Luận văn a cda al gore's lecture at nobel peace prize award 2007

CDA has been asserted to be the critical study of language in which language is viewed as a tool of power and the imposition of speakers” or writers’ ideology on their audience especiall

HOANG NGI ‘YET ANH

A CDA OF AT GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

(PHẦN TÍCH BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA AL GORE TAL LE TRAO GLAL NOBEL Vi

HOÀ BÌNH NĂM 2807 DƯỚI GÓC BO PHE PHAN)

M.A MINOR THESIS:

Field: Enplish Lingui Cade: 60.22.15

HANOI — 2008

bs

VIETNAM NATIONAL CNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUTHES:

HOANG NGI 'YET ANH

A CDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

(PHAN TICH BAL PHAT BIEU CUA AL GORE TALLE FRAO GIALNOBEL Vi

HOA BÌNH NAM 2007 DUGI GOC BỘ PHÊ PHÁN)

M.A MINOR THESIS:

Field: English Linguistics

Supervisor: Praf Nguyén Hoa

HANGT - 2008

Page

16 19

I Overview of critical analysis (CDA)

1 ‘The notion of CDA, Power and Ideology:

1.1 Critical Discourse Analysis:

1.2 Power in language:

1.3 Language and Ideology:

2 Main approaches tơ CDA: ccces ven

IL, Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG):

CHAPTER HL

ACDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

1 The lecture

IL, The Analysis of the Lecttf co

1 Analyzing Eratnewofk coi

2 Textual Desoription and Explanatiơn

2.1 Vocabulary aialysls

2.2 Grammiaical Analysis: con

2.2.1 The relational values of the grammatical features

2.2.2 The expericnlial values of the grammatical features

2.2.3 The expressive valucs of the grammatical features

2.2.4 The cohesion of the taxt

2.2.5 Thermalic analysis of the text

2.3 The macrostruclure of the discourse

3 Interpretation of the discourse

3.1 The situational context of the discourse

3.2 Gore’s stance and his ideology

3.2 The language tuse

1ũ

Part A INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

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

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

By all means, doing a CDA is really always a challenge to leamers of language in the sense that it requires an intcgratcd background knowledge not only linguistically but also socially The requirement of applying knowledge of various linguistic fields beside an understanding of social circumstances surrounding a discourse is obviously the inquiry ofa scrions working for a full grasp of a specific discourse and what it conceals And that stimulates the writer of this thesis to doa CDA and take it as her graduation paper

It is said that CDA targets at political and social-matter-rclated discourses, and the twenty first century is supposed to be the age of discourses eonceming global matters such as globativation, nuclear weapon, population and anti-ferrorisin war since those best describe the power relation in the modem world And Albert A Gore’s lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize Award is an illustration In this speech, Gore again mentioned and rang the bell warning a global hot issue which is climate changes and their consequences

a negative effect of globalization For these reasons, I adopted this discourse as a case

for doing CDA

2 Aims of the study:

By doing the analysis of Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 1 would like to seek for the relations among language, power and ideology It is assumed that the relations of power and speaker's iđsology are encoded within linguistie features, The analysis af the

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chosen discourse aims at clarifying GGores power and ideelegy beyond his se of Tanguage

3 Scope of the study:

Tn this paper, T am going f make a skelch of CDA by covering principal theorics and approaches by famous crilivat discourse analysts which are the background for every CDA works Also their views on the relation between language, power and ideology

an important goal of CDA - will be recalled

On the lusis of the theoretical background sel, T am about doing an analysis of Albert A Gore's lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize Award 2007 to firstly explore his use of language, then and more importantly to make explicit his ideologies of climate changes expressed via words and strictures he employed At the same time, how he imposed

Those ideologics on tis audience, in olher words, how he exercises his power by force of language, will be under investigation

4, Research questions:

Obviously, Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize Lectue is a political discourse which discusses

an environmental effect of globalization — climate changes and their consequences, Since

il tums oul to be a matter af fel that potilics is concerned with power, a political discourse is no doubt somchow an instrument of creating and reinforeing power and ideology, ‘The questions are: in this discourse,

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

- _ Inwhich way is Gore’s ideology made “common sense’?

