A critical discourse analysis of donald trump’s 2015 presidential campaign announcement speech

The study aimed to investigate how the language used in Donald Trump‟sAnnouncement Speech positions various actors.. Key words: Discourse analysis, Critical discourse analysis, political

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01

Supervisor : Prof Dr Nguyễn Hòa

Hanoi, 2019

Lê Thị Yến

I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Professor NguyễnHòa for helping me complete this study This paper would not have been accomplishedwithout his expert, constant and valuable guidance and encouragement His patience andhelpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper

I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty ofGraduate and Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies fortheir valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoreticalbackground as well as practical knowledge

My special thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for their enthusiastic helpand support with my teaching schedule at school which gave me precious time to deal with

my thesis

Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my family whogave me time and encouragement to overcome all obstacles during the completion of thisstudy

The study aimed to investigate how the language used in Donald Trump‟sAnnouncement Speech positions various actors It not only attempted to reveal how thelanguage used serves ideology and power but also how it provided a better understanding

of the political purpose of the speech Data was chosen from selected representativeexcerpts resident in Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech The study was oriented on thetheoretical basis of Critical Discourse Analysis It used Systemic Functional Linguistics as

an adjunct theory and employs Fairclough‟s (1989, 2010) three tier model of description,interpretation and explanation for the analysis The study approached qualitative researchdesign The findings shown that linguistic representation helped bring out power imbalanceamong the participants involved Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Terrorists wereportrayed as having the capacity to act upon the others while USA was cast as lacking theability or capacity to perform certain duties or tasks The study also shown that DonaldTrump positions himself in the first place of the sentence with biggest emphasis, which, in

my opinion, describes him as arrogant and divisive

Key words: Discourse analysis, Critical discourse analysis, political speech, Donald

Trump‟s speech, systemic functional grammar, ideology

: Relational

: Circumstance

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… ……… iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… ……….… iv

LIST OF TABLES ……….…… v

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Rationale……… 1

1.2 Research Objectives ……… ……… 2

1.3 Research Questions ……….……… 2

1.4 Scope of the Study……….………… ……… 2

1.5 Significance of the Study……… 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……… 4

2.1 Literature Review……… … 4

2.1.1 An overview of DA ……… … 4

2.1.2 An overview of CDA……… ………… … 4

2.2 Key Concept to the study……… 5

2.2.1 CDA ……… ……… 5

2.2.2 Discourse……… ……….6

2.2.2.1 Discourse as social practice……….… 7

2.2.2.2 Discourse and Power Relations……… 8

2.2.3 Ideology……… 8

2.2.3.1 Main views of ideology……….8

2.2.3.2 Implicit or explicit ideology……… 9

2.2.4 CDA and SFL ……….……… ………… 10

2.2.4.1 Transitivity Systems as a Framework of Experiential Meaning………… ….11

2.2.4.2 Modality System as A Framework of Interpersonal Meaning……… 12

2.3 Main approaches to CDA ……….…….…14

2.4 Review of previous studies on political discourse……… …15

2.5 Chapter summary……….……… ….16

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY……… 18

3.1 Research Method……… ……… 18

3.2 Research Design……… 18

3.3 Data and its social context……… 18

3.4 Data analysis procedure……….……… 20

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISSCUSSION……… …… 23

4.1 Ideology realized in the recurring themes ………… ……… ….… 23

4.1.1 Ideology of self- promotion and other- rejection……….…….23

4.1.2 Ideology as a tool of Persuasion……… 24

4.1.3 Ideology as a tool of Negotiation……… 26

4.2 Transitivity systems realizing the recurring themes……… ……… 27

4.2.1 Process Types and Participant Roles in the Theme of Immigration…… 28

4.2.1.1 Material processes……… 28

4.2.1.2 Mental processes……… 29

4.2.1.3 Relational processes……… 30

4.2.1.4 Verbal processes……….… 31

4.2.1.5 Existential processes……… 31

4.2.1.6 Behavioral processes……… 31

4.2.2 Process Types and Participants roles in the Theme of National Security 32

4.2.2.1 Material processes……… ….32

4.2.2.2 Mental processes……….…… 36

4.3.2.2 Relational processes……… 37

4.3 Modality types realizing the recurring themes……… 39

4.3.1 Epistemic Modality………40

4.3.2 Deontic Modality………….………… ……….….……… 40

4.3.2.1 Modal of Desirability in the selected text……… 41

4.3.2.2 Modal of Obligation in the selected text……… 43

4.3.2.3 Modal of Permission in the selected text……… 45

4.4 Chapter Summary……… ……… 46

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ……… 47

5.1 Main findings of the study ……….……….………… 47

5.2 Conclusion……… 48

5.3 Implications ……… 49

5.4 Limitations and Recommendations for Further Research ………… 49

REFERENCES……… 51

Appendix : Donald Trump‟s Presidential Announcement Speech.………….… I

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This chapter highlights the statement of the problem, the objectives of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study as well as the significance of the study.

1.1 Rationale

Political discourse just like any other genre of discourse has its own unique structures oflanguage and an investigation on the particular nature of such a structure is an importantacademic pursuit According to Fairclough, political discourses are decision and actionoriented He also added that such decisions are made in the context of uncertainty anddisagreement as can be seen in campaign speeches where politicians not only use language

to express their ideas and feelings but also to re-shape the opinions of the electorate In thisstudy, we attempted to bring out some descriptive and interpretive aspects of DonaldTrump‟s Announcement Speech

I chose Trump‟s Speech for the following reasons First, it is easy to see that so far therehave been many research papers on political speeches of famous and influential people likeBarrack Obama, John McCain, Tony Blair, etc However, little attention has been given toseemingly banal speech such as Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech Secondly, as arepresentative of the most powerful country in the world, his political ideologies, if any,may have implications for the rest of the world

This study therefore intends to fill this gap by investigating how the experiential and theinterpersonal meanings are realized through the systems of transitivity and modalitychoices Since representations in texts are socially, politically and economically motivatedand since they are increasingly becoming influential, it is important to try and find out howthese hidden meanings should be understood

1.2 Research Objectives

The current study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model to unmask the use ofpower and hidden strategies through language use Also the study analyzes and uncoversthe experiential, interpersonal meanings of the wordings and grammatical structures ofTrump‟s language use

In summary, the specific objectives are to provide a critical analysis of Donald Trump‟spolitical discourse based on Fairclough‟s framework to find out the way hidden power andideologies are shown in the speech and to study Donald Trump‟s use of language to winfavor with his audience.

