A Critical Discourse Analysis of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s...

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A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GENERAL

PRAYUTH CHAN-O-CHA’S WEEKLY ADDRESSES IN

TIMES OF POLITICAL CRISIS

BY

MR. CHATCHAWAN CHAIYASAT

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF

ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LINGUISTICS

FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017

COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605606040029YSH

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GENERAL

PRAYUTH CHAN-O-CHA’S WEEKLY ADDRESSES IN

TIMES OF POLITICAL CRISIS

BY

MR. CHATCHAWAN CHAIYASAT

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LINGUISTICS

FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017

COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605606040029YSH

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Thesis Title A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF

GENERAL PRAYUTH CHAN-O-CHA’S

WEEKLY ADDRESSES IN TIMES OF

POLITICAL CRISIS

Author MR. CHATCHAWAN CHAIYASAT

Degree Master of Arts

Major Field/Faculty/University English Language Studies (ELS)

Faculty of Liberal Arts

Thammasat University

Thesis Advisor Assistant Professor Melada Sudajit-apa, Ph.D.

Academic Years 2017

ABSTRACT

This thesis seeks to investigate the linguistic features and discursive strategies

employed in 15 English-subtitled versions of the weekly addresses by General Prayuth Chan-

o-cha during his tenure as the head of the National Council for Peace and Order (30th May to

5th September 2014), downloaded from the official Thai government website at

www.thaigov.go.th. The major purposes of this study are to disclose the discursive

representation of identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as well as to examine the

underlying ideologies in relation to the concept of democracy and politically-related issues by

focusing on the choice of linguistic devices including the five pronouns and social actors

“We”, “I”, “NCPO”, “Government” and “Military”; the modality types and degrees; the

process types and the participant roles; and the metaphorical expressions embedded in the

weekly addresses.

Relying on Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis,

this study uses critical approaches to discourse analysis as theoretical as well as the analytical

framework underpinning the three main stages of analysis: (1) Textual practice; (2)

Discursive practice; and (3) Socio-cultural practice. Furthermore, the analytical notion of

pronouns and social actors, theoretical frameworks of transitivity and modality based on

Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and

Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) were additionally employed as the analytical framework.

In addition to the partial operation of corpus-based methodology, each dataset from the

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weekly addresses was analysed via the AntConc software program to generate authentic

examples and frequencies of prominent linguistic features as supporting evidence to enhance

data analysis and interpretation within the lens of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and

Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) perspectives.

The findings of the data analysis revealed that the use of the exclusive and inclusive

pronoun “We”, the inclination modality and the role of participant as the Actor in the

material processes was exploited predominantly over other discursive strategies to evoke a

sense of collectivity and good rapport between the politician and the audience during a time

of political crisis. The findings also emphasised that General Prayuth Chan-o-cha used

linguistic choices through the notion of positive-self representation in order to describe and to

highlight his personal qualities in a positive way.

Additionally, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha employed metaphors of DEMOCRACY

AND POLITICS AS MACHINES AND TOOLS, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS

JOURNEY, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION and

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS HUMAN which appear to be the top four highest

percentages in the corpus. It should be noted that metaphorical expressions were utilised in

these weekly addresses for the purpose of promoting national reconciliation and representing

his underlying political ideologies in a positive light regarding the democratic and political

processes. This study also suggested that linguistic choices employed in the weekly addresses

were designed to unite citizens at a time of political crisis through the use of the concepts of

inclusiveness, group membership and national self-glorification. This would influence Thai

citizens’ confidence in the government’s administration in governing the country while the

political situation remained fragile.

Lastly, this thesis concluded that linguistic features at the level of textual analysis

have denotative and connotative meanings which convey different communicative functions

to assist the spokesperson in accomplishing the goals of shaping and influencing audience to

believe that Thailand can move forward through the government’s developmental plan and

policies. The findings not only heighten the readers’ awareness of language and ideologies in

this particular type of discourse but also aim to encourage language users to be more sensitive

and critical of the role of discourse in different genres employed to persuade and manipulate

individuals and societies.

Keywords: Weekly Addresses, Political Discourse, Thai Politics, Critical Discourse

Analysis, Corpus Linguistics, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Critical Metaphor Analysis

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the many people who contributed either directly or indirectly to

the completion of my thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Asst. Prof.

Dr. Melada Sudajit-apa, who broadened my perspective on the notion of Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) and gave me constructive comments, emotional support and invaluable

feedback in this endeavour at every stage of the individual chapters. I am highly appreciative

of her insightful comments, intellectual stimulus and the constant encouragement that always

supported me throughout the long journey of my study. I would also specifically like to thank

Asst. Prof. Dr. Passapong Sripicharn, who introduced me to corpus linguistics and provided

me with invaluable feedback on my thesis proposal.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Baramee Kheovichai from the Faculty of Arts,

Silpakorn University, and Dr. Andrew J. Gallagher who have both given me much food for

thought concerning the critical metaphor analysis of political discourse. I would also like to

thank Dr. Kristof Savski from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University, for

his thought-provoking talks and discussions on data collection for Critical Discourse Analysis

study. I am indebted to Dr. Lanchukorn Sriwimon from the Faculty of Humanities and Social

Sciences, Thaksin University, for her support and many useful suggestions on the process of

the clause division of transitivity/process type identification based on the Framework of

Systemic Functional Linguistics. My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Patsriyanyong Sungroong

from the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Silpakorn University, for

his efforts in helping me with the inter-rater reliability procedure of the identification for

modality types and degrees. I am also most grateful to Assoc. Prof. Achara Laisattruglai from

the Faculty of Humanities, Ramkhamhaeng University, who was very supportive in the

process of identification of translation types for the weekly addresses.

Besides the help from all academics, I would also like to thank Khun Waraporn

Phaomanee, the programme coordinator, who sent me all the necessary information and

documents regarding thesis format, registration and academic-related documents throughout

my studies at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University. This includes her efforts in

issuing all the official request letters for data collection and the many inter-rater reliability

procedures. I am also grateful to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister for kindly publishing

the weekly addresses on the official Thai government website at www.thaigov.go.th and

allowing them to be used in this thesis.

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My sincere appreciation is extended to my ELS batch 4 classmates from the MA

programme in English Language Studies (International Programme), at the Faculty of Liberal

Arts, Thammasat University, and, in particular, Nelobol Nipakornkitti who always gave me

emotional support and sustained friendship. I also would like to thank all the people at the

Institute of International Studies, Ramkhamhaeng University (IIS-RU), for their cheerful

encouragement.

Furthermore, this thesis received proofreading and language editing support from

Prof. Dr. Peter Williamson, from Liverpool John Moores University, UK. and Asst. Prof.

Simon J. P. Wright, from the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my father,

Prasertsin Chaiyasat, and my two younger sisters, Apinya and Namthip for their

unconditional love, emotional support and for their enthusiasm in following its progress.

Finally, this thesis is dedicated to the memory of my beloved “Mother” Petch Chaiyasat, in

Heaven. Without these people, I would never have completed this thesis. All errors and

omissions that remain are, of course, my own responsibility.

Mr. Chatchawan Chaiyasat

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT (1)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (3)

LIST OF TABLES (11)

LIST OF FIGURES (14)

LIST OF TEXT (15)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS (16)

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Overview of the Theoretical Framework 8

1.3 The Thai Political Context 9

1.4 Research Objectives 11

1.5 Research Questions 11

1.6 Significance of the Study 11

1.7 Data Compilation and Scope of the Study 12

1.8 Definitions of Terms 12

1.9 Organisation of the Study 14

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 15

2.1 “Political” Discourse 15

2.1.1 Discourse and Identity 17

2.1.2 Discourse and Ideology 18

2.1.3 Discourse and Power 19

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2.2 The Concept of Democracy 20

2.3 A Brief Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 21

2.3.1 The Commonalities of Critical Discourse Analysis 24

2.3.2 Criticisms of Critical Discourse Analysis 25

2.4 Theoretical Framework of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse

Analysis Approach 26

2.5 Notion of Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis 29

2.6 The Modality System as a Framework of Interpersonal Metafunction 30

2.7 Transitivity or Process Types 35

2.7.1 Material Processes and Participants 38

2.7.2 Mental Processes and Participants 39

2.7.3 Relational Processes and Participants 41

2.7.4 Verbal Processes and Participants 42

2.7.5 Behavioural Processes and Participants 43

2.8 The Concept of Metaphor 45

2.8.1 Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) 47

2.8.2 Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) 49

2.8.3 Metaphors in Political Discourse 50

2.9 Corpus Linguistics (CL) 51

2.9.1 Central Concepts of Corpus Linguistic Tools 51

2.9.2 Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics 52

2.10 Related Previous Studies on Critical Discourse Analysis 54

2.11 Related Previous Studies on Critical Metaphor Analysis 59

2.12 Chapter Summary 60

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62

3.1 Fairclough’s (2010) Three-Dimensional Framework for

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 62

3.2 Corpus-assisted Approach 63

3.2.1 Word Frequency List 63

3.2.2 Concordance Lines 64

3.3 Data Collection 66

3.4 Clause Division of Process Type Identification 67

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3.5 Reliability Check Procedure of Process Type Identification 77

3.6 Inter-rater Reliability Procedure of Modality Types and Degrees 77

3.7 Corpus-assisted Metaphor Analysis Procedure 78

3.8 Metaphor Identification Procedure 79

3.9 Inter-rater Reliability of Metaphor Identification 80

3.10 Data Analysis 80

3.11 Research Design and Procedures 81

3.12 Consent and Ethical Concerns 83

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 84

4.1 Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis 84

4.1.1 Analysis of the Pronoun “We” 85

4.1.2 Analysis of the Pronoun “I” 104

4.1.3 Analysis of the Social Actor “NCPO” 105

4.1.4 Analysis of the Social Actor “Government” 108

4.1.5 Analysis of the Social Actor “Military” 110

4.1.6 Summary of Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis 112

4.2 Modality Analysis 112

4.2.1 Analysis of Probability 112

4.2.2 Analysis of Obligation 114

4.2.3 Analysis of Inclination 119

4.2.4 Summary of Modality Analysis 124

4.3 Analysis of Material Processes and the Major Participant Roles 125

4.3.1 Analysis of Material Processes and the Major Participant Roles

As the Actors 126

4.3.2 Summary of the Analysis of Material Processes and the Major

Participant Roles as the Actors 141

4.4 Critical Metaphor Analysis 142

4.4.1 Analysis of the Machines and Tools Metaphors 143

4.4.2 Analysis of the Journey Metaphors 146

4.4.3 Analysis of the Building and Construction Metaphors 148

4.4.4 Analysis of the Human Metaphors (Personification) 150

4.4.5 Summary of Critical Metaphor Analysis 153

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4.5 Chapter Summary 153

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS 156

5.1 Summary of the Major Findings 156

5.1.1 Summary of the Major Findings for Research Question 1 158

5.1.2 Summary of the Major Findings for Research Question 2 161

5.2 Towards Strategic Political Communication during Times of

Political Crisis 162

5.3 Theoretical and Methodological Implications of the Study 164

5.3.1 Theoretical Implications of the Study 164

5.3.2 Methodological Implications of the Study 166

5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 167

5.5 Conclusion of the Study 168

REFERENCES 170

APPENDICES 181

APPENDIX A: Sample of the First Weekly Addresses Delivered

on 30th May 2014 182

APPENDIX B: Data Codes of 15 English Subtitled Weekly Addresses of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during His Tenure as

the Head of NCPO (30th May – 5th September 2014) 188

APPENDIX C: Sample of Identification Sheet of Translation Types 189

APPENDIX D: Sample of Classification of Exclusive and Inclusive Pronoun

“We” 195

APPENDIX E: Reliability Check of 242 Clause Simplexes (10%) from

2,415 Clause Simplexes 197

APPENDIX F: Classification of Selected Ambiguous Process Types 209

APPENDIX G: Distribution of Numbers of Clauses of the Process Types

used to represent General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as the Head of

National Council for Peace and Order 219

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APPENDIX H: Sample of Inter-rater Reliability Check of Modality Types and

Degrees in General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s 15 Selected Weekly

Addresses during His Tenure as the Head of the National Council

for Peace and Order (NCPO) 220

APPENDIX I: The Frequency of Probability Expressions found in the NCPO

Weekly Addresses 227

APPENDIX J: The Frequency of Obligation Expressions found in the NCPO


APPENDIX K: The Frequency of Inclination Expressions found in the NCPO


APPENDIX L: The Result of Reliability Check of Modality Types and

Degrees between Researcher & Expert 233

APPENDIX M: Inter-rater Reliability of Democracy and Politics-Related

Metaphor Identification Procedure in General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s

15 Selected Weekly Addresses during His Tenure as the Head of

the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) 234

APPENDIX N: Concordance Lines of the Search Term “Democratic” in

English Subtitled Weekly Addresses during General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha’s Tenure as the Head of NCPO (30th May –

5th September 2014) 243

APPENDIX O: Concordance Lines of the Search Term “Democracy” in

English Subtitled Weekly Addresses during General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha’s Tenure as the Head of NCPO (30th May –

5th September 2014) 244

APPENDIX P: Sample of Inter-rater Reliability Score Sheet for Metaphor

Identification between Researcher and Expert 246

APPENDIX Q: Crosstabs from PASW Statistics18 version for Source Domain 250

APPENDIX R: Crosstabs from PASW Statistics18 version for Target Domain 253

APPENDIX S: Approval Letter regarding the Changes of Thesis Title, Scope of

the Study, Relevant Theories, and Research Methodology 255

APPENDIX T: Permission Letter regarding Data Collection to the Secretariat

of the Prime Minister (in Thai) 258

APPENDIX T (Continued): An English Translation of Thai Permission Letter

for Data Collection 260

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APPENDIX U: Letter regarding the Permission for Data Collection from

the Secretariat of the Prime Minister (in Thai) 262

APPENDIX V: Request Letter for Identification of Translation Types of the

Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha (in Thai) 263

APPENDIX W: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification

of Modality Types and Degrees in the Weekly Addresses of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha (in Thai) 264

APPENDIX X: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification

of Process Types in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha (in Thai) 265

APPENDIX Y: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification

of Selected Ambiguous Process Types in the Weekly Addresses

of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha 266

APPENDIX Z: Request Letter for Inter-rater Reliability of Metaphor Identification

in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha 267

BIOGRAPHY 268

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LIST OF TABLES

Tables Page

1.1: Democracy Index 2014 (Economist Intelligence Unit: 2015) 5

1.2: Overall Democracy Score for Southeast Asian Countries: 2006 - 2014

(Source: EIU: 2015) 7

2.1: The Speech Functions of Giving or Demanding, Goods-&-Services

or Information (adapted from Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 136) 31

2.2: The Three Values of Modality

(adopted from Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 694) 32

2.3: Examples of Modality Values of Modal Verbal Operators

(adopted from Thompson, 2014, p. 72) 33

2.4: Adverbs Serving as Mood Adjuncts of Modality

(adopted from Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 189) 34

2.5: Degrees of Modalisation

(Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696) 34

2.6: Degrees of Modulation

(Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696) 35

2.7: Material Process and Participants (Thompson, 2014, p. 95) 39

2.8: Material Process and Participants (Bloor & Bloor, 2004, pp. 262-263) 39

2.9: Examples of Mental Processes (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 257) 39

2.10: Mental Processes: Perceptive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99) 40

2.11: Mental Processes: Emotive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99) 40

2.12: Mental Processes: Cognitive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99) 41

2.13: Mental Processes: Desiderative (Thompson, 2014, p. 100) 41

2.14: Attributive Relational Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 102) 41

2.15: Value and Token in Identifying Relational Clauses

(Thompson, 2014, p. 103) 42

2.16: Verbal Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 108) 43




2.20: Behavioural Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 110) 44

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2.21: Summary of Halliday’s Process Types and Participant Roles

(adapted from Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, p. 260, as cited in

Fontaine, 2013, p. 77) 44

2.22: The Distinctive Nature of Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) (adapted from Marchi & Taylor, 2009, p. 2) 53

3.1: Sample Concordances of “I” and “NCPO” 74

3.2: Numbers of Clause Complexes and Clause Simplexes of Selected

Pronouns and Social Actors 77

3.3: Frequency of Terms “Democratic” and “Democracy” emerging in the English

Subtitled Version of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s Weekly Addresses 79

4.1: The Overall Frequencies in the Wordlist of Selected Pronouns and

Social Actors in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha 85

4.2: The Overall Frequencies of Inclusive Pronoun “We” and Exclusive Pronoun

“We” in the Selected Corpus 85

4.3: The Overall Frequencies of the Inclusive Pronoun “We” referring to

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai People and the Inclusive Pronoun

“We” refers solely to Whole Thai People from the Selected Corpus 94

4.4: The Frequency of Probability Expressions found in

the NCPO Weekly Addresses 113

4.5: The Frequency of Obligation Expressions found in


4.6: The Frequency of Inclination Expressions found in


4.7: Distribution of Numbers of Clauses of the Participant Roles in the Material

Processes through the Selected Pronouns and Social Actors “We”, “I”

“NCPO”, “Government” and “Military” 125

4.8: Examples of Participant Roles assigned to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Pronoun “We” Clauses 126

4.9: Examples of Participant Roles assigned to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha as an

Actor in the Material Processes through the Social Actor “NCPO” Clauses 128

4.10: Frequencies and Percentages of Material Processes Categorised in Themes 131


as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Pronoun “I” Clauses 138


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As an Actor in the Material Processes through the Social Actor

“Government” Clauses 139


as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Social Actor

“Military” Clauses 140

4.14: Conceptual Mappings of Source and Target Domains of Metaphors

in the Weekly Addresses on Politics and Democracy-Related Issues 143

5.1: Discursive Representation of the Identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha 160

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

2.1: Discourse and Society Relationship (van Dijk, 2009, p. 64) 23

2.2: Fairclough’s (2010) Dimensions of Discourse and Discourse Analysis 27

2.3: Types of Modality and Sub-Categories

(adopted from Thompson, 2014, p. 71) 32

3.1: Screenshot of AntConc for the Search-Target Word Output of “We”

in the Word Frequency List View 64

3.2: Screenshot of AntConc for the Search-Target Word Output of “We” in KWIC

and Concordance Lines 66

3.3: A Flow Chart of Research Design and Stages of Critical Discourse Analysis 82

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LIST OF TEXT

Text Page

3.1: Example of Data Preparation and Sentence Extraction 69

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Symbols/Abbreviations Terms

CDA Critical Discourse Analysis

CDS

CL

CMT

CMA

DHA

KWIC

NCPO

NLA

NRC

SCA

SFL

WA

Critical Discourse Studies

Corpus Linguistics

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Critical Metaphor Analysis

Discourse-Historical Approach

Keywords in Context

National Council for Peace and Order

National Legislative Assembly

National Reform Council

Socio-Cognitive Approach

Systemic Functional Linguistics

Weekly Address

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

―…Language of politics... helps us to understand how language is used

by those who wish to gain power, those who wish to exercise power

and those who wish to keep power‖ (Beard, 2000, p .2).

A political speech is a type of discourse which can be employed to construct,

determine and manipulate certain value systems, adjust people’s behaviour and influence the

structure of society. Historically, politicians have gained much success due to their clever use

of rhetoric, ―whereby they attempt to persuade their audience of the validity of their views

through their subtle use of elegant and persuasive language‖ (Thomas, Wareing, Singh,

Peccei, Thornborrow & Jones, 2004, p. 39). According to Schaffner (1997), this type of

discourse has a particular function which depends on specific political activities and the

purpose of the communication. Nevertheless, whatever the goal is, the major function of

political speeches is to persuade the audience and to attempt to make them believe what is

being said and, hence, act in a particular way.

Some authors argue that politicians actually ―do politics‖ through their discourse

(Gadavanij, 2002a, p.1). It is generally acknowledged that language and discourse which

appear in political speeches are utilised as the most powerful tools in persuasion. Political

discourse is an important means by which politicians pass on their underlying ideologies, as

well as their social and political views to citizens. van Dijk (1995, 2006) asserts that a

dominant ideology embedded in political discourse is a powerful instrument to control the

publics’ mind, beliefs, attitudes and actions. Thus, the language of politics is essentially

aimed at persuading the audience to support, and ultimately accept, the spokesperson’s

political point of view and values (Beard, 2000: Woods, 2006: Fetzer & Lauerbach, 2007).

In the digital age of contemporary society, language is commonly manipulated by the

authorities through the media in order to create social change. We all consume the mass

media voraciously, whether it is by watching television, reading newspapers, surfing the

Internet or interacting on social networking sites. Individuals may no longer pay much

attention to the information conveyed in these messages but they tend to absorb the ideas

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from the media on an osmotic basis. It is impossible that individuals will be unaffected by

these experiences and perceptions (Gauntlett, 2002).

In order to raise the Thai and international audience’s awareness of ideologies and

power abuse hidden in political speeches, this current study intends to examine the language

and to investigate the discursive representation of the identities and to uncover the ideological

underpinnings conveyed in the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha which were

broadcast on the national television channels and officially published on the Thai government

website. It is an attempt to reveal the way in which General Prayuth Chan-o-cha constructed

and conveyed his own identity as leader of the caretaker government, as well as how the

language reflects his political values and point of view, particularly, the underlying ideologies

in relation to politics and democracy issues.

In addition, this study attempts to synergise Corpus Linguistics (CL), Critical

Discourse Analysis (CDA), Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), as well as the notions of

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) in order to

analyse the obtained data. Methodologically, the role of corpus-assisted methodology will be

utilised to generate authentic examples of selected prominent linguistic features in the form

of wordlist frequencies and concordance lines which lead to expanded concordance lines and

selected excerpts for supporting evidence to enhance data analysis and interpretation through

the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis.

During times of political crisis, people are overwhelmed with disbelief, astonished by

images and reportage on television and have a sense of insecurity about their living

conditions. With political scenarios such as this, it is necessary for political leaders to

reassure and encourage the citizenry, as well as to provide solutions to the crisis. It can be

argued that not only is mass media coverage a powerful device to persuade individuals of

certain socio-cultural practices, it is also specifically structured to grab the public’s attention

and lead them towards some form of action. Hence, political speeches play a crucial role not

only in providing information to the public but also helping to understand the government’s

direction and implied ideology.

A number of previous studies have focused on linguistics, such as stylistics, pragmatic

functions and rhetorical strategies and devices used in the political speeches of leading

politicians who have been elected and appointed by their citizens, even though the democratic

systems of some countries might not be interpreted as ―full‖ democracies. These studies can

be divided into three main categories:

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(1) Former and current American presidents and key British political leaders; for

example, George Bush’s administration based on a corpus of official government documents,

political speeches and statements (Bhatia, 2009); Barack Obama’s speeches (Wang, 2010);

George Bush’s and Barack Obama’s political speeches (Viberg, 2011; Biria & Mohammadi,

2012; Sarfo & Krampa, 2013); corpus-based analysis of George Bush’s and Barack Obama’s

political speeches on warfare (Trailovic, 2014); corpus-assisted analysis of Barack Obama’s

and Hillary Clinton’s primary speeches (Moustafa, 2015); and British Prime Ministers’

political speeches, such as the study of David Cameron’s pre-election discourse (Ghachem,

2015);

(2) The contrastive study of former and current British, American and key political

leaders from various countries, such as; George Bush’s and Tony Blair’s English speeches,

Saddam Hussein’s and Osama Bin Ladin’s Arabic speeches (Balfaqeeh, 2007); George W.

Bush’s and Tony Blair’s speeches on the ―War on Terror‖ (Chantarawandi, 2010); and

(3) The study of former and current political leaders and related studies of political

speeches from other countries, such as; the Thai Parliament’s no-confidence debates

(Gadavanij, 2002b); Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration (Kamalu &

Agangan, 2011); Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s political speeches

(David & Dumanig, 2011; Shukry, 2013); Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s United

Nation’s speech (Sardabi, Biria & Azin, 2014); and Obama’s and Rouhani’s speeches at the

United Nations (Sharififar & Rahimi, 2015).

Almost all past studies have been concerned with investigating the linguistic features

in the speeches of the world’s leading politicians through the lens of CDA approaches or in

combination with corpus-assisted methodologies. Almost all the politicians in these previous

studies have been political leaders who were elected or appointed by their citizens through

variants of a democratic electoral process. By contrast, the current government of Thailand,

led by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, seised power via a military coup d’état on 22nd

May

2014. This was done in order to control incidents of violent political unrest which had

become rooted in Thai society. This unrest had stemmed from political divisions and public

demonstrations between ―Yellow‖ and ―Red‖ shirt supporters.

By order of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) led by General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha, all television and news stations were directed to stop broadcasting their regularly

scheduled programmes and, instead, broadcast only programmes approved by the military

(International Crisis Group, 2014). This order also included other media, online

communication and the Internet. In effect all media, which might create conflict between the

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Thai people and the government, came under the control of the military authorities.

Furthermore, the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha were deliberately

designed to assist the Thai and global audience in understanding important issues and to

recognise how such problems could best be solved in order to strengthen national unity and

stability. These public announcements were broadcast nationwide beginning on 30th May

2014 at 21.30 in the Thai language with English language subtitles and, subsequently, on a

weekly basis. Subtitling was aimed directly by the government at facilitating communication

with an international audience including, specifically, non Thai stakeholders such as

ambassadors, foreign visitors, entrepreneurs, investors and other non Thai workers from

various agencies, both governmental and private. It can also be assumed that ―the research

data, based on the weekly addresses, is a legitimate form of political discourse since it is

gathered from the scripts prepared for the political addressor, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‖

(Carreon & Svetanant, 2017, p. 643).

The rationale behind these broadcasts was to understand the underlying ideologies

embedded in democracy and, when conveyed through General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s public

announcements, how they could stimulate and raise the public’s awareness leading to an

understanding of the hidden political ideologies and political points of view of the military

junta. The findings of this study will reflect the role of the current military government of

Thailand and its direction as well as the administrative system it has used in its attempts to

nurture national unity and restore democracy in these context-specific situations.

In the past Thailand has been subject to many dramatic events related to the

establishment of a ―democratic‖ constitution. There have been several serious attempts to

establish democratic order in Thailand and the root of the present failure can be traced back

to the 1930s and 1940s when during a major coup d’état in Thailand in 1932 the ―promoters‖

of the coup created a constitution which conferred ultimate authority on the people rather

than the monarchy (Keyes, 2015). It is widely acknowledged that, since that time, Thailand

has not developed a true democracy and has endured a continuing struggle between advocates

of a populous based democracy and proponents of despotic paternalism. Following the coup

on 22nd

May 2014 by the military junta headed by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, it seems that

the concept of ―democracy‖ has become a debatable issue which is taken seriously in

discussion and critiqued by Thais and non-Thais alike.

According to Economist Intelligence Unit (2015), the terms ―freedom‖ and

―democracy‖ are often used interchangeably but the two terms are not synonymous.

Democracy can be seen as a set of practices and principles that institutionalise and thereby,

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ultimately, protect freedom. Even if a consensus on precise definitions has proved elusive,

―most observers today agree that, at a minimum, the fundamental features of a democracy

include government based on majority rule and the consent of the governed, the existence of

free and fair elections, the protection of minority rights and respect for basic human rights‖

(Economist Intelligence Unit, 2015, pp. 34-35).

The Economist Intelligence Unit provides an annual ―democracy index‖ covering 165

independent states. The Democracy Index is based on five criteria consisting of (1) electoral

process and pluralism; (2) civil liberties; (3) the functioning of government; (4) political

participation; and (5) political culture. The five categories are inter-related and form a

coherent conceptual whole. Based on their scores for a range of indicators within these

categories, each country is then categorised as one of four types of regime: (1) full

democracy; (2) flawed democracy; (3) hybrid regimes; and (4) authoritarian regimes. The

table below gives examples within each type.

