A critical discourse analysis on non canonical constructions in some speeches delivered by president obama in some different social affairs

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *** BÙI THỊ ANH VÂN A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON NON-CANONIC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***

BÙI THỊ ANH VÂN

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

ON NON-CANONICAL CONSTRUCTIONS

IN SOME SPEECHES DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA

IN SOME DIFFERENT SOCIAL AFFAIRS

PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN

VỀ CÁC CẤU TRÚC PHI QUY PHẠM TRONG MỘT SỐ BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA TỔNG THỐNG OBAMA

TRONG NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ XÃ HỘI KHÁC NHAU

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Linguistics Code : 60.220.201

HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***

BÙI THỊ ANH VÂN

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

ON NON-CANONICAL CONSTRUCTIONS

IN SOME SPEECHES DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA

IN SOME DIFFERENT SOCIAL AFFAIRS

PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN

VỀ CÁC CẤU TRÚC PHI QUY PHẠM TRONG MỘT SỐ BÀI PHÁT BIỂU CỦA TỔNG THỐNG OBAMA

TRONG NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ XÃ HỘI KHÁC NHAU

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang

HANOI - 2016

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A Critical Discourse Analysis on canonical constructions in some speeches delivered by President Obama in some different social affairs” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

non-ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

For the completion of this thesis, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Associate Professor, Dr Võ Đại Quang for his hearty guidance and his valuable criticism, detailed comments and corrections, without which the work would not have been completed My thanks also go to

my Dean, my Head of Division and my colleagues at Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education whose supports undeniably help me concentrate on my thesis Last but not least, I would love to show my gratitude to

my mother, who always gives me endless encouragement and takes pride in her daughter Without all of them, this thesis could not have been completed

ABSTRACT

This paper critically analyzes some non-canonical constructions in some chosen speeches of Mr President from Critical Discourse Analysis perspective according to Van Dijk‟s socio-cognitive approach In the analysis of model contexts, the researcher provided readers with context of three speeches to describe the historical, social as well as political reasons for the speeches to be delivered including: Obama inaugural address in 2009, Jewish American Heritage Month, and Civil Society Forum in 10 April 2015, Panama City, Panama The thesis has found out that Obama mostly uses passivization structures in order to hide the agents of the actions, which in other words helps focus on the victims and their hardship The use of ideological square as well as

non-canonical constructions together reflects his ideology on both “us” and

“them” sides Besides, Obama also employs other non-canonical constructions

like left dislocation or inversion Through the critical analysis of these talks, it is

clear that language can be a powerful tool to transmit ideas

TABLE OF CONTENT

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Significance of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Objectives and aims of the study 3

5 Methods 3

6 Background of data 4

7 Design of study 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 7

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7

1.1 An overview about critical discourse analysis 7

1.1.1 Definition of discourse 7

1.1.2 Three levels of a discourse 7

1.1.3 The Socio-Cognitive Approach to CDA 8

1.1.4 Social cognition: ideology and “Ideological square” and syntax 10

1.2 An overview about non-canonical constructions 11

1.2.1 Discourse and information structures 11

1.2.2 Sentential-level information structure 11

1.2.3 Canonical and Non-canonical constructions 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19

CHAPTER 3: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON NON-CANONICAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN SPEECHES DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN DIFFERENT SOCIAL AFFAIRS 21

3.1 A critical discourse analysis on non-canonical constructions in Obama inaugural address in 2009 21

3.1.1 Context model 21

3.1.2 An analysis of semantic macrostructures and social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings 21

3.2 A critical discourse analysis on non-canonical constructions in remarks by

the President on Jewish American Heritage Month 26

3.2.1 Context model 26

2.2.2 An analysis of semantic macrostructures and social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings 26

3.3 A critical discourse analysis on non-canonical constructions in Civil Society Forum Address delivered 10 April 2015, Panama City, Panama 31