1.3 Research Questions

To obtain the aims of the study, the following research questions have been posed:

1 How is ideology represented in Donald Trump‟s Campaign Announcement speech?

2 How does Donald Trump use language to achieve his goals?

2.1 How do the choices of Process Types and Participant Roles made in the

Announcement Speech realize experiential meaning?

2.2 How do the Modality choices made in the Announcement Speech realize the

interpersonal meaning?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The study adopted Fairclough‟s (1989, 1995, 2010) tenets of CDA as well as the works ofthe CDA theorists such as Van Dijk (195, 2001) and Wodak (1997) It only concerned itselfwith the principles of CDA in sync with the research questions It also employed SystemicFunctional Linguistics by Halliday (1985, 1994, 2004) to provide analytic tools Itsimilarly, made references to other theoretic studies on Systemic Functional Linguistics.Specifically, reference was made to Halliday‟s model of transitivity and modality patterns

On this, the study analyzed the major process types: Material, Mental and Relationalprocesses The other process types: behavioral, verbal and existential were only analyzedwhen their occurrence was salient in the selected text The study similarly, analyzedmodality purely as contextually conceived in modal auxiliary

Within the Announcement Speech, the study only concerned itself with the transitivitysystems and the modality choices within the themes of Immigration and National Securitybecause they were the most salient The other themes: Obamacare, Economy, Educationand Unemployment were only used to illustrate the concepts: Ideology and Power

1.5 Significance of the study

This is one of the newest attempts to explore and discover interrelation of discoursestructures and ideological structures of Donald Trump‟s Presidential CampaignAnnouncement speech in the United States Presidential Election, 2016 as a good sample ofhis language use in presidential campaign

Theoretically, this study provides a support to CDA theories From an objective view aslinguists when approaching discourses, CDA analysts can find out ideology and powerhidden behind words

Practically, this study is submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements of my degree ofMaster in English Linguistics Moreover, with the investigation of Donald Trump‟s speech

it may provide the researcher another approach to political speech analysis from CDAviewpoint

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter presents literature review which includes an overview of DA and CDA Then

it goes to introduce some key concepts for the study which focuses on both CDA and SFL.

2.1 Literature Review

2.1.1 An overview of DA

Discourse analysis is a broad field which is related to use of language in context.According to Tistcher (2000, p 42), ''discourse is a broad term with different definitions,which 'integrate a whole palette of meanings'' Discourse analysis takes into accountdifferent theoretical and methodological approaches such as linguistic, anthropology,philosophy, psychology and sociology The nature of language is closely related to thedemands that we make on it and the functions it has to serve In the most concrete terms,these functions are specific to a culture ''The particular form has taken by the grammaticalsystem of language is closely related to the social and personal need that language isrequired to serve'' (Halliday, 1978, p 142)

One of the important features of DA is to study authentic texts and conversations in thesocial context The early DA was concerned with the internal structure of texts Halliday'ssystematic functional linguistics is a new evolution against internal structure of texts.According to Halliday (1978), texts should encode both personal and social processes Inother words, texts should be generated, comprehended and put into a social context.Discourse analysis is based on micro and macro levels Therefore, both linguistic andsocial analyses are important Discourses are interpreted as communicative events becausediscourses between people convey messages beyond that of what is said at directly What isimportant in such discourse is the social information which is transferred allusively

2.1.2 An overview of CDA

At the end the 1970s, CDA was established as one of the domains of research in discoursestudies It is known as an approach that is based on the union of language studies and socialtheory (Fairclough, 1992) CDA investigates how social power is misused and how

text and talk represent, procreate, and resist dominance and inequality in the social andpolitical context The most notable figure in this domain is Norman Fairclough, who hasdeveloped a three dimensional framework for studying discourse The aim of thisframework is to integrate three dimensions into another analysis of language text In otherwords, it refers to analysis of discourse practice (processes of text production, distributionand consumption) and analysis of discourse events.

Critical Discourse Analysis is not merely analytic It is critical in the sense that it sets out todiscern the relationship between language and other hidden elements in the social strata.These elements include: (a) how language figures social relations of power and dominance;(b) how language works ideologically; (c) how language negotiates personal and social identities

One of the most important linguistic theories used as a basis for a critical discourseapproach is that of Halliday's systematic functional grammar It is supported by somelinguists such as (Chouliaraki and Fairclough 1999, Fairclough, 1992, 1995 a and b, Kress,1985) who used it for analyzing the text because systematic functional grammar has asignificant role in critical interpretation of linguistic expression in various discourses As amatter of fact, systematic functional linguistic (SFL) model has been applied as a tool foranalyzing the texts

In short, according to many scholars, the main difference between DA and CDA is that DAmainly concerns with communication and information sharing while CDA is problem-oriented, which considers discourse as a social practice

2.2 Key concepts to the study

2.2.1 CDA

CDA can be viewed as an analytic approach whose major concern is the way dominance,social power and inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted in a text, social andpolitical contexts (Van Dijk 2001: 352, 2003: Fairclough: 2010) According to Young andHarrison (2004: 3), CDA focuses on espousing ideologies hidden in language Suchideologies naturalize the unequal power relations but once they are brought to the fore, they

between language, power and ideology on the one hand and that of social change andsocial identity on the other CDA does this by looking at the role discourse plays in theproduction and maintenance of unequal power relations and dominance (Weiss and Wodak2003; Mr Gregor 2011:4) These roles are summarized by Wodak and Fairclough intoseven principles namely: (a) the role of discourse in social problems; (b) the relationshipsbetween power and discourse; (c) how discourse constitutes culture and society; (d) howdiscourse is ideologically marked; (d) the historical nature of discourse; (e) the mediatedrelationship that exists between text and society; (f) the interpretive and explanatoryorientation of CDA.

