Modality in Barack Obama’s Remarks Announcing Candidacy for Presidents in 2008 and 2012

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES Figure 4 Examples of transfer between proposition and modality in median value Page 9 Table 5 Occurrences of kinds of modality expressions in two remarks Page 22

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DOÃN THÙY LINH

MODALITY IN BARACK OBAMA’S REMARKS ANNOUNCING CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENTS

IN 2008 AND 2012

(TÌNH THÁI TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU

MỞ ĐẦU CHIẾN DỊCH TRANH CỬ TỔNG THỐNG

NĂM 2008 VÀ 2012 CỦA BARACK OBAMA)

MA Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

HÀ NỘI – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DOÃN THÙY LINH

MODALITY IN BARACK OBAMA’S REMARKS ANNOUNCING CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENTS

IN 2008 AND 2012

(TÌNH THÁI TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU

MỞ ĐẦU CHIẾN DỊCH TRANH CỬ TỔNG THỐNG

NĂM 2008 VÀ 2012 CỦA BARACK OBAMA)

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis, entitled Modality in Barack Obama’s

Remarks Announcing Candidacy for President in 2008 and 2012, has not been

submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other universities This work is the result of my own original research and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text

Signature

DOÃN THÙY LINH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In completing this thesis, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Tran Xuan Diep I thank him for his profound knowledge, encouragement, support and patience Without his whole-hearted guidance, insightful comments and recommendations, this thesis would not have been possible

My sincere thank also goes to my instructor, Professor Hoang Van Van, whose lectures have inspired me to the foundation of this thesis In addition, I would like to thank all of my lecturers in the faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, ULIS for their interesting lessons and dedication

Finally, I must record my deep gratitude to my family It is their enduring love and expectations that have motivated me to complete this thesis

ABSTRACT

Modality in political speeches has been arousing much interest among researchers This paper was conducted on the ground of Systemic Functional Grammar, introduced by Halliday (1994) According to the theory, modality is analyzed as a system of type, polarity, orientation and value Two remarks declaring Barack Obama‘s candidacy for presidents in 2008 and 2012 were investigated The study firstly focused on the lexico-grammatical realizations of modality Secondly, modal features denoted in the two selected political discourses were taken into consideration Finally, appropriate discussions and comparisons were also be made

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT ……… iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… vi

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ……… vii

PART A INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale ………

2 Significance………

3 Scope ………

4 Aims and Objectives …… ………

5 Methods ………

6 Structure ……… ………

1 1 2 2 3 3 PART B DEVELOPMENT ……… 4

Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……… 4

1.1 Modality, Mood & Mode………….………

1.2 Variables of Modality……….………

1.2.1 Type ………….………

1.2.2 Polarity ……….………

1.2.3 Orientation….………

1.2.4 Value ………

1.3 Realizations of Modality ………

1.4 Political Discourse & Modality ………

1.4.1 Political Discourse ……….………

1.4.2 Modality in Political Discourse ………

1.5 Review on Previous Works ………

4

5

5

6

7

8

10

12

12

13

14

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY ………

2.1 Subjects … ………

2.2 Materials ………

2.3 Methods ………

2.4 Procedures ………

2.5 Statistical Analysis ………

16 16 16 17 18 19 Chapter 3 FINDINGS ………

3.1 Research Question 1………

3.2 Research Question 2………

3.2.1 Type ………

3.2.2 Polarity………

3.2.3 Orientation………

3.2.4 Value ………

3.3 Research Question 3………

20 21 24 24 27 27 29 31 Chapter 4 DISCUSSION ………

4.1 Realizations of Modality ………

4.2 Variables of Modality ………

34 34 36 PART C CONCLUSION ………

1 Recapitulation ………

2 Limitations ………

3 Recommendations ………

38 38 39 39 REFERENCES ……… 40

Appendix A Remark 1………

Appendix B Remark 2… ………

Appendix C Realizations of Modality in Remark 1……….………

Appendix D Realizations of Modality in Remark 2………

I

X XXIV XXXV

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

SFG: Systemic Functional Grammar

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES

Figure 4 Examples of transfer between proposition and modality in

median value

Page 9

Table 5 Occurrences of kinds of modality expressions in two remarks Page 22 Table 6 Occurrences of modality expressions in used in two remarks Page 23 Table 7 Occurrences of modality expressions used in two remarks in

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Modality, for a long time, has been discussed by scholars all around the world This linguistic phenomenon refers to how language is used to express the speaker‘s attitude Especially, the performance of modality in political speeches has provoked high interest in the researchers Among many politicians, Barack Obama, the forty-forth President of the United States, has been working as the subject of numerous works He has won two continuous presidential terms; therefore, his language use is assumed to make a considerable contribution to the remarkable success Thus, linguistic expressions which Obama had employed to denote modality need being investigated