5, Research methods and procedure

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

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

Part B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 Overview of Critical Discourse Anal

(CDA):

1, The notion of CDA, Power and Ideology:

11 Critical Discourse Analysis:

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

as a form of social practice” ('airclough, 200120), and focuses on the ways social and political domination is reproduced by text and talk In a sense, it is a historically and socially placcd action, both in itsclf socially shaped and socially shaping, what

Farrclough called ‘constitutive’, It is constitutive both in sense that it helps to sustain and Teproduce the social stalus quo, and in the sense (hal il contributes to Wansforming if

Simply put, CDA can be understood to be “analyzing discourse critically.” If can be Therefore Iraeed to the definitions of “discourse” and “critical” for a full understanding of

CDA

Asa malter of fact, the term “Discourse” is used very differently by different researchers and in different academic culture In German and Central European, Discourse and ‘Text are tad distinet relating lo the tradition in text lingnislics as wall as to rhetoric Whereas, in English speaking world, Discourse is used to refer to both written and oral texts Linking to the socio — cognitive theory of Teun van Dijk, Woddak (2001) views discourse as a finn of knowledge and memory, whereas text illustrate concrete ort

utterarices or wiitten documents

The concept “Critical” is nowadays conventionally used in a broad sense denoting the practical linking of social and political engagement, while recognizing “that, in haman tnatlers, infercormections and chains of cause — and — offect muy be distorted out of vision, Hence, “critique” is essentially making visible the interconnectedness of things.”

(Fairclough, 1995-747)

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From another view, Vairclough proposes a definition of CDA which is popularly

accepted and ernployzd muờng CDA practitioners He says

“Discourse analysis which ais to systematically explore afien opaque relationships of

causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and tests, and {b)

wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes, to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by velations of

power and struggles over power; and lo explore how the opacity of these relationships

between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony.”

(Fairclough, 1995:132)

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

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

it helps the analysts understand the sovial problems which are mediated by mainstream ideclogy and power relationships perpetuated by the use of written texts,

1.2 Power in language:

As an abstract concept, power in its most common sense is understood to be an

allactunonl, to politics, it represents ore's position in the political hicrarchy However, in

a broader sense, a more powerful person can have some certain influcnees on others Power makes it possible for a person to give another person a command without affecting the relation, even such a simple command as “Wash your hand” And power now therefore concerns many other factors other than politics such as wealth, social and family hierarchy, knowledge, experience, etc

The New Fontana Dictionary of Modem Thought detines power as “the ability of its holder ta exact compliance or obedience of other individuals to their will” (cited in Warcing , 2004:10)

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Accordingly, it can be referred that power can bring a person the obedience In other

words, with power, one has Ihe right lo make decisions, to control resources and other

people’s behavior as well as their values

‘As per van Dijk (1993), “power involves control, namely by (members of) one group over (those of) other groups Such control may pertain to action and cognition: that is, a powerful group may mi the freedom of actions of other, but also influence their

minds”, He suggests the term “modern power” which is in his opinion enacted by persuasion, dissimmation, or manipulation to change the mind of others in one’s own

interest And he comes to the conchsion thal “managing the mind ofothers i

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

essentially

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

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

Yarcing, 2004:10) Wersing furthor claims thal discourss structures can crealc power relations in farms of haw we negoliale our relative status through inlcraction with others Obviously, one, by his use of language, can make others convineed, obeyed, or even confused, embarrassed, or fightensd And in such a way, they successfitlly execute their

power

Fairclough agrees ont the point thal there exisls a close relationship between language and power Fairclough (1997) argues that power can be seen in discourse where participants are unequal ‘The idea is that power is behind discourse in such a way that

whip: and the packing order belween languages and social dialects was generally

hidden

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

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

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

In CDA, # is also admitied that a text is rarely the work of any individual In texts,

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

in which language indexes power, expresses power and also challenge power It is worth bearing in mind that power does not root ftom language but can be challenged by Tamguage, Further, iL is re

vcd thal, in a (ext power is signaled nol orly by grammatical

forms but also the genre ofa text which a person employs Lo control a social ocasion

