A comparison of experiential meaning analysis in the transcript of Barack Obama’s speeches about Iraq war and Iran election crisis (a study based on systemic functional linguistics)

Oleh :
Muhammad Syafi’i Al Hamid - C0306036 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

This research focuses on the experiential meaning analysis of Barack Obama’s speeches about Iraq War and Iran election crisis which are analyzed in a comparison analysis. The objectives of the research are to find out the types of processes employed in the texts, the ways of processes employed in the texts, and the reasons of the processes employed in the texts. The research belongs to the qualitative research and also descriptive method. This research applied purposive sampling to select the source of data and also applied total sampling technique to collect the data. It was done because the data were taken from all major clauses of the texts. The source of the data were taken from the transcript of Barack Obama’s speeches about Iraq War given on October 2002 in The Federal Plaza in Chicago and the Iran election crisis given in a news conference on June 23, 2009. The data was analyzed using transitivity system and compared by using componential analysis to find the differences and similarities between text I and text II. Finally, having analyzed and seen the relationship both the texts, the researcher found up the cultural values supported by the secondary data. Having analyzed the texts using transitivity system, the researcher concluded that there are different types of processes and their ways applied in the texts. The findings show that the differences occur in the use of the processes and their functions. The dominant process applied in text I is verbal behavior process. Then it is followed by mental behavior process, material process, mental process, identifying relational process and attributive relational process. Meanwhile, the dominant process applied in text II is attributive relational process. Then it is followed by mental behavior process, mental process, verbal behavior process, identifying relational process, material process and verbal process. The dominant use of verbal behavior process in text I functions to show more attitude of Barack Obama in responding Iraq War. Besides, there are two other processes used by Barack Obama to show his attitude; mental behavior process and mental process. The other processes are used to support verbal behavior process in expressing the experiential meaning of Barack Obama toward Iraq War. On the other hand, the dominant use of attributive relational process in text II functions to give information about the condition and situation related to the crisis in Iran. There is only small attitude that can be seen through the processes applied in text II. Finally, Barack Obama tends to emphasis in showing his attitude of disapproval in text I. Meanwhile, in text II he only focuses on describing about the condition of Iran Crisis. The similarities occur in term of circumstances. The circumstances, location of place and time, applied in both texts. The similar circumstances are influenced by the topic of the speeches. Both the speeches talk about the war and brutality. Consequently, the description about location where the events taken place, and time when the events happened often occur to accompany the processes in both texts.