Báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học: "Hệ tư tưởng của bản tuyên ngôn độc lập Mỹ" docx

T. T. T. Hoa Ideology of the United States Declaration…, tr. 40-47


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Ideology of the United States Declaration
of Independence


Tran Thi Thanh Hoa
(a)


Abstract. Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, the United States Declaration
of Independence is a famous discourse. In this paper, an analysis of the United States
Declaration of Independence in the light of Critical Discourse Analysis in terms of
vocabulary and grammar is presented. Based on the findings of the analysis, the
writer's revolutionary ideology which is hidden within the discourse is revealed. In
addition, it is suggested that Critical Discourse Analysis can be used as a necessary
theoretical basic and analytical tool for analyzing and understanding the
intricateness of discourse.

1. Introduction
Many language learners, including
English language ones, usually find
authentic discourse difficult to
comprehend fully. This is because they
fail to understand the author's aims

and ideas. In other words, they are
unable to understand the ideology that
is hidden within the discourse, and that
drives the discourse.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),
with its new perspective, can help the
language learners in general and
English language learners in particular
to deal with that problem.
To contribute further supporting
evidence of the persuasive utility of
CDA to authentic discourse, as a case
study, the United States Declaration of
Independence was analyzed in the light
of CDA.
2. Defining CDA and Systemic -
Functional Grammar (SFG)
2.1. What is meant by CDA?
The term Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) is used to denote the
theory formerly identified as Critical
Linguistics (CL). In the late 1970s, CL
was developed by a group of linguists
.

and literacy theorists at the University
of East Anglia [6]. CL practionioners
such as Trew [9, p. 155] aimed at
“isolating ideology in discourse”.
Since 1990s, CDA has been further

developed and broadened. Ruth Wodak,
writing in Language, Power and
Ideology [8] defines CDA as an
interdisciplinary approach to language
study with a critical point of view.
According to Fairclough [2], CDA is
critical in the sense that it aims to show
non-obvious ways in which language is
involved in social relations of power and
domination, and in ideology.
2.2. Systemic - Functional
Grammar (SFG) and CDA
Systemic - Functional Grammar
(SFG) is a theory of language centered
around the notion of language function.
SFG was mainly developed by M. A. K.
Halliday in the 1960s.
SFG starts at social context, and
looks at how language both acts upon,
and is constrained by, this social
context. At this point Halliday and
CDA theorists agree with each other on
the assumption that there is a
dialectical relationship between society

NhËn bµi ngµy 21/9/2009. Söa ch÷a xong 09/11/2009.

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and language. It is apparent that SFG
is relevant for doing a CDA and that is
why most linguistic analysis is based on
this grammar model, for example in
Fairclough [3], [1]; Chouliaraki and
Fairclough [4]; Kress [6]. Chouliaraki
and Fairclough [4] note that SFG “has
most in common with CDA and most to
offer CDA”.
3. Purpose and methodology
In analyzing the United States
Declaration of Independence, this study
has set two aims. The first aim is to
discover the ideology which is hidden
within this discourse, thereby, to serve
a better understanding of this famous
political discourse. The second aim is to
suggest that CDA, as a research
direction, can be used as a necessary
theoretical basic and analytical tool for
analyzing and understanding the
intricateness of discourse. The
intricateness of discourse mentioned
here is that “discourse is invested with
ideologies” [1, p. 8].

There have been different ways of
doing CDA since defferent linguists
may approach this field of study
differently. Each individual method
puts emphasis on dissimilar levels of
analysis. Hence, the CDA researchers
should decide on their own focus of
analysis. Norman Fairclough [3]
suggested the analytical framework for
investigating language in relation to
ideology. Therefore, the analysis of the
United States Declaration of
Independence was based on
Fairclough's [3] guided questions on
doing CDA in combination with
Hallidayan’s SFG.
Throughout the analysis, the most
relevant social and historical factors
that contribute to the production and
interpretation of the discourse were
referred to when necessary.
4. Analysis
The United States Declaration of
Independence was analysed in terms of
vocabulary and grammar. The following
prominent linguistic strategies which
include lexical choice, metaphor,
pronoun choice, repetition of key
words and transitivity would be
under consideration.