Table 1.1: Democracy Index 2014 (Economist Intelligence Unit: 2015)

Countries Rank Overall

Score

Electoral

process

and

pluralism

Functioning

of

government

Political

participation

Political

culture

Civil

liberties

Full democracies

Norway 1 9.93 10.00 9.64 10.00 10.00 10.00

UK 16 8.31 9.58 7.14 6.67 8.75 9.41

US 19 8.11 9.17 7.50 7.22 8.13 8.53

Japan 20 8.08 9.17 8.21 6.11 7.50 9.41

South Korea 21 8.06 9.17 7.86 7.22 7.50 8.53

Flawed democracies

India 27 7.92 9.58 7.14 7.22 6.25 9.41

Taiwan 35 7.65 9.58 7.50 6.11 5.63 9.41

Indonesia 49 6.95 7.33 7.14 6.67 6.25 7.35

The

Philippines 53 6.77 8.33 5.36 6.67 4.38 9.12

Malaysia 65 6.49 6.92 7.86 5.56 6.25 5.88

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Countries Rank Overall

Score

Electoral

process

and

pluralism

Functioning

of

government

Political

participation

Political

culture

Civil

liberties

Hybrid regimes

Sri Lanka 87 5.69 6.17 5.36 4.44 6.88 5.59

Thailand 93 5.39 5.33 4.29 5.56 5.00 6.76

Cambodia 103 4.78 4.42 6.43 3.33 5.63 4.12

Nepal 105 4.77 3.92 4.29 4.44 5.63 5.59

Pakistan 108 4.64 6.00 5.36 2.78 3.75 5.29

Authoritarian regimes

Vietnam 130 3.41 0.00 3.93 3.89 6.88 2.35

Myanmar 141 3.05 1.92 2.86 2.78 5.63 2.06

China 144 3.00 0.00 4.64 3.89 5.00 1.47

Laos 157 2.21 0.00 3.21 1.67 5.00 1.18

North Korea 167 1.08 0.00 2.50 1.67 1.25 0.00

According to the table above it can be deduced that Thailand is one of many countries

with a ―turbulent‖ political environment. The country slumped down the rankings in 2014 as

a result of the military coup, dropping from 72nd to 93rd place and is now categorised in the

group of hybrid regimes where, potentially, ―elections have substantial irregularities that

often prevent them from being both free and fair‖ (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2015, p. 38).

In addition to corruption concerns, dishonest or fraudulent conduct appeared to be

widespread, whilst the rule of law and civil society are weak. With regard to the five criteria

of the Democracy Index 2014, the political culture, and the functioning of government and

political participation were more likely be serious weakly compared to other flawed

democracies. Obviously, the press and the judiciary were dependent on the support of

particular political interest groups (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2015).

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Table 1.2: Overall Democracy Score for Southeast Asian Countries: 2006 - 2014

(Source: Economist Intelligence Unit: 2015)

Countries 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2008 2006

Cambodia 4.78 4.60 4.96 4.87 4.87 4.87 4.77

Indonesia 6.95 6.82 6.76 6.53 6.53 6.34 6.41

Laos 2.21 2.21 2.32 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1

Malaysia 6.49 6.49 6.41 6.19 6.19 6.36 5.98

Myanmar 3.05 2.76 2.35 1.77 1.77 1.77 1.77

The

Philippines 6.77 6.41 6.30 6.12 6.12 6.12 6.48

Singapore 6.03 5.92 5.88 5.89 5.89 5.89 5.89

Thailand 5.39 6.25 6.55 6.55 6.55 6.81 5.67

Vietnam 3.41 3.29 2.89 2.96 2.94 2.53 2.75

What is striking about the above data, is how Thailand – and only Thailand of the

countries surveyed – declined in terms of its democratic status between 2006 and 2014.

Whilst all other countries strengthened their democracies, Thailand’s weakened. This is

undoubtedly due, in part, to the recent coup d’état in Thailand, in which the military ousted

an elected government, suspended the constitution and imposed martial law restrictions on

the media, political rights and civil liberties. The coup resulted in Thailand’s losing its

designation as an electoral democracy. Thus, it is plausible that the principles and restoration

of ―democracy‖ should be the first priority which political leaders and the whole government

have had to take into consideration in order to strengthen the image of the nation

internationally.

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha has asserted that once the new constitution is in place a

general election may be expected around October 2016 and that, subsequently, Thailand will

have a democratically elected government. At the time of writing, the precise plan and timing

of these democratic electoral events is still unresolved.

As the political leader’s objectives are to reassure and bolster Thai and foreign

stakeholder perception of the countries development and return it to a democratic status, this

present study aims at investigating the linguistic features occurring in the English-subtitled

versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha in order to reveal the

discursive representation of his identities that lies behind the deployment of first personal

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pronouns, social actors, modality system and process types or transitivity. In addition, this

study aims to explore the underlying ideologies behind the concept of democracy through the

utilisation of metaphorical expressions in which General Prayuth Chan-o-cha might have to

defend the premise for and justification of his nomination as head of the NCPO and,

ultimately, prime minister of the country. It is expected that the findings of this Critical

Discourse Analysis research will be beneficial in providing additional source material for

textual-orientated students or language analysts who are interested in the manipulative use of

language in political discourse during times of political crisis.

1.2 Overview of the Theoretical Framework

This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach based on Fairclough’s (2010) Critical

Discourse Analysis (CDA) in combination with a corpus-assisted methodology in order to

explore some authentic features of prominent lexico-grammatical aspects of the English-

subtitled versions of the weekly addresses. As McEnery and Wilson (2001) have pointed out,

political discourse can be thoroughly analysed through word frequency and collocation (p.

114), thus the quantitative representation of linguistic features will synergise with the

qualitative analysis. More specifically, the theoretical framework for textual analysis applied

in the current study is based on the notion of pronoun and social actor analysis, as well as the

modality system and process types or transitivity which is influenced by Hallidayan Systemic

Functional Linguistics (SFL). On the one hand, the study adopted the tenets of Conceptual

Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) taken from Lakoff and

Johnson (1980); Charteris-Black (2004, 2014); Kövecses (2002, 2010) for the analytical

frameworks of further analyses and interpretation. Following Wodak and Meyer’s (2001)

work, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is not posited as consistently adopting a single

theoretical viewpoint for critical investigation of discourse; this Critical Discourse Analysis

research will therefore be conducted in the tradition of Fairclough’s (2010) three dimensions

consisting of (1) textual practice in which SFL was utilised to analysis linguistic elements—

including personal pronouns and social actor analysis, modality analysis and transitivity

analysis of process types and metaphors; (2) discursive practice in which the production,

distribution and consumption of text is analysed; and (3) socio-cultural practice in which

discursive practices are embedded in the weekly addresses through the perspective of an

SFL-CDA connection in relation to the social context of political upheaval and insurrection.

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1.3 The Thai Political Context

As political discourse is heavily dependent on context, it is important to thoroughly

understand the socio-political background related to a particular discourse prior to the process

of analysis and interpretation being furthered.

I begin with the politics of Thailand. The Kingdom of Thailand is one of many

countries which are governed by a democratic system within the framework of a

constitutional monarchy. However, it is also a country which has encountered a series of

coups d’état. To illustrate, Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown by the military in the coup

d’état on 19th September 2006. It might be suggested that this was the starting point of

Thailand’s current political crisis when looking at its roots.

Nguyen, Poling, and Rustici (2014) posited that ―judicial intervention and appointed

governments resulted in a growing conflict between Thailand’s two main political factions,

broadly described as the pro-Thaksin, populist movement (Red Shirts) and the urban, middle

class, (Yellow Shirts), though the political views and motivations with each group are varied

and many key players on either side of the spectrum do not identify directly with either‖ (p.

2).

Thaksin has since lived in self-imposed exile and resided outside Thailand to avoid

2008 charges on corruption. However, it might be suggested that Thaksin, even, in absentia,

played a significant role in leading the Red Shirt movement and the decisions of the political

party ―Pheu Thai Party‖ which subsequently brought his sister Yingluck Shinawatra to power

as the first female prime minister of Thailand (Nguyen et al. 2014).

As the incidence of protest and counter-protest continued and became increasingly

violent, it became apparent that Yingluck Shinawatra’s government would not be able to

maintain authority over the political turmoil and insurrection. As a consequence, the May

2014 military coup d’état was an attempt to stabilise and take control over the political crisis.

Since that point General Prayuth Chan-o-cha has been leading an authoritarian regime, ruling

with absolute power through the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). There is a

long term historical political division, rooted in two opposing political points of view which

has often led to conflict between the ―Red Shirts‖ and ―Yellow Shirts‖ as previously

mentioned, and it might be conjectured that the military coup of 22nd

May 2014 has attempted

to ensure that ―the Pheu Thai government would not mark a critical juncture that entrenched

Thai democratisation‖ (Chambers & Waitoolkiat, 2017, p. 55).

The 22nd

May 2014 coup was the most recent example of the Thai military

dominating politics. General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s coup allies, under the support of the

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National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), have taken up key cabinet posts, including

the Ministries of Commerce, Education, Transport and Foreign Affairs (Pongsudhirak, 2015,

p. 71). After seising power, the NCPO established an interim constitution for two months

and, subsequently, appointed a National Legislative Assembly (NLA) (Pongsudhirak, 2015,

p. 74). Through the new institutions, the NCPO and its head, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha,

appear to hold almost absolute power. The military-dominated NLA selected him as

Thailand’s Interim Prime Minister on 21st August 2014 (Amnesty International Publications,

2014, pp. 17-18).

In General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s announcement regarding a three-phase ―Roadmap‖

– based on reconciliation, reforms and elections, he announced, on 30th May 2014, that he

would return the country to a fully functioning democracy. There are three sequential phases

within his ―Roadmap‖ which he prioritised in order to strengthen the national reforms. The

first phase included the drafting of an interim constitution. The second phrase was linked

with the establishment of a legislative council to select a government and draft a new

constitution, whilst the third phase will, ultimately, include elections (Amnesty International

Publications, 2014, p. 17).

The more obvious actions of the NCPO have been in restricted civil and political

rights. They have instituted a prohibition on political assembly and all radio and television

broadcasts were suspended. Furthermore, soldiers shut down hundreds of community radio

stations and confiscated broadcasting equipment in all parts of the country. After the Royal

Thai military declared martial law on 20th May 2014, Thai politics, that had been in turmoil

for several years, was thrown into crisis when the military dissolved the Parliament, detained

political leaders and academics, imposed a curfew and restricted media output.

On 29th May 2014, the junta-appointed government prohibited the dissemination of

information which might be a threat to national security, ―criticism of the operations of the

NCPO or its officials‖ and ―mass media which might cause confusion or provoke further

conflict or divisions within the Kingdom‖. These actions were called ―violations‖ and

offenders were liable to face criminal charges. Many protestors have subsequently been sent

on ―re-education programmes‖ (International Crisis Group, 2014, p.17). In addition, the

public announcements, or so-called weekly addresses, in Thai (provided simultaneously with

English language subtitles) commenced on 30th May 2014 and have continued to the present

day.

Three months after the coup, the Thai parliament approved an interim constitution and

appointed General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the coup leader, as Thailand’s prime minister.

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Importantly, this military government designated as its objective to ―Bring Happiness to the

People‖ for which its principal focus was to prioritise public reconciliation and stimulate the

economy (Ockey, 2014, p. 7).

1.4 Research Objectives

This Critical Discourse Analysis research aims to investigate the linguistic features

utilised in the English-subtitled versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-

cha during the time when he was the head of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

The research objectives have two aims:

1. To examine the discursive strategies utilised in the weekly addresses and to

investigate those discursive strategies which construct the discursive representation of

the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the head of the

National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

2. To find out the dominant metaphors utilised in the weekly addresses and to reveal

the underlying political ideologies which are related to politics and democracy-related

issues during his tenure as the head of the National Council for Peace and Order

(NCPO).

1.5 Research Questions

This study aims at answering the following two research questions:

1. What are the discursive strategies utilised in the weekly addresses? How and why

are they constructed in terms of the discursive representation of the identities of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the head of the NCPO?

2. What are the dominant metaphors utilised in the weekly addresses? What do these

metaphors reveal about the underlying ideologies related to politics and democracy-

related issues during General Prayuth’s tenure as head of the NCPO?

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research will be a significant endeavour in providing a more acute awareness for

Thai people and global citizens in order for them to understand the discursive representation

of identities, the hidden political ideologies and political points of view of General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha, as reflected in his public announcements in the so-called weekly addresses

during his tenure as the head of the NCPO.

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On the one hand, this study is meant to raise the public’s awareness, both

domestically and internationally, of the current military government attempts to stabilise

relations between Thai citizens and its efforts to restore democracy during times of political

crisis.

In addition, this study could be beneficial to those textually-orientated people or

language analysts who are interested in political discourse analysis and the use or application

of analytical approaches for particular types of discourse in other areas of study such as

education, the media, communication and other disciplines in both the humanities and social

sciences. It is hoped this study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge in this field

of study.

1.7 Data Compilation and Scope of the Study

With regard to data compilation and the scope of the study, a total of 15 English-

subtitled versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, when he was the

head of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), were collected from

www.thaigov.go.th, starting from 30th May 2014 to 5

th September 2014. To compile and

extract the corpus, the concordance software, AntConc 3.4.4 w (Windows) 2014, was

employed. This tool is commonly applied in Corpus Linguistics and Discourse or Critical

Discourse Analysis research and includes concordance, word and keyword frequency

generators.

1.8 Definitions of Terms

The following operational definitions of terms utilised consistently throughout the

study were listed in alphabetical order:

1. Discursive representation refers to the concept of viewing the role of one’s social

life which is conveyed by linguistic meanings. In this present study, the term ―discursive

representation‖ is used concurrently with the term ―identity‖.

2. Identity refers to the social dimension and one’s personal identity which are linked

to one’s social identity. It should be generally assumed that ―identity in discourse is a

complex issue which goes beyond the question of either the social or personal identities of

the participants‖ (Scollon, 1996, p. 1). In this present study, the identity of General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha, as a discourse producer, is dynamic and can be detected through the linguistic

representation which emerges in the weekly addresses.

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3. Ideology refers the sets of belief systems’ and attitudes of General Prayuth Chan-o-

cha towards the political views related to the politic and democracy-related issues through the

use of dominant metaphors appearing in the weekly addresses.

4. Lexico-grammatical features refer to the interdependent of and continuity

between vocabulary (lexis) and syntax (grammar) based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL). In this present study, lexico-grammatical features are vocabulary and

grammatical structures which include lexis, phrases and lexical bundles emerging in the

weekly addresses with the assistance of corpus-based methodology.

5. National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) refers to the military junta’s

installed group which took power, ruling the country following the Thai coup d’état on 22nd

May 2014 (Amnesty International, 2014).

6. National Reform Council (NRC) refers to the council established under the

constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, which commenced operations on 6th October 2014

and continues to the present day. The objective of this council is to make recommendations

and provide for extensive national reforms in 11 governmental functions: politics, public

administration, law and justice, local administration, education, the economy, energy, public

health and the environment, the media, society and others (International Crisis Group, 2014

& Amnesty International, 2014).

7. Red shirt refers to members in the group or network of the United Front for

Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). It can be said that ―this network is organisationally

associated in a series of electorally triumphant parties and is connected to exiled ex-Prime

Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his proxies, groups and individuals who opposed the military

coup that ousted Thaksin in 2006 ‖ (Thabchumpon, 2016, p. 93).

8. Weekly addresses are often used interchangeably with political speeches or

political discourse in this thesis. The term ―weekly addresses‖ refers to language used in the

formal multimedia statements delivered by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and broadcast

nationwide, weekly, on all Thai television channels.

9. Yellow shirt refers to the members in the group or network of the People’s

Alliance for Democracy (PAD). It can be said that ―this network is associated with the

monarchy, military, judiciary and bureaucracy‖ (Thabchumpon, 2016, p. 93).

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1.9 Organisation of the Study

This study is organised into five chapters:

Chapter 1 presents an overview of the research outlining an introduction and

background to the study; an overview of the theoretical framework; the Thai political context;

research objectives; research questions; the significance of the study; data compilation and

the scope of the study as well as its organisation.

Chapter 2 divides the literature review into nine main sections. The first section

presents the notion of ―political‖ discourse as related to the ideas of identity, ideology and

power. The second section presents the concept of democracy. The third section elaborates on

a brief overview of Critical Discourse Analysis, its commonalities and critiques. The fourth

section presents the theoretical framework of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. The

fifth section provides the analytical tools for Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) including the

analyses of pronouns, social actors, modality system and transitivity or process types. The

sixth section elaborates on the notion of metaphor including Conceptual Metaphor Theory

(CMT), Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) and metaphors in political discourse. The seventh

section presents the concept of Corpus Linguistics (CL), its tools and the advantages of using

the combination of CDA and CL for critical work on discourse. The eighth section reviews

the relationship of previous studies in relation to the analyses of political discourse through

the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in combination with Corpus Linguistics (CL)

as well as previous related studies on Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The final section

presents a summary of the literature review.

Chapter 3 presents the research methodology into four main sections. The first

section presents the theoretical and analytical frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA) and the corpus-assisted approach. The second section presents detailed information on

data collection, clause divisions of process type identification, reliability check procedure of

process type identification, inter-rater reliability procedures of modality types and degrees,

corpus-assisted metaphor analysis procedure, metaphor identification procedure and the inter-

rater reliability of metaphor identification. The third section reports on data analysis, research

design and procedures. The fourth section elaborates on consent and ethical concerns.

Chapter 4 presents data analysis and discussion including pronoun and social actor

analysis, modality analysis, analysis of frequent process types and the major participant roles

as the Actors and critical analysis of dominant metaphors.

Chapter 5 presents an overall summary of the major findings, the implications of this

current study, its limitations, suggestions for further research and a conclusion.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter is designed to review the literature regarding the inter-relatedness

between discourse, identity, ideology and power. The notion of political discourse will be the

principal focus of the first section. The second section deals with a brief concept of

democracy. The third section elaborates on a brief overview of four different Critical

Discourse Analysis (CDA) approaches and ends with a summary of the commonality and a

criticism of the approaches. The fourth section deals with a detailed description of

Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis approach and is followed by the analytical tools of

textual analysis including the analyses of pronouns, social actors, modality system and

transitivity or process types in the fifth section. The sixth section elaborates on the notions of

metaphor including Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA)

and metaphors in political discourses. The seventh section presents the concept of Corpus

Linguistics (CL), its tools and the advantages of using a combination of CDA and CL for

conducting Critical Discourse Analysis research. The eighth section reviews the relationship

of previous studies in relation to the analyses of political discourse through the lens of

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), in combination with Corpus Linguistics (CL), as well as

previous related studies on Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The final section presents a

summary of the literature review.

2.1 “Political” Discourse

The term “discourse” has been defined broadly in a range of disciplinary fields of

study across the humanities and social sciences and clearly does not limit itself solely to the

spoken and written aspects of language but covers a broader range of communication, social

practice, actions and situations in the everyday life activities of human beings as well as non-

linguistic features and all visual means of communication (Hyland, 2013; Johnstone, 2008;

van Dijk, 1997). In addition, Fairclough (1992) brought Foucault‟s concept of discourse

together with the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and asserted that the term

“discourse” is more than just the language, written or spoken, but can be seen as a type of

social practice which implies a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event

and social structure.

As this present study aims to analyse political speech, a brief outline will be given to

better understand the notion of political discourse. The discourse typology can be generally

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differentiated as a more “informal” spoken and written event which is relevant to a political

movement, a phenomenon and actions aimed at specific communities and societies. Political

discourse might be defined as the discourse of politicians, i.e. their text and talk and their

professional activities. The topics discussed usually emanate from public events that require

collective decision-making, policies, regulations or legislation (van Dijk, 2001a, p. 4).

van Dijk (2002) believes that political discourse is relevant for political structures and

processes. In a digital age, political discourse is often spread by electronic media which may

be considered to be an additional discourse channel. Due to its strong interdisciplinary

perspective, orientation and connection with many disciplines in humanities and the social

sciences, “political discourse” is often known as “politico – linguistics” which combines

three interrelated areas of the critical study of political language such as rhetoric, political

science and linguistics, especially Critical Discourse Analysis (Wodak & Krzyzanowski,

2008, pp. 97-98).

In relation to the linguistic characteristics of “political discourse”, there is some

similarity to the linguistic features of advertising which aim to persuade people to purchase a

product or service. In a similar vein, the multifunctional - linguistic aspect of political

discourse comes into play, protesting, legitimising, intimidating, as well as persuading

people. In political discourse protagonists attempt to lead audience to a particular view and

value of political reality and persuade audience to act in a way that is consistent with those

views and values (Woods, 2006, p.50). Additionally, all outcomes desired by politicians are

thoroughly scripted using specific lexical, syntactical and semantic structures and are written

for a politically specific purpose and audience (Irimiea, 2010, p 44). Political speeches can be

delivered through verbal expressions or writing for a specific purpose or by addressing

audience through a wide range of media. For example, the weekly addresses of General

Prayuth are broadcast simultaneously on all radio and TV channels and published in hard and

electronic copy through the official government website.

Wilson (2015) says “political discourse is the language employed in both formal and

informal political contexts with political actors, such as politicians, political institutions,

government, political media and political supporters operating in political environments with

ultimately political goals” (pp. 775-794). Furthermore, political discourse is a diverse set of

outputs, including but not limited to, policy papers, ministerial speeches, government press

releases or press conferences, parliamentary discourse, party manifestos, electoral speeches

and so forth. The commonalities of political discourse is that they originate from politicians,

political activists, members of the government or parliament, leaders of political parties and

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all who are involved in the political process. Political discourse in the scope of the present

study is recognised as the weekly addresses which are vocalised by General Prayuth.

In conclusion, political discourse is specific communication which relates to

politically orientated-functions and contexts. It is constructed in a wide and diverse means of

written and spoken language, verbal or non-verbal, utilised in politics in order to steer the

audience‟s emotions and to positively affect their attitudes and opinions. The main purpose of

political discourse is to lead its audience in the expected direction of particular thoughts,

beliefs and, ultimately, actions (Woods, 2006).

2.1.1 Discourse and Identity

Identity is a term which refers to both a reflective view and other people‟s perceptions

of one‟s self-image. It was originally coined by Freud, in his alternative images of self, but

the term “identity” can be variously defined by differing areas of cultural studies because of

the variety of its definitions (Groebner, 2004 as cited in Edwards, 2009). According to

Samovar, Porter and McDaniel (2010), identity is a self-conception which is formed by

dynamic, complex and multiple processes through one‟s personal and life experiences.

Individuals tend to have many different identities which are not fixed and static throughout

their life stages.

Identity is closely related to a social dimension and one‟s personal identity linked to

one‟s social identity. In a similar vein, Fairclough (2003) asserts that overall identification is

a complex process which is inseparably linked to personal and social aspects of identity.

According to Johnstone (2008), individuals can identify themselves based on a sense of self

but social identity can only be formed by others. Due to its complexity and variation,

Samovar et al. (2010), drew out the notion of identity on three levels: (1) personal identity

represents one‟s own uniqueness and distinguishes an individual from others; (2) relational

identity represents the social relationship an individual has with others; and (3) communal

identity is the self-conception where an individual interacts in particular communities and

societies.

In relation to its juxtaposition to language, Joseph (2004) pointed out that language

and identity are “ultimately inseparable”. It is language which is central to the human

condition and is considered as the communication tool which distinguishes humans from

other living species. Thus, it is mandatory to take language into consideration when the term

“identity” is being studied (Edwards, 2009). Clark (2013) asserted that the notion of identity,

as expressed though language, is manifested through a complex process of individuals or

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communities selecting characteristics of a language that together comprise a unique set of

features through which identity can be expressed. He also states that identity is not only

something constructed or which emanates from within ourselves but is also a socio-cultural

phenomenon that comes from and within local, interactional discourse contexts that are social

and cultural in nature. Thus notions of identity expressed though language are manifested

through a complex process of individuals or communities selecting the characteristics of a

unique set of language features through which their identity can be expressed.

In this study, the identity of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha will be investigated by

looking at the linguistic features of his weekly addresses, as well as taking into account a

wider knowledge of the social and political context. It is generally known that language or

discourse conveyed by a spokesperson reflects their identity at a certain level. This is

compatible with the claim by Pearce (2001), who states that the way politicians discursively

represent their identities, by referring to themselves, to their opposition and to their audience,

can effectively be used as a means of persuasion. Moreover, Riley (2007) points out that

pronoun choice and use can be observed to vary according to a wide range of social

parameters, including the spatial and social distance of the addressee from the speaker,

gender, kinship status, social status, age group or generation. Thus, the identity of General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as a producer of discourse, can be detected through the linguistic

features and functions which emerge in his public announcements.

2.1.2 Discourse and Ideology

The term “ideology” varies in its definitions. Ideologies can be generally defined as

systems of primary ideas which are shared by members of a social group (van Dijk, 2011, p.

380). van Dijk also points out that these sets of ideas have an effect on people‟s interpretation

of social situations and events in a particular community and society. Also, social members‟

discourse and other social practices or actions are a reflection of these basic ideas. According

to Johnstone (2008), ideologies are defined similarly and are referred to as systems of belief.

The definition of ideology can be split into two broad groups of representation: (1) it

represents a system of ideas, beliefs and social activities and is linked to Marxist theory and

(2) it represents a close relationship to social class and/or cultural perspectives (Mayr, 2008,

p. 10). Alternatively, van Dijk (1995), defines the term as the “overall abstract mental

systems that organise such socially shared attitudes…ideologies are assumed to control

through the minds of the members, and the social reproduction of the group” (p. 18).

As an ideology incorporates an individual‟s specific set of beliefs, commonsense and

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assumptions relating to good and bad, right and wrong and normal and abnormal towards

their surroundings and circumstances, it can be promoted through all channels of

communication. In some respects ideologies help to create a shared worldview and sense of

purpose according to particular social norms and values amongst people in society as a whole

(Jones, 2012, p. 11). Mayr (2008) asserts that a critical study of language and discourse is

related to the purpose of exposing the underlying and hidden ideologies that are reflected,

embedded, strengthened and constructed in everyday modes of discourse and communication.

Thus, the concept of ideology plays a crucial role in any critical study of discourse in a

particular society.

To summarise, ideologies are not only sets of individual belief systems‟ attitudes

towards things but are social beliefs based on behaviour, situations, norms and values which

are generally shared by members of a particular societal group. In this study, the underlying

ideologies related to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s political views on the politic and

democracy-related issues which are conveyed through the metaphors of his weekly addresses

will be examined through the notions of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical

Metaphor Analysis (CMA).

2.1.3 Discourse and Power

Politics is inevitably concerned and connected with power. That is, the power to make

decisions, control resources, control other people‟s behavior (and often to control their

values) (Thomas et al (2004, p. 36). According to Charteris-Black (2014), CDA practitioners

are normally interested in the abuse of language and power, emphasising moments when

power is being used illegitimately in relation to the interconnectedness between dominance,

inequality and power itself together with the role of discourse in a particular socio-political

context. According to Mayr (2008), power needs to be accepted legitimately by people in

democratic systems which are symbolised widely through the use of language.

Power is a central notion in CDA and can be taken to mean the way in which a

particular social group uses it to enforce its will over and abuse of other social members or

social groups (Charteris-Black, 2014, p. 84). In this sense, political addresses do not directly

control the actions of audience, however, language or discourse which is embedded in such

addresses has an impact on the public‟s mind, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. This is how

political discourse exercises its power. Even if individuals argue that they do not pay much

attention to the information conveyed, they absorb the ideas from the media on an

unconscious basis (Gauntlett, 2002).

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This study aims to study the political addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha in

order to understand how he utilises discourse to exercise power and how political addresses

conceal his embedded ideologies, identities, power and beliefs which are able to impinge on

the public‟s mind.

2.2 The Concept of Democracy

One of the main purposes of this part of the study is to identify and to reveal the

underlying ideologies regarding the concept of democracy through the use of metaphors. It

should be noted that a definition of the term “democracy” is necessary to be elaborated upon

in this subsection in order to make clear an understanding regarding the concept of

democracy for when this term is referred to for further analysis.

