A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Hillary Clinton's 2016 Election Speeches

The critical discourse analysis put forward by Fowler and other linguists in the 1970 s aims to explore the relationships between discourse,power and ideology.As one of the outstanding representatives in this field,Fairclough's three-dimensional model is often used in the study of critical discourse analysis,especially in the analysis of English news reports.This thesis tries to use it for political speeches in order to enrich its applicability.Based on AntConc3.2.3w-rc2 and Wordsmith,this study takes Fairclough's three-dimensional model as its theoretical framework and Halliday's three-dimensional model as linguistic analysis tool to make critically analysis on Hillary's 2016 race speeches.In the description stage,the linguistic properties and strategies are discussed from the perspective of ideational function,interpersonal function and textual function.In the interpretation stage,this study explores the underlying causes of the exist of some linguistic features through the contents,participants,their relations in the speeches and the role of language in realizing the speeches.In the explanation stage,based on the social context,this study explores what power and identity are constructed in Hillary's campaign speeches.This study finds that:(1)In terms of ideational function,all types of transitivity types are used but they are distributed in different proportions.Material processes are used most frequently,above 50%;mental and relational processes rank the second and the third respectively;the verbal,behavioral and existential processes are used very little.As for interpersonal function,the plural form of the first-person pronoun “we” is used very frequently to weaken asymmetrical power relations and political identities,and shorten the distance to the audience.And the frequent use of “can” and “will” in their positive forms expresses her abilities,confidence and determination.Concerning textual function,Hillary uses marked theme structures to highlight special information such as time,place,reason and frequency.(2)Discursive construction in political discourses is not random,as the speaker,Hillary discusses several national and international issues with the audiences that is the people of different states,skillfully makes uses of special linguistic features and strategies to deliver her political intentions successfully.(3)By using these linguistic features and skills,she constructs individual power and institutional power,the former including women power and citizen power and the latter including national power and leader power;and she also constructs individual identity and group identity,the former including the fighter for women's rights,the leader of democratic party and an American citizen and the latter including identity concerning leader group,anti-terrorist group and non-nuclear weapons group.By analyzing the essence of political speeches analysis,this study hopes to make people realize the fact that how the speakers use language to influence the ideology of audience and thus achieve their political purposes.Meanwhile,it is hoped to enhance people's critical language awareness,and then take a critical attitude to discourses.