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Critical Discourse Analysis of The Speeches of Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III PDF
Critical Discourse Analysis of The Speeches of Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III PDF
A Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Southeastern Philippines
Obrero, Davao City, Philippines
by
March 2013
Republic of the Philippines
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHEASTERN PHILIPPINES
College of Arts and Sciences
Obrero, Davao City
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I, Teresa Autida-van der Zee, declare that this research is original to the best of my
March 2013
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APPROVAL SHEET
Applied Linguistics, this thesis entitled, “Critical Discourse Analysis of the Speeches of
President Benigno S. Aquino III” prepared and submitted by Teresa Autida-van der
Adviser
________________________________________________________________________
Chair
Member Member
________________________________________________________________________
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ABSTRACT
structure and discourse features of the three (3) speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino
III.
The structure and discourse features of the three (3) significant speeches of
President Benigno S. Aquino III, the Inaugural Address 2010, State of the Nation
Address of 2011 and 2012 were analyzed base on the transitivity and modality meta-
Based on the analyses of data, findings revealed that 1) The over- all structure of
the speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III used linguistic units which express
determination, willingness and intention on the part of the speaker; could easily be
understood by the hearers and spectators; was easy to embrace and understand despite of
the different issues he brought up on economy, health, education and even the on-going
corruptions of the previous administrations; he used personal pronouns that are associated
with a grammatical person in the first person plural form and linguistic constructions that
competent administration as well as the people and supporters who believe in his current
leadership and better governance; and 2 (a) The discourse features in terms of transitivity
in speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed something that is done; (b) in
terms of modality, he used linguistic units to seek common ground and/ or cooperation as
well as sense of belongings within the group. It revealed his attitude or opinion about the
truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence and made his audience to plainly accept his
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speeches, thus, it aided him great emphasis to serve and show his positivity to achieve
greater goals.
Based on these findings, the researcher recommended for the emphasis on critical
discourse studies using micro and macro-structural approach in the analysis of text; that
language learners are advised to be taught and be motivated to critically analyze text in
the form of spoken or written discourse using the Critical Discourse Analysis. For
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researcher would like to acknowledge with deep gratitude to those who
offered their guidance and invaluable contribution to the success of this study.
Foremost, to the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of all things; for His wisdom,
strength and the assurance of His word through the Holy Bible. And above all, for His
super abounding grace that sustains the researcher during the course of this endeavor.
work;
To Prof. Rowena C. Nuera, panel chair, for her significant input, constructive
To Dr. Milagros Villas, panel member, for her invaluable time and suggestions
persevering effort and time in reviewing the technicalities of the research contents;
validators, for their precious time and efforts in examining the content of the research
analyses;
To Prof. Liza C. Asombrado, for her undying support and assistance of the
To Mr. Mar Elbert Logroño, for extending his assistance on technical expertise;
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To Pastor Mario Indino and his wife, Mrs. Eugenie Angela Hampp-Indino,
for their assistance in imparting their brilliant ideas and for their prayers;
To Autida and van der Zee family, for the love, support and words of
encouragement;
And to Rob van der Zee, for all his positive inputs, never ending love and
support; and so as his spiritual guidance towards the success of this study.
This research would not have been triumphant without all your support. Thank
T. A. v/d Z.
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DEDICATION
and
T. A. v/d Z.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
III METHODS
ix
State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2012 …………………………….. 53
Discourse Features of Speeches in Terms of Transitivity ………………………. 58
Inaugural Speech Address 2010 ………………………………………… 59
State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2011 ……………………………... 61
State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2012 ……………………………. .. 63
Discourse Features of Speeches in Terms of Modality ………………………….. 66
REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………….. 71
APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………… 79
CURRICULUM VITAE
x
LIST OF TABLES
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
xii
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
scope and limitation, theoretical lens, significance of the study and the definition of terms
human discourse takes place. A communication process mainly involves a speaker and a
listener in which both participants perform a mutual action of exchanging ideas. Through
a spoken language an individual could freely express his thoughts in various genres like
language has historically been overshadowed by the study of written language (Linell,
1982) partly because of technical difficulties connected with the collection and analysis
critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an approach. It has spread to new areas of the world
and to great many disciplines (Fairclough, Graham, Lemke and Wodak, 2004). The
primary focus of CDA is on the effect of power relations and inequalities in producing
social wrongs, and in particular on discursive aspects of power relations and inequalities.
weaving of linguistic structure and discourse features are interrelated in revealing the
social practice of dominance, power and ideologies. The uncovering of these hidden
Functional Grammar of M.A.K. Halliday (1985) critical discourse approach. He puts two
vital components such as systematic grammar and functional grammar. These two are
inseparable parts for an integral framework of linguistic theory. Likewise, Halliday thinks
of the meta-functions which are inherent in any languages and that include the ideational
subject for examination of grammatical aspects of language. The writers and speakers in
this genre must instill the awareness on the usage of linguistic features as well as the
formation of ideas. This means that it must be presented and exercised with authority,
strategy and power of persuasion for the delivery of these speeches reflects the speaker’s
In the context of political arena, Van Dijk (1998b) claims that political discourse,
gender inequality, media discourse, and the like, should be emphasized, although to date
most discourse studies dealing with any aspect of power, domination and social
inequality have not been explicitly conducted under the label of CDA.
who wish to gain power, those who wish to exercise power and those who wish to keep
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power.” Linguists’ enthusiast like Van Dijk (1995, 2006) and De Wet (2010) perceive
In the context of political genre in the Philippines, there has been a study
conducted by Jibrin (2003) focusing on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the
Arroyo. However, the researcher has not come across local researches that concern the
critical discourse analysis on the speeches of the 15th President Benigno S. Aquino III.
Therefore, the researcher chose this study to uphold the need to establish the
Inaugural speech delivered on June 30, 2010, State of the Nation Address (SONA)
delivered on July 25, 2011 and State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on July 23,
2012.
The main purpose of the study was to emphasize the importance of research on
crucial to reveal the discursive aspects of power relations and inequalities in the society.
Through the investigation of the speech structure and discourse features, it revealed the
political community.
The study aimed to analyze the speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III, with
the purpose of establishing the discursive patterns in the structure of the speeches. It
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Specifically, this study sought the answer to the following questions:
2. What are the discourse features of the speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino
III in terms of the meta-functions of (a) transitivity and (b) modality (levels of
politeness)?
The researcher was limited only in determining the structure (modal verbs, tenses
of verbs and the pronominal choice of personal and possessive pronouns) of the speeches
through the two (2) meta-functions. The ideational function, paralleled to transitivity
system which is represented by six (6) types of processes (material, mental, relational
[attributive and identifying], verbal, behavioral and existential processes) and the
This study involved a purposive selection of the three (3) significant speeches of
the president; his Inaugural speech delivered on June 30, 2010 after taking the oath as the
15th Philippine President at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, State of the Nation
Address (SONA) delivered on July 25, 2011 and State of the Nation Address (SONA)
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delivered on July 23, 2012 at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives, Batasan
Theoretical Lens
tradition of critical social scientific theory (Khan and Hare, 2006: 70). According to
Janks (2001: 26), critical discourse analysis stems from a critical theory of language that
sees the use of language as a form of social practice. This approach analyzes discourses
from the real world and studies social problems such as dominance, inequality, racism,
and powerlessness.
the founders of critical discourse analysis as applied to the sociolinguistic field. In his
book on Language and Power, Fairclough (1989) discusses how power and dominance
are enacted by the speaker. He discusses the methodological framework for analyzing
discourse and emphasizes three dimensions when analyzing discourse, that is,
(2003: 5).
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This study is mainly anchored on the grounded theory of M.A.K. Halliday’s
(1985) Systematic Functional Grammar. It has two components: systematic grammar and
functional grammar. These are two inseparable parts for an integral framework of
linguistic theory. Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language as
a system network, or meaning potential. This network consists of subsystems from which
language users make choices. Functional grammar aims to reveal that language is a
means of social interaction, based on the position that language system and the forms that
make it up are inescapably determined by the uses or functions which they serve
The framework of Halliday (1985) serves as the basis for the analysis of the meta-
functions which are the three aspects of meaning that are present in each clause in each
language: the ideational (transitivity), the interpersonal (modality) and the textual meta-
functions. However, in this study, the researcher basically focused on two meta-
functions, the ideational (transitivity) and interpersonal functions (modality) through the
1976: 159 in Haratyan, 2011) whether the verb takes an object or not, but in SFL it
transitivity as a major component in experiential function of the clause deals with the
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Thus, transitivity has inter-related options to represent different types of process
or experience investigated from above, below, and around consists of process, participant
with different labels such as Actor, Goal; Senser, Phenomenon; Carrier, Attribute; and
happening, feeling, sensing, saying, behaving, and existing) and anything that it expresses
like event, relation, physical, mental or emotional state when sorted in the semantic
system of the clause is classified into material, relational, mental, verbal, behavioral, and
the world are socially and culturally constructed with participants, any animate or
the relationship between the writer and reader or participants in a text is explored through
the type of modality. Halliday & Martin (1981:30) defines interpersonal communication
which embraces three grammatical categories of speech function, modality and tone.
roles and relationship express by the speaker’s judgment toward a certain topic through
the formality level or degree of politeness: high, median and low through the use modal
verbs.