1.3 Language and Ideology:

Along with power, idology has an important role to play in CDA Alike power, ideology obviously sounds social and political, and related to groups and societal structures And historically, the ideology of @ society is that of the dominant class in that

Tntuitively, it can bo seen thal ideologies involve such menlal objecis ss beBef, ideas, thoughts, jadgments and values

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

Gramsci (1971) points out that ideology is “a conception of the world that is implicitly manifest in art, in law, in economic activity and in the manifestations of individual and collective tifa” (airclough, 1995:78)

From another view point, ‘Thomson (1990) argues that ideology refers to social forms

and proc

sine which, and by all means of which, symbolic forms cirenlale in the

social world Ideology, for CLA, is seen as an important means of establishing and

inaintaining unequal power relations

Van Tijk (1995) claims that ideologies are nothing rather thm an “axiqmalic’ oasis of the sovially shared belief systems of groups, To van Dijk, "ideologies" are viewed as

“interpretation frameworks" which "organize sets of attitudes" about other elements of

“Ideologies are basic frameworks of social cognition, shared by members of social

groups, constituted hy relevant selections of sociocultural values, and organized hy an

ideological schema that represent the self-definition of a group Beside their social

function of sustaining the interests of groups, ideologies have the cognitive finction of

organizing the social representations (attitudes, knowledge} of a group, and thus

indtrecily monitor the group-related social practices, and hence alsa the text and talk of

mentbers.” (van Dijk, 1995: 248)

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

is presented in the form of textdiscourse, which is then cognived according to a

cognitive system/memory This "system/memory" consists of short-term memory, in

which “strategic process," or decoding and interpretation takes place Long-term

” which consists of

memory, however, serves as a holder of "socio-cullural knowledge,

knowledge of language, discourse, communication, persons, groups and events-existing

in the form of "scripts." "Social (group) attitudes" also reside within long-term memory

and provide further decorting guides Fach of these "group atliludes" can represent an array of ideologies which combine to create one’s own personal ideology which conforms to one’s identity, goals, social position, values and resources

Discussing the relation between ideology and discourse, Fairclough (1995) assumes that

the sa significant comuctions between fealures of lexis and idealogy which lies

“in the ideological investment of elements which are drawn upon in producing or

interpreting a text, , and in the wavs in which these elements are articulated together

‘become “common sensc”

Jones & Pecoei (2004) suggest that in the attempt of making people to act in an expected

way, persuasion is a better choice in comparison to physical coercion Indeed, by

persuading, a person is lu “exercise power through the manufacture af consent or at

least acquiescence tawards if” (Fairclough, 1989:4) To pul il another way, persuasive

Janguage actually serves as an effective weapon which bring a person power and

obedience, and more importantly, voluntary acts which mean nothing but that the

spoaker’s ideology has been commonly adopted

2, Main approaches to CDA:

This confirmed thal there are five main approaches to CDA Tenognized worldwide which

ae Socio cognitive analysis, Discourse- Historical Analysis, Mediated discourse analysis, Uuisborg School of CDA, and Functional — Systemic CDA

2.1 Socio-cognitive analysis (van Dijk):

Teun van Dijk, a powerfil scholar in CDA, is a pioneer who developed the socio-

cognitive approach in which an important dimension incorporated is that of human mind

The central claim of the socio-cognitive approach is that discourse and social structure

are mediated by social cognition He assumes that social cognition is the bridge between discourse and society or social representations For van Dick, social cognition is “the

system of menial representations and processes of group menibers” (1995.18) Social

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

are then socially shared mental representations or him, 1deologies are “ đhe overall

Abstract mental systents that organize socially shared attitudes” (van Thjk, 1995:18)

2.2 Discourse-Ilistorical Analysis (Wodak):

As 4 linguisl who is in faver of saciolingui: and ouch influenced Frankfurt school,

talive of the socio-tistorical CDA She

Wodak advocates ancl is a distinguished repre:

says:

“Discourse Sociolinguistics is a sociolinguistics which nat only is explicitly dedicated

to the study of the text in context, but alsa accords both factars equal importance It is an

approach cupuble of identifying and describing the underlying mechanisms that

contribute to those disorders in discourse which are enibedded in a particular context

whether they be in a structure and a function of the media, or in institutions such as a hospttal or a school — and inevitably affect communication.”

