a cda al gore's lecture at nobel peace prize award 2007= phân tích bài phát biểu của al gore tại lễ trao giải nobel vì hòa bình năm 2007 dưới góc độ phê phán

Aims of the study: By doing the analysis of Al Gore‟s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, I would like to seek for the relations among language, power and ideology.. chosen discourse aims at cla

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

………. ………

HOÀNG NGUYỆT ANH

A CDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

(PHÂN TÍCH BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA AL GORE TẠI LỄ TRAO GIẢI NOBEL VÌ

HOÀ BÌNH NĂM 2007 DƯỚI GÓC ĐỘ PHÊ PHÁN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

HANOI – 2008

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

………. ………

HOÀNG NGUYỆT ANH

A CDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

(PHÂN TÍCH BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA AL GORE TẠI LỄ TRAO GIẢI NOBEL VÌ

HOÀ BÌNH NĂM 2007 DƯỚI GÓC ĐỘ PHÊ PHÁN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

FEAGURES AND TABLES

Page

4 Table 1: Process types, their meanings and participants 16

ABBREVIATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENT

Declaration i

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Figures and Tables iv

Abbreviations v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Research methods and procedure 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

I Overview of critical analysis (CDA) 4

1 The notion of CDA, Power and Ideology: 4

1.1 Critical Discourse Analysis: 4

1.2 Power in language: 5

1.3 Language and Ideology: 7

2 Main approaches to CDA: 9

II Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG): 15

1 Transitivity 16

2 Mood & Modality system 17

3 Thematic System 18

CHAPTER II: ALBERT A GORE AND THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2007 20

1 Al Gore‟s Biography: 20

2 The environmental activities and the Nobel Prize 2007: 21

CHAPTER III:

A CDA OF AL GORE‟S LECTURE AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

I The lecture 23

II The Analysis of the Lecture: 24

1 Analyzing Framework 24

2 Textual Description and Explanation 25

2.1 Vocabulary analysis 25

2.2 Grammatical Analysis: 33

2.2.1 The relational values of the grammatical features 33

2.2.2 The experiential values of the grammatical features 36

2.2.3 The expressive values of the grammatical features 41

2.2.4 The cohesion of the text 42

2.2.5 Thematic analysis of the text 43

2.3 The macrostructure of the discourse 47

3 Interpretation of the discourse 50

3.1 The situational context of the discourse 50

3.2 Gore‟s stance and his ideology 52

3.2 The language use 52

3.3 Presuppositions 54

PART C: CONCLUSION 56

1 The Findings 56

2 Conclusion 57

3 Implications and suggestion for further study 59

REFERENCES 61 APPENDIX: Al Gore‟s Lecture at Nobel Peace prize Award 2007 I

Part A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In the 1970s, linguistics saw the appearance and then the emergence of a new approach

of discourse analysis – critical discourse analysis (CDA) which fundamentally changed linguists‟ look on encoded massages, texts, and discourses CDA has been asserted to be the critical study of language in which language is viewed as a tool of power and the imposition of speakers‟ or writers‟ ideology on their audience especially in politics and social affairs In other words, doing a CDA is much in reference to exploring authors‟ power and ideology hidden in their choice and use of language units rather than the mere meaning conveyed by words and grammar structures

By all means, doing a CDA is really always a challenge to learners of language in the sense that it requires an integrated background knowledge not only linguistically but also socially The requirement of applying knowledge of various linguistic fields beside an understanding of social circumstances surrounding a discourse is obviously the inquiry

of a serious working for a full grasp of a specific discourse and what it conceals And that stimulates the writer of this thesis to do a CDA and take it as her graduation paper

It is said that CDA targets at political and social-matter-related discourses; and the twenty first century is supposed to be the age of discourses concerning global matters such as globalization, nuclear weapon, population and anti-terrorism war… since those best describe the power relation in the modern world And Albert A Gore‟s lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize Award is an illustration In this speech, Gore again mentioned and rang the bell warning a global hot issue which is climate changes and their consequences – a negative effect of globalization For these reasons, I adopted this discourse as a case for doing CDA

2 Aims of the study:

By doing the analysis of Al Gore‟s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, I would like to seek for the relations among language, power and ideology It is assumed that the relations of power and speaker‟s ideology are encoded within linguistic features The analysis of the

chosen discourse aims at clarifying Gore‟s power and ideology beyond his use of language

3 Scope of the study:

In this paper, I am going to make a sketch of CDA by covering principal theories and approaches by famous critical discourse analysts which are the background for every CDA works Also their views on the relation between language, power and ideology –

an important goal of CDA - will be recalled

On the basis of the theoretical background set, I am about doing an analysis of Albert A Gore‟s lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize Award 2007 to firstly explore his use of language, then and more importantly to make explicit his ideologies of climate changes expressed via words and structures he employed At the same time, how he imposed those ideologies on his audience, in other words, how he exercises his power by force of language, will be under investigation

4 Research questions:

Obviously, Al Gore‟s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture is a political discourse which discusses

an environmental effect of globalization – climate changes and their consequences Since

it turns out to be a matter of fact that politics is concerned with power, a political discourse is no doubt somehow an instrument of creating and reinforcing power and ideology The questions are: in this discourse,

- in which way is language used to describe the power relation?

- In which way is Gore‟s ideology made „common sense‟?