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(Halliday, 1985: 53). In this function, establishing the language users' statuses and roles
ideological aspects of the political speeches, write their own research papers with
enthusiasm and value the importance of the study in their field of interests.
analysis in language teaching to both speaking and writing discourses. And that
they may never cease to broaden their knowledge concerning other teaching styles
and strategies which they can make use inside their classrooms.
Politicians. They may be able to have an idea on the impact of their speeches to
the public especially that they are into impressing the people of their commitment
Voters. They may be able to understand the rhetorical persuasive strategies of the
teaching.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are operationally defined to provide clarity on the terms used
in this study.
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Benigno S. Aquino III. In this study, the term refers to the political leader of
the democratic government of the country and who currently holds the title as
the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines. Specifically, his speeches
studying and analyzing written and spoken texts to reveal the discursive
sources of power, dominance, inequality and bias, Van Dijk (1998a). In this
study, this term refers to the approach for analyzing the patterns in the
Speeches. This term refers to the three (3) significant speeches of Benigno
Aquino III, specifically the Inaugural Address in 2010, State of the Nation
Address 2011 and of 2012. In this study, this refers to the corpora subjected
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Chapter II
This chapter contains the related literature and reviews of studies culled by the
Related Literature
In the late 1970s, Critical Linguistics (CL) was developed by a group of linguists
and literary theorists at the University of East Anglia (Fowler et al., 1979; Hodge &
Kress, 1979). Their approach was based on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics
(SFL). Critical linguistics practitioners such as Trew (1979a, p. 155) aimed at “isolating
ideology in discourse” and showing “how ideology and ideological processes are
manifested as systems of linguistic characteristics and processes.” This aim was pursued
by developing CL's analytical tools (Fowler et al., 1979; Fowler, 1991) based on SFL.
functions. According to Fowler (1991, p. 71) and Fairclough (1995b, p. 25), whereas the
ideational function refers to the experience of the speakers of the world and its
phenomena, the interpersonal function embodies the insertion of speakers' own attitudes
and evaluations about the phenomena in question, and establishing a relationship between
speakers and listeners. Instrumental to these two functions is the textual function. It is
through the textual function of language that speakers are able to produce texts that are
practitioners (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995b,
1995a; Fowler et al., 1979; Fowler, 1991; Hodge & Kress, 1979). According to Fowler et
al. (1979), CL, like sociolinguistics, asserts that, “there are strong and pervasive
sociolinguistics “the concepts 'language' and 'society' are divided…so that one is forced
to talk of 'links between the two’”, for CL “language is an integral part of social process”
Another central assumption of CDA and SFL is that speakers make choices
regarding vocabulary and grammar, and that these choices are consciously or
unconsciously “principled and systematic” (Fowler et al., 1979, p. 188). Thus, choices are
ideologically based. According to Fowler et al. (1979), the “relation between form and
content is not arbitrary or conventional, but… form signifies content”. In sum, language
Over the years Critical Linguistics (CL) and what recently is more frequently
referred to as CDA (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; van Dijk, 1998a) has been further
Recent work has raised some concerns with the earlier work in CL. Among the
concerns was, first, taking into consideration the role of audiences and their
interpretations of discourse possibly different from that of the discourse analyst. The
second concern has called for broadening the scope of analysis beyond the textual,
extending it to the intertextual analysis. Fairclough (1995b) has raised both issues. He
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claims that the earliest work in CL did not adequately focus on the “interpretive practices
of audiences.” In other words, he claims that CL has, for the most part, assumed that the
audiences interpret texts the same way the analysts do. In a similar vein, commenting on
Fowler (1991), Boyd-Barrett (1994) asserts that there is “a tendency towards the classic
The other issue put forward by Fairclough (1995b) is that while earlier
contributions in CL were very thorough in their grammatical and lexical analysis they
were less attentive to the intertextual analysis of texts: “the linguistic analysis is very
much focused upon clauses, with little attention to higher-level organization properties of
whole texts”.
Despite raising these issues with regard to earlier works in CL, Fairclough
(1995b) inserts that “mention of these limitations is not meant to minimize the
of theory in the past twenty years or so”. The “shifts of focus and developments of
theory” which Fairclough (1995b) talks about, however, have not resulted in the creation
of a single theoretical framework. What is known today as CDA, according to Bell &
Also, Van Dijk (1998a) stresses that CDA “is not a specific direction of research”
hence “it does not have a unitary theoretical framework.” But, van Dijk (1998a) asserts,
“given the common perspective and the general aims of CDA, we may also find overall
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A clear distinction of CDA and DA is defined by Rashidi and Souzandehfar
social power abuse, dominance and inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted by
text and talk in the social and political context. With such dissident research, critical
discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose and
as a form of social practice” (Fairclough 1989: 20) and focuses on the idea that social and
Furthermore, Van Dijk (1988) states that CDA is concerned with studying and
analyzing written texts and spoken words to reveal the discursive sources of power,
dominance, inequality and bias, and how these sources are initiated, maintained,
reproduced and transformed within specific social, economic, political and historical
contexts. By so doing, it illuminates ways in which the dominant forces construct texts
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Schools are heavily involved in these general developments
affecting language in its relation to power” (p. 220), and
that this “problematic of language and power” is
“fundamentally question of democracy” (p. 221).
Fairclough then argued that if individuals are to deal productively as citizens with
the challenges of the social world, they need to be educated toward the development of a
critical language awareness that “develops their capacities for language critique,
including their capacities for reflexive analysis of the educational process itself” as well
as analysis of the larger social, cultural, and linguistic contexts in which education
occurs.
meta-discourse, means taking a step back from the discussion of a given topic to talk
about the ways in which group members are using language to make meaning that
learning and social change. From this perspective, language is not simply a means of
by, the ways language learners understand themselves, their social surroundings, their
In line with the language teaching concerning critical discourse analysis (CDA),
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professional considerations, are, in fact, inherently
ideological in nature, with significant implications for
learners’ socioeconomic roles. Put simply, our choices
as educators play a role in shaping students’ choices’.
On the other hand, Kumaravadivelu (1999: 479) believes that the text is less
important than the processes of engaging with the text: ‘In the context of the ESL
classroom, as in any other educational context, what makes a text critical has less to do
with the way its content is constructed by the author (though it surely matters) than the
To sum up, learners may need to be taught how to interrogate a text, how to
engage in ‘critical reading’ (Wallace, 1992), and how to problematize both the overt and
the covert cultural, political and gendered messages of the text. At the same time, as
Canagarajah (1999: 194) warns, it is not simply a matter of attempting to instill a critical
mind-set: ‘It is condescending to think that students have to be led by the noses to express
studies of UK, US and Australian classrooms have focused on how classroom talk could
shape and reshape what would count as knowledge, subjectivity, legitimate social
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lessons and other spoken texts could be analyzed for its topic and propositional
macrostructure, to document patterns of who could speak, when, about what topics and
studies of classroom talk detail many of the typical discourse moves and techniques with
which teachers regulate classroom knowledge. Recent studies of gender and cultural
identity document how students' resistance can reshape school knowledge and social
of the world, social identities, and social relationships. This has already enabled the
guidebooks, and student writings. It has also been used to look at a range of formal and
informal spoken texts, including classroom talk, administrators' public talk, staff room
track different discourses across a range of texts within school systems (Corson, 1995). In
the study of social science education in Australian secondary schools, Lee (1996)
student work, classroom talk, and students' written assignments. Operating from a
gendered textual practices. This research design, used by many Australian and UK
researchers, involves a series of text analyses that use different analytic tools, but which
are nested within an overall set of social theoretic frameworks and sociological questions.
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In its constructive moment, critical discourse analysis is being used as the basis
for the teaching of “critical language awareness” and “critical literacy” to students in
Australia and the UK (Fairclough, 1992a). Critical deconstruction and social critique are
Frankfurt School social analysis. The assumptions of such curricula are: (a) that students
can be taught how to critically analyze the texts of the culture around them as part of
literacy and social science education; and, (b) that critical literacy is the `new basic' for
postmodern conditions.