This study was conducted for the main purpose of revealing linguistic forms to characterize modality in Obama‘s speeches In particular, the selected materials were the two remarks declaring Obama‘s candidacy for President in 2008 and 2012 The former was made in Illinois in 2007 while the latter was produced in Ohio in 2012

2 Significance

It is widely agreed that the interpersonal relationship between the speaker and the listeners is vital in political discourses In other words, it is modality that not only expresses the orator‘s ideology but also evoke the audience‘s affection and thoughts The reciprocal relations are regarded as the core of all political communications Linguistically, exploring modal features in those texts is eligible

Practically, the examined documents were two speeches announcing Obama‘s engagement into the race of becoming the White House‘s owner As can be popularly agreed, the very first movement of one candidate would become high concern to the public Indeed, these opening speeches were expected to proclaim the major guidance for the whole campaign The approval and support from the audience would be the major objectives of these two discourses Consequently, modal features via the system

of modality expressions could partly make contribution to fulfill those intentions

3 Scope

Based on the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), modality attributes in Obama‘s remarks were studied with the lexico-grammar approach Modality, in fact, can also realized by phonological features However, the selected materials were identified as two discourses in written form Consequently, the modality system of these texts would be examined in regard to lexico-grammatical markers

Regarding the materials, only two remarks were scrutinized in this paper Both

of the two discourses played crucial roles as they officially declared Obama‘s candidacy to American voters Furthermore, these texts transferred the principle messages of the entire campaign from Obama to his audience

4 Aims & Objectives

The study was intended to investigate modality within two political discourses made by Obama for announcing his presidential candidacy in two tenures of 2008 and

2012 Founded on Halliday‘s SFG, modality features in the two speeches would be analyzed It was assumed that Obama had utilized different modality expressions to receive his voters‘ agreement and trust In addition, as two speeches were studied, some comparisons would be made

To be more specific, this study was conducted to fulfill the following objectives Firstly, what modality expressions utilized by Obama in his remarks would

be clarified Particularly, Obama‘s preference in one kind of modality marker was also highlighted Secondly, modal characteristics with reference to SFG would be enlightened Thirdly, the study aimed at comparing modality in two texts In brief, these objectives were expressed through three research questions below:

1) Which modality expressions are used in Barack Obama‘s remarks announcing candidacy for presidents in 2008 and 2012?

2) How is modality expressed in the two remarks?

3) What are the similarities and differences of modal features in the two remarks?

5 Methods

With the transcripts of the two remarks retrieved from the website

qualitative methods

Quantitative method was employed to provide the descriptive statistics This worked as the major tool in this paper Counting would be efficient to reckon the modality expressions used by Obama in two speeches Also, some comparisons in terms of the frequency in using the modality expressions would be achieved, thanks to quantitative method Further, the corresponding discussions and arguments were made qualitatively

PART B DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Modality, Mood & Mode

The terms ‗modality‘, ‗mood‘ and ‗mode‘ have been used confusingly among the authors, though these notions convey distinctive entities Hence, it is essential to have a look at these terms

According to Palmer (1986), modality and mood are interchangeable He claims

that modality is ―the grammaticalization of speakers‘ attitudes and opinions‖ and

―modality is what we want to do with what we say‖ (Palmer, 1986:16) This is approved by Bybee (1985) who defines ‗modality‘ as ―what speaker is doing with the whole proposition‖ (Bybee, 1985:122)

Lyons (1995) also argues that despite an obvious etymological connection,

three terms modality, modal and mood convey different things In that case, he considers mood with reference to such grammatical categories of ‗indicative‘,

‗subjunctive‘ and ‗imperative‘ Nuyts (2006) cited in Erin (2010) strongly agrees with

Lyons (1995) at this point On the other hand, modality refers to ―speaker‘s attitudes

towards or opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence‖ (Lyons,

1995:330) Similarly modality, according to Kreidler (2002), is constituted by all the

notions of ―what may be true or not, what ought to be and what ought not to be, what certain individuals are capable of and what is impossible for them, what obligations we have to do or to refrain from doing‖ (Kreidler, 2002: 239)

Scollon (2007), moreover, conflates mood with mode but differentiates those with modality To be more precise, the meaning of mode (also mood) suggests ideas of

‗manner‘ or ‗the way things are done‘ in a particular case or situation (Scollon,

2007:129) Indeed ―mode refers to different communicative modes such as talking, writing, posing, gazing‖ meanwhile modality implies ―the varying states of projected

reality or truth status‖ (Scollon, 2007:129)

According to Halliday (1994), the idea of mood is introduced in relation to the

independent clauses [those can stand by themselves as a competence sentence along with the presence of thematic structure] In this sense, an independent clause is either

‗indicative‘ or ‗imperative‘ in mood (Halliday, 1994:43) In the meantime, modality

with regard to interpersonal metafunction denotes ―the speakers‘ judgment of the probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what he is saying‖ (Halliday, 1994:88)

