Chapter 3: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Speech “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
3.2. Interpretation of the relationship between the productive and interpretive processes
Interpretation of situational context
The interpretation of situational context is based partly on external cues such as features of the physical situation, properties of participant, what has previously said, but also partly based on the basis of aspects of their MR in terms of which they interpret these cues.
In terms of situational context, the following questions are taken into consideration:
“What‟s going on?”, “Who‟s involved?”, “What relationships are at issue?” and “What‟s the role of language in what‟s going on?”
What’s going on?
The question is sub-classified into activity, topic and purpose. The activity here is delivering a speech. The central topic is about women and their roles in families and societies. The speech is aimed at calling for actions to struggle for women‟s rights, for a better world, which needs joint efforts of women themselves and people of all ages around the world.
Who’s involved?
This is a speech so the subject positions are the speaker, Hillary Clinton and the audience including Mrs. Gertrude Mongella - the founding president of the Pan-African Parliament, UN Assistant Secretary General and Secretary General of 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1995).
In what relation?
Hillary Clinton is the main speaker of the conference, in which gather leaders of many countries in the world. Therefore, there seems to be no social distance and the position of the speaker and others are the same.
What’s the role of language?
Language has been used in an instrumental way to give information, to persuade people and to call for cooperation. It is informative, directive, expressive and commissive.
3.3. Explanation of the relationship between discourse processes and social processes
According to Fairclough (2001:135): “The objective of the stage of explanation is to portray a discourse as part of social process, as a social practice, showing how it is determined by social structures, and what reproductive effects discourses can cumulatively have on those structures, sustaining them or changing them”.
At the institutional level, as the main speaker of the World Conference on Women, Hillary Clinton wants to portrait a picture of how women all over the world live and work. At the same time, she emphasizes the significant roles of women in families and societies. The speaker stresses that it is high time for people in this conference and people everywhere especially women themselves to raise their voice to protect women‟s rights, which is a basis for a better world without sex discrimination.
At the societal level, the relationship in the discourse is the one between the political leader and the public. So far in the society, the roles of women have not been fully recognized by the majority of people. Women themselves do not have chances or dare to speak for themselves for many reasons. The speaker tries to raise awareness of women themselves and other people about women‟s remarkable contributions to the society, thus they deserve to be respected and have their legitimate rights like others. Therefore, the speaker is in a controlling and authoritative status.
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of findings
Based on the analysis of the speech, what is said and inferred from the language can be summarized as follows:
In terms of vocabulary, the discourse has a clear classification scheme presented by the speaker‟s understanding about women‟s contributions to families and the society as well as their challenges in life and the speaker‟s efforts to protect women‟s rights. The structure of vocabulary is ideologically based.
In terms of grammatical features, the power and ideology of the speaker can also be uncovered. Thanks to the use of personal pronouns “I” and “we”, the speaker would like to create solidarity and call for joint efforts of all people including her to help women in their struggle to achieve equality. Based on the use of mood and voice, the speaker exerts her power on others in an indirect way.
The high percentage of material process in transitivity and topical theme in thematization serve the speaker‟s aim of describing actions and events and creating reliability.
From the macro-structure, the ideology of the speaker can also be seen. The development of the discourse is organized in the structure of arguments followed by evidences which are personal experience.
In short, the speech is a tool for Hillary Clinton to express her power and ideology in the sense that she is sympathetic with women around the world and stresses the important role of women in the home as well as in the society. She would like to call for greater awareness and urgent actions to improve women‟s position and bring them the rights that they deserve to have.
2. Conclusion
The application of the results of CDA research is important as an underlying aim of CDA is to produce enlightenment and emancipation for those less powerful in society.
Human rights in general and women‟s rights in particular are legitimate rights of human beings which everyone deserves to have. However, so far women‟s rights have not been fully recognized by a large number of people, which means inequality still exists in our society. In the speech, Hillary Clinton wants to raise the awareness of people of the significance of women‟s contributions to families as well as the society. At the same time, she stresses that we, people of all ages from every part of the world should act without delay to help women in their struggle for equal rights.
All of these things can be done by the use of language. In other words, language is used to serve the purpose of some groups of people conveying their ideology.
3. Implication and recommendations to teaching and learning translation
According to Fairclough, N. and Chouliraki, L. (1999:4), “The basic motivation for critical social science is to contribute to an awareness of what it is, how it has come to be, and what it might become, on the basis of which may be able to make and remake their lives. And this is also the motivation for CDA.”
