Modalization and Modulation in commencement addresses by English speakers A Systemic Functional Analysis = Tình thái và Biến thái hóa trong các bài phát biểu tạ

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Speech functions and responses 10 Figure 2: Three values of modality 11 Figure 3: Modalization 12 Figure 4: Modal operators 13 Figure 5: Modal adjunc

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistic Code: 60.22.15

Hanoi - 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistic Code: 60.22.15

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2013

DECLARATION

I, Trương Thị Ánh, hereby certify that this thesis is the result of my own research and that the substance of the thesis has not, partly or wholly, been submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions

Signature

Trương Thị Ánh

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the people who assisted and always made the best conditions and environment for me to complete this thesis

The first person I would like to send my special thanks to is Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, who spent much of his valuable time supervising and guiding my study

I am also indebted to my lecturers in both undergraduate and postgraduate faculties

at my university for their precious lectures in linguistics which help me to have the basic and necessary knowledge to carry out this study

I also owe many thanks to my family members who gave me great encouragement,

my friends and my colleagues who were willing to share my heavy workload at my school so that I could invest my time to this thesis

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the realization of modalization and modulation in commencement addresses made by well-known English speakers The analytical framework of the study is based on M A K Halliday‘s Systemic Functional Grammar theory of modality The data of the research is taken from the analysis of five commencement addresses of Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), J K Rowling (2008), and Barack Obama (2009) The results show that modalization and modulation are realized in a variety of forms and expressions which can be modal operators, modal adjuncts, passive verb predicators, and adjective predicators Modalization overtakes modulation in terms

of frequency Each group of modal operators and modal adjuncts when being used

to realize modalization and modulation has its own effectiveness and specialties

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgements………ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents………iv

List of figures and tables……… vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale……….… 1

2 The significance of the study……….…… 2

3 Aims of the study……… 3

4 Scope of the study……… 3

5 Methods of the study……… 3

6 Design of the study……… …… … 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Semantic-oriented approaches……….5

1.2 Pragmatic-oriented approaches………7

1.3 Criticisms of the semantic-oriented and pragmatic-oriented approaches……7

1.4 Halliday‘s functional approach………9

1.4.1 Halliday‘s notion of modality: Modalization and Modulation………… 9

1.4.2 Modalization: notion and realization……… 11

1.4.3 Modulation: notion and realization……… 14

1.5 Review of previous studies………16

Chapter 2: The study

2.1 Research question……… 18

2.2 Data collection……… 18

2.3 Analytical framework………18

2.4 Data analysis and major findings……… 19

2.4.1 Modalization……… 19

2.4.1.1 Modal adjuncts……….20

2.4.1.2 Modal operators……… 21

2.4.2 Modulation……… 22

2.5 Discussion……… 24

2.5.1 Modalization and Modulation………… ……….24

2.5.2 Modal adjuncts – realization and meanings……… 25

2.5.3 Modal operators of Modalization – realization and meanings………… 32

2.5.4 Modulation……….… 33

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary and major findings………36

2 Implications……… 38

3 Suggestions for further studies……….40

REFERENCES………41 APPENDIX 1: Raw data………I APPENDIX 2: Analyzed data……… XXX

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Speech functions and responses 10

Figure 2: Three values of modality 11

Figure 3: Modalization 12

Figure 4: Modal operators 13

Figure 5: Modal adjuncts 13-14 Figure 6: Modulation 15

Table 1: Modalization in five speeches 19

Table 2: Modal adjuncts in five commencement addresses 20

Table 3: Modal operators in five commencement addresses 22

Table 4: Modulation in five commencement addresses 23

Table 5: Modalization and Modulation 24

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Over the years, many grammatical models have been developed, for example phrase structural grammar, structural grammar, transformation grammar, etc These models mainly focus on the structural characteristics of languages, ignoring the possible functions of language In 1920s, functional approach was first introduced

by an influential group of literary critics and linguists in Prague Since then funtionalism has been developed by many functional grammarians like Halliday (1985, 1994), Bloor (1995), Eggins (1994), Thompson (1996), Martin (1997), and many others Functionalism can be understood as any approach to the description of language structure which attaches importance to the purposes or functions to which language is put When systemic functional grammar (SFG) was introduced by Halliday in the UK (1985) and later in Australia (1994), functional approach to grammar theory may be understood as the study of language as a network of

systems, or interrelated sets of options for making meaning The term function

refers to Halliday‘s view that language serves metafunctions as: ideational metafunctions, texture metafunctions, and interpersonal metafunctions Among these metafunctions, the interpersonal ones which refer to the grammatical choices that enable speakers to enact their complex and diverse interpersonal relations may

be the most unintelligible perspective The speaker‘s grammatical choices can vary but one of the effective tools may be the use of modality in general or modalization and modulation in particular From this point of view, the researcher has made an effort to investigate and prove the effectiveness of those elements in the thesis

The second thing that should be clarified is the researcher‘s choices of genres and the collection of texts that were used in the thesis This study focuses on the commencement addresses made by famous English speakers One thing that can be definitely true is that no one is randomly chosen to give a speech in a university graduation ceremony Those who were given the honor to make speeches at many big universities are prestigious and well-known They all tactfully used their wordy power to persuade their audiences Commencement addresses, therefore, always

play an important role in orienting, inspiring, and encouraging students who are going to be graduates Moreover, the success of a commencement address is obvious the interpersonal relation between the speaker and the listeners To achieve this red string – the linkage, modality used in those speeches must be very flexible and intelligent in order to show the speaker‘s ego as well as create the connection between the particular ego and the majority All of the above mentioned reasons motivated the researcher to investigate the realization of modalization and modulation in several selected speeches made by English speakers

2 The significance of the study

The significance of the study can be seen the most clearly in its contribution

to investigate the use of modality in texts Geoff Thompson (1996) says modality is

an extremely complicated area of English grammar Although a number of linguists have been working on this field, the results achieved do not satisfy the researcher‘s inquisitiveness Many linguists have pointed out the definition, classification, and degree of modality but everything just stops at the theory and a limited number of typical examples In other words, the exemplification is not attached to any specific original texts Writers of some PhD theses have been applying SFG framework or modality to analyze real texts but none of them have taken commencement speeches

as sources of data This thesis, which aims to investigate the realization of modalization and modulation in some authentic commencement addresses, thus fills the blanks of studying how modality is realized in commencement speeches

