The meaning and structure of the inaugural address by john f kennedy in 1961 a systemic functional analysis

Undeniably, the analysisproves that this text is really meaningful, concise, and highly cohesive with thediversified uses of lexis and structures and so systemic functional grammar is an

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

************

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH

THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F KENNEDY IN 1961: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA BÀI DIỄN VĂN NHẬM CHỨC CỦA JOHN F KENNEDY NĂM 1961: PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

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

************

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH

THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F KENNEDY IN 1961: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA BÀI DIỄN VĂN NHẬM CHỨC CỦA JOHN F KENNEDY NĂM 1961: PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

I declare that the thesis entitled ―The meaning and structure of the inauguraladdress by John F Kennedy in 1961: A systemic functional analysis‖ reports theresults of the study conducted by myself in fulfillment of the requirements of thedegree Master of Arts It has not been submitted for any other degree at any otherinstitution

Hanoi, January 2014

Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr HoàngVăn Vân for his untiring and practical assistance throughout the process of mywriting Without his responsible help and enthusiastic guidance, I would not havebeen able to complete this thesis

I greatly wish to acknowledge my thanks to my classmates at the University

of Languages and International Studies for their informative and constructivecomments on my study Had it not been for their suggestions, this thesis could nothave been fully completed

Finally, my big thanks go to my beloved husband for his constant supportand unconditional care while I was writing this thesis

Hanoi, January 2014Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh

of transitivity, material process is predominant; in terms of mood, declarative mood

is in the largest use; and in terms of theme, topical theme which forms unmarkedone is the most notable feature in the whole text Besides, grammatical cohesionpresented by reference, conjunctive devices and structural parallelism and lexicalcohesion illustrated through repetition, synonymy, and antonymy make a greatcontribution to the cohesion and coherence of the text Undeniably, the analysisproves that this text is really meaningful, concise, and highly cohesive with thediversified uses of lexis and structures and so systemic functional grammar is aneffective tool for analyzing the structure and meaning of a particular text

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aim of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methodology of the study 2

5 Data collection 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

1.1 Form and meaning 4

1.2 Model of Context in systemic functional linguistics 5

1.3 Clause and Clause complex 5

1.3.1 Clause simplex and Clause complex 5

1.3.2 Clause combination 6

1.3.2.1 Interdependency 6

1.3.2.2 Logico – semantic relation 6

1.4 Metafunctions 7

1.4.1 Ideational metafunction 7

1.4.1.1 Process types and participants 8

1.4.1.2 Circumstances 12

1.4.2 Interpersonal metafunction 13

1.4.2.1 Mood 14

1.4.3 Textual metafuntion: theme and rheme identification 15

1.5 Cohesion 16

1.5.1 The concept of cohesion 16

1.5.2 Types of cohesion 16

1.5.2.1 Grammatical cohesion 16

1.5.2.2 Lexical cohesion 21

1.6 Summary 22

CHAPTER 2: THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F KENNEDY IN 1961 24

2.1 Introduction 24

2.2 The context of the chosen text 24

2.3 Contextual configuration of the text 25

2.4 Clause and clause complex analysis 27

2.5 The analysis of the text in terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme 28

2.5.1 The Transitivity pattern of the text 28

2.5.2 The Mood pattern of the text 30

2.5.3 The Thematic pattern of the text 32

2.6 The Cohesion of the text 33

2.6.1 Grammatical cohesion 33

2.6.2 Lexical cohesion 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Recapitulation 39

2 Implications of the study 40

3 Suggestions for further study 41

REFERENCES 42

APPENDIX I

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: The principal types of relational process 11

Table 2.2: Circumstantial elements 13

LIST OF NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

The long history of linguistics has witnessed the development of variousapproaches to grammar study, among which systemic functional grammar (SFG)emerged as ―an effective tool of analysis, which solves the issues left out bytraditional grammar‖ since it helps understand human language more deeply Of thelinguists investigating this approach, Halliday is the eminent one to suggest themost practical approach to the grammatical construction be meaning–centered as heconsiders language a ―system of meanings‖ From this view, functional grammaremphasizes how linguistic structures express meaning and view language as acommunicative resource, not just as isolated grammatical rules However, theprocess of teaching and learning the language sometimes, in fact, seems to make aclear distinction between grammar and other linguistic areas, so the communicativelanguage acquisition is not really completed

As a teacher of English for a number of grammar classes, I am deeplyinterested in improving the language proficiency along with the structure accuracyfor my students That is the reason why I have developed a great attention to SFGand my absorption in it helps strengthen my notion of its applications in languageteaching and learning

In this study, the analysis of structure and meaning of the inaugural address

by John F Kennedy in 1961 is conducted This political text is chosen to investigatedue to the fact that it has been considered one of the best speeches of 20th centuryworldwide It may provide a rich context of language for applying SFG to analyze

2 Aim of the study

The main aim of the thesis is to analyse the inaugural address by John F.Kennedy in 1961 in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion using systemicfunctional grammar as the theoretical framework

To realize this aim, the research question is as follows:

 How is the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 organized in terms

of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion?

3. Scope of the study

Within the scope of a minor thesis, it is impossible to analyze the text in allaspects as developed by systemic functional grammar framework Therefore, thethesis will focus on re-examining the theoretical concepts relevant to the study andwill use them to analyze the meaning and structure of the inaugural address by John

F Kennedy

4 Methodology of the study

Description and analysis are two main methods to analyze the meaning andstructure of the speech The former deals with the illustration of the crucial areas offunctional grammar and the latter is concerned with the analysis of the text fordiscussion

5 Data Collection

The inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 is retrieved from theofficial and popular website http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu

6 Design of the study

There are three main parts in this thesis as follows:

 Part A: Introduction - gives an overview of the rationale, aims, scope,

methodology and design of the study

 Part B: Development

- Chapter 1: Theoretical Background – provides an overview of

systemic functional grammar in which crucial concepts relevant to the studyare examined

- Chapter 2: The analysis of the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 – focuses on analysing its meaning and structure, based on

the framework provided in chapter 1

 Part C: Conclusion - summarizes the results of the research and suggests

some implications for language teaching and learning as well as for furtherstudies

PART B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This section will re-examine some fundamental concepts in systemicfunction grammar to provide theoretical orientations for the analysis of theinaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961 including form and meaning, model

of context in systemic functional linguistics, clause and clause complex,metafunctions, and cohesion Examples are extracted from functional grammarworks by well-known linguistics such as Halliday and Hasan (1976), Halliday(1994), Thompson (1996) and Hoang Van Van (2006)

1.1 Form and Meaning

Both form and meaning approaches try to find out the answer to the question

of language features Beginning in 1950s, formal grammar, which was developed byNoam Chomsky and his followers, is concerned with description of the structure ofindividual sentences These linguists intend to explain the language structure in theway it is At the same time, a set of rules for grammatically correct or incorrectusage are established as the guide for language users In other words, that a sentence

or utterance is viewed to be wrong or right is due to its obedience to the laws ofgrammar

Unlike the formal linguists, functional linguists have generally dedicatedthemselves to addressing practical concerns of the application of grammar as well asrelating grammar to its function within society Specifically, Halliday (1994) viewslanguage not as a system of rules but ―a system of meanings‖ It shows how peopleuse language to make meaning in order to navigate their social interactions on theirlives He suggests the most practical approach to the grammatical

construction should be meaning–centered In other words, the communicativepurposes and choices, or the sentence-utterance meaning plays an indispensable part

in linguistics That is the reason why systemic functional linguistics takes language

to its functions through meaning, not just formation

1.2 Model of Context in systemic functional linguistics

Considering linguistics a branch of sociology, a social semiotic whichenables people to exchange meaning and therefore act socially, Halliday used theconcept of context of situation and cultural context as the basis of his work Hedeveloped the conceptual framework for illustrating the context including threedimensions named as field, tenor, and mode In Halliday‘s view:

 Field of Discourse: refers to the subject matter: what is happening, to whom,

where and when, and why it is happening …

 Tenor: deals with the social relation existing between participants Tenor

influences interpersonal choices in the linguistic system, and thereby it affectsrole the structures and the strategies chosen to activate the linguistic exchange

 Mode: describes the way the language is being used in the speech interaction,

including the medium (spoken, written, written to be spoken) as well as therhetorical mode (expository, instructive, persuasive)

Briefly, these three components offer a system which helps illustrate anysocio-linguistic occurrence They are also the working hypothesis of metafunctions.Halliday (1994) figures out that the field determines ideational meaning, tenorrepresents interpersonal meaning, and mode corresponds to textual meaning

1.3 Clause and Clause Complex

1.3.1 Clause simplex and Clause Complex

Halliday classifies clauses into two types named clause simplex and clausecomplex A clause simplex contains only one clause whereas a clause complex iscomposed of a head clause together with other clauses that modify it The notion of

‗clause complex‘ can be assumed to enable us to account in full for the functionalorganization of sentences (Halliday, 1994: 216) Here are some illustrations:

Clause simplex

Clause complex

|| They lived in a large house ||

||| You never can tell || till you try |||

(Halliday, 1994: 223)

1.3.2 Clause combination

According to Halliday (1994), therelationship between clauses can be interpreted asone of modification The enrichment of theconcept of modification will enable systematicalternatives into two dimensions:interdependency (taxis) and logico- semanticrelation

1.3.2.1 Interdependency

This dimension represents the relation ofmodifying, where one element modifies or ismodified by other elements in the clause.Therefore, the relation is dependent or equal due

to the modification If it is unequal with at leastone dominant factor, the relationship is named ashypotaxis If there is equality among elements, it

 Parataxis: the equal relation between

elements In other words, the elements areindependent For paratactic structures,numerical notation (1, 2, 3…) will be

used for illustration

In fact, a typical clause complex is a combination

of hypotactic and paratactic sequences, so it will

be impractical if they are separated in analysis.For instance, the following clause complex can

be viewed as:

(i) Expansion: the secondary clause expands the primary one by elaborating,

extending or enhancing it This system consists of the following choices:

 Elaborating (i.e.): restating in other words, making the clause clearer,

commenting and giving illustration For instance:

| That clock doesn‟t go; || it‟s not working |||

 Extending (and, or): adding new information, providing a replacement or an

alternative Here is an example:

| I would have let you know, || only I couldn‟t find your phone number |||

 Enhancing (so, yet, then): giving circumstantial characteristics of time, place,

manner, cause, or condition For instance:

| Alice didn‟t want to begin another argument, || so she said nothing |||

(ii) Projection: the secondary clause is projected by the primary clause as what

somebody said (a locution) or thought (an idea) This system comprises thefollowing choices:

 Locution (say) : a construction of wording

| „I‟m not so sure,‟ || replied the Fat Controller |||

 Idea (think) : a construction of meaning

| Dr Singleman believed || his patient would recover |||

(Halliday, 1994)

1.4 Metafunctions

Halliday (1994) considers metafunctions one of basic concepts around whichsystemic grammar theory is constructed as the concept of metafunctions refers notsimply as the characteristics of the clause but also the meaning running throughoutthe whole language Metafunctions, in his point of view, are divided into three broadfunctions of language, known as ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions

1.4.1 Ideational metafunction

Ideational metafunction represents the idea that language serves for theexpression of content; in other words, the speaker‘s background knowledge and

experience, including his own awareness The clause plays a central role asrepresentation including the principles, which are made up of processes Meanwhilethe clause is also a mode of reflection achieved through the grammatical systemnamely transitivity referring to as a set of process types The process types, ingeneral, express the ―goings-on, happening, doing, sensing, meaning, being andbecoming‖ (Halliday, 1994) The transitivity system is concerned with six processtypes: material, mental, relational, behavioural, verbal and existential.

The framework of a process involves three main components:

 The process itself: realized typically by verbal groups

 Participants in the process: realized typically by nominal groups

 Circumstances associated with the process: realized typically by adverbial group

or prepositional phrase

The concepts of process, participants and circumstances are semanticcategories, which provide the linguistic structure of the events in reality

1.4.1.1 Process types and participants

Each type of process contributes to the construction of English grammar andthere are specific kinds of participants associated with it in particular circumstances

Material process

This type of process carries out the meaning of actions, or some entity

―does‖ something, - which may have some influences on other entities The

―doer‖ of the action is called Actor In many cases, the actions may be referred as affecting to the second participant in the process; this one is known as Goal The

actor and goal can be either human or inanimate Here is an example:

The lion

Actor

Moreover, material processes are not necessarily a concrete or physicalactivity They might be abstract doings or happenings as what Halliday illustrates inthe following example

classified into 4 sub-types:

 Perceptive: seeing, hearing…

 Affective: liking, fearing…

 Cognitive: thinking, knowing, and understanding…

 Desiderative: wanting, desiring, wishing

Verbal process

This is the process of saying, not simply the action of speaking out some

notions but also the symbolic exchange of meaning Therefore, in I told you or The

guide book tells everything, both ―I‖ and ―The guide book‖ are the participant

which is named Sayer The verbal process includes not only Sayer but Receiver

(the one to whom the process is aimed), Verbiage (content of what is said or name

of the saying), and Target (the thing that is targeted by the process) as well The

following are some illustrations:

The third type of processes is relational, something is being said to be

something else It comes under three main kinds:

(+) Identifying: A is the identity of X

Halliday offers the principal types of relational process as the following:

Intensive

Circumstantial

Possessive

Table 2 1: The principal types of relational process

In Atributive mode, one participant is known as Carrier and the quality to represent the possessive relation of carrier is referred to as Attribute For instance:

Your story

Carrier

In Identifying mode, there is a clear distinction between the identifying and

identified participants This pair is termed as Identifier/ Identified and Token/ Value For example:

This type of process illustrates the physiological and psychological behaviors

such as cough, smile, dream although it seems to share the characteristics of mental

and material process The participant who behaves is the Behaver and this

participant is always a conscious being, not a lifeless thing There are five kinds of

this process as Halliday suggests:

 Processes of consciousness as form of behavior: look, watch, stare

 Verbal processes as behavior: chatter, grumble, talk

 Physiological processes manifesting states of consciousness: cry, laugh

 Other physiological processes: breathe, faint, sleep

 Bodily postures and pastimes: sing, dance, lie

She

Behaver

Existential Process

This indicates that something exists or happens Normally, the word There

will appear in the process as the subject without representational function This

process typically involves the verb be and other verbs to express the existence or

happening such as exist, remain, arise, occur.

The object or event which is being said to be existent is known as Existent.

It can be an entity or an event that takes place The following are some examples:

There

Process: existential

1.4.1.2 Circumstantial elements

Circumstances express the notion of ―When, where, how and why‖ the

process takes place Circumstantial factors can be adverbial group or prepositional

phrases Halliday (1994: 151) presents a ―fairly arbitrary list‖ of nine main

circumstantial elements as the following:

services‖ (Halliday, 1994) In carrying the exchange of interactive relations, a clausecan be seen as consisting of two components: mood and residue.

1.4.2.1 Mood

The mood shows what role the speaker selects in the speech situation andwhat role he assigns to the addressee In English, it includes two elements: (i)subject and (ii) finite

(i) Subject is a similar term from traditional grammar It supplies the rest of what it

takes to form a proposition, something by reference to which the proposition can beaffirmed or denied

(ii) Finite can be used to make reference to time of speaking (temporal operator) or

to the judgment of speaking (modal operator) Sometimes, it is obvious to find outfinite as in the cases when auxiliary or modal verbs are separated For example:

Did you invite her to the party?

I can go with you.

However, finite can be mixed with lexical verbs in simple present and simple pasttense Here are some examples:

The sun sets in the West.

I took the exam yesterday.

1.4.2.2 Residue

The other element of a clause is called residue This part consists of threesubfactors: (i) predicator, (ii) complement, and (iii) adjuncts

(i) Predicator: is expressed by the verbal group It is also an indispensable section

of any clause The predicator presents the action, happening state…in which thesubject is involved

(ii) Complement: is realized by a nominal group The orders of complement and

subject will have an influence on thematic purposes of the clause

(iii) Adjuncts: is performed by an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase.

In summary, the following sample (Thompson, 1996) can illustrate the interpersonal metafunction once again:

In the following day

Adjunct

Residue

1.4.3 Textual metafunction: theme and rheme identification

The metafunction which gives the clause the characteristics of a message isthe thematic structure In any clause, there is one element, which ―serves as the

point of departure‖ namely Theme and the remainder of the clause, which develops Theme in order to complete the message of the clause, is known as Rheme.

As ―the starting point of the message‖, theme is commonly supposed to be

at the beginning rather than the end of the clause Theme can be a nominal group,

an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase The following are some examples:

When theme stands at the first place as a subject of the clause, it is

unmarked due to the obvious role it is supposed to play On the other hand, any themes other than the subject in a declarative are referred to as marked theme.

Most common form of marked theme is a circumstance or a complement Someillustrations are the following:

I

Unmarked theme

In 2010,

Marked theme

Nature

Marked themeTheme can be single with only one constituent or multiple with further

internal structure Theme can also be classified into topical (if conflated with experiential components), textual (relevant meaning to discourse) and interpersonal

(referring to speakers and listeners interaction)

In short, the thematic structure in which theme is the prominent element can

be analyzed to ―gain an insight into its (the text) texture and understand how thewriter made clear to us the nature of his underlying concerns.‖ (Halliday, 1994: 67)

1.5 Cohesion

1.5.1 The concept of cohesion

Nguyen Hoa (2000: 23) defines cohesion as ―the formal relationship thatcauses texts to cohere or stick together‖ It is a wide range of semantic relationshipsconveyed through clauses It occurs where the interpretation of some elements inthe discourse is dependent on that of another, the one presupposes the other

Actualization of cohesion depends on both selection of some option fromsystematic resources (reference, ellipsis, substitution, conjunction and structuralparallelism) and the presence of some other elements (repetition, synonym,antonym, meronymy and collocation) which resolves the presupposition that thissets up They all fall into two main types of cohesion namely grammatical cohesionand lexical cohesion which will be discussed in the following parts

1.5.2 Types of cohesion

1.5.2.1 Grammatical cohesion

Grammar, in linguistics, refers to the logical and structural rules that governthe composition of sentences, phrases or words of any given languages.Grammatical cohesion, thus, refers to the logical and structural content of a text

According to Hoang Van Van (2006: 66), reference illustrates the relationship

of identity which exists between units in discourse It can be classified into six mainsub-types:

 Anaphoric reference: directs listeners or readers to refer ―backwards‖ to the

preceding text to get a comprehensive understanding of the discourse In theanalysis, it is indicated by a backward arrow For example:

Look at the sun It‟s going down quickly.

 Cataphoric reference: refers ―forwards‖ the clause so as to specify the reference

meaning In the analysis, it is illustrated by a forward arrow For instance:

As she arrived home, Janet noticed that the door was open.

 Exophoric reference: refers ―outwards‖ the clause to some participants in the

previous part In the analysis, it is indicated by a vertical arrow For example:

The man turned out to be a thief.

 Personal reference: is the reference to the category of human participants,

using pronouns In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: P) Here is an example:

I and my mother are at the market We want to buy some fruits.

Personal reference (R: P)

 Comparative reference: is for the purpose of illustrating comparison, similarities

or identities, comparative reference are expressions such as the same, similar to,

more than, the most, as good as… In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: C) Here

is the example:

She cooks much better than her sister.

Comparative reference (R: C)

 Demonstrative reference: is a form of verbal pointing by speakers who

identifies the referent by locating it on the scale proximity in terms of time and

space It‘s normally expressed through determiners like this, that, these, those, and adverbs like here, or there In the analysis, it is indicated by (R: D) Here is

an example:

She won the first prize This made her parents really pleased.

Demonstrative reference (R: D)

Substitution

Substitution refers to the process or result of replacing one item by another at

a particular place in discourse There are three subtypes of substitution includingnominal, verbal and clausal substitution

 Nominal Substitution: is the use of a substitute word to replace the Head of a

corresponding nominal group For instance:

This branch is not open I need to find another one.

 Verbal Substitution: is ―do‖ This functions as Head of a verbal group, in the

place that is occupied by the lexical verb For instance:

The gas price increases considerably than it did last year.

 Clausal Substitution: is the type in which what is presupposed is not an

element within the clause but an entire clause For instance:

- She will get the first prize in that contest.

- I hope so.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis is used in the sense that something is omitted by a structure but themissing part can always be retrieved from another structure within a sentence orbeyond a sentence Elliptical cohesion can be discussed in terms of nominal, verbaland clausal ellipsis

 Nominal Ellipsis: when the thing is omitted, one of the elements in the modifier

must take the role of the head, but the reader can recover the omitted thing fromthe presupposition

For example: - I like the red bike - I prefer the yellow (bike)

 Verbal Ellipsis: the mood element is present but the residue is omitted For

example:

- Have you ever been here? - Yes, I have (been here)

 Clausal Ellipsis: takes the presupposing clause as a basic structure where

ellipsis occurs in constituents like the subject complement, predicator andadjunct For example:

- I think you have to tell them the truth.

- Why? (do I have to tell them the truth?)

Conjunction

The term ―conjunction‖ is used to describe the cohesive tie between clauses

or sections of text in such a way as to demonstrate a meaningful relationshipbetween them It is also understood as the linking of ideas, or events This

―linking‖ is conveyed by the use of a wide range of conjunctive adjuncts (anadverbial group or prepositional phrase) ―within the domains of elaboration,extension and enhancement‖ (Halliday, 1994: 324)

Elaboration

 Apposition: the restatement or represented of some factors

(i) Expository: in other words, that is to say, I mean…

(ii) Exemplifying: for example, for instance, to illustrate…

 Clarification: summary and clearer reinstatement for the discourse purposes

(i) Corrective: rather than, at least, to be more specific…

(ii) Distractive: by the way, incidentally…

(iii) Dismissive: in any case, anyway, leaving that aside…

(iv) Particularizing: in particular, especially…

(v) Resumptive: to resume, as I was saying…

(vi) Summative: in short, to sum up, in brief…

(vii) Verifactive: actually, as a matter of fact, in fact…

Extension

 Addition:

(i) Positive: and, also, moreover, in addition…

(ii) Negative: nor

 Adversative: but, yet, on the other hand, however…

 Variation:

(i) Replacive: on the contrary, instead of

(ii) (ii) Subtractive: apart from that, except for that …

(iii) (iii) Alternative: alternatively

Enhancement

 Spatio - temporal: The spatial relations serve as ―text-creating cohesive devices‖

(i) Simple: following (then, next, afterwards…), simultaneous (just then,

at the same time…), preceding (before that, previously…)…

(ii) Complex: immediate (at once, immediately…), interrupted (soon, after a

while…), repetitive (next time, on another occasion…)…

(iii) Simple internal: (next, secondly…), simultaneous (at this point,

here…), preceding (up to now…)…

 Manner: cohesion is created by manner conjunctives through comparison and

reference to means

(i) Comparison: positive (likewise, similarly…) or negative (in a different way)

(ii) Means: thus, thereby, by such means…

 Causal – conditional: the causal expressions can be in general or specific while

the conditionals can be positive, negative or concessive

(i) Causal expressions: general (so, then, hence…); specific (as a result)

(ii) Conditionals: positive (in that case), negative (if not) or concessive (yet,

still, through…)

 Matter: with this type of conjunction, the cohesion refers to the matter which

happened previously

(i) Positive: here, there, as to that…

(ii) Negative: in other respects, elsewhere…

Obviously, the various kinds of conjunction are not definite; they can, in fact,overlap with one another The above clarification, which is provided by Halliday(1994) ―are those which have been found most useful in the interpretation of texts‖

Structural parallelism

According to Nguyen Hoa (2000: 27), if two or more clauses have identical

or very similar structure, this parallelism may serve as a means of connectingclauses or clause complexes with the connection being further reinforced by lexicalequivalence and implications of semantic relationship Obviously, in the following

example, the construction ―wherever there‟s we bring ” recurs in the second clause complex apart from such synonyms as despair/ fear and hope/ confidence.

Wherever there‟s despair, we bring hope

Wherever there‟s fear, we bring confidence

1.5.2.2 Lexical cohesion

The choice of lexical items can determine the discourse cohesion Lexicalcohesion involves the employment of repetition, synonymy, antonym, meronymyand collocation

Repetition

Repetition looks at the same lexical item with the same meaning occurringmore than one time in the same discourse (Hoang Van Van, 2006: 81) For instance:

Reza saw a dog The dog was wounded by the children.

Ali arrived yesterday His arrival made his mother happy.

Synonymy

Synonymy refers to the relation between different words bearing the samemeaning or nearly the same meaning for a particular person, object, process orquality For instance:

What people want from the government is frankness.

They should explain everything to the public.

Hyponymy (Specific – General)

It describes a relationship between two words, in which the meaning of one

of the words includes the meaning of the other For instance:

A dog is a symbol of loyality That animal is mine.

Meronymy (Part – Whole)

Cohesion results from the choice of a lexical item that is in some sense inpart-whole relationship with a preceding lexical item For instance:

He wounded his left hand in the war, and he could not bend his index finger

since then.

Antonymy

Antonyms are able to effectively convey lexical cohesion which comes about

by the selection of an item which is opposite in meaning to a preceding lexical item.

there is a collocation bond between the bank and bankrupt.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

There are three subtypes including resultative, modificational, and contextual

 Resultative: refers to the relation of one item leading to the outcome of another

item e.g kill – die, rain – wet, dark – night,

 Modificational: illustrates the relation holding between an item and one of its

inherent qualities e.g run – fast, bright – sun,

 Contextual: introduces the co-occurrence of words in one context but not

related in other contexts e.g mother – housework,

1.6 Summary

This chapter has provided the theoretical background relevant to theobjectives of the study The researcher has illustrated an overview of the notions ofform and meaning and the context model in SFL The combination of clauses based

on interdependency and logico-semantic relation as well as the metafunctions

including interpersonal metafunction, ideational metafunction and textualmetafunction have been represented in some detail Finally, the concept of cohesionand its major types as a means of analyzing texts have also been introduced as thelast fundamental concept for the study In the next chapter, the inaugural address byJohn F Kennedy in 1961 will be investigated, using systemic functional grammar asthe theoretical framework.

CHAPTER 2 THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY JOHN F KENEDY IN 19612.1 Introduction

The title ―inaugural address‖ is supposed to be related to a spoken piece oflanguage in use; however, from the point of view of systematic functional grammar, theterm text is used ―to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, thatdoes form a unified whole ‖ (Halliday and Hasan, 1985) Of the same opinion, Nunan(1993: 7-8) defines a text as ―any written record of a communicative event The eventitself involves oral language or written language‖ The title of the minor thesis ―Themeaning and structure of the inaugural address‖, therefore, refers to the analysis of the

address as a text based on functional linguistics.

The procedures and conventions used in the following analysis will be

carried out using Halliday and Hasan (1976) Cohesion in English; and Halliday (1994) An introduction to Functional Grammar as the theoretical framework The

analysis will be implemented on the context of the chosen text; the context situation

of the text in terms of field, tenor and mode; clause and clause complex; transitivitypattern; mood pattern; theme - rheme pattern; and cohesion of the text

2.2 The context of the chosen text

As mentioned, the text is the inaugural address delivered by President John F.Kennedy in the inaugural ceremony at the United States Capitol on January 20th1961

John F Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29th 1917 to

a businessman/politician and a philanthropist In 1936, he enrolled at HarvardCollege and developed an interest in political philosophy After serving in themilitary as commander during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedyrepresented Massachusetts' 11th congressional district in the U.S House ofRepresentative from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat Thereafter, he served in the U.S.Senate from 1953 until 1960 In 1960 presidential election, he defeated Vice

President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon to become the 35th President ofthe United States at the age of 43 with the policy known as the New Frontier.However, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963, which became one of themost shocking events in the history.

The inaugural address was delivered to American citizens in the inauguralceremony and even to a televised audience worldwide It is widely considered to beamong the best presidential inauguration speeches in American history The maintheme of the address is to emphasize optimism and idealism in a time of constantpanic and anxiety of American people since the start of the Cold War Specifically, itreveals Americans‘ determination to protect their freedom and their willingness tohelp improve people‘s lives and co-exist peacefully with other countries Then, thespeaker calls for the action from all American citizens to do what is right for thegreater good and puts a focus on maintenance of international relations in order tocreate a sort of utopia where any problem that comes at mankind could be resolved

2.3 Contextual configuration of the text

Context is undeniably an integral part to help understand a great deal aboutthe language used Halliday (1994) develops a model for contextual analysis whichincludes three main elements namely field, tenor and mode These features of thetext can be summarised as follows:

2.3.1 Field

Field of discourse refers to what is happening, to the nature of the socialaction that is taking place (Hoang Van Van, 2006: 40) In terms of field, the text is aspeech written to be delivered at the inaugural ceremony to the American audience

in particular and public worldwide in general in order to mark the commencement

of the president‘s term and more importantly to express his thoughts and visions andthen to ask for specific actions In the text, processes of different types are used,dominantly material process that indicates the author‘s visions in which Americanswill do all in their power to protect the liberty and Americans‘ willingness tomaintain peaceful international relations with other countries and the support to

improve people‘s lives around the world Relational, mental and verbal processesare also used in quite high frequency in the text While mental process reflectsvalues and beliefs of the author as well as the American nation, verbal processemphasizes the author‘s commitments and the call for the American audience todedicate themselves to service and sacrifice and for the international audience tounite to protect their own freedom and resolve any problems Also, numerousparticipants occurring throughout the text include actor, senser, sayer, identified,carrier and existent.

2.3.2 Tenor

Eggins (1994: 63) defines tenor as ―the social role relationships played byinteractants‖ In this text, there exists the relationship between the speaker and theaudience (listeners) This relationship is equal, which is exposed through the use of

friendly address “fellow citizens” and inclusive pronoun “we” Besides, the

speaker, President John F Kennedy, uses political and formal lexis in his speech.Various kinds of mood including declarative, interrogative and imperative are used,among which declarative mood is predominant Appearing in 70 clauses, declarativemood makes the speech coherent and easy to follow and lets the speaker proclaimthings Imperative mood in 24 clauses also helps convey the speaker‘s message.Although used in only 2 clauses, interrogative mood allows speaker to attract moreattention from the whole audience and thus makes the speech more motivating forthem

2.3.3 Mode

Mode is concerned with textual meaning or thematic structure of the text Inthis spoken text, it is a face-to-face communication, and the speaker uses his ownlanguage to express his visions for the future of the country in which Americans will

do anything to protect their freedom and support other countries to improvepeople‘s lives worldwide and then to call for action from the domestic andinternational audience The channel of this text mainly belongs to the auditory one

There is a high lexical density with a large number of content words and lowgrammatical intricacy.

2.4 Clause and clause complex analysis

As can be seen from the detailed analysis of the text into clauses and clausecomplexes provided in Appendix 2 at page IV, the text consists of 121 clauses whichcomprise 53 clause complexes Most of the clause complexes are composed of two

or three clause simplexes such as II, V, VII, XIII, XIV, XVI, XVIII, XIX,

XXI, XXII, XXVI, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXV, XLI, XLIII, XLIV, XLVII,XLVIII, L, and XLXII Notably, there are nine clause complexes made up by 4 or 8

clause simplexes, among which clause complex numbered IX ―Let every nation

know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty” is a typical instance containing eight clause simplexes It is

obvious that the use of clauses of such varying sizes contributes to keep the speechdynamic and engaging

As it can also be seen, there is an inequality between paratactic andhypotactic relation among clauses in the clause complexes Specifically, there areonly five clause complexes including II, XIII, XXXIV, XLVII, and L being ofparatactic relation whereas hypotactic relation is represented in 22 complexes such

as V, VII, VIII, IX, XIV, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXVI, XXVII, XXXI,XXXIII, XXXV, XXXVI, XLI, XLIII, XLIV, XLVIII, LII, and LIII to indicate thedependent relationship among clauses in complexes One more notable thing is that

a number of clause complexes do not contain only one kind of relation but two oreven more Clause complexes numbered XVI, XVII, XXVIII, and XXXII are taken

as examples In these clause complexes, paratactic and hypotactic relation arecombined to make the text cohesive and persuasive Surprisingly, no quoting andquoted clauses are found

Moreover, the majority of semantic relation is elaboration (used in 19complexes like II, IX, XXVII, XLIV, XLVII, XLVIII, L, and so on) further

specifying or describing the given one and followed by enhancement relation(appearing in 16 complexes such as V, IX, XIII, XIV, XVII, XXIII, XXXV, LII and

so on) qualifying the given one by reference to time, place, manner, cause orcondition This really helps make the speaker‘s point of view clear to the listenersand thus to persuade them to act in the desired way

2.5 The analysis of the text in terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme

2.5.1 The Transitivity pattern of the text

The analysed text is the inaugural address by John F Kennedy in 1961through which the president emphasizes his visions for the future of the country inwhich Americans will do anything to protect their freedom and Americans‘willingness to co-exist peacefully with other countries worldwide and then calls foraction from the American public to do what is right for the country and from thepeople around the world for the maintenance of international relations to resolveany problem coming at mankind together The ―What is going on‖ of the text iswell represented in the experiential component of meaning For detail, please seeAppendix 3 at page XV

From the point of view of transitivity, of 121 clauses 79 are of material process which is represented through a wide variety of verbs In the text, the most

frequent use goes to the causative structure of the verb let such as let the word go in clause 12, let every nation know in clause 17, let all our neighbours know in clause

49, let every other power know in clause 52, let both sides explore in clause 73, let

both sides formulate in 75, let both sides seek in 78, let both sides unite in 85, let both sides join in 88, let us begin in 67 and 94, let us never negotiate in 71, let us never fear in 72, and let us explore in 80 The use of material process with this verb let helps outline the author‘s visions for the future of the country in which

Americans will do all in their power to secure the liberty and Americans‘willingness to maintain international relations with other countries and the support

to improve people‘s lives around the world Relational process is also used in quite

high frequency Specifically, it appears in 15 clauses with symbolizing in clause 3,

signifying in clause 4, is in 6, 42, 69, and 70, are in 11, 60, 89, 102 and 115, become

in 48 and 6 and be in 121) presenting the state of beings Besides, mental process is

used in 12 clauses such as clause 2 ―we observe today not a victory of party but a

celebration of freedom”, clause 10 ―we dare not forget today”, clause 34 ―we shall not always expect to find them supporting our view” clause 35 ―but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom”, and clause 109

―I do not believe” reflecting the values and beliefs of the author as well as the

American nation Although not used as frequently as those three processes, verbal

process plays a vital role to convey the author‘s message throughout the speech In

10 clauses of this process exists the outstanding appearance of two verbs pledge and

ask The use of pledge in clause 25, 26, 31, 38 puts an emphasis on the author‘s

commitments to support those who are friends and oppose those who are enemies toassure the freedom of his own country and any other country With the use of the

verbs ask in clause complex L ―And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your

country can do for you ask what you can do for your country”, and clause

complex LI ―My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for

you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”, the speaker calls on the

American people to commit themselves to service and sacrifice and requiresinternational audience to unite to protect their own freedom and resolve any

problems together In the text, however, there are only two clauses using existential process (is in clause 27 and 28) while behavioural process is absent from the text.

Besides, a large number of the processes are in the present tenses includingsimple present and present perfect (35 clauses) characterising the current states oractions which occur or have occurred whereas future tenses are used in over 20processes illustrating the actions possibly happening in the future

In terms of circumstance, the text uses a wide variety of circumstantial

components The main one is location of time and place like in 25 clauses (now,

today, here, around the globe, from this time and place, in this century, in the past,

anywhere, in Americas, from our course, and so on) Some circumstances are of

manner (this much, little, at odds) Some are of accompaniment (with them, with

weakness, instead of its terrors, together), extent (still, for the first time), frequency

(always, never), cause (out of fear, for the inspection and control of arms, for all

mankind), role (into good deeds, not as a call to bear arms) and the others are of

degree such as like.

2.5.2 The Mood pattern of the text

The mood patterns of the text reveal the relationship between the politicianand the public in his own nation and around the world It can be seen from theanalysis of mood pattern of the text illustrated in Appendix 4 at page XXII that

nearly fifty percent of Subjects in the clauses are personal (we - 21 times; I – 4

times, it – 4 times; you – 2 times; they – 1 times) The high frequency of pronoun

we which includes both the speaker himself and the listeners as a united subject

proves the sense of solidarity, rapport and responsibility of the author with the

audience In contrast, the pronoun you is used as a subject only twice referring to

the audience when the speaker wishes to call on every single individual of them foractions

In addition, various kinds of mood including declarative, interrogative and

imperative are used in the text The majority goes to declarative mood which

interrogative mood is used in clauses 103, 104 ―Can we forge against these

enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?” and clause 105 ―Will you join in that historic effort?” This use of interrogative mood besides numerous clauses of

declarative mood lets the speaker attract more attention from the whole audienceand thus make the speech more motivating for them In other words, by raisingthese two questions, the author seems to encourage his citizens to unite in order to

struggle against all kinds of enemies Notably, the use of imperative mood in 24

clauses in the text is regarded as a powerful means to convey the speaker‘s message.Specifically, the author uses imperative mood in a number of clauses starting with

the verb let like let (both sides) in clause 73, 75, 78, 85, 88, and let (the word in 12,

every nation in 17, all our neighbours in 49, every other power in 52) in which let

means ―allow‖ This use contributes to emphasizing his claim of America‘sfreedom and his future plans to secure it as well as to co-exist peacefully with other

countries In addition to this, when choosing this shade of meaning of let, he seems

to assume that America is the most powerful nation in the world In some other

clauses of imperative mood starting with the verb let like let us in clause 67, 71, 72,

80, and 94, the author uses let with a view to making suggestions and the mood is

also considered inclusive mood indicating that both the speaker and listeners willjoin the actions This helps get the audience more excited and inspired about

creating changes Besides, the imperative mood with the verb ask is used in clause

112, 113, 114, and 116 to illustrate the author‘s request for service and sacrificefrom the audience

It can also be seen from the analysis that there are 22 modal elements used

in the text (clauses 19, 32, 34, 35, 40, 44, 43, 48, 50, 61, 62, 63, 87, 92, 93, 95, 103,

104, 105, 110, 111, and 121) among which four modalities express willingness in

positive form (shall and will) and one in negative form (shall not) , three modalities show probability in positive form (may, will and would) and one in negative form (shall not), four modalities represent ability in positive form (can) while three in negative form (cannot), three modalities convey prediction in positive form (will) and one in negative form (will not) and only one modality indicates obligation in positive form (must).