5 Research methods and procedure

This is a case study of CDA which examines how ideology and power relation are embedded in a discourse Therefore, the analysis of the chosen discourse is meant to investigate linguistic features which carries the speakers‟ ideology and power in a contrastive comparison to CDA theory

Hence, the procedure of conducting this study foremost concerns the collecting and summarizing the CDA theory to create a background for the analysis of the chosen discourse

The analysis of the chosen discourse is carried out by means of Fairclough‟s theory and method Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar is also an essential tool of analyzing

in combination with Fairclough‟s CDA theory This combination will help me to uncover the hidden ideology and power relation in the discourse

The analyzing of the discourse will be in compliance with analyzing steps suggested by Fairclough

Part B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA):

1 The notion of CDA, Power and Ideology:

1.1 Critical Discourse Analysis:

CDA is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse, which views “language

as a form of social practice” (Fairclough, 2001:20), and focuses on the ways social and political domination is reproduced by text and talk In a sense, it is a historically and socially placed action, both in itself socially shaped and socially shaping, what Fairclough called „constitutive‟ It is constitutive both in sense that it helps to sustain and reproduce the social status quo, and in the sense that it contributes to transforming it Simply put, CDA can be understood to be “analyzing discourse critically.” It can be therefore traced to the definitions of “discourse” and “critical” for a full understanding of CDA

As a matter of fact, the term “Discourse” is used very differently by different researchers and in different academic culture In German and Central European, Discourse and Text are made distinct relating to the tradition in text linguistics as well as to rhetoric Whereas, in English speaking world, Discourse is used to refer to both written and oral texts Linking to the socio – cognitive theory of Teun van Dijk, Woddak (2001) views discourse as a form of knowledge and memory, whereas text illustrate concrete oral utterances or written documents

The concept “Critical” is nowadays conventionally used in a broad sense denoting the practical linking of social and political engagement, while recognizing “that, in human matters, interconnections and chains of cause – and – effect may be distorted out of vision Hence, “critique” is essentially making visible the interconnectedness of things.” (Fairclough, 1995:747)

From another view, Fairclough proposes a definition of CDA which is popularly accepted and employed among CDA practitioners He says:

“Discourse analysis which aims to systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and tests, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes; to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles over power; and to explore how the opacity of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony.”

(Fairclough, 1995:132)

As per van Dijk (1998), CDA is concerned with studying and analyzing written texts and spoken words to reveal the discursive sources of power, dominance, inequality, and bias and how these sources are initiated, maintained, reproduced, and transformed within specific social, economic, political, and historical contexts

In brief, despite different ways of saying, scholars all seem to agree on the point that CDA is nothing rather than an effective tool to illuminate ways in which the dominant forces in a society construct versions of reality that favour their interests Consequently,

it helps the analysts understand the social problems which are mediated by mainstream ideology and power relationships perpetuated by the use of written texts

The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought defines power as “the ability of its holder to exact compliance or obedience of other individuals to their will” (cited in

Wareing , 2004:10)

Accordingly, it can be referred that power can bring a person the obedience In other words, with power, one has the right to make decisions, to control resources and other people‟s behavior as well as their values

As per van Dijk (1993), “power involves control, namely by (members of) one group over (those of) other groups Such control may pertain to action and cognition: that is, a powerful group may limit the freedom of actions of other, but also influence their minds.” He suggests the term “modern power” which is in his opinion enacted by persuasion, dissimulation, or manipulation to change the mind of others in one‟s own interest And he comes to the conclusion that “managing the mind of others is essentially

a function of text and talk”.(van Dick, 1993:254)

As far as the relation between power and language is concerned, it is affirmed that

“language actually creates power, as well as being a site where power is performed”

(Wareing, 2004:10) Wareing further claims that discourse structures can create power relations in terms of how we negotiate our relative status through interaction with others Obviously, one, by his use of language, can make others convinced, obeyed, or even confused, embarrassed, or frightened And in such a way, they successfully execute their power

Fairclough agrees on the point that there exists a close relationship between language and power Fairclough (1997) argues that power can be seen in discourse where participants are unequal The idea is that power is behind discourse in such a way that the whole social order of discourse is put together and held together as a hidden effect of power Faiclough takes the case of standardization of language as an illustration It should be recalled that the old day society embraced a social class distinction In such context, the language of the upper class or the dominant block was regarded as the most likely standard language In the mean time, people of other classes also possessed their own dialects Despite, the responsibility of the dominant for articulating and defining the relationship and the pecking order between languages and social dialects was generally hidden

For CDA, language is not powerful on its own; rather, it is a tool of manipulating power;

in other words, it obtains power by the use powerful people make of it And as per

Wodak, this explains the fact that CDA often choose the perspective of those who suffer, and critically analyze the language use of those in power, who in her words are responsible for the existence of inequality and at the same time have the ability of improving the conditions

In CDA, it is also admitted that a text is rarely the work of any individual In texts, discursive differences are negotiated; they are governed by the differences in power which is in part encoded in and determined by discourse and by genre As a result, texts are found to be site of struggle in that they show traces of differing discourses and ideologies which all contend and struggle for the dominance

Briefly enough, it can be said that language and power exists in an entwined relationship

in which language indexes power, expresses power and also challenge power It is worth bearing in mind that power does not root from language but can be challenged by language Further, it is realized that in a text power is signaled not only by grammatical forms but also the genre of a text which a person employs to control a social occasion

1.3 Language and Ideology:

Along with power, ideology has an important role to play in CDA Alike power, ideology obviously sounds social and political, and related to groups and societal structures And historically, the ideology of a society is that of the dominant class in that society Intuitively, it can be seen that ideologies involve such mental objects as belief, ideas, thoughts, judgments and values

