Political Speech Discourse Analysis - Theory And Practice

This thesis is the discourse analysis of political speeches, guided by M.A.K. Halliday's systemic functional approach, especially based on his three Metafunctions----Ideational Function, Interpersonal Function and Textual Function. It focuses on the two political speeches as the objects of research: those by the new president-elect of the United States of America, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton's Farewell Speech. The thesis investigates the structural features of the speeches and the functional differences between them from the three perspectives: transitivity, mood and modal system, and patterns of thematic progression. The analysis reveals that functional features of the speeches as a unique style of literature, as opposed to other styles of literature, and there are really some similarities and differences among all the speeches in the light of different gender, situation and experience of speakers. This examination on speeches is of a certain value in understanding the choice of speech language and its function, which leads to a better comprehension and a thorough grasp of the characteristics of the political speeches.