Analysis of Schematic Figures in Martin Luther King, Jr.âS Iâve Been To The Mountaintop.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya membahas penggunaan gaya bahasa dalam

sebuah pidato yang disampaikan oleh Martin Luther King Jr. yang berjudul I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. Pidato tersebut merupakan pidato terakhir Martin

Luther King Jr. di hadapan publik pada 3 April 1968, di Mason Temple (Church of

God in Christ Headquarters) Memphis, Tennessee, sebelum akhirnya ia dibunuh

keesokan harinya. Pidato ini merupakan seruan yang berpengaruh besar dalam

kesetaraan ras warga negara kulit hitam terutama di Amerika.

Saya menggunakan teori Stilistika yang menitikberatkan penggunaan

gaya bahasa dalam menganalisis data. Dalam analisis yang lebih rinci saya

menggunakan Schematic Figures yang merupakan salah satu bidang kajian

Stilistika. Fokus utama dalam Schematic Figures adalah repetition

(pengulangan), yang terdiri atas dua jenis, yaitu Grammatical Schemes

(pengulangan struktur) dan Lexical Schemes (pengulangan kata).

Dalam analisis data, ditemukan keseluruhan data berjumlah 48 data.

Ada pengelompokan 2 kategori berdasarkan jumlah kombinasi penggunaan

pengulangan yaitu Single-featured yang berjumlah 42 data dan Double-featured

yang berjumlah 6 data. Secara keseluruhan, Anaphora (pengulangan kata di

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Maranatha Christian University Selain itu, ditemukan juga bahwa penggunaan repetition dapat menjadi

strategi efektif dalam mendapatkan perhatian pendengar. Saya menyimpulkan

bahwa penggunaan repetition ini merupakan ciri khas dari gaya penyampaian

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Humans are social creatures who need to interact with others. The basic

thing needed for this is communication. That is why communication is very

essential in human’s life. Communication can only be effective when there is a

speaker who delivers and a hearer receives a message. Moreover,

communication occurs when the speaker creates an effect on the hearer.

A medium to exchange the message in communication is language. The

message can be delivered either in written or spoken form. Moreover, the

message delivered depends on what the speaker says. A speaker may use

various styles in using language while communicating. Language is defined as a

means to convey feelings, needs, intentions, and thoughts (Thomas & Carmack,

1990, p. 19) and “style is the type of language and phrasing a speaker uses and

the effect it creates” (Speaking in public, n.d.). Hence, in communication, a

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Maranatha Christian University In this thesis I am interested in analysing a speech. A speech is defined

as “a formal talk given to an audience” (Hornby, 2010, p. 1431). As I have already

stated before, a speaker may use various styles either in written or spoken forms

including a formal talk. That is why I would like to know what styles are used in a

speech.

In this thesis, the speech that I would like to analyze is Martin Luther

King, Jr.’s speech. King delivered a lot of influential speeches which are mostly

about claiming equality and social justice. Believing in nonviolence, he was said

to be the first person in the Western world to fight for equality in peace with words

and reason. Unfortunately, on many occasions, he was imprisoned; he wanted

African Americans to have equal rights (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”, 1964).

In 1964 King was the youngest person and the third black ever to

receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. A year after receiving the prize,

he led the Selma‐to Montgomery Freedom March for voting rights bill that passed

into law and became the new voting rights for African Americans. Moreover, US

Congress established ‘Martin Luther King Day’ on the third Monday of January to

appreciate him as one of America’s greatest leaders (Jones, 2006). Hence, he

Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Maranatha Christian University strike because of inequitable pay and treatment of employees of African

Americans (“I’ve been to the mountaintop”, n.d.).

Moreover, Jones (2010, pp. 3-4) states King’s final speech is one of the

most prominent speeches and the fifteenth most significant American Speech of

the twentieth century, according to “American Rhetoric”, a list compiled by one

hundred and thirty-seven rhetoric scholars. Furthermore, the most important thing

is the fruition of his survival that can be seen clearly nowadays where Americans

of every colour begin to accept and understand each other. It is also marked by

the appointment of Obama that represents all African Americans as the first

African American President in the United States.

I chose this speech because I was attracted by the title that resembled

the title of the story of Moses in the Bible and I believe whoever reads the title

might also feel the same. After I had read the speech, I found out that King used

Biblical stories and others as analogies that are familiar to the hearer, and those

resemble the current situation they were facing at that time. The use of schemes

which are frequently revealed in this speech are under the scope of linguistic

features. Therefore, I assume, these linguistic features can be said to be King’s

style in delivering this speech. In this thesis, I would like to elaborate the

schematic figures used in the speech.

This analysis of the style in this speech will be conducted under the

study of stylistics. Leech (1981) defines style as the “dress of thought” (p. 15). It

is the way of how the writer conveys the message. Furthermore, stylistics is

defined as “a linguistic approach which explains the relation between language

and artistic function” (Leech, 1981, p. 13). The analysis of schemes belongs to

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Maranatha Christian University of speech. The use of figures of speech as stylistic category will be very useful

and helpful for me to analyse the linguistic features that King used in his speech.