3.3.1 Context model 31

3.3.2 An analysis of semantic macrostructures and social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings 32

PART C: CONCLUSION 37

1 Summary of findings 37

2 Concluding remarks 39

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The relationship between discourse and ideology has always been an interesting topic, and it is also the duty of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to discover this relationship In the past twenty years, CDA developed quickly all over the world A large number of scholars have made contributions in the fields

of critical analysis of political discourse, especially Wodak, Jager, Scollon, Fairclough One of these great analysts is Van Dijk, a pioneer who developed the social-cognitive approach in which an important dimension incorporated is that

of human mind He assumes that social cognitive is the bridge between discourse and society It can be understood that the intentional utility of text structures can reflect the ideology of the speaker or writer and his society or the social context when the text was produced

It could be considered syntax a part of text structures in discourse As cited in Van Dijk (2011), the ideological implications of syntactic sentence structures referred to in the literature are familiar For example, it has often been shown that word order as well as transactional structures of sentences may code for underlying semantic (or indeed, cognitive) agency (Fowler et al., 1979; Kress

& Hodge, 1993) In general, at least in English, responsible agency is associated with grammatical subject, and initial position, or information structures This means that ideologically monitored opinions about responsibility for socially positive or negative acts may be differentially expressed in different syntactic forms In terms of information structures, a text is the combination of both canonical constructions and non-canonical constructions Therefore, the users can employ these constructions on purpose Hence, an analysis on the use of non-canonical construction could shed light to the journey to figure out the ideology

of speakers

The objective of CDA is public speech, such as advertisements, newspaper, articles, political propagandas, official documents, laws, regulations

and so on Its aim is to explore the relationships among language, ideology and power Therefore, politics is the field that is mainly focused Among all the influential speakers of the time, President Obama has been a phenomenon, for he was the first black President of the United State During his Presidency, he has delivered hundreds of speeches in public about different social affairs As a lawyer and a politician, he has a talent for word utility to influence his fellowmen; therefore, the critical discourse analysis of his speeches is worth doing to discover his ideology

In short, the objective of this paper is to critically analyze some canonical constructions in some chosen speeches of Mr President according to Van Dijk‟s socio-cognitive approach It is expected that, after the analysis, we can understand more about the hidden messages delivered in the chosen political discourse by applying the theories on CDA of Van Dijk

non-2 Significance of the study

The critical discourse analysis of different politic-related speeches is not an unfamiliar topic for research Especially, speeches delivered by President Obama are always the objectives to be critically analyzed because of his worldwide reputation However, not much research is conducted to analyze his employment

of the information structures, non-canonical constructions in particular from the perspective of critical discourse analysis Therefore, it is expected that thanks to the objectives of only investigating use of non-canonical constructions, the researcher can make the critical discourse analysis of speeches by President Obama deeper, more careful and more successful

3 Scope of the study

The analysis of President Obama‟s speeches is confined to verbal aspects

of the documents and some features of the historical context at the time of the speeches although the analyst is well aware that paralinguistic and extra linguistic factors are of certain importance in the discourse Particularly speaking, this research studies non-canonical constructions of sentential

information structures in three speeches delivered by President Obama in three different social affairs

1- Obama inaugural address in 2009

2- Remarks by the President on Jewish American Heritage Month 3- Civil Society Forum Address delivered 10 April 2015, Panama City, Panama

4 Objectives and aims of the study

This research aims at enhancing language competence of language learners

by raising their awareness of understanding the grammatical structures on the surface of language and explaining speaker‟s choice of linguistic features The researcher, as a language teachers also wants to raise students‟ critical thinking through explicit teaching of some techniques of critical discourse analysis

In order to achieve these aims, the research‟s objectives is to discover the relations among language, power, and ideology, especially the relations between language and ideology, then find out how the ideas of the speaker are implied by the language he uses and prove why he uses non-canonical constructions as a tool

of action

To fulfill these purposes, the following questions should be answered:

1) What and how is the ideology of President Obama reflected via his employment of non-canonical constructions in his speeches?

2) What is the relationship between non-canonical constructions, their producers and consumers and the social environment in which text production and interpretation occur?

5 Methods

This study is based on the analytical framework created by Van Dijk

It consists of three discourse analysis stages: Investigate the context model, find out the semantic macrostructures, and investigate social cognition: ideology

through the analysis of local meanings This framework will be described in details in part B, chapter 2

Quantitative and qualitative methods are both employed through three stages, with the dominance of the latter Quantitative methods is used in order to analyze linguistic features (non-canonical constructions) Qualitative method is used in investigating social cognition: ideology of speaker through the analysis of local meanings expressed through linguistic features, investigating the context model, as well as finding out the semantic macrostructures of the talks

In brief, this study employs quantitative and qualitative approach to the critical discourse analysis of non-canonical constructions in three different speeches delivered by President Obama in different social affairs

6 Background of data

On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to be the U.S president

During his early life and his political career, he took a job as a community organizer with a church-based group, the Developing Communities Project For the next several years, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago‟s Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city‟s largely black South Side Obama would later call the experience “the best education I ever got, better than anything I got at Harvard Law School,” the prestigious institution he entered in 1988 He helped create a state earned-income tax credit that benefited the working poor, promoted subsidies for early childhood education programs and worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases Obama notably went on record as an early opponent of President George W Bush‟s push to war with Iraq Obama notably focused on issues of nuclear non-proliferation and the health threat posed by avian flu He also created a Web site

that tracks all federal spending, to rebuild citizens‟ trust in government Obama‟s inauguration took place on January 20, 2009

Barack Obama is not only a politician but also the author of two influential

books As he wrote in his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, he first began

to understand the tensions inherent in his mixed racial background His second

book, The Audacity of Hope, was published in October 2006 This fact shows

that he has a talent for language use

His three speeches will be analyzed in this study include: Obama Inaugural Address on 20th of January, 2009; Obama‟s Civil Society Forum Address delivered on April 10th, 2015; his remarks on Jewish American Heritage Month

on 22nd of May, 2015 The criteria for choosing these speeches to be critically analyzed in this study is because the time that these speeches were delivered has

a tight relationship with some political events that have considerable influence on human all over the world

This is the main part of the thesis and contains two chapters:

Chapter I: Theoretical background

This chapter is supposed to give an overview of CDA Secondly, an overview about information structures, as well as the differences between canonical constructions and non-canonical constructions, is also presented in this part

Chapter II: Methodology

This chapter provides a framework of CDA procedure, which set the basis for later analysis of the US President Obama‟s speeches

Chapter III: A critical discourse analysis on non-canonical constructions in speeches delivered by President Obama in different social affairs

The CDA procedure based on Van Dijk‟s social cognitive approach are applied into analyzing Obama‟s three speeches to realize the aims aforementioned The results from the analysis will be synthesized into meaningful findings

Part III: Conclusion

This is the last part of the study which provides a summary of the main findings

of the study, draws important conclusions and makes some suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

As the aim of providing theoretical background for the analysis of the talks, the first half of this chapter will cover the overview of critical discourse analysis; three different levels of discourse or in other words, the relations among language, power and ideology; Social-cognitive approach of CDA and CDA framework designed by Van Dijk As for the second half, an overview of information structures and non-canonical constructions will be delivered

1.1 An overview about critical discourse analysis

1.1.1 Definition of discourse

Van Dijk (2002, p.66) claimed that discourse is multidimensional At the linguistic standpoint, it is verbally and syntactically a linguistic object, for example, meaningful sequences or words or sentences Besides, it can be an action (such as an assertion or a threat), a form of social interaction (like a conversation), a social practice (such as a lecture), a mental representation (a meaning, a mental model, an opinion, and knowledge), an interactional or communicative event or activity (like parliamentary debate) In other words, the definition of discourse involves many dimensions and consists of many other fundamental notions such as meanings, interaction and cognition

1.1.2 Three levels of a discourse

Van Dijk (1996) also suggested that a discourse is a combination of three dimensional levels:

 Macro level: Power, dominance, and inequality between social groups

In macro level, social context will be analyzed to seek the answers to the question: What social factors impact on the text and on discourse practice?

