The use of grammatical metaphors in barack obama’s presidential nomination acceptance speech

iii ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech To fulfill this aim, the concept of “grammatical metaphor” is examined The thesis starts by explaining the notion of “metaphor” in general and distinguishes lexical metaphor from grammatical metaphor in particular Then, a study on grammatical metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance speech is implemented based on the theoretical background of Halliday (1994) and Halliday & Matthiessen (1999) This is a descriptive research with both quantitative and qualitative techniques in data analysis Two types of grammatical metaphors are ideational and interpersonal metaphors are densely used from the text In ideational metaphor type, Barack Obama mainly used type (quality → thing), (process → thing), (process → quality), (circumstance → quality), 13 (thing → various) with high frequency In interpersonal metaphor type, metaphor of mood and metaphor of modality are explained and illustrated to highlight the attitude and emotion of the speaker iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… ….i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… …………….ii TABLE OF FIGURES…………………………………… …………….……………….iii CHAPTER : INTRODUCTION…………………… …………….……………………1 1.1 Rationale………………………………………………………………………… ………1 1.2 Aims of the study………………………………………………………………………….2 1.3 Scope of the study………………………………………………….…… ……………….2 1.4 Method of the study………………………………………………… … ……………….2 1.5 Format of the study ………………………………………….……………….………….2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………….….….4 2.1 Introduction……………………….…………………………………….……… 2.2 Metaphor…………………………………………………………………………4 2.3 Lexical metaphor: Traditional view “from below”………………………………5 2.4 Grammatical metaphor: New view “from above” ……………………………… 2.4.1 Metafunctions…………………………………………………… ……………….7 2.4.2 Definition of grammatical metaphor….……………………………………….11 2.4.3 Example…………………………………………………………………………… 12 2.4.4 Classification of grammatical metaphor………………………………………13 2.4.4.1 Logical metaphor…………………………………….………………….13 2.4.4.2 Experiential metaphor………………………………….………………16 2.4.4.3 Interpersonal metaphor……………………………….………….…….17 2.4.4.4 Textual metaphor ……………………………………………………….20 2.5 Lexical metaphor and grammatical metaphor………………… ………………20 v 2.6 Concluding remarks………………………………………………………….…21 CHAPTER 3: The use of grammatical metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech………………………………………………………………… 22 3.1 Questions ………………………………………………………………………22 3.2 Metaphorical modes of expression in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech………………………………………………………………….22 3.2.1 Ideational metaphors…………………………………………………… 22 3.2.2 Interpersonal metaphors …………………………………………………30 3.2.2.1 Metaphors of mood ………………………………….…………………30 3.2.2.2 Metaphors of modality …………………………………………….… 32 3.3 Summary…………………………………………………………………….….33 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………… 35 4.1 Major findings……………………………………………………………….………….35 4.2 Implications for teachers…………………………………………….……….….…….36 4.3 Suggestions for further study……………………………………….…….………… 36 REFERENCES………………………………………………………….………… ……37 APPENDIX 1…………………………………………………………… ……………… I APPENDIX 2………………………………………….…………….…………… … XXII APPENDIX 3………………………………………………………… …………… XXVII vi TABLE OF FIGURES Table 1: Process types, their meanings and key participants (from Halliday 1994: 143)………………………………………………………… …9 Table 2: Giving or Demanding, Goods - & - Services or Information (from Halliday 1994: 69)……………………………………………… ………….……10 Table 3: Metafunctions and their reflexes in the grammar (from Halliday 1994: 36)……………………………………………………….…… …11 Table 4: Modality system (from Halliday 1994: 360) …………………………………20 Table 5: Typical and metaphorical realizations of speech functions in mood types………………………………………………………….…………………….…….21 Table 6: Types of grammatical metaphor (from Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 247)……………………………… …… ….….26 Table 7: Types of ideational metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech………………………………………………………………… … 28 Table 8: Types of metaphors of mood in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech………………………………………………………………… ….33 Table 9: Types of metaphors of modality in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech……………………………………………………….…………… 34 Firgure 1: Direction of metaphorization (from Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 264)………………………………… … ……….27 -1- CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Metaphor is a well-known phenomenon in language Thus, it has received attention in a myriad of disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics, literary theory, semiotics, stylistics, psychology, pedagogy and so on Halliday, the author of the famous work “An Introduction to Functional Grammar” is one of the linguists who spent long time to study on metaphor in general and grammatical metaphor in particular He recognized that lexical metaphor which traditional researches always mentioned is only one aspect of metaphor and there is a strong grammatical element in rhetorical transference which is called grammatical metaphor In addition, in this work, Halliday states that “metaphorical modes of expression are characteristic of all adult discourse” Therefore, I believe that all speeches can have included this phenomenon It is also the reason why I chose one famous speech of a famous President to examine grammatical metaphor used in it Moreover, now Barack Obama is an American President who is famous for not only his talent in political field but also in numerous persuasive