Although significant variations exist in CDA‟s approaches, Haig (2011) argues that twokey facets of CDA still remain consistent; the relationship between language and power onthe one hand and the way language creates and maintains an unequal power relations on theother hand

CDA is used in this study to find out how transitivity patterns and modality choicesconstruct experiential and interpersonal meanings in Donald Trump‟s AnnouncementSpeech These choices will then be subjected to Fairclough‟s (1989, 1995, 2010) three tierframework of doing CDA: description, interpretation and explanation

It is a product of its environment and it functions in that environment through the process

of interaction and semantic choice Text is the realization of such environment It treatsdiscourse as a type of social practice including visual images, music, gestures, and the likethat represent and endorse it On the other hand, texts are produced by socially situatedspeakers and writers For participants in discourse, their relations in producing texts are notalways equal: there will be a range from complete solidarity to complete inequality.Meanings come about through interaction between readers and receivers and linguistic

features come about as a result of social processes, which are never arbitrary In mostinteractions, users of language bring with them different dispositions toward language,which are closely related to social status (Fairclough, 1989) In CDA, discourse is defined

in terms of social practice

2.2.2.1 Discourse as Social Practice

In CDA, discourse is defined as a type of social practice and the context of language iscrucial (Fairclough, 1989, 1993, 2003; van Dijk 1993, 1997, 2001;; Wodak, 1996, 2000,2001) Discourse involves both written and spoken language as a form of social practice(Fairclough and Wodak, 1997, p 35) Following Fairclough (1995), Reisigl and Wodak(2000) consider discourse as "a way of signifying a particular domain of social practicefrom a particular perspective" In seeing discourse as a social practice, Fairclough (1989)shows that a critical analyst is not only concerned with analyzing texts, but with analyzingthe relationships between texts, processes, and their social conditions In doing so, threedimensions of critical discourse analysis arise accordingly: description that concerns theformal properties of the text that concerns with what a text says, interpretation thatconcerns the relationship between text and interaction, and explanation that concerns therelationship between interaction and social context, (Fairclough, 1989)

There is a dialectical relationship between particular discursive practices and the specificfields of action (including situations, institutional frames and social structures) in whichthey are embedded Social settings affect and are affected by discourse In other words,discourse shape social settings and it is shaped by them (Wodak, 2007) Social structures aswell as social events are parts of social reality and the relationship between socialstructures and social events depends upon mediating categories, which Fairclough called

„social practices‟, the forms of social activities, which are articulated together to constitutesocial fields, institutions, and organizations (Fairclough, 2003)

Van Dijk (1993, p 251) argues that CDA 'prefers to focus on the elites and their discursivestrategies for the maintenance of inequality' through studying top down relations ofdominance than to bottom-up relations of resistance, compliance and acceptance To him,this will often be effective and adequate, because it is easy to assume that directive speech

acts such as commands or orders may be used to enact power, and hence also to exerciseand to reproduce dominance Similarly, it is easy to examine the style, rhetoric, or meaning

of texts for strategies that aim at the concealment of social power relations, for instance byplaying down, leaving implicit or understating responsible agency of powerful social actors

in the events represented in the text CDA, hence, studies the relation between society,discourse and social cognition, which is the necessary theoretical and empirical interfacethat should be examined in detail Social cognition is the missing link between discourseand dominance, a feature that distinguishes CDA from other non-critical approaches

2.2.2.2 Discourse and Power Relations

In this respect, Critical Discourse Analysis looks at the way elements of both spoken andwritten texts are organized It does this with the goal of trying to establish the salientpolitical and ideological features resident in the texts

Van Dijk (1993:249: Fairclough 1989: Wodak 2001: Holmes 2005:33) agreed with thenotion of power in CDA by pointing out that it is an integral part of it He added thatdiscourse entails manifestations of power imbalances made worse and reinforced by eitherexplicit or implicit references Similarly, Fowler and Kress (1979:188) posit that language

is a consolidation of the structures which shape it and it is not only used to manipulatepeople but also to establish and maintain the power of state agencies, corporations andinstitutions This is made possible by use of direct and indirect speech acts or by processes

in which the ideology of a culture or a group is linguistically marked, articulated and tacitlyaffirmed The present study hinges on these assertions because through transitivity choicessome power relations are foregrounded while others are backgrounded An analysis ofprocess types, for instance, may show the participants favoured by the power relations

2.2.3 Ideology

Ideology has been a central area of investigation in Critical Discourse Analysis (Kress andHodge, 1979; Fairclough, 1989, 1992; Wodak 1989; Van Dijk, 1989) This is so becausediscourse or any other semiotic behaviour has been identified by major linguistic scholars

as a location of ideology

2.2.3.1 Main views of ideology

One major problem immediately noticeable to anyone attempting to study Ideology is thedifficulty in trying to establish its specific definition To enable us proceed with the presentstudy, two approaches to the definition Ideology are explored as follow.