To sum up, the idea of mode, mood and modality can be distinguished as follows: mode refers to different communicative manners such as talking and writing;

mood of an independent clause is realized either in indicative or imperative

Meanwhile, modality bears upon the intermediate degrees between positive and

negative poles Modality embedded in the interpersonal metafunction would be the major concern of this paper

as propositions and proposals, respectively Further, modality is classified into four

types: probability, usuality, obligation and inclination

 Propositions are used to deliver information among interlocutors They are realized under the forms of statements and questions or indicative mood Modal features of propositions are then introduced with the notion of

‗modalization‘ which categorizes modality into two types: ‗probability‘ and

‗usuality‘ (Halliday, 1994:48)

o Probability degrees are equivalent of ‗either yes or no‘, maybe yes, maybe no, with different degrees of likehood attached

o Usuality degrees are equal to ‗both yes and no‘, something of yes, something of no, with different degrees of ofteness attached

 Proposals, on the contrary, are the expressions of good and service realized

by commands and offers or imperative mood Instead of modalization,

‗modulation‘ is named for the meaning scale of modality in proposals In this case, modality is either ‗obligation‘ or ‗inclination‘ (Halliday, 1994:89)

o Commands are the realizations of the intermediate points representing

(indicative type) (ii) usuality

(imperative type) (ii) inclination

Figure1: Types of modality

1.2.2 Polarity

Halliday (1994:88) identifies polarity as ―the choice between positive and negative‖ With regard to the speech role and commodity exchanged, he analyzes

clauses in terms of mood structure, formed by two elements: the Mood and the

Residue Polarity, according to Halliday (1994), belongs to the former

The Mood is ―one particular component of the clause which is being, as it were, tossed back and forth in a series of rhetorical exchanges; it carries the argument forward‖ (Halliday, 1994:71) Additionally, Halliday (1994) concedes that the Mood element is constituted by two parts: the Subject which is ―any nominal group‖ and the Finite operator which is ―one of a small number of verbal operators expressing tense or modality‖ (Halliday, 1994:72) Also he points out that polarity is expressed within the MODALITY

TYPE

Finite element In other words, each finite verbal operator has two forms, one positive,

is, was, has, can, etc., the other negative, isn’t, wasn’t, hasn’t, can’t, etc It is modality

that refers to the intermediate ground between positive and negative polarity

Therefore, the relations of modality to polarity and mood can be represented in

the following figure, which is adapted from Halliday (1994:357)

MODALIZATION (indicative type)

MODULATION (imperative type) probability it is usuality

Besides type and polarity, another variable of modality system is ‗orientation‘

Orientation is considered as the basic distinction that determines how each type of

modality will be employed According to Halliday (1994:357), ―orientation is the

distinction between subjective and objective modality, and between the explicit and

implicit variants.‖ This could be demonstrated as follows:

required supposed allowed

determined keen willing

don‘t!

Adapted from Halliday (1994:358), the table below illustrates orientation in combination with four types of modality

Probability

I think [in my opinion] Mary knows

Mary‘ll know It is likely that

Mary knows

Mary probably knows [in all probability] Modalization:

Usuality

Fred‘ll sit quite quiet

It is usual for Fred to sit quite quiet

Fred usually sits quite quiet

John‘s supposed to go Modulation:

Direct negative => transferred negative

(probability) it‘s likely Mary doesn‘t know It isn‘t likely Mary knows

(usuality) Fred usually doesn‘t stay Fred doesn‘t usually stay

Figure 4: Examples of transfer between proposition and modality in median value

In conclusion, the modality values of different modal expressions could be realized and summarized in the table below, which modifies from Halliday (1994:76) and Halliday (1994:358)

Won‘t, wouldn‘t , shouldn‘t

isn‘t/ wasn‘t (going)

to

Mustn‘t, oughtn‘t to Can‘t, couldn‘t,

hasn‘t/hadn‘t to) Other modality expressions

Table 2: Values of modality expressions

To conclude, type, polarity, orientation and value are four components of

modality system introduced by Halliday‘s SFG (1994) Aiming at examining modality, this study also takes these four variables into account In other words, modal characteristics of the two remarks would be enlightened on the foundation of the four constituents

1.3 Realizations of Modality

At the strata of lexico-grammar, modality could be realized with various linguistic forms Cruse (2004) addresses that modal expressions are those ―which signal a particular attitude on the part of the speaker to the proposition expressed or the situation described‖ (Cruse, 2004:298) Moreover, for one certain type of modality, different expressions may be employed while one modal marker could also convey different degrees of modality

Lyons (1977:331) addresses that besides phonological realizations, some languages

grammaticalize modality by means of modal verbs; modal adjectives; modal adverbs and modal participles Nuyts (2006), in addition, clarifies different realizations of modality namely: modal auxiliaries (should, must), predicative adjectives (it is good that), speech act verb (demand), and modal adverbs (maybe)

Halliday (1994) identifies modality realizations with regard to the commodity exchange which refers to the distinction between propositions and proposals