Ever since Marx and Engels, ideologies have been defined in sociological and socio – economic terms, and usually related to groups, group positions, and interests or group conflicts such as class, gender or race struggles, and hence to social power and dominance

Gramsci (1971) points out that ideology is “a conception of the world that is implicitly manifest in art, in law, in economic activity and in the manifestations of individual and collective life” (Fairclough, 1995:76)

From another view point, Thomson (1990) argues that ideology refers to social forms and processes in which, and by all means of which, symbolic forms circulate in the

social world Ideology, for CDA, is seen as an important means of establishing and maintaining unequal power relations

Van Dijk (1995) claims that ideologies are nothing rather than an „axiomatic‟ oasis of the socially shared belief systems of groups To van Dijk, "ideologies" are viewed as

"interpretation frameworks" which "organize sets of attitudes" about other elements of modern society Ideologies, therefore, provide the "cognitive foundation" for the attitudes of various groups in societies, as well as the furtherance of their own goals and interest He says:

“Ideologies are basic frameworks of social cognition, shared by members of social groups, constituted by relevant selections of sociocultural values, and organized by an ideological schema that represent the self-definition of a group Beside their social function of sustaining the interests of groups, ideologies have the cognitive function of organizing the social representations (attitudes, knowledge) of a group, and thus indirectly monitor the group-related social practices, and hence also the text and talk of members.” (van Dijk, 1995: 248)

Van Djik offers a "schema" of relations between ideology, society, cognition and discourse: Within social structures, social interaction takes place This social interaction

is presented in the form of text/discourse, which is then cognized according to a cognitive system/memory This "system/memory" consists of short-term memory, in which "strategic process," or decoding and interpretation takes place Long-term memory, however, serves as a holder of "socio-cultural knowledge," which consists of knowledge of language, discourse, communication, persons, groups and events-existing

in the form of "scripts." "Social (group) attitudes" also reside within long-term memory and provide further decoding guides Each of these "group attitudes" can represent an array of ideologies which combine to create one's own personal ideology which conforms to one's identity, goals, social position, values and resources

Discussing the relation between ideology and discourse, Fairclough (1995) assumes that there exists a significant connections between features of texts and ideology which lies

“…in the ideological investment of elements which are drawn upon in producing or interpreting a text,…, and in the ways in which these elements are articulated together

and orders of discourse rearticulated in discoursal events.” (Fairclough, 1995:74) In

such a context, meanings (mainly lexical meanings) are supposed to be the feature that is ideologically invested Beside lexical meanings, Fairclough however claims that such factors as presuppositions, implicatures, metaphors, and coherence and all aspects of meaning are of importance

So far it could have been seen the connection between language and power, language and ideology Similarly, a close relation is found existing between power and ideology

It is a common claim that power and ideology are tightly tied together in the sense that ideology helps secure power, and vice versa, power makes ideology dominant and become “common sense”

Jones & Peccei (2004) suggest that in the attempt of making people to act in an expected way, persuasion is a better choice in comparison to physical coercion Indeed, by

persuading, a person is to “exercise power through the manufacture of consent … or at least acquiescence towards it” (Fairclough, 1989:4) To put it another way, persuasive

language actually serves as an effective weapon which bring a person power and obedience, and more importantly, voluntary acts which mean nothing but that the speaker‟s ideology has been commonly adopted

2 Main approaches to CDA:

It is confirmed that there are five main approaches to CDA recognized worldwide which are Socio – cognitive analysis, Discourse- Historical Analysis, Mediated discourse

analysis, Duisburg School of CDA, and Functional – Systemic CDA

2.1 Socio-cognitive analysis (van Dijk):

Teun van Dijk, a powerful scholar in CDA, is a pioneer who developed the cognitive approach in which an important dimension incorporated is that of human mind The central claim of the socio-cognitive approach is that discourse and social structure are mediated by social cognition He assumes that social cognition is the bridge between

socio-discourse and society or social representations For van Dick, social cognition is “the system of mental representations and processes of group members” (1995:18) Social

cognitions, which can be abstractly characterized as ideas, belief system, or ideologies,

are then socially shared mental representations For him, ideologies are “…the overall Abstract mental systems that organize … socially shared attitudes” (van Dijk, 1995:18)

2.2 Discourse-Historical Analysis (Wodak):

As a linguist who is in favor of sociolinguistics, and much influenced Frankfurt school, Wodak advocates and is a distinguished representative of the socio-historical CDA She says:

“Discourse Sociolinguistics … is a sociolinguistics which not only is explicitly dedicated

to the study of the text in context, but also accords both factors equal importance It is an approach capable of identifying and describing the underlying mechanisms that contribute to those disorders in discourse which are embedded in a particular context – whether they be in a structure and a function of the media, or in institutions such as a hospital or a school – and inevitably affect communication.”

