A critical discourse analysis of president barack h obama’s address on cuba detente policy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULITY OF GRADUATE STUDIES  HOÀNG THỊ THẮM A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF U.S PRESIDENT BARAC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULITY OF GRADUATE STUDIES



HOÀNG THỊ THẮM

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF U.S PRESIDENT BARACK

H.OBAMA’S ADDRESS ON CUBA DETENTE POLICY

(NGHIÊN CỨU BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA TỔNG THỐNG BARACK H OBAMA VỀ CHÍNH SÁCH BÌNH THƯỜNG HÓA QUAN HỆ VỚI CUBA

TỪ GÓC ĐỘ PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN)

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Course: QHF.2014 Supervisor: Prof Nguyen Hoa

Hanoi, September 2017

-Abstract

In my thesis, I employ Fairclough‟s approach of CDA and Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Grammar to analyze a case study which is a political speech named

“Obama‟s address on Cuba détente policy” The study is to find out the relationship

between language, ideologies and power hidden behind the discourse At the same time, linguistic strategies are also discussed to see how the ideologies are constructed and manifested in the speech The results indicate that CDA helps reveal the relationship between language, ideologies and power in the speech Language is a means to show ideologies and power; on the other hand, language is also to construct one‟s ideologies or his identity to some extent By analyzing this case study, it can be seen that Obama is of great intelligence in using language as a strategic tool to display his ideologies and power

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the completion of this thesis, I am indebted to many people

First and foremost, I wish to thank my supervisor, Prof Nguyen Hoa for his

valuable and prompt advice and helps, without which, this thesis could not come into being

Much gratitude also go to all my lecturers and officers from Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, who facilitated with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying

Last but not least, I express thanks to my family and friends, whose encouragement and assistance are of extreme importance during the course of my writing this paper

Hanoi, September, 2017 Hoang Thi Tham

TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Scope of the study 1

3 Purposes of the study 1

4 Empirical Data 2

5 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1: Literature Review 3

1.1 The history of CDA 3

1.2 Elements in CDA 3

1.2.1 CDA definition 3

1.2.2 CDA goals 4

1.2.3 Critical 4

1.2.4 Ideology 5

1.2.5 Power 5

1.2.6 Discourse 6

1.2.6.1 Discourse as a social practice 6

1.2.6.2 Type of power 7

1.2.6.3 Political discourse 7

CHAPTER 2: Methodology 8

2.1 Data 8

2.2 Procedure 8

2.2.1 Fairclough‟s Three – Dimensional Approach 8

2.2.1.1 Description 8

2.2.1.2 Interpretation 9

2.2.1.3 Explanation 10

2.2.2 Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics 10

2.2.2.1 Transitivity system 10

2.2.2.2 Thematic system 11

CHAPTER 3: Findings and Discussion 13

3.1.1 Experiential values 15

3.1.2 Relational values 18

3.1.3 Expressive values 19

3.1.4 Metaphors 19

3.2 Grammatical analysis 20

3.2.1 The use of personal pronouns „I‟, „we‟ and „you‟ 20

3.2.2 Nominalization and passivization 21

3.2.3 Modes of sentences 23

3.2.4 Modality analysis 23

3.2.5 Cohesive devices 24

3.2.6 Transitivity analysis 26

3.2.7 Thematic analysis 28

3.3 Textual analysis 29

3.4 Interpretation 29

3.4.1 Interpretation of institutional context and speech act 30

3.4.2 Interpretation of inter-textual context and presupposition 32

3.5 Explanation 33

PART III CONCLUSION 35

1) Summary and conclusion 35

2) Implications 37

REFERENCES 38

WEBSITE 38

Appendix 1 I Obama‟s address on Cuba détente policy I Appendix 2 Transitivity analysis in detail IX Appendix 3 Thematic analysis in detail XVII Appendix 4 Content Analysis XXIII Appendix 5 Thematic structure XXXI

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Regarded as a social phenomenon, the study of language in use helps discover many interests such as ideologies or power behind the language Recently, critical discourse analysis (henceforth CDA) has become very popular among linguists because of its purposes That is, the study of CDA is to find out the relationship between ideologies, power and language, and in turn to reveal ideologies and power hidden behind the discourse For that reason, I decide to apply CDA in my minor thesis

In addition, as a learner of language but having a great interest in politics, I choose one

political speech named “Obama‟s address on Cuba détente policy to analyze I make

my mind up to vote for this speech because of several reasons First, with more than 2,000 words, it becomes a proper choice for a study of 10,000 words Second, it is an official speech which is delivered by a high-ranking politician (President Obama) Finally, the most important reason, I want to see what Obama‟s ideologies are constructed and how they are manifested linguistically in his speech

2 Scope of the study

In this study, I employ written aspects of the speech, but with the absence of spoken one despite my awareness of such an importance in comprehending the overall message Yet, with more than 20,000 words in the text, I think it is enough for a minor thesis to meet its requirements For such a reason, I put my emphasis on basic features such as vocabulary, grammar or textual ones to reveal hidden messages behind the discourse

3 Purposes of the study

Purposes of the study are to uncover the relationship between language, ideologies and power hidden behind the speech and to reveal how the ideologies are manifested linguistically and constructed in the discourse In order to reach these purposes, I answer the two research questions as following:

1) What are Obama‟s themes as constructed in his speech?