First is the view of Ideology as a „specific set of symbolic representations (Blommaert,2005:158) These include: discourses, images, arguments and so forth Such symbolicrepresentations Blommaert adds are operated by particular groups or actors who areidentifiable by their use of such ideologies This view could involve reference to particularpositions within a political system (factionalism) such as progressivism, conservatism,reactivism and so forth These Ideologies characterize participants who subscribe to them

as seen, for instance, in actors who exhibit socialist symbolic representations because theysubscribe to the Ideology of Socialism

The second approach to the definition of Ideology relates to its view as a generalphenomenon that characterizes the totality of a particular social or political system SuchSystems are practiced by every member of the group that subscribes to it This viewemphasizes that Ideology represents the „cultural,‟ Ideational aspects of a particular socio-political system Ideology relates to both the normal perceptions individuals have of theworld as a system as well as natural activities involved in it Such activities sustain socialrelations, power structures and the patterns of thought which serve to reinforce thecommon sense

The present study adopts this latter view of Ideology as a common sense and defines it as aform of influence or manipulation in order to win acceptance

2.2.3.2 Implicit or explicit Ideologies

In texts, ideological notions can be implicit or explicit Explicit ideologies can be usuallyseen in the form of offensive and insensitive language to the institutional subjects such theuse of the word „rapists‟ in reference to Mexican Immigrants by Donald Trump It can alsoentail the use of ingroup or outgroup depiction to refer to different participants in theselected text

Further, it can additionally contain the use of language that portrays „self‟ in a positivelight while painting the „other‟ in a negative light Such a view is supported by van Dijk

the other participant‟s good things or backgrounds the speaker‟s bad things butforegrounds the bad things of the other actors.

On the other hand, implicit ideologies take the form of promotion This can be illustrated

by the following example drawn from Donald Trump‟s Announcement Speech: I would build a wall and have Mexico pay for it Scholars of Critical Discourse Analysis concur

that dominant Ideologies are characterized by the following features:

 They are stabilized and legitimized by discourse such a manner that obscures the effects of power and Ideology

 They have the ability to naturalize discourse by making it appear „normal‟ or „commonsense.‟

 They flourish and are sustained by hegemony

 They may be sustained by the dominated individuals albeit unawares Such dominatedgroups even if aware of the dominant Ideologies, may find it difficult to wriggle their wayout

The present study employs the context of use to study how linguistic features bring out both implicit and explicit Ideologies in the selected text

is an embodiment of different meanings at the same time

The three meanings of the clause pointed out by Halliday (1985) as working togetherinclude (a) the experiential metafunction (which represents the human experience andcorresponds to the view of the clause as representation); (b) the interpersonal metafunction(enacts personal and social relationship and corresponds to the view of clause as

exchange); (c) the textual metafunction (which relates to the discursive flow of the text andcorresponds to the view of the clause as a message) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014).

It can, thus, be seen that each metafunction is a distinct in its functions However, thepresent study focuses only on the experiential and interpersonal metafunctions Twosystems are employed to realize them; Transitivity as an element to bring out theexperiential meaning in the Announcement speech and Modality as a tool to reveal therelationship between Donald Trump as a speaker and his audience

2.2.4.1 Transitivity Systems as a Framework of Experiential Meaning

Transitivity system according to Halliday (1985:101-102) refers to the experiences oflanguage structures as semantic arrangements comprising process types, participants andcircumstantial elements Transitivity, thus, relates to how meanings are expressed in theclause and how processes are manifested in language (Simpson, 2004:22)

These experiences are expressed through six processes including material, mental,relational, verbal, existential and behavioral processes

Material process is known as process of doing and happening It expresses the notion thatsome entity „does‟ something which may be done „to‟ some other entity In this type of

process, there are two participants role, namely: Actor and Goal The actor is able to affect

the flow of events of another participant in the clause known as the Goal or Beneficiary.Mental process is known as process of sensing It refers to the process of remembering,knowing, and other mental actions that involve the use of the mind There are two

participants, namely: Senser and Phenomenon An analysis of the mental process with

regards to the issue of immigration is important because through mental clauses that thespeaker uses, his opinion, perception and his particular identity may be revealed

Relational process is known as process of being It can be differentiated into three types:Attributive process with Carrier and attribute participants, Identifying process with Tokenand Value participants and Possessive process with Possessor and Possessed participants.According to Halliday and Simpson, these processes are key grammatical tools forclassifying, assessing, identifying and evaluating people, concepts or objects (Halliday,2004:214; Simpson, 2004:25-26) It is important to investigate relational processes in order

to find out how immigrants are classified based on the types of attributes attached to them and the meanings ascribed to those attributes.

Verbal Process is known as process of „saying‟ (Halliday &Matthiessen, 2014:252) In the theme immigration, verbal processes involve the sayer, the verbiage and the target

Existential Process is known as process of existence and happening This type of process suggests that something exists (Simpson 2004:25)

Behavioral process is known as the process of behaving Grammatically they areintermediate between material and mental process This means that behavioral processincludes the action process but the action is done with consciousness, for example:breathing, dreaming, smiling, waving, laughing, coughing, watching, listening etc The

majority of behavioral process clauses have one participant that is called as Behaver (the agent who behaves) If there is any second participant, it will be called as Behaviour.

2.2.4.2 Modality System as A Framework of Interpersonal Meaning

Modality can be expressed through the mood of sentences, auxiliary verbs, modal adjunctsand tense (Kress and Fowler 1979; Halliday 1985; Faweet 2008:68-83) Its analysis is used

in the present study to attempt to bring out the interpersonal meaning and to express socialroles between the speaker and the hearer Fowler and Kress (1979:200) define modalitythus: Linguistic constructions which express speaker‟s and writer‟s attitudes towardsthemselves, towards their interlocutors, towards their subject matter, their social andeconomic relationships with the people they address; and the actions which are performedvia language (ordering, accusing, promising and leading

It can thus, be inferred that the use of modality in the clause to establish the judgment andthe opinion of the speaker towards his topic and hearers Modality, therefore, relates to thevalidity of what is being predicated, stated, questioned, commanded or offered It may alsorefer to social relationship within the clause (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014:177) Further,

it relates to the intermediate between the positive and negative poles (the gap between thechoices of „yes‟ and „no‟ that allows speakers to attach expressions of attitude, belief andobligation to what they say (Simpson, 2004:123) This intermediacy varies in propositionsand proposals In proposition, in between certainties of „it is‟ and „it isn‟t lie the relativeprobability of „it must be,‟ „it will be,‟ and „it may be.‟ Whereas in proposals, in between

the definitive „do‟ and „don‟t‟ lie the discretionary options „you must do.‟ „You shoulddo‟ and „you may do.‟ Modals can help unpack the writer‟s standpoint to the reader bybringing out tentativeness or other aspects of interpersonal meaning Similarly, as Simpson(2004:23) posit, it can also be a significant part of establishing personal identity.