An additional point motivating the researcher to carry out this study is derived from the realistic demand In textbooks currently used in Vietnamese schools, the realization of modality in texts are mostly introduced and analyzed in terms of only modal verbs Other means to realize modality are not fully presented and exploited, which in some way limit students‘ understanding and ability to flexibly use modality in creating their own texts This thesis is hoped to give clear clarification of all means to realize modality in English and how the good exploitation of these means can, to some extent, support developments of students‘ language skills

3 Aims of the study

The research aims at studying and finding out the use of modalization and modulation in some English commencement addresses Moreover, the researcher also has her ambition to see how effective the modality is In short, the study aims

to find the answers to the question:

How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement addresses?

4 Scope of the study

This minor M.A thesis first focuses on the theory of modality in the light of systemic functional grammar, and then it shows the realization of modalization and modulation – two categories of modality in five commencement addresses made by Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), Joanne "Jo" Rowling (J K Rowling, 2008), and Barack Obama (2009)

5 Methods of the study

This study is carried out with the combination of both descriptive and explanatory methods In detail, the research is conducted according to several steps below:

Firstly, data about theories of modality and the commencement addresses was collected from different books, articles, and other researches in libraries or on the internet

Secondly, the collected information was synthesized and categorized to withdraw the basic knowledge about modality in many perspectives, especially Halliday‘s framework about modality Moreover, the collected commencement addresses were read and chosen carefully based on several criteria set in advance by the researcher

Finally, the commencement addresses were analyzed in order to discover the realization of modalization and modulation in each one by using Halliday‘s view about modality as the theoretical framework Each type of modalization and

modulation is distinguished from the other by a set of symbols so that the researcher could easily control and bring out the exact figures for the study

6 Design of the study

The structure of the study is based on the basic design of a scientific research

which includes three main parts Part A – INTRODUCTION presents the

rationale, significance, aims, scope, and design of the study Part B –

DEVELOPMENT comprises two chapters Chapter 1 presents the theoretical

background of the study Chapter 2 shows the findings of the study in terms of the realization of modalization and modulation in all four speeches with some possible explanations about the types of modality used and the discussion about the effect of modalization and modulation in those commencement addresses Part C –

CONCLUSION summarizes the findings and points out the implications of the

study Some suggestions for further studies are also included in the last part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Approaches of modality

The theoretical description of modality may be semantic, pragmatic, or functional-oriented Some approaches will be reviewed below

1.1 Semantic-oriented approaches

A number of linguists have had a bias in favor of semantics when describing the concept of modality Among those, Joos (1964), Marino (1973), Hermeren (1978), Perkins (1983), and Palmer (1986) can be counted and their views will be briefly presented below

Joos (1964) adopts a semantic approach to modality He classifies eight

modal auxiliaries: will, shall, can, may, must, ought to, dare, and need into some

subcategories by finding the differences in the kinds of semantic oppositions among them He places the eight modals on the eight corners of ―an abstract semiological cube‖ with the six characteristics on the six faces of that cubes Six categories of modals are named casual modals, stable modals, adequate modals, contingent modals, assurance, and potentiality (Joos, 1964: 149-150)

The semantic approach is also adopted by Marino (1973) and his account of the meaning of modals is quite similar to Joos‘ to some extent Marino codes the meaning of modals regarding the presence or absence of a set of semantic features

He declares that there are ―nuances of the modal system‖, so it is necessary to have

a ―system of description [which] should be at least powerful enough to account for the range of meanings in modality‖ (Marino, 1973: 312) Like Joos, Marino classifies modals into eight categories such as obligation, possibility, advisability, etc He sets the criteria for his classification by examining the absence or presence

of three semantic features which are necessity, possibility, and execution He assigns

a value to each category of modal For example, obligation group of modals is seen

as the strong presence of necessity and execution In contrast, the presence of

possibility is weak As a result, the meaning of obligation is coded as [+necessity, possibility, +execution] Other categories have the different degree of strength and weakness of these semantic features

-Perkins‘s semantic account of modality also reflects a ―mono-semantic‖ (Coates 1983: 9) approach since he attempts to set a ―core meaning for each modal‖ and then analyzed these core meanings (Perkins, 1983: 25) In other words, he means the core meaning of each modal is ―independent of its context of use‖ (Perkins, 1983: 26) Moreover, he believes in the concept that an auxiliaries modal verb like ―may‖ differentiates itself from its paraphrase ―it is possible that‖ in the uses of these two

Hermeren (1978) seems to have a different view on the meaning of modality compared to the three above-mentioned linguists although he still takes the semantic approach His aim is to make ―a semantic classification of the modals in contemporary English (Hermeren, 1978: 14) While the other linguists who also take the semantic approach are only interested in modal auxiliaries themselves when talking about modality, Hermeren believes modality can be expressed by other parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs He disagrees with the idea that the meanings of modal verbs are context-independent In fact, he argues that modal meanings are not either absolutely independent or dependent Hermeren (1978: 71) clarifies his ideas by showing that ―changes in various types

of sentences (active - passive, statement - question, etc.) as well as the ―changes in basic sentence unit (subject, verbs, etc.) affect the meaning of the modal‖ He groups modals under three categories namely ―internal modalities‖, ―external modalities‖, and ―neutral modalities‖ The internal modalities are ―inherent in their surface subjects‖ and express ―ability‖ and ―volition‖ while the external modalities refer to the notions like ―necessary‖ and ―permission‖ The last category ―neutral modalities‖ is considered neither internal nor external

Palmer‘s account on modal meanings is remarked by his division between

―epistemic modality‖ and ―deontic modality‖ The term ―epistemic modality‖ is concerned with ―language as information, with the expression of the degree or

nature of the speaker‘s commitment to the truth of what he says‖ and the term

―deontic modality‖ is defined as ―language as action, mostly with the expression by the speaker of his attitude towards possible actions by himself and others‖ (Palmer,

