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1
Introduction
Throughout the discursive history of the United States, going to war has always been
a calculated risk. Presidents since Abraham Lincoln knew that war brought with it a
conceptual baggagea scheme that involves blood, threat, enemies, freedom fighters,
innocent civilians, causalities, weapons, etc. They also knew that he who could arrange the
experiential chaos of this baggage into a coherent account of events gains the moral high
ground and the ultimate public support. This coherent account is made possible by an
intricately woven narrative in which America is invariably portrayed as a victim to the brutal
force of a barbaric enemy (Hodges, 2013). Although this narrative tactic predates the
relatively recent conflict in the Middle East, its relevance became clearer after 9/11. Ever
since that date, the Middle East has been assigned an inimical role in the presidential war
narrativea role that has grown into a full-blown stereotype. A decisive moment in this
shared narrative history was G.W. Bush's famous Iraq War speech (2003).
Objectives
Drawing on MAK Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and Adam
Hodges' semantic gradation of Presidential War Narrative (PWN), this study sets out to
investigate the way different configurations of transitivity patterns inform the ideological
construction of the war narrative in Bush's Iraq War speech (2003). In its translation-oriented
part, the study will also examine the way transitivity patterns are rendered into Arabic, and
investigate how a reconfiguration of such patterns could evidence an ideological bias on the
part of the translator.
2
Theoretical Framework
1. Hallidayan SFG: An Overview
Unlike Transformational Grammar which views language as an abstract, self-
contained set of rules (S NP VP) and is solely concerned with grammatical correctness, Systemic Functional Grammar is a semantically and pragmatically significant grammar
(Malmkjr, 2002, p. 526). It sees meaning-making as a strategic function of language in use
(Halliday, 1970, p. 141; Eggins, 1994, p. 2). It does not, however, fully abandon formal labels
and structures in language description. Rather, it views them as means of describing the range
of grammatical options (wordings) available to speakers who choose one or more of them to
fulfill a certain function in a particular socio-cultural context (Thompson, 1996, p.8). The
stratification in Figure (1) captures this interconnectedness of context, function and form.
Halliday (2004) suggests that, in every clause, three strands of meaning, or what he
terms the 'metafunctions' of language, are simultaneously at work: the ideational
metafunction, which "serves for the expression of content: that is, of the speakers experience of the real world, including the inner world of his own consciousness"; the
interpersonal metafunction, the function language has of establishing and maintaining
social relations; and the textual metafunction by means of which speakers/writers "construct
texts, or connected passages of discourse that is situationally relevant; and enables the listener or reader to distinguish a text from a random set of sentences" (p. 143). These three
metafunctions impinge on the surface-level structure of the language, and are thus invariably
realized by their corresponding lexicogrammatical means: transitivity, modality, thematic and
information structure, as well as cohesion (Munday, 2001, p. 90).
Figure (1) (adapted from Munday, 2001, p. 90)
1.1 Transitivity
Traditional grammarians define transitivity in terms of the number of objects that a
verb can take. Verbs are thus categorized into two groups: transitive verbs (verbs such as
play, kill, throw, see etc) and intransitive verbs (verbs like fall, sit, stand, travel, etc) (Lyons,
1968, p. 350). Halliday's theory of language, moving away from this syntactic distinction,
perceives transitivity as a representation of the experiential (ideational) meaning of language.
Socio-Cultural Context
Genre
Register
Discourse Semantics (Metafunctions)
Lexicogrammar
The conventional text type that is associated with a specific communicative function.
Field: What the text is about.
Tenor: The adresser and the adressee.
Mode: The form of communication, e.g. written.
Ideational
Interpersonal
Textual
Transtivity
Modality
Theme-rheme/Cohesion
ViSioNHighlight
ViSioNHighlight
ViSioNTypewriter
ViSioNTypewriter
ViSioNTypewriter
ViSioNTypewriter
3
Halliday (2004) maintains that the speaker's experience of the world "consists of a flow of
events or 'going-ons'" (p. 170). From the experiential angle, transitivity is a way of mapping
out the speaker's view of the world in terms of events (Verbs/Processes), entities
(Participants) involved in such events, and a background (Circumstance) against which
these events take place. Language provides speakers with a massive variety of verbs that
stand for different types of Processes. The roles partaken by Participants change according to
different choices of Processes. Every unique choice of Process and Participants represents a
different experience of the world unique to a certain speaker in a certain context.
