Persuasion strategies and textual features in Barack Obama`s Presidential Video Campaign `Forward` (2012)

PERSUASION STRATEGIES AND TEXTUAL FEATURES

IN BARACK OBAMA’S

PRESIDENTIAL VIDEO CAMPAIGN

“

FORWARD

” (2012)

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

GABRIELA DEASYNTYA KALOKA PUTRI

Student Number: 104214083

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2014

PERSUASION STRATEGIES AND TEXTUAL FEATURES

IN BARACK OBAMA’S

PRESIDENTIAL VIDEO CAMPAIGN

“

FORWARD

” (2012)

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

GABRIELA DEASYNTYA KALOKA PUTRI

Student Number: 104214083

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2014

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma

Nama : Gabriela Deasyntya Kaloka Putri Nomor Mahasiswa : 104214083

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya imliah saya yang berjudul

PERSUASION STRATEGIES AND TEXTUAL FEATURES

IN BARACK OBAMA’S

PRESIDENTIAL VIDEO CAMPAIGN

“

FORWARD

” (2012)

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya meupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal 15 Agustus 2014 Yang menyatakan,

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has

been previously submitted for the award of any degree at any university, and that,

to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material

previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the

text of the undergraduate thesis.

Yogyakarta, August 15, 2013

“This is your life. Live your dream, and wear your passion.”

Anonymous

“With God, everything is possible.”

Matthew 19: 26

“No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”

Lupita Nyong‟O

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

Alexander Graham Bell

“You are exactly what you tolerate. You are what you put up with. You are what you accept. You are what you stand for.”

Anonymous

“Love pushes your limits.”

Dea Kaloka

“Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got.”

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to Life, The One who has taught me everything I know,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to present to my Almighty God Jesus Christ a never ending

gratitude. Without his limitless love and grace the completion of this thesis would

be truly impossible.

I would thank my thesis advisor Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M. Pd., M.A., for his

supports and insightful guide in finishing my thesis. His encouragement in many

forms has shaped me for having a strong endurance. I also gracefully thank Anna

Fitriati, S.Pd., M. Hum, for her valuable suggestions for my thesis.

I also thank my lecturers in English Letters Study Program especially my

Academic Advisor Adventina Putranti, S.S., M. Hum and every unit of Sanata

Dharma University, who has been very supportive, especially the staffs of Sanata

Dharma University library.

For my beloved family, Cornelius Bambang Santosa Hadi, Bernadetta

Arum Dati, Geraldus Danistya Kaloka Putra, and Genoveva Divastovia Kaloka

Putri, I present my love for their forever encouragement to me to finish my thesis.

To my fellow friends, the English Letters class of 2010, especially for my

Class C of 2010, and my best friend for life in OMK St. Sylvester Paroki

Nanggulan, I gracefully thank you all for our journey. I would never forget that

we were once grown up and challenge the world together. For my insightful

friends Cory, Hanny, Ray, Gita, Kiky, Dion, Upel, Kyu, and Nastit, who have

been together with me along the way, I owe you one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vi

MOTTO PAGE ... vii

DEDICATION PAGE ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x

LIST OF TABLES ... xiii

ABSTRACT ... xv

ABSTRAK ... xvi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 4

C. Objectives of the Study ... 4

D. Definition of Terms ... 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ... 6

B. Review of Related Theories ... 9

1. Theory on Textual Features ... 10

a. Grammar ... 10

i.Parallelism ... 10

ii. Antithesis ... 11

iii. Alliteration ... 11

b. Phonology ... 11

i. Stress ... 12

ii. Intonation ... 13

c. Vocabulary ... 18

i. Naming ... 18

ii. Referring Expressions ... 19

iii. Time Indicator ... 20

iv. Statistics ... 20

v. Actions ... 20

vi. Social Issues ... 21

3. Theory on Persuasion Strategies ... 23

a. Herbert W. Simons‟s Persuasive Campaign Theory ... 23

b. Christopher Gilson and Harold W. Berkman‟s Creative Strategy and Execution on Broadcast Media Theory 24

c. Charles U. Larson‟s Persuasive Strategy Theory ... 25

d. Raymond S. Ross‟s theory on Speech Communication ... 29

C. Theoretical Framework ... 30

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 32

A. Object of the Study ... 32

B. Approach of the Study ... 33

C. Method of the Study ... 34

1. Data Collection ... 34

2. Data Analysis ... 36

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ... 38

A. Analysis Result and Discussion ... 40

1. Textual Features that are Used in Obama‟s Presidential Video Campaign “Forward” (2012) ... 40

a. Grammar ... 40

i.Parallelism ... 41

ii. Antithesis ... 45

iii. Alliteration ... 46

b. Phonology ... 48

i. Emphatic Stress ... 49

a) Social Issues ... 50

b) Time Indicator ... 51

c) Statistics ... 52

d) Persuasive Words ... 53

e) Parallel Words ... 54

f) Referring Expression ... 55

ii. Intonation ... 56

a) Mixed Intonation ... 57

b) Falling Intonation ... 60

c) Rising Intonation ... 64

c. Vocabulary ... 66

i. Naming ... 67

ii. Referring Expression ... 69

iii. Time Indicator ... 71

v. Actions ... 73 vi. Social Issues ... 74 2. Persuasion Strategies in Obama‟s Presidential Video Campaign .. 75 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 95

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 97

APPENDICES ... 99 Appendix 1: List of Spoken Utterances

in Barack Obama‟s Presidential Video Campaign

“Forward” (2012) ... 100 Appendix 2: Textual Features Identification ... 104 Appendix 3: Data Elaboration of Textual Features Identification ... 113

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Characteristics of stressed and unstressed syllables ... 12

Table 2. The table of frequency of the use of textual features ... 39

Table 3. Parallelism in purpose of emphasizing meaning ... 41

Table 4. Parallelism in purpose of emphasizing one‟s character ... 43

Table 5. Parallelism in purpose of eliciting greetings (1) ... 44

Table 6. Parallelism in purpose of eliciting greetings (2) ... 45

Table 7. Parallelism in conveying a political policy ... 45

Table 8. Antithesis in conveying two contrastive conditions ... 46

Table 9. Alliteration to elicit persuasive message ... 47

Table 10. Alliteration to elicit an utterance ... 48

Table 11. Emphatic stress in conveying the speaker‟s attitude ... 50

Table 12. Emphatic stress on social issue ... 50

Table 13. Emphatic stress on time indicator ... 51

Table 14. Emphatic stress on statistics ... 52

Table 15. Emphatic stress on persuasive words ... 53

Table 16. Emphatic stress on parallel words ... 54

Table 17. Emphatic stress on referring expressions ... 55

Table 18. Intonation at the end of each intonation group ... 56

Table 19. Mixed intonation on listing words ... 58

Table 20. Mixed intonation on making contrast ... 59

Table 21. Falling intonation on uttering a statement ... 60

Table 23. Falling intonation indicating non-finality ... 62

Table 24. Falling intonation not at the end of intonation group ... 63

Table 25. Falling intonation in one phrase ... 64

Table 26. Rising intonation in indicating question ... 65

Table 27. Rising intonation in indicating non-finality ... 65

Table 28. Naming vocabulary ... 68

Table 29. Referring expressions vocabulary ... 70

Table 30. Time indicator vocabulary ... 71

Table 31. Statistics vocabulary ... 72

Table 32. Actions vocabulary ... 73

Table 33. Social issues vocabulary ... 74

Table 34. Text organization by topics ... 81

Table 35. Persuasion by parallelism ... 88

Table 36. Persuasion strategies by naming ... 89

Table 37. Video campaign‟s various intonation use ... 92

ABSTRACT

PUTRI, GABRIELA DEASYNTYA KALOKA. Persuasion Strategies and

Textual Features in Barack Obama’s Presidential Video Campaign

“Forward” (2012). Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of

Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.

