A critical discourse analysis of senator elizabeth warren’s presidential campaign announcement speech

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh (M.A.) Student: Trần Hà Anh Course: QH2016.F1.E1 HANOI - 2020 i ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGƠN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HĨA CÁC NƯỚC NĨI TIẾNG ANH KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGƠN PHÊ PHÁN VỀ BÀI PHÁT BIỂU TRANH CỬ TỔNG THỔNG CỦA THƯỢNG NGHỊ SĨ ELIZABETH WARREN Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh (M.A.) Sinh viên: Trần Hà Anh Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2020 ii I hereby state that I: Tran Ha Anh, class QH2016.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language Teacher Education, accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh for the invaluable assistance that I have received throughout the conduct of my bachelor thesis Without her considerable encouragement, constructive comments, and dedicated guidance, this study would never have been accomplished Moreover, thanks to her great insights, I have been exposed to various ways of approaching my topic of research critically and comprehensively Although I truly witnessed how challenging it is to research in the field of critical discourse analysis throughout the production of this thesis and realized my current limitations, I have grown a stronger love for (Critical) Discourse Analysis thanks to Ms Linh’s unwavering support and guidance Once again, I would like to thank you very much for being such a wonderful teacher to me I would like extend my deep gratitude to Mr Pham Xuan Tho for igniting my passion in linguistics and Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Tam for furthering my interest in linguistics, especially Systemic Functional Linguistics, and giving me the vital initial insights into the world of Discourse Analysis The thesis would not come into its novel form without the help of Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, Director of the EU Center in Singapore Without your help, I would be lost in shaping the comprehensive overview of the current politics of the United States and choosing which presidential candidate with the most interesting views Besides my supervisor and teachers, I would like to thank my parents and elder brother for giving all the support throughout not only my arduous period of writing this thesis but also the past 22 years I cannot thanking enough for putting up with my irrational fears and encouraging me to try to the best of my ability Finally, I deeply appreciate the support from my dear friends I give my sincere thanks to Thu Ha and Tung Linh for offering me some extra critical heads and shoulders for me to cry on when I needed I would like to extend my thanks to iv other friends for giving me fun, support, and encouragement here and there throughout my undergraduate days v ABSTRACT This thesis examines the ideologies embedded in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign announcement speech in 2019 and the realizations of these ideologies through the lexical, grammatical, and structure of it The transcript was retrieved from the website, Mass Live, and was personally checked for accuracy by a comparison of video recording of the speech provided by the reputable news source, C-SPAN The speech was then systematically investigated following the Fairclough’s (2001) dialectical-relational approach towards Critical Discourse Analysis There are two major ideologies presented Firstly, the speech demonstrates the message of unity among American citizens under the leadership of Senator Warren to change America for the better This ideology is manifested through the classification scheme, metaphors, the active voice, negative sentences, the personal pronoun “we”, and phrase repetition Secondly, Senator Warren is a competent, qualified, and proud candidate to address numerous long-running inequalities and lead America towards a better future while wealthy people and the current Trump administration have been the cause of economic and societal injustice as well as corrupted political manipulation This ideology is conveyed through the classification scheme, the meaning relations between words, the relational values of vocabulary, metaphors, the expressive values of vocabulary, the relational process, the passive voice, negative sentences, the personal pronoun “I”, auxiliary verb “can” and “will”, the expressive values of grammatical features, as well as the first seven parts of the larger-scale structure of the speech Number of words: 12604 words vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES, AND FIGURES Abbreviation: CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis DHA: discourse-historical approach SCA: socio-cognitive approach DRA: dialectical-relational approach MR: member resources SFL: Systemic Functional Linguistics List of tables: Name of the table Table The conflicts between workers and their rich bosses in Lawrence in 1902 Table The contrasts between the majority of Americans and the wealthy now Table The current problematic administration and senator Warren’s desirable administration Table Transitivity in the speech Table Modality in the speech Table The larger scale structure of the speech List of figures: Name