The study of stylistics is significant because by studying stylistics, the

hearers or the readers know that the how is as important as the what. The

hearers or the readers commonly tend to focus on the what rather than the how

whereas in fact the how is also crucial for the how is able to give the impact of the

speech. The message may be important but if the how is uninteresting, the

hearers or the readers will feel bored.

The hearers or the readers are also encouraged to appreciate a person’s

style as an ability in delivering a speech that is not easy to compose. The points

and the contents in a speech can be the same whoever delivers it. However, the

way of delivering a speech may be different for everyone as they have different

styles. The difference is not about what is conveyed in a message but how the

message is conveyed. King’s style is able to drive the message well so that the

speech becomes extraordinary.

(Word count: 973)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The problems that are going to be analysed in this thesis are:

1. What are the schematic figures that Martin Luther King, Jr. uses in the

speech I’ve Been to the Mountaintop?

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Maranatha Christian University

1.3 Purpose of the Study

In this thesis, I would like to:

1. Find out the schematic figures that Martin Luther King, Jr. uses in the

speech I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.

2. Explain King’s purposes of using the schematic figures in this speech.

1.4 Method of Research

The first thing that I did is selecting one speech to be the source of data.

I chose the speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, and then I decided the suitable approaches for the analysis. After

that, I collected the data and analysed them. Finally, I wrote the research report.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis is organized into four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction,

which consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of

the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is

Theoretical Framework, which includes the approaches that are going to be used

in the thesis. Chapter Three contains the data analysis. Finally, Chapter Four the

Conclusion contains my personal comments and opinion of my findings. It is

followed by Bibliography, which presents the list of references I use in analysing

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter I would like to present a conclusion based on my findings

in the previous chapter after analysing the use of schematic figures in Martin

Luther King Jr.’s speech I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. The analysis focuses on

the use of repetition as a type of schematic figures.

From the analysis, I find that repetition is the most frequent figure in the

speech. Besides, the words selected that are said more than once represent an

important point. In my opinion, King uses repetition to show to the audience that

an important point is being emphasized. The important point is emphasized to

make it clearer, more memorable and interesting. Therefore, repetition as a

schematic figure can be considered King’s style, which is an effective strategy to

catch the audience’s attention.

Moreover, it is found out that the types of repetition King uses are exact

and approximate repetition. In this speech, the exact repetition is more

dominantly used. Through these types, I notice that the exact repetition

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Maranatha Christian University On the other hand, the approximate repetition, such as scesis onomaton, tends to

repeat and link the same idea in the forms of different words or synonyms.

Another thing worth noticing is that most of the approximate repetition in the data

increase the weightiness of tone and mood of the important point so that they

sound more crucial and serious. In this case, I think the words used in the

approximate repetition mutually support each other.

The most dominant schematic figures used is lexical schemes or word

repetition. A word is a single unit of language that is directly heard and received

by the audience rather than structure. I think in receiving structure, the audience

should go through a process of what the word means first. Besides, in my

perspective, repeating words gives obvious repetition and it is more effective than

repeating structure. In some cases, however, parallelism can create a balanced

order of the structure and repeat the important idea at the same time. Such

parallelism is not only in the structures but also in the words. Even though the

structures and the words repeated are the same, I assume that the repeated

word spontaneously and unconsciously comes up first in the audience’s mind

rather than the repeated structure. Hence, I can see that King tends to use more

lexical schemes than grammatical schemes in order to make the important point

catchier and more memorable.

In this analysis, it is shown that King uses variation of figures which are

also categorized into single-featured schematic figures and double-featured

schematic figures. He uses the simple figures and complicated ones. A

single-featured schematic figure only requires one figure while a double-single-featured

schematic figures requires a combination of two figures. From my analysis of the

use of these varied figures, it is obvious that King wants to create a variation in

his speech so that the content will not be monotonous and boring. There are 42

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Maranatha Christian University schematic figures. Hence, it is clear that the single-featured schematic figures are

most frequently used. This is so because I think a single-featured schematic

figures is simpler and easier to understand and deal with than a double-featured

one.

Furthermore, out of the 42 data of single-featured schematic figures,

there are 2 data of parallelism, 19 data of anaphora, 6 of anadiplosis, 4 of

epistrophe, 3 of scesis onomaton, 2 of conduplicatio, 2 of polyptoton, 1 of

epizeuxis, 1 of symploce, 1 of epanalepsis, and 1 of antistasis. In addition, out of

the 6 data of double-featured figures, there are 4 data of parallelism-anaphora, 1

of anadiplosis-anaphora, and 1 of anaphora-antistasis. Through this distribution

of data, we can see that the most dominant repetition is anaphora, both in the

single-featured schematic figures and in the double-featured schematic figures,

whereas the most infrequently used are polyptoton, epizeuxis, symploce,

epanalepsis and antistasis.