1.1.1 Types of Processes
Material Processes
Material processes, according to Halliday (2004), are those processes that represent
an 'outer experience'they are physical actions that belong in the outside world (p. 170). Typically, material processes involve two participants: Actor and Goal. The Actor is the one
who undertakes an action, whereas the Goal is the equivalent of a direct object.
Jack Hit Mary
Actor Process: Material Goal
Material process can also adopt a single participant as in the case of intransitive clauses
where there is one Actor and no Goal.
Mary Walked out
Actor Process: Material
Moreover, some verbs result in processes with three participants. The third participant is
called Beneficiary (the equivalent of an indirect object). It occurs either in the form of a
Recipient (the one to whom something given) or a Client (the one for whom something is
done).
Jack Gave Mary A present
Actor Process: Material Recipient Goal
Mary Made Jack A dinner
Actor Process: Material Client Goal
Participants in material processes maintain their respective roles despite voice changes in the
clause. Passive constructs do minimize the Actor's agency via backgrounding or omission,
nonetheless.
Jack Killed Mary
Actor Process: Material Goal
Mary Was killed By Jack
Goal Process: Material Actor
Marry Was killed -
Goal Process: Material -
4
Mental Processes
Mental processes, when compared to material processes, fall on the other end of the
transitivity spectrum. They represent inner experiences of feelings, thoughts and perceptions.
Two participants are involved in such processes: a conscious participant known as Senser
(the one who thinks, perceives, feels, etc), and a Phenomenon (the thought, feeling,
perception experienced by the Senser).
Jack Hates Pasta
Senser Process: Mental Phenomenon
Halliday makes a distinction between two types of Phenomena: Acts and Facts.
Mary Saw The kids playing
Senser Process: Mental Phenomenon: Act
Jack Realized That he has been tough
on Mary
Senser Process: Mental Phenomenon: Fct
Relational Processes
Relational processes are not processes in the strict sense of the term because they do
not involve 'happenings'. Rather, they exist to set a relationship between two concepts.
Halliday distinguishes between two types of relational processes: Attributive relational
processes, which involve a Carrier (the entity that carries a certain attribute) and an
Attribute; and Identifying relational processes, which identify one entity in terms of
another, thus the labels Identified and Identifier.
Jack Is Cruel
Carrier Process: Attributive
Relational
Attribute
My name Is Jack
Identified Process: Identifying
Relational
Identifier
Identifying relational processes are reversible. Since the stress in these processes
falls on the Identified, alternate rewordings resulting from this reversing routine do not
"express quite the same experiential meaning as the original versions" (Thompson, 1996, p.
88). Furthermore, identification is not strictly a matter of defining equal categories in terms of
one another, but rather a process of "relating a specific realization and a more generalisable
category" (ibid, p. 89). Halliday uses the labels Value and Token to identify the more general
category and its specific embodiment, respectively.
Churchill Was The strongest leader
Token Process: Identifying
Relational
Value
5
This distinction between Attributive and Identifying relational processes is not the only one
made by Halliday. The two relationships, therefore, branch into three further relationships:
intensive, circumstantial, and possessive.
Other Types of Processes
There are instances where it is hard to set clear lines of demarcation among the three
types of processes outlined above. For this reason, Halliday suggests that, at the boundary
between each couple of processes, there is a new process type at work (see Figure (2)).
Verbal processes (processes about saying), for example, cut across the curve from
material to mental processes. They typically involve two or three participants: Sayer,
Verbiage and Receiver. Behavioral processes (process that have mental implications but
show physiological signs) fall at the boundary between mental and material processes. The
roles in a Behavioral process are mapped out as Behaver and Range. Existential processes
are intermediate between relational and material processes. They are propped by the empty
subject 'there' and usually comprise one role (Existent) besides the Circumstance.
1.1.2 Circumstance
Halliday suggests that some configurations of
transitivity structures may allow for the use of one or
more of these nine circumstantial elements: location,
extent, manner, cause, contingency, role, angle, and
accompaniment.