 Meso level: Intermediary level

In meso level, discourse practice context (production, distribution, reception, appropriation) will be analyzed to answer to the question: Who is involved in practices around the text, and in what role? What genre does the text instantiate?

 Micro level: Language use, discourse, verbal interaction, and communication

At this level, text analysis will be conducted in terms of content, and in terms of linguistic and semiotic to answer to following questions: What collective identities are constructed? How are collective identities constructed?

1.1.3 The Socio-Cognitive Approach to CDA

CDA is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to

understand, expose, and ultimately resist social equality (Van Dijk, 2001, p.352)

According to Van Dijk (1995), the intentional utility of text structures can reflect the ideology of the speaker or writer and his society or the social context when the text was produced Ideologies are typically, though not exclusively, expressed and reproduced in discourse and communication, including non-verbal semiotic messages, such as pictures, photographs and movies Van Dijk (1996) - with his interest in the study of mental presentations and the processes of language users when communicating, as well as the knowledge, ideologies and other shared beliefs among groups - regarded cognition as an integration of some

cognitive notions such as Mind, Memory, Mental Models, Knowledge, Ideology,

Attitudes In addition, cognitive process is the production and comprehension of

discourse/interaction on the basic of specific mental models, and based on knowledge and ideologies Obviously, ideologies are also “enacted” in the forms

of action and interaction, and their reproduction is often embedded in organizational and institutional contexts In addition to deciding what to say,

speakers must decide how to say it The theory of ideology that informs the discourse analytic approach is multidisciplinary It is articulated within a conceptual triangle that connects society, discourse and social cognition in the framework of a critical discourse analysis In this approach, ideologies are the basic frameworks for organizing the social cognitions shared by members of social groups, organizations or institutions Hence, ideologies are both cognitive and social They essentially function as the “interface” between the cognitive representations and processes underlying discourse and action, on the one hand, and the societal position and interests of social groups, on the other hand This concept of ideology also allows us to establish the crucial link between macro-level analysis of groups, social formations and social structure, and micro-level studies of situated, individual interaction and discourse

The scientist, (edited in Wodak & Meyer, 2002) also proposed to formulate

and illustrate the approach for CDA, called The discourse – cognition – society triangle which consists of three dimensions: Cognitive dimension, Social dimension and Linguistic basics More specifically, the linguistics dimension

covers grammatical, pragmatic, interactional, stylistic, rhetorical, semiotic,

narrative, argumentative or similar forms and also meanings of the verbal,

para-verbal and multimodal structures of communicative events Besides, in a more or

less formal way, we may view cognitive and social dimensions are the relevant context of discourse

Following is the table of different levels of discourse analysis and ideology

analysis suggested by Van Dijk (2011)

1 Social Analysis

 Overall societal structures, e.g., parliamentary democracy, capitalism

 Institutional/ Organizational structures, e.g., racist political parties

 Group relations, e.g, discrimination, racism, sexism

 Group structures: identity, tasks, goals, norm, position, resources

2 Cognitive analysis

2.1 Social cognition

 Sociocultural values, e.g., intelligence, honesty, solidarity, equality

 Ideologies, e.g., racist, sexist, anti-racist, feminist, ecological, etc

 Systems of attitudes, e.g about affirmative action, multiculturalism

 Sociocultural knowledge, e.g., about society, groups, language

2.2 Personal cognition

2.2.1 General context (context free)

 Personal values: personal selections from social values

 Personal ideologies: personal interpretations of group ideologies

 Personal attitudes: systems of personal opinions

 Personal knowledge: biographical information, past experiences

2.2.2 Particular (context bound)

 Models: ad hoc representations of specific current actions, events

 Context models: ad hoc representations of the speech context

 Mental plans and representation of (speech) acts, discourse

 Mental construction of text meaning from models: the “text base”