Transitivity
different mind styles or authorial ideology, (Fowler, 1986:138). It manifests how certain
choices encode the author’s certain ideological stance affected by social and cultural
institution because according to Fowler these linguistic codes cannot reflect reality
neutrally and definitely embody ideologies, (1986:27) It also functions as a rich analytic
tool utilized in critical discourse analysis, dealing with “who or what does what to whom
According to Yumin, (2007) she states that this specific discourse feature is
mainly represented by the transitivity system in grammar. In this system the meaningful
grammatical unit is clause which expresses what is happening, what is being done, what
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Furthermore, Zhuanglin (1988: 312) claims this function mainly consists of
transitivity and voice. This function not only specifies the available options in meaning
but also determine the nature of their structural realizations. Hence, the transitivity
system includes six processes: material process, mental process, relational process,
processes are expressed by an action verb (e.g. eat, go, give), an actor
(logical subject) and the goal of the action (logical direct object, usually a
noun or a pronoun).
phenomenon.
and identifying. The former expresses what attributes a certain object has
or what type it belongs to, for example: The temperature is high. The latter
used verbs are say, tell, talk, praise, boast, describe, etc. In these
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and dreaming, etc. Generally, there is only one participant—behaver,
which is often a human. This kind of processes is much like the mental
a material process that has only one participant. This depends on whether
Modality
The core of modality analysis is the concept of politeness. Politeness had been
elaborated by Hirschova (2006) in Svarova (2008) by saying that “in its pragmalinguistic
communicating individuals.”
ranges between the extreme positive and the extreme negative. It is one of the most
important systems in social communication. On the one hand, it could objectively express
the speaker’s judgment toward the topic. However, it can show the social role
relationship, scale of formality and power relationship. In English, except modal verbs,
modal adverbs, adjectives, there are also personal pronouns, notional verbs, tense, direct
and indirect speeches to express the modalization. Finally, Holmes (1995) as cited in
(Gibson et al., 2009), suggests that "'politeness' is used to refer to behavior which actively
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Spoken Discourse Analysis
The analysis of discourse is concerned both with spoken and written texts. In both
cases, discourse analysis attempts to explain how linguistic form relates to functions, a
relationship which is not univocal, that is one given linguistic form does not lead
Spoken and written discourses have different social uses and communicative
functions, which makes the form of spoken and written texts completely different.
what is normally written texts, studies of cohesion, or the links between the different
parts of the text, and coherence, or the links between the different “ideas” of words, have
also helped to define what a good speech is for the public for problem-solution pattern in
(1985: 84) is the study of how sentences in spoken and written language form larger
analysis then, is concerned with linguistic analysis beyond the sentence and morpho-
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Another definition describes spoken discourse analysis as the discipline which
studies the relationship between form and function in verbal communication (Rekema,
1999: 13). So, it does not attempt to describe solely the surface of the linguistic
phenomena, but also the intentions and purposes which underlie them, sometimes from a
critical perspective.
Other way to portray is “the study of the relationship between language and the
contexts in which it is used” (McCarthy, 1991: 5). Therefore, it also aims at setting the
understanding the production and reception of words. One influential approach to the
research initially concerned itself with the structure of discourse in school classrooms
Hence, there are logical aspects of spoken or verbal discourses that obviously
differ from that of solely written discourses, mainly the physical and visual aspects of
delivery. (a) The tone of the voice of the speaker. (b) Gestures, both his hands, body
language, eye contact, etc. (c) Audience impact or reactions at the moment. (d) The speed
as a tool use to put emphasis in certain areas. (e) The repetitions of certain phrases or
words. By these one can almost determine hidden thoughts or unspoken words by the
Speeches
amazing truth that human beings have the ability to express thoughts and information by
the articulation of sounds is by far one of the undeniable evidences that human beings
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are unique among all God's creation. Naturally, humans engage in speech activities in
different context daily. For example, at home with family and friends, or may be in their
working zones, people use their preferred choice of codes, languages styles and dialects
When discussing about speech, the speech act theory as proposed by Austin
(1962) is directly noted when it comes to language. Austin discovered the performative
utterances and the concepts on locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. These
utterance and its ostensible meaning. While the illocutionary act, is the performance of an
act in saying something. And lastly, the perlocutional acts, refers to the speech acts that
have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In
other words, they seek to change minds, for instance, the actual effect such as persuading,
Basically, there are four (4) types of speeches specifically to inform, to instruct, to
entertain and to persuade (Basic Types of Speeches). However, the principle purpose of a
speech would generally fall into one of the four (4) basic types. First, the informative
speech serves to provide interesting and useful information to the audience. Secondly, the
demonstrative speech has many similarities with the first one. But the main difference
lies in including an actual demonstration of how to the thing one is teaching. Thirdly, a
persuasive speech works to convince people to change in some way, the way they think
and do something, or to start doing something that they are not currently doing. And
22
lastly, the entertaining speech, it provides pleasure and enjoyments that make the
However, in this study, the researcher utilized the presidential speeches delivered
by President Benigno S. Aquino III. These speeches talked on different issues and were
particularly anchored on the various situations, events and sectors of the Philippine
government, and the affairs of the country. Basically, as it is observed most of the
The term monologue comes for the Greek etymology which means 'speaking
Hence, the corpus of this present study is focused on the Inaugural Speech (2010)
and the State of the Nation Address (SONA 2011 and 2012) of the President Benigno S.
Aquino III. In the Philippines, it is a norm in the political context that an inaugural speech
is delivered by the newly elected president to inform the president’s intentions and goals
On the other hand, the State of the Nation Address (SONA) is delivered annually
during the leadership’s term of presidency. This is carried out for the purpose of
informing the nation and public of what the president’s administration has done in the
different angles and issues of the country. The speech mainly talks about the
23
accomplishments of the leader’s platforms, reports the current situation and presents
solution to the problems of the nation. Generally, the speech contains powerful words to
impress the hearers of the conduct of the president’s duties and responsibilities in the
country.
The medium of language used during the delivery of the speeches of President
Benigno S. Aquino III was originally in Filipino. However, for the purpose of this study,
the researcher opted to utilize the English translated version of the speech as the basis for
Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III is a famous political icon also known as
Noynoy Aquino or PNoy, who was born on February 8, 1960. Currently, Aquino holds
the position as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines after winning the
elementary, high school, and college education, and graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of
Arts in Economics. After finishing his degree, Aquino joined his family in their exile to
Boston, United States and returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the
assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector.
Philippines from 1943 to 1944; and Aquino’s parents were President Corazon Aquino
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He is a leading member of the Liberal Party and holds the position of Vice-
Chairman of the Liberal Party, having assumed the post on March, 2006. Previously, he
held the positions as Secretary General of the party (1999-2002), Vice-President of the
Luzon Liberal Party (2002-2004), and Secretary General of the party (2004-16 March
2006).
Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac Province. Noynoy Aquino was subsequently
re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004. In 2007, having been barred from running for
re-election to the House due to term limits, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th
Congress of the Philippines. And now, Benigno S. Aquino III holds the highest political
Related Studies
There were few studies in critical discourse analysis which focus specifically on
presidential speeches in the political context. However, a successful CDA study has been
Speeches”. This research was based on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) theory and
speeches mainly from the point of transitivity and modality, wherein the language used,
was described on how to serve the ideology and power. The result of the study showed
the following: first, Obama used more simple words and short sentences instead of
difficult ones; second, from the transitivity analysis of the speeches, the material process,
a process of doing, has been used most to show what the government has achieved, what
they are doing and what they would do; third, modality refers to a speaker’s attitudes
25
towards or opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence. Through the
analysis of modality, Obama made the audience more easily to understand and accept the
political speeches by means of modal verbs, tense and first person pronouns; and lastly,
he used simple present tense to present the domestic and worldwide situations ranging
from political, economic and cultural fields at present. Moreover, by using first person
pronouns and religious belief, Barack Obama successfully shortened the distance
between him and the audience. So it could help Obama persuade the public to accept and
Although the study of Wang (2010) has similarities in this present study in terms
of its scope on transitivity and modality analysis using Halliday’s framework; however, it
differed on its speaker or subject, the corpus as well and the setting of the study which
have been utilized for the analysis. In this current study, the researcher used the corpora
of the speeches of Philippine President, Benigno S. Aquino III while Wang (2010) made
George Bush's manipulative use of language and the effect it has on the recipients’
mental models. The research is entitled "Power Relations in President Bush's State of the
Union Speech". This research investigation relied on the framework of Van Dijk (2006)
in manipulation wherein such control could take the form of legitimate persuasion or
illegitimate manipulation, the basic difference between them being whether or not the
influence is against the recipient’s fully conscious will and interests. The result of the
analysis revealed the signs of manipulation at the levels of syntax, semantics and
26
pragmatics. A multidisciplinary approach to manipulation elicits discursive, cognitive
The difference of Rudyk’s work from the present study is its great emphasis on
language manipulations found in Bush’s speech. Apart from the additional focus on
discursive patterns of the speeches, the corpus used in the analysis of the related study
was delivered by a native American- English speaker unlike that of this paper which
focused on the speeches spoken by a Filipino politician who considers English as second
language.
Presidential Primaries” examined the text of the President Jonathan‘s declaration of his
candidacy for his party‘s presidential primaries. The study employed a qualitative
approach in the analysis of the text to tease out the meaning potential of the rhetorical
strategies employed in the speech and the ideology they encode. Critical discourse
analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics unearth the underlying ideology and
persuasive strategies used in the declaration speech. The study revealed the following: (1)
an alternative ideology for the Nigerian nation; (2) that the President used a variety of
and manipulate the conscience of his party and other Nigerians; and (3) the study also
27
showed the deployment of delegitimization strategies to threaten undesirable groups such
The related study of Kamalu and Agangan (2011) was concentrated on one
candidacy. Moreover, the research locale of their study was based in South Africa
particularly in Nigeria. Compared to the present study, this basically focused on two
speech events namely, Inaugural Address (2010) and the State of the Nation of Address
(SONA) of the year 2011 and 2012 in the Republic of the Philippines.
Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2009, 218-229 was conducted.
