Textual metafunction analysis on new articles by RT and CNN that wrote about President Trump’s rally speech
Introduction
In this essay, I will use a textual metafunction approach from Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics theory on two news articles written about the same event. RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and CNN each had written a new article regarding US President Trump’s rally speech in Battle Creek, Michigan, on 18th December 2019. This is a rally after the House voted to approve articles of Trump’s impeachment. Both articles have mentioned that Trump had called the proceedings of the impeachment as a “political suicide march” for the Democrats. Despite having written about the same event, the way the articles were written in terms of clause structure formulated two different messages and connotations relating to Trump and his speech. Therefore, I will describe the patterns found in the two news articles, analyse the Themes, as well as comparing and discussing the findings.
Literature Review
1. Systemic Functional Linguistics
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a language theory, that in its core, revolves around the concept regarding the function of language (ISFLA n.d.). According to Mehler and Clarke (2002), ‘systemic’ relates to the idea where the process of semantic choice influences how a text is interpreted. The semantic choices set up the environment for more choices. These choices represent network paths that constitutes the linguistic system. Additionally, the ‘functional’ term in Systemic Functional Linguistics is related to the function of language instead of only the particular usage, as well as being used as a basic principle of organisation in all languages. Systemic Functional Linguistics accounts for the language’s syntactic structure. The core of this theory concerns itself with the language’s function, such as what it does and how it does it. This is in contrast to the structural approaches which focuses on the language’s elements and combinations. Systemic Functional Linguistics begins at the social environment, then views at the way language acts upon and restricted by the social environment.
2. Metafunction
According to Halliday (2014), functionality exists naturally with language, that it is intrinsic, where the language’s architecture, in its entirety, is organised along functional lines. Language has become as it is due to functions in which it has evolved in homo sapiens. ‘Metafunction’ is a term that was chosen to indicate that function is viewed as the integral part in the overall theory. Halliday started that there are three types of metafunctions. The first metafunction is called the ideational metafunction. It views that language “construes human experience”. It can be separated into two components, which is the experiential metafunction and the logical metafunction. The second metafunction is called the interpersonal metafunction. In this metafunction, language is “enacting”, where it enacts our social relationships and personal relationships. The third metafunction is textual metafunction. It has to do with text construction. It is a function where it is facilitating and enabling because the two other metafunctions depend on it to construct discourse sequences, arranging the discursive flow, as well as producing continuity and cohesion. This essay will focus on a thematic analysis based on this textual metafunction.
3. Theme in clause as message
The clause as a message has meaning, which Halliday calls it “a quantum of information” in the discursive flow. In order to constitute a message, there must be two constituents that must be combined, where one has prominent status and the other is the remainder. The constituents are the Theme and Rheme. In the clause as message structure, the Theme functions in it. The Theme is an element that acts as the point of departure of a message; in which the writer or speaker chooses for ‘grounding’ for their message. The speaker or writer uses Theme as the point of departure of their message to lead the addressee in formulating the message’s interpretation. When Theme is used to make a part of the message prominent, it allows the addressee to interpret and process the message. The Theme is usually around the beginning of the clause, and it may come after some elements like cohesive conjunctions which also have thematic status. When this happens, it is called a multiple Theme. When a multiple Theme occurs, it is possible to stumble across three types in a clause. The first one is called topical Theme. It is a Theme where it carries one experiential element which could be either process, circumstance, or participant. This is also the Theme where it marks the end of the first constituent of the clause. The second one are textual Themes, which have the following three: continuative, conjunction and conjunctive Adjunct. The third Theme is interpersonal, and it has modal/comment Adjunct, vocative and finite verb operator. Halliday labels continuative and conjuctive Adjunct as inherently thematic, while the others are characteristically thematic.
On the other hand, the remainder of the message, Rheme, is a part of the clause in which the Theme has been developed.