speeches because the language he chooses always makes his speech powerful and convincing One of the strategies that we are easy to recognize in all his speeches is using not only lexical metaphors but also grammatical metaphors to make the discourse vivid and easy to understand for all classes of citizen In conclusion, I chose this topic because of my interest in metaphor in general and grammatical metaphor in particular; the appearance with high frequency of metaphor in adult speeches and the admiration to American President Barack Obama’s powerful and convincing speeches -2- 1.2 Aims of the study This study aims at examining the use of metaphorical modes of expression in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech from a systemic functional perspective Features of grammatical metaphor used in this speech will be analyzed following the approach of systemic functional linguistics to understand the roles of grammatical metaphors in developing and structuring this discourse 1.3 Scope of the study This study attempts to look at how Barack Obama uses grammatical metaphors in his Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech The analysis will follow Halliday’s work “An Introduction to Functional Grammar” as the framework and Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech will be taken as source of data for illustration 1.4 Method of the study Since the thesis sets its main objective of investigating the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, it is a descriptive research which reexamines the senses in which the grammatical metaphors are used The techniques involved in data analysis are both qualitative and quantitative 1.5 Format of the study The study is composed of four chapters Chapter 1: Introduction ─ presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the format of the study Chapter 2: Literature Review ─ provides the theoretical background of the study It examines aspects of metaphor and focuses on the nature of grammatical metaphor Chapter 3: The Study ─ is the main part of the study which investigates the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech -3- Chapter 4: Conclusion ─ summarizes the main contents of the study and offers implications for teachers and makes suggestions for further studies -4- CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction Language is a systematic resource for expressing meaning in context and linguistics is the study of how people exchange meanings through the use of language Metaphor is one of the most interesting phenomena in this language system and users who want to find the meaning of metaphors must put them in the context to understand the real meanings expressed Metaphor is not a new topic, however, when dealing with this term, most of the learners will think about traditional view of metaphor which is called lexical metaphor Many people not know that there exists the second form of metaphor that is grammatical metaphor, which is developed by Halliday (1994), Martin (1985, 1992), Thompson (1996), H.V.Van (1997)… etc The following sections will be restricted to a number of key points in the theory which are closely related to the topic of this thesis – grammatical metaphor Firstly, we will provide some definitions of “metaphor” with the example in general Secondly, a detailed description of lexical metaphor and grammatical metaphor will be made to see the nature of two kinds of metaphor Then, the relationship between lexical metaphor and grammatical metaphor is dealt with by Halliday’s viewpoint Thus, the following parts are organized around the headings: Metaphor; lexical metaphor: traditional view “from below”; grammatical metaphor: new view “from above”; lexical metaphor and grammatical metaphor 2.2 Metaphor Metaphor is a well-known phenomenon in language It catches attention and interest of many stylisticians, linguists, cognitive poeticians and so on They are interested in the way of transferring mental constructs and mapping one mental representation onto another when reading texts Thus, they have consistently drawn attention to the system of conceptual transfer in both literary and in everyday discourse, and one important trope, through which this conceptual transfer is carried out, is metaphor “Metaphor” is derived from the Greek meta-, “beyond” and phora, which is derived from pherein, “to carry” In its original, etymological sense, metaphors refer to a kind of movement from one thing to -5- another: one thing is carried beyond itself to something different The modern definitions of metaphor still keep its nature but they are developed more concrete and detailed We will mention to some of the definitions of metaphor as follows A simplified definition is that metaphor is a “mapping of the structure of a source model onto a target model” (Ungerer and Schmid 1999: 120) This definition has not yet been stated precisely what a domain is and how a source model is different from the target model Although Simpson (2004: 41) has a similar definition, his concept overcomes this shortcoming He states that “A metaphor is a process of mapping between two different conceptual domains The different domains are known as the target domain and the source domain The target domain is the topic or concept that you want to describe through the metaphor while the source domain refers to the concept that you draw upon in order to create the metaphorical construction” Without dealing with source domain and target domain, Halliday (1994: 340) provides an understandable and simple concept of metaphor as “a word is used for something resembling that which it usually refers to” Consider