23, 2010) President Obama used the metaphor in this case to express a belief that Americans are connected as one nation who shares common values and visions Also, Obama regularly declares that all Americans are equal Next, in order to serve his point of a strong and powerful America, he used Americans are strong leaders metaphor In the sentence “We sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map but the light to the world” (2011) The most basic definition of light defines it as brightness from the sun or from a light, which allows you to see things, while another meaning is to show a person eminent in a particular sphere of activity His use of metaphorical expression refers to the Americans as the eminent leaders in any field Then, in 2010 SOTU, he said “Despite our hardships, our union is strong” The most basic sense of the word strong refers to the physical capabilities “physically powerful and healthy”, whereas the context in which it was used requires understanding the metaphorical meaning to refers to someone who is strong, has confidence, determination and emotional strength These metaphorical expressions were used with the implication that Americans as extremely important and influential people in the world, Americans as the highest authority for the rest of the world, Americans as people who can survive any life hardships and Americans lead in every aspect of life such as economy, science or lifestyle 15 Finally, in SOTUs, America is often personalized as a traveler who walks together with its people in achieving their goals Obama compared the American life to a journey in the following example: (4.12)As long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong (line 538, 2012) In example 4.12, the comparison enables his listeners to comprehend the required time for things to change in the United States It is concluded that Obama has effective and creative metaphors used in convincing his people about his people plans By using these metaphorical expressions, Obama persuades Americans that their country is a place where anything is possible He makes Americans feel they are strong, powerful and exceptional leaders and encourage them not to give up and should be stronger to face challenges of difficult times These metaphors provide valuable insight into Obama’s political ideology Indeed, by being encouraged and motivated, Americans feel sympathy to Obama 4.1.3 Using metonyms In analyzing SOTUs, President Obama used metonym with two compounds “Wall Stress” and “Main Stress” in his speeches The compound “Wall Street” represents people who work for the Stock Exchange and a street where ordinary people run their businesses is called “Main Street” (4.23)Wall Street is rewarded, but hard work on Main Street isn’t (line 30, 2010) 16 4.1.4 Using synonyms Obama has a preference for using compounds consisting of the word “single” and a synonym for money The synonyms - penny or dime both mean a small amount of money Such comparison might show great respect for money, honesty and fulfillment of the promise regarding not raising taxes In fact, careful spending generates public sympathy (4.22)And we haven't raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person Not a single dime (line 89, 2010) 4.1.5 Using idioms An idiom “level the field” means to make a situation in which people are competing fair, with no one having special advantages And the idiom “play by the rules” was used to follow what is generally held to be the correct line of behavior (4.24) But realizing those benefits also means enforcing those agreements so our trading partners play by the rules (line 19, 2010) (4.25)We should write those rules We should level the playing field (line 159, 2015) 4.1.6 Using informal words Using informal words in official speeches removes the boundaries between ordinary citizens and political elite Every day language may shorten the distance between the speaker and the audience proving that the speaker is just like everyone else (4.28)Parents and students can use to compare schools based on simple criteria – where you can get the most bangs for your educational buck (line 236, 2012) 17 Every day language may shorten the distance between the speaker and the audience proving that the speaker is just like everyone else 4.1.7 Expressive values of words Expressive value is a trace of and a cue to the text producer’s assessment of social reality, and therefore relates to subjects and identities “The expressive of words has always been a center concern for those interested in persuasive language” (Fairclough, 2001:99) A typical example of expressive value is found in the story of Rebekah and Ben Erler, a young family in America (4.31) Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds Their first child, Jack, was on the way They were young and in love in America ……As the crisis worsened, Ben’s business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time Rebekah took out student loans and enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career They sacrificed for each other And slowly, it paid off They bought their first home They had a second son, Henry Rebekah got a better job and then a raise Ben is back in construction - and home for dinner every night America, Rebekah and Ben’s story is our story They represent the millions who have worked hard and scrimped, and sacrificed and retooled (lines 26-37, 2015) By this time, the audiences have such a deep sympathy with Prbekah and Ben because “Rebekah and Ben’s story is our story” In this excerpt, Obama frames Americans as hard working 18 people who are rewarded for their effort Also, he believes that sacrifice and hard work are the qualities of the American people All people who experience difficulties in their lives can identify with this story, and just like in an American dream the story has a happy ending 4.2 REALIZATION OF OBAMA’S IDEOLOGIES THROUGH HIS USE OF GRAMMAR IN THE STATE OF UNIONS 4.2.1 Using pronouns Pronouns, as Fairclough (2001), are one of important codes indicating the relational values of grammar and helping speakers convey their power and their ideology through language In all of his speeches from 2010 to 2016, Obama exploited personal pronouns “we” and “I” with a highest times of occurrences In all of the speeches, the pronoun “we” was mostly used exclusively to indicate both himself his audience His use of “we” makes the audiences feel a part of what is going on, part of the reality he is presenting The audiences will see Obama in a more positive light and feel that Obama is one of them It shows that he and the listeners are on the same boat with the same direction of ideology (4.35)We are part of the American family We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed (line 18, 2011) Apart from the personal pronoun “we”, other inclusive words such as “our” and “us” are also made use of register solidarity and intensify Obama’s ideology of unity