1.1.3 The Ideological Significance of Transitivity
Transitivity is ideologically significant
(Simpson, 1993, p. 96). The way speakers/writers
configure transitivity patterns to represent their unique
view of the world, although it might not be fully
conscious, is far from arbitrary. It is a product of the
speaker/writer's belief system, be it political, religious,
moral, philosophical or a combination of these.
Material processes, for example, raise questions about agency: "They are ways of designing
language to engage in actions like blaming, avoiding blame, or backgrounding certain things
against others" (Cope and Kalantzis, 2000, p, 28). Obfuscating conscious agents using
abstract or inanimate nouns or nominalizations in a text is, according to Fairclough,
"ideologically motivated" (1989, p. 124). It is for these reasons that critical discourse analysts
agree that useful generalizations about the discourse of single institutions or individuals can
be drawn from a full-fledged analysis of transitivity patterns on a textual scale. One area in
which transitivity has proved a most valuable tool is that of narrative analysis.
2. Narrative Theory
The classical view of narrative as a fictional construct comprising a series of linearly
arranged series of events dates back to Aristotle's famous definition of tragedy as an action
that has a beginning and an end (Herman, 2005, p. 20). Up until less than a century ago,
narrative was studied exclusively within the framework of this viewsomething which
resulted in a historical link between literary criticism and the term "narrative". It was not until
6
the dawn of French structuralism that narrative was emancipated from the literary realm to
evolve later into the kaleidoscopic concept known to us today (Herman, 2005, p.15). The
multidisciplinary study of narrative in the fields of history, anthropology, media,
communication, sociology and linguistics has culminated in a contemporary view that sees
narration as a basic mode of communication by means of which homo sapiens, who are story-
tellers by default, construct and relate their personal experience of the world as channeled
through concrete linguistic constructs (Labov and Waletzky, 1967; Fisher, 1978). A more
ideologically elaborate version of this view goes as far as arguing that narration is, in a
Foucauldian sense, an institutional discursive practice that uses narrative as a vehicle for
propagating a certain view of the world, i.e. an ideology (Herman, 2005, p. 539).
2.1. Linguistic Interest in Narrative
People experience the world around them in terms of events or happenings. These
events or happenings are not intrinsically meaningful on their own; they need to be organized
into a coherent whole. It is through narrative that a series of events is given such coherence.
We use narrative to imbue events with meaning. Through narrative, we name
protagonists, ascribe motivations, and produce explanations. In short, narrative is
a potent means for structuring and organizing our perceptual experience.
(Hodges, 2013, p, 50)
Linguistic interest in narrative began when Labov and Waletzky (1967) published their
influential article 'Narrative Analysis: Oral Versions of Personal Experience'. Following the
footsteps of Vladimir Propp, their goal was to "describe the invariable deep semantic
structure of personal experience narrative with an eye to correlating surface differences with
the social characteristics of the narrator" (Johnstone, 2001, p. 635). The conclusion they drew
from their narrative analysis was that every narrative divided up to six phases: abstract,
orientation, complication action, resolution, evaluation and coda.
2.2. Presidential War Narrative
Labov and Waletzky's work, based as it is on personal narratives, offers little
guidance in the field of rehearsed or deliberate narratives such as those delivered by
politicians to promote certain beliefs or ideas (Hodges, 2011, p. 4). Adam Hodges (2013),
however, draws on their work to deduct the generic structure of the narrative reproduced by
American Presidents in war speeches throughout history. Justifying a crucial decision like
going to war with another nation to millions of anxious citizens is a test that many, if not all,
American presidents have overcome by adopting a uniform war narrative used by previous
presidents. Hodges divides this narrative to the following invariable phases (2013, p. 50-58):
7
These phases are semantic in nature, but they do impinge on surface-level elements such as
vocabulary and grammar. Hodges notes that transitivity plays a crucial role in mapping out
different phases of the war narrative. Presidents tend to use different transitivity patterns
configured to represent the message of every stage of the narrative.