1986: 121) He once again emphasizes that the term epistemic should not refer ―to

modal system that basically involve the notions of possibility and necessity, but to any modal system that indicates the degree of commitment by the speaker to what

he says‖ (Palmer, 1986: 51) In contrast, the term deontic modality should refer to

its two main types called ―Commissives‖ and ―Directives‖ Commissives are those expressions in which ―we commit ourselves to doing things‖ (Searle, 1983: 166) and Dirrectives are those ones in which ―we try to get our hearers to do things‖ (Searle, 1983: 166) Although epistemic and deontic modality are very different at semantic level but they shares the same thing called ―subjectivity‖ (Palmer, 1986: 96) His explanation is ―modality in language is …concerned with subjective characteristics of an utterance‖ (Palmer, 1986: 16) This means the speaker‘s attitude is expressed through the realization of modality

1.2 Pragmatic-oriented approach

Boyd and Thorne (1969) base on the theory of speech acts which is introduced by Austin (1962) to describe modality in English Unlike other linguists who try to classify modal auxiliary verbs in English, they use Speech Act Theory to paraphrase English modal auxiliary verbs They focus on the meanings of modals in specific instances of use As in the case of Speech Act Theory, ―the illocutionary force‖ of any verbs is considered as being determined by a set of formal features such as ―first person‖, ―present tense‖, ―non-progressive aspect‖, and ―non-habitual aspect‖ (Boyd and Thorne, 1969: 58) Therefore, the selection of modal auxiliaries verbs indicating the illocutionary potential of the utterances are also subject to these restrictions

1.3 Criticisms of the semantic-oriented and pragmatic-oriented approaches

Those semantic and pragmatic approaches mentioned earlier have been attracting several criticisms

Joos‘ approach and Perkins‘s one are considered ―mono-semantic‖ (Coates, 1983: 9) since they attempt to provide a ―basic meaning for each modal‖ It is very difficult to decide which meanings constitutes the ―core meaning‖ for a particular modal auxiliary As a result, the definition of each modal is both unclear and general in order to account for the diversity in the possible interpretations of the modal (Hermeren, 1978: 18)

Marino‘s modal auxiliary divisions are not clear and subjective because he does not present an analysis of modals in English and gives the inadequate explanation for his decision For example, he assigns a value ―+execution‖ for

Future and ―-execution‖ for Imperative (Marino, 1973: 315) without any detailed

Boyd and Thorne (1969) receive several criticisms of their approach Hermeren (1978) points that if we apply their above-mentioned criteria, the past forms of auxiliary verbs such as ‗would‘, ‗could‘, ‗might‘, etc would not be considered modal In addition, there is some confusion in the differentiation between ‗illocutionary force‘ and ‗illocutionary potential‘ since they both refer to the same instance of language use in two different places in these authors‘ article (Hermeren, 1978: 28) Finally, their choices of examples is not only de-contextualized, but also selected in such a way ―to avoid possible confusion‖ like those which arise ―from the existence of considerable dialectal variation‖ (Boyd and

Thorne, 1969: 62) In short, such an account presents a very restrictive view of modality in general, so it is not useful at the practical level

To sum up, each account of modality has its limitations and it seems that most of the linguists mentioned above just put the emphasis on modal verbs when discussing the issue about modality Obviously, modal verbs are easily seen signals

of modality but the researcher believes there are also other means which convey modality in the propositions and utterances Halliday‘s account of modality which will be presented below may be the most suitable theoretical base for the researcher find out the interpersonal links in the commencement addresses Therefore, modalization and modulation in those speeches are brought to light based on the theory of Halliday‘s systemic functional grammar

1.4 Halliday’s functional approach

1.4.1 Halliday’s notion of modality: modalization and modulation

Halliday‘s account of modality is based on his multifunctional view of language According to Halliday, language is organized around three metafunctions: the ideational, the textual, and the interpersonal metafunctions The ideational metafunction is the function for construing human experience and it is realized through the transitivity system The textual metafunction is the function for organizing discourse and creating continuity and flow in our texts It is realized through the systems of theme-rhyme and information focus And the interpersonal metafunction is the function for enacting our personal and social relationships It is realized through the mood and modality systems

According to Halliday (1994: 75), modality is ―the speaker‘s judgment of the

probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what he is saying‖ He describes modality as representing those choices in language which lie between two polarities

―yes‖ and ―no‖, thus covering all ―intermediate degrees‖ as well as the ―various kinds of indeterminacy‖ that fall in between two extremes (Halliday, 1994: 88)

Halliday‘s functional view continues being shown more clearly as he divides modality into modalization and modulation, depending on the two types of

communicative activities to which it relates, the two areas of meaning which it

covers The first area of meaning deals with propositions and is tackled under modalization and the second area of meaning deals with proposals and is covered under modulation

It is necessary to distinguish Halliday‘s concept about proposition and proposal before discussing the issues of modalization and modulation According to Halliday (1994: 68), the fundamental types of speech role are always ―giving‖ and

―demanding‖ This means the speaker gives the hearer something (for instance, the given thing is a piece of information) and he also requires something from the speaker (what is required maybe also information or an action) When the thing demanded is information or in Halliday‘s words ―the nature of commodity being exchanged‖ is information, the speech function now is conveyed through

propositions In contrast, when the thing demanded is an object or an action and

language is just brought in to help the process along, the speech function is

conveyed through proposals (See figure 1)

Pass the teapot!