Analyzing the discourse critically in general and analyzing the discourse in translation in particular plays an important role in raising the awareness of learners of English of the word choice as well as implicature of the text by the speaker or writer in order to deeply understand the message that the writer or the speaker wants to convey.
In terms of the relationship between translation and CDA, it can be said that CDA is an important step in translation. When translating a word or a sentence, the translator has to ask himself the question “What does this word/sentence mean?” and concentrate on answering it by reference, in the main, to the code itself, the elements of which it is composed and the arrangements of those elements which it permits. However, according to Bell, R. T.
(1991:117), another question should also be asked: “What resources does the code possess for the transmission and reception of particular kinds of meaning?”, i.e. a question about the functions of language as a system of communication.” In the translation process as well as in CDA, three macrofunctions should be considered: the ideational (experiential) function (meaning), the interpersonal function and the textual function. Correspondingly to these
three macrofunctions are three major networks of grammatical system which are transitivity, mood and modality, and information – including theme – rheme. Considering these three kinds of meaning helps uncover the writer or the speaker‟s implication or ideology hidden behind words.
As a new discipline in linguistic research, CDA proves to be a useful tool in discerning a discourse‟s ideologies and power. It is highly recommended that this approach is introduced to language learners and researchers.
This study only focuses on the speech on women‟s rights by Hillary Clinton; however, it is highly recommended that it can broaden and connect the analysis to other discourses on women‟s rights in particular and human rights in general.
The writer has translated the speech translated into Vietnamese (See Appendix IV) Before translating the speech, the writer has analyzed the three functions of the language (as done in the previous parts) in order to uncover what is implied in the text and the speaker‟s ideology.
That is what learners of English should do or teachers should tell their students to do before beginning their translation work. The bold expressions in the translation are those which are carefully chosen by the writer. The writer is fully aware that there may be several Vietnamese versions of the original speech but this translation is believed to have best captured and reflected all the analyses, explanations and findings in the study so far.
REFERENCES
1. Bell, R. T. (1991) Translation and Translating. New York: Longman Inc.
2. Chouliaraki, L. & Fairclough, N. (1999) Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
3. Fairclough, N. (2001) Language and Power (second edition). Harlow: Longman 4. Fairclough, N. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language.
London: Longman
5. Fairclough, N. and Wodak, R. (1997) “Critical Discourse Analysis”, in T.van Diij (ed.), Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. Volume 2. London: Sage, pp 258-84
6. Halliday, M.A.K. (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold
7. Nguyễn Hoà (2003) Phân tích Diễn ngôn - Một số Vấn đề Lý luận và Phương pháp, Hà Nội: NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội
8. Nguyễn Hoà (2006) Phân tích Diễn ngôn Phê phán: Lý luận và Phương pháp. Hà Nội:
NXB Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội.
9. Newmark, P. (1988) A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall ELT.
10. Newmark, P. (1995) Approaches to Translation. London: Phoenix ELT.
11. Martin, J.R., Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. and Painter, C. (1997) Working with Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.
12. Rogers, R. (2002) An introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education.
London, Mahawah, New Jersy: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
13. Van Dijk, T.A. (1998a). Critical Discourse Analysis. Place: University of Amsterdam Wodak, Ruth (1996). Orders of Discourse. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
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APPENDIX I: WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS Hillary Clinton
China, 5 September 1995
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Thank you very much, Gertrude Mongella, for your dedicated work that has brought us to this point, distinguished delegates, and guests:
I would like to thank the Secretary General for inviting me to be part of this important United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. This is truly a celebration, a celebration of the contributions women make in every aspect of life: in the home, on the job, in the community, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens, and leaders.
It is also a coming together, much the way women come together every day in every country. We come together in fields and factories, in village markets and supermarkets, in living rooms and board rooms. Whether it is while playing with our children in the park, or washing clothes in a river, or taking a break at the office water cooler, we come together and talk about our aspirations and concern.
And time and again, our talk turns to our children and our families. However different we may appear, there is far more that unites us than divides us. We share a common future, and we are here to find common ground so that we may help bring new dignity and respect to women and girls all over the world, and in so doing bring new strength and stability to families as well.
By gathering in Beijing, we are focusing world attention on issues that matter most in our lives -- the lives of women and their families: access to education, health care, jobs and credit, the chance to enjoy basic legal and human rights and to participate fully in the political life of our countries.
