A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF DONALD J. TRUMP’S INAUGURATION SPEECH

Abstract

Abstract

This study mainly employs Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), particularly regarding transitivity. This research seeks to investigate the transitivity patterns and to discover the meaning through the sociopolitical context of Donald J. Trump’s inauguration speech. The objectives of the research are: (1) to identify the processes, participants, and circumstances of the Speech and (2) to explain how the context constitutes meaning in the speech. The research method used in this research was descriptive qualitative method. The context of data in this research was Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration Speech and his sociopolitical situation when the speech was conveyed, while the form of data was the clauses in the speech. The results of the research show that the process types found in the speech are material (63), relational (25), mental (19), verbal (4), behavioural (20), and existential (4). Each process type entails its own particular participants and varies in circumstances. In regard of the meanings in the speech, the transitivity patterns play a crucial role in constructing meaning. The dominant use of material processes in Donald J. Trump’s inauguration speech implies that the meanings presented mostly point out that the participants as constituents performed physical and real changes and that they might have certain impacts toward other constituents. Relational process acts as the second major process, which means the meanings in the speech are presented by identifying or attributing certain issues or entities. The behavioral process occurs relatively often which means that the meanings presented in the speech are leaning in between material and mental process and produce psychological impacts.

Keywords: systemic functional grammar, transitivity, speech, inauguration