 Mental (strategic) selection of discourse structures (style, etc)

3 Discourse analysis

 The various structures of text and talk

Table 1: Ideologies and discourse: Levels of analysis

1.1.4 Social cognition: ideology and “Ideological square” and syntax

CDA is not primarily interested in the subjective meanings or experiences

of individual language users BUT power, power abuse, dominance and their production involve collectivities, such as groups, social movements, organization and institutions What‟s more is social cognition: the beliefs or social presentations: knowledge, attitudes, values, norms and ideologies shared with others of their groups and community

The ideological communication, according to Van Dijk (1998), consists of four moves that make the “ideological square”: emphasizing positive information

about Us and negative about Them and de-emphasizing positive information about Them and negative about Us In an ideologically polarized text, as a rule,

negative information about Us will not be topicalized, whereas negative information about Them tends to be topicalized

Specifically, it is stated that ideologically monitored opinions about responsibility for socially positive or negative acts may be differentially conveyed in different syntactic forms Negative properties attributed to out-groups may be enhanced by focusing on their responsible agency (Hamilton and Trolier, 1986 cited in Van Dijk, 2011) In that case minorities will tend to be

subject and topic of the sentence The same is true for the positive action of us

Conversely, the agency of in-group members who engage in negative actions will

be syntactically played down by the use of passive sentences, and their role may

be hidden by agentless passives or norminalizations

1.2 An overview about non-canonical constructions

1.2.1 Discourse and information structures

According to Huynh Anh Tuan (2013), language users engaged in an act

of communication in particular or in the whole process of discourse in general so

as to express and negotiate their ideas and beliefs have to make both linguistics and extra linguistics decisions to make sure the success of communication Among these decisions is how speakers distribute information in

intra-a messintra-age Informintra-ation distribution intra-as well intra-as informintra-ation exchintra-ange intra-and

processing is defined as information structures

English, as well as many other languages, tends to order “given” information before “new” information in an utterance Indeed, Prince (1981, p.247) suggests a “conspiracy of syntactic constructions” which is designed not

to put noun phrases that represent relatively unfamiliar information at subject position

1.2.2 Sentential-level information structure

Cited in Huynh Anh Tuan, (2013), as adapted from Johnson, (1998), Richard et al., (1992) and Quirk et al., (1985), sentential information structure is the way that communicatively exchanged information bearing given and/or new

status is ordered or articulated by context, signaled by particular devices and brought forwards by the speaker/writer in order for the listener/reader to comprehend optimally The whole process will depend on the shared knowledge between the interlocutors in discourse

There are four sentential level issues of information structure, including the ordering of the information distributed in the sentence; the given-new status

of the information exchanged; the contextual constraints on given-new status; and syntactical devices as information status indicators: Canonical and non-canonical construction

Because of its scope of study, the thesis will have a look at syntactical devices as information status indicators: Canonical & Non-canonical constructions

1.2.3 Canonical and Non-canonical constructions

1.2.3.1 Canonical constructions

In terms of functions, there exist three different kinds of subject in a sentence: grammatical, psychological and logical (Halliday and Matthiessen,

2004, cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013)

Psychological subject Grammatical subject Logical subject

If a construction in English begins with a grammatical subject, it is called

a canonical construction If not, it is non-canonical The 7 canonical clause patterns are introduced in Quirk et al (1985, p.721) cited in Huynh Anh Tuan (2013) as following:

1 SV The sun is shining

2 SVC Your dinner seems ready

3 SVO That lecture bored me

4 SVA My office is in the next building

5 SVOO I must send my parents an anniversary car

6 SVOC Most students have found her reasonably helpful

7 SVOA You can put the dish on the table

1.2.3.2 Non-canonical constructions

Non-canonical constructions are those in which some items of information are dislocated from their normal position towards either the initial or final position of the sentence to perform a certain pragmatic function like linking with previous discourse or compensating for unclear information, e.g.:

 The cheese they sold mainly to the miners (Brown, 1983:32, cited in

Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013) (Fronting, to provide a link with previous discourse)

 She reads the Guardian, Joyce (McCarthy, 1991:52, cited in Huỳnh Anh

Tuấn, 2013) (right-dislocation, to compensate for the pronominal subject which the speaker, in his or her afterthought, believes to be unclear to the listener)

Non-canonical constructions in English are those which do not begin with

a grammatical subject apart from conversing In conversing, nominal clause elements can equally take either initial or final position in the sentence Therefore, a convertible sentence is considered as non-canonical despite beginning with a grammatical subject

Following are examples of a convertible sentence with both acceptable orders:

 An uncle, three cousins, and two brothers benefited from the will

Non-canonical constructions include leftward movement (fronting, dislocation, argument reversal, it-cleft sentences), or rightward movement (post-posing, right-dislocation) or both (conversing)

left-For example, in fronting, an item which is normally positioned at another place in the sentence is pushed toward initial placed, as in the following sentence:

This latter topic we have examined in Chapter 3 and need not reconsider

(Quirk et al, 1985:1377, cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013)

As can be seen from the example, „this latter topic’, which normally stands after „examined‟, is pushed toward the beginning of the sentence

Types of non-canonical constructions

According to some linguistics cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn (2013), canonical constructions include:

non- Fronting

Fronting (Quirk et al, 1985), which is also referred to as pre-posing (Ward and Birner, 2001) or topicalization (Erteschik-Shir, 2007; Brown, 1983), is typically the pushing into initial position of an item which normally occupies another position in the sentence/clause to make it a marked theme

Example: The cheese they sold mainly to the miners (Brown, 1983,

p.322)

 Left-dislocation

In left-dislocation, an item is preposed, i.e moved leftwards in the

construction, e.g.: The cheese they made there, they sold most of it to the miners

(Brown, 1983, p.321)

 Argument reversal (inversion & passivization)

In the inversion process, the logical subject positioned after the main verb, while other elements, canonically positioning after

Example: We have complimentary soft drinks, coffee, Sanka, tea, and

milk Also complimentary is red and white wine We have cocktails available for

$2.00 (Ward and Birner, 2001, p.29 cited in Huynh Anh Tuan, (2013))

English by-phrase passives are subcategorized with inversion as argument

reversal because both constructions involve the reversing of the canonical order

of two arguments In such sentences, the logical subject is mentioned in a

by-phrase, e.g.: The device was tested by the manufacturers (Quirk et al, 1985,

p.1389) cited in Huynh Anh Tuan (2013)

 Cleft structure

The cleft structure (Quirk et al, 1985), or focus construction (Brown, 1983 [14]), aims at giving an item more prominence by cleaving the sentence into two parts The result is a cleft sentence, which is the general term for both „it-cleft‟ and „wh-cleft‟ (or „pseudo-cleft‟) Simultaneously, cleft structure have two functions: focusing and contrasting, the contrasting one often rectifying participants‟ wrong assumptions or propositions

For example:

- It-cleft: It was the rain that destroyed the crops (Widdowson, 1978, p.35)

- Wh-cleft: What I need is a good holiday (Richards & Schmidt, 2002,

p.75)

 Post-posing (existential there- and presentational there-sentences)

Existential there-sentence

For example:

“There’s a warm relationship, a great respect and trust” between [United

Airline]‟s chairman, Stephen M Wolf, and Sir Colin Marshall, British Air‟s chief executive officer, according to a person familiar with both sides (Ward & Birner,

2001, p.126)

An uncle, three cousins, and two brothers benefited from the will.

The will benefited an uncle, three cousins, and two brothers.

