Modalization and modulation in commencement addresses by english speakers a systemic functional analysis

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLESFigure 1: Speech functions and responses Figure 2: Three values of modality Figure 3: Modalization Figure 4: Modal operators Figure 5: Modal adjuncts Figure 6:

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

TRƯƠNG THỊ ÁNH

MODALIZATION AND MODULATION IN COMMENCEMENT ADDRESSES BY ENGLISH SPEAKERS: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

ANALYSIS(TÌNH THÁI VÀ BIẾN THÁI HÓA TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU TẠI LỄ TỐT NGHIỆP CỦA CÁC DIỄN GIẢ NÓI TIẾNG ANH: PHÂN TÍCH THEO

QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistic Code: 60.22.15

Hanoi - 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

TRƯƠNG THỊ ÁNH

MODALIZATION AND MODULATION IN COMMENCEMENT ADDRESSES BY ENGLISH SPEAKERS: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

ANALYSIS(TÌNH THÁI VÀ BIẾN THÁI HÓA TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU TẠI LỄ TỐT NGHIỆP CỦA CÁC DIỄN GIẢ NÓI TIẾNG ANH: PHÂN TÍCH THEO

QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistic Code: 60.22.15

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2013

I, Trương Thị Ánh, hereby certify that this thesis is the result of my own researchand that the substance of the thesis has not, partly or wholly, been submitted for adegree to any other universities or institutions

Signature

Trương Thị Ánh

I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the people who assistedand always made the best conditions and environment for me to complete thisthesis

The first person I would like to send my special thanks to is Prof Dr Hoàng VănVân, who spent much of his valuable time supervising and guiding my study

I am also indebted to my lecturers in both undergraduate and postgraduate faculties

at my university for their precious lectures in linguistics which help me to have thebasic and necessary knowledge to carry out this study

I also owe many thanks to my family members who gave me great encouragement,

my friends and my colleagues who were willing to share my heavy workload at myschool so that I could invest my time to this thesis

This study investigates the realization of modalization and modulation incommencement addresses made by well-known English speakers The analyticalframework of the study is based on M A K Halliday‘s Systemic FunctionalGrammar theory of modality The data of the research is taken from the analysis offive commencement addresses of Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), BarbaraKingsolver (2008), J K Rowling (2008), and Barack Obama (2009) The resultsshow that modalization and modulation are realized in a variety of forms andexpressions which can be modal operators, modal adjuncts, passive verbpredicators, and adjective predicators Modalization overtakes modulation in terms

of frequency Each group of modal operators and modal adjuncts when being used

to realize modalization and modulation has its own effectiveness and specialties

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgements………ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents………iv

List of figures and tables……… vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale………

….… 1

2 The significance of the study……….…… 2

3 Aims of the study……… 3

4 Scope of the study……… 3

5 Methods of the study……… 3

6 Design of the study………

…… … 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Semantic-oriented approaches……….5

1.2 Pragmatic-oriented approaches………7

1.3 Criticisms of the semantic-oriented and pragmatic-oriented approaches……7

1.4 Halliday‘s functional approach………9

1.4.1 Halliday‘s notion of modality: Modalization and Modulation………… 9

1.4.2 Modalization: notion and realization……… 11

1.5 Review of previous studies………16

iv

Chapter 2: The study

2.1 Research question……… 18

2.2 Data collection……… 18

2.3 Analytical framework………18

2.4 Data analysis and major findings……… 19

2.4.1 Modalization……… 19

2.4.1.1 Modal adjuncts……….20

2.4.1.2 Modal operators……… 21

2.4.2 Modulation……… 22

2.5 Discussion……… 24

2.5.1 Modalization and Modulation………… ……….24

2.5.2 Modal adjuncts – realization and meanings……… 25

2.5.3 Modal operators of Modalization – realization and meanings………… 32

2.5.4 Modulation……….… 33

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary and major findings………36

2 Implications………

…… 38

3 Suggestions for further studies……….40

REFERENCES………41 APPENDIX 1: Raw data………I APPENDIX 2: Analyzed data……… XXX

v

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Speech functions and responses

Figure 2: Three values of modality

Figure 3: Modalization

Figure 4: Modal operators

Figure 5: Modal adjuncts

Figure 6: Modulation

Table 1: Modalization in five speeches

Table 2: Modal adjuncts in five commencement addresses

Table 3: Modal operators in five commencement addresses

Table 4: Modulation in five commencement addresses

Table 5: Modalization and Modulation

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Over the years, many grammatical models have been developed, for examplephrase structural grammar, structural grammar, transformation grammar, etc Thesemodels mainly focus on the structural characteristics of languages, ignoring thepossible functions of language In 1920s, functional approach was first introduced

by an influential group of literary critics and linguists in Prague Since thenfuntionalism has been developed by many functional grammarians like Halliday(1985, 1994), Bloor (1995), Eggins (1994), Thompson (1996), Martin (1997), andmany others Functionalism can be understood as any approach to the description oflanguage structure which attaches importance to the purposes or functions to whichlanguage is put When systemic functional grammar (SFG) was introduced byHalliday in the UK (1985) and later in Australia (1994), functional approach togrammar theory may be understood as the study of language as a network of

systems, or interrelated sets of options for making meaning The term function

refers to Halliday‘s view that language serves metafunctions as: ideationalmetafunctions, texture metafunctions, and interpersonal metafunctions Amongthese metafunctions, the interpersonal ones which refer to the grammatical choicesthat enable speakers to enact their complex and diverse interpersonal relations may

be the most unintelligible perspective The speaker‘s grammatical choices can varybut one of the effective tools may be the use of modality in general or modalizationand modulation in particular From this point of view, the researcher has made aneffort to investigate and prove the effectiveness of those elements in the thesis