Description and Analysis
1. News article 1: RT
1.1 Textual Theme
In RT’s news article, there are a total of 44 clauses. Based on Appendix 2 Table 1, it has been found that the clauses that begin with a textual Themes are found in 21 clauses. The textual Themes that have been identified are conjunctions such as ‘after’, ‘which’, ‘while’, ‘as’, ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘since’, as well as projections such as ‘saying’ and ‘calling’. Furthermore, there are verbs that function to elaborate the messages from previous clauses. These verbs are: ‘paving’, ‘taking’, ‘referring’, ‘noting that’ and ‘bypassing’. One relative clause, ‘all of which’ and a prepositional phrase which is ‘In a separate statement’ also function as conjunctions of the clauses in the news article. The most frequently used textual Theme is ‘and’ which can be seen in the beginning of three clauses. This is followed by ‘after’, ‘while’, and ‘taking’, each of which are found in two clauses. ‘And’ is typically used frequently in clauses to link a clause structurally to another clause.
1.2 Interpersonal Theme
In terms of interpersonal Theme, only one is found in a clause. The Theme is ‘apparently’. It does not occur in the beginning of a clause, but after the textual Theme ‘referring’ in clause 36. It functions as a modal Adjunct type II that expresses presumption. Halliday states that modal Adjuncts expresses the writer’s attitude or judgement towards the content of a message. The writer of the RT article related their mention of Trump’s tweet where he tweeted a picture of himself with the caption “In reality they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just in the way” to the Washington “swamp” in its pursuit to undermine the 2016 election results. Thus, the modal Adjunct ‘apparently’ feeds an assumption to the article readers about Trump’s tweet.
1.3 Topical Theme
Based on Appendix 2, it has been found that the most prominent Theme is the topical Theme. The topical Theme covers all the 44 clauses. There are 23 clauses that begin with topical Themes. There is a total of 30 unmarked topical Themes and 14 marked topical Themes. 28 of the unmarked topical Themes are declaratives. Halliday mentions that declaratives with subjects as the Theme is the unmarked form. Those that do not follow this convention is the marked form. Hence, the 14 topical Themes are marked due to their identity as a non-subject. Instead they are conjunctions such as ‘which’. They are also verbs that function as conjunctions such as ‘saying’, ‘paving’, ‘taking’, ‘predicting’, ‘calling’, ‘restore’ and ‘bypassing’. Additionally, the other marked topical Themes are relative clauses ‘all of which’ and ‘”What and embarrassment for Dems!”’ in clause 15, prepositional phrases such as ‘for the first time in history’, and circumstantial adjuncts such as ‘“We did not lose…voted for us”’. There is one interrogative clause and imperative clause. They follow a typical structure of their clause type; hence they are unmarked.
Halliday has mentioned that Themes make a part of the message prominent, and it allows the addressee to interpret and process the message. This means that the writer of the RT article was intentionally making prominent the identified subjects, conjunctions, relative clauses, prepositional phrases, and circumstantial adjuncts, and relating them to the Rheme constituent of the clause for the reader to process and interpret the writer’s message and information as the writer intended. Based on this fact, the following shows tables of some parsed clauses. Some are chosen to interpret the message the writer intended to convey.
This table is a parsing of the article’s title. ‘Political suicide’ is the topical Theme. It marks the first constituent of the clause, and ‘march for Democratic Party’ marks the other constituent. It can be seen that the RT writer is making ‘political suicide’ prominent. As they have already established this first constituent as part of the message, the other part of the message completes the clause as the remainder. The topical Theme associates the notion of political suicide with the democrats. This means that the writer intends to establish a message for the readers that the Democratic Party is losing confidence and support from the voting public.
The parsing of Clause 13 is part of a clause complex with clauses 12, 14, and 15. This clause is part of an insertion of a tweet by Steve Scalise, a Republican politician. The writer had inserted this tweet in order to give more context to the reader regarding Donald Trump’s impeachment votes. Moreover, the writer has decided to make prominent the ‘Every single Republican and some Dems’. This is again to establish part of the message as the first constituent of the clause. The other part of the constituent is ‘against this sham impeachment of @realDonaldTrump’. The topical Theme associates the message that the Republicans and some Democrats were not voting for Trump’s impeachment because the impeachment is a sham.
2. News article 2: CNN
2.1 Textual Theme
In CNN’s news article, there are a total of 13 clauses. Based on Appendix 2 Table 2, there are a total of nine clauses that begin with textual Themes. The textual Themes are the following: conjunctions such as ‘meanwhile’, ‘as’, ‘and’, and ‘after’, prepositional phrases such as ‘with today’s illegal unconstitutional and partisan impeachment” and “after three years of sinister witch hunts, hoaxes, scams”, as well as verbs that function as conjunctions such as ‘laying’. The most frequent textual Theme is ‘and’. Again, it is typical used as a conjunction to link clauses.