2) How are the themes manifested linguistically?

and asked them to „think big‟ about the second term agenda, including the possibilities

of new starts with longstanding U.S foes such as Iran and Cuba Then the speech was the result of 18 months of hush-hush talks between the two nations, including secret meetings in Canada and the personal involvement of Pope Francis Such a condition helps create an important pave to divulge ideologies hidden behind the speech

5 Design of the study

This study consists of three main parts They are:

Part I: Introduction

It includes the rationale, the scope of the study, the aims of the study, data collecting and sampling, and the design of the study

Part II: Development

The development comprises three chapters

Chapter 1 named “Literature Review” provides the development process of critical

discourse analysis and important features of its theory as well

Chapter 2 entitled “Methodology” shows clearly the analytical framework of the study

I employ Fairclough‟s approach to analysis the speech because it is the most linguistic

Chapter 3 labeled “Findings and Discussion” talks about Obama‟s ideologies hidden

behind the speech and strategies he resorted to get his ideologies across

Part III: Conclusion

This part summarizes findings; hence, being able to conclude what ideologies and power are constructed in the speech and how these ideologies are manifested linguistically Also, some recommendations for further study are presented as well

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: Literature Review 1.1 The history of CDA

CDA is a domain of critical applied linguistics The 1970s saw the emergence of CDA Its development was credited with prominent works including Kress and Hodge (1979), Fowler et al (1979), van Dijk (1985), Fairclough (1989) and Wodak (1989)

In particular, Fowler et al (1979-1996) made an important contribution to ascertain the early foundations of Critical Linguistics Then, from 1989 to 1999, Fairclough set out the social theories underpinning CDA as well as explained and elaborated on some advances in CDA, showing not only how the analytical framework for investigating language in relation to power and ideology developed, but also how CDA is useful in disclosing the discursive nature of much contemporary social and cultural change After that, van Dijk worked in text linguistics and discourse analysis, and considered the relevance of discourse to the study of language processing Also, he focused on developing a theoretical model that explained cognitive discourse processing mechanisms These famous linguists built up main assumptions, principles and procedures of what became Critical Linguistics By 1990s, it came into existence with this particular approach to linguistic analysis, showing how CDA was, by that time, emerging as a distinctive theory of language, a radical different kind of linguistics Noticeably, most studies of these famous linguists are drawn on Hallidayan systemic functional grammar This indicates that an understanding of the basic claims of Halliday‟s grammar and his approach to linguistic analysis is essential for an adequate understanding of CDA

1.2 Elements in CDA

Concepts relating to „critical‟, „ideology‟, „power‟ and „discourse‟ are discussed as

deeply as possible to make a proper understanding of CDA However, before talking about these elements, we should talk about CDA definition and its goals

1.2.1 CDA definition

The notion of Critical Discourse Analysis is the principal issue for those who wish to research such an area It stays dissimilar among different scholars such as van Dijk (1998), Rebecca Roger (2004), Gilbert Weiss and Ruth Wodak (2003), Norman Fairclough (2001) or Theo Van Leuuwen (1993) However, I only mention some basic and famous definitions As stated by van Dijk (1998), CDA investigates the way „social power abuse, dominance and inequality which are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context‟ Quite different from van Dijk, Norman Fairclough (2001) holds his attitude that CDA is considered as ideological analysis For the above opinions, CDA can be seen as an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse that views language as a social practice and its targets are to uncover hidden power and ideology behind discourses

1.2.2 CDA goals

The main purpose of CDA as cited by (Litosseliti, 2006), is to understand social issues, inequalities, and ideologies, by exposing the subtle role of discourse in maintaining them Also, it is to develop more effective means against persecution in society (Rathzel, in Wodak, 1997) Toward deconstructing and reconstructing images of the other still represents other target of CDA (Rathzel in Wodak, 1997) (Schaffner, 1996) suggests that what CDA should act is to describe and explain, and if necessary criticize social and discursive practices, based on solid research

Meyer (2002) is relatively different that „critical‟ is something keeping distance to the

data, embedding the data in the social, taking a political stance explicitly and a concentration on self-reflection as scholars doing research With Corson (2000) (in

Roger 2004), he holds his opinion about „critical‟ that it is often associated with researches in power relations By means of „critical‟ , linguists find it easier to uncover

power inequalities hidden in discourses and wider social and cultural formations

Overall, it is believed that „critical‟ is something qualitative and a sharp tool to reveal

ideologies and power behind the discourse

1.2.4 Ideology

„Ideology‟ for CDA, is seen as an important aspect of establishing and maintaining

unequal power relations Thompson (1990) holds his opinion about the study of

„ideology‟ „the ways in which meaning is constructed and conveyed by symbolic forms

of various kinds‟ It also discovers the social contexts within which symbolic forms are

employed and deployed For Simpson (1993), „ideology‟ is created by a combination of

cultural assumptions, political beliefs and institutional practices According to Eagleton

(1994), the study of „ideology‟ has to consider the variety of theories and theorists that

have examined the relation between thought and social reality Despite different

concepts of „ideology‟, its main functions according to van Dijk are to self-represent

the group or the membership and identification of its members, to organize their social practices or struggles, and to promote the interests of the group and its members with respect to other groups

1.2.5 Power

Wodak and Meyer consider „power‟ as relations about difference, and especially about the influences of differences in social structures They also mention that „power‟ does not derive from language, yet in the service of language, „power‟ is challenged,

subverted and altered distributions of power in the short and long term From the point

of view of Teun van Dijk (1998), „power‟ is defined in the light of control When one

group or individual is likely to more or less control the acts and minds of other groups

or individuals, they can have more or less power „Power‟ in CDA often is seen as

ideological power which is exercised in discourse, and the power to project one‟s

practices, beliefs and perspectives as universal, „common sense‟ or „right and just‟

„Power‟ in CDA is signaled not only by grammatical forms within a text, but also by a

person‟s control of a social occasion by means of the genre of a text It is often exactly within the genres related to given social occasions that power is exercised or challenged

1.2.6 Discourse

In this session, I will start to discuss „discourse‟ in CDA as „discourse as a social practice Then I mention to some types of discourse and focus on „political discourse‟

because it relates to the study

1.2.6.1 Discourse as a social practice

In CDA, „discourse‟ is considered as a social practice By using „a social practice‟,