The second thing that should be clarified is the researcher‘s choices of genresand the collection of texts that were used in the thesis This study focuses on thecommencement addresses made by famous English speakers One thing that can bedefinitely true is that no one is randomly chosen to give a speech in a universitygraduation ceremony Those who were given the honor to make speeches at manybig universities are prestigious and well-known They all tactfully used their wordypower to persuade their audiences Commencement addresses, therefore, always

play an important role in orienting, inspiring, and encouraging students who aregoing to be graduates Moreover, the success of a commencement address isobvious the interpersonal relation between the speaker and the listeners To achievethis red string – the linkage, modality used in those speeches must be very flexibleand intelligent in order to show the speaker‘s ego as well as create the connectionbetween the particular ego and the majority All of the above mentioned reasonsmotivated the researcher to investigate the realization of modalization andmodulation in several selected speeches made by English speakers.

2 The significance of the study

The significance of the study can be seen the most clearly in its contribution

to investigate the use of modality in texts Geoff Thompson (1996) says modality is

an extremely complicated area of English grammar Although a number of linguistshave been working on this field, the results achieved do not satisfy the researcher‘sinquisitiveness Many linguists have pointed out the definition, classification, anddegree of modality but everything just stops at the theory and a limited number oftypical examples In other words, the exemplification is not attached to any specificoriginal texts Writers of some PhD theses have been applying SFG framework ormodality to analyze real texts but none of them have taken commencement speeches

as sources of data This thesis, which aims to investigate the realization ofmodalization and modulation in some authentic commencement addresses, thus fillsthe blanks of studying how modality is realized in commencement speeches

An additional point motivating the researcher to carry out this study isderived from the realistic demand In textbooks currently used in Vietnameseschools, the realization of modality in texts are mostly introduced and analyzed interms of only modal verbs Other means to realize modality are not fully presentedand exploited, which in some way limit students‘ understanding and ability toflexibly use modality in creating their own texts This thesis is hoped to give clearclarification of all means to realize modality in English and how the goodexploitation of these means can, to some extent, support developments of students‘language skills

3 Aims of the study

The research aims at studying and finding out the use of modalization andmodulation in some English commencement addresses Moreover, the researcheralso has her ambition to see how effective the modality is In short, the study aims

to find the answers to the question:

How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement addresses?

4 Scope of the study

This minor M.A thesis first focuses on the theory of modality in the light ofsystemic functional grammar, and then it shows the realization of modalization andmodulation – two categories of modality in five commencement addresses made bySteve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), Joanne "Jo"Rowling (J K Rowling, 2008), and Barack Obama (2009)

5 Methods of the study

This study is carried out with the combination of both descriptive andexplanatory methods In detail, the research is conducted according to several stepsbelow:

Firstly, data about theories of modality and the commencement addresseswas collected from different books, articles, and other researches in libraries or onthe internet

Secondly, the collected information was synthesized and categorized towithdraw the basic knowledge about modality in many perspectives, especiallyHalliday‘s framework about modality Moreover, the collected commencementaddresses were read and chosen carefully based on several criteria set in advance bythe researcher

Finally, the commencement addresses were analyzed in order to discover therealization of modalization and modulation in each one by using Halliday‘s viewabout modality as the theoretical framework Each type of modalization and

modulation is distinguished from the other by a set of symbols so that the researchercould easily control and bring out the exact figures for the study.

6 Design of the study

The structure of the study is based on the basic design of a scientific research

which includes three main parts Part A – INTRODUCTION presents the rationale, significance, aims, scope, and design of the study Part B – DEVELOPMENT comprises two chapters Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background of the study.

