Investigating prescriptions of positive behavior in power-conso¬lidation national anthems

Anderson Alves De Souza

doi:10.5216/sig.v29i2.44102

Abstract

Assim como outros símbolos nacionais, os hinos nacionais estão profundamente relacionados a lutas por poder no âmbito político das sociedades modernas, exercendo, portanto, importantes papeis sociais e institucionais (HOBSBAWM, 1989, 1992; SMITH, 1991). O objetivo principal da presente pesquisa é realizar uma análise de gênero do elemento estrutural Prescrição de Comportamento. Positivo encontrado na estrutura genérica de 18 hinos nacionais de consolidação de poder escritos em inglês. O principal arcabouço teórico adotado é a teoria de gêneros textuais de Hasan (1989, 1996). A análise revelou que os principais atributos do referido elemento são: “demanda” e “referência a serviço da classe ‘comportamento positivo’”. A análise também revelou que os autores dos hinos nacionais utilizam uma vasta gama de recursos léxico-gramaticais para realizar os comandos expressos nas Prescrições de Comportamento Positivo.

Highlights

The discourse of nationalist social practices has drawn the attention of many researchers over the last decades (ANDERSON, 1991; FAIRCLOUGH, 1989, 1992, 2003; HOBSBAWM, 1983, 1989, 1992; SMITH, 1987, 1991, 1998; WODAK et al, 1999; WODAK et al, 2015)
The main objective of this study is to present a systemic functional investigation of the structural element Prescription of Positive Behavior found in the generic structure of 18 power-consolidation national anthems written in English
The texts selected for this research are 18 power consolidation national anthems from English speaking countries.The texts were collected from the book National anthems of the world edited by Reed and Bristow (2002)

Summary

Introduction

The discourse of nationalist social practices has drawn the attention of many researchers over the last decades (ANDERSON, 1991; FAIRCLOUGH, 1989, 1992, 2003; HOBSBAWM, 1983, 1989, 1992; SMITH, 1987, 1991, 1998; WODAK et al, 1999; WODAK et al, 2015). For the past two hundred years, national symbols have played important roles in the socio-political realm of life within modern nation-. States such as political and sport events, popular protests, and official public ceremonies (HOBSBAWM, 1989, 1992; SMITH, 1991). 107), “of all such symbols, perhaps the most powerful were music, in its political forms of the national anthems and the military march [...] and above all the national flag”. To many people the concept of national identification may seem a natural phenomenon, historically speaking it is a rather recent one. The concept of national identification appeared in the political scene when struggles for state power assumed new forms due to the modernization of the means of production, the social and political ideas of the French and American Revolutions, and the interplay of conflicting ideologies such as liberalism, democracy, socialism and nationalism

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Conclusion