Ika Ayu Lelo Septianni/158820300012/PBI A1 7

Analysis the Use of Deixis George W. Bush's Address to Congress and the American People
PERSON DEIXIS PLACE DEIXIS TIME
DEIXIS
FIRST SECOND THIRD PROXIMAL DISTAL
PERSON PERSON PERSON

134 times 27 times 69 times 20 times 2 times 10 times

The table above clearly shows that : …

1. Reason and Meaning Behind the Use of Person Deixis

As it is shown above, the President mostly used the first person deixis during his speech.
In detail, the most used first person deixis is the first plural nouns we and our. The President
mostly uses these words as he represents all the United State citizens in the speech. Moreover, he
also uses those words to show that he put himself as one of the United citizens who were under
the terror of a Muslim group named Al Qaida. However, at the same time he also uses those
words to encourage all the citizens to fight against their fear and anxiety and defeat the terrorist.
One of his sentences which can prove this is ―Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and
called to defend freedom…… Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our
enemies, justice will be done‖. Besides we and our, the President also sometimes uses the word I
which represent himself as the President of the United State at that time. He particularly uses this
word when he gives his support and moral message to different elements of the citizen. It seems
that he uses the word I instead of we to show that the message he gives is urgent and very
important. For instance is his message to the army of the United States, ―I have message for our
military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason. The hour is
coming when America will act, and you will make us proud!‖ There, in the message the
President also uses the second person deixis you that specifically refers to the soldiers of the
United State and to give them support and encouragement to fight for their nation.
 Furthermore, the third person deixis, such as they, them are also used when the President
explains about Al Qaida and their terrorism cases both in the United States and other countries.
The third person he, she and it are specifically used by the President to show his proud and
empathy in the memoriam of a policeman of the United States who died in the World Trade
Center incident when he was trying to save the people. This can be seen in the last part of the
speech when the President says, ―…. And I will carry this. This is the police shield of a man
named named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was
given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son…….‖ Beside showing his
empathy, by telling the story of George Howard, the President also wants to, again, encourage
his people, especially all the governors, the armies and people who are responsible for the
security of the United States to keep on fire to fight against the terrorism.

2. Reason and Meaning Behind the Use of Place Deixis

The examples of place deixis that the President uses in his speech are the proximal and
distal deixis and also the motion verbs. For example, during his speech, the president once says,
―…. They hate what they see right here…….‖ The word here in the sentence refers to the place
where the speech is taking place, The United States House Chamber. Another example is the use
of one examples of the proximal deixis when the President says, ―…… Now, this war will not be
like the war….‖ In that sentence, the President uses the word this to make the audiences get the
right understanding that the war he means is the war on terror that the United States citizens are
facing at that time, not the other wars in other places. Furthermore, the use of the motion verbs
appears when the President gives his message to the military people. He says, ―Be ready…… the
hour is coming and you will make us proud‖ In the sentence, the President clearly use the word
coming to show that the day of the war is closer to the soldiers, so he asks them prepare
themselves.
3. Reason and Meaning Behind the Use of Time Deixis

During his speech, the President mostly uses the type of time deictic expressions, such as
now, today and tonight. One main reason of this is because the President focuses his speech on
the terrorism which his citizens are facing at that time. Therefore, he uses those time deictic
expressions to keep the audiences’ focus on the problem – the terrorism — which the nation is
facing at the time. Besides the three words, the President also says, ―….. the last nine days…..‖
to emphasize the period of the terrorism incident and to make the people realize that the incident
is really important and cannot be neglected. He rarely uses past time deixis such as yesterday,
last year, etc in the speech because he does not want the audiences to lose their focus on what is
happening at that time.

4. Conclusion

From the analysis above, it can be concluded that the use of deixis, especially in a formal
speech such as the presidential speech is very important. With the use of deixis,
misunderstanding will not happen because both the speaker and addressee will understand about
what is talking about. Moreover, the analysis above on the use of deixis clearly shows the close
relationship between context (the most crucial thing in Pragmatics) and the deictic expressions
which are used based on the context. The relationship is that the use of deictic expressions must
be adjusted with the context in which the speech takes place. Otherwise, the objectives or goals
of the speech that a speaker wants to deliver will not be understandable by the addresses.