Campaign, as a form of communication, proposes persuasive message to

make people do the things the persuader wants them to do. Barack Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward” is a successful political campaign since it

helped Obama won the US presidential election for his second term in 2012. The

video campaign‟s textual features play a major role in creating the persuasive

message and build the persuasion strategies of the video campaign.

There are two problems in this study. The first problem is the textual features that exist in Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward”, and the second is the persuasion strategies employed in the video campaign. The study is meant to reveal the persuasion strategies through the use of textual features in the video campaign.

To answer the problems, the researcher conducted the research based on data collection and data analysis method. The researcher took the primary data

from Obama‟s campaign official YouTube channel: BarackObamadotcom. The

researcher identified the textual features of the video campaign and related it to the external context of the video campaign as being a political campaign. The first analysis deals with the frequency and the purpose of the textual features that exist in the video campaign as a political campaign. The second analysis deals with the persuasion strategies employed in the video.

In the end, the researcher has two findings. First, there are 13 textual features that exist in the video campaign that covers Grammar (parallelism, antithesis, and alliteration), Phonology (emphatic stress, mixed intonation, falling intonation, and raising intonation), and Vocabulary (naming, referring expression, time indicator, statistics, actions, and social issues vocabulary). The second, the textual features that are exist in the video campaign becomes the tools of persuasion strategies. The persuasion strategies employed in the video campaign is by creating a heroic figure to distinguish Obama from other candidate. There are three characters that are described to be Obama‟s heroic character, they are: one, Obama is claimed to be the person who helped America went through

disastrous economy condition as a legacy of Bush‟s administration; two, Obama is sateted to be the President who had lifted America up in many aspects; and three, Obama is a character who believes and fights for American people‟s interest.

ABSTRAK

PUTRI, GABRIELA DEASYNTYA KALOKA. Persuasion Strategies and

Textual Features in Barack Obama’s Presidential Video Campaign

“Forward” (2012). Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,

Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.

Kampanye, sebagai sebuah bentuk komunikasi, mengedepankan penyampaian pesan yang bersifat persuasif sehingga mampu mempengaruhi tindakan pendengarnya. Video kampanye presiden Barack Obama “Forward” adalah salah satu video kampanye yang sukses karena membantu Obama memenangkan pemilihan presiden Amerika Serikat kedua kalinya di 2012. Unsur-unsur tekstual yang terdapat dalam video kampanye Obama memiliki peran yang penting dalam membentuk pesan persuasif tersebut dan turut membangun strategi mempengaruhi di dalamnya.

Terdapat dua masalah dalam penelitian ini. Yang pertama mengenai unsur-unsur tekstual yang terdapat dalam video kampanye presiden Barack

Obama “Forward” dan yang kedua mengenai strategi mempengaruhi yang

digunakan dalam video kampanye tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti strategi mempengaruhi yang digunakan dalam video kampanye tersebut melalui penggunaan unsur-unsur tekstualnya.

Penelitian yang dilakukan menggunakan metode pengumpulan data dan data analisis. Peneliti menggunakan data primer yang diambil dari saluran YouTube resmi Obama: BarackObamadotcom. Peneliti mengidentifikasi unsur-unsur tekstual video kampanye tersebut dan menghubungkannya dengan konteks eksternalnya sebagai sebuah bentuk kampanye politik. Analisis pertama berkaitan dengan frekuensi dan konteks unsur tekstual dalam video kampanye tersebut sebagai sebuah kampanye politik. Analisis kedua berkaitan dengan strategi mempengaruhi yang digunakan berdasarkan unsur-unsur tekstual yang digunakan. Di akhir penelitian, peneliti mendapatkan dua penemuan. Pertama, terdapat 13 unsur tekstual dalam video kampanye tersebut yang meliputi Grammar (parallisme, antitesis, dan alliterasi), Fonologi (emphatic stress, intonasi campuran, intonasi menurun, dan intonasi menaik) dan Perbendaharaan kata

(naming, referring expressions, indikator waktu, statistik, aksi, dan isu-isu sosial). Kedua, unsur-unsur tekstual yang terdapat dalam video kampanye tersebut menjadi alat dari strategi mempengaruhi yang digunakan. Strategi mempengaruhi yang digunakan dalam video tersebut adalah dengan membangun figur pahlawan untuk membedakan Obama dengan kandidat lainnya. Terdapat tiga karakter pahlawan yang diunggulkan dalam video kampanye tersebut. Pertama, Obama dianggap pahlawan karena telah berhasil membawa Amerika keluar dari krisis ekonomi di tahun 2008 yang merupakan warisan dari kepemimpinan Bush. Kedua, Obama dikatakan telah banyak melakukan peningkatan dalam banyak aspek kehidupan di Amerika. Ketiga, Obama adalah seseorang yang percaya dan bekerja bagi kepentingan rakyat Amerika.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Communication is a means of human social relationship, it has become

the basic needs for people to communicate each other. As stated by Beth Haslett

in her essay:

Communication is an organized, standardized, culturally patterned system of behavior that sustains, regulates and makes possible human relationships (Haslett, 1989: 20).

In communicating with each other, people‟s main goal is to transfer their idea to other people. The idea transferred can be in the scope of people‟s feelings,

general information about their environment, and many more. Just as Haslett said

in her principles of communicative development stages:

(3) Communication has three general purposes: to express thoughts and desires, to establish communication with others, and to share knowledge (Haslett, 1989: 26).

Communication can be divided into 2 categories, which are one-way

communication and two-way communication. In both categories, usually there are

various expected responses. People with tendencies often use their action of

communicating with other people not only to transfer their ideas but also to

persuade people following their beliefs and thought.

Language is very powerful in communicating ideas. The use of language

Language can be viewed as the symbolic code that underlies verbal communication. Verbal communication is the use of language to create and maintain human relationship. (Haslett, 1989: 22)

Different styles in saying one particular point of view can give different

effects and reactions. In the scope of persuading others, the choice of language

style helps to change people‟s behavior or even make them do the things or actions the persuader wants them to do. It happens as in advertisement, such as in

campaign advertisement.

Referring to Brembeck and Howell (1976: 324), there are two types of

campaigns. They are commercial and social action campaign. In commercial

campaign, the purpose is to “merchandize goods and/or services for profit” (1976: 324), while in social action campaign, the main purpose is to

Stabilize or modify patterns of living for groups of people for reasons other than private profit (1976: 324).

Advertisement, as one of publication media, is used by these campaigns

to publish their ideas, to make people share the same thought as them, to change

people‟s behavior, or even to make people do things as they are told to. In political campaign there are many aspects of persuasion, politics, and mass

communication and influence. One type of campaign media is through video

campaign.

A video campaign is made of two elements, audio and visual. In the

scope of linguistics, the audio (the spoken utterances) is more suitable to be

analyzed. The audio of the video campaign deals with the use of language and

how it is used to deliver the persuasive message to the people. The use of

features, as defined by Verdonk (2002: 19), also deals with sounds. In this case,

since the object of the study is the spoken utterances of a video, the data analyzed

are both spoken and written text.

Since The US is the most powerful country in the world, we may take a

look on Barack Obama‟s presidential campaign. One of the advertisements used

by Barack Obama is in the form of a video campaign which helped him won The

US presidential election in 2012.

The choice of textual features shown in Barack Obama‟s presidential video campaign when he ran for office in 2012 was inevitably helped him to win

The US presidential election for the second term. The choice of textual features

presented in the video is related to the persuasion strategies employed in the video

since the video is a campaign video and it has a persuasive message to be

delivered. The textual features in the video were meant to deliver the persuasive

message in order to get people‟s attention.