Accord ing to Ural (2013), democracy first appeared on the political stage in ancient

Greece nearly 2500 years ago. It is arguable that it is not possible to identify a commonly

accepted definition of democracy in the time period between ancient Greece and the present

day. Ural (2013) has pointed out that the values and behaviour normally associated with

democracy have existed since the first human societies appeared but the transformation of

democracy into the popular ideal that it is today is a development characteristic of the 20th

century. With regard to popular ideas of the present-day concept of democracy, Economist

Intelligence Unit (2015) offers the fundamental features of a democracy consisting of:

- government based on majority rule and the consent of the governed,

- the existence of free and fair elections,

- the protection of minority rights and

- respect for basic human rights.

This democratic principle offers five interrelated propositions for explaining the concept of

democracy based on five criteria consisting of (1) electoral process and pluralism; (2) civil

liberties; (3) the functioning of government; (4) political participation; and (5) the political

culture as previously discussed in Chapter One.

Furthermore, the description of the concept of democracy has gone beyond sole

attention to a social structure or a form of government (Rancière, 2006). In order to establish

and develop the democratic principle so that it is stable within a society, certain political,

individual, cultural and social elements must also be based on the principle of the well-being

of individuals and good governance. This is recognition of the concept of modern politics

which can be seen in U.S. president Abraham Lincoln‟s speech, where he coined a frequent

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repeated reference for the term “democracy” as a “government of the people, by the people,

for the people” (Campbell, 2008, p. 5).

Lincoln‟s memorable definition of democracy can be itemised into three interrelated

key elements of democratic principles which have been supplemented by (Jackson & Tansey,

2008, p. 171) as follows;

(1) That it is „of‟ the people not only in the sense being „over‟ all the people but that it

derives its legitimacy from their commitment to it (government by consent);

(2) That it is „by‟ the people in the sense that they participate extensively in

governmental processes;

(3) That it is „for‟ the people in that it seeks to realise common welfare and safeguard

the rights of individuals.

Jackson and Tansey (2008) asserted that these principles would not only be widely

accepted in the liberal democracies of Western Europe, North America and Australasia, but

even in communists‟ countries and single-party nationalist regimes in the „South‟ (p. 171).

Democracy, hence, represent a form of government in which political decisions are made

with the participation of people and by majority vote; it represents a system where the

government is used by the people to serve the people (Ural, 2013, p. 4).

As the idea of democracy is a multi-faceted concept, it should be noted that any

analysis and study of democracy should consider not only institutional criteria but also many

social, cultural, historic and economic factors and elements should play an integral part in its

study and analysis.

2.3 A Brief Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary analytical tool used in the

mainstream of humanities and social science research based on a combination of social

theories and background knowledge of the social context. It was developed from a notion of

Critical Linguistics held by a prominent group of linguists at the University of East Anglia

(Fowler & Hodge, 1979). CDA‟s approach to the study of language is to view language as a

tool of power which mediates political and social affairs. In other words, the CDA approach

can be used to reveal the power and ideology of the communicator embedded in their use of

language, which is conveyed by lexical, syntactical and semantic structures.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an offshoot of applied linguistics rooted in the

tradition of critical social scientific theory (Khan & Hare, 2006, p.70). This approach

analyses discourse from the real world and studies “social problems” such as dominance,

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inequality, racism and powerlessness. Several studies using CDA have been conducted by

Fairclough, van Dijk, Wodak and Chilton which demonstrate social dominance, inequality,

racism and powerlessness. CDA achieves this by focusing on social inequalities, particularly

the misuse of power and ideology, as manifested in linguistic structures and searches for

possible ways of righting or mitigating them (Fairclough, 2010, p. 11).

CDA was employed as a tool for discourse analysis based on Halliday‟s

interdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a socio-cultural theory of language

investigation (Halliday, 1994; Halliday & Hasan, 1989). According to this theory, language

exists in context. Context is comprised of cultural and social aspects that influence how

language is constructed to make a semiotic system (Eggins, 1994). This theory of language

was founded by Michael Halliday. Similarly, Eggins (2004) defines SFL as a “functional -

semantic approach to language which explores both how people use language in different

contexts and how language is structured for use as a semiotic system” (pp. 20-21).

Over time, Critical Linguistics (CL) has been further developed and broadened

through different Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approaches. Many practitioners have

used different CDA approaches according to their views on language, background knowledge

and previous experience in the humanities and social sciences (Chouliaraki & Fairclough,

1999; van Dijk, 1998). The following gives a brief summary of each major CDA approach.

Fairclough‟s CDA approach is a key interpreter of language based on Marxist social

theory and the detection of specific elements of dominance, difference and resistance (Wodak

and Meyer, 2009a, p. 27). In his approach, a text can be analysed in terms of linguistic

features such as lexico-grammatical structures and cohesion of sentence levels (which is

influenced by Halliday‟s SFL approach). In order to investigate power abuse, suppression,

hidden political agendas and other social issues, Fairclough‟s analytical framework also takes

the social situations and the processing of text production and consumption into account,

pointing out the interconnectedness of linguistic analysis between the text level and the

discourse practice level in the form of “inter - textual analysis” which is framed under a

broader dimension of discourse analysis.

An alternative perspective proposed by van Dijk (2009), the Socio-Cognitive

Approach (SCA), places emphasis on social cognition or cognitive processes. The theoretical

framework concentrates on the abuse of power by examining how power in discourse is

abused by controlling people‟s beliefs and actions to suit the interests of dominant groups and

how the consequences of such power can influence society. A text is something produced by

people in the process of making discourse and context is concerned with the mental or

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psychological structure which is vital for discourse production and comprehension (van Dijk,

2009, p. 356).

To be more specific, both text and context are inseparable and play a significant role

in discourse interpretation. The relationship between discourse and society is indirect and

discourse can be interpreted by people in society through their cognitive processes, a view

endorsed by Gadavanij (2002a). Discourse, cognitive process and society are inseparable and

have a closed linkage in the process of making discourse. The socio-cognitive model

proposed by van Dijk is based on the assumption that cognition mediates between “society”

and “discourse” as shown in the model below.

Figure 2.1: Discourse and Society Relationship (van Dijk, 2009, p. 64)

Furthermore, van Dijk (2001b, p. 353) summarised the aims of CDA as follows:

1) CDA focuses on social problems and political issues.

2) An empirically adequate critical analysis of social problems is usually

multidisciplinary.

3) CDA does not describe only discourse structure, rather, it attempts to

explain discourse in terms of social power.

4) CDA focuses on the way discourse exercises its power in relation to

society.

Furthermore, Wodak‟s work focuses on a Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) and

belongs to the broadly defined field of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), and CDA (Reisigl

& Wodak, 2001, 2009; Wodak, 2011, 2013). The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA)

tends to be problem-orientated and not focused on specific linguistic elements. The DHA

approach focuses on the ways in which linguistic forms are utilised in various expressions

and manipulations of power. Additionally, it can be linked to discursive practices which are

embedded in and related to a broader socio-political and historical context. Methodologically,

the main feature of DHA is the use of triangulation as a fundamental research principle which

lessens the likelihood of subjectivity in data analysis and interpretation.

Since problems in the contemporary world are so complex, Wodak has focused on the

interdisciplinary nature of CDA. He attempts to integrate diverse theories and methods,

including linguistics, semiotics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, mass

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communication and other fields of study in the social sciences and humanities to analyse

social issues through a multi-dimensional approach. Furthermore, Wodak (2011) asserts that

the DHA methodology attempts to integrate a large quantity of available knowledge about the

historical sources and the background of the social and political fields in which discursive

events are embedded, which, in turn enriches the findings.

Alternatively, van Leeuwen and Kress‟s approach focuses much more on social

semiotic construction theory and a Systemic Functional Approach which has been influenced

by Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). They view language as one of the

semiotic systems that constitutes a culture and discourse of communication which casts light

on three meta-functions: ideational meaning (representing patterns of experience and logical

relations among them); interpersonal meaning (conveying emotions and attitudes and

enacting social relations); and textual meaning (interweaving ideational and interpersonal

meanings into a cohesive and coherent semantic unit) (Djonov & Zhao, 2014, p. 3). van

Leeuwen has developed a Systemic Functional Grammar to classify the semiotic system of

social actor types in different ways.

Kress and van Leeuwen (2001) theorise that social semiotics is the most useful way of

analysing and interpreting a variety of ranges of discourse, including written, visual, gestural

and musically mediated means of communication. Wodak and Meyer‟s (2001) critique of

Kress and van Leeuwen‟s work is that they overly raise awareness of the importance of non-

verbal aspects of texts and focus more on semiotic devices in discourse rather than linguistic

ones. Kress and van Leeuwen (2001), in their defence, point to the notion of texts which are

multimedia and meanings in the text which can be expressed through both verbal and visual

representations, including sound and music. In other words, Kress and van Leeuwen (1996)

utilise new methodologies in their so called multimodal approaches to CDA, to analyse visual

images and multimedia texts in an age of globalisation and electronic media. Their

methodological tools have made great contributions to the critical analysis of multimodal

discourse for CDA practitioners.

2.3.1 The Commonalities of Critical Discourse Analysis

In the contemporary world, the disciplines of language, linguistics, literature, cultural

studies and other fields of study (mainly in the social sciences and humanities), are connected

with day-to-day human activities. All disciplines seem to be multidisciplinary and are

developing more convincing explanations based on diverse sources of evidence. As different

CDA approaches were based on different disciplinary backgrounds and a diversity of

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methods, van Dijk (2007) and Wodak (2008) have outlined at least seven dimensions of

common characteristics of different CDA approaches (quoted in Wodak & Meyer, 2009b, p.

2) as follows.

1) An interest in the properties of “naturally occurring language” used by

“real” language users (instead of a study of abstract language systems and invented

examples).

2) A focus on larger units than isolated words and sentences and, hence,

new basic units of analysis: texts, discourses, conversations, speeches acts or communicative

events.

3) The extension of linguistics beyond sentence grammar towards a study

of action and interaction.

4) The extension to non-verbal (semiotic, multimodal, visual aspects) of

interaction and communication: gestures, images, film, the Internet and multimedia.

5) A focus on dynamic (socio)-cognitive or interactional moves and

strategies.

6) The study of the functions of (social, cultural, situational and

cognitive) contexts of language use.

7) The analysis of a vast number of phenomena of text grammar and

language use: coherence, anaphora, topics, macrostructures, speech acts, interactions, turn-

taking, signs, politeness, argumentation, rhetoric, mental models and many other aspects of

text and discourse.

The most evident similarity between CDA approaches is a shared interest in

investigating and revealing the social issues which are related to inequality, manipulation,

powerlessness, injustice, prejudice, bias, dominance, discrimination, solidarity, oppression

and other societal abuse issues.

2.3.2 Criticisms of Critical Discourses Analysis

Hyland (2013) consolidates some critiques on the works of CDA. He points out that

“much of it draws its discussion from the analysis of often only a few texts which have

sometimes been criticised for being overly selective and lacking in objectivity” (p. 102).

It can also be said that researchers may over-interpret the data in certain levels of data

analysis. In a similar vein, Cameron (2001) asserts that textual interpretation from the CDA

perspective is an exaggeration of any reading of a text whose approach is reliant on the

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analyst‟s interpretation of the texts. As Cameron (2001) suggests, a critical discourse

analysis:

“is enriched, and the risk of making overly subjective or sweeping claims

reduced, by going beyond the single text to examine other related texts and to

explore the actual interpretations recipients make of them” (p. 140).

In order to lessen the weakness of CDA, Winddowson (1998) argues that critical

discourse analysis studies should place emphasis on the interrelationship between the

discussions of the producers and consumers of texts. Critical discourse studies should not just

rest, solely, on the analyst‟s view of what a text might mean. It is necessary for CDA analysts

to be more critical and demanding of a wide range of analytical tools and for the critical study

of discourse to be more thorough in order to strengthen evidence for their claims (Toolan,

1997).

Therefore, CDA research could be enhanced by a more detailed linguistic analysis of

texts with a various use of the tools of analysis. Fairclough (2003) and Martin (2000) have

proposed the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a tool for analysis to

assist in the interpretation of texts. Furthermore, Mautner (2005) has also proposed that

corpus approaches could be an alternative way of increasing the quantitative dimension and

at the same time Stubbs (1997) has suggested a quantitative analysis of texts to strengthen

CDA‟s methodology in areas such as the frequency of lexis and linguistic features.

Thus, in this study I have chosen Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the main

approach and method for studying context-specific discourse because of its linguistic

orientation in examining social issues and problems as well as its synergising with the

corpus-assisted approach for generating linguistic features in a quantitative manner to

strengthen this present study‟s methodology.

2.4 Theoretical Framework of Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

As previously discussed, Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis approach is based

on the Marxist tradition which aims at disclosing the dominance, difference and resistance

embedded in discourse (Wodak & Meyer, 2009b, p. 27). Furthermore, the approach is

influenced by Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) whose language function is

viewed as a three-dimensional approach - textual, interpersonal and ideological -, providing

an analytical framework with a broad range of grammatical tools for textual analysis

(Nørgaard, Montoro & Busse, 2010; Baker & Ellece, 2011).

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Fairclough (1989) draws attention to the relationship between language and power,

discussing how power and dominance are enacted by the text producer. Additionally, he

discusses the methodological framework for analysing discourse and emphasises the three-

dimensional framework, consisting of:

- a linguistic description of the language text,

- interpretation of the relationship between productive and interpretative discourse

processes and the text, and

- an explanation of the relationship between the discourse processes and the social

processes (Fairclough, 2010, p. 132-133).

Figure 2.2: Fairclough‟s (2010) Dimensions of Discourse and Discourse Analysis

In relation to this broader framework of discourse analysis, there are many linguistic

features and other lexico - grammatical elements which can be analysed such as generic

structure, transitivity, mood and modality, pronouns, lexical choices, rhetorical tropes and

other linguistic aspects. Interpretation processes of textual analysis can be called upon at the

level of discourse practice in order to identify the discursive practice of the text. At the last

level of socio-cultural practice, the situational, institutional and societal processes are

explained in terms of the relationship between discourse and social processes (Fairclough,

2010, pp. 131-133).

With regard to Fairclough‟s (2010) dimensions of discourse and discourse analysis it

can be seen that the three dimensions are closely connected. Social or socio-cultural practices

in the outermost layer areas can shape discourse or discursive practices, whilst discourse or

discursive practices in the middle layer can also shape the text. Finally, the text in the deepest

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layer areas can shape social or socio-cultural practices. Within the broader dimension of

discourse and discourse analysis, Fairclough (1995, p. 57) briefly details the definitions of

each dimensional aspect of communicative events as follows:

1) Textual Analysis: this deals with the analysis of lexical, syntactical and other

grammatical structures. Additionally, Fairclough (1995) views texts from three

multifunctional perspectives: (1) particular representations and re-contextualisation of social

practice (ideational function), perhaps carrying particular ideologies; (2) particular

constructions of writer and reader identities (for example, in terms of what is highlighted,

whether it be status and role aspects of identity or individual and personality aspects of

identity; and (3) particular constructions of the relationship between writer and reader (for

instance, formal or informal, close or distant). This idea is influenced by Halliday‟s Systemic

Functional Linguistics (SFL) (pp. 57-58).

2) Discourse or Discursive Practice: this dimension is concerned with the

processes of text production and text consumption. In Fairclough‟s sense, this process can be

mediated amongst text, society and culture and can be acknowledged in the form of so-called

“intertextuality”. According to Gadavanij (2002a), “intertextuality” is contextual and

historically dependent and can be conceptualised based on its relationship between the

meaning of a discourse, its history and the specific context. In this sense, Fairclough (1995)

asserts that inter-textual analysis focuses on the borderline between text and discourse

practice in the analytical framework and looks for traces of discourse practice in the text.

3) Social or Sociocultural Practice: this dimension is concerned with three

aspects of the sociocultural context of a communicative event: (1) Economic such as in the

economy of the media; (2) Political such as in the power and ideology of the media; and (3)

Cultural such as in issues of values.

According to Fairclough (1992), discourse can be considered as a social practice

which implies the relationship of the logical discussion of ideas and opinions between a

particular discursive event and the situation, institutions and social structures. To summarise,

discourse is shaped by social events, structures and all the institutions which ideologies and

beliefs are embedded in.

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2.5 Notion of Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis

It should be noticed that “personal pronouns are words that are used to refer to

participants that are judged by a speaker to be already present or active in the mind of the

audience” (Payne, 2011, p. 123). Trailovic (2014) states that one of the most frequent and

prominent linguistic items encountered in political speeches are pronouns. As Allen (2006)

asserts the personal pronouns chosen can be employed to refer to politicians themselves and

to others and to evoke multiple identities of themselves and others through a wide range of

perspectives. The pronominal choices politicians make serve persuasive and strategic

political functions. The traditional polarisation in politics is that of “us” vs. “them” (we/they).

However, even the pronouns that political speakers use to refer to themselves or their

audience can form a significant part of the message. This is because “pronouns can be

employed either to foreground or to obscure responsibility and agency” (Thomas et al., 2004,

p. 52).

In the present study, I place the emphasis on the focal in-depth analysis of the selected

pronouns and social actors including „We’, „I‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟ and „Military‟ with

corpora through wordlist frequency and selected salient collocations employed in the

English-subtitled versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha because

the function of the pronominal choices may be used persuasively and strategically in political

speech. To be more specific, these three selected nouns which potentially play a role as social

actors, „NCPO‟, „Government‟ and „Military‟, were analysed by grouping them into themes

of linguistic features in association with the socio-political context. By this means, Pearce

(2001) points out that the way politicians discursively represent their identities, by referring

to themselves, to their opposition and to their audience can effectively be utilised as a

persuasive mechanism. Particularly, the choice of the pronouns „I‟ and „We‟ can be employed

either to foreground or to obscure responsibility and agency.

To be more specific, Kuo (2002) indicates that when the pronoun „I‟ was employed in

order to emphasise self-referencing, the spokesperson tended to express high commitment

and to stress the sense of authorship of the utterances that he or she was conveying. In this

sense, the pronoun „I‟ can be employed to display high commitment or to distance politicians

directly from responsibility for future action. On the one hand, Pennycook (1993) sees the

personal pronoun „We‟ as always being simultaneously inclusive and exclusive as a pronoun

of solidarity and rejection, inclusion and exclusion. Additionally, the pronoun „We‟ is

employed to invoke a sense of collectivity and shared responsibility. It can be generally

recognised that the choice of different personal pronouns utilised in political speech has a

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different effect on the audience, therefore, the pronominal choices occurring in General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s public announcements are worth looking at and analysing in order to

discover his own attitudes and to understand how the deployment of such linguistic features

can reflect the discursive representation of his own identities and the social relationship

between him and his audience both domestically and globally.

It is generally recognised that politicians aim to use linguistic features in order to

appeal to diverse audience with a sense of honesty, trustworthiness and solidarity. The

ongoing deployment of pronominal choices, therefore, is one way of achieving such a

political aim. As the use of pronouns has such a positive effect on political speech, Allen

(2006) states that politicians can present themselves as sharing the interests of social

members in order to promote themselves as good diplomats and the most suitable leaders for

their nation. Thus, the deployment of pronouns in political discourse plays a crucial role in

persuading the public and evoking their attitudes, beliefs, feelings and sense of community,

and ultimately leading them to the expected action.

2.6 The Modality System as a Framework of Interpersonal Metafunction

The focal point of modality analysis presented in this current study aims to reveal the

interpersonal meanings as developed by Halliday (1985, 1994) and Halliday and Matthiessen

(2004, 2014). In regard to the analysis of modality, there are different types of meaning

which can be expressed through the modality system, such as possibility, obligation,

necessity, ability, volition, intention, prediction, inclination and so forth. In this study, the

modality system is the notion of interpersonal meta-function based on Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL). According to Halliday and Mattheissen (2014), the second component of

language meaning, based on interpersonal meta-function, takes place when listener and

speaker use language for communicative purposes. This function can be elaborated through

an analysis of mood and modality. In other words, when two interactors exchange

information, and occupy the two primary roles of giving and receiving information. These

two primary types of speech role always relate to the nature of the commodity being

exchanged as in (a) goods-&-services or (b) information (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p.

135). In this notion of interpersonal meta-function, an exchange of information as (a) goods-

&-services or (b) information, these two variables can be depicted as the four primary speech

functions of offer, command, statement and question. According to Halliday and Mattheissen

(2014), giving or demanding, goods-&-services or information can be illustrated in the

following table:

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Table 2.1: The Speech Functions of Giving or Demanding, Goods-&-Services or

Information (adapted from Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 136)

Role in exchange Commodity exchanged

(a) goods-&-services (b) information

(i) giving „offer‟

would you like this teapot

„statement‟

he‟s giving her the teapot

(ii) demanding „command‟

give me that teapot!

„question‟

what is he giving her?

With regards to the types of modality which are based on the perspective of modality

in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Halliday and Mattheissen (2014) distinguish this

notion of modality into two types consisting of modalisation and modulation. These two

types of modality can be categorised into subcategories and they play different roles in the

positive and negative poles that lie between “yes” and “no” (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014,

p. 176).

The polarity of yes (Positive) and no (Negative), influences the types of clauses to

being propositions and proposals. More specifically, propositions express the meaning the

positive and negative pole is asserting and denying. This type indicates two kinds of

intermediate possibilities: (1) degrees of probability (possibly/probably/certainly) and (2)

degrees of usuality (sometimes/usually/always). These two types of probability and usuality

are called “modalisation”. On the other hand, proposals expressing the meaning of the

positive and negative poles are prescribing and proscribing: positive “do it” and negative

“don‟t do it”. This type indicates two kinds of intermediate possibility: (1) a command which

represents degrees of obligation (allowed to/supposed to/required to) and (2) an offer which

represents degrees of inclination (willing to/anxious to/determined to). These two types of

obligation and inclination are called “modulation” (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, pp. 171-

178). In Thompson‟s (2014) work which is influenced by Hallidayan Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL), the two types of modality can be illustrated in the following figure.

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Figure 2.3: Types of Modality and Sub-Categories (adopted from Thompson, 2014, p.

71)

In addition, the values of modality can be categorised into three levels to a modal

judgment consisting of high, median and low. These values are summarised in Table 2.2 as

follows:

Table 2.2: The Three Values of Modality (adopted from Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014,

p. 694)

Levels of modality

values

Probability Usuality Obligation Inclination

High certain always required to determined

Medium probable usually supposed to keen

Low possible sometimes allowed to willing

In addition, Thompson (2014) also provides examples of modalisation and modulation

conveyed by modal verbal operators which are based on the three degrees of modality values

as introduced by Halliday and Mattheissen‟s (2014) work. Examples of modality values are

illustrated in Table 2.3 as follows:

Modalisation

(Information)

Modulation

(Goods & Services)

Probability: e.g. The child might be hers.

Usuality: e.g. She often went there.

Obligation: e.g. You should go now.

Inclination: e.g. I„ll give you a hand.

Types of

modality

Gknfxc,.gn

xnc.bn.

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Table 2.3: Examples of Modality Values of Modal Verbal Operators (adopted from

Thompson, 2014, p. 72)

Degrees of Modality Values Modalisation Modulation

High I shall never be happy again. You must ask someone.

Median They should be back by now. You ought to invite her.

Low I may be quite wrong. You can help yourself to a

drink.

Furthermore, Halliday and Mattheissen (2014) point to the structure of the clause that

carries the line of meaning. The structure is known as the thematic structure. They also assert

that the message can be distinguished into two parts: Theme and Rheme. Categorically, they

mention that the Theme is the element that serves as the point of departure of the message; it

is that which locates and orientates the clause within its context. The speaker selects the

Theme as his or her point of departure to direct the addressee in developing an interpretation

of the message. On the other hand, the Rheme is the remainder of the message that

accompanies the Theme which is put first in a clause. In the following example, which is the

first sentence of the Introduction to Roget‟s Thesaurus, the Theme is “the present Work”

which is highlighted in bold:

The present Work is intended to supply, with respect to the English language,

a desideratum hitherto unsupplied in any language;...(Halliday & Mattheissen,

2014, pp. 88-89).

In addition to degrees of modalisation and modulation, Halliday and Mattheissen

(2014) assert that modality choices can be categorised in accordance with the values of

modality into three degrees. Degrees of modality play a significant role in reflecting the

certainty or uncertainty in the use of them. Furthermore, Mood Adjuncts such as perhaps,

usually and so on can signal the degrees of probability and usuality respectively (Thompson,

2014, p. 72). Thus, there are many other ways of expressing modality; Table 2.4 presents the

roles of adverbs serving as Mood Adjuncts of modality.

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Table 2.4: Adverbs Serving as Mood Adjuncts of Modality (adopted from Halliday &

Mattheissen, 2014, p. 189)

High Median Low

Probability certainly, definitely;

no way (no how) probably

possibly, perhaps,

maybe; hardly

Usuality always; never usually

sometimes,

occasionally; seldom,

rarely

In order to distinguish the degrees of modalisation and modulation, I then adopted and

summarised both modal verb operators and Mood Adjuncts which express the degrees of

modality values based on the Systemic Functional Grammar (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004,

p. 62; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696) which is presented in Table 2.5 and Table 2.6.

Table 2.5: Degrees of Modalisation (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p.

189 & pp. 694-696)

Types of

Modalisation

Degrees of Modalisation

High Median Low

Probability

certainly, definitely,

must, can‟t

probably, will, won‟t

possibly, perhaps,

maybe, hardly, may,

needn‟t

Usuality

always, never

usually

sometimes,

occasionally, seldom,

rarely

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Table 2.6: Degrees of Modulation (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p.

189 & pp. 694-696)

Types of

Modulation

Degrees of Modulation

High Median Low

Obligation

must, required to,

have to, ought to,

can‟t

should, shall,

supposed to,

shouldn‟t

can, could, may,

might, allowed to,

needn‟t

Inclination determined to, need

to

keen, will, would,

want to, won‟t,

wouldn‟t

willing, can

According to the degrees of modalisation and modulation relied on in the Hallidayan

Systemic Functional Grammar, it can obviously be noticed that modality expressions of

„will‟, „must‟ and „can‟ appear in both degrees of modalisation and modulation with their

specific functions. However, these repetitive modal verb operators have different functions

and meanings that are conveyed in the clause. In this study, a focal analysis of the modality

system as a part of interpersonal meaning will help to study the point of view of General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis.

2.7 Transitivity or Process Types

Transitivity and process type analysis are elements of Systematic Functional

Linguistics (SFL). This theory views language as tri-functional, ideational, interpersonal and

textual, with each function termed a “meta-function”:

- Ideational, which can be distinguished into two components, the experiential and the

logical, refers to the content of a text such as ideas, concepts and representations;

- Interpersonal, refers to the identities and relationships between the interlocutors and

views „language as action‟; and

- Textual, which refers to coherence, cohesion and organisation above sentence

level, organising discursive flow and creating continuity as it moves along (Halliday &

Matthiessen, 2014, pp. 30-31).

In the view of Systematic Functional Linguistics (SFL), transitivity or process types is

the concept which is associated with the experiential meaning of the clause (Halliday &

Matthiessen, 2004, 2014). According to Halliday (2014), we represent the world through

language by choosing words that represent people, things or concepts (participants) and

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words about what these participants are doing to, with, or for one another (processes). All

texts contain these two elements: participants and processes. The words we use for processes

and how we use them to link participants together can also create different impressions of

what is going on. One of the key things about processes is that they always construct a

relationship between participants (Jones, 2012, p. 13).

Bartlett (2014) points out that participants or actors play a vital role in action

processes and that transitivity is the technical term for the relationship between the roles

different participants play within a process. In a similar vein, Machin and Mayr (2012)

elaborate on the transitivity concept of what people are depicted as doing and refer to who

does what to whom and how (pp.104-113). In so doing, the study of transitivity and process

types can reveal who plays an important role in a particular clause and who receives the

consequences of that action. In other words, the analysis agency (who does what to whom)

and action (what gets done) can be described in three different notions of meaning:

1) Participants, refers to the agency or doers (actors) of the process and the done

tos (goals), who are the receivers of an action and can be people, things or abstract concepts.

2) Process refers to verbs or verb groups which consist of six different types:

material, mental, behavioural, verbal, relational and existential processes which can be

summarised as follows:

(1) Material processes describe processes of doing. Usually, these are concrete

actions that have a material result or consequence, such as „arrest‟, „fall‟, „demolish‟ and

other related verbs.