The study analyzed the speeches of the two presidential nominees of the two parties:
republican and democratic specifically John McCain and Barack Obama. They selected
one of their speeches on a similar topic (Iraq War) and incorporated their states in the
framework of CDA introduced by Van Dijk. The results revealed that the two senators
take two opposite strands on the same event. They used language as a means of
promoting their own social, political, personal interests. Indeed, language is an effective
framework of Van Dijk (2004) and was focused on the macro strategies of 'positive self-
representation' and 'negative other- representation', (which are intimately tied up with
'Polarization' of in group vs. out group ideologies or US-THEM) plus the other 25 more
28
subtle strategies. However, the present study is anchored on the grounded theory of
Systematic Function Grammar (SFG) of Halliday (1985), in which the study’s main
objective was to determine the discursive patterns found in the presidential speeches of
functions.
Finally, in the Philippine setting, a recent CDA study on media discourse was
conducted by Cortuna and Naval (year), in the University of the Philippines in Diliman
Manifested in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Emily Post and DZMM’s Dr. Love. The
study used the Althusser's concept of ideology and of Michel Foucault's knowledge-
power discourse with the three stages of CDA: the description of text, the interpretation
of discursive practice, and the explanation of social practice. The result revealed that the
strategy of the advice was to sharply prohibit advice-seekers to move away from the
status quo. The tone for this advice is usually straightforward, reflecting the advice-
givers’ inclination toward the dominant ideology. In contrast, the advice leaning toward
certain conditions. Hence, the researchers concluded that Philippines is still conservative
in terms of preserving societal institutions such as marriage explains the content of the
advice column articles and program transcriptions and why there is a stark difference
between giving advice leaning either to Althusser or Foucault. The social context of the
ideologies embedded in the counseling process in the media shows that alternative
29
discourses are still emerging in our society. Thus, Foucault’s emancipatory framework is
Though the study of Cortuna and Naval (year) was concentrated in both written
and spoken discourse from the newspaper article of Philippine Daily Inquirer and radio
airings recorded. The difference of their study from this study was the concept and
framework they employed. Likewise, this present study focused on the transcribed
spoken discourse of a speaker who is Filipino politician and not a newspaper writer and
radio anchor.
30
Chapter III
METHODS
In this chapter, the research design, corpora, research locale, the procedures and
Research Design
is designed to deal with the complexities of meaning in social context, which are
The corpora of this study were sourced from the three (3) selected speeches of
President Benigno S. Aquino III with specified dates. The speeches were delivered in
three consecutive years in two different events namely, an Inaugural Address delivered
last June 30, 2010 and State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on July 25, 2011
and July 23, 2012. These speeches were chosen since these were the most significant
Research Locale
This study was conducted in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of
The Fig. 2 below shows the summary of procedures applied in this specific study.
At the onset of the conduct of this study, the researcher wrote a letter to
the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Eveyth P. Deligero, asking
permission to allow the researcher perform the study (See Appendix A).
32
In this study, only three (3) speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino were
The texts of the three (3) speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III
served as the corpora of the study which were analyzed using the framework of
the Systematic Functional Grammar of Halliday (1985). The researcher made use
corpora of the study, the researcher made use of the research instruments
proposed by Gouling (2006) and Pingping (2007) in Wang (2010), and Halliday
(1994) have been applied in terms of modal verbs, pronouns and (Halliday, 1994)
for tenses of verbs. These research instruments were used and served as guideline
element not only of the quantitative but also of qualitative research. Therefore, the
33
researcher of this current study utilized the proposed four (4) criteria of Lincoln
observation (the researcher has devoted half a year in analyzing the corpus of the
findings are consistent and could be repeated. This could be enhanced by time
triangulation (the researcher in this study collected the instruments for analysis
from three (3) years to distinguish whether a pattern could be determined in the
corpora per year); 4) Confirmability, this refers to the degree to which the results
Ms. Jan Rikka Drillon-Borre, MA and Ms. Irish Mae G. Fernandez, MA.
Finally, the results of the analysis were presented and described to draw
matter.
Research Instrument
Herein are the instruments utilized in the analyses of the corpora based on
34
Table 1. Analysis of Modal Verbs and Levels of Politeness
(Guoling, 2006 in Wang, 2010)
Modal Verbs (Levels of Politeness)
Positive Level Examples
This is the use of a linguistic unit (modal verb) to Low can, may, could, might, dare
seek common ground and/or cooperation as well as
sense of belongingness within the group. The
Median will, would, should, shall
speaker use modal verbs to intensify interest to High must, ought to, need,
hearer, use in-group identity markers, seek has/had to
agreement, avoid disagreement, presuppose/assert
common ground, offer/promise, be optimistic,
give/ask reasons, assume/assert reciprocity, and
offer sympathy/understanding towards the hearer/s.
Negative
This includes indirectness and apologies. These Low needn't, doesn’t, didn’t,
modal verbs tend to express respect and need to, have to
consideration to the hearer. Modal verbs that show
conventional indirectness, hedging, pessimism,
Median won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t,
minimal imposition, deference, apology, impersonal isn’t, wasn’t
relationship between the speaker and the hearer, High mustn't, oughtn’t, can’t,
nominalization, and incurring a debt/not indebting couldn’t, mayn’t, mightn’t,
the hearer. hasn’t, hadn’t
Table 2. Analysis of Verb Tenses (Halliday, 1994)
Verb Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple Danced dance/dances will/shall dance
The principal function of these verbs
is to refer to a situation, an
occurrence, or event in the past,
present, and future time.
Perfect had eaten has/have will/shall have
These involve verb constructions that eaten eaten
express finished actions that are
relevant to the time referred to or ones
that continue up to the time referred
to.
Progressive was/were am/is/are will be walking
These pertain to verb constructions walking walking
that indicate actions or conditions
continuing in the present, past, or
future. These verbs also describe
something that takes place during a
limited time period.
The Table 1 was used as guideline for the analysis of modal verbs and levels of
politeness; while Table 2 was used for the verb tenses found in the corpora of the study.
35
Table 3. Analysis of Pronouns (Wang, 2010)
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns that are associated with a particular grammatical person,
which may come as first person, second, or third; or depend on number
– singular or plural; gender, case, or formality are considered personal
pronouns.
First I (Me)
We (Us)
Second You (You)
Third He (Him)
She (Her)
It (It)
They (Them)
Possessive Linguistic constructions that indicate a relationship of possession are
known as possessive pronouns.
My (Mine)
Our (Ours)
Your (Yours)
His (His)
Her (Hers)
Its (Its)
Their (Theirs)
Table 4. Transitivity Analysis (Pingping, 2007 in Wang 2010)
Ideational Function (Transitivity)
Processes Participants Core Meaning
Material Actor, Goal This process expresses something that is done, hence,
these processes are expressed by action verbs. Actor is
represented with a logical subject; and the Goal of the
action is represented with a logical direct object.
Mental Senser, This process denotes mental phenomena as
Phenomenon ‘perception’, ‘reaction’, and ‘cognition’. This involves
two participants: the Senser and the Phenomenon.
Relational This process can come in two modes: Attributive or
Identifying. It is Attributive if it gives attributes or
mentions the type it belongs to; and Identifying when it
expresses the identical properties of two entities.
Verbal Sayer, Receiver, This process refers to those of exchanging information.
Verbiage The main participant (Sayer) provides information
(Verbiage – direct or implied) to the addressee/s
(Receiver).
Behavioral Behaver This process pertains to physiological and
psychological behavior (i.e. breathing, smiling, crying,
staring, etc.) There is only 1 participant (Behaver) who
‘experiences’ the action denoted by the verb.
Existential Existent This process represents that something exists or
happens. In this process, the existent (a noun, pronoun)
is usually introduced by expletives.
36
As shown in the previous page, Table 3 serves as the guideline for the analysis of
verb tenses; while Table 4 shows the basis for transitivity analysis.
interpersonal functions (modality) could be criticized for its subjectivity, the researcher
hence dealt with the problem through the validation suggestion of Lincoln and Guba
(1985).
37
CHAPTER IV
This chapter presents the tabulations and the interpretation of the data analyzed.
TENSES
Simple 48 42 153 47 149 38 350 42
Perf 4 3 24 7 54 14 82 10
Present
Prog 1 1 29 9 25 6 55 7
Perf Prog 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0
Simple 20 18 65 20 101 26 186 23
Past Perf 4 3 8 2 6 2 18 2
Prog 0 0 2 1 1 0 3 0
Simple 38 33 45 14 50 13 133 16
Future Perf 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 0
Prog 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total of Tenses in Speech 115 100 327 100 391 100 833 100
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
1st Person I (Me) 46 19 47 9 34 6 127 10
We (Us) 54 22 169 32 191 35 414 32
2nd Person You (You) 25 10 44 8 29 5 98 8
3rd Person He (Him) 0 0 8 1 9 2 17 1
She (Her) 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 0
It (It) 19 8 40 8 47 9 106 8
They (Them) 14 6 62 12 47 9 123 10
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
My (Mine) 24 10 8 2 10 2 42 3
Our (Ours) 32 14 87 17 113 21 232 18
Your (Yours) 8 4 9 2 10 2 27 2
His (His) 1 0 8 1 10 2 19 1
Her (Hers) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Its (Its) 5 2 6 1 8 1 19 1
Their (Theirs) 13 5 36 7 34 6 83 6
Total of Pronouns in Speech 243 100 526 100 542 100 1,311 100
In the preceding page, Table 5 shows the results of the analysis of the first corpus
which is the Inaugural Address speech of President Benigno S. Aquino III that is
In the first corpus of the study, the analysis of modal verbs shows a significant use
of the modals, i.e. will, would, should, and shall got the highest occurrence of (49) or 70
percent, aside from being an expression of simple future tense, the use of the modal will
expresses determination, willingness, and intention on the part of the speaker, (Guide to
Grammar and Writing). Shown below are excerpts from the first corpora of the study
where the modal verb will was manifested in the following lines;
P3, S8
I will dedicate my life to making our democracy reach its fullest potential:
that of ensuring equality for all.