Chapter 2 shows the findings of the study in terms of the realization of modalizationand modulation in all four speeches with some possible explanations about thetypes of modality used and the discussion about the effect of modalization and

modulation in those commencement addresses Part C – CONCLUSION summarizes the findings and points out the implications of the study Some

suggestions for further studies are also included in the last part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Approaches of modality

The theoretical description of modality may be semantic, pragmatic, orfunctional-oriented Some approaches will be reviewed below

1.1 Semantic-oriented approaches

A number of linguists have had a bias in favor of semantics when describingthe concept of modality Among those, Joos (1964), Marino (1973), Hermeren(1978), Perkins (1983), and Palmer (1986) can be counted and their views will bebriefly presented below

Joos (1964) adopts a semantic approach to modality He classifies eight

modal auxiliaries: will, shall, can, may, must, ought to, dare, and need into some

subcategories by finding the differences in the kinds of semantic oppositions amongthem He places the eight modals on the eight corners of ―an abstract semiologicalcube‖ with the six characteristics on the six faces of that cubes Six categories ofmodals are named casual modals, stable modals, adequate modals, contingentmodals, assurance, and potentiality (Joos, 1964: 149-150)

The semantic approach is also adopted by Marino (1973) and his account of themeaning of modals is quite similar to Joos‘ to some extent Marino codes the meaning

of modals regarding the presence or absence of a set of semantic features He declaresthat there are ―nuances of the modal system‖, so it is necessary to have a ―system ofdescription [which] should be at least powerful enough to account for the range ofmeanings in modality‖ (Marino, 1973: 312) Like Joos, Marino classifies modals intoeight categories such as obligation, possibility, advisability, etc He sets the criteria forhis classification by examining the absence or presence of three semantic features

which are necessity, possibility, and execution He assigns a value to each category of

modal For example, obligation group of modals is seen as the strong presence ofnecessity and execution In contrast, the presence of

possibility is weak As a result, the meaning of obligation is coded as [+necessity, possibility, +execution] Other categories have the different degree of strength andweakness of these semantic features.

-Perkins‘s semantic account of modality also reflects a ―mono-semantic‖(Coates 1983: 9) approach since he attempts to set a ―core meaning for eachmodal‖ and then analyzed these core meanings (Perkins, 1983: 25) In other words,

he means the core meaning of each modal is ―independent of its context of use‖(Perkins, 1983: 26) Moreover, he believes in the concept that an auxiliaries modalverb like ―may‖ differentiates itself from its paraphrase ―it is possible that‖ in theuses of these two

Hermeren (1978) seems to have a different view on the meaning of modalitycompared to the three above-mentioned linguists although he still takes thesemantic approach His aim is to make ―a semantic classification of the modals incontemporary English (Hermeren, 1978: 14) While the other linguists who alsotake the semantic approach are only interested in modal auxiliaries themselveswhen talking about modality, Hermeren believes modality can be expressed byother parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs He disagrees withthe idea that the meanings of modal verbs are context-independent In fact, heargues that modal meanings are not either absolutely independent or dependent.Hermeren (1978: 71) clarifies his ideas by showing that ―changes in various types

of sentences (active - passive, statement - question, etc.) as well as the ―changes inbasic sentence unit (subject, verbs, etc.) affect the meaning of the modal‖ Hegroups modals under three categories namely ―internal modalities‖, ―externalmodalities‖, and ―neutral modalities‖ The internal modalities are ―inherent intheir surface subjects‖ and express ―ability‖ and ―volition‖ while the externalmodalities refer to the notions like ―necessary‖ and ―permission‖ The lastcategory ―neutral modalities‖ is considered neither internal nor external

Palmer‘s account on modal meanings is remarked by his division between

―epistemic modality‖ and ―deontic modality‖ The term ―epistemic modality‖ isconcerned with ―language as information, with the expression of the degree or

nature of the speaker‘s commitment to the truth of what he says‖ and the term

―deontic modality‖ is defined as ―language as action, mostly with the expression

by the speaker of his attitude towards possible actions by himself and others‖

(Palmer, 1986: 121) He once again emphasizes that the term epistemic should not

refer ―to modal system that basically involve the notions of possibility andnecessity, but to any modal system that indicates the degree of commitment by the

speaker to what he says‖ (Palmer, 1986: 51) In contrast, the term deontic modality

should refer to its two main types called ―Commissives‖ and ―Directives‖.Commissives are those expressions in which ―we commit ourselves to doingthings‖ (Searle, 1983: 166) and Dirrectives are those ones in which ―we try to getour hearers to do things‖ (Searle, 1983: 166) Although epistemic and deonticmodality are very different at semantic level but they shares the same thing called

―subjectivity‖ (Palmer, 1986: 96) His explanation is ―modality in language is …concerned with subjective characteristics of an utterance‖ (Palmer, 1986: 16) Thismeans the speaker‘s attitude is expressed through the realization of modality

1.2 Pragmatic-oriented approach

Boyd and Thorne (1969) base on the theory of speech acts which isintroduced by Austin (1962) to describe modality in English Unlike other linguistswho try to classify modal auxiliary verbs in English, they use Speech Act Theory toparaphrase English modal auxiliary verbs They focus on the meanings of modals inspecific instances of use As in the case of Speech Act Theory, ―the illocutionaryforce‖ of any verbs is considered as being determined by a set of formal featuressuch as ―first person‖, ―present tense‖, ―non-progressive aspect‖, and ―non-habitual aspect‖ (Boyd and Thorne, 1969: 58) Therefore, the selection of modalauxiliaries verbs indicating the illocutionary potential of the utterances are alsosubject to these restrictions