3. Data
This study is based on Bush's Iraq war speech and its Arabic translation as published by Al-
Dostour newspaper. In March 18, 2003, G.W. Bush delivered his ultimatum speech from
Cross Hall warning Saddam Hussein that he must leave Iraq in 48 hours. This speech marked
the culmination of a historical feud between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein's regime. The
conflict dates back to the administrations of Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton. Most importantly,
however, it marks the beginning of a new turbulent phase in the history of America's
involvement in the Middle East. The speech sparked storms of conflict and mutual
accusations that continue to exist to this day. As the implications of the American occupation
of Iraq continues to affect America and the Middle East alike, it becomes clear that the
assured tone of the Cross Hall speech was nothing but a faade. Under that faade lied the
grand narrative which manipulated many American's into supporting Bush's decision. A
detailed analysis of how this narrative was erected will ravel interesting discursive insights.
4. Methodology
The analysis in this study is undertaken in two phases. The speech is divided according to the
semantic gradation proposed by Hodges. At every stage of that gradation, a full comparative
transitivity analysis is conducted on the speech and its translation. Conclusions are initially
drawn based on the frequency of pattern-forming process types. Deeper ideological
implications about the way the narrative is constructed and how it unfolds are inferred from
the distribution of participants and circumstantial elements. In the translation-oriented part of
the analysis, the study involves an assessment of the degree with which transitivity patterns in
the source text are replicated and the way this impinges on the narrative structure of the
speech. Given the fact that the translation used in this study is not full, the analysis will not
include the Coda stage of Hodges' gradation in the source or the target analysis.
Precipitating Event
An enemy has initiated an act of aggression
against America or one of her allies. The act is a
threat to freedom, democracy and
humanity as a whole.
Implication of and
Response to Precipitating
Event
America is thrust into war with no choice. The decision was the result of careful deliberation.
The intervention is purely defensive.
Motives and Objections
America is not alone in condemning that act of aggression. It thus has no private interests or territorial ambitions in the target country. The quarrel is not with the people of that country,
but rather with their leader and his government.
Identification of Us vs.
Them
The president casts America and the
civilized world as a symbol of freedom,
justice and humanity against the enemy who represents the opposite
values. (This phase is not a phase per se; it cuts across the entire
speech.)
Coda
The president concludes that the nation is being
faced with a major challenge that requires patience and sacrifice.
8
Analysis
Precipitating Event
Introducing the precipitating event is a crucial stage in constructing the war
narrative; it is this event that will set the keynote for the entire speech by providing a just
cause for the forthcoming declaration of war. The event is invariably introduced as a
threatening act of aggression initiated by an enemy against the U.S. or one of its allies. In
Bush's Iraq war speech, the precipitating event centers on the threat posed against the U.S.
and its allies in the Middle East and elsewhere by Saddam Hussein who continues to possess
and use WMD in spite of international law demanding disarmament. Transitivity patterns
reflect how Bush carefully stages this event to prop up the narrative.
1. Events In Iraq Have reached The final days
of decision
Actor Circ: location Process:
Material
Range
Process:
Material
Actor Circ: location Range
2. For more
than a
decade
The U.s.
and other
nations
Have
pursued
Patient and
honorable
efforts
To disarm
the Iraqi
regime
without
war
Circ:
Location
(time)
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ:
Purpose
Circ:
Location
(time)
Process:
Material
Actor Goal Circ:
Purpose
3. Since then The world Has engaged In 12 years of
diplomacy
Circ: Location
(time)
Actor Process:
Material
Range
9
21
Circ: Location
(time)
Process:
Material
Actor Range
4. We Have passed More than a
dozen
resolutions
In the United
Nations
Security
Council
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ:
Location
(space)
- - 21
Process:
Material
Actor Goal Circ:
Location
(space)
5. We Have sent Hundreds of
weapons
inspectors
To oversee the
disarmament
of Iraq
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
- -
Process:
Material
Actor Goal Circ: Purpose
6. The Iraqi
regime
Have used
[diplomacy]
as a ploy
Diplomacy To gain time
and
advantage
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
Process:
Material
Actor Goal Circ: Purpose
7. It Has defied Security Council
resolutions
11
Actor Process: Material Goal
[ ]
Process: Material Actor Goal
8. Peaceful efforts to
disarm the Iraqi
regime
Have failed Again and again
Actor Process: Material Circ: Location
(time)
Process: Material Actor Circ: Location
(time)
9. [intelligence
leaves no
doubt that]
The Iraqi
regime
Continues to
posses
And conceal Some of the
most lethal
weapons ever
devised
Actor Process:
Material
Process:
Material
Goal
(
)
Actor Process:
Material
Process:
Material
Goal
10. This regime Has already
used
Weapons of
mass
destruction
Against Iraq's
neighbors and
against Iraq's
people
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Recipient
[ ]
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Recipient
11
11. It [i.e. the
Iraqi
regime]
Has aided Trained And
harbored
Terrorists,
including
operatives
of Al-
Qaeda
Actor Process:
Material
Process:
Material
Process:
Material
Beneficiary
[
]
Process:
Material
Actor Process:
Material
Process:
Material
Beneficiary
12. The
terrorists
Could kill
Thousands
or hundred
thousands of
innocent
people
In our
country, or
any other
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ:
Location
(space)
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ:
Location
(space)
13. The regime Has A history of
reckless
aggression
In the
Middle East
Carrier Process:
Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute Circ:
Location
(space)
Carrier Process:
Relational
Attribute Circ:
Location
12
Attributive
(Possessive)
(space)
14. It Has A deep hatred of
America and our
friends
Carrier Process: Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute
Carrier Process: Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute
15. Over
the
years
U.N.
weapon
inspectors
Have been
threatened
By
Iraqi
officials
Electronically
bugged
And
systematically
deceived
Circ:
temporal
Receiver
Goal
Target
Process:
Verbal
Sayer
Actor
Behaver
Process:
Material
Process:
Behavioral
[]
Detailed analysis shows that material processes are more frequently used than other
process types; there are nearly 18 material-process clauses in the Precipitating Event stage
alone. The frequency with which material processes are used is understandable given the
function and purpose of the Precipitating Event. Analysis also indicates that circumstances
indicating time and location are the most commonly used as they provide a setting and a point
of orientation for the event described by the narrative.
On the one hand, material processes provide a tool for Bush to criminalize the Iraqi
regime. He maps out the event in terms of Iraqi actors (aggressors) intentionally targeting
animate goals and/or recipients (victims). In example (10), for instance, the Iraqi regime is
involved in the intentional material process of targeting his own people and neighboring
countries with WMD. Equally demoralizing is the process in example (15) where the passive
form is used to foreground the goal/victim (U.N. weapon inspectors) while maintaining the
actor's agency (by Iraqi officials). The effect is amplified by the neighboring verbal and
behavioral processes that show the lengths the Iraqi regime has gone to in intimidating
inspectors. The Iraqi regime is also consistently and constantly aligned with terrorists
13
throughout the speech. Example (11) is a clear reference to this alliance. In a sharp contrast to
(10), the Iraqi regime is cast as an actor in a sequence of 3 intentional material processes in
which terrorists are the benefiting party. Example (12) asserts the message of (11). Moreover,
material processes with inanimate goals as in (6) and (7) highlight the lawlessness of
Saddam's regime by making concepts like "diplomacy" and "Security Council resolutions"
the concrete targets of his reckless behavior. The relational attributives in (13) and (14) evoke
a similar effect; the possessive configuration makes the attributes "aggressive" and "hateful"
more concrete, thus more threatening. The relational aspect is also instrumental in positioning
Saddam's regime in relation to his neighbors in the Middle East and to the U.S. and its allies.
Since the relation is obviously inimical in both cases, the two clauses visually isolate Saddam
in a separate plane from that of the rest of the world, east and west.
On the other hand, a slightly different configuration of material processes is used to
put the U.S. at the receiving end of the conflict. Almost all the material processes assigned to
the U.S. have inanimate goals as in (2) and (4), or range as in (3). This is meant to indicate
that all actions taken by the U.S. do not affect, target or hurt anyone, unlike Saddam's action.
Rather they are taken in response to the aggression initiated by Saddam as the contingency
circumstances indicate. Moreover, America's degree of complicity in the actions indicated by
these processes is brought to a minimum as the U.S. is not directly featured as the sole actor.
