奥巴马演讲 人际功能

The Realization of the Interpersonal Function

In Obama

’

s Victory Speech in 2012

外国语言学及应用语言学

姜作超

Contents

Introduction -------------------------- -------------------------------

2

Ⅰ

. Literature Review ------- --------------------------------------

2

1.1 Halliday

?

s Three Meta-functions ------------------------------------------------3

1.2 Previous Studies on Political Speeches -----------------------------------------3

Ⅱ

. Theoretical Framework and Methodology ---------------

4

2.1 Theoretical Framework ------------- ----------------------------------------------4

2.1.1 Mood ---------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 4

2.1.2 Modality ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --5

2.1.3 Personal Pronouns ----------- -------------------------------------------------- --6

2.2 Methodology ------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --6

Ⅲ

. The Analysis on Obama

’

s Victory Speech in 2012 ------

7

3.1 Analysis on Obama

?

s Victory Speech in Terms of Mood ---------------------7

3.2 Analysis on Obama

?

s Victory Speech in Terms of Modality -----------------9

3.3 Analysis on Obama

?

s Victory Speech in Terms of Personal Pronouns -----10

Conclusion ---------------------------- -------------------------------

12

References ---------------------- -------------------------------------

13

- 1 -

Introduction

Speech is a practical activity in which the speaker gives information, expresses

emotions,

and

establishes

social

relations

and

son

on.

Nowadays,

people

are

more

sensitive to public speeches, especially political speeches than ever. Political speeches

are

not

only

presentations

of

speaking

skills

of

certain

politicians,

but

also

manifestations of the reinforcement of policies and political attitudes upon the hearers.

The speaker, in his speech, expresses his political views explicitly or implicitly. Power

is the most important feature of political speech. The speaker employs various skills

to

present

himself

as

the

authority

and

enforce

power

on

his

addressees.

Thus,

the

analysis

of

political

speeches

plays

an

important

role

in

our

understanding

of

such

speeches. As the first African-American president in American history, Barack Obama

drew the worl

d?

s great attention, thus this paper takes Obama

?

s victory speech in 2012

as an example.

According

to

Halliday

?

s

Systemic

Functional

Grammar,

language

has

three

meta- functions: ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual function. The

interpersonal

function

establishes

and

maintains

social

relations.

It

reflects

the

interpersonal relationship among people. Through this function, speakers can interact

with other people. Therefore, Halliday

?

s Systemic Functional Grammar is very helpful

in analyzing the interactive and persuasive function of political speeches.

This paper falls into three parts. The first part is literature review, which includes

a

general

view

of

the

three

meta- functions

of

Halliday

?

s

Systemic

Functional

Grammar and previous studies on political speeches. The second part is the theoretical

framework

and

methodology

of

this

study.

This

part

discusses

the

interpersonal

function from three aspects: mood, modality and personal pronouns. The third part is

the

analysis

of

Obama

?

s

victory

speech

in

2012

in

terms

of

mood,

modality

and

personal pronouns and some possible findings and implications.

Ⅰ

. Literature Review

This

chapter

consists

of

two

parts.

The

first

part

is

a

brief

introduction

to

Hallidy

?

s three meta-functions and the second part is the review of previous studies on

political speeches.

- 2 -

1.1

Halliday

’

s Three Meta-functions

Linguists have long been studying the interpersonal function of language. Prague

School first put forward that the study of language should start from the function of

language.

Influenced

by

Prague

School,

Halliday

viewed

language

as

a

system

and

proposed

to

study

language

in

terms

of

its

functions.

He

proposed

three

meta-functions

of

language:

ideational

function,

interpersonal

function

and

textual

function.

The

ideational

function

is

to

convey

new

information,

to

communicate

a

content that is unknown to the hearer. The ideational function is a meaning potential

which mainly consists of transitivity and voice. The interpersonal function embodies

all uses of language to express social and personal relations. Since language is a tool

of communication, we use it to

establish and

maintain relationships with

others, by

selecting

various

communication

roles

of

informing,

questioning,

ordering,

and

persuasion, etc. According to Halliday

?

s

An Introduction to Functional Grammar

, the

interpersonal function involves how to demonstrate the dynamic meaning of language

to show the relationship between the speaker and the hearer and how to use language

to express one

?

s opinion and influence other

s?

minds and behaviors. The interpersonal

function is mainly realized by mood and modality. The textual function refers to the

fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse

into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list

of

sentences.

The

textual

function

fulfills

the

requirement

that

language

should

be

operationally relevant, having texture in a real context of situation that distinguishes a

living

passage

from

a

mere

entry

in

grammar

or

a

dictionary.

It

provides

the

remaining

strands

of

meaning

potential

to

be

woven

into

the

fabric

of

linguistic

structure. (Hu, 2006).

1.2

Previous Studies on Political Speeches

Political speeches have been studied by political scientists, social psychologists,

rhetoricians and linguists with various approaches.