1.3 Criticisms of the semantic-oriented and pragmatic-oriented approaches

Those semantic and pragmatic approaches mentioned earlier have been attracting several criticisms

Joos‘ approach and Perkins‘s one are considered ―mono-semantic‖ (Coates,1983: 9) since they attempt to provide a ―basic meaning for each modal‖ It is verydifficult to decide which meanings constitutes the ―core meaning‖ for a particularmodal auxiliary As a result, the definition of each modal is both unclear and general

in order to account for the diversity in the possible interpretations of the modal(Hermeren, 1978: 18)

Marino‘s modal auxiliary divisions are not clear and subjective because hedoes not present an analysis of modals in English and gives the inadequateexplanation for his decision For example, he assigns a value ―+execution‖ for

Future and ―-execution‖ for Imperative (Marino, 1973: 315) without any detailed

Boyd and Thorne (1969) receive several criticisms of their approach Hermeren(1978) points that if we apply their above-mentioned criteria, the past forms ofauxiliary verbs such as ‗would‘, ‗could‘, ‗might‘, etc would not be considered modal

In addition, there is some confusion in the differentiation between ‗illocutionary force‘and ‗illocutionary potential‘ since they both refer to the same instance of language use

in two different places in these authors‘ article (Hermeren, 1978: 28) Finally, theirchoices of examples is not only de-contextualized, but also selected in such a way ―toavoid possible confusion‖ like those which arise ―from the existence of considerabledialectal variation‖ (Boyd and

Thorne, 1969: 62) In short, such an account presents a very restrictive view ofmodality in general, so it is not useful at the practical level.

To sum up, each account of modality has its limitations and it seems thatmost of the linguists mentioned above just put the emphasis on modal verbs whendiscussing the issue about modality Obviously, modal verbs are easily seen signals

of modality but the researcher believes there are also other means which conveymodality in the propositions and utterances Halliday‘s account of modality whichwill be presented below may be the most suitable theoretical base for the researcherfind out the interpersonal links in the commencement addresses Therefore,modalization and modulation in those speeches are brought to light based on thetheory of Halliday‘s systemic functional grammar

1.4 Halliday’s functional approach

1.4.1 Halliday’s notion of modality: modalization and modulation

Halliday‘s account of modality is based on his multifunctional view oflanguage According to Halliday, language is organized around three metafunctions:the ideational, the textual, and the interpersonal metafunctions The ideationalmetafunction is the function for construing human experience and it is realizedthrough the transitivity system The textual metafunction is the function fororganizing discourse and creating continuity and flow in our texts It is realizedthrough the systems of theme-rhyme and information focus And the interpersonalmetafunction is the function for enacting our personal and social relationships It isrealized through the mood and modality systems

According to Halliday (1994: 75), modality is ―the speaker‘s judgment of

the probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what he is saying‖ He describesmodality as representing those choices in language which lie between two polarities

―yes‖ and ―no‖, thus covering all ―intermediate degrees‖ as well as the ―variouskinds of indeterminacy‖ that fall in between two extremes (Halliday, 1994: 88)

Halliday‘s functional view continues being shown more clearly as he dividesmodality into modalization and modulation, depending on the two types of

communicative activities to which it relates, the two areas of meaning which it

covers The first area of meaning deals with propositions and is tackled under

modalization and the second area of meaning deals with proposals and is covered

under modulation.

It is necessary to distinguish Halliday‘s concept about proposition andproposal before discussing the issues of modalization and modulation According toHalliday (1994: 68), the fundamental types of speech role are always ―giving‖ and

―demanding‖ This means the speaker gives the hearer something (for instance, thegiven thing is a piece of information) and he also requires something from thespeaker (what is required maybe also information or an action) When the thingdemanded is information or in Halliday‘s words ―the nature of commodity beingexchanged‖ is information, the speech function now is conveyed through

propositions In contrast, when the thing demanded is an object or an action and

language is just brought in to help the process along, the speech function is

conveyed through proposals (See figure 1).

Commodity exchanged

Information

Services

Goods-&-Figure 1: Speech functions and responses (Halliday, 1994: 69)

Halliday‘s concept of modality, in short, can be seen through the threevariables which modality is subject to The first is the above-mentioned distinctionbetween the two main types of modality: modalization and modulation The second

is what Halliday (1994: 355, 358) refers to as ―orientation‖ in modality These are

four which either subjective-explicit (I think Mary knows) or subjective-implicit (Mary will know) on the one hand, or on the other hand it could be either objective-

explicit (It‘s likely that Mary knows) or objective-implicit (Mary probably knows).

Finally, the third variable is what Halliday calls the values attributed to modal forms and these can be low, median, high (Halliday, 1994: 358) In that sense, modalization would include various intermediary degrees of probability (possible/probable/certain) and usuality (sometimes/usually/ always), while modulation would cover different degrees of obligation (allowed/ supposed/ required) and inclination (willing/ keen/ determined) (Halliday, 1994: 358) These

correspond respectively to the low, median, and high degrees (See figure 2)

1.4.2.1 The notion of modalization

This subdivision of modality is seen to reflect the speaker‘s judgment on the likelihood of the propositions Halliday further subdivides modalization into two

sections depending on two kinds of intermediate possibilities: degree of probability

(possibly/ probably/ certainly) and degree of usuality (sometimes/ usually/ always).