Two main types of modality, epistemic modality and deontic modality, were chosen for theanalysis in this study

Modalization known as epistemic modality is a sub-type of linguistic modality that dealswith a speaker's evaluation/judgment of, degree of confidence in, or belief of the

knowledge upon which a proposition is based In other words, epistemic modality refers tothe way speakers communicate their doubts, certainties, and guesses - their "modes ofknowing" More technically, epistemic modality may be defined an evaluation of thechances that a certain hypothetical state of affairs under consideration (or some aspect of it)will occur, is occurring, or has occurred in a possible world which serves as the universe ofinterpretation for the evaluation process Downing and Locke (1992: 332) hold similar viewand point out that the knowledge the speaker has about what he is saying; his knowledge ofthe world or simply his assessment of the truthfulness of the preposition in terms ofpossibility, probability and certainty The present study looks at Epistemic Modality alongthe same line

Deontic Modality also known as Modulation in Systemic Functional Linguistics, is alsoconnotative in meaning Unlike Epistemic Modality, it entails obligation, permission,willingness, ability or appeal These expressions include „must‟, „should‟, „ought‟, „may‟,

„can‟ and the like The deontic modal concepts, which these words are often used to express,are interesting in many ways First, there are logical connections between them – for example,they can be ordered in terms of strength That I must go home now entails that I ought to gohome now, and that proposition furthermore entails that I may go home now Yet, theinferences in the other direction from „may‟ to „ought‟ and from „ought‟ to „must‟

The view of speaker involvement in deontic modality is supported by Halliday (1970:335) whoposits that it is “a form of participation of the speaker in the speech event” which serves acrucial role in negotiating interpersonal meaning through language Halliday adds that itexpresses wants, desires, commands, obligations, permission and undertakings This can be

exemplified as captured below:

PermissionObligation/ necessityExpectations

AdvisabilityVolitions – desirabilityProhibition

may, can, maymust, should, ought to, have toought to

ought toshould, wouldmust, must not

2.3 Main approaches to CDA

Fairclough‟s (1989, 2000, 2010) approach to CDA is also the main base of this study, the

approach looks at language as a crucial element in constituting, maintaining and changingsocial relations of power Fairclough‟s interest is in not only trying to find out howlanguage figures in everyday talk but also in how it constructs identity and portraysideology and power He considers language as a part of the society That is, languageshapes the society and the society shapes language in the sense that: (a) peoplecommunicate in ways that are socially conditioned (b) People‟s communication embodiessocial effects as seen in both conscious and private communicative events On the otherhand, the society is shaped by language in the sense that language is an integral part of thesocial process Fairclough, further, adds a three-layered method of doing Critical DiscourseAnalysis which conforms to the implications mentioned above These include: description,interpretation and explanation

Besides the work of Fairclough, Van Dijk (1995, 2001, 2003) takes a socio cognitive perspective in his analysis of discourse He looks at what role discourse plays in the (re)

production and resistance of dominance Further, he views dominance as the exercise ofinstitutional social power leading to social, cultural, political, ethnic, class, racial and ethnicinequality Van Dijk identifies mental control where those in control of discourse dominate theless powerful through mind control, as being used to actualize dominance This mental control,

as Van Dijk points out, does not only involve the censure of information conveyed to thedominated but also the manner in which it is relayed Van Dijk further adds that it entails thecontrol of discourse context such that: the communicative event,

time, place and the participants involved are defined.

Wodak (2001) takes a historical perspective to the study of discourse Her approach, similarly,

sheds more light to the present study because just like Fairclough‟s approach, it acknowledgesthe dialectical relationship between discourse and society Besides, it views language aspossessing the power and ideology which is used by the dominant participants to convey theirnorms and values Further, Wodak‟s approach just like Fairclough‟s proffers that readers andparticipant‟s interpretation of texts differ not only on the basis of their background knowledgebut also on the basis of their position This notion is used in the present study to account for thevaried ideologies and power relations in the selected text

2.4 Review of previous Studies on Political discourse

CDA has been used widely by many researchers to analyze political speeches Thefollowing studies have been conducted on political discourses

Post (2009) employed CDA to analyze the selections of social actors and social actionsfrom the 2008 campaign speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain He found thatlanguage was used to make salient the most notable linguistic images and socio- semanticfeatures implemented by the texts‟ writers to facilitate not only the nominee‟s perceivedsocietal values, but to also shape individual interaction within society through suchperceived social values as articulated by representations of social actors and social actions

He also showed how Obama shaped his identity through the manipulation of social actorsand social actions to facilitate not only the ideological positions the nominees would strive

to reproduce, but also the textual personas they have assiduously created for themselves via

their ideological positions and representations of meaning For Obama, meaning was

utilized to shape the majority of categories within his discourse

Similarly, Alvi and Abdul Baseer (2002) investigated how Obama used rhetorics and hislinguistic ability to convince and persuade his listeners of his propositions They showedhow he used story-telling, rhetorical questions and answers, appeal to authority, salutations

as emotion booster, free verbal repetitive constructions, verbal and syntactic parallelism.They pointed out how he uses his linguistic artisanship to draw his credible image in theminds of his listeners, and to convince them that a war on Iraq is not a solution