(Wodak, 1996:3)

‘The discousc-historicl mothad emphasizes thơ hìstory contexi and Iake il as a part of the interpretation of a discourse In the process of analyzing, both theory and factual materials are required Also, recontextualization has an important role to play in the uncovering the relalion between youres and theme of a discourse

2.3 Dulsburg School of CDA:

Famous in the Duisburg School of CDA is Jager And Moucault’s structuralism and

Leonljev's “sp

School including Jager,

ch activity theory” ar of major roferencs for analysts af Duisburg

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

Grammar, The central of this approach is on semiotic features of discourse

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

on social tradilional conflicts as per Marxism and their tepresertations in discourse CDA is then, in Fairclough’s opinion, to analyze the dialectical relationship among, semiotic systems and constituents of social practice Reasonably, Fairclough employs Lialliday’s systemic fimctional grammar corresponding to his view And in his

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

- Description of text

- Interpretation of the relationship between the productive and interpretative processes

- Explanation of the rclationship between discourse processes and social processes The stage af description:

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

A Vocabulary

a What experiential values do words have?

- What classification schemes are drawn upon?

- Are there words which arc ideologically contested?

- Is there rewording or overwording?

- What idcologically significant meaning relations ars there between words?

bị What relational values do words have?

- Aro there ouphoruistic expressions?

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- Are there markedly formal or informal words?

c What expressive values do words have?

d What metaphors are used?

B Grammar:

m What experiential values do grammatical features have?

- What types of process and participant predominate?

- Isageney unclear?

- Are processes what they seem?

- Are nominalizations, active’ passive sentences, and positive/ negative sentences

used?

£ What relational values do grammatical features have?

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

- Are there important features of relational modality?

- Are the pronouns ‘wo’ and ‘you’ used? And if so, how?

g What expressive values do grammatical features have?

- Are there important features of expressive modality?

h How are sentences linked together?

~— WHal logical connectors ars used?

- Are complex sentences chan

Lerizedt by coordination or subordination?

~ Whal mans are used for referring inside and outside the lexl?

C Textual Structure:

1 What interactional convention are used?

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

j What larger scale structures doss the text have?

The Stage of Interpretation

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‘The interpretation of discourse is exercised via the combination of what is in the text and

— MR (or background

what is in the interpreter In that proc

Imowledge) and discourse features (or described language) which are considered as CUBS are factors activating interpreters’ MR

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

Tnteractional History —+ +> Intertextuat Context

Semantics, Pragmatics — y 4+——— x Meaning o£ Utterance

“point”

Figure 1: Interpretation

‘The Stage of Explanation

‘The procedure of explanation aims at proving that discourse is a part of social practice;

and as a social praclicc, discourse is detormined by social structurcs, and at Lhe sare

time and more importantly, has reproductive effects on those structures: sustaining or changing them According to Fairclough these social determination and effects are

“mediated by MR in such wavs that social structwes shupe MR, which in turn shape

discourse; discourse can either sustain or change MR, which in turn sustain or change

structures” Explanation is Uherefore “a matter of seamg disco

‘se as part of social

struggle, within a matrix of relations of power” (Fairclough, 2001:135)

Correspondingly, the emphasis of the explanation process is on two dimensions: the

social effects of discourse and the social delerminanls of discourse These two

dimensions is to be examined at three levels of social organizations: Societal,

Institutional, and Situational which are illustrated as in following figure:

In brief, Fairclough has well shown a picture of CDA in full which covers a sharp and

conprchonsive look at the relationship bolwcen language and power, and a typical

framework of analyzing, a discourse critically, That explains why Fairclough’s theory

has been so far of favor in practicing CDA Coming into the line with foregoing

practitioncrs, I will take Fairclough as the theoretical lmekgromd with the backup of

Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar for the analysis of Al Gore’s speech delivered

in Nobel Peace Award 2007

U1 Halliiday’s Systemic Functional Language (SFL):