Demand Undertaking Refusal

Figure 1: Speech functions and responses (Halliday, 1994: 69)

Halliday‘s concept of modality, in short, can be seen through the three variables which modality is subject to The first is the above-mentioned distinction between the two main types of modality: modalization and modulation The second

is what Halliday (1994: 355, 358) refers to as ―orientation‖ in modality These are

four which either subjective-explicit (I think Mary knows) or subjective-implicit (Mary will know) on the one hand, or on the other hand it could be either objective- explicit (It‘s likely that Mary knows) or objective-implicit (Mary probably knows) Finally, the third variable is what Halliday calls the values attributed to modal forms and these can be low, median, high (Halliday, 1994: 358) In that sense, modalization would include various intermediary degrees of probability (possible/probable/certain) and usuality (sometimes/usually/ always), while modulation would cover different degrees of obligation (allowed/ supposed/ required) and inclination (willing/ keen/ determined) (Halliday, 1994: 358) These

correspond respectively to the low, median, and high degrees (See figure 2)

Low Median High

Probability: possible probable certain

Inclination: willing keen determined

Figure 2: Three values of modality (Halliday, 1994: 357)

1.4.2 Modalization

1.4.2.1 The notion of modalization

This subdivision of modality is seen to reflect the speaker‘s judgment on the likelihood of the propositions Halliday further subdivides modalization into two

sections depending on two kinds of intermediate possibilities: degree of probability (possibly/ probably/ certainly) and degree of usuality (sometimes/ usually/ always) The degree of probability is equivalent to ―either yes or no” and the degree of usuality is equivalent to ―both yes or no‖ (Halliday, 1994: 89)

Halliday‘s concept of modalization can be visualized in the figure below

Propositions

(‘information’, i.e

statements and

questions)

Positive pole: asserting(‘It is so.’)

Negative pole: denying(‘It isn’t so.’)

Intermediate possibilities

MODALIZATION

Figure 3: Modalization 1.4.2.2 The realization of modalization

Halliday suggests that modalization is typically realized by (i) finite modal

operators in the verbal group (such as might, will) and/ or (ii) modal adjuncts of probability and usuality (such as certain, probably) and other subtypes (Halliday,

1994: 89)

(i) Finite modal operators

Modality is first realized by finite modal operators or modal auxiliary verb (Halliday, 1994: 89) He classifies finite modal operators based on two criteria as degree of modality and polarity In terms of degree, he points out three levels as

high, median, and low In terms of polarity, he shows the two poles that are positive and negative (See figure 4)

Figure 4: Modal operators (Halliday, 1994: 76) (ii) Modal adjuncts

According to Halliday (1994: 49), modal adjuncts ―are those which express the speakers‘ judgment regarding the relevance of the message.‖ He subdivides modal adjuncts into two categories that are mood adjuncts and comment adjuncts All these two types of modal adjuncts as well as their wordy realization are summarized in the table below

Type Subtypes Meaning Examples

Mood

adjuncts

Probability How likely? probably, possibly, certainly, perhaps, maybe Usuality How often? usually, sometimes, always, (n)ever, often, seldom Typicality How typical? occasionally, generally, regularly, for the most part Readiness How ready? willingly, readily, gladly, certainly, easily

Obligation How

compulsory?

definitely, absolutely, possibly, at all costs, by all means

Time When? yet, still, already, once, soon, just

Obviousness How obvious? of course, surely, obviously, clearly

Intensity How intense? just, simply, merely, only, even, actually, really, in

fact, indeed Degree What degree? quite, almost, nearly, scarcely, hardly, absolutely,

totally, utterly, entirely

won‘t, wouldn‘t, shouldn‘t, (isn‘t, wasn‘t)

mustn‘t, oughtn‘t

to, can‘t, couldn‘t, (mayn‘t, mightn‘t, hasn‘t/hadn‘t to)

Comment

Adjuncts

Opinion I think in my opinion, personally, to my mind

Admission I admit frankly, to be honest, to tell you the truth

Persuasion I assure you honestly, really, believe me, seriously

Entreaty I request you please, kindly

Presumption I presume evidently, apparently, no doubt, presumably Desirability How desirable? (un)fortunately, to my delight/distress, regrettably,

hopefully Reservation How reliable? at first, tentatively, provisionally, looking back on

it Validation How valid? broadly speaking, in general, on the whole, strictly

speaking, in principle Evaluation How sensible? (un)wisely, understandably, mistakenly, foolishly Prediction How expected? to my surprise, surprisingly, as expected, by chance

Figure 5: Modal adjuncts (Halliday, 1994: 49, 82, 83)

1.4.3 Modulation

1.4.3.1 The notion of modulation

The second main subsection of modality is modulation which deals with the meaning of proposals, i.e goods-&-services commodity exchange As being an aspect of modality, the value of modulation is supposed to stand between the positive pole and negative pole According to Halliday (1994: 89), modulation can

be subdivided into two types: degree of obligation on other person to carry out the command and degree of inclination or willingness of speaker to fulfill the offer The

scale for the demanded goods-&-services or the degree of obligation includes:

‗allowed to‘ (permission), ‗supposed to‘ (advice), ‗required to‘ (obligation) The degree of inclination involves: ‗anxious to‘ (desire), ‗willing to‘ (willingness),

‗determined to‘ (determination) In short, modulation not only shows the speaker‘s demands on other people but it also describes the speaker‘s offers Whatever linguistic devices are used as long as they express the degree of obligation or inclination, they will realize modulation

Halliday‘s concept of modulation can be visualized in the figure 6

(‘goods-&-services’,

i.e offers and

commands)

Positive pole: prescribing(‘do it.’)

Negative pole: proscribing(‘don’t do it.’)

