Tài liệu A critical discourse analysis of president trump’s speech to the arab islamic american summit on may,21st, 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULITY OF GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYEN THI THU KHANH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SPEECH TO THE ARAB ISLAMIC AMERICAN SUMMIT ON MAY, 21st, 2017 (PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN BÀI NÓI CHUYỆN CỦA TỔNG THỐNG TRUMP TẠI HỘI NGHỊ THƯỢNG ĐỈNH MỸ VÀ HỒI GIÁO Ả RẬP NGÀY 21/05/2017) MINOR THESIS Field :English Linguistics Code :8220201.01 Hanoi, 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULITY OF GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYEN THI THU KHANH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SPEECH TO THE ARAB ISLAMIC AMERICAN SUMMIT ON MAY, 21st, 2017 (PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN PHÊ PHÁN BÀI NÓI CHUYỆN CỦA TỔNG THỐNG TRUMP TẠI HỘI NGHỊ THƯỢNG ĐỈNH MỸ VÀ HỒI GIÁO Ả RẬP NGÀY 21/05/2017) MINOR THESIS Field :English Linguistics Code :8220201.01 Supervisor : Prof. Nguyen Hoa Hanoi, 2018 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ― A critical discourse analysis of President Trump‘s speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit on May, 21st, 2017‖ is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not have been possible to complete this thesis without the kind supports and helps of many people. First and foremost, I express the greatest gratitude to my enthusiastic supervisor, Prof. Nguyen Hoa, for his guidance and constant supervision as well as providing necessary information regarding the study in the completion of this thesis. My high appreciation also goes to all my lecturers and officers from Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, who facilitated in the most possible way during my whole course of studying. I have made efforts in this thesis. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and sincerest thanks to all of them. Finally, I wish to say sincerest thanks to my family and friends who have encouraged and assisted me during the process of my writing this paper. Hanoi, March, 2018 Nguyen Thi Thu Khanh i TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ....................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................vii PART I: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1. Rationale of the study ............................................................................................. 1 2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................... 2 3. Scope of the study ................................................................................................... 3 4. The significance of thesis ....................................................................................... 3 5. Methodology of the study ....................................................................................... 4 6. Background of the data ........................................................................................... 4 7. Structure of the study .............................................................................................. 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 7 1. Definition of key terms ...........................................................................................7 1.1. What is discourse? .............................................................................................. 7 1.1.1. Discourse .......................................................................................................... 7 1.1.2. Political discourse ............................................................................................ 8 1.2. What is CDA?..................................................................................................... 8 1.3. Power in language ............................................................................................ 10 1.4. Language and ideology .................................................................................... 11 2. The review of previous researches .......................................................................12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 14 2.1. Data................................................................................................................... 14 2.2. Procedure .......................................................................................................... 14 2.2.1. Fairclough‘s analytical framework ................................................................ 14 2.2.1.1. Description ...................................................................................................15 ii 2.2.1.2. Interpretation ................................................................................................17 2.2.1.3. Explanation ..................................................................................................17 2.2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and its roles in CDA ........................... 18 2.2.2.1.Ideational Function........................................................................................19 2.2.2.2. Interpersonal Function .................................................................................20 2.2.2.3. Textual Function ..........................................................................................20 2.2.2.4. Thematic system...........................................................................................20 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 22 3.1. Text (Description) ............................................................................................22 3.1.1. The structure of the text .................................................................................22 3.1.2. Vocabulary ..................................................................................................... 26 3.1.2.1. Experiential value of words .........................................................................26 3.1.2.2. The relational value of words ......................................................................29 3.1.2.3. The expressive value of words .....................................................................30 3.1.2.4. Metaphors .....................................................................................................31 3.1.3. Grammar ......................................................................................................... 32 3.1.3.1. The use of personal pronouns ‗I‘, ‗we‘ and ‗you‘ .......................................32 3.1.3.2. Passive/active Voice ....................................................................................34 3.1.3.3. Mode of sentences ........................................................................................34 3.1.3.4. Modality .......................................................................................................35 3.1.3.5. Connective value of text ..............................................................................37 3.1.3.6. Transitivity system (process and participants) .............................................38 3.1.4. Textual analysis ............................................................................................... 40 3.2. Interpretation(Interaction) ................................................................................ 41 3.2.1. Situational context .......................................................................................... 41 3.2.2. Speech acts ..................................................................................................... 42 3.2.3. Inter-textual context and presupposition ........................................................ 44 3.3. Explanation (Context) ......................................................................................44 iii PART III: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 46 1) Summary and conclusion ...................................................................................... 46 2) Limitation of the study.......................................................................................... 48 3) Suggestions for further study ................................................................................ 48 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 49 APPENDIXES ......................................................................................................... 50 Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................ 50 President Trump‘s Speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit .......................... 50 Appendix 2: Content Analysis .................................................................................. 60 Appendix 3: Transitivity Analysis in detail .............................................................. 68 Appendix 4: Speech act analysis ............................................................................... 75 iv ABSTRACT In my study, I employ Fairclough‘s theoretical framework and Halliday‘s Systemic Functional Grammar to analyze a case study which is a political speech named ―President Trump‘s Speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit‖. The study aims at deciphering the relationship between language, ideologies and power behind the discourse. To fulfill above mentioned purposes, the linguistic strategies are analyzed to see how the ideologies of speech are constructed. The result after analyzing this discourse draws out the major findings that language is not only shaped by the society around it, but an effective tool to convey ideas and at the same time affects the thinking of the hearers and the society. Language constructs one‘s themes or ideologies. By analyzing this case study, it can be seen that Trump has flexibly used his linguistic strategies to get his opinions across and persuade the audience to action according to his policies. v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure1. The Three-Dimensional view of discourse [adapted from Fairclough, Norman. 1992. Discourse and Social Change (Page 93, Figure 5-2). Cambridge: Polity Press]. ............................................................................................................. 15 Figure 2: Explaination ( Fairclough, 2001:136) ............................................................... 18 Table 1:The distribution of ‗I‘, ‗we‘, and ‗you‘................................................................... 32 Table 2: Distribution of modal verbs ...................................................................................... 36 Table 3: Summary of Process types ........................................................................................ 38 Table 4:Transitivity analysis of the speech ........................................................................... 38 Table 5: The distribution of speech act.................................................................................. 42 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CDA Critical Discourse Analysis PDA Political Discourse Analysis CL Critical linguistics SFG Systematic Functional Grammar vii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Language plays an important role in our lives. We use language to communicate with each other and to express our attitudes to the world around us. In other words, language is a communicative tool through which we convey our messages and ideas with one another. We can communicate effectively by using our words, gestures and tone of voice in a variety of situations. Therefore, language is the voice of each person and through using language, the ideas and power of speaker are revealed. The addresses of political leaders are convincing evidences for the relationship between the thoughts, language and power. Politicians usually use their own linguistic strategies to make well-prepared and persuasive speeches. Additionally, oratorical skill is one of the most effective tools to convey messages to audiences with the aim of persuading the public to accept and support the policies mentioned in speech. The language analysts often choose talks of powerful figures as the object of their enquiry. The speeches of the presidents of the United States always receive the attention from linguistic researchers, critics and the mass media. Remarkably, there are quite a lot studies on the addresses of the President Obama. President Donald Trump is no exception. However, Donald Trump is paid more attention to by the world press more because he has backgrounds as a billionaire and excellent businessman not a politician with a profound view and distinctive style. President Trump‘s Speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit is a convincing proof of that. The speech was made on May,21st , 2017. It is a new step of President Donald Trump about diplomatic strategy between the United States and the world and he calls to fight extremists and terrorism at Middle East and Arab Islamic countries at the same time. Besides, this speech also marks his first foreign visit. Therefore, I am not an exception among people who pay much attention to the speech. That is the reason why I choose his speech for my thesis. 1 To analyze the speech, I employ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach views language as a form of social practice. Through CDA, the relationship between language, power and ideology can be revealed. Therefore, analyzing President Donald Trump‘s speech in the view of CDA can reveal the persuasive strategies he used and decipher ideological traits typical for Donald Trump in his address. 2. Aims of the study The inclination of CDA is usually towards public speech such as advertisement, newspaper, political, official documents, laws and regulations. The aim of employing CDA to analyze such speeches is to explore the relationships between language, ideology and power. The talks or addresses of political figures are always rich sources for linguists to exploit, due to the fact that each character has individual features in applying his or her language expressions as well as intention in speech in order to persuade the hearers. The study of presidential addresses has not only attracted the attention of linguists, but also attracted the interests of political scientists and historians. Especially, the heads of the White House always receive the concern of world press right after inauguration. After Barack Obama, this year, President Donald Trump has caught the attention of the world again. Thus, this study aims at examining the persuasive strategies of President Donald Trump‘s public speaking. Besides, the study highlights the stylistic techniques employed by Donald Trump in formal speeches and attempts to reveal main ideologies which exist in the speech under investigation. In short, there are three main objectives the study needs to make it clear: employing the principles of CDA to find out persuasive strategies as well as how Donald Trump convinces audiences to believe in his ideas and solutions, revealing ideologies used in the speech and the relationship between language and ideology. To serve the aim of the study as mentioned, the study necessarily targets the answers to the following questions: 2  What are Donald Trump‘s themes/ideologies in his speech?  How are his themes/ideologies represented linguistically? 3. Scope of the study The analysis of Donald Trump‘s speech is limited to the verbal aspects because this study only focuses on the text of the speech. Thus, some limitations about extra linguistic factors such as facial expression, eyes contact, etc are not taken into consideration although they are quite important in the discourse analysis. Additionally, the address mainly makes closer connection between countries, hence, there are no political arguments like debating speeches for election. Besides, this study is only confined to analyzing the chosen speech from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. 4. The significance of thesis  The theoretical significance The application of CDA theory to analyzing speeches of figures who have influence in political field, especially presidents as well as politicians of the United State is not a quite new direction, however, finding linguistic strategies and ideologies of each person still attracts much attention because each person has a distinctive style of language. Based on the current theory of CDA, I analyze this speech with the aim of finding out the relationship between language, ideology and power hidden in the speech. Through that, this thesis gives suggestions for the next study orientations about analyzing addresses of famous figures in the political field in particular and addresses in other fields in general.  The practical significance In CDA approach, it is hoped that this thesis finds out the mainlinguistic strategies Donald Trump used to persuade audiences and his ideology in speeches, which leads to understanding of President Trump and the difference in style of predecessors and President Trump. In addition, the results of this study also 3 contribute to the effectiveness and feasibility of analyzing political discourse applied in reality and raise awareness of how language is used to construct ideologies and power. 5. Methodology of the study The study uses the analytical framework including three stages of CDA. It is proposed by Fairclough. In fact, these stages are reflected in the ―three dimensional method of discourse analysis‖, introduced by Fairclough (1995), namely: 1) Description stage, which is related to the formal properties of the text. 2) Interpretation stage, which is concerned with the relationship between texts and interaction. 3) Explanation stage, which is concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context. The study also uses Systemic Functional Grammar of Halliday which includes the ideational function, the interpersonal function and the textual function to analyze grammar as well as words in the speech, which leads to revealing the linguistic strategies employed in the address. 6. Background of the data Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current President of the United States. He has become a president of America since January 20, 2017. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality. Trump had long expressed interest in politics. He took part in the presidential race in 2016 as a representative of the Republican party and defeated sixteen opponents in this battle. Trump won the general election on November 8, 2016 against Hillary Clinton, a candidate of the Democratic party. He became the oldest and wealthiest person ever to assume the presidency. The speech marks a confused stage of Donald Trump, when he gets stuck in the criticism and observation of America press. According to CNN, this trip has been 4 prepared between difficulties besetting President Trump. Only within a week, Trump‘s presidency has been even in danger. The White House has suddenly sunk in the tense atmosphere. It seems to be assumed that Donald Trump has revealed the secret intelligence to Russian officials. And that reduces Trump‘s political credentials. At the same time, he has also fired FBI Director, James Comey. Therefore, a successful trip abroad can be a good solution to the domestic crisis. In President Trump‘s Speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit, he spoke of making close-knit partnership between two countries. Besides, Donald Trump calls people, organizations and countries to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism in order to bring peace, security and prosperity for the nations as well as the world. He also emphasizes the barbaric results and unspeakable horror the innocent victims have endured. In sheer numbers, the deadliest toll has been exacted on the innocent people of Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern nations. The Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which are potential lands about developing tourism and cradle of civilization, are facing with the threatening of the extremism and terrorism. Hence, through this speech, Donald Trump wants to convey diplomatic message and hopes countries in the summit to join strategies to fight the extremism and terrorism with the purpose of bringing peace, security and prosperity in the whole world in general. 7. Structure of the study  Part I: Introduction, including: A brief introduction of the study includes the rationale, significance, scope, methodology, the objectives of the study with two research questions and background of the data.  Part II: Development The Development part comprises three chapters: Chapter 1 named “Literature Review‖ provides the development process of critical discourse analysis and important features of its theory as well. 5 Chapter 2 entitled “Methodology‖ shows clearly the analytical framework of the study. I employ Fairclough‘s approach and Systemic Functional Grammar of Halliday to analyze the speech. Chapter 3 labeled “Findings and Discussion” discusses the ideologies of Donald Trump hidden in the speech, the linguistic strategies he uses as well as the link between language , power and ideology in the speech.  Part III: Conclusion The conclusion part is to summarize the findings after analyzing the data, make conclusion of the study and give suggestions for the further study. 6 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW With the purpose of providing a literature review as well as laying a firm foundation for the analysis, this chapter will cover the overview of discourse, critical discourse analysis, the concepts of power and ideology and review of previous researchers. This part plays an essential role as a frame of the whole study. 1. Definition of key terms 1.1. What is discourse? Before discussing about critical discourse analysis, it is necessary to get a clear understanding about data which is analyzed because definitions of ―discourse‖ are quite various. After that, I will focus on ―political discourse‖ because it relates to the study. 1.1.1. Discourse Discourse is language viewed in a certain way, as a part of the social process which is related to other parts. In other words, discourse is language in its relations with other elements in the social process. In Language and Power, Fairclough has mentioned ―discourse as social practice‖. Discourse is a general term, a unit of language, a speech or any expression of thoughts in a text. Discourse could be any piece of material that conveys a massage to others or any talks that have interaction with other people as well as society. Hence, discourse analysis is analyzing interaction occurring in the context and interaction of process between writers or producers and readers or listeners by using resource. And these interactions are taken into consideration under social context. 7 1.1.2. Political discourse According to Wikipedia, political discourse analysis is a field of discourse analysis which focuses on discourse in political forums (such as debates, speeches, and hearing) as the phenomenon of interest. As indicated by Van Dijk (1998), PDA focuses on the analysis of ―political discourse‖. Critical-political discourse analysis deals especially with the reproduction of political power, power abuse, or domination through political discourse. According to both Fairclough‘s (1995) and Van Dijk‘s (1993), such an analysis deals with the discursive conditions and consequences of social and political inequality that result from such domination. As such, in political discourse, the content concentrates on political aspect, therefore, bias usually exists and may have negative or positive impacts on the thinking of the hearer. 1.2. What is CDA? Before Critical Discourse Analysis becomes popular, it has been known as Critical Linguistic (CL). Critical Linguistic has emerged since the late 1970s, which was developed by a group of scholars working at University of East Anglia (Fowler et al., 1979, Kress & Hodge, 1979). Their standpoint about discourse is that there always exist ideologies of writers hidden in texts and they aim at showing how ideology and ideological process are deciphered from the producers and the listeners, by giving a means of analysis on critical linguistic based on Halliday‗s systematic functional linguistics. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has appeared when the work Language and Control was published and CDA has been used in the broad way by linguists as well as scholars. However, the views of CDA are a little bit different for each linguist, so this study just focuses on the view of famous scholars in this field. 8 As for Van Dijk(1998), CDA makes a connection between the textual analysis of language and the social practice analysis . It stresses explaining the cause of discourse from the aspect of social structure and analyzes hidden power behind language. The power of the speaker is indicated through language in which they assist each other to bring the effectiveness of utterance. The user of language does not function in isolation, but in a set of cultural, social and psychological frameworks. Therefore, ―critical‖ here is not ―judgmental‖ as many people have ever thought. The one element which makes CDA different from other forms of discourse lies in the attribute of ―critical‖. ―Critical‖ in CDA implies exploring the links between textual structures and their function in interaction within society. Or according to Nguyen Hoa (2006), ―critical‖ can be made sense that each analyst has to his own view when analyzing the discourse and always has desire to make a social change by analyzing social relationship hidden in the discourse. The relatedness between textual structure and social functions in discourse is quite complex, thus it is usually opaque. And the duty of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is making clear this problem. Fairclough (1993: 135) in his definition perceives CDA as ―discourse analysis which aims to systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practice, events and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes; to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles over power; and to explore how the opacity of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony‖. 9 Fairclough and Wodak (1997: 271-280) summarize the main tenets of CDA as follows: 1. CDA addresses social problems 2. Power relations are discursive 3. Discourse constitutes society and culture 4. Discourse does ideological work 5. Discourse is historical 6. The link between text and society is mediated 7. Discourse analysis is interpretive and explanatory 8. Discourse is a form of social action Van Dijk (2008) states that CDA should always include all dimensions of: ―…Discourse, Cognition and Society – and when possible also a Historical and Cultural dimension…‖. In addition to this, Wodak argues that the concept of power and ideology must always figure in CDA (Wodak and Meyer, 2001: 3). This implies that there are central terms which have to be included in a critical discourse analysis. In order to account for these, it is necessary to consider the key elements of CDA in the following. 1.3. Power in language According to Wodak (Wodak and Meyer, 2001: 10): ―…language is not powerful on its own…‖.That is to say, what gives it power is the way it is used by powerful people. In other words, people with power can help language gain power through their use of it. Because CDA has a special focus on social change, the concept of power is in this theoretical framework closely related to dominance. This is illustrated by van Dijk‘s definition of dominance as seen below: ―The exercise of social power by elites, institutions or groups that result in social inequality, including political, cultural, class, ethnic, racial and gender inequality.‖ (Van Dijk 1993: 249f). So, according to Van Dijk, power involves control by groups or institutions. These groups may constrain or limit the freedom of other groups by 10