textual features was related to the persuasion strategies in delivering the persuasive message to the audience to make a compact and coherence analysis.
A. Analysis Results and Discussion
This chapter is meant to answer two problems as stated in Chapter I. The first is the textual features us
ed in Obama‟s video campaign “Forward”. The second is the persuasion strategies used in the video. The discussion will be
elaborated in the discussion under the subchapter.
1. Textual Features that are Used in Obama’s Presidential Video Campaign
“Forward” 2012
In this section, the researcher explains the textual features that are used in the video campaign. The identification of the textual features in this section is
related to the use of the persuasion strategies in the video campaign which will be discussed in the next section. The textual features identification is done by the
analysis on the occurrence and the purpose of the textual features‟ appearances.
a. Grammar
Under the scope of grammar, there are 3 grammatical features that are found in the video campaign. They are namely parallelism, antithesis, and
alliteration. The use of these grammatical features is lesser than any other features in Phonology and Vocabulary. The lesser use of these textual features is indicating
that the main concern of the video campaign is not on the grammatical features, but on the other features.
i. Parallelism
Parallelism feature‟s frequency in the video campaign is 8 appearances within 8 utterances. From the frequency we can see that each utterance has only
one parallelism. The complete data can be seen in Appendix 3. The use of parallelism in this video can be divided into two main groups.
They are in purpose of emphasizing and eliciting an utterance. The researcher mainly focuses on the purpose of the use of the parallelism since the purpose of
the parallelism supports the persuasion strategies applied in the campaign video. The researcher will give some utterance samples that can represent the whole data.
a Emphasizing an utterance
There are only 8 parallelisms in 8 utterances in the video. Most of them can be categorized under the purpose of emphasizing the utterance to make a
certain prominence in certain words. The use of parallelism in emphasizing the utterance‟s meaning on certain
part of the utterances has a persuasive purpose since the form of the video is a video campaign. The parallelism is used to make a certain prominence in a word
that becomes the center of the utterance. We may see the use of parallelism in emphasizing a certain purpose
through the sample data below:
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMA71 Whoever wins in November is going
to come into office in January facing a deep recession, facing trillions of
new liabilities.
… facing a deep recession,
facing trillions of new liabilities
Table 3. Parallelism in purpose of emphasizing meaning
In this utterance, parallelism feature occurs through the word “facing” in:
“… facing a deep recession, facing trillions of new liabilities”. With the complete sentence:
“Whoever wins in November is going to come into office in January facing a deep recession, facing trillions of new liabilities.”
In this utterance the parallelism occurs through a form of a phrase “facing”.
The word “facing” is paralleled to emphasize the word “facing” and the clause that followed. The parallelism that occurs through the word “facing” means
that whoever the chosen president, he must be ready to face a deep recession that happened in the United States and that has made significant liabilities on trillions
of American people. The parallelism of the word “facing” makes a critical opinion of the chosen president‟s readiness in ruling the administration to face the
economy crisis. The parallelism on the word “facing” is also meant to emphasize the
economic problem in the US that happened in that time when they are facing an economy recession in result of the war cost in Iraq that is initiated and still in
conduct under Bush‟s administration. In the second sample data below, even though it still stands in the same
purpose as emphasizing a sentence‟s point, parallelism is not merely to make a prominence point on a condition or critical opinion toward the government.
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMA594 A promise kept by a president who
understands Americas
promise, who
understands Americas greatness comes from a
strong, secure middle class.
…. a president who understands
Americas promise, who understands
Americas greatness comes from
a strong,
secure middle class.
Table 4. Parallelism in purpose of empha sizing one’s character
From the data above, we can see that the parallelism occurs as a restrictive relative clause. The parallelism of the clause “who understands
America‟s” is to emphasize the word “understands” in creating a modifier toward the phrase “a president”. The word “understands” is meant to emphasize Obama‟s
character. The parallelism toward the word “understands” also dramatize Obama‟s character in understanding the “America‟s promise” and “America‟s greatness”.
The emphasize on the word “understands” is also meant to characterize Obama‟s competence as a President. Through the word “understands”, Obama is
characterized as a person who knows what best for America since he understands America‟s promise in wealth and liberty, and America‟s greatness from the power
of the middle class. The latter is meant to emphasize the US power in economy. b
Eliciting an Utterance There are two kinds of eliciting utterance that are found in the video
campaign. The first one is eliciting utterance in terms of greetings, and the second is eliciting the utterance of a political policy. Both of the utterances are studied
through the aspect of purpose in eliciting the utterance. i
Greetings The second purpose of the parallelism occurs in the video is to elicit
greetings, as we can see through the sample data below:
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMA657 Thank you, God bless you, God bless the United States of America.
Thank you, God bless you
Table 5. Parallelism in purpose of eliciting greetings 1
The utterance above contains parallel words that as in data number GRAMA668. The utterance is the same as they are in the closing part of
Obama‟s speech. The utterance is meant to elicit greetings toward Obama‟s audience. Parallelism feature occur in the word “you” within the sentence: “Thank
you, God bless you, God bless the United States of America.” By using the parallel word “you”, the speaker, in this case is Obama
himself, is meant to greet his audience personally. The phrase “Thank you” and “God bless you” is meant to touch the people who listened to his speech that he
personally uses the word “you”. Another parallelism that occurs within the same utterance can be seen in
the table below:
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMA658 Thank you, God bless you, God bless
the United
States of
America.
