Self-Representation of "George Bush's Address on the Start of War".

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya membahas pidato George W. Bush, Presiden Amerika Serikat pada tahun 2003. Judul pidato yang saya analisis adalah George Bush’s Address on the Start of War. Dalam pidato ini pembicara, dalam hal ini

adalah George W. Bush, menekankan bahwa Amerika sedang terlibat dalam perang melawan Irak yang pada saat itu dipimpin oleh Saddam Hussein karena disinyalir Saddam Hussein memiliki senjata pemusnah masal dan Saddam Hussein memerintah rakyat Irak dengan tangan besi.

Dalam tesis ini saya menggunakan teori Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) yang dikemukakan oleh Michael Halliday. Dalam teori ini Michael

Halliday mengemukakan bahwa ada tiga makna yang dapat dianalisis dalam setiap teks, yaitu textual meaning, ideational meaning, dan interpersonal meaning.

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Organization of the Thesis ... 4

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

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iii Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF SELF-REPRESENTATION IN

GEORGE BUSH’S ADDRESS ON THE START OF WAR ... 15

3.1 Textual Meaning ... 16

Table 5. Theme and Rheme ... 44

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Every human being delivers a message to others through speeches, articles, conversations, news articles, and many more, whether it contains negative or positive things. We cannot escape from that reality. This is the life that we live by every day.

Sometimes, it is very hard to understand the real message that the speakers or the writers want to tell us. Sometimes, we interpret the message of the writers or the speakers wrongly and without any considerations about anything else. Moreover, sometimes we do not care about anything that speakers or writers want to talk about. Thus, we lose touch with what the speakers or writers want to say. Some factors can affect the meaning of the message.

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2 Maranatha Christian University of speakers (or writer) and hearers (or reader) in a specific situational context, and within a framework of social and cultural conventions" (Abrams and Harpham).

Discourse analysis itself is not about the method but it is about how the language is used in particular contexts. I choose to do a discourse analysis because I want to understand thoroughly what the speakers or the writers want to convey through their texts or speeches.

I choose a speech as my data source for my thesis. Speech is “a formal talk that a person gives to an audience.”(“Speech,” def. 1). In my opinion, a speech has power to change people’s mind. They will believe that something is good or

bad because the purpose of a speech is to persuade others to agree with the

statements that have been delivered. Sometimes it is easier to make propaganda or to speak about the truth by using a speech than other media such as written texts.

For example, Hitler’s speech encouraged German invasion throughout Europe (“Hitler Comes to Power”). Besides, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech led the

African-Americans nowadays to have the same rights as the white in the United

States (“Martin Luther King, Jr: Fighting for Equal Rights in America”).

The reason why I choose Self-Representation of “George Bush’s Address

on the Start of War” as my thesis topic is because I find it interesting to discover

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3 Maranatha Christian University The approach that I will use in doing the text analysis is Systemic

Functional Grammar proposed by Michael Halliday, who “views language as a

resource for making meaning. These grammar attempts to describe language in

actual use and so focus on texts and their contexts…how those structures construct meaning” (Gerot and Wignell 6).

Functional Grammar was first developed by Michael Halliday, who is a British linguist (Princeton). He published his first work in the Systemic Functional Grammar model in 1961. I choose this theory because it focuses on the meaning in the text or the message in the text, so this theory fits my analysis.

Sometimes people’s speeches can be so deceitful and have many layers of

meanings that are uttered very subtly. As a result, sometimes the hearer is provoked easily. They just believe what the speakers say without any second

thought or fully understanding the speakers’ intention. Sometimes they get a

wrong idea about how a speaker or writer represents him/herself in the text. By doing Systemic Functional Grammar analysis, the reader of my thesis can be more analytical and critical in understanding texts or speeches. Besides, it is expected that they cannot be easily provoked. Moreover, by doing this analysis the readers would understand how the speakers or writers represent themselves positively or negatively in order to give positive or negative influence.

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Statement of the Problem

I would like to analyze the following problems:

1. Based on the ideational meaning, what is the representation of the self in the text?

2. Based on the interpersonal meaning, what is the representation of the self in the text?

3. Based on the textual meaning, what is the representation of the self in the text?

Purpose of the Study

These are the purposes of this study:

1. To know self-representation through the ideational meaning of the text. 2. To know self-representation through the interpersonal meaning of the text. 3. To know self-representation through the textual meaning of the text.