of the figure Figure The procedure of the stage of interpretation Figure The procedure of the stage of explanation vii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES, AND FIGURES vii TABLE OF CONTENT viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Objectives and research question 3 Scope of the study Significance of the study Structural organization of the research CHPATER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Overview of CDA 1.1 The definition of CDA 1.2 Key concepts in CDA 1.2.1 Ideology 1.2.2 Power 1.3 The aims of CDA Main approaches to CDA 2.1 Overview 2.1.1 Discourse-historical approach by Ruth Wodak 2.1.2 Socio-cognitive approach by Teun van Dijk 2.1.3 The dialectical-relational approach by Norman Fairclough 2.2 The review of Fairclough’s DRA framework 2.2.1 The stages of doing CDA from the DRA 2.2.2 Systemic Functional Linguistics in CDA 13 Review of previous studies 15 Chapter summary 17 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 18 Sampling 18 1.1 The choice of the text 18 1.2 Description of the context of the speech 18 Data collection procedure 20 viii Data analysis procedure 21 Chapter summary 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22 The realization of Senator Warren’s ideologies through the lexical, grammatical features, and structure of the discourse 22 1.1 The realization of Senator Warren’s ideologies through the lexical features of the discourse 22 1.1.1 The experiential values of lexical features 22 1.1.2 The relational values of vocabulary 28 1.1.3 Metaphor 29 1.1.4 The expressive values of vocabulary 30 1.2 The realization of Senator Warren’s ideologies through the grammatical features of the discourse 30 1.2.1 The experiential values of grammatical features 30 1.2.2 The relational values of grammatical features 36 1.2.3 The expressive values of grammatical features 39 1.3 The realization of Senator Warren’s ideologies through the structure of the discourse 41 Summary of Senator Warren’s ideologies 44 2.1 Major ideologies 44 2.2 Minor ideologies 46 Chapter summary 46 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 48 Recapitulation of main ideas 48 Implications 48 Limitations of the study 49 Suggestion for further study 50 REFERENCES 51 APPENDIX 58 APPENDIX A: THE TRANCRIPT OF SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUCEMENT SPEECH 58 APPENDIX B: VOCABULARY ANALYSIS – CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES 71 APPENDIX C: TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS 87 ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach studying the relationships between the use of language and the social and political contexts where it occurs The research objects of CDA are vast, but not limited to politics only Accordingly, CDA has branched into numerous subdisciplines of which political discourse is one of them Though numerous studies have been conducted related political discourse, it is far from being an exhausted research area since politics in its various forms, such as policy, speech, and debate, happens daily and has a profound impact on shaping the society and the well-being of the citizens, where power is reproduced In particular, the study of presidential campaign speeches (see, e.g., Ivie & Giner, 2009; Savoy, 2018) has attracted the attention of linguists because these are the time points when the candidates invest significant resources into garnering favorable public opinions through their eloquence (Le et al., 2017) Speeches by candidates play an important role in their election campaigns They give an insight into which direction each candidate and his campaign is heading into and what can be expected by his supporters as well as where they can fit into the campaign Moreover, according to Benoit (2007), speeches made in the campaign are a form of direct communication between the candidate or “the leader” and the wider public This direct form of communication can be altered by observing other text types appearing throughout the campaign, such as interviews and debates, because of the differences in the nature of the form of communication (Fairclough, Cortese, & Ardizzone, 2007) The campaign announcement speech is the first time for every candidate to formally introduce himself to the electorates as the contender for presidency (106) Some of them have even tried to buy their way into public office  Material process (107) So today, our government works just great for oil companies and defense contractors, great for private prisons, great for Wall Street banks and hedge funds, it’s just not working for anyone else  Material process + Material process (108) When it comes to climate change, our very existence is at stake  Relational process (109) But Washington refuses to lift a finger without permission from the fossil fuel companies  Material process (110) That’s dangerous and it’s wrong  Relational process + Relational process (111) And it isn’t just climate change  Relational process (112) Look at any other major issue in America Gun violence Student loan debt The crushing cost of healthcare Mistreatment of our veterans A broken criminal justice system  Behavioral process (113) An immigration system that lacks common sense, and under this administration — lacks a conscience  Relational process (114) Overwhelming majorities