A Systemic Functional Grammar-Based Critical Discourse Analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-325
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Jamaica Kincaid ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

The present paper investigates the grammatical choices made by Jamaica Kincaid in her work Lucy. It analyzes how the selected structure contributes to the realization of particular beliefs such as gender inequality, using the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) approach (Halliday 1973, 1985, 1994; Halliday and Hasan 1989; Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). In particular, the study examines the participants’ roles and the processes types assigned to them with reference to the transitivity system. The data of the present study are collected from the first three chapters of Lucy. The corpus belongs to seven males and eleven female characters who were directly involved in all the actions in the text. A total of 325 sentences were extracted. They were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The results of the study revealed the writer’s subvert of traditional gender stereotypes through displaying women as effectual dynamic actors and assertive sayers. In addition, all female characters were shown as the main participants of the other minor processes, in the sense that they were the behavers and sensers in both behavioral and mental clauses. Keywords: critical discourse analysis, gender inequality, systemic functional grammar, transitivity system.

scholarly journals Rouhani’s and Obama’s Persian New Year messages: A systemic functional grammar perspective

ExELL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Amin Karimnia ◽  
Shidak Rahbarian
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

Abstract This study investigated Nowruz (Persian New Year) messages by Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Barack Obama in March 2016. The study critically analyzed the discourse of these two presidential messages and uncovered the hidden aspects of their ideologies, policies, and background worldviews. In doing so, an integrated version of Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFG) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used. The analysis of data included various linguistic dimensions (e.g. processes, modality, transitivity) of the messages and their statistics. Although results suggested that Obama intended to build a more intimate situation, both presidents tried to inspire a spirit of action, development and effort in their respective governments. The messages did not reveal considerable thematic differences, except some discoursal religious features expressed in Rouhani’s message.

scholarly journals A Contrastive Critical Discourse Analysis of Netanyahu’s and Abbas's Speeches on the Gaza War (2014)

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaa’ G. Rababah ◽  
Jihad M. Hamdan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly

This study provides a contrastive critical discourse analysis of the speeches of the Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations General Assembly regarding the Gaza War (2014). The analysis explores the representation of the “Self” and the “Other” in relation to the war. Van Dijk’s ‘Ideological Square’ theory is adopted to explore the group polarization of Us versus Them dichotomy. Moreover Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar is utilized in the analysis to study how the polarization of the “Self” and “Other” is constructed via particular grammatical transitivity choices. The results indicated that the representation of the “Self” and “Other” in the speeches reflects two different opposing ideologically-governed perspectives on the Gaza conflict. Both speakers present the “Self” as ‘strong’, ‘human’ and ‘honorable’ in contrast to the “Other” that is deemed to be a ‘dire threat’ and an ‘agent of destruction’.

scholarly journals A critical discourse approach to Benjamin Martin’s preface to An introduction to the English language and learning (1754)

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Dolores Fernández Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Discourse Community ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Potential Buyer

The purpose of the present paper is to contribute to the depiction of Martin’s role as a grammarian by analysing the preface to his grammar “An Introduction to the English Language and Learning” (1754). By using a Critical Discourse Analysis approach and a method based on systemic functional grammar, this study intends to describe the discourse structures used in the preface to fulfil its advertising function and persuade the addressee as a potential buyer or user of the grammar. Martin’s preface is characterised by a peculiarly exaggerated and aggressive tone and by a strong emphasis on the religious implications of education, all of which confer some distinction to Martin within the discourse community of eighteenth-century grammarians.

scholarly journals An elegant lady or a flower girl? A critical discourse analysis of pygmalion through a systemic functional perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Ali Rahimi ◽  
Hamideh Nami Anarjan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Relational Processes ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Participant Role ◽  
Bernard Shaw ◽  
Power Hierarchy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the language of the main female character called Eliza in the play ‘Pygmalion’ by Bernard Shaw. This analysis is done by applying the transitivity system, which is part of English linguist Halliday’s (1985; 1994) systemic-functional grammar. According to the transitivity system, verbs can be classified into six processes: material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioural and existential. The most important ones, which are analysed in the play Pygmalion for the analysis of power status, are the material, mental and relational processes. When considering the pattern of participant representation in a text from the perspective of critical discourse analysis, it is useful to have some general sense of the types of participants, which tend to be construed grammatically as powerful and of those which are construed as less powerful or even powerless. The investigation is based on the ideas suggested by Goatly (2000) who made the interesting suggestion that we may construct a hierarchy of participant power relations in a text based on their roles in different types of clauses and processes. The results show that Eliza's change of power status has an effect on her role as a participant in clauses and processes in the play that is in accordance with Goatly's (2000) theory about participants' power hierarchy in process types. Keywords: CDA, systemic functional grammar, transitivity, power, participant role.

scholarly journals Can Beauty Advertisements Empower Women? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the SK-II’s “Change Destiny” Campaign

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Huimin Xu ◽  
Yunying Tan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
The Ideal

This study examines the advertising campaign of a beauty product SK-II, “Change Destiny” through the lens of critical discourse analysis. By unpacking the verbal language and visuals in the three advertisements and a video advertisement, this article aims to investigate how the beauty advertiser SK-II constructs the ideal images of women through discursive strategies in ads and uncover the possible ideologies underlying the advertising discourse. Adopting Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1990 ,1996) framework of ‘reading images’ and systemic functional grammar (Butt, 2012; Halliday, 1994) to analyze the texts and visuals in the ads, this study has found that the beauty brand SK-II has utilized various strategies to engage the audiences and market its products, such as problematizing the aging of women, providing personalized solutions to the problem of aging, constructing certain feminist discourses for women, and drawing itself close to the younger generation through women empowerment. The findings show that although the beauty brand claims to empower women through advocating change of destiny for women in its ads, gender ideology remains to be dominant and continues to perpetrate women. It is concluded that these new changes in the ads are simply playful discursive strategies that employed by advertisers to legitimate the new capitalism and commercialism and generate more sales.