Method of Research

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Organization of the Thesis

I divide this thesis into four chapters. Chapter One consists of Background of the Study, Statement of Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two deals with the theoretical framework that I use for my thesis. Chapter Three deals with the analysis of the self-representation whether he/she is positive or negative. The last chapter is Conclusion, in which I put my personal opinion of the findings. At the end, I put

Bibliography and Appendices that contain George Bush’s speech that I used as the

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to put forward the concluding points and my personal opinion about the findings stated in Chapter Three, which is a text analysis of the speech of George W. Bush in addressing the war between the United States and Iraq, which was led by Saddam Hussein. The reason for the United States to strike Iraq is because Iraq is said to have a mass destructive weapon and Saddam Hussein rules Iraq with an iron hand.

In doing this text analysis, I use the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar. I personally think this theory helps me to understand a text better and to

find the meaning behind the speakers’ or writers’ utterances. I believe that the

other students of the English Department also have the same benefit.

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29 Maranatha Christian University reference shows that the self is the United States. Yet, the speaker of this speech is George W. Bush who was at that time the president of the United States.

From the analysis of the use of conjunctions, I find two types of conjunctions, namely the additive conjunction and comparative conjunction. The function of conjunction is connecting one idea to another idea that the speaker wants to convey through this speech. Thus, these two types of conjunction are very useful in helping the readers follow the speaker’s flow of ideas. The additive

and comparative conjunctions are also so effectively used in this speech that the readers can understand that the self is represented positively.

In the analysis of the use of theme and rheme of this speech, it is found that there are five marked themes out of 49 themes. Thus, it can be said that there are only some few points that are emphasized by the speaker. However, through these five marked themes, the readers can be helped in identifying what the speaker thinks important and what he thinks necessary to emphasize.

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30 Maranatha Christian University In my opinion, the way of the speaker presented the self in the previous paragraph also shows the brilliant strategy of President George W. Bush. He does not want to make the United States regarded as an unethical nation which aggressively attacks another nation. This speech convinces the world that what the United States does is something good.

The analysis of interpersonal meaning can be divided into two analyses, namely the analysis of mood and the analysis of modality. These interpersonal meaning shows the attitude of the speaker concerning the topic. In the analysis of the mood, the self uses the declarative mood. I believe this is because he wants to give information to the hearers about the situation that is happening. Moreover, by using declarative mood, he minimalizes the hierarchical relationship of superior and inferior. This is a good strategy as it can be understood that the speaker wants to convey that although he is the President of the United States, he wants to be equal to the hearers, which is a good thing to do for a person who has power like George W. Bush. Moreover, it is an effective way because by using declarative moods the speaker develops the sense of togetherness between the speaker and the hearers of this speech. Thus, it makes the hearers feel they are being respected by the speaker; consequently, the speaker will gain more popularity and respect from the hearers.

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31 Maranatha Christian University Consequently, his attitude towards the war becomes unsure that this war will end as he wants, which is to win the war. Therefore, the speaker’s attitudes toward the war show uncertainty that they are going to win the war. Still, they go to war in order to prevent Saddam Hussein from striking the United States by using a mass destructive weapon.

I would also like to give suggestion for Linguistic students of the English Department who want to do a text analysis by using Systemic Functional Grammar for their thesis. I suggest that they understand the text or speeches that they want to analyze in order to understand the writer’s or speaker’s intention, as this helps they to get better analysis of the text. Moreover, it is better to browse the background of the text to get an accurate context of the text so as to gain a thorough understanding. I think, it is better to choose a speech as a source data, although I personally believe that all kinds of verbal or written texts can be

analyzed using Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. Speeches are easier to

understand, and most speeches are conveyed in a straight-to-the-point way, because the speakers want the hearers to understand their intention.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

“Full Text: George Bush's address on the start of war.” The Guardian, 2003. Web.

13 Mar. 2014

References

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33 Maranatha Christian University “Bring.” Def.1.1. Oxford Online Dictionary. Oxford Online Dictionary. Web. 20

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34 Maranatha Christian University “Come.” Def.1.1. Oxford Online Dictionary. Oxford Online Dictionary. Web. 20

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35 Maranatha Christian University Halliday, M.A.K., Christian, M.I.M. Matthiessen. Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar. 4th ed. Routledge, 2014. Print.

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36 Maranatha Christian University “Want.” Def.1. Oxford Online Dictionary. Oxford Online Dictionary. Web. 2

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