Fairclough implies that language is a part of society, and not somehow external to it, a social process and a socially conditioned process, conditioned that is by other (non-

linguistic) parts of society In turn, „discourse‟ involves social conditions, which can be

specified as social conditions of production, and social conditions of interpretation

These social conditions also relate to three different „level‟ of social organization

including the level of the social situation, or the immediate social environment in which the discourse occurs, the level of the social institution which constitutes a wider

matrix of the discourse and the level of the society as a whole

Social conditions of production Process of production

Text Process of interpretation Interaction

Social conditions of interpretation Context

Table 1: Discourse as text, interaction and context

1.2.6.2 Type of power

Norman Fairclough (2001) categorizes discourse into two major aspects including

power in discourse and power behind discourse Power in discourse is associated with

discourse in which relations of power are actually exercised and enacted In other words, discourse is the site of power struggles Through power in discourse, analysts can reveal the control of powerful participants and the constraint the contribution of non-powerful participants The later aspect is about power behind discourse which represents the stake in power struggles – for control over orders of discourse is a powerful mechanism for sustaining power

1.2.6.3 Political discourse

For Dieckmann and Christina Schaffner, political language is to denote the use of language in the context of politics and a point of view of language use, respectively Political language contains some features (Geiss, 1987); that is, it might have an indirect but stronger effect on people‟s political thought than expressions of strong opinions; bias very often exists

in political discourse and verbs which denote speech may imply positive impact or negative impact; especially, the context in political discourse is of great importance in understanding

of the messages embedded in the text

One more thing, political speeches contain some characteristics as follow:

 The speeches are parts of and/ or the results of politics

 They fulfill different functions due to different political activities

 Their topics are primarily associated with politics

 In the majority of the cases, they are meant for a wide public

CHAPTER 2: Methodology

2.1 Data

As mentioned in the previous part (Empirical Data), the data for this CDA is empirical In particular, I employ one political speech called “Obama‟s address on Cuba détente policy” which is taken from the website

(http://www.americanrhetoric.com/newtop100speeches.htm)

2.2 Procedure

CDA is to find out the relationship between language, ideologies and power; in turn, reveal ideologies and power hidden behind the discourse Therefore, I want to employ CDA to see how the relation between ideologies and language are manifested linguistically in Obama‟s speech, and what his ideologies are constructed

In addition, CDA in all of its various forms understands itself to be strongly based on theory And there is a wide variety of theories which are applied in analyzing CDA; however, I employ Fairclough‟s analytical framework because it is seen as the most linguistic Also, in his work, Fairclough used Halliday‟s systemic functional grammar

to analysis; therefore, I will focus on three-dimensional approach of Fairclough and several key points relating to Halliday‟s systemic functional linguistics below

2.2.1 Fairclough’s Three – Dimensional Approach

In his approach, Fairclough recommends three different stages which are description, interpretation and explanation as well

2.2.1.1 Description

At this step, features including vocabulary, grammar and textual structure are all mentioned in order to reveal hidden meanings, embedded messages and speaker‟s ideologies For such reasons, a number of questions are listed below:

A Vocabulary

1 What experiential values do words have?

2 What relational values do words have?

3 What expressive values do words have?

4 What metaphors are used?

B Grammar

5 What experiential values do grammatical features have?

6 What relational values do grammatical features have?

7 What expressive values do grammatical feature have?

8 How are sentences linked together?

C Textual structures

9 What interactional conventions are used?

10 What larger-scale structures does the text have?

2.2.1.2 Interpretation

Interpretation step copes with discourse processed and their dependence on background assumptions It is generated through what is in the text and what is „in‟ the interpreter This stage is summarized through the figure as follow:

Interpretative procedures (MR) Resources Interpreting

Interactional history Inter-textual context

2.2.1.3 Explanation

The objective of the third stage- explanation- is to portray a discourse as part of a social process, as social practice, presenting how it is determined by social structures, and what reproductive effects discourses can cumulatively have on those structures, sustaining them or changing them Norman Fairclough shows three questions in common in order to be applied in certain discourse analysis

1 Social determinants: What power relations at situational, institutional, and societal level help shape this discourse?

2 Ideologies: What elements of MR which are drawn upon have an ideological character?

3 Effect: How is this discourse positioned in relation to struggles at the situational, institutional, and societal levels? Are the struggles overt or over? Is the discourse formative with respect to MR or creative? Does it contribute to sustaining existing power relations or transforming them?

2.2.2 Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics

This kind of linguistic system is of great importance for CDA analysts Halliday distinguished three meta-functions of language which are continuously interconnected: they are the ideational function through which language lends structure to experience, the interpersonal function which constitutes relationships between the participants, and the textual function which constitutes coherence and cohesion in texts In my paper, I utilize two functions including ideational and textual functions These two functions are realized at the lexico-grammar level by choices in the transitivity and thematic system of the language, and the unit of this level is clause

2.2.2.1 Transitivity system

This system is defined as the world of experience into a manageable set of process types Normally, a process type contains three components such as the process itself, participants in the process and circumstance associated with the process Transitivity provides the potential to group the infinite variety of occurrences into a finite set of

process types They are material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, existential process This frame of reference is useful when we interpret experience of what goes

on

2.2.2.2 Thematic system

Thematic system answers the question „how is the content of the text organized?‟ and it

is realized the ordering of „theme and rheme‟ in a clause Halliday (1994) states that the theme is the starting-point for the message, the ground from which the clause is taking off; and the theme is divided into simple and multiple theme The theme extends from the beginning of the clause up to the first element that has function in transitivity; and it

is named topical theme If there are other things coming before the topical theme, multiple themes will appear Vice versa, in case there is nothing before the topical theme, it stays single Components of a multiple theme can be summarized as below according to Bloor, T and Bloor, M (1995)