Functions of non-canonical constructions

Functionally, non-canonical constructions are used to perform such functions as focusing, contrasting, thematizing, topicalizing, or discourse linking

(a) Focusing

Focusing is the most typical function of non-canonical constructions except for fronting and left-dislocation The function is performed by putting an element in a striking position in the sentence, e.g., after the „it + to be‟ structure

in the „it-cleft‟ For example:

I’ve always had morning stiffness, I accept that’s part of my life By the time I’ve had my pills for two hours in the morning, the stiffness eases and I’d sooner have a bit of stiffness than I’d have the pain It’s the pain I can’t cope with (Carter and McCarthy, 2006:785, cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013)

In the example, „the pain‟ is the focus

(b) Contrasting

Contrasting is performed using „it-cleft‟ and „wh-cleft‟ structures to rectify interlocutors‟ wrong assumptions or propositions about an item previously brought into the discourse For example:

And, say the authors, it was Mary Magdalen, not Mary the Mother of Jesus, who has been the real, if secret, object of Mariolatry cults down the ages (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004:96, cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013)

In the example, „Mary Magdalen‟ is contrasted with „Mary the Mother of Jesus‟ to rectify a wrong assumption about „Mary the Mother of Jesus‟

(c) Topicalizing and thematizing

Topicalizing and thematizing are performed through fronting and dislocation to make an item the topic or marked theme of the sentence by pushing it to the sentential initial position This is to orientate the listeners towards the main topic of the sentence

„Peterson‟ in the example is put in initial position to mark its status as the theme of the sentence and also to link it with previous discourse as mentioned below

(d) Discourse linking

Discourse linking is performed through fronting, inversion and passivization to create a link between the fronted, passivized or inverted item with previous discourse For example,

We have complimentary soft drinks, coffee, Sanka, tea, and milk Also complimentary is red and white wine We have cocktails available for $2.00 (Ward and Birner, 2001, p.129, cited in Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, 2013)

In the example, „also complimentary‟ is inverted to provide a link between

it and what has been mentioned in previous discourse

All in all, there are different kinds of non-canonical constructions that are described in this chapter The thesis will strictly follow the definition of these types of non-canonical constructions for the study

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

Van Dijk (2011) supposed a thorough framework including steps and criteria to analyze a discourse which covers different levels of ideology analysis and objectives of ideology analysis as mentioned above; however, a smaller framework which consists of three key steps based on the framework designed

by Van Dijk will be created for this study

Step 1: Investigate the context model

In this part, the spatio-temporal setting, the ongoing social action, the participants including identities, roles, relationships, their goals, knowledge and the overall ideologies, will be examined

Step 2: Find out the semantic macrostructures

(Van Dijk, 1986, p.32) stated that a critical analysis of a discourse should begin with an analysis of semantic macrostructures, or a study of global meaning, topics or themes These are what discourses are globally about, they are mostly intentional and consciously controlled by the speaker; they embody the most important information of discourse, express the overall “content” of mental model events, and perhaps they represent the meaning or information most readers will remember best from the discourse

A macrostructure consists of numerous macropropositions, such that the whole macrostructure is organized hierarchically with each sequence of macropropositions subsumed under a higher level of macroproposition, which can be illustrated in the following figure

Step 3: Investigate social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings

In this part, at a micro level, the language use: words, structures meanings, propositions, coherence, implications, presuppostions will be investigated to explain the cognitive process when producing and understanding the discourse of speakers and listeners respectively at macro level However, in the scope of this study, the researcher will research only the way non-canonical constructions are employed in details Besides, the “ideological square”, specifically, the opposition US – THEM which is expressed clearly via the employment of non-canonical constructions in speeches will be carefully examined

In short, as reviewed above, this discourse analysis will employ cognitive approach given by Van Dijk, with the steps given in the framework we build based on the theory of this researcher It can be said that the analysis is primarily qualitative

socio-The three steps can be summarized as following:

Step 1: Investigate the context model

Step 2: Find out the semantic macrostructures

Step 3: Investigate social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings

3.1.1 Context model

On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office He was subsequently elected to a second term over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney

3.1.2 An analysis of semantic macrostructures and social cognition: ideology through the analysis of local meanings

Macroproposition 1: A customary humble thanking of the people and acknowledgement of the previous president