(2) Behavioural processes refer to processes of denoting psychological or

physical behaviour such as „watch‟, „taste‟, „stare‟, „dream‟, „breathe‟, „cough‟, „smile‟ and

„laugh‟. They are semantically a cross between material and mental processes. For example,

„look at‟ and „listen to‟ are classed as behavioural, whereas „see‟ and „hear‟ would be mental

processes.

(3) Mental processes refer to processes of sensing and can be divided into

three classes: “cognition” (verbs of thinking, knowing or understanding), “affection” (verbs

of liking, disliking or fearing) and “perception” (verbs of seeing, hearing or perceiving).

Examples of the three classes of cognition, affection and perception include ideas such as

„understand‟, „see‟, „like‟, „worry‟ and other related verbs. Furthermore, Halliday and

Matthiessen (2014) categorise the mental processes into four different subtypes of sensing as

follows: 1) Perceptive, 2) Cognitive, 3) Desiderative, and 4) Emotive (p. 256).

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(4) Verbal processes refer to verbs which are expressed through the verb „to

say‟ and its many synonyms such as „explain‟, „tell‟, „utter‟ and other similar meaning verbs

such as „explain‟, „allege‟, „tell‟ and other related verbs.

(5) Relational processes refer to processes that encode meanings about states

of being, where things are stated to exist in relation to other things. They are expressed

through the verb „to be‟, which is the most frequent but synonyms such as „become‟, „mean‟,

„define‟, „symbolise‟, „represent‟, „stand for‟, „refer to‟, „mark‟ and „exemplify‟ are also

classed as relational processes.

(6) Existential processes refer to verbs which represent that something exists

or happens and typically use the verb „to be‟ or synonyms such as „exist‟, „arise‟, „occur‟ and

other related verbs.

3) Circumstances include adverbial groups or prepositional phrases indicating

where, when and how something has occurred.

According to Halliday and Mattheissen (2014), transitivity systems or process types

are one of the key elements of linguistic features which help people to understand how the

clause works in a particular situation. Additionally, Jones (2012) proposes that the words we

use for processes and how we use them to link participants together can also create different

impressions of what is going on. It should be noted that transitivity systems represent people,

things and concepts through depicting processes which are conveyed by verbal groups, the

participants which are conveyed by nominal groups and the circumstances which are

conveyed by the prepositional phrases and adverbs.

As previously mentioned, the notion of transitivity systems or process types can be

clearly categorised into six processes: material process; behavioural process; mental process;

verbal process; relational process; and existential process. However, behavioural process

appears to be a grey area between material and mental processes. In addition, existential

process has two main forms of grammatical realisation as copular verbs and “there” as the

Subject. Thus, material, mental and relational processes can be categorised as major

processes, whereas behavioural and existential processes are categorised as minor processes

(Bloor & Bloor, 2013, pp. 128-129).

This study applies the notion of transitivity systems or process types which are based

on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) from similar works of Eggins (2004), Thompson

(2004, 2014), Bloor & Bloor (2004, 2013), Machin & Mayr (2012), Fontaine (2013), and

Bartlett (2014) as the analytical framework of the study. All these works are influenced and

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based closely on the Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar (1985), Halliday &

Mattheissen (1994, 2004, 2014).

In order to limit the scope of data analysis, this study aims to seek the processes by

focusing on who or what are involved in them in the specific context of political crisis during

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s tenure as the head of the NCPO. The participants of the

clauses are limited mainly to focus on the five selected salient pronouns and social actors

which are expressed representations of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha. These five selected

pronouns and social actors include „We‟, „I‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟, and „Military‟. As

previously discussed, the existential process has two main forms of grammatical realisation

as copular verbs and “there” as the Subject. This type of process was excluded from manual

coding and the procedure of inter-rater reliability of process type identification presented in

Chapter 3. With regard to the five process types used in this study, the participants serving

specific functions in the clauses are categorised based on the notion of Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL) as presented in the following consecutive sections.

2.7.1 Material Processes and Participants

Material processes are verbs of doing and happening or those involving physical

actions. The components of this process are:

- Actor: a doer who performs an action.

- Process: verbs of doing and happening.

- Goal: a person or entity affected by the process or action.

- Beneficiary: a participant that is impacted upon by the process but where the

participant benefits from the process or the recipient in the process. Fontaine (2013) asserts

that Beneficiary typically occurs with verbs such as give, send, buy and so forth (p. 74).

- Scope: is not affected by the processes but rather “it construes the domain over

which the process takes place” and “it construes the process itself, either in general or

specific terms” (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, pp. 239-240).

- Circumstance: the function of circumstantial elements showing that the process

happens in certain Circumstance.

This means that a material clause consisting of the syntagem of nominal group +

verbal group + nominal group can be either Actor + Process + Goal or Actor + Process +

Scope (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 240).

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Table 2.7: Material Process and Participants (Thompson, 2014, p. 95)

He had been shaving.

The young girl bounded out of the gate.

Edward was sawing wood.

Her mother smashed the glass.

Actor Process: Material Goal Circumstance

Table 2.8: Material Process and Participants (Bloor & Bloor, 2004, pp. 262-263)

You can write him a note.

Someone has found the fugitives a suitable hiding-

place.

Actor Process: Material Beneficiary Goal

2.7.2 Mental Processes and Participants

Mental processes are verbs that carry the sense of the meaning of sensing, feeling or

perception (Thompson, 2014). The components of this process are:

- Sensor: the participant who experiences the process.

- Process: verbs that refer to these mental processes, of thinking, imaging,

liking, wanting, seeing and related verbs.

- Phenomenon: it can be a person, a concrete object, an abstraction or something on

which is perceived, reacted to or thought about experiences.

Table 2.9: Examples of Mental Processes (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014, p. 257)

Types of Mental

Process

„Like‟ Type „Please‟ Type

Perceptive perceive, sense; see, notice, glimpse;

hear, overhear; feel; taste; smell (assail)

Cognitive

think, believe, suppose, expect, consider,

know; understand, realise, appreciate;

imagine, dream, pretend; guess, reckon,

conjecture, hypothesise; wonder, doubt;

remember, recall, forget; fear (think

fearfully)

strike, occur to, convince;

remind, escape; puzzle,

intrigue, surprise

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Desiderative

want, wish, would like, desire; hope

(for), long for, yearn for; intend, plan;

decide, resolve, determine; agree,

comply, refuse

(tempt)

Emotive

like, fancy, love, adore, dislike, hate,

detest, despise, loathe, abhor; rejoice,

exult, grieve, mourn, bemoan, bewail,

regret, deplore; fear, dread; enjoy, relish,

marvel

allure, attract, please,

displease, disgust, offend,

repel, revolt; gladden,

delight, gratify, sadden,

depress, pain; alarm,

startle, frighten, scare,

horrify, shock, comfort,

reassure, encourage;

amuse, entertain, divert,

interest, fascinate, bore,

weary, worry

In relation to mental processes, the subtypes of mental process and its participants are

presented as follows:

Table 2.10: Mental Processes: Perceptive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99)

He could not see anything.

He heard a faint sound.

Cordelia felt her face burning.

Senser Process: Mental, Perceptive Phenomenon

Table 2.11: Mental Processes: Emotive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99)

She hated the thought of leaving him alone.

I like most operas.

I appreciated the fact that you kept quiet.

Senser Process: Mental, Emotive Phenomenon

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Table 2.12: Mental Processes: Cognitive (Thompson, 2014, p. 99)

You can imagine his reaction.

No one would choose such a colour.

She never discovered the exact address.

Senser Process: Mental, Cognitive Phenomenon

Table 2.13: Mental Processes: Desiderative (Thompson, 2014, p. 100)

I don‟t want any trouble.

You may crave a cigarette.

Senser Process: Mental, Desiderative Phenomenon

2.7.3 Relational Processes and Participants

Relational processes serve to characterise or identify (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2014).

This type of process relates to verbs of being or copular verbs which are divided into two

subtypes as attributive and identifying processes:

1. Attributive process: a common type of relation process ascribing an attribute to

some entity. Bloor and Boor (2013) propose the components of this process can be displayed

as follows:

- Carrier: is the topic of the clause.

- Process: are the verbs of being or copular verbs.

- Attribute: function is to provide a description of the topic.

Table 2.14: Attributive Relational Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 102)

This bread is stale.

He ‟s not a very good painter.

She was an art student.

He felt uneasy.

The weather has turned quite nasty.

Carrier Process: Relational, Attributive Attribute

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2. Identifying process: this kind of process is to identify a participant in terms of

another thing. Its function serves to identify something with something else (Bloor & Bloor,

2013, pp. 102-105). The components of this process can be displayed as follows:

- Identified: an element which is to be identified.

- Process: the verbs of being or copular verbs.

- Identifier (Value expresses the more general category, whereas Token expresses the

specific embodiment): an element which serves as identity.

Table 2.15: Value and Token in Identifying Relational Clauses (Thompson, 2014,

p. 103)

Marlowe was the greatest dramatic writer

in the 16th

C apart from

Shakespeare.

Token Process: Relational, Identifying Value

The strongest shape is the triangle.

Value Process: Relational, Identifying Token

2.7.4 Verbal Processes and Participants

Verbal processes carry the sense of the meaning of verbal action: saying and all its

many synonyms (Eggins, 2004, p. 235). The components of this process are as follows:

- Sayer: refers to the individual who is speaking.

- Process: verbs that carry the sense of the meaning of “to say”.

- Receiver: refers to the participant to whom the saying is addressed.

- Target: refers to the entity at which it is directed, rather than addressed to the same

as Receiver.

- Verbiage: a nominal group functioning as a participant in the process which is said

in the message.

- Circumstance: circumstantial elements to show that the process happens in certain

circumstances.

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Table 2.16: Verbal Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 108)

He repeated the warning.

Sayer Process: Verbal Verbiage


I explained to her what it meant.

Sayer Process: Verbal Receiver Verbiage


I wasn‟t told about any side-effects.

Receiver Process: Verbal Circumstance


The report sharply criticises Lilly‟s quality-

control procedures.

Sayer Circumstance Process: Verbal Target

2.7.5 Behavioural Processes and Participants

Behavioural processes carry a sense of signifying psychological and physical

behaviour. However, behavioural process appears to be a grey area between material and

mental processes (Bloor & Bloor, 2013). Typically, Thompson (2014) proposes that

behavioural processes of clauses have one participant only, who is unlike the Actor in

material processes but the participant in this process type can only be human. The

components of this process are as follows:

- Behaver: the one obligatory participant in the clause.

- Process: there are verbs that carry the sense of signifying psychological and physical

behaviour.

- Behaviour: typically functions as a complement in the clause and Behaviour are not

a real participant but merely adds specificity to the process.

- Circumstance: circumstantial elements to show that the process happens in certain

circumstances.

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Table 2.20: Behavioural Process (Thompson, 2014, p. 110)

He stared in amazement.

We all laughed.

She gave a faint sigh.

The boy laughed an embarrassed laugh.

Behaver Process: Behavioural Behaviour Circumstance

In order to understand meanings and the characteristics of participants in each of the

process types applied in this current study, a summary of Halliday‟s process types and

participant roles has been provided as presented in Table 2.21 as follows:

Table 2.21: Summary of Halliday‟s Process Types and Participant Roles

(adapted from Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004, p. 260, as cited in Fontaine, 2013, p. 77)

Process General meaning Participants Canonical example

Material

doing, happening Actor, Goal,

Beneficiary,

Scope

- John (Actor) hit the ball(Goal) -

John (Actor) gave the ball(Goal)

to Jane (Beneficiary)

- John (Actor) climbed the

mountain (Scope)

Mental

sensing, seeing,

thinking, wanting,

feeling

Senser,

Phenomenon

- John (Senser) likes Jane

(Phenomenon)

Relational

(being)

Attributive attributing Carrier,

Attribute

- John (Carrier) is nice (Attribute)

Identifying identifying Identifier,

Identified

- John (Identified) is the lawyer

(Identifier)

Behavioural behaving Behaver - John (Behaver) is laughing

Verbal saying Sayer, Receiver,

Verbiage

- John (Sayer) told me (Receiver)

a story (Verbiage)

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According to Eggins (2004), the process type specifies the action, events or

relationships between implicated participants (nominal constituents, functionally labelled

according to the process type) and processes which may be situated circumstantially (for

example, time, place, cause and others). It should be noted that transitivity patterns represent

the encoding of experiential meanings: meanings about the world, about experience or about

how we perceive and experience what is going on (Eggins, 2004, p. 249). Therefore,

examining the transitivity patterns in the weekly addresses of General Prayuth, we can

explain how the manipulative discourse employed in the specific socio-political situation is

being constructed, and we can describe what specific transitivity and process types are being

utilised.

2.8 The Concept of Metaphor

In recent years, metaphor has been shown to play a significant role in interfacing with

individuals‟ beliefs, cognition, attitudes and values with regard to socio-political issues on a

daily basis of certain ways of viewing the world and in facilitating individuals to make sense

of their lives (Charteris-Black, 2006; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). As metaphorical linguistic

expression represents a thought-provoking and novel way of viewing the world and assisting

individuals to understanding more about the meaning of linguistic realisation, metaphor

analysis has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention in various fields of text types and

with interdisciplinary focuses.

To date, there have been many studies of this kind such as the corpus-assisted

discourse analysis of the representation of migrants in a New Zealand daily newspaper

(Salahshour, 2016); corpus-assisted metaphor analysis of business research articles

(Kheovichai, 2015b); modern diachronic corpus-assisted discourse studies on UK newspapers

(Partington, 2010); a comparative metaphor analysis of German and Italian political leaders

such as Angela Merkel, Gerhard Schröder, Silvio Berlusconi and Emma Bonino (Koller &

Semino, 2009; Semino & Koller, 2009); metaphor analysis of British parliamentary debates

through the notions of gender and Aristotelian conventional rhetoric (Charteris-Black, 2009);

a critical multimodal analysis of metaphor in advertisements (Lazar, 2009); and a corpus-

based metaphor analysis of Tony Blair‟s and George W. Bush‟s speeches (Stenbakken,

2007).

According to these previous studies, metaphorical linguistic expressions have been

investigated thoroughly in order to reveal the underlying or hidden ideologies and identities

in different text types of various genres for a better understanding of language and socio-

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cultural issues which are the bases for creating positive change and a better society. Before

moving on to detailed information regarding the notion of metaphor in subsequent sections,

the term “metaphor” is a focal point to be elaborated upon based on the theoretical

frameworks of the key scholars in this area.

Metaphors represent a form of language that is not part of the individuals‟ ordinary

lexicon and which make use of comparisons, analogies, similitudes, similes and other similar

tools (Ural, 2013, p. 3). Prior to the 1980s, studies on metaphor were restricted and associated

with the study of literary and poetic language which has traditionally been considered a

subtype of linguistics as a feature of figurative language and stylistics. Following Lakoff and

Johnson‟s (1980) studies of metaphorical concepts in association with cognitive semantics

and interdisciplinary studies widely known as Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT),

metaphor study became connectedly studied within the field of cognitive linguistics. As in

Lakoff and Johnson‟s (1980) study of metaphor, the concepts that control individuals‟

thoughts also structure what they perceive, how they get around in the world and how they

relate to other people. Their conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining everyday

reality (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 3). To be specific, they argue that cognitive metaphors

have a central importance in the understanding of natural language and describing metaphors

are not solely an element of the linguistic aspect but also represent one of the fundamental

ways in which the human mind functions in everyday language use.

Aristotle regarded metaphor as an implicit comparison based on the rules of analogy

(Ritchie, 2013, p. 4). According to this definition, Kövecses (2002, p. vii) gives a similar

definition stating “metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another

by saying that one is the other”. Metaphor thus has been variously defined in terms of

substituting one word for another word with an apparently different meaning, comparing one

idea to another or creating an implicit analogy or simile (Ritchie, 2013, p. 4). Interestingly,

Charteris-Black (2014), points out that metaphor is effective in public communication

because it draws on the unconscious emotional associations of words and assumed values that

are rooted in cultural and historical knowledge. Metaphors also influence people‟s intellectual

and emotional responses by evaluating actions, actors and issues (Charteris-Black, 2014, p.

160).

As understanding metaphorical linguistic features is reliant on the analogous concept

of comparing one idea with another, individuals employ metaphors to understand the external

world through cognitive processes and interpret the abstract and intangible entities and

concepts through utilising metaphorical linguistic tools such as comparisons, analogies,

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similitude and similes to picture various and more concrete and tangible entities. In the same

vein, Machin and Mayr (2012) asserted that metaphor and other rhetorical tropes provide

excellent linguistics resources for those who wish to replace actual concrete processes,

identities and settings with abstractions (p. 164).

Metaphors are employed as a medium for understanding and interpreting the tangible

concepts in individuals‟ minds and cognition for facilitating the learning of new information.

Therefore, it is important to understand how the function of metaphors are utilised in order to

present a particular interpretation of situations and events which can contribute to ideology

and reinforce specific ideological values (Deignan, 2005) and in this present study, ideology

in relation to the democracy and politico-related issues and concepts.

2.8.1 Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT)

In this subsection, I will elaborate on a summary of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

(CMT) since this theoretical framework is a central concept for the identification and

classification of metaphors in this study and I will then discuss briefly some examples of

conceptual metaphors which are relevant to political discourse.

Through the traditional lens of cognitive linguistics traced back to Lakoff and

Johnson‟s (1980) “Metaphors We Live By”, research has been focused on the conceptual

system, language and actions that are tightly connected to metaphor construction. Through

investigating linguistic evidence, Lakoff and Johnson found that most of our conceptual

system is metaphorical in nature and that we structure how we think and what we do through

metaphorical thought. As can be noticed from Lakoff and Johnson (1980), “our ordinary

conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in

nature” (p. 3).

In a similar vein, Ritchie (2013) posited that “most of our abstract concepts are based

on conceptual metaphors that originate in experienced correlations these direct physical

experiences and the “embodied” concepts associated with them” (p. 70). In other words,

linguistic metaphors constitute the visible surface of conceptual metaphors which render

abstract ideas into more concrete, tangible and comprehensible entities.

In addition, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) defined metaphors as “understanding and

experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (p. 5). This is a fundamental concept of

the mapping of correspondences as metaphorical linguistic expressions between the source

domain and the target domain. In the same vein, Neagu (2013) stated that the way in which

we speak and we act is largely dependent on the conceptual framing of our physical reality in

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terms of mappings between a source and a target domain (p. 13). Conceptual metaphor is

defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain

(Kövecses, 2002, p. 4, as cited in Stenbakken, 2007, p. 25).

More obviously, Kövecses provided a clear detailed explanation regarding the

mapping of the source domain to the target domain in order to describe and understand

conceptual metaphors more easily. In particular, the conceptual domain from which we draw

metaphorical expressions to understand another conceptual domain is called source domain,

while at the same time the conceptual domain is known as the target domain. For instance,

LIFE, ARGUMENTS, LOVE, THEORY, IDEAS, and SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS are

target domains, while JOURNEYS, WAR, BUILDINGS, FOOD, and PLANTS are source

domains (Kövecses, 2010, p. 4).

Moreover, the implied ideological meanings relating to moral issues can be unveiled

through the analysis of metaphorical expressions (Arcimaviciene & Jonaitiene, 2015). In the

conceptual framework, Lakoff (1996, 2004) posited that the characteristic features of the

STRICT FATHER MORALITY can be revealed through the metaphor of GOVERNMENT

IS A STRICT FATHER which politicians are perceived as fierce, competitive, and driven by

individual or group interests, and organising power relationships. On the other hand, it can be

assumed that the model of NURTURANT PARENT MORALITY is based on the sense that

individuals must be as caring and supporting as possible to one another or community

members have to take responsibility to care for those who are in need of help. Thus, it can be

said that “the Nurturing Parent model places a higher value on the community‟s happiness”

which is based on instilling a strong sense of empathy for others and the potential for

achievement and enjoyment (Toyoda, 2013, p. 13).

With regard to the concrete and abstract ideas of a conceptual metaphor which is

associated with two semantic areas or domains, Deignan (2005) illustrated the source domain

as typically concrete and the target domain as typically abstract. As previously mentioned,

the ideas and the knowledge from the source domain are mapped onto the target domain by

the conceptual metaphor. Deignan (2005) provides the example of HAPPY IS UP, ideas and

knowledge from the source domain that can be indicated as upward direction and movement

and are, consequently, mapped onto the target domain of emotion (p. 14).

Another example is related to journey metaphors, which have quite a long history in

cognitive linguistic research (Charteris-Black, 2004). In particular, LIFE IS A JOURNEY

which was proposed by Lakoff and Turner (1989). This conceptual metaphor signifies that

LIFE is the target domain and JOURNEY is the source domain, where journey metaphors

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represent a purposeful social activity which is about travelling along a path towards a

destination (Charteris-Black, 2004, pp. 74-76). Thus, when we choose to compare life with a

journey we emphasise the fact that both life and the journey have a starting point to an end

point or destination.

In conclusion, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is a concept as a network of

mappings, which plays its role in the systematic mapping of correspondences between the

source domains and target domains.

2.8.2 Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA)

Charteris-Black (2004) put forward the notion of metaphor study which now has

become more generally known as Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). His work can be

viewed as a meaningful enrichment of both Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and other

critical forms of analysis from various genres. In other words, Conceptual Metaphor Theory

(CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) both focus on the critical study of metaphor.

Furthermore, scholars believe that CMA comes from the same concept of conceptual

metaphor but it seems that CMA appear to be employed to analyse metaphors relating to

major issues such as politics and war. CMA aims to deconstruct metaphors and take seriously

the social issues it deals with through more real corpus examples (Kövecses, 2017, personal

communication, June 27, 2017). With regards to the analytical framework of Critical

Metaphor Analysis (CMA), Charteris-Black (2004, 2014) makes an association with

Fairclough‟s three stages of the identification, interpretation and explanation of critical

discourse based on Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics in order to deconstruct

metaphors. Thus, it can be noted that these two theoretical perspectives of the critical study of

metaphors are subparts of cognitive linguistics, aimed at raising critical awareness amongst

language users.

Methodologically, it should be noted that Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) consists

of three stages: identification, interpretation and explanation. Firstly, metaphor identification

is concerned with determining which metaphors are present in a text and whether they show a

semantic tension between a literal source domain and a metaphorical target domain.

Secondly, metaphor interpretation deals with determining the type of social relations that are

constructed through the metaphors identified. Thirdly, metaphor explanation is concerned

with the way in which metaphors integrate within the contexts in which they occur

(Charteris-Black, 2004).

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In this thesis, metaphor analysis appears to be a seriously major issue concerning the

politics-related problem and using the analytical notion of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA)

seems to be well suited with the particular context of this study.

2.8.3 Metaphors in Political Discourse

It can be generally acknowledged that metaphor has long been recognised as a central

element in political discourse. Charteris-Black (2004) points out, “with the emergence of

cognitive semantic approaches to metaphor and the growth of critical discourse analysis a

number of studies have been undertaken into the use of metaphor in various types of political

discourse” (p. 47). As was previously emphasised, the use of metaphors in political discourse

is a linguistic strategy which has been widely undertaken. The use of this type of figurative

language aims at conceptualising metaphors, deconstructing them and associating them with

a political subject and its context. In order to attain a basic understanding of political issue

phenomena, a reader needs to have some basic metaphorical concepts.

Johansen (2007) emphasised “when we, in addition, know that many of the concepts

that are central to politics, what politics in essence is about, concepts like democracy,

freedom, rights, justice, taxes, education, elections, laws, economy, nations and war, are

abstract and in essence creations of the human mind and our society, it indeed seems likely

that political language will be, to speak figuratively, packed with metaphors” (p. 16). This is

in line with Semino (2008) who pointed out that “it is often claimed that the use of metaphor

is particularly necessary in politics, since politics is an abstract and complex domain of

experience, and metaphors can provide ways of simplifying complexities and making

abstractions accessible” (p. 90).

It is worth noting that the complicated issues of politics can be simplified by the

function of metaphor, thus political leaders tend to use metaphorical expressions to justify the

extreme decisions towards critical issues in order to make conveyed messages be more easily

understood by the potential audience. For instance, the “WAR ON TERROR” metaphor was

coined by George W. Bush and his administration after the terrorist attacks on 11 September

2001 (Pavlíková, 2015). In this study, the source domains employed in the speeches are

closely related to everyday experience such as CONFLICT, MORALITY, JOURNEY,

BUILDING, LIGHT and DARKNESS, FIRE, NATURE, DISEASE, VIOLENCE and

HUMAN BEINGS. This study suggests that the utilisation of common source domains aims

at evoking an emotional reaction and approval from the public, just as when George W. Bush

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delivered speeches in relation to terrorism and the counterterrorism strategies (Pavlíková,

2015).

Also, it should be noted that anyone doing any kind of talking, philosophising or

conveying the description of any politically related concept or topic will find it difficult to do

so without the use of metaphors (Johansen, 2007). Hence, metaphorical linguistic expressions

appear to be inseparable from political discourse.

2.9 Corpus Linguistics (CL)

The term “corpus” from the Latin for “body” (McEnery & Wilson, 2001, p. 29)

defines the term “Corpus Linguistics” as the study of language based on examples of real life

language use (McEnery & Wilson, 2001, p. 1). According to Hunston (2002), a corpus is “a

collection of naturally occurring examples of language stored on an electronic database” (p.

2). Corpus linguistics is most normally associated in the minds of linguistic practitioners with

searching through screen after screen of concordance lines and wordlists generated by

computer software in an attempt to make sense of phenomena in large collections of texts or

language (O‟Keeffe & McCarthy, 2010, p. 3). There is not, however, a monolithic,

consensually agreed set of methods and procedures for the exploration of language (McEnery

& Hardie, 2012, p. 1). As corpus linguistics studies normally interrogate language on the

basis of computerised collections, analysis of such data can be through the investigation of

the frequency of word use and other linguistic features, with the assistance of specialised

software.

Unlike purely qualitative approaches to research, corpus linguistics implements a

more quantitative methodology, but as Biber (1998) points out, corpus-based research

actually depends on both quantitative and qualitative techniques: “association patterns

represent quantitative relationships, measuring the extent to which features and variants are

associated with contextual factors”. However, functional (qualitative) interpretation is also an

essential step in any corpus-based analysis (quoted in Baker, 2006, pp. 1-2).

2.9.1 Central Concepts of Corpus Linguistic Tools

The central concepts of corpus linguistic tools which are relevant to this study

include:

1) Token: the total word count in a corpus.

2) Type: the word frequency counts including repeats of each distinct

word (Cheng, 2012, p. 218).

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3) Lemma: a group of word-forms that are related by being inflectional

forms of the same base word. The lemma is usually labeled by that base or stem. For

instance, in English destroy, destroys, destroying and destroyed are all parts of the verb

lemma destroy but the noun destruction is a separate lemma because it is related to destroy by

derivational rather than inflectional processes (McEnery & Hardie, 2012, p. 245).

4) Concordance line: a display of every instance of a specified word or

other search term occurring in a corpus, together with a given amount of preceding and

following context (McEnery & Hardie, 2012, p. 241).

5) Keyword: a word that is more frequent in a text or corpus under study

than it is in some (larger) reference corpus, where the difference in the frequency is

statistically significant (McEnery & Hardie, 2012, p. 245).

6) Key word in context (KWIC): a format for displaying a concordance

where the search result is lined up in a central column and the columns on either side contain

a short chunk of the context preceding and following each result in the corpus (McEnery &

Hardie, 2012, p. 245).

7) Collocation: a co-occurrence relationship between two words. Words

are said to collocate with one another if one is more likely to occur in the presence of the

other than elsewhere, or at random (McEnery & Hardie, 2012, p. 240).

8) N-grams: an n-gram is a sequence of n elements (usually words) that

occur directly one after another in a corpus, where n is two or more. Studying n-grams (also

called clusters or lexical bundles) is one way to operationalise the analysis of collocation

(McEnery & Hardie, 2012, p. 247).

9) Lexical bundle: a pattern of two or more adjacent words, also known

as n-grams, lexical chunks and lexical clusters (Cheng, 2012, p. 214).