Meta-function Component of theme

Textual theme Continuative

Structural Conjunctive Interpersonal theme Vocative

Modal Finite Wh-interogative Experiential theme Topical (participant, circumstance, process)

Table 3: Components of a multiple theme

It also should be distinguished between marked and unmarked themes The first notion can be defined that a theme which is other than the subject, in a declarative clause while the later one is often found in adverbial groups, prepositions or nominalization It is placed where the subject is the starting point of the clause

In this chapter, I have argued on the one hand that CDA theories are reviewed and discussed, and on the other hand that the analytical framework by Norman Fairclough is mentioned in detail They are considered as a useful and major tool in analyzing Obama‟s speech which is presented next part – the most important part of the study

CHAPTER 3: Findings and Discussion

To answer the first research question “What Obama‟s themes 1 as constructed in his speech”, I analyze the content of the speech (See appendix 4 Content Analysis) and then collect it into a thematic schema (See appendix 5 Thematic Structure) In

particular, Obama‟s themes are represented as following:

1 The topic of the speech: Announce for changes

2 Background of the past policy: Failure of the past policy to make a case for changes

3 Need for changes: plan and steps; benefits for changes

4 Difficulties

5 Solutions

6 Acknowledgment

It can be seen that Obama‟s thematic argumentation is so obvious Right at the first

sentence of the speech, Obama directly shows the topic sentence “Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba.” Then the

audience can recognize the issue and continues to follow the speech

So why need changes? We can find out the answer in the second step of Obama‟s

thematic schema – Background of the past policy Because he wants to make a case for

changes, Obama indicates failures of the past policy Indeed, he demonstrates that the

past rigid policy does not serve the American or Cuban‟s interest “Neither American, nor Cuban people are well served by a rigid policy.” (Line 31-32), and it receives no support by other nations “No other nation joins us in imposing these sanctions, and it has had little effect…” (Line 26-27) although it has the best of intentions (Line 26) which serve democracy and human rights (Line 22) Showing such failures requires a

need for changes

1 Themes and ideologies are interchangeable

At the step of need for changes, Obama specifies his plan and steps and benefits for changes He displays four steps for changes by using connective words- “first, second, third and finally” which helps create a logical and coherent content The four steps are: reestablish diplomatic relations “First, I‟ve instructed Secretary Kerry to …reestablish diplomatic relations” (Line 66-67); review Cuba‟s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism “Second, I‟ve instructed Secretary Kerry to review Cuba‟s designation as a

State Sponsor of Terrorism” (Line 84-85); increase travel, commerce, and the flow of

information to and from Cuba “Third, we are taking steps to increase travel, commerce, and the flow of information to and from Cuba” (Line 90-91); and renew leadership in the Americas ““Finally, our shift in policy towards Cuba comes at a moment of renewed leadership in the Americas” (Line 175-176)

In addition, Obama indicates benefits for changes to persuade the audience believe and

follow his policy That is, Cuban Americans can travel and send remittances to their

families in Cuba “We lifted restrictions for Cuban Americans to travel and send remittances to their families in Cuba” (Line 38-39) Moreover, it will be easier for

Americans to travel to Cuba and they will be able to use American credit and debit cards on the island (Line 94) Also, it will be easier for U.S exporters to sell goods in Cuba and Cubans enable to communicate with the United States and other countries

On the other hand, the journey to make such Obama‟s steps come to an end is not easy

It certainly contains a lot of difficulties He claims the change is hard (Line 196) and

“No es facil- It‟s not easy (Line 164) By using a daily-life-Cuban sentence, Obama

wants to connect and share with Cuban community about the difficulties Despite these

obstacles, he always shows his belief and hope about the success of his changes “Ideals matter more than the color of our skin, or the circumstances of our birth; a demonstration of what the Cuban people can achieve, and the openness of the United States to our family to the South (Line 192-193)”

To persuade the public, Obama does not only present his belief about the policy, but

also give solutions for the difficulties His administration discusses with the government

of Cuba about Alan‟s case and other aspects of the two nation‟s relationship “many months, my administration has held discussions with the Cuba government….” (Line 49), and continue to do on issues related to democracy and human rights in Cuba “We will continue to do on issues related to democracy and human rights in Cuba.” (Line 78), “We will continue to support civil society there” (Line 132)

One more important thing in Obama‟s thematic argumentation is his acknowledgment

He does not forget to thank those who are his partners in his efforts They are Holiness Pope Francis who shows the importance of pursuing the world; the government of Canada, which hosted discussions between two nations, and a bipartisan group of congressmen who have worked tirelessly for Alan Gross‟s release (Line 171-172)

In sum, analyzing the content of the speech, we can see Obama‟s themes/ideologies hidden behind the speech; then to observe how these themes are manifested linguistically in the speech, I present strategies Obama used to manifest his themes getting across The linguistic strategies I present below are associated with the themes which are found out after analyzing the content analysis

3.1 Vocabulary analysis

In this session, I will examine values words can have They are experiential, relational,

expressive value and metaphor

3.1.1 Experiential values

A formal feature with experiential value is a trace of and a cue to the way in which the text producer‟s experience of the natural or social world is represented To begin with, let‟s look at such a value, which is represented in the discourse, to gain a general picture

of the speaker‟s attitude, ideology and his perspective as well A great number of utilized words which are to describe events, actions, or persons give us a universal

outlook of Obama‟s perspective: he focuses on the failures caused by the „rigid policy‟ previously, in turn, to emphasis on his plan and steps which could bring about mutual benefits On the other hand, he also indicates the difficulties for changes In sum,

Obama‟s perspective is about his policy to make changes with the relationship with