The significance of studying the campaign strategies as seen through the

textual features as spoken in the video campaign is to enrich the linguistic study in

building a persuasive message through the language. The further benefit will be

the ability to explore the power of language in influencing others to take a specific

B. Problem Formulation

To conduct the research, two problems have been formulated, as follow.

1. What textual features are used in Barack Obama‟s presidential video campaign

“Forward” ?

2. What persuasion strategies are employed in Barack Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward” ?

C. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are mainly on two important aspect of the

Barack Obama‟spresidential video campaign “Forward” (2012). They are, first, to

reveal the textual features used in Barack Obama‟s presidential TV campaign “Forward” in 2012. First, the researcher tried to characterize the use of textual

features of Barack Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward” in delivering the persuasive messages. Second, the researcher try to reveal the persuasion

strategies used in Barack Obama‟s presidential TV campaign “Forward”.

D. Definition of Terms

In this section, the researcher tries to give the definition of terms that

appear in the title and problem formulation. The definition of terms is meant to

help the reader to understand the scope of the study that is conducted by the

Textual feature, as defined by Verdonk, is the formal properties of the

text. The term textual features covers the sounds, typography, vocabulary,

grammar, and other intrinsic features that exist within a text (2002: 19).

Campaign, or advertising, is a form of non personal communication that

are usually paid by sponsors to promote about products (good, services, and

ideas). Campaign, as a form of advertisement, is persuasive in nature and

structured in a way that is able to deliver the persuasive message.

Advertising is the structured and composed non personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services, and ideas) by identified sponsors through various media (Arens, 2006: 7).

Persuasion Strategy, comes from the word persuasion and strategy. The definition of persuasion, referring to Ross, as quoting Mary John Smith:

Persuasion … is a symbolic activity whose purpose is to effect the

internalization or voluntary acceptance of new cognitive states or patterns

of overt behavior through the exchange of messages … a process of

persuasion has occurred when people internalize the meanings they assign to messages in an atmosphere of perceived choice (1994: 8).

While the word strategy itself, as defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, is “a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose”. Then, Persuasion Strategies is a term that is used to elicit a set of plans of an

activity which purpose is to internalize new understanding through the exchange

of messages.

Forward, is the slogan of Barack Obama‟s presidential campaign and the

title of the video campaign studied. The slogan is used in Obama‟s 2012

presidential campaign as the incumbent candidate of the Democratic Party

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The chapter is divided into three parts. They are Review of Related

Studies, Review of Related Theories, and Theoretical Framework. In the first

subchapter, the researcher explains two studies that have been done by two

different researchers to enrich the researcher and readers‟ understanding of the topic discussed in the research. In the first subchapter, the researcher brings about

the similarity and differences of the present study.

Then, in the second subchapter, which is the Review of Related Theories,

the researcher explains the theories that are related to the present study. The

review on the related theories is meant to elicit the theories used in this research.

In the last part of this chapter, the researcher explains the contribution of

the theories on the research done by the researcher.

A. Review of Related Studies

In this section, the researcher reviews two related studies that have been

done by two different researchers previously. The two related studies are

undergraduate theses of Sanata Dharma University.

The first related study is written by Caecilia Krismariana Widyaningsih

in 2001. In her undergraduate thesis, Widyaningsih covered three main problems.

The first is the persuasive techniques in airline advertising in relation to speech

the ability of the arrangement of words and phrases in attracting people. The study

used sampling data collection.

In the end, Widyaningsih found that the advertiser used figurative

language, such as metaphors, similes, hyperboles, ironies, and litotes. Superlative

meaning and comparative words were used to rise the appeals degree. The choice

of words was also used to propose the idea of pleasant, kind, trustful, and wide,

and also build people‟s imagination and curiosity. The arrangement of message

was related to the cooperative principle, choice of words, and the arrangement of

understandable words and phrases.

The similarity of the present study and the previous study lies in the

approach used by the researcher. Both the present and the previous researcher

used Stylistic approach. Moreover, the similarity of the studies is in the focus of

the study and the difference lies in the object of the study. The present study is

meant to cover the textual features of Obama‟s presidential video campaign

“Forward” in relation to the persuasion strategies, while the previous study was

meant to study the language styles and persuasion techniques in airline advertising

of Newsweek Magazines from January - December 1999. Moreover, the previous

study covered printed advertising of a product while the present study covers a

political video campaign.

The second related study is written by Damasus Destianto Pranjaya,

graduated from Sanata Dharma University in 2005. His undergraduate thesis

found that Coca Cola launched several advertisements under a slogan. Such as in

were slogans, jingles, USPs, and infomercials. The advertising strategies were

employed through repetition of message to the public. The second finding was

that Coca Cola‟s slogan can be characterized into four main groups, namely:

news, provocative texts, benefits oriented texts, and commanding texts. These

Coca Cola slogans presented the persuasive message by proposing the American

culture and lifestyle to people around the world without breaking the local culture.

Intimacy between people under American culture and lifestyle is the power of the

brand to be popular.

The similarity of the present study and the previous study lies in the type

of the object of the study. The previous study is about the Coca-Cola‟s

advertising, while the present study is about Obama‟s presidential video

campaign. The present study is called a campaign because it‟s related to the

object‟s context which is a political campaign.

The differences of the two studies are in the further exploration of the

study. The previous study was meant to explore the advertising strategies

specifically in building the brand image, while the recent study is meant to reveal

the persuasion strategies employed in the video campaign.

In brief, the present study has been meant to elaborate the two related

study in stylistics in relation to its persuasion strategies and to broaden the

linguistics study on advertisement, namely on a political campaign. The study is

meant to reveal the significance of the use of the textual features used in

B. Review of Related Theories

In conducting the research, the researcher needs three types of theories to

do the analysis. The theories that are used to do the analysis cover the theory on

textual features, theory on political campaign, and theory on persuasion strategies.

The theory on textual features is used to analyze the aspects of

persuasion used in Obama presidential video campaign. The textual features

reviewed in the study covers grammar, vocabulary, and phonology of the video‟s

utterances. The later covers the primary data which as spoken utterances in the

video (since a video campaign consists of two elements: audio and visual, and the

audio can only be studied under the scope of its phonological features) while the

first two textual features concern on the transcription of the spoken utterances

done by the researcher.

The theory on persuasion strategies, however, covers two persuasion

strategies theory elicited by Charles U. Larson and Herbert W. Simons, and

supported by Christopher Gilson and Harold W. Berkman‟s theory on creative

strategy and execution in broadcast media and Raymond S. Ross‟s Speech

communication theory.

At this point, the relation of the textual features and the persuasion

strategies in the campaign is meant to deliver the persuasive message to the

people. The textual features is the tool of the campaign to elicit its persuasive

message.

It is relevant to Verdonk‟s writing that in order to develop a discourse

intrinsic linguistics or formal properties (sounds, typography, vocabulary,

grammar, etc) and the extrinsic context (2002: 19).

1. Theory on Textual Features

As stated before, three main elements of the textual features that are

reviewed in the study covers grammar, vocabulary, and phonology of the text. The

three main elements are studied because their roles are very significant in building

the video‟s utterances and delivering the persuasion message.

a. Grammar

Grammatical study of the text in this study covers paralelism, anthithesis,

alliteration. The study of the grammatical features of the text helps the researcher

to find the grammatical characteristics of the utterances spoken in revealing the

persuasion strategies of the video campaign.

i. Parallelism

Parallelism is one of the studied textual features in the video campaign.

According to Larson, parallelism is the persuader‟s way in wording their message

by using two similar word orders or even an identical one in purpose to make the

utterance memorable.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity in this nation (Brochers, 2005: 189).