(Wodak, 1996:3)

The discourse-historical method emphasizes the history context and take it as a part of the interpretation of a discourse In the process of analyzing, both theory and factual materials are required Also, recontextualization has an important role to play in the uncovering the relation between genres and theme of a discourse

2.3 Duisburg School of CDA:

Famous in the Duisburg School of CDA is Jager And Foucault‟s structuralism and Leontjev‟s “speech activity theory” are of major reference for analysts of Duisburg School including Jager

As per Duisburg CDA, discourses are institutionalized and conventionalized speech modes Discourses therefore express societal power relations, which in turns are impacted by discourses

To Jager, the analysis of discourse structure is the foremost step in the whole process of analyzing a discourse Despite the complexity, he suggests, the discourse structure can

be comprehensible in different discourse strands which are composed of discourse fragments at different discourse levels (science, politics, media…) Individual discourse fragments, in his opinion, can be analyzed in five steps: institutional framework, text

surgace, linguistic-rhetorical means, programmatic ideological messages, and interpretation (Jager 1999:175-187)

1.4 Functional Systemic CDA (Fairclough):

Kress and Fairclough, especially Fairclough, are known as the most successful analysts

of Functional Systemic CDA which is much based on Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar The central of this approach is on semiotic features of discourse

Of Fairclough‟s most remarkable success, according to Hoa, N (2006), is his research

on social traditional conflicts as per Marxism and their representations in discourse CDA is then, in Fairclough‟s opinion, to analyze the dialectical relationship among semiotic systems and constituents of social practice Reasonably, Fairclough employs Halliday‟s systemic functional grammar corresponding to his view And in his

“Language and power” (2001), he proposes a three step model of analyzing a discourse which consists of:

- Description of text

- Interpretation of the relationship between the productive and interpretative processes

- Explanation of the relationship between discourse processes and social processes

The stage of description:

The description of text involves the answering 10 questions relating to Vocabulary, Grammar, and Text Structure which are respectively as follows:

A Vocabulary:

a What experiential values do words have?

- What classification schemes are drawn upon?

- Are there words which are ideologically contested?

- Is there rewording or overwording?

- What ideologically significant meaning relations are there between words?

b What relational values do words have?

- Are there euphemistic expressions?

- Are there markedly formal or informal words?

c What expressive values do words have?

d What metaphors are used?

B Grammar:

e What experiential values do grammatical features have?

- What types of process and participant predominate?

- Is agency unclear?

- Are processes what they seem?

- Are nominalizations, active/ passive sentences, and positive/ negative sentences used?

f What relational values do grammatical features have?

- What modes (declarative, grammatical question, imperative) are used?

- Are there important features of relational modality?

- Are the pronouns „we‟ and „you‟ used? And if so, how?

g What expressive values do grammatical features have?

- Are there important features of expressive modality?

h How are sentences linked together?

- What logical connectors are used?

- Are complex sentences characterized by coordination or subordination?

- What means are used for referring inside and outside the text?

C Textual Structure:

i What interactional convention are used?

- Are there ways in which one participant controls the turns of others?

j What larger scale structures does the text have?

The Stage of Interpretation

The interpretation of discourse is exercised via the combination of what is in the text and what is in the interpreter In that process, member‟s resources – MR (or background knowledge) and discourse features (or described language) which are considered as CUES are factors activating interpreters‟ MR

The procedure of interpretation is well described in the following figure suggested by Fairclough (2001:119):

Interpretative Procedures

(MR) Resources Interpreting

The procedure of explanation aims at proving that discourse is a part of social practice; and as a social practice, discourse is determined by social structures, and at the same time and more importantly, has reproductive effects on those structures: sustaining or changing them According to Fairclough, these social determination and effects are

“mediated by MR in such ways that social structures shape MR, which in turn shape

discourse; discourse can either sustain or change MR, which in turn sustain or change structures” Explanation is therefore “a matter of seeing discourse as part of social struggle, within a matrix of relations of power” (Fairclough, 2001:135)

Correspondingly, the emphasis of the explanation process is on two dimensions: the social effects of discourse and the social determinants of discourse These two dimensions is to be examined at three levels of social organizations: Societal, Institutional, and Situational which are illustrated as in following figure:

in Nobel Peace Award 2007

II Halliday’s Systemic Functional Language (SFL):

Systemic Functional Language (SFL) has been developed since 1960s by M.A.K Halliday with the emphasis on the notion of language function

Starting at social context, SFL looks at how language acts upon and is constrained by social context And right here, Halliday shares with CDA theorists the idea that there exists a dialectal relationship between society and language in which language is seen as creating and being created by social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge

and beliefs For this common assumption, Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) has been widely accepted and adopted in doing CDA by most linguistic analysts such as Fairclough (2000, 1995, 1992, 1989); Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999), Kress (1989), and Kress and van Leeuwen (1996)

The covering notion in SFL is that of “stratification” Language, as of SFL, is considered

as a social semiotic organized in four strata in such relationships as „realization‟ and

„instantiation‟ Such strata are recognized as: Context, Semantics, Lexico-Grammar, and Phonology – Graphology

Context is realized via such values as Field, Tenor, and Mode While Field is what is

going on, Tenor is the social roles and relationships between the participants, Mode is defined as aspects of the channel of communication, e.g., monologic/dialogic, spoken/ written, +/ - visual – contact, etc

Semantics in SFL consists of three components:

- Ideational Semantics (propositional content);

- Interpersonal Semantics (dealing with speech-function, exchange structure, expression of attitude, etc.)