P7, S28
This is the beginning of my burden, but if many of us will bear the cross we
will lift it, no matter how heavy it is.
P13, S40
I will set the example. S41 I will strive to be a good model. S42 I will not
break the trust you have placed in me. S43 I will ensure that this, too, will be the
advocacy of my Cabinet and those who will join our government.
This is confirmed in the study of Wang (2010), “the high percentage of the use of
modal verbs is appropriate to the speaking since the addresses are delivered in spoken
form. Compared with other verbs, modal verbs are more easily identified and understood
and then accepted because at the time of listening to the speeches, there is no time for the
audience to reflect”
The second highest modal verbs, i.e. can, may, could, might, dare obtained the
frequency of 13 or 19 percent. Shown in the following lines are samples from the corpus.
P6, S22
In moments when I thought of only my own welfare, I also wondered - is it
possible that I can find the peace and quiet that I crave in another country?
39
P21, S60
Quality education, including vocational education, so that those who
choose not to attend college or those who cannot afford it can find dignified
livelihood;
P24, S64
The armed forces and the police risk their lives daily so that the nation can
live in peace and security.
P44, S113
We will design and implement an interaction and feedback mechanism
that can effectively respond to your needs and aspirations.
On the other hand, the negative modals i.e. won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, and
wasn’t were found to be very few in the first corpus with a frequency of seven (7) or 10
percent of the total number of modals used. Below are samples from the first corpora of
the study.
P13, S42
I will not break the trust you have placed in me.
P17, S52
We will not disregard the needs of our students.
P20, S58
We will not be the cause of your suffering or hardship.
In the samples found above, the negative marker ‘not’ emphasizes the lack of
necessity for the proposition expressed by the modal ‘will’ to happen that the speaker
promises to do the opposite of the first proposition of the sentences: e.g. ‘break the trust’,
‘disregard the needs of students’, and ‘be the cause of suffering or hardship’.
enumerate briefly the speaker’s administrative principles and convince the audience of
his appropriateness, present a new administration in a more favorable light, and win a
large amount of support from the audience. This explains why these types of modals were
mostly used in the first speech. Biber et al., 1999, states that research and reference
grammars identify central (or core or principal or nuclear) modal verbs (also called
‘‘modal auxiliaries,’’ ‘‘verbal modality markers,’’ or simply ‘‘modals’’) that are used to
express modality, and these usually (but certainly not always) include can, could, may,
40
Furthermore, the inaugural address marks the beginning of a major political
leader’s term of President Benigno S. Aquino III. To be able to make a mark as the new
elected president, it is apparent that the speaker in the first corpus of the study explicitly
expressed his intentions for his upcoming term. The modal will had been beneficial in
expressing this determination on doing something; likewise, the modal can helped
establish the hope on the audience towards better governance out from what they hear out
For the analysis of tenses of verbs, majority show the high percentage in the use
of Simple tenses: Simple Present tense ranked the highest percentage of 42 percent,
seconded by Simple Future tense of 33 percent and followed by Simple Past tense of 18
percent. However, a very minimal percentage was recorded on the usage of Present
Perfect and Past Perfect tense 3 percent, and Past Present Progressive tense which is only
1 percent. Shown are samples taken from the first corpus of the study.
The Simple Present tense of verbs was used in the Inaugural Address of President
There are other functions of the Simple Present tense of the verb in political
speeches.
P13 S39
The first step is to have leaders who are ethical, honest, and true public
servants. (Set Plans)
41
P31 S85
Begin the process of providing true and complete justice for all.
(Directions)
P48 S120
Join me in continuing this fight for change.
P37 S93
This is what democracy means. (General statements)
structure of sentence as he delivered his inaugural speech to the Filipino people. Hence,
this supported in study of Wang (2010), where it is natural that simple present tense ranks
with top priority since the addresses are to present the domestic and worldwide situations
ranging from political, economic and cultural fields at present. Moreover, the use of the
tense facilitates the creation of a close relationship between the president and his
audience and the easy identification and acceptation of the validity of the assertions
On the other hand, the use of the Simple Future tense of the verb, which came
second in the rank of most used tenses with frequency of 42 or 31 percent of the total
number.
The use of Simple Future tense is manifested in the following samples taken
42
The simple future tense indicates the speaker’s plan of actions or even expected
things in the future according to Halliday, (1994). The tense further helps the speaker lays
out his reforms or results of these in the future, considering that the first corpus serves as
an initial speech for someone who has been recently elected to the position. Aside from
showing the government’s capabilities, the tense helps clarify to the audience the
promises of a better future ahead of them and hence, building up the audience’s
Table 5 also shows minimal distribution of the Simple Past tense of verbs, with
the frequency of 23 or 17 percent of the total. The Simple Past tense of verbs was utilized
in the following lines taken from the Inaugural Speech 2010 of Benigno Aquino III,
Additionally, there are other specific functions that the simple past tense can be used for
include:
P6, S21
They endured hardship, risked their lives because they believe that
compared to their current state here, there is more hope for them in another
country, no matter how bleak it may be. (Past actions)
The simple past tense is used to refer things or actions in the past, Halliday
(1994). The function of these verbs indicating an act done in the past lie in the idea that
newly elected officials usually state their promises and plans with direct or indirect
43
This is very effective in setting the similarities and differences the present speaker has
As shown in Table 5, the pronouns used in the first corpus were clearly presented
and tabulated. Hence, the remarkable used of the first person pronouns we (us) and I (me)
score of 14 percent and 10 percent were found on the usage of possessive pronouns, our
(ours) and my (mine). Shown below are excerpts from the first corpus of Aquino’s speech
where pronouns were used as a discursive strategy to gain the trust and confidence of
the Filipino;
P1, S2
I never expected that I will be here taking my oath of office before you, as
your president. 3 I never imagined that I would be tasked with continuing the
mission of my parents. 4 I never entertained the ambition to be the symbol of
hope, and to inherit the problems of our nation.
The pronoun (I) basically refers to himself as the newly elected president of the
nation thus it highlights his success and authority as the chief leader of the nation. On the
other hand, (my) pertains to his dearly beloved parents who left a great legacy in the
political history of the Philippines in which every citizen now is benefiting the freedom
of democracy that they brought to the nation. Here, the use of the possessive pronoun
(my) followed by the noun parents was used to gain the sympathy of the Filipino
audience as Aquino recalled the heroic actions of his parents. The pronoun (you) simply
pertains to the people and supporters of him. While (our) forms part of the in-group
During the campaign we said, “If no one is corrupt, no one will be poor.”
P11, S36
37
That is no mere slogan for posters -- it is the defining principle that will serve
as the foundation of our administration.
P12, S38
Our foremost duty is to lift the nation from poverty through honest and
effective governance.
44
P35, S91
If I have all of you by my side, we will be able to build a nation in which
there will be equality of opportunity, because each of us fulfilled our duties and
responsibilities equally.
identification for it refers to Aquino and to his political party. The studies of Pennycook
(1994) and Bull and Fetzer (2006) have proven that political speeches are stuffed with
personal pronouns, both in the singular and plural, to strategically show power, solidarity,
and/or authority.
Furthermore, the use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ (singular) in the first corpus
could show the speaker’s personal involvement in the promises mentioned, specifically
when it comes to contexts dealing with the Filipino masses. On the other hand, the first
person pronoun ‘we’ (plural) reduced the speaker’s involvement and instead necessitated
the involvement of the audience being addressed to. This is coherent with the study of
Brozin (2010) on the strategic use of pronouns in Obama’s speeches, which revealed that
the pronoun we shows speaker’s claim of authority as spokesman for the whole country.
Inaugural Address revealed the apparent use of the modal verbs will, would, should,
shall; extensive use of the simple aspect of the past, present, and future tenses of the
verb; the widespread mention of the first person pronoun, both the singular (I) and the
For the analysis of modal verbs, Table 6 shows the total of 160 modals used in the
2011 State of the Nation Address of President Aquino which has 291 sentences with
45
5,992 words. The modals, i.e. will, would, should, shall obtained the highest occurrence
of 84 or 52 percent, this shows that these modals were also maintained in the second
corpus of the study, still for the purpose of maintaining a favorable image to the audience
(Guoling, 2006).
The modals will, would, and should still rank as the commonly used modal verbs.
Again the strong determination, willingness, and intention from the speaker may be
culled from the series of modals will found in the analyzed speech.
P17, S65
We are holding accountable—and we will continue to hold accountable—
those who practice this culture of entitlement in all government offices, as there
are still some who think they can get away with it.
P19, S74
A thorough investigation of all those involved in the case is underway; we
will blacklist all contractors proven to have engaged in foul play.
The modal would obtained a frequency of 22 in the second corpus of the study.
Aside from the mentioned function, would also state a condition like in the
sentence below.