The placement of the same phrase “we refuse to believe” is a kind of

parallelism. Larson, moreover, stated that the main idea of using parallelism is to

“build audience expectation” (2010: 320). Audience expectation, then, is an

ii. Antithesis

Antithesis is the use of two contrastive ideas in an utterance. As Brocher

elicited in his book, King used alliteration in his speech by saying “Nineteen

sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning” (Brochers, 2005: 189).

The word “end” and “beginning” in the above sentence have a contrastive meaning, but the contrastive meaning of those two words is used by

King to dramatize his statement that the year (nineteen sixty-three) was indeed not

an end, but a beginning of an era.

iii. Alliteration

Alliteration is the use of words with the same first letter (either vowel or

consonant) which has close proximity one and another. This is also seen in Martin

Luther King‟s speech I Have A Dream: “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline” (Brochers, 2005: 189). In this part of his speech, King alliterated the word dignity and discipline.

In his book, Larson also stated that alliteration is one of the ways to elicit

words‟ feeling, texture, or theme. He said that alliteration is a favorite tool of

advertising since it is “fun to hear and repeat” (2010: 140).

b. Phonology

The phonology of the text is studied through its stress and intonation

appeared in the audio. The study of the stress and intonation of the video

campaign is significant because the type of the main data is spoken data. Since the

genre of the data studied is in the scope of advertising, the intonation and the

i. Stress

Studying the stress of the utterances spoken in Obama‟s presidential video campaign is very significant since through the study of the stress we can see

which words are stress and given a more prominent property than the other.

An important prosodic feature, „stress‟ applies to individual syllables, and involves, most commonly loudness, length, and higher pitch (Celik, 2001: 2).

The difference of the stressed and unstressed syllables can be seen

through the table below:

Stressed Unstressed 1 intensity articulation with greater

breath/muscular effort

perceived as greater loudness

less breath/muscular effort perceived as having less loudness

2 pitch marked change in pitch syllables tend to follow the pitch trend set by previous stressed syllables

3 vowel quality

may contain any vowel (except /ə/)

vowels have clear (peripheral) quality

glides have clearly defined second element

generally have central vowels /əɪʊ/ or syllabic consonants vowel may have centalised quality

glides tend to lose second element

4 vowel duration

vowels have full length vowels are considerably shorter

Table 1. Characteristics of stressed and unstressed syllables

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 111).

Referring to Collins and Mees, the stressed words are usually the content

words and the unstressed words are the function words. However, Celik in his

journal stated four major types of stress; they are unmarked tonic stress, emphatic

stress, contrastive stress, and new information stress (Celik, 2001: 3-5). The

stress is studied particularly because the purpose of the word-stressing in the

video campaign is to emphasize certain words.

a) Emphatic stress

Emphatic stress, as a type of stress use in an utterance, makes a

differentiation on the use of stress since the purpose of the stress is to emphasize a

certain word, whether it is content word, modal auxiliary, adverb, etc. The

emphatic-stressed words are regarding to the speaker‟s intended meaning. For example:

1) It was very BOring. (unmarked)

2) It was VEry boring. (emphatic)

(Celik, 2001: 4).

In the analysis, however, the researcher uses Collin and Mees‟ stress

marking by using [°] mark. The marking was chosen to create difference toward

the intonation nucleus analysis.

ii. Intonation

The study‟s primary data are the utterances spoken in the video. Then,

the intonation is studied to reveal the intonation in the video and relate it to the

vocabulary of the utterances to reveal the persuasion strategies used in the video

campaign.

1) Intonation Markings

In their book, Collins and Mees proposed two types of intonation

marking. The first one is the interlinear marking system, and the second is the

system, the stressed syllables are marked by [`] and the stressed syllables with

particular prominence are marked by [º] while the unstressed syllables are left

without any markings.

He inºsisted on cooking an `omelette.

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 120).

The second, the interlinear marking system elicited by Collins and Mees,

are using three marking symbols. They are ( ) for stressed syllables, ( ) for

unstressed syllables, and a thicker line ( ) for stressed syllables with particular

prominence. Example:

He in°sisted on cooking an `omelette. 3

2 1

(Collins and Mees, 2003:120).

2) Intonation Types

In brief, there are four types of intonation patterns, as Collins and Mees

writes:

a) Falling

Falls is the commonest type of nuclear tone. A high fall has the pitch

movement from high to low, while the low fall has less pitch movement. In the

study, the researcher uses [`] to identify the falling intonation whether it is high

fall or low fall. The explanation of the type of the falling intonation is given

b) Rises

Eventhough rising patterns are more less common than the falling

patterns, the most common rise is the low to mid. The less common rise pattern

moves from mid to high. In this research, the researcher uses the [ ] mark to

indicate whether the low rise or high rise. The explanation of the type of the

falling intonation is given through the intonation transcription.

c) Fall-rise

The fall-rise is symbolized by [ ]. It has high to low to mid pitch movement. The following syllables after the nucleus following the rise.

d) Rise-fall

The rise fall is symbolized by [ ]. It has mid to high to low pitch

movement. The following syllables after the nucleus remains low (Collins and

Mees, 2003: 121-123).

Collins and Mees also stated the context of the intonation. Falling tones

(high fall, low fall, and rise-fall) are suggesting finality or unloading of

information, while the rising tones (high rise, low rise, and fall-rise) are

suggesting non-finality and information seeking, rather than unloaded (Collins

and Mees, 2003: 126).

In terms of the intonation purpose, the high fall and low rise can be taken

as neutral, while the low fall and high rise is having the strengthening function to

emphasize the speakers‟s attitude (Collins and Mees, 2003: 125). 3) Patterns of Intonation

i) Statements

Statements usually use falling intonation.

(When did Keith leave?) A `month or so ago.

The low fall intonation can also be used in utter the above utterance.

A month or so ago.

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 127).

But there are also statements that use rising intonation that sometimes is

indicating that the person is questioning a statement.

It‟s ˚well worth a visit? (Well, I don‟t think so.)

˚Delia‟s bought a turkey from some guy in Swindon? (How could she be

so gullible?)

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 127).

Moreover, when statements are said on a fall-rise, it adds reservation,

doubt, disagreement that meant to correct or contradicting the other speaker in a

polite way.

(Floyd arrived this morning.) Yesterday. A month a˳go (all implying

disagreement or doubt)

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 127).

When the statement has several intonation groups, the last intonation

groups will have the fall. Other than the last intonation group, the intonation will

be on rise or fall-rise that imply non-finality.

If you ˚want a good job || it‟s im˚portant to possess management skills.

ii) Commands

Commands are usually said from the superior to the inferior, so

commands are usually using falling pattern.

˚Shut the window.

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 128).

Commands that said on rising pattern is meant to give a gentler tone and

give a non-finality effect that is followed by other utterances, whether it‟s spoken or not.

˚Meet us on Thursday. (And then we can sort it out later.) ˚Don‟t worry. (It‟ll be alright)

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 128).

iii) WH questions

The WH question which is neutral or business-like is often said in fall.

How can we ˚possibly pay this bill?

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 128).

WH questions usually have rising intonations to make the wuestion

friendlier.

˚How can I help you?

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 128).

iv) Yes-No questions

Yes-No questions usually use rising pattern.

Has ˚Prue booked her flight to Paris?

When the yes-no question is said in falling pattern, it implies as more to

be an exclamatory statements.

Do we ˚have any choice? (It doesn‟t look as if we have.)

(Collins and Mees, 2003: 128-129).

c. Vocabulary

To discuss under the term of vocabulary, it is closely related to the

lexical features, that are words in dictionary. As stated by Wray, Trott, and

Bloomer in their book:

A lexical analysis of style will ask: Why have these particular words been chosen and not others, and what are the connotations of the chosen words? In newspaper reporting the lexical choice of the journalist can indicate the ideological standpoint from which she or he is writing (2004: 83).