- Textual Semantics (how text is structured as a message, e.g.: theme structure, given/ new, rhetorical structure…)

The three above metafunctions of language are realized at the Lexico–Grammar by

choices in the Transitivity, Mood & Modality, and Thematic systems of language

4 Transitivity

Transitivity plays as a key analytic component of the ideational metafunction It expresses the experiential aspect of meaning The system of transitivity consists of three components which are process types and their participants as well as circumstances described within text In English, there are six process types namely Material, Mental, Verbal, Behavioral, Relational, and Existential Process

Material Process is the process of doing; it involves action and event with one, two or three participants If there is only one participant involved, the role is then referred to as

Actor If two participants are involved, they are respectively Actor and Goal If three, they are respectively Actor, Goal, and Receiver

Mental Process is defined to be the process of sensing which consists of four main subtypes: cognitive, perceptive, affective and desiderative In mental process, there are two participants involved: Sensor and Phenomenon

Verbal Process is the process of saying with two participants: Sayer and Target

Behavioral Process is the process of physiological and psychological behavior This process has only one participant referred to as Behaver

Relational Process is the process of being, having, and being at This process is considered as either of attribution or identification As an attribution, it involves two participants: Carrier and Attribute In the process of identifying, there are two equating participants referred to respectively in two pairs of terms: Identified/ Identifier, and Token/ Value

Experiential Process is the process of existing with generally one participant, the Existent

The above six process types are summarized in the table below:

Attribution „attributing‟ Identified/ Token

Identification „identifying‟ Indentifier/ Value

Table 1: Process types, their meanings and participants

(Source: Halliday, 1994:143)

2 Mood & Modality system

Mood & Modality are the realization of the Interpersonal Meaning In the practice of interacting, interlocutors take turn to play the role of questioners and informants alternatively In such process, they exchange information and express their evaluation, attitude, and prediction And that expression is an aspect of the interpersonal meaning within which the speaker‟s choice of a particular speech role is of significance The speaker‟s choice of speech can be done together with different types of modality

In a clause, Mood functions as the carrier of the syntactic burden of the exchange, and as the component carrying the argument award Mood consists of two functional elements which are the Subject and the Finite As the nominal component of the Mood, Subject identifies a proposition Whereas, Finite functions as the element making the proposition finite

The fragment of Mood are illustrated in figure below:

Yes/No Interrogative

„Wh‟ Indicative

Inclusive Imperative

Exclusive Figure 3: A Fragment of the Mood System in English

(Source: Hoang Van Van, 1996:53)

It can be seen from Figure 2 that, in term of Mood, there are two possible choices: either indicative or imperative Indicative mood consists of interrogative or declarative while imperative includes inclusive or exclusive

3 Thematic System

Thematic system is to do with textual meaning: it expresses the textual meaning lexicogrammatically The system of theme is realized by two elements, Theme and Rheme While Theme serves as the initial element of the clause, Rheme is the remainder Theme may be single or multiple As a single theme, it is represented by only one constituent – a nominal group, and adverbial group, or a prepositional phrase Meanwhile, a multiple theme has a further internal structure of its own It may have the combination of three different components: textual theme, interpersonal theme, and topical theme which is conflated with the experiential element of the clause Below in the table are the components of a multiple theme:

Structural Conjunctive

Modal Finite Wh-interrogative

Topical (Experiential) Theme Participant, Circumstance, Process

Table 2: Components of a Multiple Theme

In sum, with the perception of language as a social semiotic as well as the emphasis on language function, SFG serves as the best linguistic background for CDA Halliday (1994: 16) says: “A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is not an analysis at all, but simply a running commentary on a text.”

It is obviously that speakers choose and use language intentionally for certain purpose(s), in other words, they are „doing things with words‟ And in Halliday (1970) it

is affirmed that language has three functions: ideational which includes experiential,

logical interpersonal, and textual Those functions are respectively done by system of transitivity, system of mood and modality, and that of theme Hence, a discourse analysis

on the base of Hallidayan SFG, surely enough, could bring a comprehensive discover of speaker‟s ideology and power embodied within text

Al Gore served in Vietnam War as an army journalist from Christmas 1970 until May

1971

He decided to study theology and philosophy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School at Nashville, Tennessee from 1971 to 1972 In retrospect, Gore asserted that this period was extremely valuable since it gave him the possibility to ask the right questions At Divinity School, he made an important step in the direction of environmental politics

In 1976, Gore officially started his politic career by running for a seat in the U.S House

of Representatives when he found out that his father's former seat in the House was about to be vacated

Gore began serving in the United State Congress at the age of 28 and stayed there for the next 17 years, serving in both the House (1976-1984) and the Senate (1984-1993)

In 1992, Gore accepted the position as Clinton‟s running mate for the 1992 United State presidential election And they were the youngest ever team in US history to be in the White House Clinton stated that he chose Gore for his foreign policy experience, work with the environment, and commitment to his family

Under Clinton‟s and Gore‟s administration, the American economy was incredibly expanded, the numbers were uniformly impressive Besides the record-high surpluses and the record-low poverty rates, the economy could boast the longest economic expansion in history; the lowest unemployment since the early 1970s; and the lowest poverty rates for single mothers, black Americans, and the aged

Gore formally announced his candidacy for president on June 16, 1999, in Carthage, Tennessee In the election 2000, he was defeated by G Bush, Jr He won the national popular vote but was denied the Presidency when the United States Supreme Court halted all legal recounts in the state of Florida Studies since the 2000 election have shown clearly that if all votes had been counted fairly, Al Gore would have won decisively

Since the loss in the presidential election 2000, Gore has almost been absent in official political activities Instead, he has been more concentrating on environmental ones

2 The environmental activities and the Nobel Prize 2007:

Environment has always been of Gore‟s concern ever since he was a student of Harvard And today he is known as one of the most active environmental activists over the world

In his first years in the House, he fought the then still legal practices of scandalous

"disposals" of toxic waste

In his first presidential run 1988, one of his two theme in the official campaign debut was about the ozone hole, which was of course then not a theme catching the attention of the broad public

In 1992, his book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit was published, and it soon reached the top of America's bestseller list, and has been translated into 33 languages The book is about the global environmental crisis which he says endangers our civilization in its present form At its core is the human-caused change of the global climate He identifies the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole as the two most important "strategic dangers"

During the late 1990s, Gore strongly pushed for the passage of the Kyoto Protocol, which called for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

In 2004, Gore co-launched Generation Investment Management, a company for which

he serves as Chair, to seek out companies taking a responsible stance on big global issues like climate change

Beginning in 2006, Gore starred in Inconvenient Truth - the documentary on the topic of global warming, which made him increasingly popular after its release The film later won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature

On October 12, 2007, Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which was shared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The award was given for their efforts

to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change

CHAPTER III:

A CDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

I The Lecture:

As previously mentioned, the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The speech was made and delivered on December 10, 2007 in Oslo, Norway

The lecture is a composition of 57 paragraphs, eleven of which are one sentence ones The lecture can be divided into four parts:

- The first paragraph inclusive of the salutation which pays respect to the participants and the audience as it often goes in a speech is the author acknowledgement, and the assertion of the purpose that the author has pursued and served faithfully for years which helps him to win the prize

- The second part spreading from line 23 to line 114 raises the problems that we human species are facing

- The third part (from line 115 to line 249) suggests some solutions for the climate crisis

- The rest (and also the ending part) of the speech is an appeal for counteracting the climate changes

Throughout the speech, there is no longer the shadow of a moderate politician found but

a determined environmental activist with a broad knowledge and a good persuasion which is expressed by the statements of facts and reasons as well as the clever use of language The hearer can realize the overall ideology in Gore‟s speech that we human beings have done wrong and unconsciously waged a war against the earth of which the consequence is the climate crisis; and that despite, still we have the power to change it and to save a good earth for future generations

II The Analysis of the Lecture:

1 Analyzing Framework:

Among different viewpoints of CDA and correspondingly different approaches to CDA,

I am going to take Fairclough‟s framework in combination with Hallidayan systemic functional grammar as the instrument of my analysis for following reasons:

Firstly, in comparison with other approaches and frameworks, Fairclough sounds to me more comprehensive While the discourse historical CDA, for examples, is more in favor

of the social context around the discourse, socio-cognitive analysis puts a stress on social cognition, Duisburg School emphasizes the speech modes, functional systemic CDA and Fairclough‟s frameworks, meanwhile, show a fair concern about linguistic features and social structure

Secondly, as per Fairclough‟s framework, the analysis of discourse‟s linguistic features

is put in the relation with social context Therefore, it will, in my opinion, bring a better view of discourse Moreover, the combination of linguistic features and social context, I

think, will best describe the relationship between language, power, and ideology

As the procedure of a CDA (as of Fairclough‟s framework) often goes, the analysis of this lecture is done at three steps: Textual Description, Interpretation, and Explanation of the discourse

At the stage of Description, the lecture is analyzed in terms of Vocabulary, Grammatical Features, Transitivity, and Thematization The analysis of grammatical features deals with the use of personal pronoun, modes of sentences, modality, and coherence of the text

At the stage of Interpretation, the situational context, the intertextual context, and presupposition will be of concern in the attempt of investigating the relationship between the productive and the interpretative process

The relationship between discourse processes and social processes will be under examination at the stage of Explanation

However, for a better understanding of the language use as well as the relations between the three major concepts Language, Power, and Ideologies, the stages will be intertwined

in my analysis

2 Textual Description and Explanation:

What makes a discourse differ from others is its own register Thus, to a certain extent,

the analysis of a discourse is that of the three variables: Field, Mode, and Tenor Field

concerns the experiential meaning of a discourse; it deals with the question “what is the discourse about?” Hence, analyzing a text for its field is to examine the lexical items Meanwhile, Mode is an element of textual metafunction of a text It is to do with the mood and modality, the transitivity system, and the thematization of the text Tenor involves the interpersonal meaning of the text It therefore expresses the relation among the participants in the text

The idea is that the speaker‟s ideology is realized from the Field and Mode of the text, whereas, Tenor is the conveyer of the power relations In terms of field, the chosen discourse appears to be a speech of acceptance However, the speaker Al Gore tactfully and wisely turns it into a speech of an environmental issue through which he expresses his ideology and power

2.1 Vocabulary Analysis:

It turns to be obviously that speaker‟s choice or use of words has a significant role to play in the expression of his/ her ideology, view, attitude towards a certain issues It is said that together with other linguistic features, the use of vocabulary adds different values to the text which are relational, expressive, experiential, and connective ones To recall Fairclough‟s definition briefly, the relational value concerns with relations and social relationship; meanwhile, experiential value is related to content, knowledge, and belief; and expressive value is to do with subjects and social identities (Fairclough, 1999)

The analysis of vocabulary is, correspondingly, the uncovering of those values in the use

of words

a The Experiential Value of Vocabulary in the Lecture:

It can be realized that this is a political speech concerning environmental issues Hence, words and expressions which sound political and scientific are naturally found in the text, such as:

Confronting a planetary emergency, survival of our civilization, solve the crisis, world‟s leaders, global warming pollution, national emergency, climate refugees, pollution, catastrophe, forms of pollution, nuclear winter, carbon summer, government, earth, planet, evaporating, consequences, power, long-term vision, challenge, global cooperation, waging war, danger, opportunity, struggle …

In terms of classification scheme, by the different use of negative and positive vocabularies, Gore successfully painted two contrasted pictures: the darker one is that of the war between human being and the earth, and the brighter is the belief that human being has the power to change the dull situation and to create a better life in a better relation with the earth

The appearance of the negative words and expressions in the speech effectively illustrates Gore‟s belief that we human being have been doing wrong to the earth and, at the same time, backs his attempt of raising hearers‟ awareness of environmental catastrophes For example:

“We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency – a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as

we gather here But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst – though not all – of its consequences, if we act boldly decisively and quickly.”