of Americans want action  Material process (115) Huge crowds march on Washington demanding change Letters Phone calls Protests  Material process (116) But nothing happens  Material process 97 Nothing Why? (117) Because if you don’t have money and you don’t have connections, Washington doesn’t want to hear from you  Mental process (118) When government works only for the wealthy and well-connected, that is corruption — plain and simple  Relational process (119) It’s time to fight back  Relational process (120) Corruption is a cancer on our democracy  Relational process (121) And we will get rid of it only with strong medicine — with real, structural reform  Material process (122) Our fight is to change the rules so that our government, our economy, and our democracy work for everyone  Material process (123) And I want to be crystal-clear about exactly what I mean when I say that  Mental process (124) First: We need to change the rules to clean up Washington End the corruption  Mental process (125) We all know the Trump Administration is the most corrupt in living memory  Mental process (126) But even after Trump is gone, it won’t be enough to a better job of running a broken system 98  Relational process (127) We need to take power in Washington away from the wealthy and well-connected and put it back in the hands of the people where it belongs!  Mental process (128) That’s why I’ve proposed the strongest and most comprehensive anti- corruption law since Watergate  Relational process Some examples: (129) Shut down the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington  Material process (130) End lobbying as we know it  Material process (131) And while we’re at it, ban foreign governments from hiring lobbyists in Washington  Material process (132) Make justices of the United States Supreme Court follow a basic Code of Ethics  Material process (133) Ban Members of Congress from trading stocks  Material process (134) How is that not already illegal?  Relational process (135) And, one more, make every single candidate for federal office put their taxes online; I’ve done it, everyone should it  Material process + Material process + Material process (136) That’s One — root out corruption in Washington  Relational process 99 (137) Now, two — change the rules to put more economic power in the hands of the American people — workers and small businesses  Material process Middle-class families and people of color who have been shut out of their chance to build wealth for generations (138) Again, that requires real, structural change  Material process (139) Right now, giant corporations in America have too much power — and they roll right over everyone else  Material process + Material process (140) We need to put power back in the hands of workers  Mental process (141) Make it quick and easy to join a union  Material process (142) Unions built America’s middle class, and unions will rebuild America’s middle class  Material process + Material process (143) Make American companies accountable for their actions and raise wages by putting workers in those corporate boardrooms where the real decisions are made  Material process (144) Break up monopolies when they choke off competition  Material process (145) Take on Wall Street so that the big banks can never again threaten the security of our economy  Material process 100 (146) And when giant corporations — and their leaders — cheat their customers, stomp out their competitors, or rob their workers, let’s prosecute them  Material process + Material process And one more thing (147) I’m tired of hearing that we can’t afford to make real investments in child care, college, and Medicare for All  Relational process (148) Can’t afford things that help create economic opportunity for families  Relational process (149) I’m tired of hearing that we can’t afford to make investments in things like housing and opioid treatment  Relational process (150) Can’t afford things that address rural neglect or the legacy of racial discrimination  Relational process (151) I’m tired of hearing what we can’t afford because it is just not true  Relational process (152) We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world — of course we can afford these investments  Relational process + material process (153) But we need a government that makes different choices  Mental process (154) Choices that reflect our values  Relational process (155) Stop handing out enormous tax giveaways to rich people and giant corporations  Material process 101 (156) Stop refusing to invest in our children  Material process (157) Stop stalling on spending money — real money — on infrastructure and clean energy and a Green New Deal  Material process (158) And start asking the people who have gained the most from our country to pay their fair share  Material process (159) That includes real tax reform in this country — reforms that close loopholes and giveaways to the people at the top, and an Ultra-Millionaire Tax to make sure rich people start doing their part for the country that helped make them rich  Material process (160) So, that’s one — clean up Washington  Relational process (161) That’s two — change the rules in our economy  Relational process (162) Now, three: change the rules to strengthen our democracy  Material process (163) That starts with a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every American citizen to vote and to have that vote counted  Material process (164) And that’s just the beginning  Relational process (165) Overturn every single voter suppression rule that racist politicians use to steal votes from people of color  Material process (166) Outlaw partisan gerrymandering — by Democrats and Republicans  Material process 102 (167) And overturn Citizens United  Material process (168) Our democracy is not for sale  Relational process (169) By the way, if we truly believe that, then we also need to end the unwritten rule of politics that says anyone who wants to run for office has to start by sucking up to rich donors on Wall Street and powerful insiders in Washington  Mental process (170) I’m opting out of that rule  Material process (171) I’m not taking a dime of PAC money in this campaign  Material process (172) I’m not taking a single check from a federal lobbyist  Material process (173) I’m not taking applications from billionaires who want to run a Super PAC on my behalf  Material process (174) And I challenge every other candidate who asks for your vote in this primary to say exactly the same thing  Material process (175) It’s not just our elections  Relational process (176) Real democracy requires equal justice under law  Material process (177) It’s not equal justice when a kid with an ounce of pot can get thrown in jail while a bank executive who launders money for a drug cartel can get a bonus  Relational process 103 (178) We need real reform!  Mental process (179) It’s not equal justice when, for the exact same crimes, African Americans are more likely than whites to be arrested, more likely to be charged, more likely to be convicted, and more likely to be sentenced  Relational process (180) Yes, we need criminal justice reform and we need it now!  Mental process (181) And one more thing we must to strengthen our democracy: We must not allow those with power to weaponize hatred and bigotry to divide us  Existential process (182) More than 50 years ago, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr went to Montgomery and warned us about the danger of division  Material process + verbal process (183) He talked about how bigotry and race-baiting are used to keep black Americans divided from white Americans so that rich Americans can keep picking all their pockets  Verbal process (184) That playbook has been around forever  Existential process (185) Whether it’s white people against black people, straight people against gay people, middle-class families against new immigrant families —  the story is the same  Relational process (186) The rich and powerful use fear to divide us  Material process (187) We’re done with that  Relational process 104 (188) Bigotry has no place in the Oval Office  Existential process (189) This is who we are  Relational process (190) We come from different backgrounds Different religions Different languages Different experiences  Relational process (191) We have different dreams  Mental process (192) We are passionate about different issues and we feel the urgency of this moment in different ways  Relational process + Mental process (193) But, today, we come together — ready to raise our voices together until this fight is won  Material process (194) Our movement won’t be divided by our differences  Material process (195) It will be united by the values we share  Material process (196) We all want a country where everyone — not just the wealthy —  everyone can take care of their families  Mental process (197) We all want a country where every American — not just the ones who hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers — everyone can participate in democracy  Mental process Where every child can dream big and reach for opportunity (198) And we’re all in the fight to build an America that works for everyone 105  Relational process (199) This won’t be easy  Relational process (200) There are a lot of people out there with money and power and armies of lobbyists and lawyers  Existential process (201) People who are prepared to spend more money than you and I could ever dream of, trying to stop us from making any of these solutions a reality  Existential process (202) People who will say it’s “extreme” or “radical” to demand an America where every family has some economic security and every kid has a real opportunity to succeed  Existential process (203) I say to them, “Get ready, because change is coming faster than you think.”  Verbal process (204) Yeah, this kind of fundamental change will be hard  Relational process (205) A lot of people — even some of our friends — will tell us it isn’t even worth trying  Verbal process (206) But we will not give up  Material process (207) Let me tell you one last story  Material process (208) When I was home with my first baby, I got this notion that I would go to law school  Mental process (209) It was a crazy idea, but I persisted 106  Relational process (210) Eventually, I figured out the admissions tests and applications, worked out how to pay my tuition, and mapped out the 45-minute commute to campus  Mental process (211) Weeks out, I had one last thing on my checklist: child care  Existential process (212) My daughter Amelia was nearly two years old, and I looked everywhere  Relational process + Behavioral process (213) I struck out over and over  Material process (214) We were down to the weekend before law school was supposed to start, when I finally found a small place with a cheerful teacher, nice little play area, no funny smells, in my price range  Relational process (215) But the place would only take children who were “hmm dependably potty trained.”  