




































1 

 ELT FORUM 5 (1) (2016) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 

 

INTERPERSONAL MEANINGS IN MICHELLE OBAMA’S SPEECH AT 

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR Dr. MAYA ANGELOU 

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study) 

 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa   

 

English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang. 

 

Aticle Info 

________________ 
Article History: 

Received in February 

2016 

Approved in March 2016 

Published in April 2016 

________________ 
Keywords: 

Speech, Eulogy, Tenor, 

Interpersonal Meanings, 

Appraisal, Michelle Obama, 

Dr. Maya Angelou 

____________________ 

Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________ 
This study investigated the interpersonal meaning which lies on the eulogy speech which was delivered by 

Michelle Obama at Dr. Maya Angelou’s memorial service. The purposes of this study were to describe the tenor 

realized in the text, the construction of the interpersonal meaning and the contribution of this study for language 

education. This study was categorized as a discourse analysis which used qualitative approach as its main 

method. The qualitative approach was used to describe the quantitative data which was got from the analysis. 

The data for this study was analyzed using two units of analysis. In terms of grammar analysis, the units of 

analysis were the MOOD system, modality, and mood types, while the lexical analysis mainly analyzed the 

appraisal of the speech. Based on those analysis, it can be concluded that the tenor that was realized in the speech 

showed the strong social relationship between the interactants. In term of status, she did not stand as the first 

lady of United States. In terms of contact, she tried to make the situation as friendly as possible. In addition, in 

terms of affect, she showed that she gave a strong involvement with the audiences through her speech. In terms of 

grammar analysis, it showed that Michelle Obama tended to represent herself as one of the black women who got 

inspiration from Dr. Maya Angelou. She also intended to inform the audiences about Dr. Maya Angelou’s life. 

The appraisal analysis showed that judgment was the most frequent appraisal system in the speech. Michelle 

Obama tended to give a high appraisement towards Dr. Maya Angelou’s struggle and actions during her life. 

 

© 2016 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
 Correspondent Address:  

   B3 Building  FBS Unnes  

   Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 

   E-mail: isnimafruchatunnisa.pending@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

ISSN 2252-6706 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

2 

INTRODUCTION 

This study is going to investigate the 

interpersonal meanings in Michelle Obama’s 

speech at Memorial Service for Dr. Maya 

Angelou. The interpersonal meaning here refers 

to the tenor of discourse involving power, contact 

and affective involvement. Power refers to the 

roles that the interactants are playing in a 

situation, whether it is on the equal or unequal 

status (Teachers to their students, parents to their 

children, or among friends); contact refers to the 

frequency of the interactions between the 

interactants or in other words, how many times 

the interactants communicate with each other. 

Whereas affective involvement refers to the 

degree of the affective involvement between the 

interactants. 

The text type that is analyzed in this study 

is a speech that is delivered in a funeral known as 

eulogy. It is a speech or writing in praise of a 

person(s) or thing(s), especially one who recently 

died or retired. It is a special speech that is usually 

given by a family member or a close family friend. 

While giving this speech, the speaker usually 

delivers some good things about the deceased 

person instead of the bad things. 

Mrs. Michelle Obama, the first lady of the 

United State and the first African-American first 

lady of United States delivered this eulogy. As the 

first lady of the United States, she also gets so 

much attention from the public, not only in 

United States but also from the other countries. 

Michelle Obama is well known for being one of 

the most inspiring women in the world. As the 

first lady of United States, she also has given so 

many speeches in different occasions. She usually 

delivers her speeches on some charity events, 

campaigns, and some other commemorative 

events.  

Dr. Maya Angelou was one of African-

American women who successfully stole world’s 

attention by her works. She was an author, 

actress, screenwriter, dancer and poet. One of her 

masterpiece is  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 

which made literary history as the first nonfiction 

best-seller by an African-American woman. In 

spite of her difficult childhood, Dr. Maya 

Angelou successfully passed her difficult time and 

appreciated by some other people. 

One of a black woman who was touched 

by Dr. Maya Angelou’s word is Michelle Obama. 

It is clear that Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the 

inspirational figures for Michelle Obama. From 

Dr Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama learned that 

she was special despite the misconception of 

people towards black people especially women. 