Obviously, while the use of negative words brings the dullness, the appearance of positive ones provides hearers with something brighter Particularly, in the above paragraph for example, by using positive expressions so next to negative ones, Gore did worry the hearers, and, at the same time, comfort and encourage them Perhaps, years working as a politician has brought him such a wisdom

Reading through the text, we can also find many other positive words and expressions used:

- have the power to choose our fate (line 135)

- the power to unite (line 141)

- chance to change the world (157)

- greatest opportunity in rising to solve the climate crisis (line 181)

- the opportunity to gain the moral authority and vision (line 184)

- etc,…

Such phrases makes us believe that we human can not and should not sit in silence and fearfully await the rages of nature; instead, we have the opportunity and the power to change the world and the relation with the earth And that, in my own opinion, is Gore‟s success: he showed his sustainable belief to his audience, and more than that, transmitted that belief to the hearers

Another remarkable point in Gore‟s vocabulary using technique is the use of synonymous and nearly synonymous words and expressions For example:

- planetary emergency (line 28)

- threat (line 28)

- crisis (line 31)

- the earth has a fever (line 43)

- affliction (line 44)

- global warming pollution (line 108)

- this challenge (line 133)

All of the above expressions were used to refer to the global climate change Using those words consistently and repeatedly throughout the discourse engraved on audience‟s mind the inconvenient truth In fact, it left hearers no time to neglect that truth

In the same way, a similar effect was created when Gore discussed the consequences of the climate crisis:

- desperate farmers (line 58), peoples (line 59), climate refugees (line 63)…

The synonyms used here effectively makes the addressees realize that the severe consequences are now not a personal or regional issues, rather, they can happen to any person elsewhere over the world, and that the disasters which happened are not particular but universal Gore also made an emphasis on the increasing danger of natural catastrophes by using such a chain of intensive adjectives as “immense and growing” and “unsustainable and unrecoverable” (line 133-134)

This discourse also records Gore‟s success in using contrary expressions where necessary

Gore showed his attitude towards world leaders differently: while appreciating the

leaders for peace by regarding them as “honorable exceptions”, he implicitly compared

the others with the ignorant leaders in the war against fascism by adapting Winston Churchill‟s words to describe them:

“…However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to

Gore‟s attitude towards act method in the war for peace with the earth was also clearly

showed up in this discourse The negative words “abandon” and “conceit” (line 145) were used to discuss about “individual, isolated, private actions”; whereas, he emphasized that we “need” an alliance, a collective action, and “mobilizing globally”

Obviously, when these words and phrases are placed closely to each other, they can create certain vocabulary effect on hearers They stimulate an immediate comparison between the two in the hearers‟ mind, and evaporate a great discrepancy, even a contrast, between the two in term of effectiveness

b The Relational Values of Vocabulary in the Lecture:

The term “relational values” is used to embrace the interpersonal relations or the social relationship of the participants The relational values can be seen in a discourse via the choice of vocabulary

This lecture was delivered in a Nobel Prize Award with the participations of Norwegian Royal, Nobel Committee, and scientists In such a context, Gore started his speech by a pretty formal pattern of salutation to pay his respect to the participants:

“Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen:”

In this lecture, it can be realized that Gore‟s audience was not bound to those in the Hall

of Nobel Award; instead, it includes anyone who can hear Gore:

“…I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say…”

Gore‟s cleverness lies in the words “hear” The verb “hear” implies an unintentional hearing It is a common practice that the Nobel Award is televised and reported on mass media Hence, it would not be uncommon when Gore‟s speech went to every corners of the world, and the targeted audience was anyone who accidentally caught his words Here comes his concern about audience – people He was there not to make a speech, but

he was there to share the words from his heart He deemphasized his role and showed

that he was just a normal person who need to “pray”; and it was such a simple prayer that his words would be “communicated clearly” Again, the intelligence was showed by

the wording

As it turns out from the text that Gore showed his great respect to the scientists when he mentioned them in the very first part of the speech He acknowledged, shared with and showed his sympathy towards Alfred Nobel – the father of the most famous academic prizes:

“Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life's work, unfairly labeling him "The Merchant of Death" because of his invention – dynamite”

The use of such adjective and adverb as “harsh” and “unfairly” evidenced that Gore was

on Nobel‟s side

Gore also honored the scientists with whom he shared the award when describing them

as “distinguished” (line 23) And the phrase “the greatest honor of my life” (line 24) was

enough to affirm his appreciation of science and scientists Here we can see an Al Gore with a passion for science

Gore did express indirectly his admiration to such a person who worked for peace as Cordell Hull by borrowing the beautiful words from others:

“In the last year of that war, you gave the Peace Prize to a man from my hometown of

2000 people, Carthage, Tennessee Cordell Hull was described by Franklin Roosevelt as the "Father of the United Nations." He was an inspiration and hero to my own father, who followed Hull in the Congress and the U.S Senate and in his commitment to world peace and global cooperation”

