A critical discourse analysis of power domination on Barack Obama’s speech about military action to Syria

ABSTRACT

The study of language can be categorized as a complex investigation. This is because the language inquiry does not merely observe meaning and construction, but also investigates something beyond these. As language is also a social tool, so, through language many kinds of aspects of social phenomena such as: identity, ideology, politic affiliation, gender and power can also be identified. Critical Discourse Analysis is a study in linguistic that focuses on social problems, primarily on the role of language as discourse in the production of and reproduction of power abuse and domination. This thesis, attempts to dig up the power domination on the Barack Obama’s Speech about military action to Sryia.

In answering the research problems, the van Dijk’s notion of dominance, social cognitive approach, and discursive strategies are utilized by the researcher as a framework. Methodologically, this research conducted in the descriptive qualitative design. The way of collecting data is by critically reading the script of Obama’s speech and decide many sets of data to be further analyzed.

The finding reveals that Obama emphasizes his power as a president of a superpower nation to dominate and control other power. He stresses his “power domination” to gain legitimacy from the international community on his policy to take military action Syria. In addition, power domination of Obama is aimed to eliminate any obstacles and opposition of his policy. In the tactic of power domination Obama uses the strategy of defining situation, number game, evidentiality, hyperbole, self-positive representation, negative other representation, consensus, empathy, national self-glorification, and polarization; us and them dichotomy. Also, the power domination on Barack Obama’s speech is portrayed on the semantic macrostructure and local meaning in the form of delivering the issues of humanitarian as topics.