scholarly journals Gender in Ann Veronica: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Zhino J. Abubakr ◽  
Lubna F. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
British Society ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
British Novel ◽  
The Way

This study investigates the differences that can be detected in the language produced by male and female talk. The study’s specific focus is on gender performance by both interlocutors. It concentrates on the way gender is represented in the 20th century British novel by considering social, cultural and ideological factors. The data used for such analysis is a modern British novel “Ann Veronica,” which is written by H. G. Wells, a feminist writer, in 1909. The approach that is used for the analysis is Critical discourse analysis, which is used to investigate the way the characters in the novel perform gender, which also concentrates on revealing gender ideologies and gender power that cause gender inequality. The study also uses conversation analysis to show the organization of the conversation between the characters, male and female, which explain how the conversation is opened and closed and how the sequences are arranged between the characters. The most important conclusions are: gender stereotypes that cause gender inequality are performed in British society. Women are constructed as inferior to men. The study also concludes that women’s gender identities are only limited to domestics. Besides, men have the most power in the society; that is why women are not allowed to be free and independent.  

scholarly journals LANGUAGE AND ECOLOGY: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR ANALYSIS OF THE MAU FOREST CONSERVATION IN KENYA

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Mogambi Moinani ◽  
Margaret Nasambu Barasa
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

This paper explores political leaders’ utterances in regard to the Mau Forest complex in Kenya. The paper adopts an ecolinguistic approach to critical discourse analysis to shed light on how political leaders use language to encode their perceptions and feelings about environmental conservation in general and Mau Forest restoration in particular. Awareness on such language use is important because of the understanding that political leaders are part of the elite members of society who inform and direct public opinion on many critical issues in society. The political class also controls the agenda of public debate on many societal issues. Using Critical Discourse Analysis within Halliday’s (1994) Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) approach, this paper brought to fore how the political class uses language to (de)emphasize or conceal meanings depending on whether such meanings or beliefs are for or against the political leaders’ interests. The findings revealed that the political leaders perceived the forest conservation programme as oppression, distortion and provocation to ethnic-based violence. In addition, the politicians’ lexical choices indicate that the politicians perceived the Mau Forest restoration programme as a falsehood propagated by the political rivals. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0874/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals A Critical Discourse Analysis of Donald Trump’s Inaugural Speech from the Perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 966
Author(s):  
Wen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Personal Pronoun ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Inaugural Speech ◽  
Positive Effect

As an interdicipline that studies the relation of language, power and ideology, critical discourse analysis has attracted more and more linguists’ attention, which can be applied to analyze language features under certain social and cultural background. Critical discourse analysis is based on Halliday’s systemic functional grammar that is a practical method to analyze discourse. Political discourse as a kind of typical discourse which involves the speaker’s ideology and intention, can also be analyzed by critical discourse analysis. Therefore, this paper analyzes Donald Trump’s inaugural speech mainly from the perspectives of transitivity, modality, personal pronoun and coherence in order to reveal the speaker’s political intention, and help readers understand the meaning of discourse, cultivate their critical consciousness and analytical ability. The paper concludes that Trump uses different language forms to transmit, change and maintain audiences’ ideology subtly. At the same time, it has a positive effect on the development of the critical discourse analysis.

scholarly journals LANGUAGE AND POWER IN A WTO DIRECTOR -GENERAL’S SPEECH - A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dang Thi Mai Nga
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Director General ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Language And Power ◽  
The Social

The paper is aimed at exploring ideological power relations of globalization discourse through the analysis of the speech ‘The Backlash against Globalization’ of WTO’ s Director-General Mike Moore based on one of the Discourse Analysis (DA) approaches - Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). At first, the paper sets out the theoretical framework of CDA and the concepts of power and ideology and examines the importance of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in CDA. Then the paper provides readers with the social context of globalization and analyzes the speech in the light of CD.  The findings and the conclusion of the paper prove the assumption that the speech is a tool for Director-General Mike Moore to express his power and ideology in the sense that he is in higher position and confirms that globalization is inevitable and the establishment of WTO is a product of this process helping countries, communities and people face the problems and challenges.

scholarly journals A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Incognegro (2008)

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-176
Author(s):  
Marilyn M. Albert ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Multimodal Discourse Analysis ◽  
Multimodal Discourse

This study attempts to conduct a multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) of Incognegro (2008), a graphic novel by Mat Johnson and arts by Warren Pleece, by applying Michael Halliday’s theory of the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) (1994) for the written texts, i.e. the captions found on the images, and Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design (GVD), or what has been recently called Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) (1996) for the images themselves. The study employs, as well, Teun A. van Dijk’s modal of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (2004), in which power, racism, segregation, oppression, ethnicity, inequality, discrimination, identity, superiority, inferiority, dominant groups, and dominated groups are being analyzed. The study aims at showing the inequality, the oppression, the racial discrimination, and the exercised power Negroes previously suffered (1930s) in America, the land of freedom, and how this suffering is depicted through graphic novels for historical documentation. The study shows that the Whites considered themselves the dominant group, whereas the Negroes were treated as slaves, not even equal to human beings, and hence are recognized to be the oppressed and the dominated group.

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