Intermediate possibilities

Halliday (1994) suggests that modulation is typically realized by: first, (i) the modal operators; second, (ii) a passive verb predicator; (iii) an adjective predicator

(i) The modal operators

An example that modulation is expressed by a modal operator can be: ―You should know that; I‘ll help them‖ (Halliday, 1994: 89)

The table of modal operators is presented in figure 3

(ii) A passive verb predicator

Modulation is expressed by the selection of voice can be seen in the following example:

• You are required to do the job (Obligation – Obligation/ High)

• You are supposed to find a good solution (Advice – Obligation/ Median)

• I am determined to do the job (Determination – Inclination/ High)

(iii) An adjective predicator

Some examples which illustrate this type of realization can be:

• I am willing to do the work (Willingness – Inclination/ Low)

• I am keen to do the job (Desire – Inclination/ Median)

• I am certain to do the research (Determination – Inclination/ High)

1.5 Review of previous studies

Although many books about the theories of modality have been written by many linguists so far, the number of studies about the use of modality has been limited and not many studies have been based on the systemic functional approach Some previous studies are reviewed below

Recski (2006) did a systemic functional research on examining the use of modality U.S dissertation defenses In the thesis, he analyzed eight U.S dissertation defenses with more than thirty thousand clauses to find out the answers for three research questions ―(i) the probabilities attached to the system of modality;

(ii) the functional modality of the mental process I think; (iii) the most common

interpersonal strategy employed by committee members to ask questions and to give recommendations and/or suggestions‖ (Recski, 2006: v) The answer to the first question is that the probabilities make us to describe overtly the disparity of language according to the variation of context To the second question, the function

of I think is only identified when we considering both the nature of propositions and

the meaning of the co-texts To the last question, the most common interpersonal strategy is to expand metaphorically the speech functional system

Takahashi (2009) with his article called ―Modality in L2 Legal Writing: A functional Analysis‖ presented a research on modal expressions in legal memoranda written by six international students at a U S law school The systemic functional framework was claimed to be used in this study to investigate how modality was realized in those writings through lexical-grammatical resources However, the

semantic perspective was still made used of when its terms frequently appeared in the study such as ―epistemic modality‖, ―hedges‖, ―boosters‖, etc The study does not present the specific quantity of each type of lexical-grammatical resources that were used to convey modality Moreover, the number of analyzed clauses was very limited and the study just stops at showing some examples of modality usage in those memoranda

Khalid (2013) carried out a research on analyzing three genres namely business letters, newspaper articles, and promotional brochure which were associated with the ship RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1938 This thesis not only focuses

on investigating the use of modality but also on the generic structures and the lexico-grammar of the texts from a range of theoretical perspectives including systemic functional grammar The purpose of the author is to explore the constructing method of the texts by creating an interpersonal relationship However, when examining the use of modality, the author only paid attention to the lexical properties of modal verbs and he used the Sinclair‘s (1996) and Stubbs‘ (2002) Models of Extended Lexical Units to interpret the meanings of them

As mentioned above, the number of studies which examine the realization of modality is not plentiful and up to now there have not been any studies about the use of modalization and modulation in commencement addresses by using the systemic functional framework Therefore, the study is expected to fill the gap and

to a certain extent, will contribute to the clarification of different ways of realizing modality in real texts and offer some suggestions to the practice of language teaching and learning in Vietnam

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 Research question

The conducted research aims to find out the answer to the following

question: How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement addresses?

2.2 Data collection

The data of the study was collected from the analysis of five commencement addresses by Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), J K Rowling (2008), and Barack Obama (2009) All of these speakers are very famous

in their fields Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have been known as two successful businessmen in the science of computer and information technology On the other hand, Barbara Kingsolver and J K Rowling have been well-known for their works

in the realm of literature Barack Obama, especially, is popular name for not only politicians but also many people all over the world when he was elected to be the

44th President of the United States of America

2.3 Analytical framework

The analytical framework adopted in this research is based on the systemic functional theory of modality of M A K Halliday (1994) All the aspects of modality which includes modalization and modulation are presented in the chapter

1 The framework of the analysis can be summarized as follows:

2.4 Data analysis and major findings

2.4.1 Modalization

After more than four hundred clauses in five speeches were analyzed, the achieved results reveal that modalization was realized 435 times which overtake the number of modulation uses that only count 42 times

The details about the quantity of the modalization occurrences in each commencement address are represented in the table below:

Speech made by/

Table 1: Modalization in five speeches

Table 1 shows the number of times that modalization is realized in five commencement addresses In the total of 435 times of occurrences, modalization apportions its realization between modal adjuncts and modal operators by 202 and

233 times respectively Generally, modalization is recognized the most in Bill Gates‘ speeches with 101 times and this first position only has a narrow lead over Barbara Kingsolver‘s one Her speech ranks the second with 100 times of modalization Following these two top positions are Barack Obama‘s, J K Rowling‘s, and Steve Jobs‘ with 91, 78, and 65 times of modalization respectively

In further details, there is an imbalance in using two subdivisions of modalization Although the total number of modal operators in five speeches overtakes that of modal adjuncts, specific numbers in each commencement address are not exactly the same While modal operators are twice as many as modal adjuncts in Barbara Kingsolver‘s speech, modal adjuncts are twofold compared to modal operators in Steve Jobs‘ address Besides, there is just a slight imbalance in the number of modal

adjuncts and modal operators in J K Rowling and Barack Obama‘s speeches With

46 times of using modal adjuncts and 45 times of using modal operators, Barack Obama seems to equalize the frequency of the two subtypes of modalization

In the following parts, modal adjuncts and modal operators with their subcategories are analyzed more specifically

2.4.1.1 Modal adjuncts

Figure 5 in chapter 1 presents the subtypes of modal adjuncts according to Halliday (1994) In spite of the fact that these kinds of modalization were not all employed in the speeches, the ten types which were used also show the variety in the choices of modal adjuncts for expressing modalization The table below summarized the number of modal adjuncts in each subtype that appears in the separate commencement addresses

Bill Gates

Barbara Kingsolver

J K

Rowling

Barack Obama

Table 2 illustrates how many times modal adjuncts were used in each commencement address in ten categories The highest number of modal adjuncts,

46 times, belongs to Barack Obama‘s speech which is neatly followed by two other speaker‘s ones with the equal numbers 42 times of using modal adjuncts, namely Steve Jobs‘ and Bill Gates‘ speeches J K Rowling‘s commencement address ranks the third with 41 times when modal adjuncts were adopted The last position of the frequency usage of modal adjuncts comes to Barbara Kingsolver‘s speech with approximately one-third less than J K Rowling‘s one

The table also displays ten categories of modal adjuncts and the frequency of applying these subtypes is represented from the highest to the lowest Usuality adjuncts are received the highest numbers of usage by 59 times and it is followed by intensity and time adjuncts Probability adjuncts with 18 times stand on the fourth position in the table and with more than ten times, degree adjuncts occupies the fifth rank The lowest frequency of modal adjuncts usage belongs to four kinds which were used less than five times, namely obligation, opinion, obviousness, and persuasion adjuncts

Table 2 reveals that among five speakers, Barbara Kingsolver and J K Rowling are the authors who used the most various types of modal adjuncts in their own commencement addresses Barbara Kingsolver employed eight out of ten types and J K Rowling used seven out of ten types of modal adjuncts Not only having the same frequency of using modal adjuncts, but Steve Jobs and Bill Gates also made use of the same six types of modal adjuncts However, Steve Jobs favored using usuality the most while Bill Gates preferred to use intensity adjuncts instead Like Bill Gates, Barack Obama would rather use intensity adjuncts than usuality adjuncts and he also favored in taking advantage of time adjuncts

2.4.1.2 Modal operators

In this section, modal operators were investigated in five commencement addresses and counted before being shown statistically in the table below

Table 3: Modal operators in five commencement addresses

Table 3 displays the number of times that modal operators with their three degrees were employed to convey modality in five commencement addresses Barbara Kingsolver takes the lead in using modal operators with 69 times of applying them in her speech The runner-up is Bill Gates when he used modal operators 59 times throughout his commencement addresses 45 times of using subdivision of modality are the achieved results from analyzing Barack Obama‘s speech J K Rowling and Steve Jobs have the least number of times of using modal operators with 37 and 23 times respectively

The table also shows that modal operators with low degree were used the most among three degrees by appearing 105 times The median operators come the second and the high ones come last in the list However, in specific cases, we can see that Bill Gates, Barbara Kingsolver, and Barack Obama used low operators the most compared to their uses of median and high operators in their addresses Steve Jobs used median operators the most in his speech J K Rowling, on the other hand, seems to favor both low and median operators so that she used these two kinds with nearly equal times Moreover, the statistics show that high operators are used the least by all of the speakers

2.4.2 Modulation

In this part, the results of the analytical process of five commencement addresses will reveal the frequency of modulation is used Unlike modalization,

modulation is not counted up to hundreds of times, but its realization in this genre proves that it also contribute to the success of these speeches

High Median Low

Table 4: Modulation in five commencement addresses

Table 4 represents the frequency of using modulation in five chosen speeches The total number of modulation occurrences is 42, in which modal operators count to 36 times and two other types of modulation realization were recognized six times Furthermore, passive verb predicator modulation is as twice

as adjective predicator modulation Among values of modality, high modulation was used the most by the orators with 26 times Meanwhile, median modulation and low modulation were employed equally with five times for each kind

The summary table, moreover, shows that Barbara Kingsolver is the speaker who used the highest frequency of modulation in her speech with 12 times Steve Jobs and Bill Gates one more time have a similar statistics in using modulation with ten times and nine times respectively With nearly half of Jobs and Gates‘ number modulation occurrences, Barack Obama and J K Rowling both have almost equal frequency of employing modulation with six times and five times respectively

In terms of variety in types of modulation, Steve Jobs seems to vary modulation types quite frequently, and he had at least one modulation in each type Like Jobs, Barbara Kingsolver also used different types of modulation when

delivering her speech She used four in five subcategories of modulation J K Rowling and Barack Obama seem to just focus on using modal operators to convey modulation Especially, almost of modulations they used are high modulations Like two earlier mentioned speakers, Bill Gates also used high modulation the most in his speech with seven out of nine times that modulation appears in his commencement address

2.5 Discussion

In this section, the comments, explanations, and examples are going to be given to take modality in five commencement addresses into more careful considerations The discussion is divided into four main parts First, a comparison and a possible explanation for the fact that modalization overtakes modulation in these speeches is going to be mentioned Second, the expressions that fall into many categories of modal adjuncts will be demonstrated as well as the comments of how effective they are Third, modal operators with their three degrees as high, median, and low values first, will be pointed out in specific contexts of each commencement address, and then a further discussion about their functions in imparting the speaker‘s attitude Finally, it is necessary to have a deeper look into the issue of modulation Why high modulation was used the most is one of the researcher‘s curiosities All the analyzed clauses mentioned in this part are found in appendix 2

2.5.1 Modalization and Modulation

Speech made by Modalization Modality Modulation

Table 5 shows how frequently modalization and modulation are realized in the speeches As can be seen in the table, in 477 times modality is realized in the clauses of five commencement addresses, modalization occupies 435 times (about 91.2%) and modulation only accounts for 42 times (8.8%) This imbalance also can

be seen in separate speeches Except for Steve Jobs‘ speech, all of four other ones have the low rate of modulation (under 10%) Especially, modulation takes a smallest percentage in J K Rowling‘s speech with about 6%

It is not an easy task to find out an explanation for this phenomenon, but a possible answer will be presented as follows:

Theoretically, modalization refers to the speaker‘s judgment to proposition including information commodity: statement and question in which statement are the majority Meanwhile, modulation expresses the degrees of obligation and inclination in relation to proposals The speakers of those commencement addresses

do not have many reasons or purposes to use their wordy power to force the listeners to do something or take any actions In other words, the contents of the commencement addresses mainly focus on the speaker‘s experiences and thoughts Therefore, it can be inferred that their primary purposes are to inform or give information The functions of modalization would serve these objectives well because modalization reflects personal opinions on propositions and the clauses of this type can be counted to more than 90% in the commencement addresses As a result, modalization was chosen as the main tool to express modality in the commencement addresses mentioned above

2.5.2 Modal adjuncts - realization and meanings

Modal adjuncts, along with modal operators, are devices which help to transfer modalization According to the results in table 1 and table 3, it seems that there is not a significant imbalance between modal adjuncts and modal operators‘ usage because modal adjuncts were employed 202 times and modal operators were used 233 times However, it is clear that the speakers still favored using modal operators instead of modal adjuncts

Table 1 clearly shows that there are ten classifications of modal adjuncts which were used in these commencement addresses Among them, usuality, intensity, and time adjuncts are top three kinds which appear the most frequently in the chosen speeches All of these types of adjuncts are now investigated carefully in the specific clauses of the speeches to see what effects they can cause

In terms of usuality adjuncts, a wide range of frequency adjuncts from low

degree to high degree were employed to transfer modality meanings The readers can come across the use of them in all five commencement addresses

First, the high modality can be seen in clause (64) ―Dad, I always told you I‘d come back and get my degree‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (70) ―There were always lots

of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (74)

―It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (204) ―They always manage to have the last word,

even when they are dead‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (337) ―no matter how much

you've done, or how successful you've been, there's always more to do, always more

to learn, and always more to achieve‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Although all clauses

belong to high modality, but the usuality adjunct ―always‖ have some slightly different nuances of meaning In two clauses (64) and (70), by using ―always‖, Bill Gates showed his annoyance when he was always reminded to come back to college

by his farther and when he had to put up with his roommates Obviously, his judgment on the given information in two propositions was mainly expressed by the usuality adjunct In clause (74), there is a combination of using two usuality adjuncts ―sometimes‖ and ―always‖ in one clause This combination perfectly expresses Bill Gates‘ feeling about the studying environment at Harvard His tones

of emotion change from maybe a little bit excitement (exhilarating) to a bit scare (intimidating) and it was raised up to higher level of some tiredness (sometimes discouraging) and much stress (always challenging) Therefore, in this clause,

―always‖ not only shows the frequency but it also shows how worse and how strong the speaker‘s feeling was In clause (204), Barbara Kingsolver used ―always‖ with another sense of meaning She wanted to prove a nearly eternal verity that ―they‖

(the novelists) ―manage to have the last word‖ with nearly one hundred percent Therefore, in this clause she used the adjunct to convey the nearly highest frequency

of the action In Barack Obama‘s clause, he used ―always‖ three times and they continued one another like a refrain By this way, he showed his certainty about the fact that it is no longer enough for people to strive for mastery As a result, he sent a message to the graduates that they need to try more and more to make them more perfect

Second, the median and nearly lowest modality can be seen in clause (41)

―Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005); (276)

―Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression‖ (J K Rowling, 2008); (218) ―Previous generations rarely asked about the hidden costs‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (270) ―Hardly had my parents‘ car rounded the corner at the end

of the road than I ditched‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) Especially, the lowest usuality

adjunct ―never‖ was used many times and counted up to 28 times in all five

commencement addresses Due to its most frequency, several examples are taken to see how effective and what modality it transfers Instead of saying ―I didn‘t

graduate from university‖, Steve Jobs said: ―I never graduated from university.‖

―Never‖ does not mean absolutely ―no‖, but it conveys the meaning of ―no‖ and the attitude of the speaker He did not graduate from one university and he did not intend to be a graduate of any university However, the listeners can realize that he graduated from many ‗universities‘ of his own so that he could become one of the pioneers in his working field In another clause, this modal adjunct, once more time conveys some other judgments of the author In other clause in the same speech

―the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts‖,

the author could replace ―never‖ by ―wouldn‘t‖, but the use of ―never‖ here emphasizes that the action or the thing did not happen in the past, does not happen

at the present, and will not happen in the future Moreover, the author may imply that dropping out of college is the best decision he has ever made and he had no regret for what he has done

In summary, usuality adjunct not only express the frequency of actions, but they also convey other senses of meaning and the speakers‘ opinions and attitudes

In terms of intensity adjuncts, ―even‖ and ―just‖ are two adjuncts that were

employed the most because they are counted 19 and 17 times respectively in all five commencement addresses Generally, intensity adjuncts were used to emphasize the action or the state and they are also implied the speaker‘s opinion However, the two adjuncts above have different modality meanings

First, ―even‖ was used to emphasize something unexpected and surprising in

(69) ―I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn‘t even signed up for‖ and (52) ―I didn‘t even know what a pancreas was‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005) In clause (69), Steve

Jobs wanted to show his surprise when he took part in a lot of classes that he did not register on purpose In other words, that he learnt in those classes happened unexpectedly as he made quick decisions ad followed his sudden inspiration In clause (52), he was quite shocked when he was informed that he had a pancreas cancer, which he had never expected before The listener can feel his insecure state

of mind Undoubtedly, modalization helps him to show his judgment on the given information in each sentence

Second, ―even‖ was used to emphatically introduce a more exact description

of a thing or an issue Several examples from the commencement speeches contain this modal adjunct in this sense as: (74) ―It could be exhilarating, intimidating,

sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (136)

―They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities,

corporations, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see

approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago.‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (336)

―I come to affirm that one's title, even a title like President of the United States, says

very little about how well one's life has been led.‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Clause (74) expresses Bill Gates‘ feeling about Harvard when he was at school He experienced different tones of emotion from ―exhilarating‖ to ―intimidating‖, ―even discouraging‖, and especially ―challenging‖ The modal adjunct was employed to

emphasize two characteristics in the second part of the clause Similarly, ―even‖ one more time was used with emphatic purpose in clause (136) by Bill Gates He was mentioning the roles of personal computers and social network which he referred as

―these advances‖ in the previous clause of clause (136) in his address The impact

of computers and internet has a large coverage on many objects which were listed

as ―national governments‖, ―universities‖, ―corporations‖, ―smaller organizations‖,

and ―even individuals‖ Although ―individuals‖ was the last mentioned object but it

received a stress by the way the speaker used ―even‖ Therefore, listeners easily see Bill Gates‘ attitude about computers and network He highly regards their roles in the life of human beings in general and in each individual in particular Clause (336) shows the way Barack Obama employ the modal adjunct ―even‖ in a clause of his address In the first part of the clause, he mentioned a general noun ―one‘s title‖ but before he moved to the more specific example ―a title like President of the United States‖, he employed ―even‖ It is clear that ―even‖ was used to introduce a more exact or specific description of an issue