The degree of probability is equivalent to ―either yes or no” and the degree of

usuality is equivalent to ―both yes or no‖ (Halliday, 1994: 89).

Halliday‘s concept of modalization can be visualized in the figure below

Positive pole: asserting (‘It is so.’)

Propositions

(‘information

statements questions

Negative pole: denying (‘It isn’t so.’)

Figure 3: Modalization 1.4.2.2 The realization of modalization

Halliday suggests that modalization is typically realized by (i) finite modal

operators in the verbal group (such as might, will) and/ or (ii) modal adjuncts of

probability and usuality (such as certain, probably) and other subtypes (Halliday,

1994: 89)

(i) Finite modal operators

Modality is first realized by finite modal operators or modal auxiliary verb

(Halliday, 1994: 89) He classifies finite modal operators based on two criteria as

degree of modality and polarity In terms of degree, he points out three levels as

high, median, and low In terms of polarity, he shows the two poles that are positive

and negative (See figure 4)

According to Halliday (1994: 49), modal adjuncts ―are those which express

the speakers‘ judgment regarding the relevance of the message.‖ He subdivides

modal adjuncts into two categories that are mood adjuncts and comment adjuncts

All these two types of modal adjuncts as well as their wordy realization are

summarized in the table below

Probability Usuality Typicality

Mood

Readiness

adjuncts

Obligation Time Obviousness Intensity

12

Opinion Admission Persuasion

Comment

Entreaty

Adjuncts

Presumption Desirability

Reservation

Validation

Evaluation Prediction

Figure 5: Modal adjuncts (Halliday, 1994: 49, 82, 83)

1.4.3 Modulation

1.4.3.1 The notion of modulation

The second main subsection of modality is modulation which deals with the

meaning of proposals, i.e goods-&-services commodity exchange As being an

aspect of modality, the value of modulation is supposed to stand between the

positive pole and negative pole According to Halliday (1994: 89), modulation can

be subdivided into two types: degree of obligation on other person to carry out the

command and degree of inclination or willingness of speaker to fulfill the offer The

scale for the demanded goods-&-services or the degree of obligation includes:

‗allowed to‘ (permission), ‗supposed to‘ (advice), ‗required to‘ (obligation) The

degree of inclination involves: ‗anxious to‘ (desire), ‗willing to‘ (willingness),

‗determined to‘ (determination) In short, modulation not only shows the speaker‘s

demands on other people but it also describes the speaker‘s offers Whatever

linguistic devices are used as long as they express the degree of obligation or

inclination, they will realize modulation

13

Positive pole: prescribing (‘do it.’)

Proposals

(‘goods-&-services i.e offers

commands to)

Negative pole: proscribing (‘don’t do it.’)

Figure 6: Modulation 1.4.3.2 The realization of modulation

Halliday (1994) suggests that modulation is typically realized by: first, (i) the

modal operators; second, (ii) a passive verb predicator; (iii) an adjective predicator

(i) The modal operators

An example that modulation is expressed by a modal operator can be: ―You

should know that; I‘ll help them‖ (Halliday, 1994: 89)

The table of modal operators is presented in figure 3

(ii) A passive verb predicator

Modulation is expressed by the selection of voice can be seen in the

following example:

• You are required to do the job (Obligation – Obligation/ High)

• You are supposed to find a good solution (Advice – Obligation/ Median)

• I am determined to do the job (Determination – Inclination/ High)

(iii) An adjective predicator

Some examples which illustrate this type of realization can be:

• I am willing to do the work (Willingness – Inclination/ Low)

• I am keen to do the job (Desire – Inclination/ Median)

• I am certain to do the research (Determination – Inclination/ High)

1.5 Review of previous studies

Although many books about the theories of modality have been written bymany linguists so far, the number of studies about the use of modality has beenlimited and not many studies have been based on the systemic functional approach.Some previous studies are reviewed below

Recski (2006) did a systemic functional research on examining the use ofmodality U.S dissertation defenses In the thesis, he analyzed eight U.S dissertationdefenses with more than thirty thousand clauses to find out the answers for threeresearch questions ―(i) the probabilities attached to the system of modality;

(ii) the functional modality of the mental process I think; (iii) the most common

interpersonal strategy employed by committee members to ask questions and togive recommendations and/or suggestions‖ (Recski, 2006: v) The answer to thefirst question is that the probabilities make us to describe overtly the disparity oflanguage according to the variation of context To the second question, the function

of I think is only identified when we considering both the nature of propositions and

the meaning of the co-texts To the last question, the most common interpersonalstrategy is to expand metaphorically the speech functional system