4.1. Lexical choice
According to Fairclough [3] and van
Dijk [10] a choice of words may have
various implications that express the
ideological perspective of the author. In
analyzing the lexicon of the speech, it is
attempted to clarify how ideology
realized in Thomas Jefferson's use of
vocabulary.
First of all, the type of speech
should be under discussion.
A discourse of giving a speech often
involves a speaker and the audience.
The text of the speech in this analysis is
the United States Declaration of
Independence which was read from the
east balcony of the State House in
Boston, Massachusetts. The targeted
hearer, therefore, was firstly the
American people (known to the British
as people of the colonies), secondly,
King George III )the King of Great
Britain) and his people and thirdly, the
people from many other countries in the
world. This is clear as in different parts
of the text, Thomas Jefferson indicates
particular addressees either directly or
indirectly.
For example, in the second part of
the speech, he addresses his audience

as “we” (We hold these truths to be self-
evident) so the “ideal hearer” postulated
in the following part and also in most of



T. T. T. Hoa Ideology of the United States Declaration…, tr. 40-47


42

the speech are the American people.
Especially, he addresses King George
III and his people directly and
indirectly: present King of Great
Britain, A Prince, They too have been
deaf , He has refuted / forbidden /
refused /…, etc.
The speaker normally draws on
classification schemes, in terms of
which vocabulary is organised, to
express his experience or his
evaluations.
4.1.1. The classification scheme
with negative and positive vocabulary
In this speech, the classification
scheme with negative vocabulary
includes 24 words and phrases. It is
used to express the speaker’s negative
attitude towards King George III and

the present government: destructive of
these ends, alter, abolish, a long train of
abuses and usurpations, absolute
despotism,etc.
With the use of negative
vocabulary, Thomas Jefferson tried to
create a negative image of a King and
the present government. The King is
“unfit to be the ruler” and the
government should be “thrown off” The
speaker’s words reveal not only his
evaluation of reality but also his
attitude. As a politician, his description
of reality and his attitude are formed on
the political ideas and aims. Behind
that description of reality is the
speaker’s indignation, condemnation
and antagonism. It is clear that the
speaker’s word choice is ideologically
used and his point of view is opposite to
the reality he describes.
4.1.2. The classification scheme
with positive vocabulary
In this speech, the classification
scheme with positive vocabulary
includes 10 words and phrases. It is
used to express the speaker’s positive
attitude towards the new government:
all men are created equal, Life, Liberty,
(pursuit of) Happiness, new Guards,

etc.
The ideal government is reflected
through the speaker’s political stance so
it might or might not become true.
Behind the image of that ideal is the
speaker’s respect, admiration and
support to new government.
These words appeared here with a
careful selection and a clear intention.
4.2. Metaphor
Powerful, strong and poetic words
found in the text are used in the form of
metaphor. This is a means of
representing one aspect of experience in
terms of another. Different metaphors
have different ideological attachments:
swarms of Officers
new Guards
The first phrase “swarms of
Officers” is used to refer to the
members of the present government.
The word “swarms” usually appears in
the phrases or combinations with bees
or ants, such as “swarms of bees” or
“swarms of ants”. They fly and crawl
here and there, they make everything
confused and they can bite people. In a
word, this phrase has a negative sense,
it implies a bad government.
The second phrase "new Guards"

makes us have a feeling of security.
This is the image of an ideal
government which guards for the
people’s security, and gives people the
rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness”. This ideal government in
the future is absolutely opposite to the
present government.
It is clear that these metaphors are
ideologically used.



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4.3. Pronoun choice
Throughout the text, the pronoun
“we” is found in 10 places. This
“inclusive” we represents the speaker and
the hearers, and the hearers here are
the American people. One aspect of this
reduction is that it serves corporate
ideologies which stress the unity of a
people.
The pronoun “he”, which indicates
King George III, is used 18 times in the
text. With the high frequency of using

the pronoun “he” in the text, Thomas
Jefferson concentrates the attention of
a people on a single enemy to prevent
the division of attention of a people.
As soon as the wavering masses
find themselves confronted with too
many enemies, objectivity at once steps
in, and the question is raised whether
actually all the others are wrong and
their own nation or their own
.

movement alone is right. Therefore, a
number of different enemies is regarded
as one - the king. This strengthens the
King’s causes and increases the
American people’s bitterness against
the King.
It is argued that the use of “we” and
“he” is for creating the solidarity in
mind of the people and the speaker's
responsibility.
4.4. Repetition of key words
There are generally formal
connections between sentences in a
text, which are collectively referred to
as cohesion. Among the cohesive
devices, vocabulary links between
sentences that include the repetition of
words can be found in the text. The

following graph provides a summary of
frequency of repeated words taken from
the text.