Concerning propositions, modality is expressed via three ways: by finite modal

operators in the verbal group, by modal adjuncts or by both together, according to

further divided into two kinds: Mood adjuncts and comment adjuncts

o Mood adjuncts tent to occur in a clause near the Finite verbal operator

o Comment adjuncts are less closely tied to the grammar of mood; ―they express the speaker‘s attitude to the proposition as a whole‖ (Halliday, 1994:83)

In regard with proposals, also there are two ways so that modality could be realized either by finite modal operator or the expansion of the predicator which is typically expressed through a passive verb or an adjective

To sum up, the types of modality along with their typical realizations in clauses is summarized in the table adapted from Halliday (1994:91)

Commodity

Exchanged Speech function Type of intermediacy Typical realization

Probability (possible/

Probable/

Finite modal operator Modal adjunct

Information Proposition Statement

Finite modal operator

Adjective predicator

Table 3: Typical realizations of modality

In conclusion, after studying different views of scholars, five grammatical categories are widely agreed to be the modality realizations within a written text or

discourse: modal auxiliaries, modal lexical verbs, modal adjuncts, modal adjectives

and modal nouns Consequently, these modality expressions would be monitored in

two remarks so that the modal characteristics could be revealed and evaluated

1.4 Political Discourse & Modality

1.4.1 Political Discourse

It is necessary to consider the notion of discourse before discussing the political one According to Halliday and Hasan (1989), both discourse and text refer to the same thing, which is defined as ―language that is functional‖ (Halliday & Hasan, 1989:10 cited in Hoang, 2006:16) To make it clearer, Hoang (2006) interprets that

―discourse is a unit of meaning and is functional It is functional in the sense that it occurs in a context of situation In terms of size, a discourse may be realized by a word, a phrase, a paragraph, a cluster of paragraphs, a book, or even the whole library

of books‖ (Hoang, 2006:17)

The idea of profound interaction between language and politics has existed for a long time and agreed by many scholars Quoted in Fairclough (2012), Aristotle‘s opinion apparently clarifies the intimate relation as he declares:

Obviously man is a political animal Nature, as we say, does nothing without some purpose; and she has endowed man alone among the animals with the power of speech Speech is something different from voice, which is possessed

by other animals also and used by them to express pain or pleasure… Speech, on the other hand, serves to indicate what is useful and what is harmful, and so also what is just and what is unjust For the real difference between man and other animals is that humans alone have ther perception of good and evil, just and unjust, etc it is the sharing of a common view in these matters that makes a household and a state

Aristotle (1253a 1-18, Arckrill, 1987 cited in Fairclough (2012:19)

Further to political discourses, Van Dijk (2001) emphasizes that they are characterized by their actors or politicians in particular Politicians, in this sense, are defined as ―the group of people who are being elected or appointed or self-designated

as the central players in the policy‖ (Van Dijk, 2001:13) As a result, ―the study of political discourse is about the text and talk of professional politicians or political institutions, such as president and prime minister and other members of government, parliament or political parties, both at the local, national, and international levels‖ (Van Dijk, 2001:12) Also, he argues that ―political discourse and its many genres may

be singled out as a prominent way of ‗doing politics‘ Therefore, besides institutional forms of text and talk, such other political discourse genres are propaganda, political advertising, political speeches, media interviews, political talk shows on TV, party programs, ballots, and so on‖(Van Dijk, 2001:18)

In regard with political discourse analysis, Fairclough (2012) quotes Van Dijk‘s definition According to the scholar, political discourse analysis is understood as ―the analysis of political discourse from a critical perspective, a perspective which focuses

on the reproduction and contestation of political power through political discourse‖ (Fairclough, 2012:17)

Scollon (2007) also pays his attention to the relationship between politics and language especially in public speeches He believes that ―democratic society is based

on free and open discussion of public policies Significantly, political power uses the discourses to achieve its hegemony by persuading the public to acquiesce in its ideology‖ (Scollon, 2007:3)

1.4.2 Modality in Political Discourse

Concerning the notions of realis and irealis, the intimate relation between modality and political discourse could be clearly revealed Indeed, Scollon (2007) puts high focus on the fact that besides varying states of truth status, modal words are ―far from being trivial grammatical matters of choice of words; they are the material out of which political discourse and ideology are crafted‖ (Scollon, 2007:132) Thus, he identifies modality as ―the whole process of making the meta-communication about how we are to take a statement‖ (Scollon, 2007:132)

It is popularly agreed that the role of modality in political discourse is undeniable The speaker‘s viewpoint over the world is reflected directly through his choice of modal words Furthermore, Scollon (2007) affirms that the preference in using certain modal expressions in one‘s speech also scaffolds his perspective on the topic of that talk This is, moreover, reinforced by the assumption that ―our sense of truth and reality lie at the very heart of our ability to undertake action in the world As for public discourse which is the major guide to sociopolitical actions in the future, modality, both lexico-grammartical modality and the modality that comes from multiple communicative modes, is central in public discourse‖ (Scollon, 2007:133)