Cuba The study will be analyzed this aspect in detail as following

Concerning the previous relation between two countries, the speaker says it is

„outdated‟, „failed‟ and „complicated‟ Due to such an „outdated‟ relationship, „neither the American, nor Cuban people are well served‟ Via his word use, his attitude about

the prior policy is unfavorable Digging up deeper, it can be realized the speaker‟s wits with his word choices Apart from being against the policy in the past, he worries about

its detriment caused for the people of two nations It created „barrier‟ to ideology,

economic, commerce, travel or the flow of information, made the Cuban exile

community in the United States feel a „painful‟ yearning for their land and family, and

„jailed‟ „wrongful‟ people of two countries

Turning into another issue relates to the speaker‟s idea of the relationship He regards

America and Cuba as „unique‟ (line 21), „friendship‟ (line 159) and „partner‟ (line 168) and this „unique friendship‟ can lead two countries to a „new chapter‟ (line 8) and „a better future‟ (line 203) His witting employed vocabulary makes his policy become a

right human thing

In his speech, Obama does not forget to mention „Communist Party‟ like „China‟ or

„Vietnam‟ to whom America has successfully reestablished the relation Cuba is also a

Communist nation, and by delivering such examples, the speaker wants them believe that his policy can come to an end

Furthermore, meaning relations which are of great worth in conveying the speaker‟s

ideology/theme should be examined In his discourse, the speaker employs synonyms

which are in nature the similar meanings; yet, are likely to use in different situations

Dealing with the previous relation, Obama resorts synonymous words such as

„isolation‟, „against‟, „opposition‟, „barrier‟, or „restriction‟ while concerning about his own policy, he uses vocabularies including „a new chapter‟, „opportunities‟,

„openness‟, „a better future‟, and „ a source of hope‟

Whether or not any implications appears when synonym is applied in the discourse Let have a look at the synonym phenomenon to discover the answer It can be seen that there is an opposite picture between the prior relationship and the one which is created

by the speaker‟s policy The former one is built in with negative sense and is reviewed throughout the discourse thanks to synonymous words This is to help the public recognize the matter and at the same time and have a contrast with what the speaker‟s plan and steps creates On the other hand, when describing the outlook of his policy, many near synonyms are resorted so as to reveal his belief in its success Clearly, in the process of reality construction with a picture of the past policy and his plan and steps, the speaker‟s attitude, evaluations are drawn on the discourse Obviously, these relations of synonym are ideologically determined

Also, antonyms, which are defined as meaning incompatibility – the meaning of one

word is incompatible with the meaning of another, are found in the text:

An outdated approach >< a new approach (Line 5 & 84)

Barriers >< freedom (Line 31)

Enjoy lasting transformation >< are subjected to chaos (Line 54)

Once controversial >< now obvious (Line 41)

Imposed >< codified (Line 18)

Most of these antonyms are put in the parallel structures to present ideas more persuasive Using this technique, Obama wants to create an opposite points: negative points for the prior policy and positive points for his plan and steps The audience will

be greatly affected caused by this way of presenting ideas In turn, they can easily make

a comparison by themselves, and decide which policy brings more benefits So what

does this mean? It means Obama got his success in using the strategy of antonym to present his ideology That is, the phenomenon of antonym is employed skillfully in the speech helps the audience get a clear vision about Obama‟s policy

3.1.2 Relational values

A formal feature with relational value is a trace of and a cue to the social relationships which are enacted via the text in the discourse This value is to do with relations and

social relationships Strategies such as euphemism and formality of the situation are

often resorted to show relational values During speech production, Obama does not forget to apply the latter strategy in order to indicate his ideologies

The formality of the situation demands formality of social relations, and this evident in

the vocabulary, which consistently opts for more formal choices as against less formal available alternative, expressing politeness, concern from participants for each other‟s

„face‟, or respect for status and position Let‟s consider cases on the formality

appeared in the text:

….made a clear strong belief ….(Line 122)

….a hand of friendship….(Line 159)

….thank you….(Line 170)

….my fellow leaders….(Line 183)

….my fellow Americans….(Line 190)

As the President of the United States, Obama has to make careful considerations during his speaking, especially, when the discourse is broadcast live before the public not only in America, Cuba but also in the world So his speech can be evaluated by different analysts in different conditions Such a formality requires a formality of social relations, and the evidence is shown clearly in the speech with his word use They express the speaker‟s politeness, social position, and respect his audience face, in turn,

prove that he is adequate for the national highest position Sharply chosen word choices

of the formality is a worthy strategy for Obama creating a relaxing atmosphere, being a

convenient condition for him in persuading the audience „believe‟ his policy

3.1.3 Expressive values

A formal feature with expressive value is a trace of and a cue to the producer‟s evaluation of the bit of the reality it relates to Expressive value is to do with subjects and social identities This value plays an important role for Obama to portray his persuasive intention

There are a number of examples in the discourse where the speaker‟s negative evaluation of the prior policy described is implicit in the vocabulary They are:

„outdated‟, „complicated‟, „backdrop‟, „separated‟, „hardened‟, „barrier‟, „restrictions‟

and so forth On the other hand, a variety of positive word choices are to estimate his

plan such as „new chapter‟, „‟belief‟, „good‟, or „advance‟ The overall effect may be

easy and persuasive for the audience

3.1.4 Metaphors

Metaphor is a means of representing one aspect of experience in terms of another, and

is by no means restricted to the sort of discourse it tends to be stereotypically associated with – poetry and literary discourse Metaphor in political contexts can be, and often is, used for ideological purposes because it activates unconscious emotional associations and thereby contributes to myth creation (Jonathan, 2011) In his speech, Obama also used metaphor as a strategic tool to tell his story

He used metaphor for positive representations of future scenarios that are construed as solutions to problems That is, for instance, by using the metaphorical phenomenon of