In creating a campaign, the choice of words is very important. It has the

ability to create a specific purpose such as persuading, describing, and many

more. The choice of words is very significant in creating the desired purpose of

the text.

In studying the vocabulary of Obama‟s video campaign, the researcher

focused on the use of significant words that help the advertiser to deliver the

persuasive message desired.

The vocabulary types that are studied by the researcher are:

i. Naming

In the further analysis the researcher find the lexical tool of Naming is

Naming is a powerful ideological tool. It is also an accurate pointer to the ideology of the name. Different names for an object represent different ways of perceiving it (1992: 209).

Naming, a way of referring to something or somebody, is very powerful

in creating an image that following the name. In advertising, naming is very

significant in creating an image and build the persuasive message of the

advertized brand.

ii. Referring expression

Referring expression is related to the way a referee is addressed within a

text. Referring expression is divided into three main groups, personal reference,

demonstrative reference, and comparative reference. In this research, the latter is

not used in analysis.

In this presidential video campaign, many forms of referring expression

are used. The speaker of the utterances in the video is not only one person, but

many. The way the speakers in the video refer to the person or nation is

purposively used to create the persuasive message.

According to Halliday and Hasan, referring expressions can be divided

into 2 main groups; they are referring to the roles within a speech. If the speaker

speak as him/herself, the speaker will use the term I. When it is the speaker

together with other person, the term is we. And if the person becoming the

adressee, the term to be used is you. And if a person taking the other roles

specifically as singular male human, the term is he, while if it is singular female

(whether they are human or not). Other than that, the term used for generalized

human is one (1976: 44).

As the Demonstrative reference, the term used can be divided into three

parts that is according to the proximity which is near (this, those, and here [now]),

far (that, those, there, then), and neutral (the) (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 44).

iii. Time indicator

The time indicator vocabularies in the text play a significant role in

building the video‟s utterances organization. Then, the study under time indicator

vocabulary is necessarily to conduct. The time indicator vocabulary namely is a

term refers for phrases that indicating a period of time, a sequence of time, precise

time, or eventual time.

iv. Statistics

Ross in his book elicited that statistics is “the use of numbers to help make a point clearer or more specific” (1995: 88). Then the vocabulary of

statistics is namely the vocabularies of numbers that refers to data or calculation.

The vocabulary is important to be studied since it plays a major role in making the

persuasive message clearer and more specific.

v. Actions

The vocabulary under the term “actions” mainly consists of verbs or the

modification of verb. The video campaign uses varied action words to indicate

Obama‟s character and actions. The use of action words builds Obama‟s image

toward the people. The use of action words builds the persuasion strategy in the

vi. Social issues

The vocabulary under the term social issues covers words that include

social interest within in a governmental stage. The term refers to economy,

politics, prosperity, liberty, democracy, and many more. Since the vide is a

political campaign video, the social issues vocabulary is important to be studied.

2. Theory on Political Campaign

A political campaign is merely a kind of advertising which purpose is to

make people know the person and the idea he/she purposes. The main goal is to

persuade people to elect the candidate, in this case is Obama.

In analyzing Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward”, the

researcher needs the theory on advertising to conduct a reliable analysis.

According to Arens,

Advertising is the structured and composed nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services, and ideas) by identified sponsors through various media (2006: 7).

In brief, an advertisement is the effort of a group or a person to create a

persuasion effect toward the people who watch (of printed and audio-visual type

of advertisement) to achieve a certain goal. In his book, Larson (2010: 282) also

stated that there are three types of campaign. They are product campaign, person

campaign, and idea or ideology campaign. These campaigns mostly use media in

delivering their persuasive message.

Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward” is a political campaign

because the purpose is to persuade people to elect Obama in 2012 presidential

In the person-oriented political campaign, the focus is on an individual‟s name and the purpose associated with the name. For politicians it is always election to office or nomination to office (2010: 282).

There are many ways in perceiving the goal the political party or the

politician want to achieve, the strategies, as defined by Larson, can be by

including a third party that mainly is the opposing candidate or party and blowing

the disadvantage of choosing the opposing party.

The strategy, for example, is by ignoring the opposition and linking the

issue to the opposing party‟s decision to go to war in Iraq and made the

country lost a lot of money to pay for the war. Then, the political party will make a wise decision in the future to avoid wars(Larson, 2010: 282-283).

In this study, the researcher found that there are various use of textual

features especially the Grammatical features that refers to the form of the video

campaign as a political campaign. The political use of the textual features cover

the various purpose as below:

a. Eliciting an idea

Elicit, as defined by Hornby, is an action “to get information or a reaction from somebody, often with difficulty” (2005: 494). By eliciting an idea, the utterance is meant to get a (desired) reaction from the people who watch the video

campaign. The video campaign utters ideas to get a significant reaction such as a

contra toward the Republican party.

b. Conveying an idea

Convey, is defined to be an action “to make ideas, feelings, etc. known to

toward the people such as stating that Obama is a person who has a determination

and is a hard worker.

c. Emphasizing an idea

Emphasizing is described to be an action “to give special importance to something” (Hornby, 2005: 499). The use of an emphasis toward certain words in

this video campaign is meant to give the persuasive message toward the people.

3. Theory on Persuasion Strategies

In this part of the research, the researcher tries to explain the persuasion

strategies theories that are used to analyze the data on Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward”. The researcher found that there are three types of theories

that can be used to analyze the data. The theories on persuasion strategies are

supported by theories on creative strategy and execution in broadcast media and

theory on speech communication.

The theories on persuasion strategies are elicited by Herbert W. Simons

and Charles U. Larson, the theory on creative strategy and execution on broadcast

media are elicited by Christopher Gilson and Harold W. Berkman, and the speech

communication theory is elicited by Raymond S. Ross. All of the four theories are

useful to analyze relationship of the textual features and the persuasion strategies

employed in the video campaign thoroughly.

a. Herbert W. Simons Persuasive Campaign Theory

Simons, in his book, stated that political campaign in electronic media is

audience reach. This condition makes it possible for a candidate to expose a

political image of the candidate.

Furthermore, Simons suggests that campaign in electronic media, namely

television, is in form of entertainment and drama. He says that a politician must be

portrayed as a heroic figure.

Rather than competing with Love Story, as McGovern did in 1972, the politician must romance their voter-courting the uninvolved voters especially with dramatic acts off camera and visual/verbal message on camera that portray him as being like a favorite character in a television series or a celebrated movie star (1976: 247).

b. Christopher Gilson and Harold W. Berkman’s Creative Strategy and Execution on Broadcast Media Theory

Gilson and Berkman, in explaining about the creative strategy and

execution, says that one of advertisement creative strategy and execution is by

“Making the Claim”. The claim, referring to Gilson and Berkman, is a basic

selling concept.

It is also a description of the product‟s “reason for being” – what distinguishes it from other brands in its class, and what it does for the consumer that the competitor will not or cannot do (Gilson and Berkman, 1980: 432).

The most easily accepted claim for products is a claim that contains some

actual and demonstrable difference. The differentiation of the products make the

advertised product has particular selling value than other brands of the same kind.

The difference, however, is better on a demonstrable aspect such as cheaper price,

cleaner results, and many more. It is meant to make the people believe the

c. Charles U. Larson Persuasive Strategy Theory

In his book, Larson stated that there are 8 aspects in becoming a good

persuader. They are audience analysis, audience demographics, forms of

organization, forms of proof, building credibility, wording the message, delivering

the message, and common tactics in persuasion.

From all of the aspects Larson states, there are three aspects that are

related to the study of the textual features in the video campaign that was done by

the researcher. They are forms of organization, forms of proof, and the wording of

message.

i. Forms of organization

Referring to Larson, the organization of the message spoken by the

persuader is very important in creating the persuasive message. The organization

of message is vital in making the message being memorable and persuasive. A

better text organization leads to a memorable and persuasive message delivery.

Larson stated that there are five types of message‟s forms of

organization, they are: the topic format, the space format, the chronological

format, the stock issues format, and the motivated sequence format. In this

research, the researcher found that the organization by topics and the

chronological format are suitable to the analysis on the video campaign.

a) Organization by topics

Organization by topics is usually used when there are many topics to

persuader to convey several different topics to discuss in the message so it

gives an opportunity to enrich the message that are delivered to the people.

Larson suggests that the presentation of persuasive message by

topics is a “good choice in presenting specific reasons for some suggested action” (2010: 311). By using grouping the persuasive speech or text into

groups, the persuader makes the hearer focus their attention toward that

particular topic and it makes the persuasive message easily perceived. The

organization by topics also allow the persuader to convey several topics to be

discussed.

b) Organization by chronology

In the organization by chronology, Larson suggests the message delivery

through a set of narrative or story.

Sometimes, the essential message in persuasive communication is best relayed by taking the audience through the issues in historical sequence or organizing by chronology so that it is sort of narrative or story-both of which are very persuasive forms (2010: 311).

Narrative or story, referring to Larson are persuasive forms of

organization since it takes the people to follow a set of events and make them

feels the way the persuader want them to feel.

ii. Forms of proof

Forms of proof are very important in delivering the persuasive messages.

The people basically want good and convincing proofs in their decision making in

becoming the bases of their action. Larson states that

The proofs required for taking action steps, even good ones are always the most demanding and your audience will be no different. You must

convince them that your suggestion or proposals make good sense and are at least worth considering (2010: 315).

Larson suggests that there are 5 types of forms of proofs existed. They

are statistical evidence, narratives and anecdotes, testimony, visual evidence, and

comparison and contrast. The video campaign, however, uses two forms of proofs

namely the statistical evidence and the comparison and contrast.

a) Statistical evidence

Statistical evidence is known as a reliable form of proof. The statistical

evidence is usually based on observation, calculation, and science-based data. The

statistical evidence is known as a reliable and convincing form of proofs. Larson

also stated that

Statistics also persuade best when they are simple and easy to understand. When you decide to use statistics, make them clear and provide a referential point for the numbers (2010: 315).

b) Comparison and contrast

Comparison and contrast is a form of proof that Larson suggests to be a

rather difficult since the persuader should put the problem into perspective. This

form of proofs, however, appeared in thousands of before/after ads to show the

difference the product creates that benefitted the consumer. The message delivery

however, should consider the consumer‟s attention and needs.

Larson elicited an example on the danger of old cell phone batteries

disposal. When the persuader gives the people a slight comparison of the cell

phone batteries disposal with the quantity of pollution between a cell phone

phone batery disposal has a higher level of pollution quantity, the persuader‟s persuasive message is clear enough to make people consider the idea (2010: 318).

iii. Wording of message

The wording of the utterances has a big influence in delivering the

persuasive message. The main purpose of the message wording is to make the

message sounds pleasing so people would listen and remember the message.

In his book, Larson states that there are seven ways in wording the

message. They are namely: through varied vocabulary, figures of speech,

alliteration, and assonance, vivid language, concise language, parallel structure,

imagery, and humor.

However, the researcher found that there are three ways of message

wording that fit the textual features exist in the video campaign. They are various

vocabulary use, alliteration, and parallel structure.

a) Various Vocabulary

The use of various vocabulary in the message wording is very signifiacnt

since it makes the message does not sound monotonous. The use of the various

vocabulary is also a tool for the persuasive message delivery.

b) Alliteration

Alliteration creates “a kind of internal rhythm in the message, which makes it more lively and memorable” (2010: 319). Alliteration, referring to Larson, furnishes the persuader‟s style in delivering the message. Example: “A

Larson suggests that alliteration is one of favourite tools in advertising

since it is “fun to hear and repeat” (2010: 140).

c) Parallel structure

Parallel structure is the use of similar or even identical wording or

sentence which purpose is to build audience‟s expectation and make the

persuasive message memorable. Larson elicited an example of Cicero‟s saying: “Ask not what your country can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your country” (2010: 310).

d. Raymond S. Ross theory on speech communication

Under the subchapter of voice and articulation (paralanguage), Ross

stated that a speaker‟s voice largely determines their personality since in speech

voice is a very important aspect to attract the audience. Referring to Ross,

The voice contributes much to the total communication signal. It may be the single most important code we use. Perceived persuasiveness has been found to correlate with the vocal pleasantness, especially fluency and pitch variety.

We are not totally consistent in our voice and articulation patterns; we vary and adapt them to moods, subjects, and people as indeed we should (1995: 159-160)

From above, we can see that the use of voice is very important in relation

to the vocal pleasantness under speaker‟s fluency and pitch variety. The use of

various kinds of intonation depends on the speaker‟s attitude, preference, and

purpose. Moreover, the use of various sounds (in this case: intonation) is

important to make the utterances sound pleasant to the hearer. Intonation is a very

C. Theoretical Framework

The study of Obama‟s presidential video campaign “Forward” uses all

the theories reviewed above as the base in doing the analysis. The theories on

Textual Features (Phonology, Vocabulary, and Grammar) is used to analyze the

textual features of the utterances spoken in the video.

The theory on Grammar is used to explore the grammatical features that

are used in the spoken utterances in the video. The grammatical study covers the

parallelism, antithesis, and alliteration.

Then, the study uses Phonological theory that covers the Emphatic Stress

and Intonation to reveal the emphatic stress and intonation of the spoken utterance

in the video. The theory on Vocabulary is used to uncover the vocabulary use in

the video. The vocabulary study covers Naming, Referring Expression, Time

Indicator, Statistics, Actions, and Social Issues. After conducting the study on the

textual features, the researcher relates the study to the textual features of the text,

which is a political campaign in purpose of persuading people. The theory on

political campaign is used to elicit the persuasive message occurs in the video‟s

utterances.

In this research, the researcher combined persuasion strategy theory

elicited by Simon with Christopher Gilson and Harold W. Berkman theory on

creative strategy and execution on broadcast media to analyze the persuasion

strategy used in the video. At first, the researcher uses Larson‟s theory on

persuasion strategy that covers the aspects of a persuasive text structure existed in

analysis on persuasion strategy that refers to Simon and Gilson and Berkman.

Through Ross‟s theory on speech communication, the researcher analyzes the use of intonation feature of the text.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

D. Object of The Study

The object of the research is the textual features and the persuasion

strategies of Obama‟s 2012 presidential video campaign “Forward”. The video was launched on April 30th, 2012, in YouTube, under the account of

BarackObamadotcom. The account is the official YouTube account of Obama‟s

official website: BarackObama.com. The account was used as a campaign channel

for the 2008 and 2012 Obama‟s presidential campaign.

The account was created in September 5th, 2006. Until April 2014, the

account has publihed 3,002 videos and being subscribed by 545,871 YouTube

account. The title of the video, “Forward”, is referring to Obama‟s 2012 presidential campaign slogan. The video campaign “Forward” itself has been watched 1.012.515 times by YouTube viewers. The video‟s length is 7 minutes

and 16 seconds with 24 frames/second.

The video is a series of video cuts from News broadcast, daily activities,

political meetings, political people, Obama while delivering his speech, graphics

and combined with graphics art. The audio is a combination of voice-over,

Obama‟s speech, news broadcast, News broadcast and political people.

Generally, the video is about President Obama‟s achievements and belief.

