A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYASIS OF MARTIN
LUTHER KING JR’S I HAVE A DREAM.
.
SAKA, MUDA M.
07/15CD165
A Long Essay Submitted to the Department of English,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, in
Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the
Degree of Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Hons.) in English.
JUNE, 2011.
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CERTIFICATION
The essay has been read and approved as meeting part of the requirements of
Department of English, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, for the award of Bachelor of Arts
degree in English.
Dr. T. A. Alabi
Date
Project Supervisor
Dr. S. T. Babatunde.
Date
Head of Department
External Examiner
Date
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to the Almighty Allah, my beloved parents, my rescuing
Uncle and to all the oppressed people in all corners of the universe.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My profound and unalloyed gratitude goes to the Almighty Allah, the Lord of
the Worlds, my Cherisher yesterday, today and forever, and the One who has made
this work a reality.
I am indebted to both my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Saka, for their parental
guidance and moral obligations; and especially to my mother who has unconditionally
shown care and love to me and who has been resilient and stolid against all odds. May
Allah reward you both. I acknowledge my rescuing Uncle for his financial and
spiritual supports, encouragement and parental guidance. Only Allah can and will
reward you abundantly. I equally pray that may Allah shield you both, all the
foreigners and all the innocent citizens from the socio-political crises and bloodshedding in Ivory Coast at present.
I am heartily indebted to my supervisor, Dr. T. A. Alabi, whose tolerance,
painstaking supervision and intellectual guidance have afforded me the chance to
bring this work into a successful conclusion. These have left intellectual imprint in
me. You are highly appreciated, and may Allah reward you beyond your imagination.
Sir, to thank is human while to reward is Allah. May Allah in His endless mercy
reward you.
My thanks go to my most esteemed and respectable teacher Mrs. J. O. Fasoro;
you are indeed a mother. God bless you. I recognize Mr. Oso as well.
I also appreciate my brothers (Munirudeen, Zikrulah, etc.), sisters (Suliyah,
Shakirah, etc.) cousins (Abdul Mujeeb, Thrimidhi, Issa, etc.) who have supported me
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in one way or the other in the course of study in particular, and in the journey of my
life in general.
I equally recognize my bosom buddies, Nurudeen, Mubaarak, Abdul Lateef,
Mashood, Fateemah, Khadijah, Bola, and so forth for their love, care and support in
my life. I thank you all.
My unreserved thanks go Ummu ‘Aisha, a.k.a. Kehinde Hamidah for her
immense and sisterly support at all times. Baaraka Lahu Fiikum. Adeagbo Oluseye,
Ibraheem Fateemah, Salihu Muhammad Baba, etc. are also highly appreciated.
In addition, my profound regards go to my colleagues whom we have
weathered the storm of time together and are now victorious — Seke, Jidezy, Kings,
Eseigbe Aye, Affix, Lautech, Tunmise, Bukish, Prof. etc. As we go along in our
different lives, may we walk into glorious and brighter destinies.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgements
iv
Table of Contents
vi
Abstract
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CHAPTER ONE
General Introduction
1.0.
Introduction
1
1.1.
Purpose of the Study
2
1.2.
Scope of the Study
2
1.3.
Justification
3
1.4.
Methodology
3
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review
2.0.
Introduction
4
2.1.
Conceptualization of Discourse
4
2.2
An Overview of Discourse
6
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2.3.
Versions of CDA
8
2.3.1. Van Dijk’s Version of CDA: Social Cognition
8
2.3.2. Halliday’s Version of CDA: Language
9
2.3.3. Fairclough’s Version of CDA: Social Practices
11
2.4.
Fairclough’s Trinocular Dimension for CDA
12
2.4.1. Explanation: Social Analysis
12
2.4.2. Interpretation: Process Analysis
13
2.4.3. Description: Text Analysis
14
2.5.
16
Conclusion
CHAPTER THREE
Data Analysis
3.0.
Introduction
17
3.1.
Description: Text Analysis
17
3.1.1. Overwording
17
3.1.2. Metaphors
20
3.1.3. Thematization
21
3.1.4. Transitivity
24
3.1.5. Modality
28
3.1.6. Mood Choices
30
3.1.7. Connectives and Argumentation
33
3.2.
38
Interpretation: Process Analysis
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3.2.1. Intertextuality
38
3.2.2. Interdiscursivity
40
3.3.
Explanation: Social Analysis
41
3.4.
Conclusion
44
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1.
Summary
45
4.2.
Findings
45
4.3.
Conclusion
49
BIBLIOGRAPHY
50
APPENDIX
53
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ABSTRACT
There is a growing faith in critical discourse analysis as a critical theory of language
to liberate the oppressed in societies by deconstructing the divergent ideologies in
social, political and cultural texts. The study has set out to investigate I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King Jr. as a socio-political discourse using Fairclough’s (1989)
trinocular dimension for CDA (Description, Interpretation and Explanation). It has
been discovered (across the levels of the analysis) that the text (speech) is a sociopolitical and counter-hegemonic discourse — an implication that it was resisting
whites’ dominance over the blacks and other minorities in the USA at the time. In this
way, CDA assumes an important place in investigating discourses by focusing on the
meta-functions performed by them: that is, discourses do not just describe the social
phenomena and happenings, they also bring other social phenomena and happenings
into reality.
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