Takahashi (2009) with his article called ―Modality in L2 Legal Writing: Afunctional Analysis‖ presented a research on modal expressions in legal memorandawritten by six international students at a U S law school The systemic functionalframework was claimed to be used in this study to investigate how modality wasrealized in those writings through lexical-grammatical resources However, the

semantic perspective was still made used of when its terms frequently appeared inthe study such as ―epistemic modality‖, ―hedges‖, ―boosters‖, etc The studydoes not present the specific quantity of each type of lexical-grammatical resourcesthat were used to convey modality Moreover, the number of analyzed clauses wasvery limited and the study just stops at showing some examples of modality usage

in those memoranda

Khalid (2013) carried out a research on analyzing three genres namelybusiness letters, newspaper articles, and promotional brochure which wereassociated with the ship RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1938 This thesis not only focuses

on investigating the use of modality but also on the generic structures and thelexico-grammar of the texts from a range of theoretical perspectives includingsystemic functional grammar The purpose of the author is to explore theconstructing method of the texts by creating an interpersonal relationship However,when examining the use of modality, the author only paid attention to the lexicalproperties of modal verbs and he used the Sinclair‘s (1996) and Stubbs‘ (2002)Models of Extended Lexical Units to interpret the meanings of them

As mentioned above, the number of studies which examine the realization ofmodality is not plentiful and up to now there have not been any studies about theuse of modalization and modulation in commencement addresses by using thesystemic functional framework Therefore, the study is expected to fill the gap and

to a certain extent, will contribute to the clarification of different ways of realizingmodality in real texts and offer some suggestions to the practice of languageteaching and learning in Vietnam

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 Research question

The conducted research aims to find out the answer to the following

question: How are modalization and modulation realized in the commencement

addresses?

2.2 Data collection

The data of the study was collected from the analysis of five commencementaddresses by Steve Jobs (2005), Bill Gates (2007), Barbara Kingsolver (2008), J K.Rowling (2008), and Barack Obama (2009) All of these speakers are very famous

in their fields Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have been known as two successfulbusinessmen in the science of computer and information technology On the otherhand, Barbara Kingsolver and J K Rowling have been well-known for their works

in the realm of literature Barack Obama, especially, is popular name for not onlypoliticians but also many people all over the world when he was elected to be the

44th President of the United States of America

2.3 Analytical framework

The analytical framework adopted in this research is based on the systemicfunctional theory of modality of M A K Halliday (1994) All the aspects ofmodality which includes modalization and modulation are presented in the chapter

1 The framework of the analysis can be summarized as follows:

MODALITYMODALIZATION

2.4 Data analysis and major findings

2.4.1 Modalization

After more than four hundred clauses in five speeches were analyzed, theachieved results reveal that modalization was realized 435 times which overtake thenumber of modulation uses that only count 42 times

The details about the quantity of the modalization occurrences in eachcommencement address are represented in the table below:

Speech made by/

Table 1 shows the number of times that modalization is realized in fivecommencement addresses In the total of 435 times of occurrences, modalizationapportions its realization between modal adjuncts and modal operators by 202 and

233 times respectively Generally, modalization is recognized the most in BillGates‘ speeches with 101 times and this first position only has a narrow lead overBarbara Kingsolver‘s one Her speech ranks the second with 100 times ofmodalization Following these two top positions are Barack Obama‘s, J K.Rowling‘s, and Steve Jobs‘ with 91, 78, and 65 times of modalization respectively

In further details, there is an imbalance in using two subdivisions of modalization.Although the total number of modal operators in five speeches overtakes that ofmodal adjuncts, specific numbers in each commencement address are not exactlythe same While modal operators are twice as many as modal adjuncts in BarbaraKingsolver‘s speech, modal adjuncts are twofold compared to modal operators inSteve Jobs‘ address Besides, there is just a slight imbalance in the number of modal

adjuncts and modal operators in J K Rowling and Barack Obama‘s speeches With

46 times of using modal adjuncts and 45 times of using modal operators, BarackObama seems to equalize the frequency of the two subtypes of modalization

In the following parts, modal adjuncts and modal operators with theirsubcategories are analyzed more specifically

2.4.1.1 Modal adjuncts

Figure 5 in chapter 1 presents the subtypes of modal adjuncts according toHalliday (1994) In spite of the fact that these kinds of modalization were not allemployed in the speeches, the ten types which were used also show the variety inthe choices of modal adjuncts for expressing modalization The table belowsummarized the number of modal adjuncts in each subtype that appears in theseparate commencement addresses

Speech made by Types of

Table 2 illustrates how many times modal adjuncts were used in eachcommencement address in ten categories The highest number of modal adjuncts, 46times, belongs to Barack Obama‘s speech which is neatly followed by two otherspeaker‘s ones with the equal numbers 42 times of using modal adjuncts, namelySteve Jobs‘ and Bill Gates‘ speeches J K Rowling‘s commencement address ranksthe third with 41 times when modal adjuncts were adopted The last position of thefrequency usage of modal adjuncts comes to Barbara Kingsolver‘s speech withapproximately one-third less than J K Rowling‘s one.

The table also displays ten categories of modal adjuncts and the frequency ofapplying these subtypes is represented from the highest to the lowest Usualityadjuncts are received the highest numbers of usage by 59 times and it is followed byintensity and time adjuncts Probability adjuncts with 18 times stand on the fourthposition in the table and with more than ten times, degree adjuncts occupies the fifthrank The lowest frequency of modal adjuncts usage belongs to four kinds whichwere used less than five times, namely obligation, opinion, obviousness, andpersuasion adjuncts

Table 2 reveals that among five speakers, Barbara Kingsolver and J K.Rowling are the authors who used the most various types of modal adjuncts in theirown commencement addresses Barbara Kingsolver employed eight out of ten typesand J K Rowling used seven out of ten types of modal adjuncts Not only havingthe same frequency of using modal adjuncts, but Steve Jobs and Bill Gates alsomade use of the same six types of modal adjuncts However, Steve Jobs favoredusing usuality the most while Bill Gates preferred to use intensity adjuncts instead.Like Bill Gates, Barack Obama would rather use intensity adjuncts than usualityadjuncts and he also favored in taking advantage of time adjuncts

2.4.1.2 Modal operators

In this section, modal operators were investigated in five commencementaddresses and counted before being shown statistically in the table below

Modal operator

1 Steve Jobs

2 Bill Gates

3 Barbara Kingsolver

4 J K Rowling

5 Barack Obama Total

Table 3: Modal operators in five commencement addresses

Table 3 displays the number of times that modal operators with their three

degrees were employed to convey modality in five commencement addresses

Barbara Kingsolver takes the lead in using modal operators with 69 times of

applying them in her speech The runner-up is Bill Gates when he used modal

operators 59 times throughout his commencement addresses 45 times of using

subdivision of modality are the achieved results from analyzing Barack Obama‘s

speech J K Rowling and Steve Jobs have the least number of times of using modal

operators with 37 and 23 times respectively

The table also shows that modal operators with low degree were used the

most among three degrees by appearing 105 times The median operators come the

second and the high ones come last in the list However, in specific cases, we can

see that Bill Gates, Barbara Kingsolver, and Barack Obama used low operators the

most compared to their uses of median and high operators in their addresses Steve

Jobs used median operators the most in his speech J K Rowling, on the other

hand, seems to favor both low and median operators so that she used these two

kinds with nearly equal times Moreover, the statistics show that high operators are

used the least by all of the speakers

2.4.2 Modulation

In this part, the results of the analytical process of five commencement

addresses will reveal the frequency of modulation is used Unlike modalization,

modulation is not counted up to hundreds of times, but its realization in this genre proves that it also contribute to the success of these speeches.

Table 4: Modulation in five commencement addresses

Table 4 represents the frequency of using modulation in five chosenspeeches The total number of modulation occurrences is 42, in which modaloperators count to 36 times and two other types of modulation realization wererecognized six times Furthermore, passive verb predicator modulation is as twice

as adjective predicator modulation Among values of modality, high modulation wasused the most by the orators with 26 times Meanwhile, median modulation and lowmodulation were employed equally with five times for each kind

The summary table, moreover, shows that Barbara Kingsolver is the speakerwho used the highest frequency of modulation in her speech with 12 times SteveJobs and Bill Gates one more time have a similar statistics in using modulation withten times and nine times respectively With nearly half of Jobs and Gates‘ numbermodulation occurrences, Barack Obama and J K Rowling both have almost equalfrequency of employing modulation with six times and five times respectively

In terms of variety in types of modulation, Steve Jobs seems to varymodulation types quite frequently, and he had at least one modulation in each type.Like Jobs, Barbara Kingsolver also used different types of modulation when

delivering her speech She used four in five subcategories of modulation J K.Rowling and Barack Obama seem to just focus on using modal operators to conveymodulation Especially, almost of modulations they used are high modulations Liketwo earlier mentioned speakers, Bill Gates also used high modulation the most inhis speech with seven out of nine times that modulation appears in hiscommencement address.

2.5 Discussion

In this section, the comments, explanations, and examples are going to begiven to take modality in five commencement addresses into more carefulconsiderations The discussion is divided into four main parts First, a comparisonand a possible explanation for the fact that modalization overtakes modulation inthese speeches is going to be mentioned Second, the expressions that fall into manycategories of modal adjuncts will be demonstrated as well as the comments of howeffective they are Third, modal operators with their three degrees as high, median,and low values first, will be pointed out in specific contexts of each commencementaddress, and then a further discussion about their functions in imparting thespeaker‘s attitude Finally, it is necessary to have a deeper look into the issue ofmodulation Why high modulation was used the most is one of the researcher‘scuriosities All the analyzed clauses mentioned in this part are found in appendix 2

2.5.1 Modalization and Modulation

23

Table 5 shows how frequently modalization and modulation are realized inthe speeches As can be seen in the table, in 477 times modality is realized in theclauses of five commencement addresses, modalization occupies 435 times (about91.2%) and modulation only accounts for 42 times (8.8%) This imbalance also can

be seen in separate speeches Except for Steve Jobs‘ speech, all of four other oneshave the low rate of modulation (under 10%) Especially, modulation takes asmallest percentage in J K Rowling‘s speech with about 6%

It is not an easy task to find out an explanation for this phenomenon, but apossible answer will be presented as follows:

Theoretically, modalization refers to the speaker‘s judgment to propositionincluding information commodity: statement and question in which statement arethe majority Meanwhile, modulation expresses the degrees of obligation andinclination in relation to proposals The speakers of those commencement addresses

do not have many reasons or purposes to use their wordy power to force thelisteners to do something or take any actions In other words, the contents of thecommencement addresses mainly focus on the speaker‘s experiences and thoughts.Therefore, it can be inferred that their primary purposes are to inform or giveinformation The functions of modalization would serve these objectives wellbecause modalization reflects personal opinions on propositions and the clauses ofthis type can be counted to more than 90% in the commencement addresses As aresult, modalization was chosen as the main tool to express modality in thecommencement addresses mentioned above

2.5.2 Modal adjuncts - realization and meanings

Modal adjuncts, along with modal operators, are devices which help totransfer modalization According to the results in table 1 and table 3, it seems thatthere is not a significant imbalance between modal adjuncts and modal operators‘usage because modal adjuncts were employed 202 times and modal operators wereused 233 times However, it is clear that the speakers still favored using modaloperators instead of modal adjuncts

Table 1 clearly shows that there are ten classifications of modal adjunctswhich were used in these commencement addresses Among them, usuality,intensity, and time adjuncts are top three kinds which appear the most frequently inthe chosen speeches All of these types of adjuncts are now investigated carefully inthe specific clauses of the speeches to see what effects they can cause.

In terms of usuality adjuncts, a wide range of frequency adjuncts from low

degree to high degree were employed to transfer modality meanings The readerscan come across the use of them in all five commencement addresses

First, the high modality can be seen in clause (64) ―Dad, I always told you I‘d come back and get my degree‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (70) ―There were always lots of

people in my dorm room late at night discussing things‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (74) ―It

could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging‖ (Bill Gates, 2007); (204) ―They always manage to have the last word,

even when they are dead‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (337) ―no matter how much

you've done, or how successful you've been, there's always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve‖ (Barack Obama, 2009) Although all clauses belong

to high modality, but the usuality adjunct ―always‖ have some slightly differentnuances of meaning In two clauses (64) and (70), by using ―always‖, Bill Gatesshowed his annoyance when he was always reminded to come back to college by hisfarther and when he had to put up with his roommates Obviously, his judgment on thegiven information in two propositions was mainly expressed by the usuality adjunct Inclause (74), there is a combination of using two usuality adjuncts ―sometimes‖ and

―always‖ in one clause This combination perfectly expresses Bill Gates‘ feeling aboutthe studying environment at Harvard His tones of emotion change from maybe a little

bit excitement (exhilarating) to a bit scare (intimidating) and it was raised up to higher level of some tiredness (sometimes discouraging) and much stress (always challenging) Therefore, in this clause, ―always‖ not only shows the frequency but it

also shows how worse and how strong the speaker‘s feeling was In clause (204),Barbara Kingsolver used ―always‖ with another sense of meaning She wanted toprove a nearly eternal verity that ―they‖

(the novelists) ―manage to have the last word‖ with nearly one hundred percent.Therefore, in this clause she used the adjunct to convey the nearly highest frequency

of the action In Barack Obama‘s clause, he used ―always‖ three times and theycontinued one another like a refrain By this way, he showed his certainty about thefact that it is no longer enough for people to strive for mastery As a result, he sent amessage to the graduates that they need to try more and more to make them moreperfect

Second, the median and nearly lowest modality can be seen in clause (41)

―Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick‖ (Steve Jobs, 2005); (276)

―Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression‖ (J K Rowling, 2008);

(218) ―Previous generations rarely asked about the hidden costs‖ (Barbara Kingsolver, 2008); (270) ―Hardly had my parents‘ car rounded the corner at the

end of the road than I ditched‖ (J K Rowling, 2008) Especially, the lowest usuality

adjunct ―never‖ was used many times and counted up to 28 times in all five

commencement addresses Due to its most frequency, several examples are taken tosee how effective and what modality it transfers Instead of saying ―I didn‘t

graduate from university‖, Steve Jobs said: ―I never graduated from university.‖

―Never‖ does not mean absolutely ―no‖, but it conveys the meaning of ―no‖ andthe attitude of the speaker He did not graduate from one university and he did notintend to be a graduate of any university However, the listeners can realize that hegraduated from many ‗universities‘ of his own so that he could become one of thepioneers in his working field In another clause, this modal adjunct, once more timeconveys some other judgments of the author In other clause in the same speech

―the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts‖,

the author could replace ―never‖ by ―wouldn‘t‖, but the use of ―never‖ hereemphasizes that the action or the thing did not happen in the past, does not happen

at the present, and will not happen in the future Moreover, the author may implythat dropping out of college is the best decision he has ever made and he had noregret for what he has done