The Use of Grammatical Metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech

The Use of Grammatical Metaphors in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech Lê Thu Trang Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS.. Hoang Van Van Năm bảo vệ: 2011 Abstr

The Use of Grammatical Metaphors in Barack

Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech

Lê Thu Trang

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Prof Dr Hoang Van Van

Năm bảo vệ: 2011

Abstract: This thesis focuses on the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential

Nomination Acceptance Speech To fulfill this aim, the concept of “grammatical metaphor” is examined The thesis starts by explaining the notion of “metaphor” in general and distinguishes lexical metaphor from grammatical metaphor in particular Then, a study on grammatical metaphors

in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance speech is implemented based on the theoretical background of Halliday (1994) and Halliday & Matthiessen (1999) This is a descriptive research with both quantitative and qualitative techniques in data analysis Two types of grammatical metaphors are ideational and interpersonal metaphors are densely used from the text In ideational metaphor type, Barack Obama mainly used type 1 (quality → thing), 2 (process → thing), 5 (process

→ quality), 6 (circumstance → quality), 13 (thing → various) with high frequency In interpersonal metaphor type, metaphor of mood and metaphor of modality are explained and illustrated to highlight the attitude and emotion of the speaker

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Ẩn dụ; Ngữ pháp; Diễn văn

Content

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Metaphor is a well-known phenomenon in language Thus, it has received attention in a myriad of disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics, literary theory, semiotics, stylistics, psychology, pedagogy and

so on Halliday, the author of the famous work “An Introduction to Functional Grammar” is one of the linguists who spent long time to study on metaphor in general and grammatical metaphor in particular He recognized that lexical metaphor which traditional researches always mentioned is only one aspect of metaphor and there is a strong grammatical element in rhetorical transference which is called grammatical metaphor

In addition, in this work, Halliday states that “metaphorical modes of expression are characteristic of all adult discourse” Therefore, I believe that all speeches can have included this phenomenon It is also the reason why I chose one famous speech of a famous President to examine grammatical metaphor used in it

Moreover, now Barack Obama is an American President who is famous for not only his talent in political field but also in numerous persuasive speeches because the language he chooses always makes his speech powerful and convincing One of the strategies that we are easy to recognize in all his speeches is using not only lexical metaphors but also grammatical metaphors to make the discourse vivid and easy to understand for all classes of citizen

In conclusion, I chose this topic because of my interest in metaphor in general and grammatical metaphor in particular; the appearance with high frequency of metaphor in adult speeches and the admiration to American President Barack Obama’s powerful and convincing speeches

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims at examining the use of metaphorical modes of expression in Barack Obama’s Presidential

Nomination Acceptance Speech from a systemic functional perspective

Features of grammatical metaphor used in this speech will be analyzed following the approach of systemic functional linguistics to understand the roles of grammatical metaphors in developing and structuring this discourse

1.3 Scope of the study

This study attempts to look at how Barack Obama uses grammatical metaphors in his Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech

The analysis will follow Halliday’s work “An Introduction to Functional Grammar” as the framework and Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech will be taken as source of data for illustration

1.4 Method of the study

Since the thesis sets its main objective of investigating the use of grammatical metaphor in Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, it is a descriptive research which reexamines the senses in which the grammatical metaphors are used The techniques involved in data analysis are both qualitative and quantitative

1.5 Format of the study

The study is composed of four chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction ─ presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the format of the

study

Chapter 2: Literature Review ─ provides the theoretical background of the study It examines aspects of

metaphor and focuses on the nature of grammatical metaphor

Chapter 3: The Study ─ is the main part of the study which investigates the use of grammatical metaphor in

Barack Obama’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech

Chapter 4: Conclusion ─ summarizes the main contents of the study and offers implications for teachers and

makes suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES

1 Berry, M (1975/7), Introduction to Systemic Linguistics 1 & 2, Batsford, London

2 But, D., R Fahey, S Spinks and C Yallop (1995), Using Functional Grammar: An Explorer's

Guide, Macquarie University, Sydney

3 Downing, A & P Locke (1992), A university course in English grammar, Prentice Hall, New York

4 Eggins, S 1994, An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics, Pinter, London

5 Fries, P H (1981), On the Status of Theme in English Arguments from Discourse, Forum

Linguisticum 6.1: 1-38

6 Galperin I R (1981), Stylistics, Vyssaja Skola, Moscow

7 Gerot, L and P Wignell (1994), Making Sense of Functional Grammar: an Introductory Workbook,

N.S.W: Antipodean Educational Enterprises, Cammeray

8 Halliday, M.A.K (1978), Language as Social Semiotic: the Social Interpretation of Language and

Meaning, Edward Arnold & University Park Press, London & Baltimore

9 Halliday, M.A.K (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Edward Arnold, London

10 Halliday, M.A.K and Matthiessen, C.M.I.M (1999), Construing Experience through Meaning: A

Language-Based Approach to Cognition, Cassell, London

11 Halliday, M.A.K & J R Martin (1993), Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power, Falmer,

London

12 Halliday, M.A.K & R Hasan (1985), Language, Context and Text: a

Social Semiotic Perspective, Vic: Deakin University Press, Geelong

13 Kress, G (ed.) Halliday (1976), System and Function in Language, Oxford University Press,

London

14 Lock, G (1995), Functional English Grammar: an Introduction for Second Language Teachers,

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

15 Martin, J R (1985), Systemic Functional Linguistics and an Understanding of Written Text,

Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney

16 Martin, J R (1992), English Text: System and Structure, Benjamins, Amsterdam

17 Martin, J R & R David (2003), Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause, CPI Bath,

Great Britain

18 Morley, D (1985), An Introduction to Systemic Grammar, Macmillan, London

19 Do Tuan Minh (2001), An Investigation into Grammatical Metaphor in English Scientific Discourse,

Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages

20 Ravelli, Louise (1988), Grammatical Metaphor: an Initial Analysis, Steiner & Veltman (ed.),

Pragmatics, Discourse and Text: Explorations in Systemic Semantics, Frances Pinter, London

21 Simpson, Paul (2004), Stylistics, Routledge, London

22 Taverniers, Miriam (2004), Grammatical Metaphors in English, Moderna Spark

23 Thompson, G (1996), Introducing Functional Grammar, Hodder Education, Londono

24 Hoang Van Van (1997), An Experiential Grammar of the Vietnamese Clause: A Functional

Description, Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation: Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University,

Australia

25 Hoang Van Van (1999), “A Preliminary Inquiry into the Nature of Grammatical Metaphor”, (In)

Journal of Science, (No 3), VNU

26 http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-metaphors.htm