All things considered, those related theories could bring about several conclusions First of all, for its comprehensive ground, SFG of Halliday would work as the principle theory to provide the theoretical background for this study Secondly, concerning the written discourse, with reference to the knowledge of SFG, modality or speaker‘s attitudes and opinions could be clearly denoted through five lexico-

grammatical forms including modal auxiliaries, modal lexical verbs, modal adjuncts, modal adjectives and modal nouns Finally, Scollon‘s ideas about the close tie between modality and political discourses provide firm support and motivation for this current study

1.5 Review of Previous Works

Shayegh (2002) carried out a study titled Modality in Political Discourses of

Barack Obama and Martin Luther King On the ground of SFG and Critical Discourse

Analysis of Norman Fairclough, the researcher detected modality in political discourses of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King The most important results of

that study was both politicians used modality marker will the most in their discourses

Based on that finding, the scholar argued that Barack Obama and Martin Luther King tried to insist on the validity of information in terms of probability and usuality

Wang (2010) also conducted a study named A Critical Discourse Analysis of

Barack Obama’s Speeches Two samples were Obama‘s victory speech and his

inaugural in 2009 As a result, the investigator found out three features of Barack Obama‘s speeches Firstly, by using simple words and short sentences, the distance between Obama and the audience was shortened Secondly, material process was used most to arouse the American people‘s confidence in the president and government Thirdly, Obama made his audience understand and accept his political speeches by means of modal verbs, tense and first person pronouns (Wang, 2010:261)

In addition, Pham (2010) carried out an MA thesis titled An Investigation into

Modality Markers Used in Political Speeches by US Presidents By a corpus-based

method, the study explored modality markers in the inaugurals of American Presidents In conclusion, the author figured out certain findings: Syntactically, modal auxiliaries were restricted to the fix position while other modality markers were more mobile Semantically, it was the proposition content that made the addresser‘s engagement regulated Pragmatically, the speaker‘s implication could be exposed in a multi-facet interaction through different applications of subject

Moreover, Valipoir (2014) studied modality used by Barack Obama in the

work of An Investigation of Metaphorical Modality in Barack Obama’s Speeches from

Systemic Functional Perspectives After analyzing the metaphoric modality in

Obama‘s inaugural in 2009, the author came to a conclusion that the subjective explicit

orientation with subject we usefully shortened the distance between the speaker and

the audience

To summarize, the works mentioned above had made certain contributions However, most of them probed Obama‘s language with reference to Critical Discourse Analysis Some also utilized SFG to provide the background knowledge, but all of three metafunctions were taken into consideration As a result, modal features underlaid in interpersonal metafunction were discussed in moderation For those reasons, this study was conducted so that a detailed description and evaluation of modality could be made on the ground of SFG

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Subjects

Barack Obama, or Barack Hussein Obama II as his full name, is the forty-forth and current President of the United States He is the first African American to hold the Office Originally working as the Illinois Senator in 2004, Obama commenced his first presidential campaign in 2007 After defeating Republican nominee, John McCain, in the general election, Obama was inaugurated as President on January, 2009 He then was re-elected President in November 2012 As a considerably successful politician, Obama has become the subjects of numerous studies including this current work

It was assumed that the elocutionary ability had made certain contribution to his achievements Among many linguistic features, modality was seen as one remarkable component Through modal expressions, Obama could transfer his belief to the audience on the one hand On the other hand, it was the listeners themselves who would justify the content and give appropriate feedback to the orator Creating a valid interpersonal relationship was regarded as the major purposes of these political speeches As a result, how Obama, as an individual, employed different modal markers

to denote his modality was interpreted in this study

2.2 Materials

Two remarks which officially announced the candidacy for President in 2008 and in 2012 provided the linguistic materials for the study The first one was made on February 10, 2007 right in front of Old State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic speech in 1858 Within his speech,

Obama emphasized on issues of ending the Iraq War, increasing energy

independence, and reforming health care system These also worked as the skeleton of

his campaign that oriented to the themes of hope and change with the slogan of ―Hope

and Change We Can Believe In‖ (according to http://www.washingtonpost.com/) The transcript of this remark was retrieved on ninth May 2014 from website

The other was the remark produced in Ohio on July, 5th 2012 to declare Obama‘s re-election for 2012 presidential campaign As the incumbent president, Obama rapidly gained the support from the Democratic Party to be the delegate and finally managed to become the first Democratic president since Franklin D Roosevelt

to twice win in the general election With the slogan as ―Forward‖ (according to

Ohio proved convincingly and clearly the message Obama would like to deliver to his

2014

Generally, it can be noticed that beyond the requirements of speeches used in politics, these two remarks further undertook the mission of opening a new presidential campaign Consequently, they were supposed to transfer basically the ideology of the speaker in order to call for the backup from the audience Therefore, an investigation into how the sympathy with the orator was arisen via his modality system needed making