It is either aligned with or included in a larger acting entity ("other nations" in (2) and "the
world" in (3)) or relatively obfuscated with a vague "we". Bush advances the non-complicity
narrative through use of material processes featuring ergative verbs and inanimate actors in
(1) and (8).
Although these transitivity patterns appear to be configured differently in the Arabic
translation, they are nonetheless accurately replicated. Circumstantial elements aside, English
follows a strict participant-oriented SVO configuration as opposed to the process-oriented
VSO configuration which is regularly adopted in Arabic. In most of the examples above, the
translator renders the English SVO configuration to the Arabic VSO configuration. The
modification is linguistically justified given that the translator replaces an unmarked
configuration in English with an equally unmarked one in Arabic. Yet, Arabic has a relatively
freer word order that allows for toggling between the two configurations in some cases. There
are cases, for example, where the SVO configuration is used in Arabic to render an embedded
clause as in example (9). This is a linguistically sound choice since the particle ""
(equivalent of "that") calls for a nominal clause ( ) in Arabic. A sequence of SVO
clauses that feature the same entity as subject would not sound odd in English. On the
contrary, it is usually used emphatically. Things are not the same in Arabic which tends to
coordinate these clauses using continuative and additive conjunctions like "", "", etc. In so
doing, Arabic brings yet another transitivity configuration into view as in examples (7) and
(11). In this configuration, the actor is replaced by a hidden pronoun; it is orthographically
omitted and inferred instead from the previous clause. While this configuration is not fully
inaccurate, a better strategy that would have preserved the emphatic function of repeating the
actor in both clauses was for the translator to use the conjunction "". Coordinating (6) and
14
(7) with "" (as in: "
") is more emphatic and highlights the Iraqi regime's agency in line with the narrative.
Implications of and Response to the Precipitating Event
At this stage, Bush's war narrative seeks to advance the following claims:
The threat posed by Saddam Hussein (detailed in the previous stage)
leaves America with no choice but war; the military intervention is fully defensive.
The decision to go to war is the result of careful deliberation.
Transitivity patterns offer an insight into how these claims are integrated into the narrative.
16. The United
States and
other nations
Did Nothing to
deserve or
invite this
threat
Actor Process:
Material
Range
Actor Process:
Material
Range
17. But we Will do Everything To defeat it
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
18. We Will set A course Toward safety
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Location
(space)
Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Location
(space)
19. This danger Will be
removed
Goal Process:
15
Material
(passive)
Process:
Material
Goal
20. The United
States of
America
Has The sovereign
authority to
use force
In assuring its
own national
security
Carrier Process:
Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute Circ: Purpose
Carrier Process:
Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute Circ: Purpose
21. Recognizing
the threat
to our
country
The U.S.
Congress
Voted Last year To support
the use of
force
against Iraq
Actor Process:
Material
Circ:
Location
(time)
Circ:
Purpose
(
)
Process:
Material
Actor Circ:
Location
(time)
Circ:
Purpose
22. America Tried to work With the UN To address
this threat
Actor Process:
Material
Circ:
Accompaniment
Circ: Cause
( ) ()
16
Process:
Material
Actor Circ:
Accompaniment
Circ: Cause
23. Because we Wanted To resolve the
issue
Peacefully
Senser Process: Mental
(desideration)
Projected
clause
Circ: Manner
()
Senser Mental
(desideration)
Projected
clause
Circ: Manner
24. We Believe in The mission of the
UN
Senser Process: Mental Phenomenon
Process: Mental Phenomenon
25. Under
resolutions
678 and 687
The U.S.
and our
allies
Are Authorized
to use force
In ridding
Iraq of
weapons of
mass
destruction
Circ:
Contingency
Carrier Process:
Relational
Attributive
(Possessive)
Attribute Circ:
Purpose
876
867
Circ:
Contingency
Process:
Material
(passive)
Goal Circ:
Purpose
Analysis shows that material processes are the most prevalent process type at this
stage of the narrative. Even though America and its allies are invariably cast as the actor in
these processes, transitivity patterns are manipulated to propagate the idea that America is
being thrust into war. One example of this manipulation is seen in (16) where the goal-less
material process and the collective actor ("the U.S. and other nations") both serve to distance
17
the U.S. from the responsibility of war. Using the passive form to foreground "the danger" in
(19) also is another rhetorical move that serves to perpetuate the war-as-self-defense
narrative. That being established, Bush undertakes to assure Americans that, although
America is being pushed to respond against a threat, the response is not rash one. On the
contrary, it is the result of careful deliberation and collective decision-making as evident in
involving the Congress in (21) and the U.N. in (22). Mental processes of desideration and
cognition in (23) and (24) deliver the message that not only action but thought has gone into
the war decision. Furthermore, circumstantial elements play a crucial part at this age.
Circumstances of purpose and cause as in (20), (22) and (25) are directed toward justifying
America's military response, whereas circumstances of accompaniment and contingency in
(22) and (25) legitimize the American intervention by putting it within the framework of
international law.
As in the previous stage, transitivity patterns are accurately rendered. Unmarked
English SVO configurations are replaced with their equally unmarked Arabic VSO
counterparts, except in cases where linguistic constrains call for nominal clauses.
Motives and Objectives
At this point in the war narrative, Bush sorts out the motives and the objectives of
his military venture in Iraq. He argues that the U.S. has no territorial interests in Iraq, and that
the action is motivated by a genuine impulse to rescue the Iraqi people and protect America
and the world from the terrorist threat. The following analysis shows how these ideas are
propagated using transitivity patterns.
26. A broad coalition Is now gathering To enforce the
just demands of
the world
Actor Process: Material Circ: Purpose
Process: Material Actor Circ: Purpose
27. Some
governments
In the middle
east
Have been
doing
Their part
Actor Circ: location
(space)
Process:
Material
Range
Actor Process:
Material
Range
18
28. They Have
delivered
Public and
private
messages
urging the
dictator to
leave Iraq
Actor Process:
Material
Goal
Process: Material Goal
29. If we must
begin a
military
campaign
It Will be
directed
Against the
lawless
men who
rule your
country
And not
against you
Goal Process:
Material
Recipient Recipient
Goal Process:
Material
Recipient Recipient
30. As our coalition Takes away Their power
Actor Process: Material Goal
Process: Material Actor Goal
31. We Will deliver The food and
medicine you need
Actor Process: Material Goal
19
Process: Material Goal
32. We Will tear
down
The
apparatus of
terror
Actor Process:
Material
Goal
- ( )
Actor Process:
Material
Goal
33. And we Help You To build a
new Iraq that
is prosperous
and free
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
- () -
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Circ: Purpose
34. In a free
Iraq
There
will be
No more
wars of
aggression
against
your
neighbors
No more
poison
factories
No more
execution
of
dissidents
And no
more
torture
champers
and rape
rooms
Circ:
Location
(space)
Process:
Existential
Existent
Process:
Mental
(perception)
Senser Phenomenon
35. [Saddam] and
terrorists
Might try to
conduct
Terrorist
operations
Against the
American
21
groups people and
our friends
Actor Process:
Material
Goal Recipient
...
()
Process:
Material
Actor Goal Recipient
36. And this very fact Underscores The reason we
cannot live under
the threat of
blackmail
Token Process: Relational
Identifying
(Circumstantial:
causal)
Value
Token Process: Relational
Identifying
(Circumstantial:
causal)
Value
Except for two existential and identifying processes, this stage of the narrative is
fully represented in material processes. To refute claims about America's ulterior motives,
Bush puts other countries in the actor slot as seen in (26), (27) and (28). This is meant to
show that America is not alone in condemning the Iraqi threat and that even Saddam's
neighbors are joining forces to topple his regime. Moreover, the objectives of the war are
listed in the sequence from (29) to (34) with the coalition forces portrayed as warriors and
saviors simultaneously. For example, (29) asserts that the coalition has no quarrel with the
Iraqi people, and therefore the campaign will target "the lawless men" rather than civilians.
Positing (30) against (31) and (32) against (33) does the rhetorical trick of showing the two
faces of the coalition's force one time as it removes the regime from and caters for people's
needs and another as it demolishes "apparatus of terror" and erects the edifice of freedom.
The sequence is followed by a negated existential process in (34) that lists four "existents"
that supposedly will not exist anymore once Iraq is freed. There is, however, an underlying
message be drawn from putting the Iraqi people and the Iraqi regime in the equally helpless
position of goals to be rescued or targets to be demolished throughout this sequence. In all
four clauses the coalition (or America) is given the upper hand, thus reflecting the true face of
21
American dominance over weak nations. In example (35) Saddam is pulled back into the
actor slot as a threat to America to legitimize the motives behind this impending war. The
same idea is asserted with the identifying process in (36) that equates Saddam's threat with a
cause for war.
The translation accurately renders the transitivity patterns to Arabic following the
SVO > VSO formula as in (26), and the SVO one where linguistic constrains arise as in (27).
There is one case where the translator changes the process type in (34) from existential to
mental and also changes the configuration of "a free Iraq" from part of the circumstantial
element in English to a participant in Arabic. This modification is performed with no obvious
linguistic reason, except that " ... " would
sound stylistically weaker in Arabic than what the translator has opted for. The translator's
intervention does not significantly alter the ideological message of the narrative.
Identifying Us vs. Them
Although this self-other representation cuts through the entire narrative, it intensifies
toward the end of the speech. The sequence illustrated below sets a straight comparison
between the U.S. and the Iraqi regime. In (37) and (39), positive attributes of peacefulness
and strength are assigned to the U.S. (the self). The Iraqi regime (the other), however, is
ascribed negative attributes in (40) as it is described as a group of "thugs and killers". The
process choice in this example is ideologically significant. Bush uses a material process in
which "thugs and killers" are the actors; he is not merely ascribing these attributes to the Iraqi
regime and his terrorist allies, but is identifying them as such. When presented with a
material process, the audience tends to focus on the actions taken by participants and the roles
partaken by these participants, but they scarcely negotiate or debate the participants' identity.
Therefore, Bush depends on his audience to take it for granted that the Iraqi regime is a bunch
of thugs.
37. We Are Peaceful people
Carrier Process: relational
attributive
(intensive)
Attribute
Carrier Attribute
39. Yet we Are not Fragile people
Carrier Process: relational
attributive
(intensive)
Attribute
Carrier Attribute
22
40. And we Will not be
intimidated
By thugs and
killers
Goal Process: material Actor
-
Goal Process: material Actor
23
Findings and Conclusion
Detailed analysis indicates that Hodges' semantic gradation of the presidential war
narrative is extensively realized by transitivity patterns in the speech. Material processes are
the most prevalent process type in the speech with a frequency score of +30. They are used in
multifarious configurations to promote the blame game advanced by the narrative. They serve
as a tool for criminalizing the Iraqi regime and victimizing the US. The Iraqi side is assigned
a larger share of intentional processes that have animate goals, thus asserting its agency and
complicity in aggression. The American side, however, is mostly either cast as goal or
assigned processes with inanimate goals or range to minimize its agency in the conflict.
Moreover, a pattern of single entity actors is manifest in the speech. The U.S. is regularly
aligned with other acting parties such as the world or other countries to form a single bloc
against the Iraqi regime which is strategically aligned with Al-Qaeda terrorists. Other process
types are present in the speech, but they are not pattern-forming; they are mainly set up to
gear the narrative and boost the patterns generated by material processes.
The distribution of circumstantial elements is also crucial for developing the war
narrative. Location circumstances that position events at a certain point in time or space are
the most frequent as they equip the narrative with a setting and provide the temporal
progression necessary for relating the events leading up to the deceleration of war.
Circumstances of cause and purpose come second on the frequency scale their function being
to adjust the justificatory undertones of the speech.
The translation comes across as fairly accurate. Changes are made due to linguistic
constrains such as the VSO configuration of Arabic, but no serious alterations of meaning or
function has been made. One can thus safely assume that the narrative structure of the
English speech has been successfully maintained and replicated in the Arabic translation with
nary a trace of ideological bias.
24
Works Cited
Primary Sources
Source Text: Bush, G.W., (2003, March). War Ultimatum Speech. Speech presented at Cross
Hall, Washington, D.C. Retrieved May 20, 2014 from http://goo.gl/NpzFn.
Target Text: Retrieved May 27, 2014 from http://goo.gl/Q2m0D5.
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