This study, thus, investigates the 

interpersonal meanings in Michelle Obama’s 

speech in memorial service for Dr. Maya 

Angelou. It tends to unveil how Michelle Obama 

arranges her words in order to realize her 

interpersonal meaning in that situation. By 

analyzing the interpersonal meaning of this 

eulogy speech, people will be able to find out how 

the arrangement of words is able to represent the 

social relationship that exists between 

interactants and also to show or express their 

feeling or judgment towards a specific matter in 

their surroundings.  

This study investigates a eulogy speech 

which is categorized as a text. Indonesian people 

may not be familiar with eulogy speech since a 

ritual such memorial service does not exist in 

Indonesian culture. It is mainly used by them 

who are American or other western people. 

People should be reminded that culture is 

embedded in the language. In order to be able to 

know the meaning behind a language, they 

should be familiar with the culture of the 

language of the text. Therefore, this study is 

aimed to introduce such a new kind of culture for 

Indonesian people in general through the use of 

languages.   

This study also needs to be carried out 

especially for English learners because first, 

learning a text is necessary for them. By learning 

a text, they will be able to understand how does 

the language is used in order to make meaning. A 

text can represent the speaker’s ideas towards 

things around them either in a written or spoken 

form. Creating a good text is important for 

English learners, since communication happens 

in their text. Therefore, this study is conducted in 

order to help the English learner in making a 

good text. 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

3 

The second one, based on my experience 

when I was being a teacher for my students in my 

teaching practice for about three months in a 

vocational school, I found out that actually there 

are some students who have some difficulties on 

creating a good text or sentence. The main 

problem that they have is about the grammar. 

The students often tend to make some errors in 

grammar which it means that it will lead them to 

fail on doing the communication through their 

text. 

Learning a meaning in a text can be done 

successfully while having a good comprehension 

on the grammar of the text. The best theory of 

grammar that can be used here is functional 

grammar. Unlike the others theory of grammars, 

functional grammar does not only focus on how 

the sentences are well constructed through words. 

It gets more focus on the function of each word 

and the meaning behind the text. It is used as the 

source of making meaning in a text. Therefore, it 

can help to analyze the meaning behind the text 

that the students made. 

In order to help the students to be able to 

create a good sentence or text, this study that 

analyze the interpersonal meanings in a text will 

help them to learn both how to convey the 

meaning and how to make a sentence which 

follows the right grammatical structure. Because, 

indirectly, when the students learn the realization 

of interpersonal meanings, they are also learning 

the right grammatical structure of their text.  

Based on those two cases, it can be 

concluded that the main problem that lies here is 

how people especially English learners to be able 

to create a good text which is able to convey the 

meaning well and has the correct grammar by 

maintaining the role or relation of the people 

themselves. By the time the function of the text 

can be fulfilled, the main point of communication 

is also done. 

Therefore, in order to analyze the data, the 

theory of interpersonal meaning on systemic 

functional grammar will be used here. Halliday 

(1985) in his book Introduction to Functional 

Grammar introduces the theory of three strands 

of meaning. They are ideational meaning that 

deals with phenomena, textual meaning which 

deals with messages, and interpersonal meanings 

which deals with relations.  

However, this study will only focus on the 

realization of interpersonal meaning on the 

eulogy speech text. In order to unveil the 

realization of the tenor or the interpersonal 

meaning in a text, people need to analyze it by 

using MOOD system and modality. 

The MOOD system of a clause can help to 

unveil the role or position of the speaker at a 

speech situation. In a simple explanation, 

MOOD system has three different kinds of types. 

They are declarative, interrogative and 

imperative. When a speaker uses a declarative 

mood, it means that the speaker is giving 

information/statement. Interrogative mood 

means that the speaker is demanding information 

from the listener and imperative means that the 

speaker is giving a command. The following 

illustration is the relation of speech function and 

mood types. 

Speech 

Function 
Clause Mood Types 

Statement 

She is a flight 

attendant. 

Subject  Finite        

Residue 

Declarative 

Question 

Is she a flight 

attendant? 

Finite   Subject   

Residue 

Interrogative 

Command 

Stay here 

Without  

Finite or 

Subject 

Imperative 

The relation of speech function and mood 

types. 

In addition, there is another term that also 

relates with interpersonal meanings. It is 

appraisal. It can be said that appraisal is the 

resources for speakers to negotiate their social 

relationship. It will help them to be able to tell the 

readers or listeners of the text about what they 

think and what are their judgments about 

something that exist around them. 