These two remarks for declaring Obama‘s candidacy for President in 2008 and

2012, in this study, were labeled Remark 1 and Remark 2, respectively

2.3 Methods

The study was conducted as a case study which investigated a specific case of

an individual namely Barack Obama in producing the remarks to announce his candidacy for American President in two different terms 2008 and 2012 Linguistic patterns employed to denote the modality would become the main concerns of the study Likewise modal characteristics were also studied The materials for research were the two remarks transcribed and taken from the Internet These would be explored under the theory of SFG by Halliday

Quantitative method was the main instrument to describe and synthesize the data To be more precise, the speeches would be counted as a collection of clauses in which modal features were recognized and noted By examining all of the clauses in

two political discourses, the number of modality expressions was measured, categorized and totalized Thanks to the tool available by Microsoft word, the occurrences of modality markers were recorded sufficiently Based on those findings, that how modality was expressed and implied in those remarks would be revealed with qualitative method Similarly, certain adjudgments and interpretations were exposed in this way

In summary, as a case study, this writing applied both quantitative and qualitative methods to point out the language use as well as the intentions of Obama in using specific ways to express his personal attitude With quantitative method, descriptive findings could be revealed whereas the corresponding discussions and assessments on those findings were made with qualitative one

2.4 Procedures

This study followed all the steps of a case study such as problem identification, data collection, data analysis, findings and discussion These were carried out in succession After the issue had been identified as modality, the data collection and analysis were implemented as follows:

 First phrase (material collection): Two remarks of Barack Obama to disclose his participation into the presidential runs in 2008 and 2010 were retrieved from the website http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

 Second phase (material analysis): Based on the theory of SFG, these two remarks were divided into clauses Subsequent to this, clauses were under investigation so that modality expressions could be realized and recorded All

of the modality markers used in two texts were summarized into table (see Appendix) for further consideration

 Third phase (data analysis): after the modality expressions were classified into different categories, these data were analyzed in the light of SFG The adequate comments and evaluations were made

2.5 Statistical Analysis

Concerning the second step of material analysis, the modality expressions were realized in terms of modal auxiliaries, modal lexical verbs, modal adverbs, modal adjectives and modal nouns All of the five linguistic forms were employed at different rate to express four types of modality In other words, these markers were, in addition, scored according to the modality classification of probability, usuality, obligation and inclination With qualitative method, the table which illustrated how modality expressions were recorded in relation to four types of modality was compiled (See appendix)

With the list of modality expressions recorded, several counting was implemented, especially the occurrences of those markers in two discourses The number of occurrences would be further discussed, compared and evaluated Moreover, a precise look into the roles and influences of those modality signs would

be taken into consideration Especially, the effects of the modality expressions in relation to interpersonal metafunction would be tackled As two remarks were analyzed, the comparison into Obama‘s preference into using certain type of modality expressions was made as well Following that, a general view about Obama‘s style in denoting modality could be summarized and valued

Chapter 3 FINDINGS 3.1 Research Question 1

Which modality expressions are used in Barack Obama’s remarks announcing Presidency in 2008 and 2012?

All modality expressions were recognized in both remarks apart from modal nouns To be more precise, in two speeches, Obama utilized different linguistic forms

to denote modality, namely modal auxiliaries, modal lexical verbs, modal adjucts and

modal adjectives The following examples were extracted from the full collection of

all modality expressions of two talks

Modal

auxiliaries

 We can assume the best in

people instead of the worst

 That‘s why this campaign can’t only be about me It must be

about us

 We will have universal care in

America by the end of the next president‘s first term

 We should take heart, because

we‘ve changed this country before

 This campaign has to be about

reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense

 One way or another, this will

be my last campaign, which gets me to thinking about my first campaign

 I promised I‘d end the war in

Modal

lexical

verbs

they own this government

 I know there are those who don‘t

believe we can do all these things

 I understand the skepticism

 Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and down

what‘s needed to be done

 I wanted to win that next battle –

for justice and opportunity

 I think we grow the economy

from the middle class out

 I believe what we should have a health care system that works for middle class families

 I‘m running my last political

race, because I want to make

sure that the next generation, not just my kids, but everybody, has that same chance

 I want to rebuild America

Modal

adjuncts

 As most of you know, I am not a

native of this great state

 Let‘s be the generation that never

forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we‘ve got

 Let‘s us also understand that ultimate victory against our

enemies will come only by

rebuilding our alliances

 Your wages and your

incomes did not go up

 Now I know you probably are

already sick of this election with all the commercials

 Sometimes they say, it‘s

Obama‘s fault because he thinks governments is all the answer

 I‘d always tell you what I

thought

Modal

adjectives

 So long as we‘re willing to listen

to each other, we can assure the best in people instead of the worst

 We remember what our

values are and we‘re willing

to fight for them

Table 4: Examples of modality expressions used in two remarks

Overall, the total numbers of four modality markers in two texts can be summarized in the following table All statistics were counted in the unit of occurrences