As seen in the caption of the video:

The video outlines the challenges America faced as President Obama took office at the height of the worst recession in almost a century and details the progress that has been made reclaiming the security of the

middle class and building an economy that's meant to last, where hard work pays and responsibility is rewarded. (BarackObamadotcom, 2012: 1)

E. Approach of The Study

The approach of the study is stylistics. At this point, the researcher gives

a brief explanation on stylistics to picture the idea of stylistics approach.

Stylistics is a branch of language study that is concerned in the use of

language in utterances. It examines the creativity of language use that is related to

the purpose of the text. As a branch of linguistics, stylistics study is allowed to

relate the text‟s linguistics context and the non-linguistics context.

According to Simpson, to work under stylistics approach is to explore

creativity in language use (2004: 3). So, the main concern of stylistics is different

from any other branch of linguistics. In short, Stylistics, as defined by Verdonk:

So stylistics, the study of style, can be defined as the analysis of

“distinctive” expression in language and the description of its purpose and effect (2002: 4).

In this study, the stylistics approach helps the researcher to characterized

the textual features in Barack Obama‟s video campaign. Since the primary data of

the study is in two different kinds of data, both spoken and transcription of the

spoken utterances, the stylistics approach covers both of them.

The spoken utterances is analyzed through the style of its intonation and

emphatic stress, while the transcription of the spoken utterances will be analyzed

F. Method of The Study

The method of the the study is a library research. The primary data is

taken from the video by listening to the utterances spoken and by relating it to the

transcript section on the YouTube to get the most reliable data. 1. Data Collection

The researcher began the data collection by reviewing several Obama‟s presidential video campaign in Obama‟s official Youtube channel for The US 2008 and 2012 presidential election. The researcher then found that Obama‟s

video campaign “Forward” is the most suitable video campaign to be studied. The

choice was taken since the video campaign has many utterances and uses textual

features in eliciting the persuasion strategies.

The researcher then found that the video campaign consisted of 65

utterances by listening to the video campaign and making a transcription of the

spoken utterances. The transcription is made based on the use of the intonation,

pauses, and through the study of the sentences‟ logic. The researcher also compared the transcription of the spoken utterances toward the transcription exist

in the YouTube video channel: BarackObamadotcom.

The data for the study were taken by findings using purposive method.

Rezkiyana, ini her undergraduate thesis, as pharaphrasing Widodo, stated that

“The data investigated are based on the judgment of the researcher to the characteristics of sampling” (Rezkiyana, 2014: 27). In this research, the researcher

used the critical case sampling. Critical case sampling, as quoted by Rezkiyana

a type of purposive sampling technique that is particularly useful in exploratory qualitative research, research with limited resources, as well as research where a single case (or small number of cases) can be

decisive in explaining the phenomenon of interest” (Rezkiyana,

2014:28).

The data of the study is collected under code to make a compact data

collection and make an ease toward the data reading. The data coding is in the

sequence of: [Scope of the Study]/[Textual Features]/[Utterance Number]/[Data

Number]. Since the study is conducted in three scopes of textual features,

Grammar, Phonology, and Vocabulary, the [Scope of the Study] section is filled

with the first letters of the Scope of the Study. They are namely: GRAM for

Grammar, PHO for Phonology and VOC for Vocabulary.

In the [Textual Feature] section, the filling is according to the Scope of

the Study. Under the study of Grammar, A refers to Parallelism feature, B refers

to Antithesis feature, and C refers to Alliteration feature. Under the study of

Phonology, A refers to emphatic stress feature, B1 refers to Falling Intonation

feature, and B2 refers to Rising Intonation feature. In the scope of Vocabulary, A

refers to Naming vocabulary, B refers to Referring Expression vocabulary, C

refers to Time Indicator vocabulary, D refers to Statistics vocabulary, E refers to

Actions vocabulary, and F refers to Social Issues vocabulary.

In the [Utterance Number] section, the filling is according to the

utterance number of the utterance in the raw data as presented in Appendix 1. The

[Data Number] section, however, refers to the number of the data under a

Then, to read the utterance of “And still he persevered, here at home and

as commander in chief” which has data code GRAM/C/49/11, the data is grouped

under the study of Grammar in Alliteration feature which utterance number of the

whole utterances is 49 and data number under the Alliteration feature is the 11th.

2. Data Analysis

The gained and organized data is analyse thoroughly to answer the

problems elicited in Chapter I. The researcher does some neccessary steps in

analysing the data. The steps are:

a. The researcher identified the textual features of the text. The textual features

are the Phonology (emphatic stress and intonation), Grammar (parallelism,

antithesis, and alliteration), and Vocabulary (naming, referring expression,

time indicator, statistics, actions, and social issues). In this step, the

researcher identifying the existence of the textual feature based on the

characteristics of each textual feature as stated in the theory.

b. The researcher calculated the number of existence and grouped the utterance

based on the existence of the textual feature. The grouping of the data is

based on the data coding as stated before. Particularly in the study of the

intonation, the researcher transcribed the spoken utterances‟ intonation into

their intonation pattern.

c. The researcher observed the external context of the textual features exists in

the utterances toward the video‟s purpose in persuading people as a political

d. The researcher identified the textual features that are studied in the video in

accordance to the persuasion strategies as in the theory of persuasion

strategies, creative media and execution in broadcast media theory, and

speech communication theory. It aimed to observe the use of textual features

in building the aspects of persuasive text to create the persuasion strategies in

the video campaign.

e. The researcher then elaborated and explained the findings in the analysis and

discussion section. The conclusion is given when the analysis and discussion

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this section, the researcher gives a brief explanation of the study. The

analysis is divided into two parts, the first part is about the textual features that

exist in Obama‟s presidential video campaign, “Forward” (2012), and the second part is about the persuasion strategies conveyed in the video campaign.

In conducting the analysis, the researcher‟s data were collected from the

utterances appears in the video campaign. The collected data consisted of 65

utterances which obtained through listening activities. All of the 65 spoken

utterances of the video campaign are presented in Appendix 1.

The analysis on the textual features in Obama‟s video campaign is seen

through three different angles. The first angle is Grammar (covering the

parallelism, antithesis, and alliteration). Then from the angle of Phonology

(covering the emphatic stress and intonation features), and the last one from the

Vocabulary.

In the analysis on Grammar, the researcher observed and calculated the

existence of the textual feature parallelism, antithesis, and alliteration thoroughly

and explored the persuasive effect that the textual features have in each of the

utterance. In the study of Phonology, furthermore, the researcher observed the use

of emphatic stress and the intonation characteristics in the video campaign. Then,

the researcher characterized the use of emphatic stress into 6 emphatic stress

Code Spoken Utterances Time Indicator

VOC/C/57/24 For nearly nine years, our nation has beenat war in Iraq.

Nine years VOC/C/60/25 That's the America President Obama

believes in, and that's what he's fightingfor, every day.

Every day

D. STATISTICS

Code Spoken Utterances Statistics

VOC/D/1/1

For the fifth straight month, the U.S. economy lost jobs, three hundred and twenty four thousands so far this year.

three hundred and twenty four thousands

VOC/D/7/2

Whoever wins in November is going to come into office in January facing a deep recession,facing trillions of new liabilities.

trillions

VOC/D/12/3

On the day Barack Obama took office, America had already lost four point four million jobs, an economic disaster the worst in a generation.

four point four million

VOC/D/15/4

The president's stimulus plan saved up to four point two million jobs, including teachers, constructionworkers, police and firefighters working to build a stronger America.

four point two million

VOC/D/16/5

And when a flagshipof the American economy was going down, his auto rescue forced companies and workers toretool and restructure, saving one point one million jobs.

one point one million

VOC/D/21/6 And over the last twenty five months, four point one million new private sector jobs.

four point one million

VOC/D/28/7

And by twenty sixteen, thirty two million more Americans will finally have health coverage.

thirty two million

E. ACTIONS

Code Spoken Utterances Showing Actions

VOC/E/1/1

For the fifth straight month, the U.S. economy lost jobs, three hundred and twenty four thousands so far this year.

lost

VOC/E/2/2 Meltdown in the mortgage industry. meltdown VOC/E/6/3 American workers were laid off in numbers not

seen in over three decades.