Horvath (2009) examined Obama‟s inaugural speech using CDA He found that Obamaemployed persuasive strategies in his public speaking to support his covert ideology He

also found that the key ideologies expressed in Obama‟s speech are pragmatism,

liberalism, inclusiveness, acceptance of religious and ethnic diversity and unity

Similarly, Obaid and Fahad (2012) used CDA to analyze Obama‟s “historical” speech inCairo (2009) They attempted to understand how language is used as part of the Obama‟sattempt to draw a new position and identity for America in the global community in generaland in the Islamic community in particular They showed how Obama used language toconvey the start of a new era of peace and consent, away of the discourse of “coercion”during the eight years of the former administration

Wang (2010) analyze Obama‟s presidential speeches from the modality and transitivityperspective She explored how political discourse was used to convey the ideology ofpower Wang showed how Obama employed the simple language, transitivity and modality

to express his nearness to his people, and to arouse the American citizen‟s confidence intheir president

Hoyer (2008) used CDA to analyze the British ex-prime minister; Tony Blair selectedspeeches, in regards to the war on Iraq Hoyer revealed how Blair employed discourse toconvey his ideological stance, which tries to legitimize the war on Iraq Blair legitimizedhis supporting stance in regards to the war on Iraq by highlighting the security discourse inwhich he showed that Britain needs to defend herself This expresses Tony Blair‟sworldview Hoyer also found that media at that time played a role in supporting Blair‟sstance in regards to the war on Iraq

These studies largely focused on political discourses of Obama as manifested in hisspeeches and interviews However, there has been very little linguistic research on politicaldiscourse of Donald Trump and thus, the study intends to fill this gap

2.5 Chapter Summary

This chapter deals with the literature review and theoretical background of the study First, for the literature review it gives a brief overview on Discourse analysis and Critical

Discourse Analysis Then it provides key concepts which include CDA, Discourse, SFL andsome main approaches to CDA Finally it reviews briefly on previous studies of politicaldiscourse These studies were anchored on the theoretic underpinnings of Critical DiscourseAnalysis Fairclough‟s (1989,2010) three tier model of description, interpretation andexplanation was most employed for the analysis because it is text oriented approach.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the method and design for the Research Then it goes to introduce the social context of the data Finally it describes in detail the analysis procedure of the data.

3.1 Research Method

Qualitative research model was chosen as the research method of the present study It wasdirected on the view that qualitative research is on meaning Qualitative research wasapplied because in analyzing the selected text to find answers for the research questions alot of explanation and interpretation of the text, its discursive practice and social practicewas required

Afterwards, representative clauses were selected in order to realize the process types,participants and the circumstantial elements Further, the clauses were analyzed formodality as they form part of interpersonal meaning The data was subsequently tabulated

to capture the frequency of the transitivity systems and modality choices inherent in theclauses shown The data was narrowed down to percentages for ease of analysis Once thiswas done, the data was interpreted and a discussion on how transitivity patterns andmodality choices brought out the identified themes established

3.3 Data and its social context

Purposive sampling method was adopted to select the data The data for this study is

website: http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/.

Trump formally announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, with a campaign rally andspeech at Trump Tower in New York City Trump declared that he would self-fund hispresidential campaign, and would refuse any money from donors and lobbyists He majorlyanchored his campaign on issues such: unemployment, illegal immigration, IslamicTerrorism, National Security and Obamacare Additionally, his campaign advocated for thereduction of corporate tax by 15% as well as the replacement of Affordable Care Act(Obamacare) with another free-market plan He also promised to renegotiate trade dealsand create millions of jobs for American workers To push through his agenda, he built hiscampaign around the slogan, “Make America Great Again” which resonated well withmany Americans, particularly male, young single middle class, white, blue-collar and thosewithout college degrees

In the general election, Trump ran against Democrat Hillary Clinton, the first femalepresidential candidate from a major political party The race was divisive, in part due to anumber of inflammatory remarks and tweets made by Trump about minorities and othergroups While some members of the Republican establishment distanced themselves fromthe candidate, Trump‟s supporters admired his outspokenness and business success, alongwith the fact that he wasn‟t a politician

As the election neared, almost all national polls predicted a victory for the Democraticnominee However, on November 8, 2016, in what was viewed by many people as astunning upset, Trump and his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Mike Pence ofIndiana, defeated Clinton and her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia Trumpwon reliably red states as well as important swing states including Florida and Ohio, andracked up 306 electoral votes to his rival‟s 232 votes Clinton won the popular vote

Though Trump was widely underestimated as a candidate, first by his opponents for theRepublican nomination and later by Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival He finally waselected the 45th president of the United States Many observers considered it was astunning political upset and blamed errors in polls, partially attributed to pollstersoverestimating Clinton's support among well-educated and nonwhite voters, while

relatively accurate, but media outlets and pundits alike showed overconfidence in a Clintonvictory despite a large number of undecided voters and a favorable concentration ofTrump's core constituencies in competitive states It was a decisive demonstration of power

by a largely overlooked coalition of mostly blue-collar white and working-class voters whofelt that the promise of the United States had slipped their grasp amid decades ofglobalization and multiculturalism

3.4 Data Analysis procedures

The study employed Fairclough‟s (1989, 1995, 2010) CDA as theoretical framework.Halliday‟s (1985, 1994, 2004) framework of SFL was used as an adjunct theory to providelinguistic tools for analysis at the micro-linguistic level Specifically, transitivity patternsand modality choices were investigated The two were chosen because they were suitablefor the present study whose objectives are to find out how the experiential andinterpersonal meanings are brought out through discourse of the recurring themes

A qualitative approach based on Fairclough‟s three tier model of description, interpretationand explanation was adopted This implies the study was descriptive as it focused on bothmicro and macro discourse analysis At the micro-level, analysis was based on thedescription of the linguistic choices resident in the selected excerpts Similarly, it alsoinvolved interpretation of the identified linguistic choices At the macro-level, theexplanation and assessment of how the transitivity systems and modality choices in theselected text brought out the experiential and interpersonal meanings was established.Firstly, description focuses on the identification of the formal linguistic features resident in

a text Such features are subsequently labeled as per the descriptive framework In thecourse of this description, the researcher takes a position similar to that of the participantsbut uses an explicit interpretive framework

In order to describe the formal features in a text, an evaluation of potential choices isestablished This is done with the view of finding out the patterns of options in thediscourse activity which actual properties of the text emanate from Key elements ofgrammar identified, and which are in line with the present study, include: (a) the nature ofthe experiential values grammatical features process; (b) whether there are importantfeatures of relational modality To answer the first question, the following must be born in

1) What types of processes and participants predominate?