There are also three aspects of appraisal 

based on Martin and Rose (1992) that will be used 

in order to unveil the realization of interpersonal 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

4 

meaning. They are affect, judgment and 

appreciation. Those three aspects will give 

different feeling on each of the text depends on 

the intensity that we feel towards the matter. 

Affect refers to expressing the feeling such as the 

expression of emotional states, whether it is 

positive or negative. Judgment deals with judging 

people’s character, ethics, morality or their social 

values both in negative and positive way. 

Appreciation deals with speaker’s reaction to and 

evaluations of reality. The appraisal system 

relates with the way they choose the dictions of 

the text that is made. It often uses some adjectives 

since it shows the judgment of the speakers. 

However, it is also possible to use the other class 

of words. 

To sum up, as the speakers, people have so 

many things that need to be paid attention in 

making their text. It can be concluded that 

grammar, MOOD system, modality, appraisal 

and diction can be used to help in making a good 

text that is able to convey the meaning, judgments 

or feeling and maintain the interactants role in a 

speech situation. 

 

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION 

The research approach that is used for this 

study is a multimethod research which combines 

the qualitative and quantitative approach. A 

mixed methods study involves the collection or 

analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data 

in a single study with some attempts to integrate 

the two approaches at one or more stages of the 

research process (Dornyei, 2007: 163).  

The qualitative data that is used in this 

study comes from the objective of this study itself 

which will unveil the realization of interpersonal 

meaning of the eulogy text. Interpersonal 

meaning itself deals with the social relationship 

which lies between the speaker/writer and the 

listener/reader. In addition, the quantitative data 

of this study comes from the result of the 

interpersonal analysis constituents and also 

appraisal analysis of the speech which can 

support the qualitative data.  

To sum up, the writer of this study mainly 

uses qualitative approach to analyze and collect 

the result of the data from this study. The use of 

quantitative data that is got from the quantitative 

approach is just used to support and strengthen 

the qualitative data of this study. Then, at the end 

of the analysis process, interpretation is also used 

to describe the result of the study. 

The object of the study which the writer 

has chosen is a speech from the first African-

American first lady of the United States, Michelle 

Obama. This speech was delivered by Michelle 

Obama at the memorial service for Dr. Maya 

Angelou on 7th June 2014 at Wake Forest 

University in North Carolina. 

This study is analyzing the interpersonal 

meanings of  Michelle Obama’s speech at the 

Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou. Thus, 

the unit of the analysis of this study is identified 

as the following: 

1. Grammatical Analysis 

1. 1 MOOD system analysis 

1.1.1 Analysis of Subject 

1.1.2 Analysis of Finite 

1. 2 Modality 

1. 3 Mood Types 

2. Lexical Analysis 

2. 1 Appraisal 

2. 1. 1 Affect 

2. 1. 2 Appreciation 

2. 1. 3 Judgment 

In doing this study, there are some steps 

that will be done by the writer. After collecting 

the data, the writer will divide all the sentences in 

this speech into the smaller part. It means that the 

sentences will be divided into clauses to make the 

analysis at ease. After that, the writer will start to 

analyze some aspects of each clause. The analysis 

of those aspects will be delivered in the form of 

table which represents the frequencies of each 

aspect. At this state, the table is representing the 

quantitative data which support the qualitative 

data. After getting the quantitative data from the 

table of analysis, the writer will interpret and 

describe the data into paragraphs to complete the 

process of analysis for this study. 

 

RESULT OF STUDY 

Based on the procedure of analysisng the 

data that has been mentioned above, it is got the 

result of study as follows. The result of study is 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

5 

divided into two main parts. They are the 

grammar analysis and the lexical analysis. 

 

Grammar analysis 

As it has been stated above that the 

grammar analysis is divided into some main 

constituents which are based on the theory of 

interpersonal meanings. The following is the 

result of the grammar analyis foe this study. 

 

 

Subject analysis 

The first constituent of MOOD system of 

interpersonal meanings is the subject. The 

following table shows the result of analysis for the 

most frequent subject that is used in Michelle 

Obama’s eulogy speech. 

I You He She We They It That Who 
Dr.Maya 

Angelou 
Oprah 

Marian 

Robinson 
God Others 

50 4 0 34 9 2 2 8 1 7 1 1 1 24 

34,7

2 
2,78 0 23,61 

6,2

5 
1,38 

1,3

8 
5,56 0,7 4,86 0,7 0,7 0,7 16,67 

 

From the above table, we can see that the 

most used subject is “I”. It takes 34,72% from the 

all clauses of the speech. The subject “I” itself 

refers to Michelle Obama as the speaker. 

Michelle Obama mostly used “I” in her speech in 

order to emphasize that she was mostly 

influenced by Dr. Maya Angelou. She stood at 

that time was not as the First Lady of United 

States, but as one of the black woman in United 

States who changed her mind set after meeting 

Maya Angelou and learned about the different 

part of the world through Dr. Maya Angelou’s 

words.  

Michelle Obama tended to use “I” more 

that the other subjcet because she wanted to show 

the audiences the process on how she met Dr. 

Maya Angelou for the first time and decided to 

follow her steps through their own way. Michelle 

Obama used the other subjects to complete the 

story that she wanted to share with the audiences 

at that time. 

 

Finite analysis 

The secons constituent for the grammar 

analysis in MOOD Syatem is the finite analysis. 

The table below is the result for the finite analysis 

in Michelle Obama’s speech.  

FINITE 
Simple 

present 

Present 

Continous 

Present 

Perfect 

Simple 

past 

Past 

Continous 

Past 

Perfect 

Modal 

TOTAL 44 5 0 80 2 2 11 

PERCENTAGE 30,55 3,47 0 55,55 1,38 1,28 7,63 

In order to make it more simple in seeing 

the result of finite analysis, the table above can be 

simplified as the following one. 

Present Past Modal 

49 84 11 

34,02% 58,33% 7,63% 

 

From the above table, it can be seen that 

the most used finite in Michelle Obama’s speech 

is past finite. The use of past tense here refers to 

the story of Dr. Maya Angelou in her past life. In 

line with the function of eulogy speech itself, 

Michelle Obama wanted to recall the memories 

of Dr. Maya Angelou’s struggle together with the 

family, collegues, friends and audiences at the 

memorial service. Besides that, Michelle Obama 

also wanted to emphasize the influences that 

Maya Angelou gave to her which can changed 

her mind set about a perfect girl during her 

chilhood. That is why, Michelle Obama mostly 

used past tense becaus eshe mostly delivered past 

events of Dr. Maya Angelou’s life and her life  

 

 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

6 

Modality analysis 

The next constituent for the grammar 

analysis is the modality. From the finite 

analysis,it acn be seen that there are some 

modality that were found in the soeech. This 

following table is a more detail review for the 

modality analysis of the speech.  

MODAL 
Verbs Adverbials Adjectival Noun Clauses & Phrases 

Lo Me Hi Lo Me Hi Lo Me Hi Lo Me Hi Lo Me Hi 

TOTAL 6 4 5 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 

PERCENTAGE 23,

07 

15,3

8 

19,2

3 

0 0 38,46 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,8

4 

0 

 

The most frequent modality that appears in 

Michelle Obama speech is modal verbs. It goes 

like that because modal verbs seem to have a clear 

allotment between the high, medium and low 

level. In addition, modal verbs also can cover 

different degree of probability, usuality, 

obligation or inclination in a clearer way. It 

means that the speaker can express his/her 

judgment or evaluation towards something also 

in a better way. 

The judgment that is shown by Michelle 

Obama by using   modality in this text has a 

strong expression in showing Michelle Obama’s 

admiration towards Maya Angelou. She knew 

that although Michelle Obama’s figure has 

passed away, the spirit of her will always be with 

her and all the women in general. Although it is 

only a probability, but it can show how much 

Michelle Obama has her trust on the spirit of Dr. 

Maya Angelou. 

 

Mood types analysis 

The following table is the result of the 

mood types analysis of Michelle Obama’s speech 

at the memorial service. 

MOOD TYPES Declarative Interrogative Imperative Exclamative 

TOTAL 136 4 2 2 

PERCENTAGE 94,44 2,77 1,38 1,38 

 

The last interpretation for the grammar 

analysis is the mood type analysis. The result of 

the analysis shows that the most used mood types 

in the speech is declarative clause. The reason 

behind this result is because the text that is 

analyzed for this study is a eulogy speech. It 

means that there is no interaction between the 

speaker and the audiences. If there is one, it is 

only for a small interaction between them.  

That is why most of the clauses in the 

speech are declarative clause, since the speaker 

just wanted to share some information about the 

subject of the speech. She also wanted to give 

some statement relate to her experiences in 

knowing Maya Angelou and what she had 

learned from Maya Angelou. 

 

LEXICAL ANALYSIS 

Appraisal analysis 

APPRAISAL SYSTEM AFFECT JUDGMENT APPRECIATION 

TOTAL 37 49 36 

PERCENTAGE 30,32% 40,16% 29,50% 

Based on the result for the appraisal 

analysis, it shows that the most appraisal system 

appears in the speech text is judgment. It has been 

stated that judgment has two different ways in 

expressing its evaluation of someone attitude. 

Expressions of Judgments are used to assess 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

7 

(positively or negatively) what people do, say or 

believe according to values of particular 

institutions (Droga and Humphrey, 2003: 68). 

Based on this statement, it relates with what 

Michelle Obama did most in her speech, she 

appraises Maya Angelou’s actions in struggling 

for most of black women at that time. She praises 

her actions and works in order to make available 

a place for black women beside her and being 

phenomenal together.  

The result of appraisal analysis can be 

related with modality analysis since both of them 

can show the judgment or evaluation towards the 

matter. While the other grammar analysis such as 

the mood system and moods types analysis show 

the way Michelle Obama’s status, contact and 

power through her speech. Both modality and 

appraisal analysis show the evaluation of Maya 

Angelou as what has been stated in the appraisal 

and modality analysis. 

 

CONLUCIONS 

Finally, the writer comes up with some 

conclusions which can answer the research 

questions of this study. They consist of the result 

of the tenor of the speech, the realization of the 

interpersonal meanings and the contribution for 

language education.  

Here is the result for the tenor of the 

speech. In terms of status, Michelle Obama here 

does not place herself as the first lady of United 

States. However, she tried to place herself as one 

of black women who was influenced by Dr. Maya 

Angelou. Thus, she intended to make the status 

between her and the audiences as equal as 

possible in order to make the atmosphere in that 

occasion as comfortable as possible.  

In terms of contact, it can be concluded 

that the contact between Michelle Obama and the 

audience is not too frequent. This matter appears 

since the text that is analyzed for this study is a 

eulogy speech, which means that the interaction 

between the speaker and the reader is not the 

main focus of the topic. However, Michelle 

Obama tried to be as friendly as possible to the 

audience by greeting Oprah Winfrey during her 

speech. While in terms of affect, the writer can 

conclude that Michelle Obama highly 

emotionally involved to the situation 

First, from the grammar analysis, it can be 

concluded that Michelle Obama did not want to 

show off her position as the first lady of United 

States. However, she tried to place herself as one 

of the black women who has strongly influenced 

by Dr. Maya Angelou’s words through her life. It 

can be seen from the result of the subject analysis 

which shows “I” as the most frequent subject 

used in the speech. She wanted to emphasize that 

she had a strong belief on Maya Angelou’s words 

and inspiration which can make her stand in her 

position now 

Secondly, from the finite and mood type 

analysis, she tends to inform the journey of Maya 

Angelou during her late life in order to make a 

place for black women besides her. In addition, 

she also told the audience about the process of 

how she knew Maya Angelou and made her as 

one of her inspiring figure. 

Thirdly, based on the result of the appraisal 

analysis, it can be concluded that Michelle 

Obama mostly used judgment as one of the aspect 

from attitude analysis to show her admiration 

towards Dr. Maya Angelou. She praised Dr. 

Maya Angelou’s action who bravely cross the line 

and face some obstacles to make a place for black 

women at that time. 

The writer also comes with a conclusion 

that this study also has some contributions to 

language education. First, studying interpersonal 

meaning constituents such as mood system 

(MOOD-Residue), modality, and also the 

appraisal system can help students to have a 

better understanding on how they should create a 

good text.  

The study of interpersonal meaning also 

can give a teacher a new way in teaching their 

students to be a good public speaker through their 

good text. Through this study, the teacher will not 

only teach the students on making the text that is 

right in the structure but also in maintaining the 

diction which are appropriate with the situation 

itself. 

Furthermore, by studying interpersonal 

meanings especially in a speech text, it can help 

students to understand people’s intention through 



 

Isni Mafruchatunnisa / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

8 

their utterances, since every single clause may 

give different interpretations based on the 

situation itself. By knowing people’s intention, 

students also will be able to react correctly to 

what people say to them. 

 

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