Hedges In George W. Bush’s Speeches

HEDGES IN GEORGE W. BUSH’S SPEECHES

A THESIS

BY
MHD.WAHYUDI PRATAMA TOLO
REG. NO 100705110

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA
MEDAN 2014

Universitas Sumatera Utara

HEDGES IN GEORGE W. BUSH’S SPEECHES

A THESIS
BY
MHD.WAHYUDI PRATAMA TOLO
REG. NO 100705110


SUPERVISOR

CO-SUPERVISOR

Dr. Eddy Setia, M. Ed. TESP

Drs. Umar Mono, Dipl. Trans., M.Hum

NIP. 19570412 198403 1 001

NIP. 19600122 198601 1 001

Submitted to Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara Medan
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra from
Department of English

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA

MEDAN 2014

Universitas Sumatera Utara

Approved by the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University
of Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan as thesis for the Sarjana Sastra Examination

Head,

Secretary,

Dr. H. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S.

Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M.A., Ph.D

NIP. 19541117 198003 1 001

NIP. 19750209 200812 1 002

Universitas Sumatera Utara


Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of requirements for
the degree of Sarjana Sastra from the Department of English, Faculty of
Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara, Medan.

The examination is held in Department of English Faculty of Cultural Sciences
University of Sumatera Utara on 27th October 2014.

Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies
University of Sumatera Utara

Dr. H Syahron Lubis, M.A.
NIP. 19511013 197603 1 001

Board of Examiners

Signature

1. Dr. H. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S.


................................

2. Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M.A., Ph.D

................................

3. Dr. Roswita Silalahi, Dip.TESOL, M.Hum

................................

4. Dr. Eddy Setia, M.Ed. TESP

................................

5. Drs. Bahagia Tarigan, M.A.

................................

Universitas Sumatera Utara


AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I MHD.WAHYUDI PRATAMA TOLO, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE
AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN
THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CINTAINS NO MATERIAL
PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR AWARDED
ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED
WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS
THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER
DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.

Signed :
Date

: October 27, 2014

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Universitas Sumatera Utara

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION


NAME

: MHD.WAHYUDI PRATAMA TOLO

TITLE OF THESIS

: HEDGES

IN

GEORGE

W.

BUSH’S

SPEECHES
QUALIFICATION


: S-1 / SARJANA SASTRA

DEPARTMENT

: ENGLISH

I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR
REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES,
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT
USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW
OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.

Signed :
Date

: October 27, 2014

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Universitas Sumatera Utara


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All praise and thankfulness to Allah SWT for everything He has done in my
life, gives me health, strength, and ability to complete this thesis. And also I would
like to express my gratitude to my prophet Muhammad SAW for being guidence for
the life of moslem all over the world.
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the Dean of Faculty
of Cultural Studies, University of Sumatera Utara, Dr. Drs. Syahron Lubis, M.A., the
Head of English Department, Dr. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S., and the Secretary of
English Department, Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M.A., Ph.D, who have given me a great
opportunity and fully supported to accomplish this thesis. I also give my gratitude to
my supervisor, Dr. Eddy Setia, M. Ed. TESP and my co-supervisor, Drs. Umar
Mono, Dipl. Trans., M.Hum. who have given their precious time to teach, guide, and
make me understand about this thesis so that I can accomplish this thesis and then to
all lecturers of English Department for everything they already taught me during my
academic years.
I also would like to give high gratitude to Alm. Bang Amran as the former
staff and Bang Mistam as the staff of English Department for their contribution in
accomplishing the administration matters.

Especially, I would like to give my special love and thanks to my beloved
parents, Sunardi Tolo, S.E. and Dra. Sri Wahyuni , who always pray, remind, give
attention, moral encouragement, and financial support for me in finishing this thesis.
And also my beloved sister and brother, Widya Iswarani Tolo and Mhd. Fadhil
Rayhan Tolo, who always be my motivation to do something better.

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Special thanks and love to my beloved future pharmacist Gita Desia Ranto,
you always be patient and be ready to help me in finishing this thesis. Thanks a lot
for your special attention, love, and pray that we have shared together for 4 years.
May Allah SWT bless us.
I also would like to give thanks to my friends, the class of 2010, especially
for my best pals Dicky, Boy, Petrus, Deni, Aldi, thank you for the togetherness,
support, time, and also for the special snack and soft drink that we always clutch
while writing this thesis. For girls in my class, namely, Wina, Ninis, Novita, Ulan,
Eby, Apri, Krista, Zega, Elsye, Hanny, Hetty, Cindy, Nadia, Anis, Atun, thanks for
being spunky. And to friends who have helped me in making this thesis, I sincerely
apologize that your names could not be mentioned one by one in this thesis.