2.9.2 Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics

Corpus Linguistics (CL) can significantly contribute to Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA). Their bilateral use combines both qualitative and quantitative methods with results

that increase the credibility, validity and reliability of the findings. Furthermore, the

procedures of the corpus-aided approach for discourse analysis are replicable, which,

consequently, increases the scientific value of the discourse.

It can be posited that individuals tend to emphasise aspect of a text which appear to be

supportive of their initial hypotheses, while at the same time overlooking those features

which seemed to be more contradictory (Baker, 2006). Furthermore, Baker (2006) also

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posited there are other major benefits in using corpus tools for further analyses of discourse,

for example, in reducing researcher bias and allowing triangulation. It should be pointed out

that corpus-based methodologies seem to reduce the potential bias of the researcher at some

level of abstraction. Even though this bias might not be removed completely, at least with a

corpus unit of analysis, the data can be selected for further analyses and interpretation based

on the emerging patterns generated through corpus tool usage. Corpus linguistics can

therefore provide possibilities for the combination of methods of data analyses and the

triangulation of methods used concurrently, which in turn increases accuracy. (Baker, 2006,

p. 16).

Marchi and Taylor (2009) demonstrate the distinctive differences between Corpus

Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as follows:

Table 2.22: The Distinctive Nature of Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) (adapted from Marchi & Taylor, 2009, p. 2)

Corpus Linguistics Critical Discourse Analysis

Quantitative Qualitative

Data driven Theory driven

Representative samples Individual contextualised examples

Statistical relevance = Representative Social relevance = Meaningful

Breadth Depth

Generalisability Precision and richness

Replicability = Greater objectivity Political intent = Subjective interpretation

Descriptive power Explanatory power

According to Mautner (2009, p. 123), Corpus Linguistics (CL) can significantly

benefit Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in three major ways:

1) Corpus Linguistics (CL) allows critical discourse analysts to work with

much greater data volumes than when utilising purely manual techniques.

2) By enabling critical discourse analysts to significantly broaden their

empirical base, Corpus Linguistics (CL) can help reduce researcher subjectivity, thus coping

with a problem which Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is more prone to than other social

sciences.

3) Corpus Linguistics (CL) software offers both quantitative and

qualitative perspectives on textual data, computing frequencies and the measure of statistical

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significance, as well as presenting data extracts in such a way that the researcher can assess

individual occurrences of search words, qualitatively examine their collocation environments,

describe salient semantic patterns and identify discourse functions.

Thus, we can conclude Corpus Linguistics (CL) contributes to Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA), allowing the researcher to deal with a large amount of raw data, reducing

the researchers‟ subjectivity and strengthening the credibility of the analysis and

interpretation process.

2.10 Related Previous Studies on Critical Discourse Analysis

This section presents past studies using the CDA framework to investigate the

linguistic features of political discourse in different socio-political contexts, together with the

corpus-based methodology that generates authentic examples of linguistic features embedded

in political messages as supporting evidence for data analysis.

The first study, Balfaqeeh (2007) focused mainly on the use of a wide range of CDA

approaches to examine the linguistic features, rhetorical devices and socio-political

contextual aspects of four influential political leaders. The author conducted his doctoral

thesis with the topic of “Critical Discourse Analysis of Arabic and English Political Speeches

delivered during the War in Iraq”. He investigated speeches about the war made by four

major politicians: George Bush, Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden during

the period 2002 - 2006. The study investigated a wide range of discursive and formal

strategies which appeared in the speeches in both their original English and English-

translated versions from Arabic. The structure, argumentation, global and local meanings, or

as they are more generally known, macrostructure and microstructure of the discourse, were

also taken into consideration for data analysis and interpretation.

The results demonstrated that the use of pronouns, speech acts and mitigation to

heighten authority can be considered as the prominent linguistic features utilised in Saddam‟s

political discourse. Meanwhile, the use of old-fashioned linguistic sources can be found

frequently in Bin Laden‟s political discourse. In relation to the power and underlying

ideologies, the speeches of both Saddam and Bin Laden reflected the current political

situation at the time. Religious-orientated ideologies and power-related language were

employed on a regular basis by both Saddam and Bin Laden‟s choice of topic, words and

argumentation.

Regarding the main linguistic characteristic used in Blair‟s speeches, the frequent use

of the pronoun “I” was designed to reflect his power and authority. Moreover, the use of

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transitivity as a mental process related to feeling and sensation can be interpreted as his

expression of personal passion and conviction. The use of the auxiliary modal verb “will”,

represented as a tool of emphasis, is one of the linguistic features appearing frequently in his

speeches. Bush‟s political speeches tended to use persuasive language related to the US

traditional concepts of freedom and democracy. There is extensive use of techniques relating

to implication (action of implied meaning) and pre - supposition of shared views of the world

between Bush and the public. Moreover, the passive voice in which the agent is not explicitly

mentioned and the use of the modal verb “must” is seen frequently in Bush‟s speeches.

A more recent study by David and Dumanig (2011), based on a textual analysis of the

speeches of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir, establishes good guidelines for this

present work. Due to the socio-political context of the selected speeches in relation to the

Malaysian national issues of unity and reconciliation among diverse ethnic groups, this

context is similar to the Thai political situation which turned into a crisis between the two

mainstream political ideologies and views, nominally the „Red Shirts‟ and „Yellow Shirts‟.

David and Dumanig‟s (2011) study, entitled “National Unity in Multi-ethnic

Malaysia: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Tun Dr. Mahathir‟s Political Speeches”,

investigated the Prime Minister‟s ideology, power and authority aimed at influencing the

public in order to unify multi-ethnic Malaysians such as Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indigenous

and other minority groups. The researchers conducted their study of political discourse

through the lens of Fairclough‟s CDA framework, placing the emphasis on the use of

discursive strategies in the speeches for analysis. They argued that the use of pronoun

markers such as “We” and “Our” throughout the speeches had a positive influence on the

feelings, attitudes and beliefs of all Malaysians in respect of national unity and stability.

Interestingly, David and Dumanig‟s (2011) research not only laid emphasis on

selecting one single type of prime ministerial political discourse for in-depth analysis through

the lens of CDA but they also took into account various speeches related to, but not primarily

focused on, national unity, for instance, the speeches related to unity and economic success

(1995), racial and economic equality (1996), economic disparity, race and religion. By doing

this, it allowed the researchers to reveal the hidden or underlying ideologies through

linguistic features embedded in various kinds of discourse. Their work, therefore,

demonstrates the Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir‟s concern for equality and unity

among Malaysians, expressed via a series of speeches.

A further study of political speeches, Wang (2010) combined Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) with Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), examining the use of

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transitivity and modality in two of Barack Obama‟s speeches: his victory speech and

inauguration speech. This study employed a methodology different from other studies by

applying transitivity and process types for discourse analysis. The study explored the

relationship between language, ideology and power and how the power embedded in the

speeches had a persuasive effect on the public‟s acceptance and support for Obama‟s policies.

The findings of this study show Obama used more simple and colloquial words together with

shorter sentences instead of “difficult” language. By so doing, he made the relationship

between communicator and audiences appear to be closer. One might argue the rationale for

this strategy was partially dictated by the Obama electoral powerbase, focusing as it did on

the disadvantaged and ethnic minorities, who might be less capable of dealing with complex

language and ideologies. In his speeches, transitivity analysis in discourse and material

process type (the process of doing) have been mostly utilised in order to exhibit what the

government has achieved, what they are doing, and what they will do in the future.

Additionally, the study revealed that Obama made his messages easier for his audience to

understand and accept by the use of modal verbs, tenses and first person pronouns. This study

demonstrates how audience can be encouraged to pay more attention to the message.

In relation to previous studies using the combination of Corpus Linguistics (CL) and

Critical Discourses Analysis (CDA) in political-related speeches, Mulderrig (2006) analysed

UK education policy texts from 1972 to 2005 by employing transitivity analysis influenced

by Halliday‟s (1994) Systemic Functional Grammar and van Leeuwen‟s (1996) social actor

representation. The retrieved instances of “we” from seventeen education policy documents

were examined under three different British Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher

(Conservative), John Major (Conservative) and Tony Blair (Labour). The overall findings

indicated that the actions of government tended to be “managing actions” and the linguistic

forms of self-identification of the British government over time seemed to act out their roles

as “managerial governances” to control educational policy and institutions.

Another study where Corpus Linguistics contributed to Critical Discourse Analysis is

where Trailovic (2014) conducted a contrastive study “Corpus-based Analysis of Political

Speeches on Warfare by Bush and Obama”. The author employed a corpus-based

methodology to generate frequencies, using word and keyword lists of four prominent

linguistic features such as pronouns, modal auxiliaries, metaphors and euphemisms

(“downsizing” as a euphemism for cuts) from 9/11, in the warfare related speeches of George

Bush and Barack Obama during 2001 – 2013. He found that the microstructure analysis of

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the discourse, using the discursive strategy as positive-self and negative-other presentation,

was employed differently by George Bush and Barack Obama.

To be more specific, referring to enemies or opponents in the negative aspect such as

dictator, tyrant and murderer were extensively utilised by Bush, who presented himself and

America as heroes. On the one hand, Obama paid less attention to enemies but focused on

linguistic features related to America and the American people. Unlike Bush, Obama

frequently employed positive self-reference with the pronoun “I” for self-protection and his

own qualities. Furthermore, the avoidance of the use of the pronoun “we” with the deontic

modality “must” and the semi modalities “have to” and “need to” for obscuring the

responsibility and raising the protection of public image seems to have more frequently used

in Obama‟s political discourses. The findings demonstrated that Bush reflected his ideologies

by dealing more with foreign policy, negative “other” presentation, intimidation and

justification of warfare, while Obama focused on “face” protection, positive self-presentation

and domestic policy. Interestingly, his speeches were perceived by the public as more direct,

daring, formal and personal than Bush‟s discourse.

In a more recent work by Moustafa (2015) based on US data, there are insightful ideas

on men and women‟s gender identity in actual roles and conditions in contemporary society

along with their ideological underpinnings. The author conducted a large-scale doctoral

dissertation on the topic “Linguistic Gender Identity Construction in Political Discourse: A

Corpus-assisted Analysis of the Primary Speeches of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton”.

The researcher focused mainly on computerised data collection in two ways; using corpus-

driven and corpus-based approaches, giving emphasis to wordlists, keyword lists and

concordances through the analytical model of Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis

approach. The aim was to explore the Obama and Clinton construction of self-identity, the

use of gender-marked functional wordings, the use of binomial gender-related pairs and

gender representations with a combination of Halliday‟s functional processes and van

Leeuwen‟s analytical system of social actor representation.

According to the findings of the corpus-driven analysis, Clinton was more focused on

addressing domestic issues and gender-related themes, whilst Obama was more concerned

with raising foreign affairs issues. Furthermore, Obama reflected his identity most saliently

through raising issues related to race, ethnicity and religion whereas Clinton constructed her

political identity through gender, familial affiliation and professional role-related issues. The

findings related to identity construction, show Clinton employed the opposite-sex pairs with

the female term in the first position, whilst the binomial gender-related pairs were also

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employed when women and their rights-related issues were being discussed. In a similar vein,

Obama used the same pair to the same strategic end in his political discourse. This work

therefore shows the gender representations conveyed by Obama‟s and Clinton‟s speeches

reveal the ideological underpinnings towards an interpretation of the respective identities of

Obama and Clinton.

Clearly political speeches have attracted a great deal of interest from researchers in

different subfields of applied linguistics and have become a favourite subject in the critical

study of language in recent years. Previous studies have created an extensive body of

literature in both single CDA and combined corpus-based approaches for analysing political

discourse; however, each methodology or approach has its own limitations. In order to reduce

subjectivity and avoid the selective use of evidence, “figuratively known as cherry-picking, to

support a biased position for data analysis, the application of corpus tools can be a convenient

method for CDA as well as for reducing the over-interpretation of linguistic

data”(O‟Halloran, 2010, p. 567).

However researchers have always had to bear in mind that corpus data does not

interpret itself. A corpus-based analysis will naturally tend to place emphasis on empirical

patterns of language, demonstrating frequencies, word lists and keyword lists which

empirically verify data against hypotheses developed in qualitative analysis. Therefore, it is

necessary for the researcher to be aware of selecting patterns of corpus data in order to

discover further supporting evidence for hypotheses (Baker, 2006, p. 19).

Accepting the limitations of the sole use of either the analytical framework of CDA or

the corpus-based methodology for analysing political discourse, I have decided to select the

analytical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the major approach in

studying the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha. In order to examine the salient

linguistic features and the use of specific persuasive and manipulative language techniques

embedded in the speeches, these linguistic features might not be drawn out quantitatively or

detected by CDA approach. Therefore a corpus-based methodology is employed initially to

generate authentic examples of selected prominent linguistic features, such as the first

personal pronouns “I” and “We”, as well as other selected collocations which will be

generated in the form of wordlist frequencies and concordance lines for supporting evidence

to enhance the generalisation of data analysis and interpretation in the discussion of the CDA

perspective.

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2.11 Related Previous Studies on Critical Metaphor Analysis

Metaphorical linguistic expressions have been investigated thoroughly in order to

disclose the hidden ideologies in different formats of various genres for a better

understanding of language and socio-cultural issues which are the basis of creating positive

change and a better society. Existing studies have focused on examining the metaphors

expressed in the political speeches of leading politicians in other countries. Firstly, Kumalu

and Iniworikabo (2016) investigated metaphors in selected political speeches by three

Nigerian democratic presidents, adopting the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) of Lakoff

and Johnson as a grounded framework for the analysis of metaphorical linguistic expressions.

They asserted that the three political leaders employed a wide variety of source domains of

“conflict and war”, “building”, “disease”, “journey”, “illness”, “games and sports” and

“family” in their representation of issues relating to social, economic and political conditions

in Nigeria. This study concluded that these source domains played an essential

communicative role in the communication of all three political leaders. The metaphorical

expressions employed by the three presidents appeared to be similar in linguistically distinct

patterns. For instance, “The administration of President Obasanjo had laid the foundation

upon which we can build your future prosperity”, using the building metaphor to highlight a

positive evaluation towards a particular policy for the national administration.

Similarly, one part of Trailovic‟s (2014) master‟s degree dissertation focused on

investigating metaphors in the political speeches on warfare by George W. Bush and Barack

Obama. It uses the complex “fairy tale” metaphor and other conceptual metaphors such as

“war on terror”, “war is business” and “war is hard work”. The study concluded that Bush

was highly focused on prolonging the war by justifying policies and actions, whilst Obama,

was less focused on war but more on America, it‟s citizens and, occasionally on terrorism.

In other research, Stenbakken (2007) examined representations of ideology in the

Blair and Bush corpora by investigating their use of metaphors. This study focuses on

conceptual metaphors as carriers of ideology through the following examples; “the US and

the UK are good” and “the enemies of the US and UK are evil”; “good is light” and “evil is

darkness”; “terrorists are animals”; and “terrorism is a disease”. This part of the analysis

revealed that both Blair and Bush had commonalities in their belief that they were on the side

of good and that terrorism and those connected with it were evil.

Studies of conceptual metaphors in political discourse are of great interest where there

are comparisons between different ideologies. Johansen (2007) investigated the use of

political metaphors in the UK Conservative and Labour parties. According to the findings of

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this study, it is clear that metaphor is an undeniable fact of both speech and thought. There

are also a great number of concepts in which the utilisation of metaphor was similar in both

parties. The overall result suggested that source domains such as objects, paths, spatial

orientation and human qualities play a crucial role in people‟s psychological and perceptual

importance. These source domains are mapped onto the more complex and abstract target

domains such as political concepts, economy and crime. For instance, “the state as

interference”; “the state as a partner”; “the economy as a growing organism”; “the economy

as a building”; “the economy as an entity that must be in balance”; “the economy as a

battleground”; “crime as an object”; and “drugs as a living entity”.

Charteris-Black (2004) examined metaphors in the British party political manifestos

of the Labour and Conservative parties. This study attempted to analyse each of the five most

common source domains such as conflict, building, journey, plant and religious metaphors.

The findings show that conflict, building, and journey-based metaphorical expressions are

highly productive source domains for metaphors in this particular political text type.

Evidentially, the metaphors used by both parties appeared to be positive. Their evaluation

relied on conceptual metaphors such as “worthwhile work is a building” and “society is a

building”.

Metaphors in political discourse have also been the subject of investigation in the

Thai context but very little comprehensive research has been published. Klinnamhom (2008)

examines conceptual metaphors in expressions used by Thai politicians in different types of

discourse. The findings of this study shed light on conceptual metaphors which represent a

set of ideas. For instance, “politics is fighting” represents a violent scenario which requires

the arts of war to defeat the opponent; “politics is a journey” where politicians lead people to

the end; and “politics is a performance” which is about the business of taking care of people.

However, the dataset of this study, elicited from various sources including political campaign

speeches, the 2002, 2003, and 2004 censure debates, media interviews with politicians from

January 2004 to December 2005 and ex-prime minister Thaksin‟s “radio talks with the

public” in 2004, were all discourses gathered at times when the Thai political system

appeared to be non-problematic and stable.

2.12 Chapter Summary

Reviewing the literature given above, it can be concluded that analysing political

speeches by looking at how power, identity and ideology are conveyed through language is

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one of the most interesting aspects of the analytical framework of critical language analysis.

In times of unusual situations in politics, most of the speeches that were delivered by political

leaders, were rich in notions of power, ideology and authority, and the desire to control,

shape and persuade people‟s minds, attitude, and beliefs and ultimately lead the public to

behave in accordance with government policy.

It should be noted that CDA approaches, the corpus-assisted approach, the Systemic

Functional Linguistics (SFL), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), Critical Metaphor

Analysis (CMA) and other related notions of critical approaches of discourse analysis can all

provide audience of politically-orientated conceptualisation with an insightful awareness of

misrepresentation and manipulation through the use of discursive strategies in the political

message. It involves analysing language in order to uncover the hidden ideologies, power and

the discursive representation of the identities which are embedded in each particular

discourse. The next chapter provides detailed information on how this study was conducted

methodologically based on Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis approach, the notion of

pronoun analysis and the thematic analysis of relevant social actors, Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), and Critical Metaphor Analysis

(CMA) as well as the sporadic use of corpus-assisted methodology.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter seeks to explain the processes of data collection and data selection for

further analyses and interpretation into main sections. The first section gives a general

overview of Fairclough‟s (2010) three-dimensional framework for Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) which will be utilised as the theoretical and the analytical frameworks for

this study and also reports on an overview of the corpus-assisted methodology for generating

selected linguistic features. The second section explains the data collection procedures,

describes procedures of clause division and process type identification, provides a brief

explanation of the reliability check procedures of process type identification and the inter-

rater reliability procedure of modality types and degrees, gives an illustration of corpus-

assisted metaphor analysis procedures and explains the procedure of metaphor identification

and the procedure of inter-rater reliability of metaphor identification. The third section

provides an overview of data analysis, research design and procedures. The fourth section

reports on the information relating to consent and ethical concerns.

3.1 Fairclough’s (2010) Three-Dimensional Framework for Critical Discourse Analysis

(CDA)

In accordance with Fairclough‟s Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse

Analysis, this study uses critical approaches to examine the weekly addresses of General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the head of the National Council for Peace and

Order (NCPO). This three-dimensional framework was adopted as both theoretical and

analytical framework underpinning the three main stages of analysis.

To begin with the first dimension (textual analysis), I deal with the use of basic

linguistic features which are embedded in the weekly addresses, for example, personal

pronouns and social actor analysis, modality analysis and transitivity analysis of process

types and metaphors. On the subject of text interpretation, the pronoun choices were analysed

based on the personal pronoun “We” and “I”. Furthermore, the selected social actors and their

fully-expanded sentences were critically read and manually selected into three themes of

analysis consists of (1) those indicating positive-self representation, (2) those asking for

supportive cooperation and understanding from the public, and (3) those being enthusiastic

for the national administration (NCPO) in association with the socio-political context.

Additionally, the modality types and degrees, and transitivity analysis of material processes

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were manually coded and analysed through the notion of modality system and the process

types which are based on the analytical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL).

With regard to the second dimension (discursive practice) and the third dimension

(socio-cultural practice), I attempted to interpret the relationship between productive and

interpretative discourse processes within the text. With reference to explaining the

relationship between discourse and its social context, I thoroughly investigated the personal

pronouns, social actors and relevant themes, the modality system and transitivity analysis of

the material processes through the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)-

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) connection in relation to the Thai political turbulence

occurring during the time of the 2014 Thai coup d‟état.

3.2 Corpus-assisted Approach

To access the corpus, the concordance software known as the AntConc 3.4.4

(Windows) 2014, was employed in this study. AntConc 3.4.4 w (Windows) 2014 is a free

concordance software program, which serves as a comprehensive text analysis tool in applied

linguistics related studies. This tool is commonly applied in corpus-based studies and critical

discourse analysis. Frequency lists and concordance lines show how often lexis and other

syntactical structures appear in the corpora.

According to Anthony (2005), AntConc is a corpus analysis toolkit designed by the

author for specific use in the classroom and includes a powerful concordancer, word and

keyword frequency generator, tools for bundle lexical analysis and a word distribution

plotter. Here, the frequency of keywords list and concordance lines of selected salient

linguistic features which were generated by the Corpus Linguistic approach (CL) were

subjected to thorough investigation through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis.

3.2.1 Word Frequency List

According to Anthony (2014), AntConc shows words that are unusually frequent (or

infrequent) in the corpus in comparison with words in a reference corpus. This allows the

user to identify the characteristics of words in the corpus. When a frequency list has been

generated for a particular corpus, the software searches every item in that corpus in order to

establish how many tokens there are in total – at the simplest level a token and a word can be

considered to be the same thing – and how many different types there are constitute this total

(O‟Keeffe & McCarthy, 2010, p. 124).

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Words in frequency lists can be sorted by rank, frequency or specific word, so an

analyst can easily determine not just the most or least frequently occurring words but also

check the frequency of specific words (Jones, 2012, p. 80). The most basic type of frequency

shows the number of types (individual occurrences of any word form) and their frequency in

the corpus. These lists of types and tokens are usually sorted either alphabetically or by

ranking frequency (Flowerdew, 2012, p. 9).

O‟Keeffe and McCarthy (2010) assert that frequencies are always relative (although

figures can be attached to them). For example, describing a word as “frequent” means that it

is frequent compared with other words. In a corpus of spoken British English (one of the

spoken components of the Bank of English), for example, the word time occurs just under

1,670 times per million words, whereas the word circumstance occurs only twice per million

words. It is reasonable to say, therefore, that time is more frequent in this corpus and that

circumstance is less frequent (O‟Keeffe & McCarthy, 2010, p. 164). To illustrate, Figure 3.1

(see below) shows a screenshot of AntConc for the search-target word output of we in the

word frequency list view.

Figure 3.1: Screenshot of AntConc for the Search-Target Word Output of “We” in the

Word Frequency List View

3.2.2 Concordance Lines

According to Anthony (2014), this tool shows search results in a “KWIC” (Key Word

In Context) format. It shows how words and phrases are commonly used in a corpus of texts.

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Each word-form is indexed and a reference is given to the place of occurrence in a text

(O‟Keeffe & McCarthy, 2010, p. 167).

In this study, concordance lines or “keywords in context” (KWIC) are shown in

Figure 3.2 KWIC shows the results of the search word which is “centred” to identify the

collocation patterns conveniently. Additionally, concordance lines are helpful for data

analysis when the modal auxiliary verbs have been sorted. The transitivity and verbal

processes will then appear next to each other. However, KWIC or concordance lines, do not

show a full sentence of the target word, which sometime makes the context incomplete, and

thus the researcher has to be aware of the whole sentence to undertake a full analysis and

interpretation. It is worth mentioning that KWIC or concordance lines provide a wealth of

raw information but that careful analysis and insightful interpretation are required for critical

discourse analysis.

To illustrate, Figure 3.2 (see the next page) displays the screenshot of AntConc for the

search-target word output for “We” in KWIC and the associated concordance lines.

Concordances show words in the context of the sentences or utterances in which they were

used. Often users will interrogate these frequency lists to give themselves an idea of what

some of the important words in a corpus might be and then do a concordance of those words

to find out more information about them. According to Jones (2012), concordances can be

sorted alphabetically based on the words either to the right or left of the word that you

searched for and playing around with this sorting system is often a good way of spotting

patterns in word usage.

Furthermore, AntConc concordances are created by typing a word or phrase into the

Search Term box, and generating a list of instances in which this word appears in the corpus

listed in their immediate context. The search word appears in the concordance in the centre of

the page highlighted in blue, with what occurs before and after appearing to the left and the

right of the word. The KWIC Sort dialogue can be used to sort the concordances

alphabetically based on the word first, second, third or more adjacent to the target words,

placed to the left or right of the search term (Jones, 2012, p. 81).

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Figure 3.2: Screenshot of AntConc for the Search-Target Word Output of “We” in

KWIC and Concordance Lines

3.3 Data Collection

The data for this present study is based on the English subtitled weekly public

announcements of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha. It is also worth noting that “the English

translations are provided by Royal Thai Government” (Carreon & Svetanant, 2017, p. 641).

The data was downloaded from the official Thai government website at www.thaigov.go.th.

The total number of weekly addresses during General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s tenure as head of

the NCPO (30th May – 5

th September 2014) was 15 with a 95,581 total word count. These 15

addresses, which were broadcast nationwide, and form the corpus for this study, were all

communicated during the time General Prayuth was head of the NCPO, and prior to his

being appointed prime minister. Thus, his weekly addresses as prime minister were not

included in the corpus of this present study.

Regarding the weekly addresses during General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s tenure as the

head of the NCPO, I focused on this specific period because the Thai political situation was

unstable and Thailand faced continuing conflict between government officials and the Thai

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populace, with a perceived high risk of civil war. To be more specific, it is generally accepted

that Thailand had been in the grip of political unrest for months, with the opposition saying

the democratically elected government must be overthrown because of corruption. There

were fatalities on both sides of the political divide, and in order to prevent further violence

and restore order the military felt obliged to act. As a consequence, the military declared

nationwide Martial Law on 20th May 2014 in a coup d‟etat. The military chief, General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha established an administrative team termed the National Council for

Peace and Order (NCPO) which effectively took control of the government and suspended

the constitution in order to restore order and enact political reforms.

At this point, immediately following the military coup d‟etat, the weekly addresses,

fronted by General Prayuth, commenced. For this research all the 15 weekly addresses were

copied and pasted to files in Microsoft Word Format and then each single file was transferred

into Notepad Format where the procedure of generating linguistic features from corpus

linguistic software was conducted. Additionally, each file was assigned a specific filename

using the number, year, month and date when it was officially published on the Thai

government website. For instance, the first weekly address, which was published on the Thai

government website on 30th May 2014, was named WA01_2014_05_30.

3.4 Clause Division of Process Type Identification

After all the clauses starting with the selected pronouns and social actors „I‟, „We‟,

„NCPO‟, „Government‟ and „Military‟ were extracted by the corpus-assisted approach, each

expanded concordance was read and re-read critically. During this process, clauses exhibiting

irrelevant references to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha were removed and were not counted for

analysis, particularly, „U.S. Government‟, „previous government‟ and „precedent

government‟.

In order to analyse the pattern of the transitivity system that might reflect the

discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Eggins‟s (2004)

system of clause simplexes, where all selected sentences are broken up into clause simplexes

as the unit of analysis, was followed. In other words, the clause simplexes refer to “single

clause units or sentences of only one clause” (Eggins, 2004, p. 256). By so doing, I could

thoroughly consider its constituents or elements in order to identify the particular functions of

each part and their contribution to the meaning.

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By splitting up the clause complexes to produce individual clauses or clause

simplexes, Butt, Fahey, Feez, Spinks, and Yallop (2000, p. 161) suggest the following

procedure:

1. Underline all verbal groups.

2. Check that they are all function as Process in a clause.

3. Look for the internal patterns of the clause in the experiential function: Participants,

Process and Circumstances.

4. Look for the internal patterns of the clause in the interpersonal function: the

Subject/Finite relationship.

The excerpts below are used as examples to illustrate how the clause complexes were

broken up into individual clauses or clause simplexes using the above procedure.