God bless you, God bless the United States of
America
Table 6. Parallelism in purpose of eliciting greetings 2
The parallel phrase is “God bless”. The parallel phrase are not meant to greet the people personally but more to bless them by saying “God bless” which
still in the form of greetings. The parallelism of “God bless” phrase is meant to
convey Obama‟s spiritual side in greeting the people. ii
Conveying a political policy The second purpose in eliciting the utterance by using parallel phrase is
to convey a political policy that no longer exist in Obama‟s era.
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMA383 Dont Ask, Dont Tell ?
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Table 7. Parallelism in conveying a political policy
The phrase “Don‟t Ask, Don‟t Tell” is a typical political policy under Bush‟s administration that becomes a major concern in the US. It refers to the gay
man and lesbians‟ right to serve the country in armed forces. The policy was initiated by Bill Clinton to allow men and women with any sexual preferences to
join the army, but it was banned under Bush‟s administration. In Obama‟s administration, the policy is once more revived since the ban of gay men and
lesbians to serve the country violates the constitutional liberty. This political policy is stated in purpose of creating a contrastive
condition within Bush‟s administration and Obama‟s first administration. Obama‟s administration is explained to honour the gay men and lesbians‟ rights
than the previous o ne since the political policy “Don‟t Ask, Don‟t Tell?” is
explained to be historical Utterance Number: 39.
ii. Antithesis
Antithesis, referring to Brochers, is the use of two contrastive ideas in two utterances Brochers, 2005: 189. The antithesis feature is found to be the
least textual feature that is used in the video campaign. There are only 3 occurrences of antithesis within 3 utterances. In the video, antithesis is used to
convey two contrastive conditions. It is can be seen through the sample data below:
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMB412 But instead of working together to lift America up, Republicans were waging a
campaign to tear the president down
…. to lift America up
, … to tear the President down
Table 8. Antithesis in conveying two contrastive conditions
From the utterance above, we can see that there is a contrastive idea between the phrase “to lift up” and “to tear down”. The antithesis above explains
about the Republican‟s position while Obama‟s administration was ruling the country. It is stated that Obama and his party Democratic Party in the first term
of Obama‟s administration has been trying to do things that can “lift America up”. The phrase means that they are doing things that can bring back America
to a better place as a country and for the sake of the American people. While the phrase: “to tear the President down”, has a contrastive idea that the Republican
has been trying to bring Obama down while he was ruling the country and working to do
things that the video claimed to be “lifting America up”.
iii. Alliteration
In this video campaign, Alliteration feature has 13 occurrences within 13 utterances. Alliteration, according to Brochers, is the use of words with the same
first letter which has a close proximity one and another. Brochers, 2005: 189. If the same first letter is a consonant, then it is a consonance. But when the same
first letter is a vowel, then it is called assonance. In this video, all of the alliteration that occurs is in the form of
consonance. So, the use of the same first letter of words which has a close proximity is consonant. The data can be seen in Appendix 3.
Below, the researcher gives a brief explanation on alliteration through two utterances. Both are meant to elaborate the two different purpose of
alliteration that is used in the campaign video. The first purpose is to elicit a persuasive message toward the people, while the second is to elicit a utterance.
a Eliciting persuasive message
In this category, the alliteration used in the video is meant to convey the persuasive message toward the audience. The same first letter in the utterance is
meant to convey the persuasive message since it is “fun to hear and repeat”
Larson, 2010: 140. The persuasive message is given in the form of alliteration because it is meant to make a pleasing sounds toward the audience, so that it is
easily remembered.
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMC247 He passed historic health reform, and now insurance companies cant deny children
coverage for pre-existing conditions.
… historic health reform,
…
Table 9. Alliteration to elicit persuasive message
From the data above, alliteration feature occurs in the
word “historic” and “health”. The same first letter that occurs is the letter “h”. The phrase “health
reform” which is being a social issue is not necessarily be accompanied by the word “historic”, but the occurrence of the word “historic” which makes the phrase
alliterated gives a sense of persuasion by saying that the health reformation that was done under Obama‟s administration is claimed to be “historical”.
b Conveying an utterance
In this part of category, the alliteration that occurrs in the video campaign has no persuasive message. Words that happen to be in line one another with the
same initial consonant are formed unnecessarily to be persuasive because the main purpose is to elicit terms.
Code Utterance
Proof
GRAMC236 He took on the credit card companies, stopping unfair fees and hidden penalties, took on the
Wall Street banks too, fighting for tough new reforms to make sure they never again wreck
our economy.
… credit card c
ompanies …
Table 10. Alliteration to elicit an utterance
In the u tterance above, the alliterated words are “credit”, “card”, and
“companies”. Those words were formed together referring to the companies which specialized in credit cards service. The utterance is meant to say that
Obama has made an improvement in the credit card services by successfully making a fair payment system in the credit card companies so that there will not
be unfair fees and hidden penalties that the American must pay without knowing.
b. Phonology