Material process (216) I looked over at Amelia  Behavioral process (217) She was happily pulling toys off the shelf  Material process (218) Her diaper barely covered by her pink stretchy pants  Material process Hmmm Dependably potty trained (219) I now had five days to potty-train an almost two-year-old  Material process 107 (220) All I can say is, I stand before you today courtesy of three bags of M&Ms and a cooperative toddler  Verbal process (221) Since that day, I’ve never let anyone tell me that anything is “too hard.”  Material process (222) But oh how they’ve tried  Material process (223) People said it would be “too hard” to build an agency that would stop big banks from cheating Americans on mortgages and credit cards  Verbal process (224) But we got organized, we fought back, we persisted, and now that consumer agency has forced these banks to refund nearly $12 billion directly to people they cheated  Material process (225) When Republicans tried to sabotage the agency, I came back to Massachusetts and then ran against one of them  Material process (226) No woman had ever won a Senate seat in Massachusetts, and people said it would be “too hard” for me to get elected  Material process + Verbal process (227) But we got organized, we fought back, we persisted, and now I am the senior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts  Material process + Relational process (228) So, no, I am not afraid of a fight  Relational process Not even a hard fight 108 (229) When the women of Everett Mill walked away from their machines and out into the cold January air all those years ago, they knew it wouldn’t be easy  Mental process (230) But they also knew what was at stake for themselves and their families  Mental process (231) And they weren’t going to let anyone tell them it was “too hard.”  Material process (232) Doubters told the abolitionists “it’s too hard.”  Verbal process (233) Skeptics told the suffragettes “it’s too hard.”  Verbal process (234) Cynics told the trust-busters “it’s too hard.”  Verbal process (235) Naysayers told the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement “it’s just too hard.”  Verbal process (236) But they all kept right on going and they changed the history of America  Material process + Material process (237) Sure, there will be plenty of doubters and cowards and armchair critics this time around  Existential process (238) But we learned a long time ago that you don’t get what you don’t fight for  Mental process (239) We are in this fight for our lives, for our children, for our planet, for our futures — and we will not turn back 109  Relational process + Material process (240) My daddy ended up as a janitor, but his little girl got the chance to be a public school teacher, a college professor, a United States Senator — and a candidate for President of the United States  Relational process + Relational process (241) I am grateful, all the way to my bones  Relational process (242) Grateful — and determined  Relational process (243) So here is the promise I make to you today: I will fight my heart out so that every kid in America can have the same opportunity I had — a fighting chance to build something real  Existential process (244) I will never give up on you and your future  Material process (245) I will never give up on your children and their future  Material process (246) I am in this fight all the way  Relational process (247) It’s a long way to election day  Relational process (248) But our fight starts here  Material process (249) And it starts with you  Material process (250) It starts with your decision to get involved, right now  Material process (251) Join us on Elizabeth Warren.com  Material process 110 (252) Help us organize  Material process (253) Volunteer  Material process (254) Pitch in five bucks  Material process (255) We need everyone in this fight  Material process (256) The textile workers here in Lawrence more than 100 years ago won their fight because they refused to be divided  Material process (257) Today, we gather on those same streets, ready to stand united again  Material process (258) This is our moment in history, the moment we are called to  Relational process (259) This is our moment to dream big, fight hard, and WIN!"  Relational process 111 ... 51 APPENDIX 58 APPENDIX A: THE TRANCRIPT OF SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUCEMENT SPEECH 58 APPENDIX B: VOCABULARY ANALYSIS – CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES... The data for analyzing is the transcript of Senator Warren’s presidential campaign announcement speech It was taken from the online transcription of the news website, Mass Live, and was personally... The dialectical-relational approach by Norman Fairclough Fairclough is famous for his dialectical-relational approach (hereafter DRA) in doing CDA The heart of the DRA can be summarized as follows: