Using Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Theory in Analyzing Barack Obama’s Political Speech of 2012 Electoral Campaign

Abstract

Language is the finest means of communication that man has ever had, so when people feel the need to express their ideas and opinions to others, they may do so by using it. Such voicing one’s opinion might be done verbally or in writing. being an excellent form of communication because of the shared opinions. Its importance to one’s ability to breathe makes it comparable to the value of a breath. This article analyzes Barack Obama’s political speech from a rally in Columbus, Ohio on October 9, 2012. This study adopts Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar as a methodology to carry out the study. The aim of this study is to identify the linguistic sets made during Obama’s speech to Halliday’s model. A description of the six process-type for identifying the more recurrent processes that president Obama used in his speech. It is concluded that the process types in president Obama’s speech of 2012 manifests that the most recurrent forms are material processes. Through analyzing the parts of the speech, it is shown that Halliday’s theory can be culturally and situationally, and timely applied.