Systemic Functional Language (SEL) has been developed since 19603 by MAK

Halliday with the emphasis on the notion of language fimetion

Starting al social conlexl, STL looks at how language acts upon and is constrained by

social conlex And right here, Halliday shares wilh CDA theorists the idea that there

exists a dialectal relationship between society and language in which language is seen as

creating and being created by social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge

24

and beliefs For this common assumption, lalliday’s Systemic Munctional Grammar (SFG) has been widely accopted and adopted in doing CDA by most linguistic anual such as Fairclough (2000, 1995, 1992, 1989); Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999), Kress (1989), and Kress and van Leeuwen (1996)

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

as a sovial somiotic organized in four sala in such relationships øs ‘roalivation? and

‘instantiation’, Such strata are recognized as: Context, Semantics, Lexico-Grammar,

and Phonology — Graphology

Context is realized via such values as Hield, Tenor, and Mode While Hield is what is going on, Tenor is Ihe social roles and relationships between the participants, Mode is, defined as aspects of the channel of communication, e.g., monologie/dialogic, spoken!

written, —/ - visual — contaet, se

Semantics in SFL consists of three components

- Ideational Semantics (propositional content),

- Interpersonal Semantics (dealing with speech-fimction, exchange structure,

expression of attitude, etc.)

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

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

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

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

Behavioral Process is the process of physiological and psychological behavior ‘his process has only one participant referred to as Belraver

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

tial Drouess is the process of oxisling wilh gencrally one participant, the

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

Tabke 1: Process types, their meanings and participants

(Source: Talliday, 1994:143)

2 Mood & Modality system

Mood & Modality are the realization of the Interpersonal Meaning In the practice of

inleracting, interloculors take turn to play the role of questioners and informants alternatively In such process, they exchange information and express their evaluation, attitude, and prediction And that expression is an aspect of the interpersonal meaning within which the spoaker’s choice of a particular speach role is of significance The spzaker’s choice of speech can be done together with different types of modality

Ina clause, Mood finotions as the carrier of the syntactic burden of the exchange, and as The componcul carrying the argument award Mood consists of two fimctional elements which arc the Subject and the Finite As the nominal component of the Mood, Subject identifies a proposition Whereas, Finite functions as the element making the proposition finite

The fiagment of Mood arc illustrated in figure below

YesiNo [— Interrogative

Figure 3; A Fragment of the Mood System in Enelish

(Source: Hoang Van Wan, 1996:53)

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

W cxclusive

imperative includes inelusi

3, Thematic System

'Thematie system is fo do with textual meaning: it expresses the textual meaning lexicogramunatically The system of theme is realized by Iwo clements, Theme and Rheme While Theme serves as the initial element ofthe clause, Rheme is the remainder Theme may be single or nmiltiple As a single theme, it is represented by only one constituent — a nominal group, and adverbial group, or a prepositional phrase Meanwhile, a tradtiple theme has ø fiether intaral structure of ils own Te may have the combination of three different components: textual theme, interpersonal theme, and topical theme which is conflated with the experiential element of the clause Below in the table are the components ofa teultiple theme

Structural Conjunctive

Modal Finite Whinterrogative

‘Topical (Experiential) ‘Theme Participant, Circumstance, Process

Table 2: Components of a Multiple Theme

Ti sum, with the perception of language as a social seriatic as well as the emphi

language function, SFG serves as the best linguistic background for CDA Halliday (1994: 16) says: “A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is not an analysis at

ơn

all, bmL sỉmply ø rưnring commentary on a text.”