2) Is agency clear?

3) Are processes what they seem?

4) Are nominalizations used?

5) Are sentences active or passive?

6) Are sentences positive or negative?

On the other hand, to answer the second question one has to consider the following:

i) The authority of one participant in relation to the other (relational modality).ii) The strength with which a particular proposition is endorsed (expressive

modality)

At the Interpretive stage, the manner in which participants draw from their ideological,social and cognitive endowments in their bid to better understand discourse is determined.The researcher at the interpretive stage therefore, seeks to address three key concerns: (a)the kind of interpretation that participants are giving to intertextual and situational context;(b) the kind of discourse that is being drawn upon and which relates to the systems ofphonology, vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, schemata, frames and scripts; and (c)whether the answers to the concerns raised in (a) and (b) vary based on participants orchange as the interaction goes on However, the present study will only concern itself withtransitivity and modality patterns within the grammatical system The interpretive stagewill be used to unpack the hidden meanings and to correct pretenses of independence onthe part of discourse subjects Since interpretation primarily looks at which elements of themember recourses are relied upon in the production of discourse, there is need to accountfor the changes in social constitution which then necessitates the explanatory stage

The explanation stage aims at portraying discourse as ingrained in social processes whichare based on social theory This helps to bring out covert ideologies invisible to layinterpretation as it avails a broader base upon which individual communicative events can

be placed and upon which their meanings can be drawn These bases relate to: (a) theinterplay between social structures and discourse; (b) reproductive effects that discourseshave on structures as in whether they change or sustain them

immediate, institutional and social level, that shape the discourse in question (b) the aspects

of member resource relied on and which are ideological in nature (c) the position ofdiscourse in relation to contestations at the situational, institution and societal levels Assuch, the explanatory phase gives grounds for overcoming the shortcomings of layconsciousness in dealing with the implicit aspects of discourse

CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISSCUSSION

This chapter provides the analyses and findings of three issues which relate to the Researchquestions: Ideology, Transitivity Systems and Modality within recurring themes ofimmigration and national security in the selected text

4.1 Ideology realized in the recurring themes

4.1.1 Ideology of self- promotion and other-rejection

Political candidates normally present themselves or their group in positive light whilepainting the other participant or group in negative light This notion is exemplified at thevery first words in his speech as in the following excerpt

The speaker presents other candidates in negative light while figuring a positive image ofhim He uses ironical phrases such as „sweated like dogs,‟ didn‟t have anybody there‟ totalk about other candidates while using lexical items such as „thousands,‟ „no crowd likethis‟ to project himself in positive light and this also shows the ideological representationbetween „us‟(in-group) and „them‟ (out-group)

The Ideology of positive representation of „self‟ and negative „other‟ representation is captured in the excerpt below:

Excerpt 2

Our country is in serious trouble We don‟t have victories anymore We used to have victories, but we don‟t have them When was the last time anybody saw us

By using expressions „serious trouble,‟ „killing us‟ and „no victories anymore, he impliesthat the current American administration is in a bad circumstance Then he projects himself

in positive light as in “I beat China all the time”.

Another way of positive „self‟ representation and negative „other‟ representation is

brought out in excerpt 3 below:

Excerpt 3

And remember the $ 5 billion website? $ 5 billion we spent on a website and to this day it doesn‟t work A $ 5 billion website I have so many Websites, I have them all over the place I hire people, they do a website It costs me $3 $ 5 billion website (Excerpt from Appendix clause 144-151)

Setting two opposite sides between him and Obama administration by repeating the phrase

A $ 5 billion website on one hand and stating his $ 3 website on the other hand, he wantsvoters to see that he is good at managing finance much more better than the current

The speaker blames the current administration led by the Democratic Party for the issue of unemployment and directly affirms that he is the gift that God brings to solve this problem

through the clause „I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created‟.

This is perhaps meant to paint himself in a positive way in the eyes of the electorate and to blur any possibility of a positive conceptualization of his opponents

4.1.2 Ideology as a tool of Persuasion

In many excerpts below, the speaker has applied ideology as a tool so as to convince voters

to stand on his side

unemployment as seen in the repetition of clause: I want a job However, this is just an

avenue for the speaker to influence his audience to accept him The excerpt furtherprovides the audience with two sets of leaders to choose from, that is, leadership full ofrhetoric on the one hand and the other which is action oriented

Excerpt 6

But Obamacare kicks in in 2016 Really big league It is going to be amazingly destructive Doctors are quitting I have a friend who‟s a doctor, and he said to me the other day, „Donald, I never saw anything like it I have more accountants than I have nurses They have no plan now.‟‟ We have to repeal Obamacare and it can be- and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody Let it be for everybody But much better and much less expensive for people and the government And we can do it (Excerpt from Appendix clause 209-225)

The speaker expresses special concern for the American people in not being supplied aquality healthcare by talking about the current inadequate situation of the Obamacareprogram and giving some of his friend doctor‟s opinion about this issue Then he urges people to

abolish this program by using the electorates‟ power in the clause We have to repeal Obamacare. The phrase much better and much less expensive is meant to show that their votes for the

current president were not really wise The speaker then is persuading his audience to stand

on his side and share his through the clause let it be for everybody The speaker is trying to

draw himself as a positive image in the eyes of his audience

In excerpt 7 below, the speaker tries to persuade listeners into his team by narrowing the power gap between them in an attempt to gain their support