For

political

purposes,

rhetoric

has

been

the

subject

of

study

for

about

two

thousand

years.

Political

speech

has

also

been

studied

from

the

perspective

of

linguistics.

Many

linguistic

approaches

to

political

discourse

are

applicable

to

the

study

of

political

speeches.

Some

approaches

need

the

theories

and

methods

from

- 3 -

pragmatics,

semantics

and

syntax.

Other

approaches

are

taken

by

traditional

stylisticians.

Political

speech

has

also

been

studied

from

the

perspective

of

critical

linguistics. It has been found that media discourse, such as political speeches, has rich

ideological meanings.

English political speech also caught many Chinese

scholars?

attention. In recent

years,

the

presidential

speeches

are

analyzed

by

different

scholars

with

different

methods. Many qualitative and contrastive studies have been carried out with data of

inaugural

speeches

and

public

speeches

of

American

Presidents,

which

have

been

analyzed

with

theories

of

Halliday

?

s

Systemic

Functional

Grammar

or

Critical

Discourse Analysis.

Based on theories of Halliday

?

s Systemic Functional Grammar, this paper intends

to provide some clues for the analysis on the realization of interpersonal function in

political speeches.

Ⅱ

. Theoretical Framework and Methodology

In this chapter, the theoretical

framework is

explained and the methodology of

this study is represented.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

In Halliday

?

s view, interpersonal function is realized through mood and modality.

Other scholars put forward that other lexical resources such as personal pronouns can

also realize interpersonal function.

2.1.1 Mood

Functional

linguists

regard

mood

as

a

major

method

to

realize

interpersonal

meanings. Halliday (1994) points out that when speaking, the speaker adopts himself

a particular speech role, and assigns to the hearer another role which he wishes him to

adopt.

The

most

fundamental

types

of

speech

roles

are

giving

and

demanding

a

commodity of some kind. Giving means

“

inviting to receive

”

and demanding means

“

inviting to

give

”

. The

commodity that the speaker may be

giving

or demanding is

information or goods & services. The speech roles and commodities exchanged define

- 4 -

four

principle

speech

functions:

offer,

command,

statement

and

question.

The

four

speech functions are closely related to certain grammatical structures:

(1)

Statements that are most commonly expressed by declarative clauses.

It moves forward because of you.

(2) Questions by interrogative clauses.

What did you do yesterday?

(3) Commands by imperative clauses.

Let me say this publicly: Michelle, I have never loved you more.

Declaratives

realize

the

speech

role

of

giving

information

and

the

speech

function

of

making

statement.

Interrogatives

realize

the

speech

role

of

demanding

information

and

the

speech

function

of

realizing

questions.

Imperatives

realize

the

speech role of demanding goods & services and speech function of commanding.

Mood consists of two parts: the subject and the finite element. The subject and

the

finite

element

are

combined

to

form

the

mood

of

various

clauses

and

different

mood is often used by the speaker to realize different speech functions.

2.1.2 Modality

Modality

is

considered

as

a

major

component

of

interpersonal

relations.

It

specifies

whether

the

speaker

is

indicting

probably,

usuality,

obligation

and

inclination.

In

functional

grammar,

modality

falls

into

two

types:

modalization

and

modulation.

Modalization

is

the

modality

in

a

proposition

and

modulation

is

the

modality

in

a

proposal.

Modalization

is

concerned

with

two

kinds

of

intermediate

possibilities: degrees of probability:

?

possibly, probably,

and certainly?

and degrees of

usuality:

?

sometimes, usually,

and always?

. In a proposal, there are also two kinds of

intermediate possibility depending on the speech functions of command and offer.

“

In

a command, the intermediate points represent

degrees

of obligation and in

an offer,

they represent degrees of inclination or willingness.

”

(Halliday, 1994: 89).

Modalization reflects the speaker

?

s judgment of probability and frequency. It is

expressed through three ways: (1) modal operators, such as

“

can

”

,

“

will

”

,

“

must

”

, etc.;

(2) adjuncts of probability and usuality, such as

“

possi bly

”

,

“

probably

”

, etc.; (3) both

together. Obligation and inclination can be both realized in the following two ways: (1)

by

finite

modal

operators;

(2)

by

an

expansion

of

the

predicator,

such

as

a

passive

- 5 -

verb.

Modal operators are most frequently used in modality. Modality realized through

modal operators can be divided into three levels: low, median and high.

Positive

Low

Median

High

ought

to,

Can,

may,

could,

Will,

would,

shall,

Must,

might, dare

should, is/was to

Won

?

t,

need, have to

Negative

Needn

?

t,

to/have to

wouldn

?

t,

Mustn

?

t

oughtn

?

t

to,

shouldn

?

t,

can

?

t

mayn

?

t,

couldn

?

t

mightn

?

t,

doesn

?

t/didn

?

t

need

shan

?

t,

isn

?

t/wasn

?