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Text 3.1: Example of Data Preparation and Sentence Extraction

It can be clearly observed that there are 14 underlined sentences in which General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha appeared to be a participant, such as the pronoun and social actor

references. I then identified where the clause complex boundaries coincide with sentence

Speech No. 5

National Broadcast by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Head of the National Council for

Peace and Order, on 27th June 2014

During the past six months, I had assumed the role of a government official and

wanted the country to be peaceful. I enforced the law and performed my duties as ordered

by the then government. I did not participate in any movements or cooperate with any

conflicting parties. We are able to differentiate our position and matters of democracy,

constitution, law, state mechanism and legitimate and righteous matters. I will not let the

military be damaged like that. However, when it is impossible to solve issues, the NCPO

needs to step in. At the moment, some kinds of activities are prohibited, for example, the

holding of political forums or fund-raising dinners by various groups which often involve

discussion on future political movements. These kinds of talks will trigger the opposing

groups and the same cycle will be repeated. I ask for your cooperation not to do it. If it is

discussed privately, that is fine, but you must not hold such an event in public. It is against

the provisions of the Martial Law Act. If it happens, those found committing the offence

will be summoned and charged with violating the NCPO‟s order. The media must also

verify the news with us before reporting it.

In the treatment of the dissidents/protestors or other gatherings, the NCPO will use

soft measures. The First Regional Army has invited some students who have opposing

views for discussion so that we can understand each other. The situation is better now.

We do not want to enforce any strict legal measures. In fact, we are trying our best to

reduce the use of such laws as much as possible. I urge everyone to remain patient during

this period. If everyone does what they want now, the country will not be peaceful.

We need some time to achieve this. The restriction of freedom is rare, except for freedom

of expression that is harmful. I cannot ask you to stop thinking but I urge you to refrain

from doing as it will cause conflict and more problems.

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boundaries. After that I underlined all the verbal groups in order to break up the 14 clause

complexes into individual clauses or clause simplexes. All the underlined verbal groups are

illustrated as follows:

3.4.1 Clause complex in sentence extraction with all the underlined verbal groups from

Text 3.1

1. I had assumed the role of a government official and wanted the country to be

peaceful.

2. I enforced the law and performed my duties as ordered by the then government.

3. I did not participate in any movements or cooperate with any conflicting parties.

4. We are able to differentiate our position and matters of democracy, constitution,

law, state mechanism, and legitimate and righteous matters.

5. I will not let the military be damaged like that.

6. The NCPO needs to step in.

7. I ask for your cooperation not to do it.

8. The NCPO will use soft measures.

9. The First Regional Army invited some students who have opposing views for

discussion so that we can understand each other.

10. We do not want to enforce any strict legal measures.

11. We are trying our best to reduce the use of such law as much as possible.

12. I urge everyone to remain patient in this period.

13. We need some time to achieve this.

14. I cannot ask you to stop thinking but I urge you to refrain from doing as it will

cause conflict and more problems.

3.4.2 Checking all functioning as processes in each clause

Looking closely at the 14 clause complexes, it can be seen that those clauses appear to

contain 31 processes. I was able to hypothesise that there would be 31 simplex clauses.

Nevertheless, I needed to look at the environment of all the underlined verbs to make sure

that they were functioning as Process in a clause. After thorough investigation, the result

suggests that some underlined verbs were functioning as a circumstance which was not

considered as a process in clause patterns as can be clearly seen below. For instance, the

verbal group „damaged‟, „do‟, „remain‟, „achieve‟, „stop‟ and „thinking‟ played a role as

circumstance, phenomenon or verbiage which helps to explain more information about the

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actions or sayings of the participants. It should be noted that „had assumed‟, „did not

participate‟, „will not let‟, „can understand‟, „do not want‟, and „cannot ask‟ are counted as

one verbal group even though the two parts of the group are separated. To be precise, I

focused on the lexical verbs which are the main verbs in a phrase or sentence, conveying

semantic or lexical meanings which were collocated with auxiliary or helping verbs. Also, the

clauses allowing the leaving out or ellipsis of the subjects were retrieved. For instance, „I had

assumed the role of a government official and wanted the country to be peaceful‟ was split up

into two clauses by using the pronoun „I‟ as „I wanted the country to be peaceful‟ in clause

number two.

1. I had assumed the role of a government official and

2. I wanted the country to be peaceful.

3. I enforced the law and

4. I performed my duties as ordered by the then government.

5. I did not participate in any movements or

6. I cooperate with any conflicting parties.

7. We are able

8. We differentiate our position and matters of democracy, constitution, law, state

mechanism, and legitimate and righteous matters.


10. The NCPO needs to

11. The NCPO step in.


13. The NCPO will use soft measures.

14. The First Regional Army invited some students who have opposing views for

discussion so that

15. We can understand each other.

16. We do not want to

17. We enforce any strict legal measures.

18. We try our best to

19. We reduce the use of such law as much as possible.

20. I urge everyone to remain patient in this period.

21. We need some time to achieve this.

22. I cannot ask you to stop thinking but

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23. I urge you to refrain from doing as

24. It will cause conflict and more problems.

3.4.3 Looking for the internal patterns of the clause in its experiential function:

participants, Process, and Circumstances together with the interpersonal function: the

Subject/Finite relationship

In this step, I identified the experiential meaning of the participant and the

circumstances in which it is located around each process in the clause pattern. It can be

generally observed that the participant of the clause is derived from the nominal group, the

process itself from the verbal group and the circumstance from the adverbial group or

prepositional phrase (Bloor & Bloor, 2004, 2013; Eggins, 2004; Fontaine, 2013; Halliday &

Mattheissen, 2004, 2014; Thompson, 2004, 2014). For instance, Clause (3) consists of the

personal pronoun „I‟ as participant, „enforced‟ as a process, and „the law‟ as a circumstance.

With regard to the interpersonal meaning, I additionally rechecked the clause element

which displays the interpersonal function, focusing on the subject / finite relationship of each

clause. In interpersonal meaning, Thompson (2014) pointed out that “the subject of the clause

is the entity of which something is predicated in the rest of the clause” (p. 54). On the one

hand, finite is a verbal-type element of the clause pattern (Eggins, 2004). Thus, the Subject

and the Finite are two essential functional constituents of the MOOD component of the clause

(Eggins, 2004, p. 151). In the following list of 22 clauses, the subjects are displayed in bold

type and the finites are underlined in the clause patterns.

After I took all individual clauses or clause simplexes into consideration, it was found

that some clauses needed to be removed because the nominal group, such as „The First

Regional Army‟ and „It‟ represented an “empty” subject, did not refer to General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha‟s participant role in the clause patterns as the groups of five personal pronouns

and social actors (I, We, NCPO, Government and Military) do. There might therefore be

clauses in which the aforementioned groups of personal pronouns and social actors referring

to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s referential choices were extracted for process type analysis.

In the following 22 selected individual clauses indicating pronouns and social actors are in

bold type and all the underlined verbal groups are ready to be employed for the process type

analysis.

1. I had assumed the role of a government official

2. I wanted the country to be peaceful

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3. I enforced the law

4. I performed my duties as ordered by the then government

5. I did not participate in any movements

6. I cooperate with any conflicting parties.

7. We are able

8. We differentiate our position and matters of democracy, constitution, law, state

mechanism, and legitimate and righteous matters

9. I will not let the military be damaged like that

10. The NCPO needs

11. The NCPO step in

12. I ask for your cooperation not to do it

13. The NCPO will use soft measures

14. We can understand each other

15. We do not want

16. We enforce any strict legal measures

17. We try our best

18. We reduce the use of such law as much as possible

19. I urge everyone to remain patient in this period

20. We need some time to achieve this

21. I cannot ask you to stop thinking

22. I urge you to refrain from doing

However, dealing with a massive amount of data by laborious and exhaustive manual

linguistic analysis was unmanageable within the timeframe of the research. So, I adopted the

corpus-assisted approach to generate linguistic features by determining the search terms

including personal pronouns and social actors consisting of „I‟, „We‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟

and „Military‟. Methodologically, I applied the steps of splitting up the clause complexes into

individual clauses or clause simplexes, as systematised by Butt, Fahey, Feez, Spinks, &

Yallop (2000) and the corpus-assisted approach for data extraction as follows:

1. Searching for concordances for each selected personal pronoun and social actor

consisting of „I‟, „We‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟ and „Military‟.

2. Checking that all concordances containing clauses in which the aforementioned

groups of personal pronouns and social actors refer to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s

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referential choices. Irrelevant subjects which do not refer to the representation of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha are removed and not analysed.

3. Expanding all selected concordances into full lines of the clause pattern.

4. Check that all the verbal groups are functioning as Process in a clause.

5. Look for the internal patterns of the clause in the experiential function: Participants,

Process and Circumstances.

6. Look for the internal patterns of the clause in the interpersonal function: the

Subject/Finite relationship.

3.4.4 Steps 1 and 2: Searching the target terms and using the corpus linguistic approach

to assist the process of generating the determined linguistic features

In the initial stage, I utilised the AntConc software, to generate concordance lines

(keywords in context or KWIC). The key aspect of this analytical part was to investigate

closely the personal pronouns and social actors consisting of „I‟, „We‟, „NCPO‟,

„Government‟ and „Military‟. The approach used assists the filtering of relevant pronouns and

social actors referring to the representation of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and are displayed

in the sample concordances below:

Table 3.1: Sample Concordances of “I” and “NCPO”

not true. During the past six months, I had assumed the role of a government

and wanted the country to be peaceful. I enforced the law and performed my duties

duties as ordered by the then government. I did not participate in any movements or

mechanism, and legitimate and righteous matters. I will not let the military be damaged

groups and the same cycle will repeat. I ask for your cooperation not to do

and long-term commitments with Thailand. The NCPO has taken control of the situation,

period will depend on the situation. The NCPO has already shortened the curfew,

the initial phase of our operation, the NCPO cannot allow any group to create

order to avoid unnecessary confrontation. The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures

Community (AEC). For the most part, the NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in

another. Our country must come first. The NCPO understands the concerns of our

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3.4.5 Steps 3, 4, and 5: Expanding all selected concordances into full lines of the clause

pattern; Checking that all the verbal groups are functioning as Process in a clause; and

Looking for the internal patterns of the clause in the experiential function: Participants,

Process and Circumstances

In the second stage, all the emerging target terms are expanded into full concordance

lines. I identified the participant and circumstance that surrounded each process of the clause

pattern by looking closely at the participants, process and circumstances of the clause

patterns. For example:

1. I had assumed the role of a government official and wanted the country to be

peaceful.

2. I enforced the law and performed my duties as ordered by the then government.

3. I did not participate in any movements or cooperate with any conflicting parties.



6. The NCPO has taken control of the situation, temporarily, in order to stop the

violence and break the deadlock that has prevented the previous government from

moving the country forward and to solve urgent problems affecting the economy.

7. The NCPO has already shortened the curfew, from between 22.00 to 05.00hrs to

between 00.00 to 04.00hrs.

8. NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward incidents that may affect the

stability of the country.

9. The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any group that violates this

law.

10. The NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the administration of all

government agencies, unless there are emergencies or urgent problems that need

immediate attention.

11. The NCPO understands the concerns of our international friends.

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3.4.6 Step 6: Looking for the internal patterns of the clause in the interpersonal

function: the Subject/Finite relationship

The subject/finite relationship of each clause was also taken into account to locate the

nominal and verbal-type elements of each clause pattern. It should be noted that the subjects

of the clause which are ellipsed have necessarily to be retrieved from the previous clause and

be placed in the preceding position of the clauses considered as the subjects. The subjects are

displayed in bold type and the finites are underlined in the clause patterns as illustrated in the

sample clauses below:

1. I had assumed the role of a government official

2. I wanted the country to be peaceful

3. I enforced the law and

4. I performed my duties as ordered by the then government

5. I did not participate in any movements

6. I cooperate with any conflicting parties

7. I will not let the military be damaged like that

8. I ask for your cooperation not to do it

9. The NCPO has taken control of the situation

10. The NCPO stops the violence

11. The NCPO breaks the deadlock that had prevented the previous government from

moving the country forward

12. The NCPO solves urgent problems affecting the economy

13. The NCPO has already shortened the curfew, from between 22.00 to 05.00hrs to

between 00.00 to 04.00hrs

14. NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward incidents that may affect the

stability of the country

15. The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any group that violates

this law

16. The NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the administration of all

government agencies

17. The NCPO understands the concerns of our international friends

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According to the steps of splitting up the clause complexes into individual clauses or

clause simplexes, this reveals 2,415 individual clauses or clause simplexes broken up from

1,974 clause complexes, as shown in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2: Numbers of Clause Complexes and Clause Simplexes of Selected Pronouns

and Social Actors

Selected pronouns and social actors

appearing in the English subtitled weekly

addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

Numbers of

clause complexes

Number of

clause simplexes

I 301 311

We 1,286 1,689

NCPO 354 376

Government 17 18

Military 16 21

Total 1,974 clauses 2,415 clauses

3.5 Reliability Check Procedure of Process Type Identification

In order to strengthen the reliability of process type coding, I randomly selected 10%

of the data, (242 out of 2,415 clause simplexes) and got an experienced inter-rater, (a Ph.D.

lecturer specialising in linguistic analysis) to check the percentage of agreement. The results

of the reliability check yielded an 81.00 % agreement (see Appendix E for more details).

3.6 Inter-rater Reliability Procedure of Modality Types and Degrees

The reliability or consistency of the identification of modality types and degrees based

on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) was re-assessed by an expert who is an academic at

a public university in Thailand. 25% of the whole corpora were randomly selected for

re-assessment, i.e. 197 out of the 790 full expanded sentences. The results showed high

(94.4%) inter-rater agreement. In this process, any disagreements regarding identification of

modality types and degrees were discussed between the inter-coder and the researcher until a

satisfactory level of consensus was attained (see Appendix H for further details).

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3.7 Corpus-assisted Metaphor Analysis Procedure

It should be noted that Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Conceptual

Metaphor Analysis (CMA) do not provide a systematic methodology that can be applied to

metaphor study when comparing a corpus of naturally occurring examples of language stored

on an electronic database. However, extracting the relevant data from the corpus appears to

be problematic for any corpus-based metaphor study (Stefanowitsch, 2006, p. 1). It is feasible

to generate particular words in the corpus which results in lists of concordance lines.

Alternatively Deignan (2005) argues that identifying or extracting the words conveying the

metaphorical sense by manually coded procedures can be another way of determining the

target metaphors. Clearly different methods of metaphor identification can be conducted

depending on the goals of a particular study.

To determine the metaphors in this particular discourse, the study adopted a corpus-

assisted approach focusing on the concept of democracy (Baker, KhosraviNik,

Krzyzanowskil, McEnery, & Wodak, 2008; Stefanowitsch & Gries, 2006; Deignan, 2005;

Partington, 2010). The search words used were (1) Democratise; (2) Democratize; (3)

Democratic; (4) Democracy; and (5) Democratization. Following the coup, it seems the

concept of democracy was a debatable issue which was taken seriously in discussion and

critiqued amongst Thais and non-Thais alike. I therefore decided to use these five target

words as the search terms for extracting metaphorical linguistic expressions. After generating

the selected search terms in the corpus dataset with the concordance software AntConc, it

seemed only the two words “Democratic” and “Democracy” were found throughout the entire

text (see concordances in Appendices N and O). The term “Democratic” appeared 27 times,

whereas the word “Democracy” appeared 62 times as can be seen in Table 3.3. Furthermore,

metaphorical expressions were listed for each reference, for instance, words such as

„mechanisms‟, „system‟, „stalled‟ and „functioning‟ were categorised into the “machines and

tools” metaphor based on the notions of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical

Metaphor Analysis (CMA).

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Table 3.3: Frequency of Terms “Democratic” and “Democracy” emerging in the

English Subtitled Version of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s Weekly Addresses

Specific terms for further analysis

Weekly addresses of the National

Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

Frequency Percentage

Democratic 27 30.33 %

Democracy 62 69.66 %

Total 89 100 %

3.8 Metaphor Identification Procedure

After extracting the entire concordance of each word which appears to be part of a

metaphorical expression, I then expanded to the whole paragraph, the area where these words

featured. Once all paragraphs featuring “Democratic” and “Democracy” were extracted, a

close reading of each paragraph was conducted in order to establish which lexical bundle or

word appeared likely to be metaphorical based on the Metaphor Identification Procedure

(MIP) (Pragglejaz Group, 2007, p. 3). Their procedure consists of the following steps:

1. “Read the entire text-discourse to establish a general understanding of the

meaning”.

2. “Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse”.

3. “(a) For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is, how it

applies to an entity, relation or attribute to the situation evoked by the text (contextual

meaning). Take into account what comes before and after the lexical unit.

(b) For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in

other contexts than the one in the given context. For our purposes, basic meanings tend to be:

- More concrete; what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell and taste;

- Related to bodily action;

- More precise (as opposed to vague);

- Historically older;

- Basic meanings are not necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit.

(c) If the lexical unit has a more basic current-contemporary meaning in other

contexts than the given context, decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the

basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it”.

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4. “If yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical”.

Following this procedure, Kheovichai (2015a) asserted that these criteria would assist

the researcher in determining the metaphorical linguistic expressions in a systematic manner.

All metaphorical expressions were then manually categorised and analysed based on the

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) or in combination with an alternative

metaphor analysis approach, Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black, 2004, 2014).

3.9 Inter-rater Reliability of Metaphor Identification

The reliability or consistency in metaphor identification was checked by an expert

who specialises in a related field of metaphor study. After I manually extracted metaphors

from each selected excerpt based on the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) (Pragglejaz

Group, 2007), I then constructed the instrument for the process of inter-rater reliability of

metaphor identification in order to establish agreement, obviate personal bias and make the

study more reliable (see Appendix M for more details). Cohen kappa was employed as the

statistical measurement for this procedure. The kappa value of inter-rater reliability procedure

for source and target domains yielded results of 0.947 and 0.911 respectively, indicating a

high degree of agreement between my coding of metaphors and that of an inter-rater (see

Appendices P, Q, and R for more details).

3.10 Data Analysis

With regards to the analyses of pronouns and social actors, modality system and

process types, this study can be divided into three main phases of procedure for data

compilation and analyses. These three phases include

1) Stage of preparing the text and dataset including data compilation and close

reading;

2) Stage of selecting linguistics features; and

3) Stage of analysing discourse including the selected data being analysed through the

concepts of pronoun and social actor analyses, modality system and process types. To be

more specific, the modality system and process types are reliant on the framework of

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

in order to answer the research question number one.

Having mapped the target and source domains of those candidate metaphors based on

the notion of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), I then analysed and interpreted metaphors

based on the analytical framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) including three

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steps (1) identification, (2) interpretation and (3) explanation in order to answer the research

question number two.

3.11 Research Design and Procedures

As discussed earlier, this present study is based on Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA) and Halliday and Matthiessen‟s (2004, 2014) notion of Systemic Functional

Linguistics (SFL), the notions of pronoun and social actors analyses as well as Conceptual

Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). These supporting

paradigms, which were drawn out by the sporadic use of Corpus Linguistics (CL), will be

employed for thorough investigation and analysis through a discussion of the CDA

perspective, as can be seen in Figure 3.3.

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Figure 3.3: A Flow Chart of Research Design and Stages of Critical Discourse Analysis

Preperation of text and dataset

Stage One: Data compilation

Stage Two: Close reading

Stage of selecting linguistic features

Stage Three: Dataset stored and generated by concordance software (AntConc).

Stage Four: Selected salient linguistic features expanded into full sentences.

Stage Five: Expanded selected sentences manually coded based on the concept of pronoun and social actor analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Conceptual

Metaphor Theory, and Critical Metaphor Analysis.

Stage Six: Coded data in frameworks of modality system, process types & conceptual metaphors employed for inter-coder reliability and reliability check procedures.

Stage of analysing discourse

Stage Seven: Selected data was analysed through the concept of pronoun analysis and social actor, and Systemic Functional Linguistics based on the lens of Critical

Discourse Analysis and Critical Metaphor Analysis.

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3.12 Consent and Ethical Concerns

As previously mentioned, the aim of this study is to reveal the discursive

representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha by thoroughly examining the

salient selected personal pronouns and social actors, the modality system and the material

processes as well as its major participant roles the Actors conveyed in the NCPO weekly

addresses. Furthermore, one of the main purposes of this current study is to reveal the

underlying ideologies regarding the concept of democracy and politico-related issues through

the use of metaphors.

Additionally, it can be understood clearly that General Prayuth Chan-o-cha as the

head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) was a public figure and the weekly

addresses were provided via the official government website. Thus, it was not necessary to

obtain the consent from General Prayuth Chan-o-cha for their use or ask for special

permission to use public announcements. Nevertheless, as a courtesy I sent an official request

letter to seek permission to use these public addresses to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister.

In consequence, the official letter from the Secretariat of the Prime Minister was sent back to

the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, stating clearly that the English-subtitled

versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha downloaded from the

official Thai government website can be used for educational purposes without asking

permission (see Appendices T and U for further details).

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CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results and discussion from the four main sections of the

analysis. The first section presents the results obtained from the analyses of the five pronouns

and social actors ‗We‘, ‗I‘, ‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘. The second section reports

on the results obtained from the analyses of the modality types and degrees in the framework

of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The third section presents the findings on the

analyses of the material processes and the major participant roles as the Actors. The final

section presents the conceptual metaphors emerging in the English subtitled version of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‘s weekly addresses and interprets how those metaphors are

related to the concept of democracy and politico-related issues.

4.1 Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis

In this part of pronoun and social actor analysis, I will only focus on the most

significantly utilised five pronouns and social actors ‗We‘, ‗I‘, ‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and

‗Military‘ due to these pronouns and social actors being considered as self-references to

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha as discussed earlier. Firstly, I discussed and investigated the use

of the pronoun ‗We‘ in the English subtitled weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

in the period of his tenure as the head of the NCPO. With regard to the data derived from the

corpus tool, it was found that ‗We‘ greatly outnumbered the other four pronouns and social

actors. ‗We‘, which appeared 1,355 times (49.57%), was ranked 6th in the 15 English

subtitled weekly addresses during General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‘s tenure as the head of the

NCPO, whereas other types of pronoun and social actors were utilised in relatively small

numbers. To be precise, ‗I‘ was employed 545 times (19.94%), ‗NCPO‘ appeared 515 times

(18.84%), ‗Government‘ was employed 214 times (7.83%) and ‗Military‘ was used 104 times

(3.80%), respectively.

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Table 4.1: The Overall Frequencies in the Wordlist of Selected Pronouns and Social

Actors in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

Pronouns and Social Actors

Weekly Addresses of the Head of the National

Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

Frequency Percentage

We 1,355 words 49.57%

I 545 words 19.94%

NCPO 515 words 18.84%

Government 214 words 7.83%

Military 104 words 3.80%

Total 2,733 words 100%

4.1.1 Analysis of the Pronoun “We”

As a pronoun ‗We‘ has various referents and is ambiguous in terms of underlying

meanings and can be inclusive of or exclusive to the addressees. From a closer analysis of the

use of ‗We‘ two main functions can be categorised: (1) the Inclusive We as General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha as the head of NCPO, administration team and Thai citizen and (2) the Exclusive

We as the NCPO and government team. The exclusive pronoun ‗We‘ as the NCPO and

government team shows the majority, about 772 sentences (68.07%), of its occurrences,

whereas the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ as the General Prayuth as the head of the NCPO,

government team and Thai citizen shows a relatively small number, about 362 sentences

(31.92%), of its occurrences as can be seen in the Table 4.2.

Table 4.2: The Overall Frequencies of Inclusive Pronoun “We” and Exclusive Pronoun

“We” in the Selected Corpus

Types of Pronoun “We” Frequency Percentage

Exclusive Pronoun ―We‖ refers to the NCPO

and government team which excluded from the

Thai citizen

772 sentences

68.07%

Inclusive Pronoun ―We‖ refers to General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha as the head of NCPO,

administration team and Thai citizen

362 sentences 31.92%

Total 1,134 sentences 100%

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Drawing this categorisation, I have attempted to analyse both the inclusive and

exclusive pronoun ‗We‘ through the Critical Discourse Analysis perspective in the following

sub-sections. This means the way the discursive strategy is structured depends on the

speaker‘s intentions and the context of the political crisis during a coup d‘état on 20th May

2014. This in turn determines the way the exclusive ‗We‘ and the inclusive ‗We‘ are utilised

and presented in the selected discourse. Considering the fact that the context can be

considered the most important factor in determining the referents of this ambiguous pronoun,

the full transcripts of the selected excerpts have been employed in the process of classifying,

interpreting and analysing the various instances of the pronoun ‗We‘.

4.1.1.1 Analysis of the Exclusive Pronoun “We” in the Weekly Addresses of the Head of

the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

By examining the concordance lines of the exclusive pronoun ‗We‘, it can be seen that

this type of ‗We‘ is employed to emphasise the NCPO‘s administrative team in order to gain

the trust of the Thai people. To be more specific, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha aimed at

utilising the exclusive pronoun ‗We‘ to put emphasis on how the government‘s team

attempted to solve problems concerning the political upheaval and conflict which in turn

could be a threat to the Thai nation and society as a whole. He subsequently urged all Thai

nationals to come together and work collaboratively to rebuild the nation, creating a sense of

responsibility and unity among citizens deemed necessary at a time of political crisis.

In relation to the categories that are exclusive of the addressee, the analysis has shown

that the underlying meanings from the selected excerpts of the exclusive pronoun ‗We‘ can be

categorised into two typologies: (1) it‘s use for gaining the trust of the Thai population and

(2) for emphasising the willingness of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the government team

to overcome the politics-related issues. As exclusive uses of ‗We‘ are highly ambiguous and

context-dependent, I have presented subsequent parts of the analysis with explanation and

greater detail.

The Use of the Exclusive Pronoun “We” for Gaining the Trust of the Thai population

In the selected excerpts under investigation, the exclusive uses of ‗We‘ expressing a

high degree of underlying meaning associated with gaining the trust from its audience reflects

the role of General Prayuth in creating the impression of integrity and credibility in order to

persuade the audience to accept and support the views of the NCPO administrative team.

As can be seen in the following excerpts, General Prayuth draws on collaborative discourse

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to build up common ground and mutual agreement regarding certain opinions and arguments

between himself and the Thai populace. Hence, stressing what the government team intends

to overcome in order to calm political upheavals in the future appeared to be an effective

persuasion for gaining audience credibility and support. In using such this strategy, General

Prayuth created an institutional identity in his role as the head of NCPO in order to enhance a

sense of unity and solidarity among the population at a time of political crisis.

We will only assign a working committee to work alongside those in the

agencies to move the work along effectively, expeditiously, transparently, in

order to regain the trust of the people. (WA01_2014_05_30)

All we are asking for is to give us time to reform in order to mend our

democratic system and make it right, just, responsible and beneficial to all

people. (WA01_2014_05_30)

We ask for your patience, your cooperation in thinking and deciding, and your

collective approval, to reach conclusions and prevent undesirable outcomes

similar to what has happened in the past from happening again in the future.

(WA09_2014_07_25)

We came into make our country stronger, laying firmer foundations to prevent

the structure from collapsing so that our country will be ready to move

towards becoming a fully functioning democracy. (WA02_2014_06_06)

We have listened to the voice of the people and come up with solutions that

meet their needs. (WA04_2014_06_20)

Use of the Exclusive Pronoun “We” in Emphasising the Willingness of General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha and the Government Team to Overcome the Politics-related Issues

The use of the exclusive ‗We‘ referring to General Prayuth and the government team

is the most prominent in the selected discourse. By conspicuously excluding self-references

to the NCPO administration team and Thai populace in the discourse, General Prayuth

indicates that the administration team is not only in the role of governing the nation, but also

is committed to the attitudes, views and opinions of the public in tackling the political issues.

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In the following excerpts, General Prayuth attempts to employ the exclusive ‗We‘ to stress

how he and his government will solve the political-related problems Thailand has at the time

of crisis.