the following examples: “A flood of protests poured in following the announcement” (1) “The government still hopes to stem the tide of inflation”(2) In these two examples, metaphors are “flood….poured in”, “stem the tide” They are transferred from concrete senses “a large quantity…came in”, “resist the force of” to abstract senses 2.3 Lexical metaphor: Traditional view “from below” The traditional approach to metaphor is to look at it “from below” as variation in the meaning of a given expression (Halliday 1994: 342) It means we look at metaphorical movement from a literal to a figurative meaning One particular word has its own literal meaning and it is used to express a new figurative meaning Because it is a lexeme (word) which lies at the basis of the metaphorical expression, thus, this expression can be called lexical metaphor Taverniers (2004) introduces the definition of lexical metaphor as “a XXXII to compete in the global economy 50 And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance 51 I'll invest in early childhood education 52 I'll recruit an army of new teachers 53 I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability 54…we will keep our promise to every young American 55 we will make sure … 56…you can afford a college education 57…my plan will lower your premiums 58 If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves XXXIII 59 I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most 60…because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent 61…many of these plans will cost money 62…why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime 63 But I will also go through the federal budget 64…we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy 65…we must also admit that … 66…fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money 67 It will require a renewed sense of XXXIV responsibility from each of us to recover what John F Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." 68…government must lead on energy independence 69…but each of us must our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient 70…we must provide more ladders to success for young men 71…we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents 72…that government can't turn off the television and make a child her homework 73…fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need 74 And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad XXXV 75…it would distract us from the real threats we face 76….and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants 77…he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell 78…but he won't even go to the cave where he lives 79 That won't keep America safe 80 You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances 81 Democrats won't defend this country 82 Democrats won't keep us safe 83 I will never hesitate to defend this nation 84 I will never hesitate to defend this XXXVI nation 85 I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission 86 I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan 87 I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts 88 But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy 89 But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression 90 I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century… 91 I will restore our moral standing 92 These are the policies I will pursue XXXVII 93 But what I will not is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes 94…people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism 95 America, our work will not be easy 96 The challenges we face require tough choices 97…and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past 98 For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits 99 We may not agree on abortion 100…but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country XXXVIII 101 The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gangviolence in Cleveland 102…we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals 103 I know there are differences on same-sex marriage 104…we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital 105 I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers 106….we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort 107 I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk XXXIX 108 They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values 109 If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from 110 And you know what - it's worked before 111…the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result 112 I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming 113…they'd pick up a Democratic ballot 114 I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, XL 115 The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things 116 They could've heard words of anger and discord 117 They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred 118.…we must make the pledge 119…we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead 120 We cannot turn back 121 We cannot walk alone 122…we must pledge once more to march into the future ... ideational metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech? ??……………………………………………………………… … 28 Table 8: Types of metaphors of mood in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech? ??………………………………………………………………... to describe the nature of grammatical metaphor in general and examining the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech in particular Much of our effort... Major findings This thesis aims at examining the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech After studying, we recognized that both ideational and interpersonal