Tt is obviously that speakers choose and use language intentionally for certain purpose(s), in other words, they arc ‘doing things with words’ And in Halliday (1970) it

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

CHAPTER IL ALBERT A GORE AND THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2007

‘was one of the first to prove that CO2 was increasing in the atmosphere

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

1971

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

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

of Represcniatives whon he found out that his fathor’s former scat in the House was

about to be vacated

Gore began serving in the United State Congress at the age of 28 and stayed there for the

next 17 years, serving in both the House (1976-1984) and the Senate (1984-1993)

In 1992, Gore accepted the position as Clinton's running mate for the 1992 United State presidential election And they were the youngest ever team in L'S history to be in the While Housc, Clinton slated that he chose Gore for his forcign policy expericnce, work with the environment, and commitment to his tamily

Under Clinton’s and Gore’s administration, the American economy was incredibly expanded, the mumbers were uniformly impressive, Besides the record-high surpluses and the tocord-low poverty rates, the gooomy could ‘boast he longest cconomie expansion in history, the lowest unemployment since the early 1970s, and the lowest poverty rates for single mothars, black Americans, and the aged

sứ

Gore formally announced his candidacy fr president on lune lồ, 1999, in Carthage,

iơn 2000, popular vote but was denied the Presidency when the United States Supreme Court halted all legal recounts in the state of Florida Studies since the 2000 election have

shown clearly that if all voles had been counted fairly, Al Gore would have won

decisively

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

2, The environmental activities and the Nobel Prize 2007:

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

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

"disposals" of toxic wastc

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

In 1992, lus book Harth in the Balance; Ecology and the Human Spirit was published, and il soon reached the top of America’s bestseller tisl, and has been translated into 33 languages The book is about the global environmental crisis which he says endangers our civilization in its present form, At its core is the human-oaused change of the global climals He identifies the greenhonsa effect and the avone hole as the two most

imporlanl, “straiegic dangers

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

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

he serves a3 Chair, to seek out companies taking a responsible stance on big global

‘issues Wika climate change

Beginning in 2006, Gore s†arred in Inoonvenient Truth - the doctmentary on the topic of

c The fiin Tater

global warming, which made him inoreasingly popular aller its

won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature

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

lo build up and disseminate groator knowledge sboul mm-made climate chuge, and lo lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change

CHAPTER IL

A CDA OF AL GORE’S LECTURE

AT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD 2007

I The Lecture:

As previously mentioned, the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by AI Gore and the Intergovemmental Panel on Climate Change The speech was made and delivered on

December 10, 2007 in Oslo, Norway

The lecture is a composition of 57 paragraphs, cleven of which are one sentence ones

The lecture ean be divided into four parts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

s far following reasons:

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

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

Secondly, as per Pairclongh’s ftamework, the analysis of discourse’s linguistic features,

is put in the relation with social context Therefore, it will, in my opinion, bring a better view of discourse Moreover, the combination of linguistic features and social context, I think, will best describe the relationship between language, power, and ideology

‘As the procedure of a CDA (as of airclough’s framework) often goes, the analysis of Ibis lecture is dona ai three steps: Textual Description, Tnlerprelation, and Explanation of

the discourse

‘At the stage of Description, the lecture is analyzed in terms of Vocabulary, Grammatical Features, ‘[ransitivity, and ‘Thematization ‘Ihe analysis of grammatical features deals with the usc of personal pronoun, modus of sơnlcnecs, modality, and cohorones of the

lex

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

‘The relationship between discourse processes and social processes will be under examination al ths stage of Explanation

Llowever, for a better understanding of the language use as well a3 the relations betwsen

the three major concepts Language, Power, and Tdcologi

in my analysis

2, Textual Description and Explanation:

What makes a discourse differ from others is ils own register Thus, lo a cerlain cxtert, the analysis ofa discourse is that of the three variables: Field, Mode, and Tenor Field concems the experiential meaning of a discourse; it deals with the question “what is the discourse about”, Hence, analyzing a text for its ficld is to cxamine the lexical items,

Meanwhile, Mode is an element of textual metafunction of a text It is to do with the

mood and modality, the Iransilivil jem, and the thet

involves the interparsonal meaning of the text It therefore expresses the relation among the participants in the text

‘The idea is that the speaker’s ideology is realized from the Field and Mode of the text,

whereas, Tenor is the conveyer of the power relations In terms of field, the chosen discourse appears to be a specch of acceptances However, the speaker Al Gore tactfully

and wisely turns it into a speech of an environmental issue through which he expresses

his ideology and powsr

2.1 Vocabulary Analysis:

It turns to be obviously that speaker's choice or use of words has a significant role to play in the expression of his! her ideology, view, allitude towards a certain issuss TL is said that together with other linguistic features, the use of vocabulary adds different

values to the text which are relational, expressive, experiential, and connective ones ‘To

recall Fairclough’s definition briefly, the relational valus concerns wilh relations and social relationship; meanwhile, experiential value is related to content, Inowledge, and belief, and expressive value is to do with subjects and social identities (Fairclough,