„heart‟, he considered policy toward Cuba as a greatly important policy He then told about „A new chapter‟ (Line 8) between two countries‟ relations This results a positive

attitude of the audience about his policy

3.2 Grammatical analysis

3.2.1 The use of personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’

Let‟s start with the analysis of the speaker‟s use of personal pronouns „we‟, „I‟ and

„you‟ with their distribution which are presented below:

Table 4: The distribution of „I‟, „we‟, and „you‟

From the table above, the audience can recognize a number of „we‟ reappearing

throughout the speech with a high rate of density The pronoun is utilized for 65 times,

which are the most noticeable It appears with structures such as „we did‟, or „we will do‟ stressing the speaker‟s or his administration‟s actions

….we will end an outdated approach (Line 5)

…we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries (Line 6)

…we will raise those differences directly as we will continue to do on issues related

to democracy and human rights in Cuba (Line 79)

Noticeably, the usage of this pronoun assists shortening the distance between the speaker and the public and in turn accepting his perspectives, regardless of social status, age, color, or profession Furthermore, by identifying him as a member of the collective, Obama wants people think that they belong to the same side; in other words, his actions are to make contributions for all people (American citizens, Cuban people) and in the absence of their hand, his effort may not come to an end

Compared with „we‟, „I‟ and „you‟ are comparatively less used, which appear for

respectively, 27 and 6 times In his words, the speaker does not avoid to employ the

pronoun „I‟ as the illustrations following:

…I promised to re-examine our Cuba policy (Line 38)

…I can take as President to change this policy (Line 117)

To some degree, this can be considered as a personal action or at least on behalf of a

group of people, here for a nation- America, especially, when he „takes as President to change this policy‟ This strategy asserts his power, authority, his position and shows

his image in front of the public‟s eyes as a responsible, determined man Additionally,

he also employs the pronoun „you‟ with 6 times The pronoun you is used mainly as an

indefinite pronoun, referring to people in general It occurs in line (60)-(64), (170), and (205)-(206)

(165)-…Some of you have looked to us as a source of hope (Line 60)

…I am being honest with you (Line 64)

…but we believe that you should be empowered to live with dignity and

self-determination (Line 165)

Yet, in this case, the relational value of you is more than the meaning of an indefinite

pronoun It is used to register solidarity and by using it, Obama is able to convey his ideology and by implication claim for himself the status of one of the collective

3.2.2 Nominalization and passivization

According to Fowler & Kress (1979), nominalization and passivization are two other strategies to cover the ideology hidden behind the speech

In this example, we have a nominalization of „change‟ functioning as a verb in the first

sentence, but as a noun in the second one There is the absence of tense, agents; therefore, we are not able to identify these changes causers; in turn, the attribution of causality and responsibility is unclear The speaker‟s intention is revealed at this point; that is, by using such a strategy, he wants to ignore what happened between the nations

in the past

3.2.2.2 Passivization

Passivization is to avoid redundancy and to make obfuscation or emphasize The device

of passivization is also adopted in the speech, though passive sentences are comparatively rare See examples below:

….who has been imprisoned for nearly two decades (Line 60)

….This review will be guided by the facts and the law (Line 87)

….U.S financial institutions will be allowed to open accounts at Cuban financial

his administration, on the other hand, he avoids to concern about the intense history of the two nations Thanks to the device of passivization, the speaker has achieved his political target in persuading the audience accepting his perspective and conveying his ideology to the audience

3.2.3 Mode of the sentences

Mode and modality, which have relational values, are especially ideological because these categories reflect the addresser‟s evaluations of the degree of affinity or distance between himself and his audiences In the paper, mode would be focused on and modality also is represented in a later part

The choice of modes in the speech exposes the relationship between the speaker and the audience The addressees here are the Cubans as well as the Americans Normally, declarative, grammatical question, and imperative are three main major modes; yet, in the speech, we can see the absence of grammatical question and imperative modes Only declarative mode is employed as following examples

…We (S) intend to create (V) more opportunities for the American and Cuban people (O) (Line 7-8)

…We (S) have done (V) so primarily through policies that aimed to isolate the island (O) (Line 24)

These declaratives are marked by having an S followed by a V that mean the addresser

is an information giver who provides facts, wills and views which have no possibility for interaction between the addresser and the addressees At this point, the speaker wants to present his position of power – giving information and leaving no choice for interaction between the speaker and the audience

3.2.4 Modality analysis

Modality, which is an important one for both relational and expressive values in grammar, is to do with speaker or writer authority Despite having two types of modality including relational modality and expressive modality, I focus only on the later type now that it is more fertile to dig out

Expressive modalities are utilized a lot in the speech and below are their distribution:

Table 5: Distribution of modal verbs

As is shown in the above figure, there are only there modal verbs appear in the speech

including „will‟, „should‟, and „can‟ with the percentage of 52, 5 %, 27, 5 % and 20 %, respectively With an abundant density of “will” which means “willingness”,

“determination” and “promise”, the speaker wishes to reveal the optimism about the

future of the relationship between American and Cuba On the other hand, it also indicates the speaker‟s responsibility under his words Examples can be shown as following:

….we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries (Line 6)

….the United States will reestablish an embassy in Havana (Line 69)

3.2.5 Cohesive devices

Cohesive devices are to set up causal link, determine relations among discourse entities, sustain topic continuity and connect parts of the discourse as well Obama‟s speech is created to outline the policy normalizing toward Cuba with a well structure and a high level of coherence I focus on analyzing two cohesive devices to see how they can cue ideological assumptions

3.2.5.1 Logical connectors

Ideological assumptions can be traced from logical connectors The speech will be figured out to uncover how such a device linking cue the speaker‟s ideology

Sentences with „so‟ are applied several times in Obama‟s speech Let‟s consider one …

Unfortunately, our sanctions on Cuba have denied Cubans access to technology that

has empowered individuals around the globe So I‟ve authorized increased

telecommunications connections between the United States and Cuba (Line 113)