There are some who question the reason for this conference. Let them listen to the voices of women in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. There are some who wonder whether the lives of women and girls matter to economic and political progress around the globe. Let them look at the women gathered here and at Huairou -- the homemakers and nurses, the teachers and lawyers, the policymakers and women who run their own businesses. It is conferences like this that compel governments and peoples everywhere to listen, look, and face the world‟s most pressing problems. Wasn‟t it after all -- after the women‟s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence?
Earlier today, I participated in a World Health Organization forum. In that forum, we talked about ways that government officials, NGOs, and individual citizens are working to address the health problems of women and girls. Tomorrow, I will attend a gathering of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. There, the discussion will focus on local -- and highly successful -- programs that give hard-working women access to credit so they can improve their own lives and the lives of their families.
What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well. That is why every woman, every man, every child, every family, and every nation on this planet does have a stake in the
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discussion that takes place here.
Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children, and families. Over the past two-and-a half years, I've had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing women in my own country and around the world.
I have met new mothers in Indonesia, who come together regularly in their village to discuss nutrition, family planning, and baby care. I have met working parents in Denmark who talk about the comfort they feel in knowing that their children can be cared for in safe, and nurturing after-school centers. I have met women in South Africa who helped lead the struggle to end apartheid and are now helping to build a new democracy. I have met with the leading women of the Western Hemisphere who are working every day to promote literacy and better health care for children in their countries. I have met women in India and Bangladesh who are taking out small loans to buy milk cows, or rickshaws, or thread in order to create a livelihood for themselves and their families. I have met the doctors and nurses in Belarus and Ukraine who are trying to keep children alive in the aftermath of Chernobyl.
The great challenge of this conference is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences go unnoticed, whose words go unheard. Women comprise more than half the word‟s population, 70% of the world‟s poor, and two-thirds of those who are not taught to read and write. We are the primary caretakers for most of the world‟s children and elderly. Yet much of the work we do is not valued -- not by economists, not by historians, not by popular culture, not by government leaders.
At this very moment, as we sit here, women around the world are giving birth, raising children, cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines, running companies, and running countries.
Women also are dying from diseases that should have been prevented or treated.
They are watching their children succumb to malnutrition caused by poverty and economic deprivation. They are being denied the right to go to school by their own fathers and brothers. They are being forced into prostitution, and they are being barred from the bank lending offices and banned from the ballot box---- ballot-paper
Those of us who have the opportunity to be here have the responsibility to speak for those who could not. As an American, I want to speak for those women in my own country, women who are raising children on the minimum wage, women who can‟t afford health care or child care, women whose lives are threatened by violence, including violence in their own homes.
I want to speak up for mothers who are fighting for good schools, safe neighborhoods, clean air, and clean airwaves; for older women, some of them widows, who find that, after raising their families, their skills and life experiences are not valued in the marketplace; for women who are working all night as nurses, hotel clerks, or fast food chefs so that they can be at home during the day with their children; and for women everywhere who simply don‟t have time to do everything they are called upon to do each and every day.
Speaking to you today, I speak for them, just as each of us speaks for women around the world who are denied the chance to go to school, or see a doctor, or
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own property, or have a say about the direction of their lives, simply because they are women. The truth is that most women around the world work both inside and outside the home, usually by necessity.
We need to understand there is no one formula for how women should lead our lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her own God-given potential. But we must recognize that women will never gain full dignity until their human rights are respected and protected.
Our goals for this conference, to strengthen families and societies by empowering women to take greater control over their own destinies, cannot be fully achieved unless all governments -- here and around the world -- accept their responsibility to protect and promote internationally recognized human rights.
The -- The international community has long acknowledged and recently reaffirmed at Vienna that both women and men are entitled to a range of protections and personal freedoms, from the right of personal security to the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear. No one -- No one should be forced to remain silent for fear of religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse, or torture.
Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated.
Even now, in the late 20th century, the rape of women continues to be used as an instrument of armed conflict. Women and children make up a large majority of the world‟s refugees. And when women are excluded from the political process, they become even more vulnerable to abuse. I believe that now, on the eve of a new millennium, it is time to break the silence. It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and for the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women‟s rights as separate from human rights.
These abuses have continued because, for too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words. But the voices of this conference and of the women at Huairou must be heard loudly and clearly:
It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls.
It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution for human greed -- and the kinds of reasons that are used to justify this practice should no longer be tolerated.
It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire, and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small.
It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.
It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes by their own relatives.
It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful