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. 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