The horizontal of the graph shows
the number of repetition (frequency) of
words which are taken from the text.
The vertical of the graph shows the
words which are repeated in the text.
The words “dissolve” and “life”
appear early at the beginning of the
text and they are repeated at the end of
the text. The repetition of these words
creates a link throughout the text and
maintains the topic of the text.
The highest frequency of repetition
“he has” (18 times) makes up a constant
focus of the text. The focus here is the



T. T. T. Hoa Ideology of the United States Declaration…, tr. 40-47


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King has acted tyrannically not just once
or twice, but repeatedly and over a long
period. A new government, therefore,
should be instituted in order to provide

American people the “right” to “Life” and
“Liberty”.
The repetition which can be seen as
a listing and makes the hearers have
very strong emotion. Therefore, the
hearers could feel that there is a call for
revolution. Additionally, the hearers
would be given the careful, step by step,
justification for the revolution. It is
clear that the critical analysis could
help us to unpack the ideological
underpinnings of the text.
4.5. Transitivity
The result of transitivity analysis
including Material, Relational, Verbal
and Mental processes of the speech is
illustrated in the following table.
Table: Summary of Transitivity
Analysis Data
Type of
Process
Number
of
citations

Percentage
of total
citations
material 57 66.3%
relational 17 19.7%

verbal 9 10.5%
mental 3 3.5%
TOTAL 86 (100%)

Regarding the processes of
transitivity system, the process type of
greatest importance is “Material” 66.3%
or two-thirds of the total number. The
remaining third consists of: “Relational”
(19.7%); “Verbal” (10.5%); and, “Mental”
(3.5%).
Material
As far as material clauses are
concerned, the foremost aim of the
speaker is to describe actions and
events. Among the 57 instances of
material, up to 39 are related to the
King. And interestingly enough, all of
these material processes have the King
and his people in the role of actor. For
example:
- The political bands which have
connected them with another
- He has plundered our seas,
ravaged our coast
The implication that the readers
can easily get from this is that the King
and his people are the causes of all the
usurpations, abuses and damages that
the American people are suffering. In

Jefferson’s mind, this justifies the
rebellious actions of the American
people. Moreover, their actions are
justified to the point of actual
revolutions, not just rebellious actions.
Relational
The next most commonly used
process type is relational (19.7%), of
which the carriers are only about either
the American people or King George
III. This choice of process type helps to
describe the situation of America under
the rule of King George III:
- The history of the present King of
Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations
- A Prince is unfit to be the ruler of
a free people.
And the American people have the
following reaction:
- while evils are sufferable (by the
American people) than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed.
- such has been the patient
sufferance of these Colonies
However, the situation gradually
gets worse and worse:
- They (King George III and his
people) too have been deaf to the voice of

justice and consanguinity.



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In a word, the Relational process
helps to depict the situation of America’s
society and the destiny of the American
people under the rule of King George III.
Verbal
An interesting thing is that there
are 10 verbal processes in the text and
all of them have American-related
sayer. For example: We have warned ,
We have appealed , We have
conjured , We publish and declare
In the verbal processes, the
American people appeared in the role
of Sayer. It implies that the American
people do not want the “actions”. They
demonstrate the tendency to
negotiate. They would love to
maintain the long-established
government that was performing its
proper duty - securing the rights of its
citizens. And people should think long

and hard before trying to overthrow
any government, however evil it may
be. Taking a look at the context, we
could find the reason why the speaker
describes the King’s actions strongly
and the American people’s actions
slightly.
In the 18
th
century, the most
powerful nations of the world were
monarchies. The ideas of Jefferson
could serve not only to threaten Great
Britain’s colonial empire, but the
colonial empires of other nations in
Europe. Recognizing the importance of
maintaining good diplomatic relations
with European nations to get aid,
Jefferson sought to explain the actions
of the 13 colonies in rational terms.
Anticipating that this document would
influence rebellions elsewhere, Jefferson
clarified that governments should not be
changed for trivial causes. Instead,
Jefferson explained that only “despotic”
or totalitarian governments should be
overthrown.
Mental
The mental process, which is only 3
out of 86, brings remarkable

impression, especially with one in
which the senser is the King.
- He has excited domestic
insurrections among us
The other two are those in which
the senser is the American people.
- Mankind are more disposed to
suffer
- Nor have we been wanting in
attentions to our British brethren
The choice of those mental
processes creates two contrasting
pictures of the King who is doing evil
and the American people who do not
want to continue to live with that evil.
This expresses the attitude of the
American people towards the King. It
also arouses the indignation of the
hearers against the King and expresses
the American people’s hope to be
separated from Great Britain.
To conclude, the transitivity
analysis of the text has made it clear
about the situation in America and the
status of the American people under
the rule of King George III. Moreover, it
points out the causes of that situation
and the American people’s attitude
towards the King along with their hope
to be separated from Great Britain.

5. Summary of the main
findings and discussion
Lexical choice including the
classification schemes with negative
and positive vocabulary, metaphor, and
repetition of key words reveal quite
interesting aspects of the speech.
The author has employed all these
three linguistic strategies to create the
opposite images of the two
governments: the present government
and the new government.



T. T. T. Hoa Ideology of the United States Declaration…, tr. 40-47


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Similarly, the choice of mental
process of the transitivity system has
created the contrasting pictures of the
King and the American people.
The contrast of the two images and
two pictures make the hearers have
very strong emotion. Therefore, they
could feel that there is a call for an
actual revolution to “dissolve” the bad
“government” and to establish a new,

radical “government”.
The high frequency of repetition” he
has” (18 times) gives rise to a sense of
over-abundance. The King George III
has acted tyrannically not just once or
twice, but repeatedly and over a long
period. The hearers could understand
that there is no other choice but to
change the bad situation and to seek
the ideals through military means.
Obviously, this strategy is used to
justify the Americans’ use of military
means to set aside the present
government and institute a new
government.
Perhaps the most surprising finding
from the study is the use of pronoun
“he”. With the high frequency of using
the pronoun “he” (18 times) in the text,
Thomas Jefferson concentrates the
attention of a people on a single enemy
- the King. This could be explained as
follows.
It took 14 months, military
mobilization persuasive
pamphleteering, and the further abuse
of colonial rights before all 13 colonies
agreed to pursue independence. The
Colonies doubted whether they would
be strong enough to resist the British

military. When pronoun “he” (but not
they) used, it can make hearers find
themselves not to confront too many
people. This could persuade the
Americans to take up arms in the
revolution for their independence.
Also, in the 18
th
century, the
powerful nations of the world were
monarchies and among them Great
Britain was considered as the most
economically and militarily powerful
nation. The way of saying of “he” (but
not you) could pull the British citizens
towards the Americans’ side.
An important finding from the
study was the absolute percent of
verbal processes in which American
people appeared in the role of sayer. As
the data have shown, up to 39 instances
(or 45.3%) of material having the King
and his people in the role of actor. They
are the causers of all the “repeated
injuries”, and “usurpations” which
American people have to suffer under
the rule of the King. The speaker
describes the King’s action strongly and
the American people’s slightly in order
to maintain the diplomatic relationship

with European nations to get their
support and aid, and to justify the
Americans’ actual revolutions.
6. Conclusion
This study has been an attempt to
discover the ideology of the United States
Declaration of Independence. The
particular linguistic strategies
employed, were, lexical choice,
metaphor, pronoun choice,
repetition of key words and
transitivity. The author has embedded
in the text his indignation.
condemnation and antagonism to King
George III and the present government.
He then lends his respect, admiration
and support to the new and radical
government. In the speech, there is a
justification for an actual revolution for
abolishing the present government and
establishing the new and radical
government. What is embedded here is
the speaker's revolutionary ideology.



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It is clear that, this discourse is
invested with ideologies [1, p. 8].
It is evident that Critical Discourse
Analysis, as a research direction, can be
used as a necessary theoretical basic
and analytical tool for analyzing and
understanding the intricateness of
discourse.

References

[1] N. Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change, London, Polity Press and Blackwell,
1992.
[2] N. Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language,
London, Longman, 1997.
[3] N. Fairclough, Language and Power, (2nd edition), London, Longman, 2001.
[4] N. Fairclough and L. Choulariaki, Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking
Critical Discourse Analysis, Edinburgh University Press, 1999.
[5] M. A. K. Halliday, An Introduction to Functional Grammar, London, Arnold,
1994.
[6] G. Kress, B. Hodge, Language as Ideology, London, Routledge, 1979.
[7] Nguyn Hoà, Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method, NXB ĐHQG Hà
nội, 2006.
[8] Ruth Wodak, Language, Power and Ideology: Studies in Political Discourse.
London, Benjamins Publishing Company, 1989.
[9] T. Trew, Language and control, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979.
[10] T. A. Van Dijk, Critical Discourse Analysis, (1998a), Available:
(20/3/2003).
[11] R. Wodak, and M. Meyer, Methods of Critical Analysis, London, SAGE Publications,

2001.

Tóm tắt

Hệ t tởng của bản Tuyên ngôn Độc lập Mỹ



Tuyên ngôn Độc lập Mỹ đợc Thomas Jefferson viết vào năm 1776. Đây là
một ngôn bản nổi tiếng. Trong bài báo này, Bản tuyên ngôn Độc lập của các Bang
Thống nhất Mỹ đợc phân tích dới cách nhìn của Phân tích Diễn ngôn Phê phán
(CDA) trên phơng diện từ vựng và ngữ pháp. Kết quả phân tích đã khám phá ra hệ
t tởng của bản Tuyên ngôn Độc lập - hệ t tởng cách mạng. Bài viết còn gợi ý
rằng CDA, với vai trò là một đờng hớng nghiên cứu, có thể dùng nh một cơ sở lý
thuyết và công cụ phân tích để khám phá ra tính bên trong của ngôn bản.

(a)
Department of Foreign Languages, Vinh University.