It can be realized that this is a political speech concerning environmental issues Llence,

words and expressions which sound political and xiẪc are naturally found in the

text, such as:

Confronting a planetary emergency, survival of our civilization, solve the erisis, world’s

leaders, global warming pollution, national emergency, climate refugees, pollution,

catastrophe, forms of pollution, nuclear winier, carhon summer, government, earth

planet, evaporating, consequences, power, long-term vision, challenge, global

cooperation, waging war, danger, opportunity, struggle

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

‘The appearance of the negative words and expressions in the speech effectively illustrates Gore’s belief that we human being have been doing wrong to the carth and, at the same time, backs his attempt of raising hearers’ awareness of environmental

catastrophes For example:

going on:

“We, the iuman species, are confronting @ planetary emergency — a threat to the

survival of our civilization thal is gathering ominous and destructive polential event us

we gather here But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis

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

- have the power fo choose our fate {line 135)

- the power to unite (line 141)

- greatest opportunity in rismg to solve the climate crisis Tine 181)

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

Such phrases makes us believe that we human can not and should not sit in silence and

fearfully await the rages of nature: instead, we have the opportunity and the power to change the world and the relation with the earth And that, in my own opinion, is Gore’s success: he showed his sustainable belief to his audience, and more than that, transmitted

that belief to the hearers

Another remarkable point in Gore’s vocabulary using technique is the use of

synonymous and nearly synonymous words and expressions For example:

- planetary emergency (line 28)

- global warming pollution (line 108)

- this challenge (line 133)

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

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

the climate crisis’

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

The synonyms used here effectively makes the addressees realize that the severe

consequences are now not a personal or regional issues, rather, they can happen to any

person elsewhere over the world, and that the disasters which happened are not particular but universal Gore also made an emphasis on the increasing danger of natural

catastrophes by using such a chain of intensive adjectives as “immense and growing”

and “unsustainable and unrecoverable” (line 133-134),

‘This discourse also records Gore’s success in using contrary expressions where

TICCCSSATV

Gore showed his altituds towards world leaders differenlly: while appreciating the leaders for peace by regarding them as “fonorable exceptions”, he implicitly compared the others with the ignorant leaders in the war against fascism by adapting Winston

Churehill’s words to deseribe them:

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

be impotent.” (ing 33-37)

The appearance of the phrase “growing number” closely lo “foo many” in one sentence

clarified the fact that the troop of who worked for peace was still too little in comparison

to that of the rest of the world Tiere, Gore indeed made people think of “a chaice

between two different futures” — “Life or deaths, blessiriws or curses” (linc 24-27)

Gore’s allilude towards act method in the war for pease with the carth was alsa charly showed up in this discourse, The negative words “abandon” and “conceit” (line 145) were used to discuss about “individual, isolated, private actions”, whereas, he enphasived thal, we “need? an allianes, a collective action, and “mobilising globally” Obviously, when these words and phrases are placed closely to each other, they can create certain vocabulary effect on hearers ‘They stimulate an immediate comparison between the two in the hearers” mind, and evaporate a great discrepancy, even a contrast,

‘between the two in term of effectiveness,

b The Relational Values of Vocabulary in the Lecture:

The tem “relational values” is used to cmbrace the interpersonal zclations or the social relationship of the participants, The relational values can be seen in a discourse via the choice of vocabulary

‘This lecture was delivered in a Nobel Prize Award with the participations of Norwegian

Royal, Nobel Committee, and scientists Tn such a context, Gurz si

pretty formal pattern of salutation to pay his respect to the participants

“

“Your Majesties, Your Royal iighnesses, Hanorable members of the Norwegian Nobel

Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.”