Code Spoken Utterances Showing Actions

VOC/E/7/4

Whoever wins in November is going to come into office in January facing a deep recession,facing trillions of new liabilities.

going to come Facing Facing

VOC/E/12/5

On the day Barack Obama took office, America had already lost four point four million jobs, an economic disaster the worst in a generation.

had already lost

VOC/E/13/6 Some said America's best days were behind us. said

VOC/E/14/7

But likeAmerica, he dug deep, fought back and never lost faith in our ability to meet the challenge.

dug deep fought back lost

meet

VOC/E/15/8

The president's stimulus plan saved up to four point two million jobs, including teachers, constructionworkers, police and firefighters working to build a stronger America.

Saved working

VOC/E/16/9

And when a flagshipof the American economy was going down, his auto rescue forced companies and workers toretool and restructure, saving 1.1 million jobs.

going down forced retool restructure saving VOC/E/17/10 Today, for the first time since 2004, all three U.S.

automakers are operating at a profit.

operating VOC/E/18/11 Don't bet against the American worker. Don't bet VOC/E/19/12 And now, instead of losing jobs, we're _gainingthem. Losing _gaining VOC/E/20/13 The first increase in manufacturing jobs in a

decade.

increase

VOC/E/22/14

And while there's still more to do, there's been realprogress, because President Obama never stopped believing in us and fighting for us.

Do never stopped believing fighting

VOC/E/23/15

He tookon the credit card companies, stopping unfair fees and hidden penalties, took on the WallStreet banks too, fighting for tough new reforms to make sure they never again wreck our economy.

Stopping took on fighting make sure wreck VOC/E/24/16

He passed historic health reform, and now insurance companies can't deny children coveragefor pre-existing conditions.

Passed can't deny

Code Spoken Utterances Showing Actions

VOC/E/25/17 Seniors pay less for prescriptions. Pay

VOC/E/27/18 Guaranteed. Guaranteed

VOC/E/28/19 And by twenty sixteen, thirty two million more Americans will finally have health coverage.

Have

VOC/E/30/20 Has doubled. has doubled

VOC/E/35/21 More affordable and easier to repay. Repay VOC/E/37/22 Protected by a historicnew law. Protected VOC/E/38/23 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ? Don't Ask

Don't Tell

VOC/E/41/24

But instead of working together to lift America up, Republicans were waging a campaign totear the president down.

working lift waging tear down

VOC/E/42/25

Virtually every Republican has decided to just say no to anything thepresident proposes.

Decided Say proposes VOC/E/43/26 Put me in the no column. Put

VOC/E/44/27 Vote no. Vote

VOC/E/45/28 Vote no. Vote

VOC/E/46/29 Republicans are getting a rap as the party of no. getting

VOC/E/47/30

Yesterday in the end, not a single Republican voted for the bill, and apparently the relativemerits of the legislation had nothing to do with it.

Voted do

VOC/E/48/31 Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama asecond term.

deny

VOC/E/49/32 And still he persevered, here athome andas commander-in-chief.

persevered

VOC/E/50/33 Over the last two years you've seen a depletion of the senior bench for Al Qaeda.

Have seen VOC/E/51/34 Anwar Al-Awlaki has been killed. Has been killed VOC/E/53/35 And then, there was the victory no one

sawcoming.

Saw coming

VOC/E/54/36

Tonight, I can report to the American peopleand to the world the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousandsof innocent men, women and children.

Report Conducted

Code Spoken Utterances Showing Actions

VOC/E/55/37

This is truly one of those moments peoplewill remember where they were when they heard Osama Bin Laden is dead.

remember

VOC/E/58/38

So as your commander-in-chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I'm proudto finally say these two words: welcome home.

say

VOC/E/59/39

A promise kept by a president who understandsAmerica's promise, who understands America's greatness comes from a strong, secure middleclass.

Kept

Understands Understands Comes

VOC/E/60/40 That's the America President Obama believes in, _{and that's what he's fightingfor, every day.} Believes in Fighting for VOC/E/61/41

This is a make or break moment for the middleclass, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class.

Get into Fighting

VOC/E/62/42

Because what'sat stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raisea family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.

Working Raise Build Own Secure

VOC/E/63/43

I believe this countrysucceeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyoneplays by the same rules.

Believe Succeeds Does Plays VOC/E/64/44 And I believe America is on the way up. believe VOC/E/65/45

Thank you, God bless you,God bless the United States of America.

Thank Bless Bless

F. SOCIAL ISSUES

Code Spoken Utterances Social Issues

VOC/F/1/1

For the fifth straight month, the U.S. economy lost jobs, three hundred and twenty four thousands so far this year.

jobs

VOC/F/2/2 Meltdown in the mortgage industry. mortgage industry VOC/F/7/3

Whoever wins in November is going to come into office in January facing a deep recession,facing trillions of new liabilities.

Recession liabilities

VOC/F/12/4

On the day Barack Obama took office, America had already lost four point four million jobs, an economic disaster the worst in a generation.

Code Spoken Utterances Social Issues

VOC/F/15/5

The president's stimulus plan saved up to four point two million jobs, including teachers, constructionworkers, police and firefighters working to build a stronger America.

jobs

VOC/F/16/6

And when a flagshipof the American economy was going down, his auto rescue forced companies and workers toretool and restructure, saving 1.1 million jobs.

jobs

VOC/F/19/7 And now, instead of losing jobs, we're _gainingthem. jobs VOC/F/20/8 The first increase in manufacturing jobs in a

decade.

manufacturing jobs

VOC/F/21/9 And over the last twenty five months, four point one million new private sector jobs.

private sector jobs

VOC/F/23/10

He tookon the credit card companies, stopping unfair fees and hidden penalties, took on the WallStreet banks too, fighting for tough new reforms to make sure they never again wreck our economy.

Fees Penalties Economy

VOC/F/24/11

He passed historic health reform, and now insurance companies can't deny children coveragefor pre-existing conditions.

children coverage for pre-existing conditions

VOC/F/25/12 Seniors pay less for prescriptions. Prescription VOC/F/26/13 Contraception coverage? Contraception

coverage VOC/F/28/14 And by twenty sixteen, thirty two million more

Americans will finally have health coverage.

Health coverage VOC/F/29/15 Wind andsolar power? Wind andsolar power VOC/F/32/16 Middle class taxes? Middle class taxes

VOC/F/34/17 Collegeloans? collegeloans

VOC/F/36/18 Equal pay for women? equal pay for women VOC/F/41/19

But instead of working together to lift America up, Republicans were waging a campaign totear the president down.

Republicans campaign

VOC/F/47/20

Yesterday in the end, not a single Republican voted for the bill, and apparently the relativemerits of the legislation had nothing to do with it.

the bill

Code Spoken Utterances Social Issues

VOC/F/54/22

Tonight, I can report to the American peopleand to the world the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousandsof innocent men, women and children.

Terrorism

VOC/F/56/23 And now, the war in Iraq is over. War in Iraq VOC/F/57/24 For nearly nine years, our nation has beenat war in

Iraq.

War in Iraq

VOC/F/62/25

Because what'sat stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raisea family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.

Enough earnings Savings Home retirement VOC/F/63/26

I believe this countrysucceeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyoneplays by the same rules.

Fair shot Fair share Rules