P13, S50
For example, we uncovered and stopped an ill-advised plan to dredge Laguna
Lake. 51 We would have borrowed 18.7 billion pesos to remove 12 million cubic meters of
silt—which would have re-accumulated within three years, even before the debt could be
fully paid.
The modal verb should, on the other hand, denote a strong recommendation or to
suggest an action or to show that it is necessary, (Modal Verbs and Their Meaning) as
shown in the following samples.
46
P11, S45
Their franchise had lapsed in 2007; their collections should have been remitted to
the national government.
P62, S231
It should be personal for all of us, because we have all been victimized by
corruption.
Moreover, found in Table 5 in the second corpus, the second highest frequency of
37 or 23 percent for the modals, i.e. can, may, could, might, dare. Nevertheless, few were
recorded on the use of i.e. won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, wasn’t; 13 or 8 percent, for
the modals, i.e. must, ought to, need, has/had to and i.e. mustn't, oughtn’t, can’t, couldn’t,
mayn’t, mightn’t, hasn’t, hadn’t earned 6 percent and lastly the modal verbs, i.e. needn't,
doesn’t, didn’t, need to, have to scored only 5 percent. Shown below are the excerpts of
the second corpus of the study where modal verbs are used.
P16, S63
Today we can see that our taxes are going where they should, and
therefore there is no reason not to pay the proper taxes. 64 I say to you: it’s not
just the government, but our fellow citizens, who are cheated out of the benefits
that these taxes would have provided.
P24, S87 88
How many years have we been over-importing rice? Many Filipinos
thought that there was nothing we could do about it.
Generally, the median level, in both positive (i.e. will, would, should, shall) and
negative polite modals, (i.e. won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, wasn’t) was still apparent in
the corpus. The modal verbs found in this corpus simply indicate that President Aquino
has projected the optimistic or positive attitude of in which he presented though the
In the analysis of aspects of verbs, Simple Present tense garnered the highest
frequency of 153 or 47 percent from the total tenses used in his State of the Nation
Address of 2011. In addition, the Simple Past tense got the second highest frequency of
47
65 or 20 percent and Simple Future tense of 45 or is equivalent to 14 percent. The rest of
the tenses only got a minimal percentage as recorded in the second corpus of the study.
The present tense of the verb is used to state facts, to refer to perpetual or habitual
actions, and to discuss speaker’s own ideas on an issue, Halliday (1994). Occasionally,
the simple present tense of the verb is used for dramatic effect, narrating an event in
present tense as though it were happening now. Few of the speech’ excerpt is shown in
the following lines with different purposes and usage. The Simple Present tense of the
P3 S9
The law authorizes only the President, the Vice President, the Senate
President, the Speaker, the Chief Justice, and police vehicles, fire trucks, and
ambulances to use sirens in the fulfillment of their official duties—no one else.
(Stating a fact)
P31, S117
At times I wonder if the stories about some of our past stand-offs are
true—that when cannons were aimed at our marines, they could only reciprocate
by cutting down a coconut tree, painting it black, and aiming it back. 118 True or
not, that time is over.
P10 S35
There is confidence and there is hope; the government is now fulfilling its
promises. (Emphatic Expression)
The Simple Past tense of the verb is used to narrate events and to refer to an
Halliday (1994). Hence, the Simple Past tense of verbs in the second corpus was used in
referring to the past actions of those who were corrupt and abusive in power;
48
P11, S41
Given the persistence of the wang-wang attitude, wasn’t their sentiment
justified? 42 This was the attitude that allowed helicopters to be bought as if they
were brand new, but had in fact already been extensively used). 43 This was the
attitude that allowed GOCC officials, like those in the Philippine National
Construction Corporation, to pay themselves millions of pesos in bonuses, even
as they failed to render decent service and plunged their respective agencies
deeper into debt. 44 Before they stepped down from their positions, the former
heads of the PNCC gifted themselves with two hundred and thirty-two million
pesos.
In contrast, the Simple Future tense of the verb often suggests that a speaker will
expresses the idea that a person intends to do something in the future. It does not matter
The Simple Future tense was used in various ways with implied meanings and
The result of the analysis of the first corpus in which the simple tense was
commonly used is supported in study of Wang (2010), where it is natural that simple
present tense ranks with top priority since the addresses are to present the domestic and
worldwide situations ranging from political, economic and cultural fields at present.
Moreover, the use of the tense facilitates the creation of a close relationship between the
49
president and his audience and the easy identification and acceptation of the validity of
For pronouns, as shown in Table 5 (page no), the State of the Nation Address
(SONA) of 2011 demonstrated the frequent use of the personal pronouns in the first
person of the plural form we (us), having the frequency of 169 or 32 percent.
emphasize and acknowledge the good results they have brought to the its present
administration, however, it also implies or represents the victim or the abused groups in
The inclusive ‘we’ provides an idea of the speaker’s intent to include the
audience’s involvement in the concerns mentioned in the speech. This further implies that
P8 S27
Let me remind you: in the nine and a half years before we were elected into
office, our credit ratings were upgraded once, and downgraded six times by the
different credit ratings agencies. (Exclusive ‘we’)
The exclusive ‘we’, on the other hand, mentions the collective entity that works
with the speaker and does not include the audience. Looking at the examples, it can be
deduced that the pronoun ‘we’ is used most frequently by the speaker in order to
utterances, for example “we will” “we shall” etc. Hence, this is confirmed in the study of
50
Walker (2007), explains this prevalent use of the pronoun ‘we’ by saying that politicians
can never be certain that the decisions they have made will always necessarily be viewed
in a positive way. Therefore the use of ‘we’ spreads the responsibility. ‘We’ can certainly
be manipulated for political effect and is used in these speeches to establish a sense of
group unity.
Wilson (1990) in Partington (2003), claims that inclusive pronoun ‘we’ (speaker
and listener) can be used as a strategy to express solidarity; whereas, exclusive pronoun
we (speaker and other/s excluding the listener) can be used to share responsibility, that is,
actions are not only the responsibility of one individual. The first person pronouns can be
used by politicians in their strategies “to gain the people’s allegiance, to have them
believe that the decisions that are being made are the right ones” (Wilson, 1990, p. 71, in
Partington, 2003). On the other hand, the use of inclusive pronoun ‘we’ may indicate the
exclusion of some other groups, which implies a division between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
Also, the pronoun (us) was used inclusively to influence and persuade the
people in changing the negative attitude into a good and positive mentality;
P80, S282
Let us stop pulling our fellow man down. 283 Let us put an end to our crab
mentality. 284 Let us make the effort to recognize the good that is being done.
As Beard (2000: 43), confirms in his study that personal pronouns make up a big
part of political speeches, because they can give an idea of whom the speaker in question
identifies with. The pronominal choices in political speeches are also interesting because
Furthermore, the possessive pronouns our (ours) obtained the highest frequency
of 87 or 17 percent. As shown in the excerpts, the possessive form of pronoun our (ours)
was used to highlight the good and positive outcome of economic activities under his
51
leadership, likewise it was used to identify of those being oppressed from their rights
who also pertains to the same fellow Filipino citizens of President Aquino;
P16, S63
Today we can see that our taxes are going where they should, and
therefore there is no reason not to pay the proper taxes. 64 I say to you: it’s not
just the government, but our fellow citizens, who are cheated out of the benefits
that these taxes would have provided.
On the other hand, the pronoun they (them) ranked the third highest form of 62 or
12 percent, this was used to identify to those who were bad, labeled as negative and
Noticeably, in the analysis of pronouns, the result showed that there was a clear
and negative “other” on the usage of pronouns of his political speech. Thus, the claim of
this particular feature is affirmed by the famous critical discourse analyst whose passion
is into CDA of political text Van Dijk (2004), according to him, “political speeches are
stuffed with the macro strategies of 'positive self-representation' and 'negative other-
The analysis on the structure of the 2011 State of the Nation Address shows that
the corpus greatly exhibited the use of the modal verbs will, would, should, shall; with
52
evident the use of simple past, simple present, and simple future tenses of the verbs; also
found in the second corpus analyzed that the plural form of the first person pronoun (we)
The last corpus of this study also showed similarities with the other speeches in
terms of the results, although this speech contained the longest manuscript due to the
number of 368 sentences and 6,842 words compared to the other two speeches analyzed.
Evidently, the same result came out in the analysis of modal verbs used in
accordance to the other corpora of the study. The modals, i.e. will, would, should, shall
earned the highest frequency of 87 or 63, this was followed by the modals, i.e. can, may,
could, might, dare, 26 or 19 percent and modals, i.e. won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t,
wasn’t ranked the third highest frequency or percentage of 13 or 9 percent. While the
rest only obtained a minimal percentage from the total analysis of the modal verbs used
Shown below are excerpts extracted from the third corpus and as observed the
modals will, would, need to, had and has were repeatedly used.
P43, S171
We want ARMM to experience the benefits of good governance. 172 And
so, the solution: Synchronization—candidates in ARMM will run at the same time
as candidates in other parts of the country. 173 There would be less opportunity
for them to employ command votes for political patrons. 174 The result would be
fairer elections. 175 Thank you to Congress for passing the law synchronizing
ARMM with the national elections. 176 And why do we need to postpone the
elections? 177 Because, in their desire to return to or retain power, many are
prepared to engage in corrupt practices just to win again. 178 Imagine if we had
listened to the critics, and allowed the election to proceed under these
circumstances. 179 We would have perpetuated the endless cycle of electoral
fraud and official abuse that has led ARMM to become one of the poorest regions
in the country.
53
Other modal verbs found in the third corpus were can (17) and may (7). Can is
used to express ability, in the sense of being able to do something or knowing how to do
something (Modal Verbs and Their Meaning), as shown in the sample below.
P20, S59
And we are building an environment where progress can be felt by the
majority.
Philippines.” 55 Foreign Policy magazine, and even one of the leaders of ASEAN
100, said that we may even become “Asia’s Next Tiger.”
the part of the audience, another ideal strategy to be able to persuade the audience of the
There were only a total of twenty 20 negative polite modals or 14 percent. Among
the negative polite modals, doesn’t or does not earned a frequency of 4. This modal
indicates the negative of the act of performing an action, an activity, or a task (Gouling,
When it comes to the tenses of verbs, Simple Present tense scored the utmost
occurrence of 149 or 38 percent, seconded by Simple Past tense with the frequency of
101 or 26 percent and the Simple Perfect tense ranked the third frequency of 54 or 14
percent. The following excerpts are the taken from the corpus of State of the Nation
Address (2012) of President Benigno S. Aquino III as he presented various issues through
54
The Simple Present tense which principal function of these verbs is to refer to a
situation, an occurrence, or event in the present, (Halliday, 1994) was used in describing
and enumerating the available resources and services that his administration offers;
P15, S36
Relief goods are ready even before a storm arrives. 37 Rescue services are
always on standby, and the people are no longer left to fend for themselves. 38
This is now par for the course.
Again, this is confirmed in the study of Wang (2010), where it is natural that
simple present tense ranks with top priority since the addresses are to present the
domestic and worldwide situations ranging from political, economic and cultural fields at
present. Moreover, the use of the tense facilitates the creation of a close relationship
between the president and his audience and the easy identification and acceptation of the
In contrast, Simple Past tense which principal function of these verbs is to refer to
a situation, an occurrence, or event in the past, (Halliday, 1994) was used in recalling the
criticisms when he took over the administration from the previous leadership;
P40, S126
When we assumed office and began establishing much-needed reform,
there were those who belittled our government’s performance. 127 They claimed
our achievements were mere luck, and what impact they may have as short-lived.
55
The Simple Perfect tense, which principal function of these verbs is to refer to a
situation, an occurrence, or event in the past, (Halliday, 1994) was used in comparing the
On the aspects of pronouns, Table 5 in page (#) shows the great proportion on the
occurrence of 191 or 35 percent in the usage of the first person pronoun we (us). This
ranked as the highest frequency in terms of personal pronouns used in the SONA of 2012.
P38,S113
For our State Universities and Colleges: we have proposed a 43.61
percent increase in their budget next …
P102,S363
Starting this year, we will implement a system in which bonuses are based
on their agency’s abilities …
P22,S70
This means that since we received our mandate, 23.31 million more
Filipinos have access to … (Exclusive ‘we’)
In contrast to the samples above, the samples below show the usage of the
pronoun (we) inclusively. As observed, the inclusive ‘we’ were used strategically to
convey that the speaker intentionally involved the addressees in his plans of reforms
It wasn’t too long ago when we began to dream again; when, united, we
P1,S2
chose the straight and righteous path; when we began to cast aside the culture of
wang-wang, not only in our streets, but in every sector of society.
P83,S287
What we have replaced these phantoms with: real housing, bridges, and
learning centers for Badjaos in Basilan.
P82,S280-281
While we are on the subject of peace, let us talk about a place that has
long stood as a symbol of frustrated hopes. 281 Before our reforms in the ARMM
began, what we had were ghost students walking to ghost schools on ghost roads,
to learn from ghost teachers. (Inclusive ‘we’)
56
There are, however, different referents for the pronoun ‘we’. The exclusive ‘we’
does not refer to the addressee. This has been supported by Wales (2006) by saying that
“it is used to refer to the speaker and third parties who may or may not be present in the
immediate situation (may be the speaker’s cronies).” The use of this pronoun can, hence,
be exploited to share responsibility. The inclusive ‘we’, on the other hand, refers to the
speaker and the addressee, which the speaker presumed to speak on the hearer’s behalf.
Lastly, the pronoun our (ours) garnered the total frequency of 113 or 21 percent,
which scored the second highest although it is in the possessive forms of pronouns. The
supported by Bramley (2008) in Gocheco (2012), in her thesis at the Australian National
University, which she argued that pronouns were used to project positive images of the
politicians, in the context of the Australian political media interview. She went on to say
that pronouns are a key factor in “the construction of reality – a reality that is created and
The result is further confirmed and supported in the study of Green (2007) in
Gocheco (2012), Green investigated the use of pronouns as one of the discursive
strategies in political speech. The study yielded a consistent use of the in-group pronouns
such as we, our, and us in the four address sections. The minimal occurrence of the first
person singular pronouns was a response to 'the level of solidarity and responsibility'
(p.8) the politician wanted to portray. Thus, pronouns are used to create and reinforce
group identities to display power (Mooney, et. al, 2011). Therefore, the manifestations on
the use of pronouns, we (us) and our (ours), President Aquino maintained to portray as
57
positive image towards the Filipino nation as he presented the contributions and
Table 6 shows the consolidated results of the transitivity meta-function from the
three (3) corpora of the study which were the Inaugural Address, State of the Nation
Address of 2011 and of 2012. And as basis, the guideline of Pingping (2007) in Wang
As shown in Table 6 above, after consolidating all the processes used in the three
speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III, it has been found out that the material
process constituted the largest distribution with a total frequency of 497 or 55 percent.
This process expresses something that is done, hence, these processes are expressed by
action verbs, (Pingping, 2007 in Wang, 2010). The second in over-all result was the
relational-attributive process with 128 or 14 percent. And verbal process obtained the
Each corpus is presented with excerpts to clearly show the discourse features in
58
Inaugural Address 2010
Among all the processes used in the 2010 Inaugural Speech, the material
The excerpts shown in the box was taken from the first corpus of the study which
is the Inaugural Address (2010) where, the material process constituted the highest
process.
The result of the figure above in which material process obtained the highest
percentage is confirmed in the study of Wang (2010), she investigated the inaugural
address of President Obama, the result revealed the material process, a process of doing is
a good choice in the address to demonstrate what the government has achieved, what they
are doing and what they will do in different aspects of affairs, home or abroad.
The second most used process in the first corpus is the mental process, with a
perception (Halliday, 1985). Likewise, this process is realized by two (2) participants: the
senser, the one who felt and perceived; and the phenomenon, that which is felt, thought,
and perceived.
In the next page, shown are excerpts found in the boxes from the first speech of
the President Benigno S. Aquino III. These samples were shown and labeled according to
their participants involved base on Halliday (1985) and Pingping (2007) in Wang (2010).
59
Senser Phenomenon
P4, S10
I… know and feel …
P4, S11
We … know …
P6, S21
… they … believe …
Other processes found in the 2010 Inaugural Speech of President Aquino III
Attributive Identifying
P14, S45 P6, S19
… the majority of them are honest. I am like you.
P37, S94 P16, S51
It (referring to democracy) is the … your government will be
foundation of our unity. your champion
P43, S110 P44, S112
… the dream starts to become a reality. You are the boss.
The relational process only registered a total frequency of 15 (12 for Attributive
There were only six (6) verbal processes recorded from the first corpus of the
study. The verbal processes, which represent human experience “in the form of language”
(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), were used in delivering the speaker’s direct warnings to
those who may have been the reasons of the country’s present dilemmas, orders to his
60
fellow public servants, and explicit decrees to the Filipino masses being addressed. The
mental processes, which deal with thinking, feeling and perceiving, were, on the other
hand, strategically used to strike to the emotional side of the masses, leading to
persuasion.
Existent Existing
P9, S31
We are here … to serve and not to lord over you.
P25, S67
… today there will be … for farmers.
security … because we stood together and believed in
P42, S107
We are here today hope.
There were five (5) existential processes, and not a single behavioral process
Generally, when talking about transitivity, the 2010 Inaugural speech revealed
greater utilization of the material process, used in mentioning past performances, present
undertakings, and future plans strategically to persuade the audience (Filipinos) that the
speaker has schemes to improve the present state of the country with reference to the
previous administration’s actions; what followed was the mental process, which mentions
the speakers’ feelings and thoughts; and relational-attributive, which mentions attributes,
are another strategic way of telling the audience that the speaker is concerned with
whatever is happening, hence expressed his hopes for the betterment of the country.
material processes used with a frequency of 209 or 61 percent of the processes found in
the speech. The material process highlights the speaker’s accomplishments and his
supposed plans for his audience, providing the notion that some entity does ‘something’.
61
This is still strategic since the speaker aims to persuade the audience that as someone at
the helm, he is doing his job. Found in the boxes are samples from the second corpus.
State of the Nation Address of Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III with a total frequency of 64 or
Attributive Identifying
P2,S5 P2,S3
… they acted like kings … wang-wang had come to
P8,S31
Our economic team is hard at work to symbolize abuse of authority
P2,S7
sustain the momentum. … the wang-wang mindset; this
P23, S84
the culture of wang-wang once persisted is the mindset of Entitlement
The attributive processes relate to the attributes a certain object has, or talking
about the type it belongs to; while the identifying processes express the identical
properties of two entities. It may also be noted from the samples that non-literal language
Wang, (2010).
other hand, the Behavioral process recorded the extremely least frequency of three (3) or
less than one (1) percent. These processes refer to physiological and psychological
behavior, indicating activities in which both the physical and mental aspects are
inseparable and indispensable. For political speeches to be effective and realistic it is not
necessary to have large proportions of behavioral processes; rather, the audience expects
62
real accomplishments and practical plans and solutions to problems, not what-ifs and
impossible dreams.
Behaver Behavior
P26,S96 P26,S96
We … … envision two things …
P29,S111 P29,S111
I… … hear that there are still more …
P48,S195 P48,S195
… we … dream one day soon…
On the transitivity analysis of the 2011 State of the Nation Address, the speech
(both the Attributive and Identifying) with very minimal number of behavioral processes
which is the only account of behavioral process in all corpora studied. Since the hearers
are expecting pragmatic approaches from a leader in the three corpora, the behavioral
Table 6 shows the processes found in the last corpus for analysis. As shown, the
material processes tallied the largest proportion among all the processes found in the
corpus, having a frequency of 220 or 48 percent. The sample of this process is shown in
Again, the result of the figure above in which material process obtained the
highest percentage is confirmed in the study of Wang (2010), which she investigated the
63
inaugural address of President Obama, the result revealed the material process, a process
of doing is a good choice in the address to demonstrate what the government has
achieved, what they are doing and what they will do in different aspects of affairs, home
or abroad.
The verbal process ranked second in the most number of processes found in the
2012 State of the Nation Address, with a frequency of 65 or 14 percent. These processes
include all modes of ‘expressing’ and ‘indicating’. The content of what is said or
The components for this process includes the sayer, which is indicated by the
noun phrase (which are either humans or a collective entity); the receiver/addressee, may
be explicitly stated or named, or may be implied (by the pronoun ‘you’); and the
P97,S347
I (said) … Other people part of the you start doing your jobs,
administration before it’s too late.
P99,S353
Our (response) … Those who challenged With the New Year comes
the Philippines our resolution that all old-
age and disability
pensioners will receive no
less than five thousand
pesos monthly.
64
Another process found in the 2012 State of the Nation Address with a generous
term itself, this process emphasizes the existence of someone or something. As shown in
the samples below, the sentences that exhibit existential process were introduced by
P16,S40
This is now (existing) par for the course.
P17,S42
the Philippines (existent) is now open for business under new management
(existing).
P18,S49B
now (existing), investors flock to us (existent)
The transitivity function of the 2012 SONA revealed high frequency of material
processes; this was followed by the verbal processes, which are direct pronouncements,
warnings, revelations, commendations, etc. of the speaker; and the existential processes
ranked third, mentioning the existence of personalities, trends, or concepts relevant to the
corpora analyzed namely, Inaugural Address, State of the Nation Address 2011 and 2012,
it can be deduced that there are linguistic devices that can illustrate the experiential meta-
associated with some participants and circumstances. The concept and framework of
Halliday (1985) on transitivity constructions exemplify the behavior and social function
them. These linguistic devices therefore can contribute ultimately to define the role of the
speakers as one of the country’s leaders. Through the systematic and strategic use of
65
these processes, the speaker can be successful in persuading the masses assembled
around him.
Table 7 shows the consolidated results on the levels of politeness through the
modality analysis, in which the guidelines of Gouling (2006) in Wang (2010) was utilized
In this study, the focus has been on the use of various modal verbs that are
markers of politeness in spoken discourses of President Benigno S. Aquino III. The core
Hirschova (2006) in Svarova (2008) by saying that “in its pragmalinguistic sense,
politeness is a special way of using the language to institute smooth communication and
individuals.”
As shown in the Table 7, there is great prevalence in the use of positive median
politeness, i.e. will, would, should, shall as manifested in the three speeches: Inaugural
Address, State of the Nation Address (2011) and State of the Nation Address (2012) with
(70, 52, and 63 percent respectively) with the total average mean of 60 percent. In
66
addition, the median level of politeness as used in the speeches of President Aquino
indicates also the intent of the speaker to reach a wide-range of addressee – both the rich
However, the second highest level of modality is the low positive politeness, i.e.
can, may, could, might, and dare as shown in the table where the Inaugural Address
obtained 19 percent; State of the Nation Address (2011) scored 23 percent and State of
the Nation Address (2012) earned 19 percent. Thus, the average mean of the three figures
is 21 percent. Whereas, the median negative politeness ranked the third highest level of
modality, i.e. won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, wasn’t in which the Inaugural Address
scored 10 percent, State of the Nation Address (2012) got 9 percent and State of the
Nation Address (2011)garnered 8 percent. Therefore, the total average of the three (3)
figures is 9 percent.
Table 7, in page 66, further shows very little distribution or the lowest of the high
negative polite modals, (oughtn’t, to, can’t, couldn’t, mayn’t, mightn’t, hasn’t, hadn’t)
which only obtained 3 percent as the total average mean of the three speeches. Negative
politeness distances the speaker to the audience, which refutes the purpose of delivering a
persuasive political speech. Every person, ordinary or with special role in the society,
maintains a face, defined by Brown and Levinson (1987) as “the public self-image that
Politicians, for instance, should constantly be reminded that they cannot speak
casually as their own person, rather, they should speak in a manner that is acceptable and
appropriate to his political party and to the rest of the people in the community. This can
be termed politeness. As shown on the same table, the speeches have exhibited varied
67
frequency of occurrence of each level and type of politeness, as they have to adjust their
The distribution of positive and negative politeness through the modal verbs does
vary. In the speech analyzed, positive polite modals were not used all throughout. This
finding is consistent with the article of Pilegaard (1997), which says that “The level,
form, and distribution of positive and negative politeness correlate with speaker’s status.”
The speaker, being at the helm of the country’s executive branch, would like to pose an
image that the audience can trust. Pilegaard (1997) goes on to say that “…these vary as a
cited in Gibson et al., (2009), suggests that "'politeness' is used to refer to behavior which
behavior".
There were also remarks of solidarity, indications that the speaker was trying to
reach out to his listeners, the people whom he seeks favor from. There were also obvious
remarks of including himself (President Aquino) and the audience, giving room for
audience to think that the speaker feels and experiences their struggles and problems,
hence, he is a friend whom they can turn to. Considering the purpose of delivering the
speech, the speaker indeed tried to persuade the audience to believe him and his words.
Overall, the modality function has been noted since the overriding rationale of a
political speech is to ultimately gain the support of the people. President Aquino
delivered his speeches which considered his audience; their specific attitudes and
feelings. Being accepted in a political community may necessitate creativity in the use of
68
Chapter V
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion and recommendation of the study
Summary of Findings
Based on the results of this study, the following findings are summarized:
1. (a) From the three (3) significant speeches, the Inaugural speech address
was delivered in a simple and plain structure. The structural analysis showed
that the modal verbs, shall, will and would obtained the highest percentage of
70 percent; seconded by the modals, can, may, could, might, dare 19 percent
and won't, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, wasn’t ranked the third 10 percent,
which were commonly used. The tenses of verbs found in the first corpus
revealed that the simple present tense obtained the significant percentage of
percent and I (me) got 19 percent, while the possessive pronoun our (ours)
earned 14 percent. Lastly, the first corpus was composed of 121 sentences
(b) State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2011 in terms structural analysis, the
modal verbs will, would, should, shall got the highest percentage of 52 percent,
the tenses indicated the prevalent usage of simple present tense of 47 percent,
seconded by simple past form with 20 percent and 14 percent for simple future
tense. For personal pronoun, the first person form of we (us) scored the
12 percent. And finally, this corpus consisted of 291 sentences with 5,992
words.
(c) State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2012 out of 139 modal verbs found,
63 percent scored the highest under will, would, should, shall. For verb tenses,
the simple present tense showed the frequently used form which has 38 percent
from the total and seconded by simple past tense 26 percent. Pronouns
manifested the prevalent usage of the first person in plural form of we (us) 35
percent and the possessive pronoun our (ours) scored 21 percent from the total
percentage of pronouns. Finally, this corpus was the longest speech which was
(b) In terms modality, the modal verbs showed that the median positive
politeness was evidently utilized in all the speeches which garnered the
Conclusions
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are made:
1. The over- all structure of the speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III
on the part of the speaker; could easily be understood by the hearers and
69
spectators; was easy to embrace and understand despite of the different issues
are associated with a grammatical person in the first person plural form and
the people and supporters who believe in his current leadership and better
governance.
opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence and made his
audience to plainly accept his speeches, thus, it aided him great emphasis to
Indeed, the application of Critical Discourse Analysis in this study has revealed
different ideologies and unmasked the hidden motives of the speaker by emphasizing on
the positive and good actions of his societal position. The manifestation of authority and
dominance through the manipulative words prove that language is indeed powerful.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, the following points are
recommended:
70
1. That the emphasis on the combination of micro and macro-structural
proven pedagogical tool in honing their students’ skills not only to become
analysts and;
71