Tn this lecture, il can be realized Ul Gore’s audience was not bound to those in the Tall

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

“ 1 pray whad Ì am feeling ti my heart will he communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say ”

Gore's cleverness lies in the words “hear” The verb “heat” implies an unintentional Tearing TL is 4 common practice thal the Nobel Award is lelevised and reporled on mass media Hence, it would not be uncommon when Gore’s speech went to every comers of the world, and the targeted audience was anyone who accidentally caught his words Lere comes his concem about audience — people Ile was there not to make a speech, but

Te was there to share the words for his hearl He decmphasixed his role and showed that he was just a normal person who need to “pray”; and it was such a simple prayer that his wards would be “conmuinieated clearly” Again, the intelligence was showed by

the wording

As if Lumns out from the Loxl thal Gore showed his great respec! to the scionlisls when he mentioned them in the very first part of the speech He acknowledged, shared with and showed his sympathy towards Alfted Nobel — the father of the most famous academic prives

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

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

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

2000 people, Carthage, Tennessee Cordell Hull was described by Franklin Roosevell as

the "Kather of the United Nations." He was an inspiration and hero to my own father,

who followed Hull in the Congress and the U.S Senate and in his commitment ta world

peave and global cooperation”

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

“Bight weeks ago, when you announced thủ prize, the deepest emotion 1 fell was when I saw the headline in my hometown paper that simply noted Thad won the same prize that Cordell Hull had won ”

c The Expressive Values in the Lecture

What is remarkable in this lecture is the quotation of archaic prophet, proverb and poetic sayings of groal writers fiom the begimming to the ond of the spooch which add expressive values to the text For examples:

- Life or death, blessings or curses Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy

seed may live.” (line 26-27)

- "Some say the world will end in fire: some say in ive Either would suffice” dine

112-113)

- “Pathwalker there is na path You must make the path as you walk.” (line 249)

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

One of the values of rhetorical words and phrases is their ability of creating emotional affect on audience, In that sense, the phrase “thou and thy seed” meaning “you and your children” has accomplished its duty which is to create a sense of nostalgia and a

proposition thal this is an clarmal (ruth, The oxprassive valuos oblained here arises from the combination of archaic words and metapher.

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

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

Another noticeable expression in the leclure is “Mutually aysured destruction” (line 192) which is inclusive of meaning {ul implications This expressions was used to describe the current relationship between hnmankind and the earth’s climate

In this lecture, the audience could feel of the irony, the pain in the phrase “political obituary” (line 13) which is used when Gore recalls the judgment oC his service afler

eight years in the White House as the vice president

Besides, we can find the metaphor of “war” used several times 1o judge the relations

between human being and the earth as well as its dangerous consequences:

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

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

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

of what we arc doing to the carth A painful pickurs of consequences which is not less

increasing day by day with the definitely unanticipated consequences

itis clearly that those metaphors well served their author’s purpose of giving warnings

2,2, Grammatical Analysis:

2.2.1 The relational values of Grammatical Features:

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

The use of personal pronoun:

It is realized in this spccch that the plural personal pronoun “we” arc prodominantly used, It is recorded to appear 46 times throughout the text

The text witnesses an interesting sudden shitt ftom the personal

sentences to the inchisive “us” in line 24 By that shift, Gore makes his audience

in previous

involved in the “fatefidl choice” Also, that shifl teloases the idea (whieh is a major idea

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

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

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

By the predominant use of the inclusive “we”, Gore successfully transmitted his

ideology which is

it right” By that “we”, he confirmed that on the difficult way ahead, not only the world leaders, the scientists but also every single person counts And tims, he makes every

olidarity, the umion, the alliance are necded on the way lo “make

hearers {bet being part of his lecture

Of course, stilt in the speech, we can find some olher personal pronouns such as T, He, They However, they are not used for either the separation or the differentiaton, Rather, they serve for exemplification

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

In the total of hundreds of sentences in this speech, there is no appearance of questions

and only two inclusive imperatives were found:

- Letus acknowledge that if we (line 241-247)

- So letus renew it, and say tegeiher ine 264)

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

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

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

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

~ 6ö Ï pray vhai Ï am feeling in my heart will be commumicated clearly enough that

those who hear me will say (line 20)

- Twillurge thine 194