The modal adjunct “just” has different meanings from ―even‖ because it can

be inferred as ―exactly‖, ―only‖, and ―simply‖ First, ―just‖ means ―exactly‖ can be

found in clause (51) ―Because almost everything — all external expectations, all

pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005); (66) ―I‘m just

happy that the Crimson has called me ―Harvard‘s most successful dropout‖ (Bill

Gates, 2007); (310) ―One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as

much as to understand or sympathise‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) Second, ―just‖ means

―only‖ can be seen in clause (77) ―Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you

had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (85) ―For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that

just weren‘t being delivered‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (122) ―Millions! Think of the thrill

of saving just one person‘s life‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (182) ―I'm just observing‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (328) ―I'd just like to clear the air about that little

controversy everybody was talking about a few weeks back‖ (Barack Obama,

2009); (392) ―they just know that you're somebody who cares, somebody who

makes a difference in their lives.‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Finally, ―just” means

―simply” are found in clause (99) ―because people just … don‘t … care‖ (Bill

Gates, 2007); (196) ―Can't we just go home and put a really big lock on the door?‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (399) ―that's not just how you'll ensure that your own

life is well-lived‖ (Barack Obama, 2009)

In conclusion, the intensifying or emphatic function of intensity adjuncts remains for every specific chosen commencement addresses though their meanings are different from one another

In terms of time adjuncts, they are realized in the speeches by variety of

expressions like ―now‖, ―already‖, ―just‖, etc Among them, ―now‖ was used the most In all clauses, the time adjunct ―now‖ means ―at the present‖ though its position in clauses is flexible It can be at the beginning of the sentence like (171)

―Now, I believe parents should uphold respect for adult authority‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008) or in the middle like (371) ―it's now abundantly clear that we

need to start doing things a little bit different‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) or at the end

of the sentence like (57) ―I'm fine now‖ Another time adjunct is ―just‖, which is

also may be used as an intensity adjunct When it is realized as time adjunct, its

meaning is quite similar to ―already‖ For instance, (32) ―we had just released our finest creation‖ and (210) ―Nations have already joined together to rein in global

consumption‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008) However, ―just‖ expresses an action that has recently happened while ―already‖ shows that an action happened before the time of speaking and it not exactly recent

In terms of probability adjuncts, they also range from the least probability

to the most probability such as: maybe, perhaps, likely, probably, surely, and

certainly Several examples are ―Maybe you've got student loans‖ (Barack Obama, 2009); ―Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005); ―you likely also have an informed conscience‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); ―You've probably spent very little of your recent life in a free-

standing unit with a bathroom-to-resident ratio of greater than one‖ (Bill Gates,

2007); ―There was a time when I surely knew‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); ―If you live each

day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right‖ (Steve Jobs,

2005) These probability adjuncts made the statements less certain, but they help the speakers‘ subjective opinion to be more objective and persuasive

In terms of degree adjuncts, like probability adjuncts, degree adjuncts have

from the low value to the high one At the low level, the usage of degree adjuncts

are realized through ―pretty‖ such as ―I‘m pretty sure none of this would have

happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005) Such expression shows the least commitment of the speaker to the information in his proposition At the median level, ―quite‖ is the degree adjunct which show the medium

commitment of the speaker like ―the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria

if you let it‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) At the high level, ―almost‖ and ―all‖ are two degree adjuncts which were used to show the high commitment of the speakers to

what they were talking about Several examples are: ―there is almost no limit to

what the world has a right to expect from us‖ (Bill Gates, 2007) and ―You're told

that's all about to change‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008)

Beside four kinds of modal adjuncts mentioned above, other five categories

of adjuncts are: admission, obligation, opinion, persuasion, and obviousness are

also recognized in five chosen commencement addresses First, an admission adjunct was used to convey the speaker‘s emphasis on a particular quality like

―Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving

only what is truly important‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005) The degree adjunct ―truly‖ stresses

on Steve Job‘s admission of his fear of death when he received the bad news that he suffered a cancer Second, the obligation adjunct ―definitely‖ show the speaker‘s

belief that what he is saying is obligatorily true in the clause ―no, you definitely

have student loans‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Third, the speaker‘s opinion is overtly

shown by using the opinion adjunct ―personally‖ in ―I personally will defend the

value of bedtime stories to my last gasp‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) Fourth, persuasion

modalization is realized through ―honestly‖ in ―Honestly, it is harrowing for me to

try to teach 20-year-old students‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008) She wanted to

persuade the listeners to believe that she was really unwilling to carry out the

action Finally, obviousness modality was shown in ―Of course, this is a power, like

my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) The speaker used ―of course‖ to show that there is nothing more to comment about the given information that everyone must admit that it is true

In summary, ten categories of modal adjuncts were effectively employed to express the speakers‘ judgments on the contents of the propositions

2.5.3 Modal operators of modalization – Realization and meanings

Compared to modal adjuncts, modal operators seem to be favored when their total occurrence times are more than those of modal adjuncts Modal operators with all three degrees were used from low to high to express modalization in five commencement addresses Nevertheless, the low and median modals are used much more than the high ones By using these modal operators, the speakers intended to make their sayings less certain but more objective than positive or negative clauses

Modal operators with low degree were employed the most through five speeches The low modalization is realized by such modal verbs like ―can, could, may, might‖ The most noticeable phenomenon about using low modal operators is found on the speech of Bill Gates and Barbara Kingsolver From clause (87) to clause (93), Bill Gates continuously used low modalizations and they are realized

by modal operators (see appendix 2, XXXV) In these series of clauses, he was expressing his concerns with the fact that there are so many poor people who cannot support for themselves but the society has not found the most possible solution for

this issue He provided a lot of hypotheses ―if we can develop a more creative capitalism‖, ―if we can stretch the reach of market forces‖, and ―if we can find

approaches that meet the need of the poor in the ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians‖ All of the activities he mentions have not been done so far, therefore he just used ―can‖ but he did not say ―If we develop…‖, ―if

we stretch…‖, and ―if we find…‖ However, the modal verb ―can‖ expresses his wish and ambition about those things will become true one day Like Bill Gates,