Transitivity Analysis of Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address

【Abstract】：The Systemic Functional Linguistics theory is applied to the discourse analysis， which can make the text analysis more scientific and objective.This paper attempts to use transitivity analysis to examine the distribution and function of six process types in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address.It’s helpful to demonstrate the transitivity analysis has strong persuasion in revealing the theme of political speech and the speaker's intention.

【Key words】： Transitivity analysis； Inaugural address； Discourse analysis

1.Introduction

Public political speech is animportant social-cultural phenomenon of the West. Inaugural address is a kind of public political speech. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election Donald Trump won a majority of the American people's trust after a heated debate was elected the new American president. In order to greatly grasp the essence and characteristics of political speech and to confirm the maneuverability and practicability of transitivity analysis in the political discourse. This paper chooses Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address as a typical example.

2.Theoretical Basis

According to SFG， language function is trisected into the following three metafunctions： ideational function， interpersonal function and textual function. The ideational metafunction refers to the use of language to represent our experience of the world and is mainly realized by Transitivity and Voice. As for transitivity， material， mental and relational processes are the three main types in the English transitivity system. But we also find further categories located at the three boundaries， on the borderline between material and mental are the behavioural processes； on the borderline of mental and relational is the category of verbal processes； and on the borderline between the relational and the material are the existential processes.

3.Transitivity Analysis of Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address

The distribution of process types in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Addresscan be presented in the following parts： The total quantity of sentences in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address is 226. The quantity of Relational process is 78 and the percent of it is 34.5%； the quantity of Mental process is 62 and the percent of it is 27.4%； the quantity of Material process is 56 and the percent of it is 24.8%； the quantity of Verbal process is 21 and the percent of it is 9.3%； the quantity of Behavioral process is 7 and the percent of it is 3.2%； the quantity of Existential process is 2 and the percent of it is 0.9%. In the next section， we will analyze these processes in detail.

Relational process serves to characterize and identify. Generally speaking， it can be divided into two subtypes： attributive and identification. From the sentences of relational process， Donald Trump expressed his opinions. And Donald Trump also thanks his partners， family members， friends， parents and the people who support him. He hopefully they will be so proud of their president， it’s his honor. For example： Attributive： （1）This was tough. This political stuff is nasty and it is tough. Identifying： （2） We have a great economic plan， we have the strongest economy anywhere in the world.

Mental process is concerned with our own consciousness. From the sentences of mental process， Donald Trump expressed his emotion： Firstly， he knows clearly the current situation of America including disadvantages， financial crisis， international opportunities. Secondly， he loves his country and appreciate those people who make great contribution to the construction of America. Thirdly， Donald Trump has a deep gratitude to his parents， family and the partner who support him during the competition. Material process construes a quantum of change， doing and happenings. In a material process， typical participants are “actor” and “goal”. During the Donald Trump’s speech， the “actor” is always “we ， I”， and the “goal” is always “our country， Americans， dream and family”. Those indicates that Donald Trump has hard determination， great ambition to give Americans harmonious lives， safe environment and a wonderful American dream.

Other processes also illustrate Donald Trump’s determination and ambition. He tries to rebuild American and renew American dream. He insists that every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. He also expresses his gratitude to his fantastic family， fantastic partners.

4.Conclusion

This thesis strives to carry out the transitivity distribution of six processes in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address， and to illustrate the function of every process. We can take this thesis as a vivid example on making use of transitivity analysis. By means of analysing the main processes of this discourse， the learner can comprehend and grasp the ideational function especially the transitivity system much better. Through the study of transitivity system of this political discourse we could understand the thinking patterns of westerners， especially on wording and sentence structures much better.

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作者簡介：關承惠，碩士，單位：四川師范大學外國語學院，研究方向：外國語言學及應用語言學。