In consequential relation one action is the result of the other, and one action can only happen if some condition is fulfilled The condition appears in the first sentence

„Unfortunately, our sanctions on Cuba have denied Cubans access to technology that has empowered individuals around the globe‟ resulting to the happening of „I‟ve authorized increased telecommunications connections between the United States and Cuba‟ „So‟ makes the speaker‟s argument become logical and persuade the hearers believing its right The ideological assumption „so‟ brings about is that if sanctions do

not exist, do not block Cuba‟s access to technology, Obama does not have to authorize

increased telecommunications connections By means of „so‟, the speaker‟s intention

would be: his action is a right thing and it shows his responsibility not for his nation but also for others, in this case, for Cuba

Another case is placed into consideration of comparative relation „like‟

… Like immigrants before, Cubans helped remake America, even as they felt a painful

yearning for the land and families they left behind (Line 19)

In this sentence, the main information is still placed in the main clause „Cubans helped remake America, even as they felt a painful yearning for the land and families they left

behind‟; however, the ideological assumption is put at the phrase „Like immigrants

before‟ Using such a strategy of connector, the speaker wants to imply that if Cuban

immigrants can be a hand of America construction before, the world now can have a strong belief that the relation between two countries will achieve success It is obvious that, the connector „like‟ is a good means to transfer and show implicitly the speaker‟s ideology, and critical analysis can make this encoding prominent and explicit

3.2.5.2 Word repetition

This type of connection is to create coherence as well as cue the speaker‟s ideology The speaker applies several words many times to put the emphasis his ideologies, in turn, to keep the audience constantly attach to his focused ideas The first focus would

be the (change, 13 times) in America‟s policy with Cuba The second one is the belief

(believe, 10 times) of the speaker toward such a change The way the speaker employs

word repetition throughout the discourse helps to convey his message to the audience The message would be that his policy is made-clear and a right thing to do because it serves mutual benefits Thus, in sum, repeated words make a great contribution in conveying the speaker‟s ideology, and a critical analysis can make this hidden aspect become prominent

3.2.6 Transitivity system

Transitivity system is a basic semantic system, which construes the world of experience into a manageable set of process types In other word, transitivity shows the relationship „who does what to whom‟ Halliday divides these processes into six types including material process, mental process, relational process, behavioral process, verbal process and existential process It can be summarized these processes into a figure as follow:

Table 6: Summary of Process types

In order to analyze the speech in term of transitivity, the speech is divided into 234 clauses The table of detail analysis is represented at the end of the thesis The following figure gives us a clear idea of the frequency of each process type that is

employed in the speech (See Appendix 2 for transitivity analysis in detail)

Clause number Material Mental Relational Behavioral Verbal Existential

Table 7: Transitivity analysis of the speech

It can be seen in the table 7 that material process ranks the highest among processes, accounting for 71.8 % The second highest percentage belongs to relational process with 16.3 % and then is followed by mental process which is about 7.7 % Vice versa, behavioral, verbal and existential processes are rare used in the speech In order to discover the reason why material process is applied the most in the text, the concept of material process should be taken into consideration As Halliday stated, material process is a process of „doing‟ or „happening‟ So what does the number 71.8 % mean?

It can be revealed that the fundamental purpose of the speaker is to narrate what has been experiencing throughout the history of the two nations Besides, we can figure out some interesting facts as well as the hidden ideology under these words by analyzing action verbs of the material processes That is, according to Fowler et al (1979), choices regarding vocabulary and grammar are consciously or unconsciously principle and systemic Thus choices are ideologically based Below is the table of verbs used between two sides

is changing (line 1), will end (line 3), will begin

to normalize (line 5), intend to create (line 6), has

supported (line 19), have done (line 20),

promised to reexamine (line 32), have been

prepared to take (line 39), taking steps to place

(line 56), to immediately begin to reestablish (line

59), can do (line 69), will be able to use (line 81),

will facilitate ( line 89), will move (line 102),

welcome (line 104), will continue to support (line

113), respect (line 122), try to push (line 126),

seek to help (line 131)

to (line 9), helped (line 17), is still governed (line 25), has sent (line 65), is constrained (line 103), should face (line 111), has made (line 113), should be (line 114), should be free to participate (line 115), have come to (line 158), is often referred to (line 159)

Table 8: Verbs choice in material processes

On the basic the statistic of action verbs, we can see that a high frequency of action

verbs with positive attitude such as „change‟, „seek to help‟ or „reestablish‟ is applied

by the leader of White House So it can be hoped that an open future could be met based on mutual benefits between two nations after a long isolated time It is also the target of the speaker; in other word, it is the ideology covered in the message the speaker wishes to convey to the public

3.2.7 Thematic analysis

The thematization role is to highlight the information the speaker or writer eager to represent Below is the analysis of theme/ rheme; however, in order to assist audiences easy to follow, I do not divide themes into textual, interpersonal or topical They are

classified into marked and unmarked (See appendix 3 for analysis in detail)

Number and percentage Marked themes 74 (42, 5 %)

Unmarked themes 100 (57, 5 %)

Table 9: Summary of thematic analysis

We can see from the figure that marked themes accounts for 42, 5 % and most of them are temporal adverbial, which presents a center of temporal circumstances, directing to

specific times when events take place Several instances include „today‟, „in the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years‟, „through these changes‟,

„but year after year‟, „now‟, „yesterday‟, „moreover, given Cuba‟s history‟, „my fellow citizens‟ Obviously, marked themes here are to inform the public that the development

of history between America and Cuba in the past „more than fifty years‟ and „today‟ is

a true time to make a change An important positive change when the speaker

emphasizes on „my fellow citizens‟ who are isolated one-half century ago It is no doubt

that marked themes are a very crucial tool for the speaker in concentrating the message he/she wishes to covey to audiences