Barack Obama starts his inaugural address with an acknowledgement to those who vote for him as well as the former president

Macroproposition 2: Obama acknowledges that America is in the crisis caused by the war that American people are fighting overseas as well as the financial crisis they are facing

He indicates some existing problems, those are people losing their homes and jobs, health care costing too much, schools no longer doing their jobs and America‟s gross use of energy

“That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood Our nation is at

war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some,

but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a

new age Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered Our health care

is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that

the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

For the beginning of this speech of inauguration, Obama reminded American people of the crisis that his country was dealing with at that time by using passivization construction and left-dislocation at the same time He put the crisis at the beginning of the sentence as well as the paragraph It is also a topic sentence that contains the whole meaning of the paragraph After that,

passivization is again employed in the sentence “Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered” By doing that, the structure of the sentence is

unchanged among different clauses The subjects are the things that suffer during the crisis Obama can successfully deliver the whole picture of the crisis to the audiences

“These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.”

The crisis that he mentioned before is both measurable in data and statistics and unmeasurable is a sapping of the whole country confidence The president used inversion by reversing the complement “no less profound” to the beginning of the sentence in order to emphasis the intensity of the loss of confidence in the development of American among his population

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real They are serious and they are many They will not be met easily or in a short span of time But know this, America - they will be met.”

The repetition of passivation structure employed here “they will be met” warns the whole country about the possibility of their facing with the potential difficulty in a certain period of time

Macroproposition 3: Obama points out America’s problems but then makes

a strong claim that the American will do everything to overcome them

“For everywhere we look, there is work to be done The state of the

economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together

We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories And we will transform

our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age All this we can do And all this we will do.”

A number of actions are listed from road and bridge building, soil harnessing to school-college-university transforming By using left-dislocation and the repetition of this structure in “All this we can do And all this

sun-wind-we will do”, Obama shows his determination to make a big change in the appearance of America during his time of presidency

“What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big

or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent

wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward Where the answer is no, programs will end And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

Inversion structure “only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government” puts an emphasis on the necessity of an effective

government which is supposed to help families find jobs and care

Macroproposition 4: Obama calls Americans back to their roots, to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps

Obama argues that American‟s ancestors did not build the country by being lazy, but by working hard and making sacrifices Then he reminds the American people they must work hard in order to rebuild their country, that the old American did not become the best by sitting down, but by working hard, often unacknowledged for their hard work

Macroproposition 5: He speaks of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and claims that Americans will begin to pull out responsibly of Iraq and work for peace in Afghanistan

He then acknowledges that Americans will fight when it is necessary, that terrorists will not win and they will be defeated He claims that Americans plan

to help starving and hurting nations and that those who have too much should give to those who have too little He pays respect to Americans‟ troops, those who are fighting and those who have fallen and calls the American people to give

as generously as the troops do

“As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of

service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.”

The cleft sentence “It is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all” is

utilized at the end of the paragraph after the President mentioned the heroes scarifying for the peace of America It is not only the pride that he want to take

in, it is also the lesson that he want to deliver to the whole nation about “a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.”

Macroproposition 6: Obama then returns to the argument that Americans must return to the values of their forefathers

“Our challenges may be new The instruments with which we meet them may be new But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old These things are true They have been the quiet force of

progress throughout our history What is demanded then is a return to these truths What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition,

on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and

the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”

The phrases “What is demanded then” and “What is required of us now”

are placed at the beginning of sentences It means that the truth like “honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism” are never obsolete However, American people can never forget their responsibility to his nation and the world

“This is the price and the promise of citizenship This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this

magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”

The last sentence is his memory of his father, who was not served at a local restaurant because of racism in America sixty years ago His passivization employment together with the story of his father can reveal the fact of severe discrimination in the U.S in the past Now, it is no longer time for such sadness,

it is time for everyone to be treated equally and have equal chance to join in any celebration in across America