Excerpt 7

China, you go there now, roads, bridges, schools, you never saw anything like that They have bridges that make the George Washington Bridge look like small potatoes And they‟re all over the place We have all the cards, but we don‟t know how to use them We don‟t even know that we have the cards, because our leaders don‟t understand the game We could turn off that spigot by charging them tax until they behave properly.(Excerpt from Appendix clause 425-437)

Take the example of a powerful image of a growing China in all aspects though in terms ofpower relationship, the United States is in a more dominant position, he implicitly showthat the American people are being taken away lots of benefits and opportunities Then by

using the inclusive pronominal We in the clause We could turn off that spigot by charging them tax until they behave properly the speaker implies that he and the voters are the same,

he appeals everyone to end this situation together

4.1.3 Ideology as a Tool of Negotiation

The use of Ideology as a vehicle of negotiation is captured in the following excerpts:

Excerpt 8

Take a look at the deal he‟s making with Iran He makes that deal, Israel maybe won‟t exist very long It‟s a disaster, and we have to protect But… so we need people- I‟m a free trader But the problem with free trade is you need really talented people to negotiate for you If you don‟t have talented people, if you don‟t have great leadership, if you don‟t have people that know business, not just a political hack that got the job because he made a contribution to a campaign, which is the way all jobs, just about, are gotten, free trade is terrible.(Excerpt from Appendix clause 337-348)

The above excerpt is a good example of how the speaker uses ideology as a vehicle ofnegotiation He states the problem of free trade and projects himself as the only solutionfor that issue and then implicitly emphasizes that American citizens will have to wait until

he is elected into power to fix the issue

Another example of Ideology as a tool of negotiation is shown in the excerpt below:

Excerpt 9

We‟ve got nothing We‟ve got Social Security that‟s going to be destroyed if somebody like me doesn‟t bring money into the country All these other people want to cut the

and we‟re going to save it (Excerpt from Appendix clause 549-554)

Referring to Social Security- an essential source of livelihood to a vast majority ofAmericans, the speaker highly appreciates himself in contributing to save Social Security

He goes on to negotiate with the electorate as seen in the declarative clause I‟m going to bring money in which points to a personal commitment to deal with the issue at hand Moreover, to narrow the gap between him and his audience, he uses „we‟ as in We‟re going to save it Again, the speaker does this to demonstrate to the audience that they are joined together in a common destiny.

4.2 Transitivity systems realizing the recurring themes

This part provides further analyses of the process types and participant roles in the selecteddata The analysis of the data is based on the tenets of SFL and relies on the theoreticfoundations of CDA to describe the Transitivity Systems within the recurring themes Theanalysis is significant in answering the first sub question of the second research questionwhich is: How is experiential meaning realized through the process types and participantroles within the recurring themes in the Announcement Speech?

A total of 225 processes are found in this presidential campaign announcement speech inwhich all six process types have occurred

Table 4.1: Frequency of process types in the selected text

As shown in table 4.1, the material process is the most frequently used process type with atotal count of 45 in both themes, followed by the relational process , the mental process, theexistential, the verbal process and the behavioral process.

4.2.1 Process Types and Participant Roles in the Theme of Immigration

The issue of Immigration is characterized by the use of six process types which are

explored in the section below:

Excerpt 2

When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best They are not sending you They are sending people that have lots of problems They are bringing drugs They are bringing crimes.(Excerpt from Appendix clause 42-49)

Trump describes Mexico as actor of „sending‟ and „bringing‟ process in which Mexico isportrayed as an agent violating the Americans‟ rights Similarly, the excerpt above bringsout the ideology of negative „other‟ representation These are captured in materialprocesses below:

Example 2 Example 3 Example 4

Emphasizing on the

Immigrants in bad light and blames them for bringing „drugs‟ and „crimes‟ and impinging

on the interests of America

Excerpt 3

But I speak to the border guards and they tell us what we‟re getting And it only makes common sense It only makes common sense They‟re sending us not the right people (Excerpt from Appendix clause 52-56)

Example 5

In terms of transitivity, Trump is depicted in agentive position while the immigrants arecast as a target or victim of his actions In the clause, the speaker draws himself as a leadercapable of ascertaining the truth from the border guards By this, he indirectly affirms hispower then persuades the electorate to believe in his ability

Example 6 and 7 below reflect the ideology of negative „other‟ representation

Example 6

Example 7

By using the negative form repeatedly in those above mental processes, the speakerexpresses his personal feeling on the issue of immigration as a major threat to Americancitizens He then implicitly blames the present administration for not being capable ofdealing with the issue of immigration which leads to the present unexpected situation.

4.2.1.3 Relational Processes

These processes can be seen in the following examples drawn from the issue of

immigration

Excerpt 5

The U.S has become a dumping ground for other people‟s problems.

(Excerpt from Appendix clause 39)

There is another example of negative „other‟ representation as following:

Example 8

Assigning The U.S with a negative attribute – dumping ground, the speaker aims toridicule the present state of affairs, thus, paints it in negative light in the eyes of theelectorate Moreover, by using present perfect tense, he wants to emphasize the longduration of being taken advantage by others and this problem still exists at the moment Bythis, he implicitly urges the electorate to do something right to stop that situation

Excerpt 6

They are sending people that have lots of problems, and they‟re bringing those problems with us They are bringing crime They are rapists and some, I assume, are good people (Excerpt from Appendix clause 46-51)

The relational process in this excerpt is one again an example of the ideology of positive

„us‟ representation and negative „other‟ representation

Example 9

The immigrants are portrayed as carriers of the negative attribute „rapists‟ This description