Ideational Meaning Interpersonal Meaning

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CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the key findings of the critical discourse analysis of a set of texts of the first and the second inaugural addresses produced by President Barack Hussein Obama. The chapter aims to analyze the written communication material and to highlight the identification of textual strategies in his addresses. The methodological framework proved particularly well suited to address the complexity of the practice of power performed by Obama as president in gaining the public support to the government objectives in his terms of office. As explained and illustrated in the previous chapter on methodology, Wodaks discourse-historical approach provides the structured method to analyze the inaugural address discourse. The discourse-historical approach of critical discourse analysis focuses on three interrelated dimensions of discourse and heightens an attention on the socio-historical context of the production of discourse.

A. Discourse Analysis of Texts

This part will present what is being represented as truths or norms from Obama‘s first and the second inaugural addresses. It can be also seen how those truths and norms are constructed by looking at the evidences of what is seen as problematic and what is not, from foregrounding and backgrounding, and from what are joined and what is kept apart. The addresses were addressed in the inaugural day of the 44 th president of The United States in the U.S Capitol Washington D.C. in 2009 and 2013. They were delivered by President Barrack Obama in front of members of congress and thousand citizens who attended the ceremony and also watched by millions more around the world through mass media. However, the circumstances of these two addresses were not exactly the same since they were delivered in two different times which means that they brought different issues regarding the social political condition each year brought to America. Therefore in this part, the discussion will cover what has been spoken in each paragraph in the first and second inaugural address.

1. Discourses in the First Inaugural Address

The first inaugural address is made with a full attention to the social problems and also the international affairs that happen in the last few years. All the issues are described with the intention to raise the alertness of the people to the condition of the country. With the blending of old values, beliefs, and ideology, Obama offers new ways to see the America. He manages the people to hold those shared knowledge of history in enduring the difficulties faced by the country. That means the people should not act outside what is believed as true by the president. There are some emphasis on the notions of Nationality, Pluralism, Utilitarianism, Responsibility, Optimism, and some stress on the importance of Time and Action. However, those values, if held as what the president means, will enable the government to construct the regulation and policies to direct the people to serve the power. The distribution of the values can be seen in table below.