Frequency of modality

Table 5: Occurrences of kinds of modal expressions used in two remarks

As can be noticed in the both remarks, modal auxiliaries were recorded as the most frequently used Considering Remark 1, modal lexical verbs occupied the 2ndrank, closely followed by the rate of modal adjuncts The frequency rates of three kinds were much higher in comparison with that of modal adjectives (only 6) Turning

to Remark 2, the case was different Modal adjuncts stood at the 2nd place while the 3ndposition belonged to modal lexical verbs Modal adjectives were still the least used with merely 4 occurrences

To make it clearer, within each category, the frequency rates of each modal word were noticed Indeed, the rates were summarized in the table below while all the units were measured as times of occurrence

Modal

auxiliaries

Can Will Have to Must, could Should Might, won‘t, can‘t

25 occurrences

15 occurrences

Will Can‘t Could Have to Don‘t need

May, may not, couldn‘t, might, might not, won‘t, should, don‘t have

Understand Think, assume, expect

12 occurrences

Once Forever, simply

Probably, certainly,

already, once, just (time), even, infact, almost, frankly, first

4 occurrences

2 occurrences

Table 6: Occurrences of modality expressions used in two remarks

As can be seen from the table, among modal auxiliaries, can was the most popular that Obama talked in his speeches Will is the second common modal auxiliary

in Remark 1 whereas it was be going/about to in Remark 2

Moreover, the tendency of using modal lexical verbs seemed to be opposite

between two speeches In fact, know was most employed in Remark 1 while want

ranked number one among modal lexical verbs in Remark 2

Modal adjuncts were not applied at high frequency in both texts though adjunct

of polarity not always stood on the top of all

Regarding modal adjectives, the least used forms, two adjectives of possible and willing appeared within Remark 1; likewise, only willing was recorded in Remark

2

All in all, different modal words were used at diverse frequency The facts were supposed to fulfill some intentions of Obama, which would be discussed in the next part of this study

3.2.1 Type

The table below indicated the occurrences of different modality expressions with reference to four types of modality by SFG Providing that one kind of modality expression was not mentioned, it was not recorded in the text to denote certain type of modality

Probability

(I)

auxiliaries will, won‘t occurrences not, might,

might not, could, couldn‘t, will, won‘t,

be going/about

to, would

occurrences

Modal lexical verbs

think, believe, know, assume, understand

23 occurrences

think, believe, understand

9 occurrences

occurrences

not, probably, certainly, maybe

23 occurrences

Modal adjectives

Usuality

(II)

Modal adjuncts never, ever,

forever, already, once, simply, only

14 occurrences

Sometimes, still, already, once, just (time), just (mood), frankly, first

46 occurrences

Total (II) occurrences occurrences

Obligation

(III)

Modal auxiliaries

should, must, have

to

12 occurrences

should, have to, don‘t have

to

5 occurrences

Modal lexical verbs

occurrences

need, don‘t need

9 occurrences

Total (III)

18 occurrences

14 occurrences

Inclination

(IV)

Modal lexical verbs

occurrences

want, promise

18 occurrences Modal

22 occurrences

Overall

122 occurrences

192 occurrences Table 7: Occurrences of modality expressions used in two remarks in terms of type

The table apparently represented the occurrences of four types of modality,

among which probability accounted for the largest portion in both remarks

As for Remark 1, over two thirds of all the modality expressions denote

probability with 84 occurrences This figure was far followed by obligation and usuality modalities at 18 and 14 occurrences correspondingly Inclination was the most

uncommon modality with only 7 occurrences

In Remark 2, the overall occurrences of modality expressions were more than

those of Remark 1; however, probability still worked as the dominant modality type with approximately 60 % of the whole (113 out of 191 occurrences) Usuality constituted more than 20% (45 occurrences) while the rest was divided for inclination and obligation (22 and 14 occurrences, irrespectively)

In short, probability was the most used modality types in two speeches with

much larger numbers of occurrences compared to those of the others Apart from that

similarity, inclination was the least popular type in Remark 1; however, obligation

turned out to be the most unpopular type in Remark 2

3.2.2 Polarity

The numbers of positive clauses obviously outweighed those of negative within

both speeches investigated Moreover, it was remarkable that modal adjunct of polarity realized by not was used at high frequency in both remarks While 9

occurrences were noted in Remark 1, more than double of those were scored in

Remark 2 It is necessary to commit to the fact that not can absolutely attach to the finite in a clause Once that happens; not cannot be regarded as an isolated element One the other hand, when not is put isolated from the finite, this is intentional To tell

the truth, the speaker planned to put high contrast on the content of that proposition

Take a clause with not in Remark 1 as an example:

―As most of you [the audience] know, I [Obama] am not a native of this great state‖