We are trying our utmost to do things that normal politics or democracy

consistently cannot achieve in the past. (WA10_2014_08_01)

We are trying to solve urgent problems first, which will benefit the people in

the long term. (WA10_2014_08_01)

We are trying our best to solve the problem such as considering projects such

as ―Bringing People Back Home‖. (WA10_2014_08_01)

We have to start a new thought process by drawing together all groups and

parties, segregating the perpetrators, and let the remaining ones develop the

country. (WA11_2014_08_08)

Looking closely at the selected excerpts, most of the function of the exclusive use of

‗We‘ is presented as emphasising the NCPO‘s strong willingness, determination and

conviction to address fundamental political issues and to move Thai democracy towards

more stability and reliability – a view which is naturally acceptable to the Thai population.

To be more specific, the exclusive use of ‗We‘ is found utilised concurrently with inclination

modalities such as ‗need‘, ‗will‘ and ‗want‘, suggesting the willingness of General Prayuth

and his team to seek out possible solutions to the difficult scenarios created by certain

politics-related issues. This can be seen in the following examples, whilst greater explanation

and interpretation in the subsequent inclination modality analysis.

We need to listen to the voice of the people, respond to doubts and create a

common vision. (WA04_2014_06_20)

However, we need to press on the resolving the still many problems relating to

the well-being and livelihood of the people. (WA05_2014_06_27)

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We want everyone to trust us so please do not attack us on such issues.

(WA09_2014_07_25)

We need to first reform and move our nation forward on the security,

economy, social, and other fronts. (WA11_2014_08_08)

We will collect ideas from all sides as well as use information gathered by

previous attempts in order to encourage national reconciliation and reforms.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

We need to dedicate and sacrifice to resolve the prolonged problems which

have existed for more than nine years. (WA02_2014_06_06)

We will have to seek appropriate measures to solve this problem in the second

phase. (WA05_2014_06_27)

We want to bring the country back to its normal state. (WA05_2014_06_27)

We want to adopt transparency measures and provide equal benefits for the

public and the nation. (WA06_2014_07_04)

We need to examine issues such as; existing obstacles and how to overcome

them; and improvement in return of benefits for the state.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

The exclusive uses of ‗We‘ tend to be highly ambiguous and context-dependent, as is

evidenced in the quotations above, and are used typically in the socio-political context of

political upheavals. It is clear from the analysis and interpretation above that this reference

(the exclusive ‗We‘) is a key element of numerous strategies aimed at asserting the credibility

of the speaker who produced such discourse, while at the same time aiming to gain trust and

support from the audience.

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4.1.1.2 Analysis of the Inclusive Pronoun “We” in the Weekly Addresses of the Head of


With regard to the inclusive ‗We‘ (including the reader/hearer), this type of pronoun is

predominantly employed when looking for the tendency of inclusion in its use. In this case,

the inclusive ‗We‘ signifies group membership – alluding to the Thai populace as a whole.

The main focus of utilising this type of pronoun ‗We‘ is to emphasise common membership

for the common good – irrespective of traditional political affiliations. General Prayuth refers

to strong cooperation, using the inclusive ‗We‘ in the context of common group membership,

as can be seen in the following example.

Everyone must work to contribute to the nation’s benefits and welfare and

make Thailand known to the world as a small but significant country, with its

virtuous monarchy and its unique, long-standing traditions which we must

continue to uphold. (WA12_2014_08_15)

In the excerpt above, General Prayuth attempts to use the inclusive ‗We‘ (as head of

the NCPO and its team of administrators), the inclusive ‗We‘ (as in the nation) and the

inclusive ‗We‘ (as in the Thai populace) when he urges the nation to be stable from the

violence associated with the political crisis. Furthermore, some excerpts from the speech

demonstrate how General Prayuth intends to forego his role as leader to urgently solve the

political issues of the country, by utilising the discursive strategy with other phrases such as

―you and I‖ and ―all of us‖. For instance,

I have touched on many issues today. As fellow Thais, if we do not understand

each other, then who will? Foreigners will surely not understand us. So today

we must understand each other before others can have trust and

understanding of us. (WA06_2014_07_04)

By examining the socio-political context of the political unrest, this incident occurred

because of the different political points of view of Thai people, the net result has been a

diminution of national unity and stability in Thailand. Based on this analysis, General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha, as the head of the NCPO, attempted to use the inclusive ‗We‘ to forge a closer

rapport or to link himself to his audience by creating solidarity and a feeling of agreement

between both parties; the Thai populace and the NCPO team. In this part of the analysis,

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I have selected instances where General Prayuth lays stress on using the inclusive ‗We‘,

arousing emotions in the audience and support for the NCPO‘s policies.

We cannot keep fighting each other just because we think differently, or, even

worse, use the law to our own advantage. (WA01_2014_05_30)

We can have different opinions but we must live together in peace under

social norms that are laws that enable society to live in safety and help

develop the country. (WA05_2014_06_27)

We need to be a democracy in our own way and use the knowledge and

wisdom of the Thai people to solve these problems and prevent them from

taking hold again in the future. (WA11_2014_08_08)

Based on the extracts above, it is worth noting that the subtle meanings of these

sentences aims to call for reform and reconciliation in the name of national stability and the

unity of Thai nationals. It is evident in the linguistic choices made in General Prayuth Chan-

o-cha‘s speeches, that certain ideological implications are to the fore, particularly through the

use of pronoun markers such as the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘. As mentioned earlier, the aim of

using such a discursive strategy is to arouse emotions and attitudes within the Thai populace,

who had opposing viewpoints and different perspectives in terms of political ideologies, to

unite and work together to move the country forward during the time of political unrest.

Rhetorically, the use of pronouns such as ‗We‘ refer to the speaker and his

constituents, who are the target audience. In this case, the speaker‘s ideology is transmitted to

the audience who eventually become convinced by the speaker‘s argument. The use of

pronouns is a linguistics means of including, unifying and focusing the audience. Moreover,

its function is intended to evoke a sense of responsibility and commonality and the

development of a good rapport with the Thai people. As can be noticed, General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha uses the following phrase as a common strategy to make his audience become

part of the political discourse and the importance of that discourse.

We should refrain from sharing unverified information to avoid incitement.

(WA12_2014_08_15)

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We have to look back into the past and see whether there are problems of

conflict or interference among the systems, especially among the spheres of

politics and the country’s administration. (WA13_2014_08_22)

We need to talk to each other and have a certain level of contentment.

(WA15_2014_09_05)

Furthermore, it should be posited that the most motivating reasons for a politician to

use ‗We‘ in a political speech is to invoke a sense of collectivism and shared responsibility

with the audience. It is important to note that the contribution to meaning of both the

inclusive and exclusive ‗We‘ were a major discursive strategy found in General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha‘s weekly addresses. However, the findings also indicate a tendency to employ the

exclusive ‗We‘ to the extent of 68.07 % compared to the inclusive ‗We‘ (31.92 %) in order to

emphasise the role of being enthusiastic for governing the country and support for the NCPO

administration team.

As previously mentioned in Chapter 3, this study takes a corpus linguistic and data-

driven approach to the issue of pronoun choices in the weekly addresses. Apart from the

analysis of the pronoun ‗We‘ which relies much more on a frequency-based observation of

occurrence and distribution, representative examples were utilised to illustrate prominent

linguistic practice as well. Hence, the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ in the weekly addresses of the

head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) were categorised and

contextualised in greater detail. Given that in the present study, I am primarily interested in

references by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha either as himself or as presented to others, it

seems reasonable also to focus on an in-depth analysis of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ as this

pronoun appears in sufficient frequency and seems to have ambiguous meanings and

functions. For example, although it is possible that General Prayuth might use ‗We‘ for the

purpose of inclusiveness, on the other hand, ‗We‘ can also be used for a number of different

purposes such as to talk on behalf of the politician‘s party; to deflect individual

responsibility; to evoke a general collective responses and attitudes; and to include or exclude

audience from group membership. Here it is used to stress the behalf of politician‘s party, as

illustrated in the following excerpt.

Please trust our intentions. We, the government officials, civilians, police, and

military, must support one another. (WA01_2014_05_30)

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Alternatively, ‗We‘ can be used to deflect individual responsibility, as illustrated in

the following excerpt.

I could only amend some regulations to facilitate the work and in tune with the

situation at hand. So those who wish for us to make changes should

participate in the reform process. We need to talk with each other, to discuss

and to develop ourselves, especially the local administrators, in terms of

thinking and approaches in development for public benefit.

(WA13_2014_08_22)

Obviously, ‗We‘ can be used to evoke general collective responses and attitudes

which can be noticed in the following excerpt.

We can all live together regardless of our differences. All major reforms take

time, but we can all work together to make this process quicker.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

Finally, ‗We‘ can be used to include or exclude hearers from group membership as

seen in the following excerpt.

I once again ask for your understanding that at this moment, we need peace

and order for the NCPO to resolve our problems. (WA06_2014_07_04)

One typical use of the pronoun ‗We‘ is to establish within the general public the

referent of ―the nation or all Thai citizens‖ when General Prayuth provides information in

relation to specific political beliefs and activities, using ‗We‘ for the purpose of shared

characteristics and commonalities among all Thais. On the other hand, the inclusive pronoun

‗We‘ seems to be ambiguous, where some political events are mentioned in the addresses or

where some action has been taken by the government or the NCPO team which is not

referenced to all Thais.

In concern for the ambiguity of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘, I then re-read the selected

corpus and manually categorised the referents of ‗We‘ used in the selected corpus by looking

at the persuasive and politically strategic functions served by the use of this pronoun. Besides

looking thoroughly at the apparent linguistic function of the use of the inclusive pronoun

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‗We‘, I also considered the broader socio-political context when those two types of pronoun

‗We‘ as the inclusive referential were being categorised. I then attempted to interpret and

explain how and why the inclusive referential pronoun ‗We‘ was utilised and how it relates to

the discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his

tenure as the head of the NCPO.

Examples of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ for the subsequent analysis were grouped

into two categories: (1) Inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ referring to General Prayuth and the Thai

people and (2) Inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ referring solely to the whole Thai people. As the table

shows, there is not much difference in terms of frequency-based observations of the two

meanings, as can be seen in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3: The Overall Frequencies of Inclusive Pronoun “We” referring to General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai People and the Inclusive Pronoun “We” refers solely

to Whole Thai People from the Selected Corpus

Types of Inclusive Pronoun “We” Frequency Percentage

Inclusive Pronoun ―We‖ referring to General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai people

216 words 46%

Inclusive Pronoun ―We‖ referring solely to the

Thai people

254 words 54%

Total 470 words 100%

As shown in Table 4.3, the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ in reference solely to the Thai

people, accounting for 254 words (54%), slightly more than in reference to General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha and the Thai People, accounting for 216 words (46%). Therefore, it is interesting

to examine the extracts or patterns of linguistic features and the subtle meanings appearing in

the selected excerpts. After I read and re-read all the selected excerpts thoroughly, it is found

that most of the meanings, when used solely in relation to the Thai people, appear to be

associated with ideas of inclusiveness and national self-glorification, whereas the inclusive

pronoun ‗We‘ in reference to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai People appear to be

more associated with group membership.

In subsequent analyses, I firstly analysed the subtle meanings of the inclusive pronoun

‗We‘ in reference to the Thai populous with the aim to examining the relationship between

General Prayuth and his administrative team and the Thai populace by seeking connections to

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the concept of inclusiveness and national self-glorification, indicating a sense of pride and

patriotism. Furthermore, I then analysed the subtle meanings of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘

by reference to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai People with the aim to conveying a

message of unity for Thai nationals during a time of political uncertainty by associating it

with the concept of inclusiveness and group membership.

4.1.1.3 Analysis of the Inclusive Pronoun “We” referring solely to the Whole Thai

People (Inclusiveness and National Self-Glorification)

At the time the NCPO weekly addresses commenced, after the declaration of martial

law on 20th May 2014, Thai people seemed to be insecure with the instability of the political

situation. It seemed important that General Prayuth, which was the head of NCPO at that

time, deliver messages designed to raise a sense of patriotic and nationalistic concerns within

the Thai population.

As the analysis has shown, most of the messages were more in a ―we‖-focused style

of political speaking, raising collectivism and unity concerns. In the following excerpts,

I then analysed the linguistic description associated with critical interpretation and

explanation based on a wider context of the political stagnation taken place during 30th May

until 05th September 2014 which is the focal point of the subsequent analysis. To be more

specific, the thorough investigation of the selected extracts showed that the topics being

delivered were variable but mainly centred on the following issues: political conflicts, the

development of human capital, election, democracy and constitution-related concerns,

nationalism issue, corruption, education, economy, international relations and other related

issues regarding the country and societal development as can be seen in the following

excerpts.

All the measures that we have been used above had one common goal – to

restore peace, order, and security to our society. We cannot keep fighting

each other just because we think differently, or, even worse, use the law to our

own advantage. Such actions will only create further conflicts that could

devastate our country and its credibility in the international community.

(WA01_2014_05_30)

Every democratic country has gone through stages of difficult periods and

devastating situations. They are tested by time. Today it is better for us all to

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help set up a stable pillar of Thai democracy, rather than to criticize,

particularly regarding a demand for an early election. We have been through

trial and error for many years. If we succeed, we will be a country with a

complete and sustainable democracy and that will benefit Thai people as well

as our foreign friends. (WA08_2014_07_18)

If we are to sustainably rid the country of these systems today, we must help

each other find suitable ways and measures to counter them. We need to be a

democracy in our own way and use the knowledge and wisdom of the Thai

people to solve these problems and prevent them from taking hold again in the

future. Do not be afraid of this. We need to address all dimensions of the

problems for the reform to be effective and to prevent bad things from

happening again in the future. (WA11_2014_08_08)

The National Reform Council candidate applications began on the 14th

of

August. This requires participation from all sides. We should put our nation

as the main priority and set aside political and personal interests which have

caused accumulated problems and undermined the country for so long.

(WA12_2014_08_15)

Based on the selected excerpts above, there are various examples for the use of the

inclusive ‗We‘, referring to the general Thai population when the focal topic is concerned

with the political conflict. The study has demonstrated that a more ―we‖-focused pattern of

political speaking has been developed in order to foster a sense of in-group companionship

between General Prayuth and the Thai people as can be seen in the illustrative example.

We cannot keep fighting each other just because we think differently, or, even

worse, use the law to our own advantage. (WA01_2014_05_30)

We need to address all dimensions of the problems for the reform to be

effective and to prevent bad things from happening again in the future.

(WA11_2014_08_08)

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In an alternative context, the possessive adjective ‗Our‘ was utilised to show a

positive relationship of such inclusive reference between the speaker and the audience, for

instance, ―We should put our nation as the main priority and set aside political and personal

interests which have caused accumulated problems and undermined the country for so long‖.

This shows how strategic use of pronouns may assist the speaker in connecting with

his audience to work as a team. General Prayuth utilised in-group pronouns of unity such as

‗We‘ and ‗Our‘ to convey his intent to produce a collective utterance to calm the political

tension. Of particular interest in the use of the inclusive ‗We‘, the statement aimed at asking

Thai nationals to stop doing any activities harming the national security.

Another important point which seems to be worth noting in this part of the analysis is

drawing on the concept of national self-glorification which can be discursively associated

with the notion of nationalism and patriotism. The excerpts presented below are an effort by

General Prayuth to come up with such a discursive strategy. Discourse of this kind,

emphasising inclusiveness and solidarity, can shed more light on the concepts of national

self-glorification related to the notions of nationalism and patriotism, illustrating the

importance of this discursive strategy during times of political turmoil. The following three

selected extracts illustrate this point.

Our country has a long history of culture and traditions. Thai people are

known for their simple ways of living that foreign visitors would love to see.

We do not need to entirely create new structures since we already have rich

and beautiful culture that can be built upon and can attract visitors. Our Thai

smile is well known around the world and we need to bring it back. We will

not only smile at foreigners but also smile at each other. There is no reason

we have to argue against each other. We will attract foreign visitor with this

smile. Thailand should not be known in the eyes of foreigners as a haven for

illegal actions. We will no longer be an attractive place for foreigners who

come to enjoy illegal activities. Instead, foreigners will be attracted to visit

Thailand to see our simple ways of life and the Thai smile. I think this will be

better for the country. (WA05_2014_06_27)

My principle is for the state to look after people of all ages – be they children,

youths, adolescents, adults, and elderly people, in an equal and

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comprehensive manner. We need to formulate plans and preparations, create

a systematic thought process, be rational, putting the country before

ourselves, create a sense of conscience and ideology of nationalism. Youths

should be taught lessons in Thai history, customs and tradition. We could

move forward in line with the contemporary world without destroying our rich

past. (WA06_2014_07_04)

There are many things that still need to be developed. I reiterate that we

cannot stand alone in this world. Some people say that Thailand is already

strong and does not need to depend on others, as we have never been

colonized. I think we need to pause on such thoughts. That is our pride and

history but now we have to learn to develop ourselves. The most important

thing I would like us to improve is in human resources development. Everyone

is meaningful and a strength of the country. We need to improve education at

every level, adjust perceptions of co-existence, respect the law and reduce

conflicts. We can have different views but we must be able to co-exist. We

should not have major rifts or disagree on everything. The country cannot

develop. We need to talk to each other and have a certain level of

contentment. Perhaps not a hundred per cent but 50, 60 or 70 per cent would

suffice. The end result is we can look after the many without disregarding a

few. If the minority wants more, it would not be acceptable to the majority and

vice versa. Thus we have to consider where the interests lie. We may only

achieve so much today but we can make more progress if we can come

together as mentioned earlier. (WA15_2014_09_05)

My investigation demonstrates the positive representation of Thai culture is

discursively represented by historical heritage, culture and tradition. This sometimes appears

to be a dominant strategy deployed in Thai political discourse at times of crisis in order to

activate the sense of group cohesiveness among Thai nationals.

It is found that some sentences and statements of General Prayuth appeared to be

obviously connected with positive references to his own country, citizen stereotype,

principles, cultural heritage, history and tradition. Those sentences, for instance, include

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Our country has a long history of culture and traditions.

(WA05_2014_06_27)

We do not need to entirely create new structures since we already have rich

and beautiful culture that can be built upon and can attract visitors.

(WA05_2014_06_27)

We need to formulate plans and preparations, create a systematic thought

process, be rational, putting the country before ourselves, create a sense of

conscience and ideology of nationalism. (WA06_2014_07_04)

That is our pride and history but now we have to learn to develop ourselves.

(WA15_2014_09_05)

4.1.1.4 Analysis of the Inclusive Pronoun “We” referring to General Prayuth Chan-o-

cha and the Thai People (Inclusiveness or Group Membership)

In relation to this analysis, it is possible to find individual instances where references

to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai people could be considered inclusive, such as

when he provided some relevant information about specific political beliefs and activities.

Looking closely at the selected excerpts, it is found that the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ referred

to General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Thai People contained in the personal pronouns ‗I‘,

‗You‘, the possessive adjective ‗Our‘ and the social actor ‗NCPO‘.


and order for the NCPO to resolve our problems. All of you know what the

real problems are. The NCPO is tackling most of the issues head-on while

others are in the process. As for the 3-stage roadmap, I have referred to it

many times before. Still, there are comments and criticisms from analysts,

writers and academics about whether the roadmap will be achieved.

(WA06_2014_07_04)

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The example above illustrates the political beliefs of General Prayuth and his

administration team. The use of ‗We‘ to foster a sense of belonging to an in-group, utilising

the possessive adjective ‗Our‘ to strengthen a positive relationship between the speaker and

the audience, for instance,


and order for the NCPO to resolve our problems. (WA06_2014_07_04)

This may also be interpreted as General Prayuth employing various types of pronouns

and social actors toward a more person-centred style of politics as can be seen in the sentence

using pronoun ‗I‘, while at the same time employing ‗We‘ to make the statement more

emotive and create a bond with his audience.

I would like the public to understand and make a distinction between the

reconciliation aspect and the reform aspect. Reconciliation is about creating a

conducive environment for reform in which tensions are reduced and talks

between conflicting parties can take place. If we cannot reconcile then we

cannot reform. Therefore we will have to firstly find a way out of conflict. In

reconciliation there will be many issues that will take time to understand and

every group should curtail feuding and mutual suspicion. This has to be done

continuously with every group finding a way for dialogue. Today we have

created an atmosphere of mutual awareness and dialogue. At the same time,

there is a forum to listen to the opinions of all groups from the local level up

to NCPO’s Reconciliation Centre for Reform. All parties must find a common

ground in order to find a way out of conflict in the immediate and long term.

We need to determine the cause of conflict and means to resolve it. If no one

agrees it is not possible to move forward even if we have music to listen to

every day. But if we cannot accept each other, we cannot solve anything and

how are we going to live with each other in the future. Today, we all need to

help out and we can no longer continue to quarrel. One must accept

differences, whether they are personal likes or different viewpoints, if we are

to live together. (WA07_2014_07_11)

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Through the communicative strategy of over-inclusion of ―we‖ as mentioned in the

above excerpt, General Prayuth utilises ‗We‘ as representative of the NCPO‘s administrative

team when talking about reconciliation-related issues. Furthermore, the inclusive ‗We‘

appearing in the following sentences seem to raise Thai people‘s awareness relating to the

outbreak of political violence during the coup and collaboration for problem resolution.

As you can see, Phase 2 is a very important one for our nation and there is a

limited timeframe according to the roadmap. The NCPO requests the

cooperation of all parties to come together as one to help each other solve all

types of problems in every aspect, so that the solutions that have been

achieved within 1 year can be sustainable. Everyone fears about what would

happen in the future if reform could not be achieved. There may be resistance,

conflict, chaos or instability. We have to prepare today so this reform process

is a very vital period. Everyone must lower their ego by thinking of how we

can live together in peace even though we may have different views. We need

to look at how the nation could move forward in terms of politics, economy,

social, energy, education and corruption, legal system. Actually a one year

period is too short but the NCPO does not want to take much of your time. If

you do not help me now the problems will return. Today, we are applying

special laws in taking over national administration. Therefore if you were to

say that the situation in Phase 2 should be more normal and more democratic,

I ask you whether we will be able to fix anything. If it were that easy, it would

not be necessary for me to step in to take control of national administration.

Ask yourself if this can be done and if so please share with me.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

Furthermore, the pronoun ‗We‘ conveyed in the above excerpts attempts to link the

two in-groups together; General Prayuth, as the head of NCPO‘s administration team, and the

Thai people as a whole. As the analysis has shown, the following example sentences include:

We have to prepare today so this reform process is a very vital period.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

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Today, we are applying special laws in taking over the national

administration. (WA07_2014_07_11)

Therefore if you were to say that the situation in Phase 2 should be more

normal and more democratic, I ask you whether we will be able to fix

anything. If it were that easy, it would not be necessary for me to step in to

take control of national administration. (WA07_2014_07_11)

These sentences discursively refer to General Prayuth as the head of NCPO‘s

administration team, emphasising its team responsibility and the importance of the Thai

reform processes in accordance with General Prayuth‘s policy. It is his three-phase,

―Roadmap‖ of reconciliation, reforms and elections. These three phrases seemed to be

significant goals for the NCPO team with the objective of returning the country to a fully

functioning democracy in the near future through three interconnected phrases of Thai

political and democratic processes.

On the 30th May 2014, General Prayuth announced a revised three-phase ―Roadmap‖

with different emphases for each phrase. For instance, the first phase included the drafting of

an Interim Constitution, while at the same time the second phase included the establishment

of a legislative council to select a government and draft a new constitution. The election

issues were placed apparently in the third phase.

In addition to enacting special legislation with the takeover of the national

administration by the military government, Martial Law was declared on 20th May 2014 in

order to restrict political gathering which might threaten national stability. In addition

control of all media channels was instituted in order to prevent the dissemination of

information likely to cause public misunderstanding or the spreading of false information to

discredit the NCPO and the reform process.

The inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ referring solely to the Thai population as a whole were

discursively conveyed in the following sentences, for instance:

We need to look at how the nation could move forward in terms of politics,

economy, social, energy, education and corruption, legal system.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

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Everyone must lower their ego by thinking of how we can live together in

peace even though we may have different views.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

In these examples, it might be inferred that the inclusive references can be associated

with the strategic use of ‗We‘ for group memberships to promote peace and to create a shared

sense of Thai nationals‘ responsibility to develop the country in all aspects such as politics,

economy, social, energy, education and corruption, legal system and so on. Through the

analysis of this persuasive strategy, it seems that ‗We‘ is employed as an anaphoric reference

to the overall Thai people which are more closely aligned with the positive efforts of General

Prayuth and his administration team to calm the political tension of demonstration groups and

put more emphasis on repair the political, social and economic processes of the country.

The government and I will do our very best to perform our duties for the

benefit of all citizens, using measures that are appropriate, transparent and

effective. Now we must ensure that the three levels – the state, the private

sector, and the public – work in sync and cooperate with each other in good

understanding. If we can cooperate like this, then nothing can stand in our

way. Citizens should be patient. These problems have accumulated over many

decades. They cannot all be resolved within a few months. In the past 4

months we have set the foundations for the country. The government must

now continue to build on this foundation, so that our country remains

peaceful, develops and prospers. (WA15_2014_09_05)

According to the excerpt above, the pronoun ‗We‘ refers to General Prayuth and his

administration team through the utilisation of the personal pronoun ‗I‘ and the social actor

‗Government‘ when General Prayuth aimed at focusing on what he and the team are

attempting to do in the political arena. Also the possessive adjective ‗Our‘ is utilised in the

last sentence when the shared involvement between the military government and Thai

populace has to be touched upon.

This might be explained by the fact that during the times of 2014 Thai coup d‘état,

there was considerable importance allocated to bringing the country together and the use of a

more inclusive voice between General Prayuth as the head of NCPO and Thai nationals.

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Through the discursive strategy use of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ there is reference to

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Thai People as a whole. Concurrently the sporadic

utilisation of ‗We‘ which solely refers to General Prayuth and his team appeared to be more

significant in order to positively influence the audience‘ beliefs to have confidence in the

administrative capabilities of his military government.

The insight gained from these subsequent analyses suggests that the concept of

nationalism and collectivism of Thai society is an effective idea to establish the perspective

of solidarity. Through the use of the personal pronoun ‗We‘, it can be interpreted that Thai

nationals as a whole seems to have a sense of shared commonality particularly in terms of

national culture, stereotype and heritage. Taking into account the concept of national self-

glorification, it is assumed that General Prayuth attempted to glorify Thailand, utilising this

discursive strategy for the ultimate goal of unifying Thai nationals to have a sense of

collectivism and involvement to calm the political tension and to create a peaceful society.

Moreover, in regard with the deployment of the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ referring

solely to Thai nationals through the concept of national self-glorification, the message

conveyed can be implied that Thai nationals must work for the benefit of the country in a

conflict-free manner. This might include upholding the values of harmony, sharing the public

conscience, not taking advantage of anyone or public body and coming together collectively

to resolve politic-related issues. Following the coup, there was a considerable need for

General Prayuth to convey the message of bringing the country together and to use a more

inclusive voice. To sum up these subsequent parts of analyses, it shows that General Prayuth

frequently utilised the pronoun choice of ‗We‘ to talk about the involvement of himself and

the responsibilities of the NCPO administration team, while at the same time he also utilised

the inclusive pronoun ‗We‘ to refer solely to the whole Thai people, focusing more on the

collaborative pattern to unite the divisive political ideologies and viewpoints of Thai

nationals.

4.1.2 Analysis of the Pronoun “I”

As explained in Chapter 3, I specifically investigated the use of ‗I‘ appearing in the

English subtitled weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the

head of the NCPO. It has a frequency of 545 (19.94%) and was ranked 2nd of the pronouns

and social actors utilised in the speeches. In this part of analysis, it seems that General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha used positive-self representation in order to describe and to highlight his

personal qualities in a positive way.

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To be precise, General Prayuth attempted to generalise that as the representative of

the interim government, he was trying to do his best to govern the country effectively and to

prioritise what obstacles should be addressed or what policies should be implemented to

strengthen all administrative tasks. He casts himself as a good role model for any future

established government. As can be seen in the following excerpt, General Prayuth tries to

express his conviction and determination to gain credibility and trust with the audience to

counter criticism of his role and the overall working performance of his provisional

government from Thai and global audiences.

