A study of Word and Sentential Structure on Barrack Obama's speech in Osawatomie

ABSTRACT

Language production is used to transfer an ideological practice. In analyzing language production, it is needed to utilize discourse. In order to discover the manipulated ideology, power domination and unequal representation manifested in the texts or talks through discursive strategies, Critical Discourse Analysis plays the role on it. Therefore, I employed the word and sentential structure as discursive strategies proposed by Teun A. van Dijk to reveal the existence of ideological practice used by Barrack Obama in his speech.

The objectives of this study are first intentionally the theoretical contribution on the microstructure of Teun A. van Dijk’s theory of Critical Discourse Analysis approach. And the second is to enhance readers’ and next researchers’ knowledge about language production not to take it for granted because it has a goal of its production.

This study used descriptive qualitative method. The data were obtained from Barrack Obama’s speech when he visited Osawatomie Kansas. It was considered to have relation to the topic. Subsequently, I organized the data into micro-structure classification. Straightforwardly, I analyzed the data through the determined theory.

The finding of this study portrayed that Barrack Obama used particular word and sentential structure to create the coherence and cohesion of the discourse as a mean to enhance the power of the discourse. Not to mention, he occasionally used the word and sentential structure to downgrade the out-group domination and keep his face as a mean for the politic of important. The analysis of the word structure covers the analysis of pronoun, intensifier, sensory words, and discourse marker. And sentential structure includes passive sentence, rhetorical question, repetition and coherence. Finally, this study supports Teun A. van Dijk’s theory of level structure that divide into Macrostructure, superstructure and micro-structure.