Anaphora repeats an important point at the beginning of a clause or

sentence as a start. Besides, it is the most familiar and popular term among

them. The audience are directly given what is important as the opening. What

has been emphasized at the beginning is said again in the following lines at the

beginning to remind the audience, especially when they are given long

information after the repeated word is emphasized. I can imagine in certain

situations King emphasizes an important idea with a certain intonation, and this

enables the audience to predict what is coming next. In my opinion, any kind of

repetition King uses has the same and basic purpose, which is to make an

important point clearer, catchier and more memorable so that his purpose of

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Maranatha Christian University Out of the 6 data of parallelism, 5 of them are in the form of conditional

clauses. These 5 data occur in the single-featured schematic figures and the

double-featured schematic figures. Moreover, the 4 data of conditional clauses

are combined with anaphora. Through this finding, I consider King is very skilful

in using any kinds of repetitions and in merging them into a combination of words

and structure repetition all at once. I can also see that he is thoughtful and

competent in engaging the audience’s attention. He is able to choose words that

are going to be used and arranged into a certain position and structure

repeatedly. This combination can heighten the emphasis of the message that is

going to be conveyed. Therefore, it can be a more effective strategy to appeal to

the audience’s emotion.

Through the analysis, it is obvious that King has three purposes of using

schematic figures, namely emphasizing an important point, giving motivation or

encouragement, and persuading the audience. All the data certainly have the

function of emphasizing the important point. In addition, some data have the

function of giving motivation or encouragement and persuading the audience.

Hence, giving motivation or encouragement and persuading the audience can be

said to be an additional purpose while emphasizing the important point is the

major and basic purpose.

Several data only provide a single purpose, which is the basic and

major purpose, namely emphasizing an important point. However, the other data

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Maranatha Christian University achieved and accepted, especially in the combination of several purposes.

Therefore, this creates an interdependent relation among the purposes as they

complete each other.

One of the issues of King’s purposes that is worth noticing is the

nonviolent struggle. I regard this issue as King’s fundamental principle. Through

the overall analysis, I can point out that King’s way of trying to emphasize his

commitment to fight without violence is the best and right way to do. He obviously

wants to reflect a peaceful protest not only in the external physical form but also

in the internal spiritual form. I think this leads to the reason for him to use a

theological approach of the Christian belief which he completely relies on to

motivate the audience. It is also supported by King’s background as a pastor.

Besides, I think the majority of the audience at that time are Christian so that the

strategy is indeed very effective.

Last but not least, those who are interested in doing further researches

on Stylistics and who want to take this topic to analyse, can still analyse the same

speech as there are many other figures that have not been analysed yet. In my

analysis, I only analyse the use of schematic figures and its purposes, while

actually there are Tropic figures that can be analysed further. After doing the

stylistics analysis, I realize that Stylistics is an interdisciplinary study which needs

other supporting theories in order to make the analysis of schematic figures

become clearer, more comprehensive, specific and complete.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

King, M. L. (1968, April 3). I've been to the mountaintop. Retrieved from

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemoutaintop.

htm

References

Glossary of rhetorical terms – AP English language and composition. (2011).

Retrieved 9 September 2015, from http://www.powayusd.com/pusdwvhs

/AP/2010-2011/Docs/Summer%20Assignments/Rhetorical TermsList.pdf

Harris, R. A. (2013). A handbook of rhetorical devices. Retrieved from

http://neville.mcschools.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3699/File/Ronald

%20Donn/rhetorical-devices.pdf

Hornby, A. S. (Ed.). (2010). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (8th ed.).

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

I’ve been to the mountaintop. (n.d.). Retrieved 27 September 2015, from

http://www.mlkonline.net/promised.html

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Maranatha Christian University Jones, T. (2010). A relevant ministry: Ideology in Martin Luther King's “I've been

to the mountaintop” (Bachelors thesis, California State Polytechnic University,

California). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/

cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=comssp

Leech, G. N., & Short, M. N. (1981). Style in fiction. London and New York:

Longman.

LiteraryDevices Editors. (Eds.). (2013). Literary devices. Retrieved 9 September

2015, from http://literary-devices.com/

Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel peace prize. (1964). Retrieved 27

September 2015, from http://westerville.k12.oh.us/userfiles/42255/Class

es/8688/MLK%2Article%20and%20Questions.pdf

Miklowitz, G. D. (1997). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Pendulum Press.

Speaking in public: speech delivery. (n.d.). Retrieved 28 September 2015, from

https://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighere

d/samplechapter/0205627870.pdf

Thomas, P. J., & Carmack, F. F. (1990). Speech and language. Massachusetts:

Analysis of Schematic Figures in Martin Luther King, Jr.âS Iâve Been To The Mountaintop.