2.2 Interpersonal Theme
Just as the previous article, there is only one clause that has the interpersonal Theme as an element that comes before the topical Theme. The interpersonal Theme is ‘shortly’ in clause 12. It precedes the textual Theme ‘after’. It is a comment Adjunct that adds on to the rest of the clause.
2.3 Topical Theme
There is a total of 13 topical Themes in all the 13 clauses in the CNN news article. There is also a total of five clauses that begin with topical Themes. The total of unmarked topical Themes is nine, which are ‘President Trump’, ‘he’, ‘the do-nothing Democrats’, ‘Trump’, ‘you’, ‘an incredulous-sounding Trump’, and ‘the House Democrats’. The number of marked topical Themes are four. The marked topical Themes are the verbs ‘laying’, ‘said’ and ‘claiming’. The fourth marked topical Theme is the complement ‘the impeachment vote closed’. These are marked Themes because they are not subjects.
Themes foreground a part of the message, and it allows the reader to interpret and process the message. The writer of the CNN article was intentionally making prominent the identified subjects, conjunctions, and complement, and relating them to the Rheme constituent of the clause for the reader to process and interpret the writer’s message and information as the writer intended. Based on this fact, the following shows tables of some parsed clauses. Some are chosen to interpret the message the writer intended to convey.
The parsing of Clause 13 is part of a clause complex with clause 9. The CNN writer has decided to make prominent the subject ‘Trump’. This is to establish part of the message as the first constituent of the clause. The other part of the constituent is ‘likened the impeachment proceedings to a “political suicide march”’. The topical Theme associates the message that Trump equates the proceedings regarding his impeachment to the voting public losing their confidence and support. However, due to the fact that there is no subject after “political suicide march”, the message becomes vague as to which party this term is to be associated with.
This table is a parsing of clause 1, which is the title of the CNN article. ‘President Trump’ is the topical Theme. It marks the first constituent of the clause, and ‘is blasting Democrats at his rally tonight’ marks the other constituent. It can be seen that the CNN writer is making the subject ‘President Trump’ prominent. As they have already established this first constituent as part of the message, the other part of the message completes the clause as the remainder. The topical Theme associates Trump with his speech about ‘blasting’ the Democrats. ‘Blasting’ is an informal word, and it means fiercely criticising, which has negative connotations. This means that the writer intends to establish a message for the readers that Trump is making a negative speech about the Democrats.
Discussion and Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, it is clear that even though both the writers from RT and CNN have written about the same event, the interpreted messages are different. This due to the fact that the writers have chosen different Themes when they wrote the clauses within their articles. Therefore, when the chosen first constituent of their clauses are made prominent, the overall message changes according to the overall message they want to convey.
It may be quite difficult to come across complete objectivity and impartiality in news articles. It is because the writers and news outlets have their own political views. While some may have done it on purpose, some might have been done unconsciously.
In conclusion, this essay has used a textual metafunction approach from Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics theory on both RT and CNN news articles that wrote about the same event that has taken place. This essay has also described the patterns found in the two news articles, analysed the Themes, and interpreted them.
References
Halliday, M. and Matthiessen, C. (2014). Halliday's introduction to functional grammar. 4th ed. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.
Isfla.org. (2019). What is Systemic-Functional Linguistics?. [online] Available at: http://www.isfla.org/Systemics/definition.html [Accessed 3 Jan. 2020].
Liptak, K. (2019). Meanwhile, President Trump is blasting Democrats at his rally tonight. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/impeachment-inquiry-12-18-2019/h_b218f7cedc7e8cbfa97ecc9f7633a7bb [Accessed 22 Dec. 2019].
Mehler A., Clarke R.J. (2002) Systemic Functional Hypertexts (SFHT):. In: Liu K., Clarke R.J., Andersen P.B., Stamper R.K., Abou-Zeid ES. (eds) Organizational Semiotics. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 94. Springer, Boston, MA
RT International. (2019). ‘Political suicide march for Democratic Party’: Trump chides House Dems after they vote to impeach him. [online] Available at: https://www.rt.com/usa/476242-trump-suicide-march-democrats/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2019].
Appendix