3.3 Textual analysis

The formal features at the textual level relate to formal organizational properties of the whole speech At this level, we will discuss the ways Obama control the contributions

of others There are various devices which are used for doing this; however, in the speech,

„formulation‟ as a strategic use is employed diversely A formulation is either a rewording of

what has been said; or it is a wording of what may be assumed to follow from what has been said, what is implied by what has been said Formulations are used for such purpose as reaching an agreed characterization of what has transpired in the speech

Despite a great number of words in the discourse (2,275 words), the speaker has a good formulation to help the audience easy to follow, understand issues, and get an agreement among them Right at the beginning of the speech, the topic sentence is

mentioned „Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba‟ The audience can immediately recognize the issue to which the speaker wants to convey Moreover, the „change‟ is repeated 13 times throughout the

speech, creating a useful effect to the audience They could not be neglected the issue The speaker‟s formulation is clearly shaped on line, word by word, sentence by sentence All the choices of pronouns, nominalization, arguments, or rhetoric features index his ideology Such a strategy proves it a valuable tool in showing the speaker‟s ideology That is to reach an agreement among the audience, and present his highest political position as the President of the United States of America

3.4 Interpretation

The second of discourse analysis in Fairclough‟s three-dimensional framework is interpretation This stage as Fairclough (2001) is divided into two main dimensions including interpretation of text and interpretation of context However, the latter aspect

is employed in the paper It is sub-classified into interpretation of situational context as well as interpretation of inter-textual context Interpretation analysis is based on studying four main questions of Fairclough They are:

1) What‟s going on? (activity, topic, purpose)

2) Who‟s involved?

3) In what relations?

4) What‟s the role of language?

3.4.1 Interpretation of institutional context and speech act

3.4.1.1 Interpretation of institutional context

At this point of view, I focus on how interpreters arrive at interpretation of the situational context and the way in which this determine decisions about which

discourse type is the „appropriate‟ one to draw upon (Fairclough, 2002) At the first point, the issue „what‟s going on‟ is examined with „activity‟, „topic‟ and „purpose‟ as

well The activity type of the speech is a broadcast political speech with the crucial topic of addressing policy toward Cuba of the U.S.A Such an issue is the first time discussed after a long time of isolation between America and Cuba It has been also the first ever speech related to Cuba of the President Obama since he took office The topic

is to normalize the relationship between two countries by addressing a number of actions They are reestablishing the diplomatic relations with Cuba, reviewing Cuba‟s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, increasing travel, commerce, and the flow

of information to and from Cuba, and renewing leadership in the Americas with Cuba included

For the next questions of „who‟s involved‟ and „in what relations‟, one is trying to show which subject positions are set up In this case, the activity type is a political speech, and the speech contains subject positions for the speaker, addressees and the audience Also, social identities should be included With the highest position of a nation of the speaker and an important place like the Cross Hall where the speech delivered indicate the weight of the speech as well as its author Normally, experienced politicians are rarely in utilizing conversational discourses, especially for sensitive issues Obama in this case is not exception; he keeps a social distance from his audience because he recognized that his audience could be various from the Americans,

the Cubans or any person in a third country Because of different identities, ideologies and so forth, their interpretations stay different due to their different situational context Cleary, from above analysis, it can be deduced that the speaker used his authority to create a distance with his audience aimed at to avoid addressing sensitive or complicated problems Finally, language in this case is to not only elicit information, to determine its genre – a type of political speech, but also its channel However, the function of the language can be more than that when the speech is taken into consideration in term of features of a speech act

3.4.1.2 Speech acts

The distribution of speech act in the discourse is represented below:

Speech act types Distribution

Table 10: The distribution of speech act

Speech acts are a central dimension of pragmatics which is associated with the

meanings which participants in a discourse ascribe to elements of a text on the basis of their MR and their interpretations of context In characterizing part of a text as a speech act, it is necessary to figure out what the producer is doing by virtue of producing it such as promising, threatening, make a statement, warning, thanking or apologizing and so forth The speech is produced with the usage of a high percentage of

representative speech acts (68, 6 %) toward informing the audience about the history two countries undergone as well as arisen changes Expressive and commissive are other two speech acts which are of importance in the discourse with 11, 7% and 13, 7%, respectively Examples of commissive:

“We will facilitate authorized transactions between”(Line 106)

“The United States will reestablish an embassy in Havana.” (Line 69)

“We will end an outdated approach.” (Line 4)

And examples of directive ones:

“Let us leave behind the legacy of both colonization and communism” (Line

185)

“We are calling on Cuba to unleash the potential of 11 million Cubans.” (Line 155) “I call on all of my fellow leaders to give meaning to the commitment to democracy and human rights” (Line 183)

In his words, as the position of a leader of the White House, the speaker informs, promises, and urges Often, high-ranking politicians utilize their status to command, giving orders or warn toward their targets; however; in this case, the speaker is only making statement, promising and urging the relations with his partner This can be deduced that his effort in creating a new bond under his authority

3.4.2 Interpretation of inter-textual context and presupposition

Inter-textual interpretation is normally made full use of in analyzing discourse to reconstruct the text production process Yet, it is interesting that in this discourse, series of speeches concerning the same issue are not found, probably for a 56 year-downhill in the relation of America and Cuba Therefore, inter-textual interpretation of context has to base on a long-time scale Only those who have already had the knowledge

in their MR can interpret the process of the discourse; therefore, the speaker can be up to such a situation to determine what can be left unanswered, and what can be implied

Right at the beginning of the discourse, the author mentioned: „Today, the United States of American is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba‟ At this

sentence, it can be assumed that America‟s policy toward Cuba was not adequate enough, and now it wishes to change the policy into a positive way The question arisen here is that whether or not all the public have knowledge in their MR It is likely to happen with those cases who are politicians or reporters or at least who have inter-