He showed his proud when getting the same prize as Cordell Hull:

“Eight weeks ago, when you announced this prize, the deepest emotion I felt was when I saw the headline in my hometown paper that simply noted I had won the same prize that Cordell Hull had won…”

c The Expressive Values in the Lecture

What is remarkable in this lecture is the quotation of archaic prophet, proverb and poetic sayings of great writers from the beginning to the end of the speech which add expressive values to the text For examples:

- “Life or death, blessings or curses Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (line 26-27)

- “Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice… Either would suffice” (line

112 – 113)

- “Pathwalker, there is no path You must make the path as you walk.” (line 249)

- “One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door.” (line 255-256)

One of the values of rhetorical words and phrases is their ability of creating emotional effect on audience In that sense, the phrase “thou and thy seed” meaning “you and your children” has accomplished its duty which is to create a sense of nostalgia and a proposition that this is an eternal truth The expressive values obtained here arises from the combination of archaic words and metaphor

It comes to me that, from the above examples, the metaphoric saying “Pathwalker, there

is no path You must make the path as you walk” is the most expressive and implicative

one It indicates that the way to the new, often the better, is never paved We can easily find Gore‟s ideology that it is not easy at all to change the world and to solve the climate crisis On that way, there is no guider We have to experience ourselves, and we should

be ready for any challenges, difficulties and obstacles Again, he is calling for courage, enthusiasm and intelligence

The paradox is used when Gore judges the opportunity to serve his purpose: “precious and painful” (line 17) which caused certain emotional effects on hearers

Another noticeable expression in the lecture is “Mutually assured destruction” (line 102)

which is inclusive of meaningful implications This expressions was used to describe the current relationship between humankind and the earth‟s climate

d Metaphor

Metaphor is an often used rhetoric in English discourses It is said to be a realization of the sensitivity as well as the creativity of language users By using a metaphor, the speaker/writer is presenting an aspect of experience in terms of another Being used, metaphor serves as a tool to enhance the expressiveness and the suggestiveness of a discourse

In this lecture, the audience could feel of the irony, the pain in the phrase “political obituary” (line 15) which is used when Gore recalls the judgment of his service after

eight years in the White House as the vice president

Besides, we can find the metaphor of “war” used several times to judge the relationship between human being and the earth as well as its dangerous consequences:

- (1) confronting a planetary emergency (line 28)

- (2) wage war on the earth (line 100)

- (3) locked in a relationship familiar to war planners (line 101)

- (4) the defense of the common futures (line 125)

Such expressions cause a feel of worry and fear as well as the imagination of the danger

of what we are doing to the earth A painful picture of consequences which is not less destructive than a war is painted Moreover, the verb „locked‟ in (3) suggests an impasse; and seemingly there is no way out

One of the worst things we are doing to the nature world is “driving more and more species into extinction” (line 70) It is clearly that either carelessly or not, either

intentionally or unintentionally, we are doing harm to the world

Describing the condition of the earth, Gore noticed: The earth has a fever (line 43) This

metaphoric expression reminds hearer of the fact that the temperature now keeps increasing day by day with the definitely unanticipated consequences

It is clearly that those metaphors well served their author‟s purpose of giving warnings

2.2 Grammatical Analysis:

2.2.1 The relational values of Grammatical Features:

According to Fairclough (1989), the relational values of grammatical features are obtained by the use of personal pronoun, mood, and modality We will examine those values in this lecture respectively

The use of personal pronoun:

It is realized in this speech that the plural personal pronoun “we” are predominantly used It is recorded to appear 46 times throughout the text

The text witnesses an interesting sudden shift from the personal “I” in previous sentences to the inclusive “us” in line 24 By that shift, Gore makes his audience involved in the “fateful choice” Also, that shift releases the idea (which is a major idea

of the whole speech) that the responsibility of creating a fine future is not that of any single person but of the whole society as a united entity

As previously discussed, the hearers targeted were not only the ones in the Hall of Nobel

Prize Award but every one who can hear: “entire peoples, citizens of every class and condition who were ready to stand against the threat once asked to do so” (line 127- 128) And for the first use of “we” in the speech, Gore emphasized “we, the human species…” (line 28)

By the predominant use of the inclusive “we”, Gore successfully transmitted his ideology which is the solidarity, the union, the alliance are needed on the way to “make

it right” By that “we”, he confirmed that on the difficult way ahead, not only the world

leaders, the scientists but also every single person counts And thus, he makes every hearers feel being part of his lecture

Of course, still in the speech, we can find some other personal pronouns such as I, He, They However, they are not used for either the separation or the differentiation Rather, they serve for exemplification

as well as his suggestions of what are supposed to do to solve the climate crisis

In the total of hundreds of sentences in this speech, there is no appearance of questions and only two inclusive imperatives were found:

- Let us acknowledge that if we … (line 241-242)

- So let us renew it, and say together … (line 264)

Yet, these imperatives are not functioning as commands; they sound more like suggestions or appeals to hearers for the courage, generosity, and readiness to sacrifice

Modality

It comes to our attention that in this speech, modality is used widely, especially in the third part of the speech where Al Gore discusses the solutions for the climate crisis

We can find thirteen appearances of “will” in lines 20, 40, 44, 136, 146, 154, 194, 230,

233, 258-260 In some places, will is used to express Gore‟s willingness:

- … I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say… (line 20)

- I will urge … (line 194)