In this clause, the propositional content dealt with the fact that Obama was originated

as an immigrant American instead of a native one This would work as the premise to promote the upcoming message He was not an indigenous American, yet he still received great things from this nation Conversely, he still worked wholeheartedly to contribute to the state From that point, he called all the audience to do something to express their love and their duties to the nation they belonged to One of the ways was simply to advocate Obama on his campaign so that they could together reform and

construct a new America In fact, following the clauses with not, Obama always gave

out other affirmations to form sharp arguments The debates accompanied by appeals, therefore, were seen convincing

3.2.3 Orientation

Orientation considers modality in terms of either subjective or objective, either explicit or implicit Modality expressions noted in two remarks showed considerable

features with reference to orientation Some examples of modality expressions in terms

of orientation could be illustrated in the table:

Subjective

explicit

time learning the ways of Washington

- I want to win that next battle – for justice and opportunity

- We know the challenges

- Let‘s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources

- I think that a health care system was the right thing to

do

- I want to make sure that the next generation, not just my kids but everybody, has that same chance

- I want to make college more adorable for young people

- This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes and your dreams

- This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship

- You can afford a home

- Your kids can stay on your health insurance

- You will finish what we started in 2008

- We will strengthen America

- We‘ll remind the world just why we live in the greatest nation on Earth

- I‘m going to talk to my neighbors

- We would march in parades

Objective

explicit

- If you're willing to apply yourself and work hard

- you're willing to stand with

me and knock on some doors

with me and make some phone calls with me, we will finish what we started in 2008 Objective

implicit

- you probablyare already sick

of this election with all the commercials

Table 8: Examples of modality expressions in terms of orientation

In general, the four orientations documented from two remarks were

demonstrated in the table 9 The unit of these measurements was counted as

occurrences

Table 9: Occurrences of modality expressions in terms of orientation

Subjective implicit orientation was noted down the most at 50 cases for both of the two remarks Additionally, subjective explicit orientation ranked at the second place Especially, none of the objective ones were recorded in Remark 1, while few were used in Remark 2 Therefore, some evaluations about the frequency of these orientations would be covered in the next part of this study

3.2.4 Value

Considering the values of modality expressions, all of values ranging from low

to high were recognized within two texts Here were the examples of modality markers denoting different judgments of the speaker, taken down from the discourses

- I‘ve been there long enough to

know that the ways of Washington

- There are some things we have

to do to grow the economy

High

value

must change

- That‘s why this campaign can’t

only be about me It must be about

us

- We‘re willing to listen to each

other,

- Most of all, let‘s be the generation

that never forgets what happened

on that September day

- We can’t have a culture that

just encourages selfishness

- You don’t have to be born into

fame or fortune

- I said I‘d always tell you what I

thought

- We‘ve never seen a sitting

President outspent like this

Median

value

- We will have universal health care

in America by the end of the next president‘s first term

- Washington has a long way to go

and it won’t be easy

- We should take heart, because

we‘ve changed this country before

- We will grow this middle class

- We‘re going to get rid of

programs that don‘t work

- I believe that we should a

health care system that works for middle class families

Low

value

- We can turn this crisis of global

warming into a moment of opportunities for innovation

- The lack of textbooks and

computers in schools could be

traced to the skewed priorities of politicians

- I might play a small part in building

a better America

- But the life of a tall, gangly,

self-made Springfield lawyer tells us

that a different future is possible

- You can follow your dreams

- I could convince her

[Malia-Obama‘s daughter] that all the fireworks were for her birthday

- After I explained to her [Michelle-Obama‘s wife] why I

thought it might make sense for

me to run, she joined

- I know it‘s going to be hard

sometimes

Table 10: Examples of modality expressions in two remarks in terms of value

Generally, the total numbers of occurrences of low, median and high-value modality expressions were illustrated in the following table:

Remark 1

37 occurrences (30 modal auxiliaries +

3 modal adjuncts + 4 modal adjectives)

19 occurrences (19 modal auxiliaries)

16 occurrences (10 modal auxiliaries + 4 modal adjuncts +

2 modal adjectives)

Remark 2

35 occurrences (28 modal auxiliaries +

7 modal adjuncts)

40 occurrences (39 modal auxiliaries + 1 modal adjuncts)

52 occurrences (16 modal auxiliaries + 32 modal adjuncts + 4 modal adjectives) Table 11: Occurrences of modal expressions in two remarks in terms of value

For Remark 1, low-value modality markers were used most frequently as the

numbers were more than the sum of both median and high-value modality signs On the other hand, the case was completely opposite as for Remark 2 Low-value modality turned out to be the least preferred while the situation improved with median and high-

value modalities Especially, the high-value one was the most frequent among three

levels

Moreover, as can be realized, modal auxiliaries were the most efficient tool in denoting modality value by Obama while the other categories accounted for much smaller portions

3.3 Research Question 3

What are the similarities and differences of modality in two remarks?

In terms of realizing modality expressions used in two speeches, the total number of modality expressions in Remark 1 was lower than that of Remark 2 (123 and 192, respectively) However, in general, both accounted for around 4,5% of all words in two remarks (2656 words for Remark 1 and 4241 words for Remark 2)