The last special thanks to my friends in my hometown, Hariz Handyka, Juvan
Adrian, Rizky Azhari, Hendy Syahputro and Ares Prasetyo, thank you for your
support and motivation.
Finally, I fully realize that there are some weaknesses in this thesis.
Therefore, constructive criticism, advice, and suggestion aimed for this thesis will be
warmly welcomed and highly appreciated. I hope this thesis is able to give a lot of
contributions as reference.

Medan, 27 October 2014

Mhd.Wahyudi Pratama Tolo
Reg. No 100705110

viii
Universitas Sumatera Utara

ABSTRACT
This thesis entitled “HEDGES IN GEORGE W. BUSH’S SPEECHES” contains of a
study of the types of Hedges used by George W. Bush and the function of each of the
hedge in his speeches during his tenure as the president of United States of America.

The analysis of types of hedges in this study uses theory by Fraser (2010:204) to
identify the types of hedges which is divided into 22 types. The analysis of function
of hedges uses theory of Coates (1996:154-162) in analyzing the function of each
hedge which is divided into 4 functions. The methodology used in this thesis is
qualitative method. In collecting data, the writer choose some selected speeches from
the website http://www.presidentialrhetoric.com/ And in data analysis, the writer
used Miles and Huberman’s theory which consist of three steps, namely, data
reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/ verification. From the analysis, it is
found that there are 43 (forty three) cases of hedges with the classification as
follows: 1 agentless passive, 1 concessive conjunction, 9 if clause, 1 conditional
subordinators, 7 impersonal pronoun, 2 introductory phrase, 2 modal adjective, 20
modal verb. From the data, modal verb is the most dominant type of hedges in
Bush’s speeches with 20 cases found.

Keywords: pragmatic, maxim, hedge, function and types of hedges, speeches.

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ABSTRAK
Skripsi ini berjudul “HEDGES IN GEORGE W. BUSH’S SPEECHES “ berisi kajian
tentang tipe hedge yang digunakan oleh George W. Bush dan fungsi dari hedge
tersebut dalam pidato-pidatonya selama masa jabatannya sebagai presiden Amerika
Serikat. Analisa tipe hedge di dalam skripsi ini menggunakan teori dari fraser
(2010:204) untuk mengidentifikasi tipe tipe hedge yang dibagi oleh Fraser kedalam
22 tipe. Analisa fungsi hedge di dalam skripsi ini menggunakan teori dari Coates
(1996:154-162) untuk menganalisa fungsi dari tiap hedge yang dibagi oleh Coates
menjadi 4 fungsi. Metodologi yang digunakan pada skripsi ini adalah metode
kualitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan memilih beberapa pidato dari situs
http://www.presidentialrhetoric.com/ dan pada analisis data, penulisan menggunakan
teori Miles dan Huberman, yang dilakukan dalam tiga tahap yaitu, data reduction,
data display, dan conclusion drawing/ verification. Dari hasil analisis ditemukan
bahwa hedge muncul sebanyak 43 kali dengan pembagian seperti berikut ini:
Agentless passive muncul sebanyak 1 kali, concessive conjunction 1 kali, if clause 9
kali, conditional subordinators 1 kali, impersonal pronoun 7 kali, introductory
phrase 2 kali, modal adjective 2 kali, dan modal verb sebanyak 20 kali. Modal verb
adalah tipe yang paling dominan di dalam pidato Bush dengan ditemukan sebanyak
20 kali.

Kata kunci: pragmatik, maxim, hedge, fungsi dan tipe-tipe hedge, pidato.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

v

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

vii

ABSTRACT

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

xi

LIST OF TABLES

xiii

LIST OF FIGURES

xiv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study .....................................................

1

1.2 Problem of the Study ...........................................................

6

1.3 Objective of the Study .........................................................

6

1.4 Scope of the Study ...............................................................

6

1.5 Significance of the Study .....................................................

7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
2.1 Overview of Pragmatics .......................................................

8

2.2 Maxim of Cooperation ..........................................................

11

2.3 Hedges ..................................................................................

13

2.3.1 Types of Hedges ................................................................

16

2.3.2 Function of Hedges ............................................................

22
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CHAPTER III: METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Research Method .................................................................

25

3.3 Data and Source of Data ......................................................

25

3.4 Data Collecting Procedures .................................................

26

3.5 Data Analysis .......................................................................

26

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND FINDING
4.1 Data Description ..................................................................

30

4.1.1 Types of Hedges ...............................................................

30

4.2 Analysis ...............................................................................

31

4.3 Finding .................................................................................

49

4.3.1 Most Dominant Types of Hedges .....................................

50

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusions ..........................................................................

51

5.2 Suggestion ............................................................................

52

REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 54
APPENDICES ....................................................................................................

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Types of Hedges...............................................................................

29

Table 4.2 Frequency of Hedges ......................................................................

50

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Components of Data Analysis: Interactive Model

27

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