I strongly and sincerely urge all sides to put Thailand above themselves, to

cooperate and unite, and to stop violent action. (WA01_2014_05_30)

I am doing my best to ease tensions. (WA02_2014_06_06)

I will mobilize and pass on these tasks to the new government which is about

to be established in the near future. (WA11_2014_08_08)

I may have less knowledge than some of you but I am sincere and honest in

administering the country and want to solve the problems.

(WA11_2014_08_08)

It can be concluded that the use of the pronoun ‗I‘ was another significant discursive

strategy General Prayuth utilised to shape his self-image as a good politician with the

ultimate goal of demonstrating his individual commitment, determination and willingness to

overcome all obstacles for the sake of national stability.

4.1.3 Analysis of the Social Actor “NCPO”

In order to analyse the selected social actor ‗NCPO‘, firstly, I re-read and selected

those prominent sentences, which refer to the discursive representation of the identities of

General Prayuth. The social actor ‗NCPO‘ has a frequency of 515 occurrences (18.84%) and

was ranked 3rd of the pronouns and social actors utilised in the speeches. In this part of the

analysis, I categorised the linguistic features into two themes of discursive representations of

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identities, consisting of (1) indicating positive-self representation and (2) asking for

supportive cooperation and understanding from the public.

Indicating Positive-Self Representation

As can be seen in the detailed description of the salient selected sentences in the

following excerpts, General Prayuth utilised the social actor ‗NCPO‘ as one of his referential

choices when referring to his identity construction for positive-self representation. Most of

the selected sentences have provoking and stimulating words, expressing the willingness and

enthusiasm of the NCPO to tackle the problems that the state was encountering at that time of

political crisis.

It was also found that there were many harmonious, positive and motivational words

and phrases to evoke the audience‘s sympathetic feelings, perceptions and attitudes towards

national unity and citizen reconciliation. For instance: ‗moving the country forward’,

‗creating an atmosphere of unity‘, ‗creating a conducive atmosphere for exchanging and

sharing opinion‘, ‗to create a peaceful society and an environment conducive to the

development of the country‘, ‗the reform and development of proper and sustainable

democracy‘, ‗working with fairness and only wishes to find ways to make our nation secure

and sustainable‘, and ‗have an interest in the well-being of the nation‘.

Having considered the occurrence of those lexical choices, it can be inferred that the

utilisation of such lexical choices would strengthen the NCPO‘s positive-self representation

and heighten a sense of trust, determination and credibility for governing the country. It can

be evidently seen in the following excerpts.

The NCPO received exceptional cooperation from the general public and the

private sector in creating an atmosphere of unity. (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO has been working with fairness and only wishes to find ways to

make our nation secure and sustainable. (WA09_2014_07_25)

The NCPO and government agencies have organised activities that help

support people’s living costs. (WA12_2014_08_15)

The NCPO is doing what it is doing for the nation and the Thai people, not for

its own gain. (WA10_2014_08_01)

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In the past, Thailand faced a political crisis that escalated to confrontation

and violence. Weapons were used against innocent civilians causing many

injuries and casualties. Thus, after the 22nd of May, the NCPO had to step in

to take control of the country and we were able to maintain peace and order

thanks to everyone’s cooperation. (WA11_2014_08_08)

The NCPO wishes to help solve the country’s problems and move it forward,

putting an end to divisions at every level—among executive bodies, state

agencies and the general public. (WA11_2014_08_08)

Asking for Supportive Cooperation and Understanding from the Public

With regard to gaining support or cooperation from the public, General Prayuth

tended to discursively represent himself at using the social actor ‗NCPO‘ in order to arouse

his audience by asking for cooperation and understanding from both individual and specific

groups. As part of the martial law initiative, the NCPO was charged with restricting political

discussion as illustrated in the excerpts below. As can be seen in the following examples, he

also requested participation, support and compliance from all sectors and parties in society in

order to achieve reconciliation, reform and collaboration in the administration of the country.

Regarding the prohibition of political gatherings of more than 5 people, this

also is necessary. Because we are in the initial phase of our operation, the

NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward incidents that may affect

the stability of the country. (WA01_2014_05_30)

The NCPO does not go out hunting and killing off anyone but only resorts to

legal means. (WA11_2014_08_08)

The NCPO has no intention of obstructing any media but we would like to ask

the media to follow the rules and uphold ethics, and develop quality and vision

in all kinds of media to reduce conflicts, to respect each other more and not to

make any damaging accusations. (WA10_2014_08_01)

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The NCPO has been putting much effort into initiating measures but we must

seek cooperation and brainstorm for ideas from all sectors.

(WA10_2014_08_01)

The NCPO is doing what it is doing for the nation and the Thai people, not for

its own gain. (WA10_2014_08_01)

The NCPO would like to thank all the media for their understanding and

cooperation in creating an environment conducive to long-term development

and reform. (WA11_2014_08_08)

Based on the above observations it should be noted that the ‗NCPO‘ was utilised as a

social actor, providing positive self-representation for General Prayuth while requesting

cooperation from the Thai population. The high frequency with which the ‗NCPO‘ occurs in

speeches might suggest General Prayuth perceives it as a useful social actor to achieve his

aims. It also should be mentioned that this current government was formed following a coup

d‘état during political upheaval and was mandated in its specific duty and action plan through

the so-called NCPO to take control of political riots. The social actor ‗NCPO‘ therefore was

utilised in a belligerent (controlling) function and a benign (encouraging) function, receiving

the trust and confidence from potential audience in the administrative capabilities of the

military government.

4.1.4 Analysis of the Social Actor “Government”

Based on the data from the corpus software, the search for ‗Government‘ yielded 214

occurrences (7.83%) and was ranked 4th among the selected pronouns and social actors

appearing in the entire corpus. The term ―Government‖ is one of the selected nouns which is

being considered as a social actor representing the discursive representation of the identities

of General Prayuth. Since this current government was formed by a military coup d‘état it

should be noted that the current government is a caretaker or interim government which has

not been elected by the mass population. Also, since General Prayuth is the leader of this

government, he was the producer of a discourse and it can be seen that the words or phrases

that co-occur with ‗Government‘ denote a positive representation of the identities of General

Prayuth in two ways: (1) indicating positive-self representation and (2) being enthusiastic for

a national administration as will be discussed in the following sections.

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A distinctive feature of the following extracts indicates a clear perception of the role

of government and politics-related problems. As previously discussed, the current

government is under the control of a military organisation, namely the National Council for

Peace and Order (NCPO), which has taken control of the national administration since the

coup d‘état of 22nd

May 2014. Therefore, this suggests that the discursive strategies which

construct the representation of the identities of General Prayuth appeared to be a positive-self

representation, as can be inferred in the following excerpts.

The government and I will do our very best to perform our duties for the

benefit of all citizens, using measures that are appropriate, transparent and

effective. (WA15_2014_09_05)

In the past 4 months we have set the foundations for the country.

The government must now continue to build on this foundation, so that our

country remains peaceful, develops and prospers. (WA15_2014_09_05)

Being Enthusiastic for National Administration

These two extracts illustrate a distinctive pattern of surrounding words, phrases or

sentences which co-occur with the term ‗Government‘ in respect of the government‘s future

policy commitment. It should be noted that the military took control of the government and

suspended the constitution in order to restore order and enact political reforms. The extracts

then emerged in the realm of belief and desire for strong commitment to some principle or

course of action to move the country forward and to cope with national level problems in

cooperation with both the public and private sectors.

We need to improve the way governmental officials work to become more

proactive rather than being reactive as has been in the past. Therefore, the

government must revise its working strategies and clearly formulate national

and international strategies as to how we will move the country forward.

(WA05_2014_06_27)

On overall consumption, it has recovered slowly because household income

has increased slightly. However, public debt is at a high level. The

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government must expedite measures in tackling the problem in cooperation

with state-owned financial institutions and the private sector.

(WA12_2014_08_15)

4.1.5 Analysis of the Social Actor “Military”

Based on the data from the corpus software, the search for ‗Military‘ yielded 104

occurrences (3.80%) and was ranked 5th among the selected pronouns and social actors

appearing in the entire corpus. In a general sense of the hidden meaning of ‗Military‘, when it

is linked to politics it denotes and connotes a negative representation of authoritative,

undemocratic, and unelected government. Therefore, when General Prayuth associates

himself with this term, it seems the term ―Military‖ signifies a self-defensive government

with its attempts to ameliorate a negative image. However a closer look at the fully expanded

concordance lines, suggests the word denotes a positive representation of an authoritative

group of people tackling problems consequent to the political crisis. I categorised the

linguistic features into two themes of discursive representation of identities, consisting of (1)

positive-self representation and (2) being enthusiastic for the national administration. Both

will be discussed in the following sections.


As previously discussed, people tend be more likely to perceive and see themselves as

positive in one aspect. General Prayuth refers to himself as one of the military personnel who

aims at pushing forward with national reform and solving the country‘s and people‘s

problems in accordance with a thorough plan and policy to bring back happiness to all Thai

people and achieve national stability. However the term ―Military‖ suggests authoritarianism

so it was necessary for General Prayuth to resolve this paradox and defend himself and his

position as leader of the army in order to overcome the politics-related problems the country

was facing at that time.

Please have confidence that though we are military, we have the utmost

sincerity in taking the country forward without seeking personal gain. We are

committed to eliminating corrupt practices. (WA04_2014_06_20)

After we have achieved our mission, the military will go back to our national

defence duties, and look after the country and the people, and ensure long-

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lasting happiness and prosperity in accordance with the philosophical

principles bestowed by His Majesty the King. (WA01_2014_05_30)

The military will not judge what is right or wrong. (WA02_2014_06_06)

The security issue is very important. It is not the responsibility of only the

military and the police. It is the responsibility of all people. It is the duty of all

citizens to be vigilant and to notify the authorities of any wrongdoings.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

Being Enthusiastic for the National Administration

General Prayuth seemingly attempts to present military rules and regulations as

possible and appropriate solutions in addressing problems arising from the political crisis. He

posits to the well-disciplined rules and organisational culture of the military can be applied in

establishing national unity, lasting peace and overall solutions which address the challenges

which the state is facing at a time of political tension, as can be seen in the following

excerpts.

The military is resourceful and has been involved in the operations from the

beginning, so military personnel know how to carry out their tasks in terms of

development, politics and creating understanding and discussions to find

solutions – recommendations put forth by the military. (WA10_2014_08_01)

The military has taken control of the national administration to end violence.

(WA06_2014_07_04)

Military officers need to strictly observe protocols and exercise caution in

every operation as well. (WA12_2014_08_15)

The general public must play a part in national security, reinforced by the

military, the police and relevant officials. (WA05_2014_06_27)

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4.1.6 Summary of Pronoun and Social Actor Analysis

As previously discussed, the pronoun ‗We‘ was predominantly employed and

appeared 1,355 times (49.57%) among other pronouns and social actors. This finding

suggests that the use of the pronoun ‗We‘ has a function that is both inclusive and exclusive

in evoking a sense of collectivism and exclusion, respectively. In other words, pronoun ‗We‘

plays a crucial role in aiming at invoking the potential audience‘s feelings, perceptions,

attitudes and beliefs so they have the same political values and share responsibility with the

politicians. Meanwhile, pronoun ‗I‘ yields a word frequency of 545 occurrences (19.94%)

and was ranked 2nd of the pronouns and social actors utilised in the speeches. It can be said

that ‗I‘ appeared to be significantly utilised to emphasise the positive-self representation of

General Prayuth with the attempt to highlight his personal qualities in a positive way. In

respect of the three social actors ‗NCPO‘ with 515 occurrences (18.84%), ‗Government‘ with

214 occurrences (7.83%) and ‗Military‘ with 104 occurrences (3.80%), it should be noted that

the words, phrases or sentences surrounding these social actors shared similar roles and

functions with the emphasis on (1) indicating positive-self representation, (2) asking for

supportive cooperation and understanding from the public, and (3) being enthusiastic for the

national administration. Overall, it can be concluded that General Prayuth has tended,

intentionally, to stress the feasible establishment of a truly effective political system to tackle

the politics-related problems arising from the deep political divide in Thailand.

4.2 Modality Analysis

In this part of the analysis, I adopted the interpersonal meaning of modality systems

based on the values and degrees of modality types, namely modalisation (probability and

usuality) and modulation (obligation and inclination) based on the analytical framework of

Systemic Functional Linguistics (Thompson, 2014; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004, 2014). As

there is no usuality modals found in the entire corpus, this type of analysis was not pursued.

Hence, the three modality types of probability, obligation, and inclination were used for

analyses and discussions in the following sub-sections.

4.2.1 Analysis of Probability

Probability is the category of modalisation whose function is expressing what

politicians are certain or not certain about particularly in relation to future expectations,

promises and points of view towards political phenomena and actions. There were a wide

range of modal auxiliary verbs which co-occurred with selected pronouns and social actors

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found in the corpus: ‗must‘, ‗can‘, ‗can’t‘, ‗will‘, ‗will be‘, ‗may‘, ‗may not‘, and ‗maybe‘.

After closer examination of the data generated by the corpus software, it was found that

‗may‘ appeared to be predominantly utilised in co-occurrence with the pronouns ‗We‘ and the

social actor ‗NCPO‘, yielding a word frequency of 9 occurrences and 3 occurrences

respectively when compared to other modality types (see Appendix I). The probability

modals which collocated with ‗I‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘ seemed to be only

sporadically found in the entire corpus. In the subsequent part of this section, I decided to

analyse and centre on the modality modal ‗may‘ which co-occurred only with ‗We‘ and

‗NCPO‘.

Table 4.4: Frequency of Probability Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly Addresses

Degrees We I NCPO Government Military Total Modality

Degrees

High 1 8.33% 0 0% 1 25% 0 0% 2 100% 4 16%

Median 2 16.66% 1 33.33% 0 0% 2 50% 0 0% 5 20%

Low 9 75% 2 66.66% 3 75% 2 50% 0 0% 16 64%

Total 12 100% 3 100% 4 100% 4 100% 2 100% 25 100%

As can be seen in the table above, the low probability modal ‗may‘ appeared to be

predominantly utilised with a total of 14 occurrences in all three degrees of modality and all

pronouns and social actors (see Appendix I). As previously discussed, the possibility modal

‗may‘ is categorised as expressing low speaker commitment and is regularly employed as the

permission auxiliary. In this context-specific discourse, ‗may‘ seems to co-occur with ‗have

to‘ and ‗need to‘ as can be seen in the following extracts.

Many people are concerned that we may be rushing through the process.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

If these movements persist, we may pursue legal proceedings.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

We may become an underdeveloped country and forever remain as such in

this ever-changing world, regressing further and further due to conflicts,

selfishness, dishonesty, divisions and so on. (WA11_2014_08_08)

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For instance, we may have to amend regulations, the selection process of

board members, update rules and regulations and revise existing control

measures. (WA12_2014_08_15)

We may need to form groups and rely on each other. (WA13_2014_08_22)

We may need to use both political science and law to solve the people’s

problems and right now there are already many projects underway that were

initiated by Their Majesties. (WA13_2014_08_22)

The NCPO may consider additionally applying internationally accepted

measures for the review. (WA04_2014_06_20)

According to the extracts given above, it can be said that General Prayuth attempted

to utilise the possibility modal ‗may‘ in the context of speculation. During times of political

crisis, there are certain people who take interest in tackling the politics-related issues. In such

political instability, it is necessary for a political leader to deliver speeches in order to

reassure and encourage the citizenry, as well as providing solutions to the crisis. However, it

also should be noted that the frequent use of this type of modality in this context might

account for the fact that the General Prayuth shows a lack of the confidence regarding certain

issues.

4.2.2 Analysis of Obligation

Obligation is the category of modulation which apparently represents means of

formulating commitment or necessity. There were several types of modal auxiliary verbs

which co-occurred with other pronouns and social actors, consisting of ‗must‘, ‗have to‘, ‗has

to‘, ‗shall‘, ‗should‘, ‗should not‘, ‗can‘, ‗could‘, ‗could not‘, ‗may‘, ‗might‘ and ‗might not‘.

These modal auxiliary verbs were categorised based on the three degrees of modality

displayed in the following table.

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Table 4.5: Frequency of Obligation Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly Addresses


Degrees

High 110 58.51% 3 42.85% 2 33.33% 6 85.71% 0 0% 121 58.74%

Median 59 31.38% 3 42.85% 1 16.66% 1 14.28% 0 0% 64 31.07%

Low 19 10.10% 1 14.28% 3 50% 0 0% 0 0% 23 11.05%

Total 188 100% 7 100% 6 100% 7 100% 0 0% 208 100%

According to the table above, the group of high and median obligation modality is

considerably greater in size than the low obligation modality. In particular, we see the

utilisation of high and median obligation modality which co-occurred with the pronoun ‗We‘.

It can be seen that the high obligation modals of ‗have to‘ and ‗must‘ which co-occurred with

‗We‘ were predominantly exploited, amounting to 110 occurrences (58.51%). Meanwhile, the

high obligation modals which occurred with other pronouns and social actors were relatively

smaller in number and there was no occurrence associated with ‗Military‘. Except for

‗Government‘, high obligation modality is predominantly utilised with the modal ‗must‘.

Additionally, the group of median obligation modalities appear to be of second rank

compared to other modality degrees. These groups of median obligation modalities consist of

‗should‘. Thus, I have investigated only the dominant frequency of obligation modality in the

subsequent-sections.

As previously discussed, the modal auxiliary verb ‗have to‘ is employed to express a

strong obligation, mandatory requirement and logical necessity. It should be noted that the

high percentage of high obligation modals associated with ‗We‘, with a total of 76

occurrences (see Appendix J), demonstrate General Prayuth‘s strong commitment to take

control of the violent situation in order to solve urgent national crises and move the country

forward. In the corpus of this study, the modal ‗have to‘ juxtaposes highly with ‗We‘ which

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha tended to employ for expressing his strong obligation to

overcoming the politics-related problems as can be seen in the following instances.

Furthermore, he tended to utilise the modal ‗have to‘, collocated with the pronoun ‗We‘ in

order to express a strong obligation to include himself and his potential audience in putting

political conflicts to rest and returning the country to normal levels and move forward

national security.

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We have to address the problems gradually and make plans carefully.

(WA12_2014_08_15)

We have to resolve these problems through law enforcement and law

amendment. (WA13_2014_08_22)

We have to look ahead to the people and the problems that we need to

overcome. (WA02_2014_06_06)

We have to take a close look and monitor the situation. (WA06_2014_07_04)

We have to attempt to hold joint negotiations with all groups covering all

dimensions – development, ceasefire, laws and issues concerning injustice by

setting up several committees to expedite negotiations. (WA10_2014_08_01)

We have to find ways of reducing conflicts. (WA15_2014_09_05)

We have to develop ourselves to be stronger, integrate and expand to compete

globally in every dimension. (WA15_2014_09_05)

With regard to the modal auxiliary verb ‗must‘, its high obligation modality carries a

varied meaning signifying the expression of obligation and a sense of an inner compulsion of

what is necessary from the speaker‘s perspective. At the time of political crisis, governmental

measures to control political rallies and incidents, which might harm national security, were

orchestrated through NCPO orders and announcements. Thus, the verb ‗must‘ seems to

become an important linguistic feature signifying the order or command of the General

Prayuth for achieving political calm.

As I looked thoroughly at each modal auxiliary verb, it was clear that the modal verb

‗must‘ co-occurred highly with the pronoun ‗We‘ and was ranked third among other modality

types with a total of 33 occurrences (see Appendix J). As can be seen in the following

excerpts, the modal verb ‗must‘ was used to convey emphasis for a sense of inner

compulsion, expressing the speaker‘s intention that the administrative team (and he) would

perform their duty with a sense of dedication and the greatest concern for the well-being of

the Thai populace.

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We must devote and dedicate ourselves more for the Thai people.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

We must put effort into making the international community understand what

our intentions are. (WA05_2014_06_27)

We must solve problems in a more sustainable way. (WA07_2014_07_11)

Therefore, we must continue to ensure that our interests are truly and

mutually beneficial in the future. (WA08_2014_07_18)

We must join hands and lead the country to a better future.

(WA08_2014_07_18)

Now we must ensure that the three levels – the state, the private sector and the

public – work in sync and cooperate with each other with good understanding.

(WA15_2014_09_05)

It can be noticed that the modal auxiliary verb ‗must‘ did not appear in co-occurrence

with the pronoun ‗NCPO‘, whereas ‗must‘ appeared to be sporadically co-occurring with the

other four selected pronouns and social actors. I have examined each instance of these

pronouns and social actors and found that ‗must‘ was utilised in co-occurrence with

‗Government‘ on a total of 5 occasions (see Appendix J). The utilisation of ‗must‘ co-

occurring with ‗Government‘ placed an emphasis on the necessity for the head of the

National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which is generally known as the government

and its administration team, to be involved in rebuilding the foundation of the Thai nation and

to bring prosperity and peace to Thai society with a sense of dedication and honesty. For

instance:

Therefore, the government must revise its working strategies and clearly

formulate national and international strategies as to how we will move the

country forward. (WA05_2014_06_27)

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The government must now continue to build on this foundation, so that our

country remains peaceful, develops and prospers. (WA15_2014_09_05)

In relation to the median obligation modality ‗should‘, this type of modality

predominantly co-occurred with the pronoun ‗We‘ and was ranked third among other

modality types and other pronouns and social actors, totalling 42 occurrences in the corpus

(see Appendix J). Its function can be utilised with the intent of expressing obligation and

implying the authority of General Prayuth.

Besides this, ‗should‘ has many different meanings according to the context in which

it is used. In the context of political crisis, ‗should‘ was utilised to portray an obligation, duty

and commitment. For instance, General Prayuth has attempted to employ ‗should‘ to pinpoint

obligation, which can be seen in the following excerpts.

Therefore, we should seek mutual understanding on this issue.

(WA11_2014_08_08)

We should seek cooperation within the same working group cluster through

meetings and discussions. (WA12_2014_08_15)

Therefore we should look at this root cause and understand and find those

who caused such chaotic situations. (WA09_2014_07_25)

Furthermore, General Prayuth aimed to use ‗should‘ to convey a duty and

commitment which Thai people should prioritise as their main concern in order to avoid

exacerbating political conflict.

We should put our nation as the main priority and set aside political and

personal interests which have caused accumulated problems and undermined

the country for so long. (WA12_2014_08_15)

We should refrain from sharing unverified information to avoid incitement.

(WA12_2014_08_15)

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From the extracts given above, it can be interpreted that General Prayuth aimed to use

the modal ‗should‘ which collocated with the pronoun ‗We‘ to invoke the potential audience

to become aware of the value and importance of himself as the head of a government

established as a result of a coup d‘état and the administrative member of state affairs involved

in tackling the country‘s politics-related problems.

4.2.3 Analysis of Inclination

Inclination is the category of modulation which apparently represents the willingness

of General Prayuth towards certain politics-related issues. The inclination modality derived

from the corpus consists of ‗need‘, ‗will‘, ‗will not‘, ‗would like‘, ‗would‘, ‗would not‘,

‗want‘, ‗can‘ and ‗willing to‘. These modal auxiliary verbs were categorised based on the

three degrees of modality as displayed in the following table.

Table 4.6: The Frequency of Inclination Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly

Addresses


Degrees

High 155 38.94% 4 3.70% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 159 28.49%

Median 197 49.50% 101 93.51% 46 95.83% 2 100% 1 50% 347 62.19%

Low 46 11.56% 3 2.77% 2 4.16% 0 0% 1 50% 52 9.32%

Total 398 100% 108 100% 48 100% 2 100% 2 100% 558 100%

According to the table, it can be seen that the median inclination modality collocated

most frequently with ‗We‘ with a total of 197 occurrences (49.50%), followed by the high

inclination modality, totalling 155 occurrences (38.94%). It is a similar scenario with ‗I‘,

where the median inclination modal has, by far, the highest frequency of occurrences within

its group and is third overall with a total of 101 occurrences (93.51%). A further interesting

finding emerging from concordance lines in this specific-context discourse is that the median

inclination modal which collocated with ‗NCPO‘ appeared to have the fourth overall highest

frequency of occurrences, accounting for 46 occurrences (95.83%) similar to the frequency of

occurrences of low inclination modality which co-occurred with the pronoun ‗We‘.

Meanwhile, the inclination expressions seem to be rarely found in collocation with

‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘.

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It can be observed from the entire corpus that median inclination modality was mainly

demonstrated among pronouns and social actors. It seems the major utilisation of these

median inclination modals includes the auxiliary verbs which convey the willingness of

General Prayuth towards particular activities. For instance, ‗will‘ and ‗want‘ co-occurred with

‗We‘, ‗would like‘ which co-occurred with ‗I‘ and ‗will‘ which co-occurred with ‗NCPO‘,

respectively. Furthermore, ‗need‘, which co-occurred with ‗We‘, appeared to be

predominantly utilised compared to other modality types which co-occurred with other

selected pronouns and social actors.

As previously discussed, the auxiliary modal ‗will‘ primarily conveys meanings of

prediction/predictability, intention, willingness and insistence. According to the table above,

it can be seen that the median inclination modals collocated most frequently with the five

selected pronouns and social actors, accounting for 347 occurrences (62.19%). With a closer

look at the concordances, it can be seen that ‗will‘ appeared to be mostly utilised and

occurred concomitantly with ‗We‘, accounting for 147 occurrences, whereas ‗will‘ co-

occurring with ‗NCPO‘ was ranked second with a total of 33 occurrences and ‗will‘ co-

occurring with ‗I‘ was ranked third with a total of 12 occurrences. Meanwhile, ‗will‘ co-

occurring with ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘ yielded a very small number, amounting to only

one occurrence (see Appendix K). After closer investigation of each concordance, it seems

that General Prayuth employed the modal verb ‗will‘ to bring extra emphasis to what he was

trying to convey to his potential audience. His apparent aim was to emphasise his personal

conviction and certainty whilst taking responsibility for his endeavour to reform the

democratic process, legal system and national unity.

We will collect ideas from all sides as well as use information gathered by

previous attempts in order to encourage national reconciliation and reforms.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

We will accelerate the reform process in order to make Thailand a fully

functioning democracy. (WA05_2014_05_27)

We will modernise existing rules and regulations in order to achieve a just

legal system ready for the globalisation age so that decent, honest people will

be in the administration of our country and will carry out good governance.

(WA01_2014_05_30)

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We will tackle the improvement in the national administration system and

resolve the corruption on mega projects that have affected many people

during the reform phase. (WA03_2014_06_13)

The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any group that

violates this law. (WA01_2014_05_30)

For the most part, the NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the

administration of all government agencies, unless there are emergencies or

urgent problems that need immediate attention. (WA01_2014_05_30)

The NCPO will look into problems brought to its attention and try to solve our

shared problem. (WA02_2014_06_06)

The NCPO will continue the task of building the international image of

Thailand to regain confidence from the international community, including the

diplomatic, business, industrial segments and so on. (WA03_2014_06_13)

I will do our very best to perform our duties for the benefit of all citizens,

using measures that are appropriate, transparent and effective.

(WA15_2014_09_05)

I will mobilize and pass on these tasks to the new government which is about

to be established in the near future. (WA11_2014_08_08)

I will instruct the Education Ministry to overhaul the system.

(WA06_2014_07_04)

If they come from good intentions and are for the benefit of the nation, I will

turn them into actions. (WA02_2014_06_06)

With regards to ‗can‘, this auxiliary modal verb is categorised as having low

inclination modality which primarily signals the ability and permission of General Prayuth to

particular circumstances. Similarly, ‗can‘ appeared to be predominantly utilised with a total

of 44 occurrences when it co-occurred with ‗We‘, while this type of low inclination modality

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was sporadically employed with other pronouns and social actors (see Appendix K). Looking

closely at the extract below, it seems that ‗can‘ is utilised to express the ability of the

administration to solve the national crisis, resolve existing conflicts among different protest

groups and establish stable democratic principles.

We are inviting all to participate with less involvement of the military in this

effort so that we can move onto the second phase – the forming of a

government, a reform council and a legislative council. (WA02_2014_06_06)

We can all live together regardless of our differences. (WA02_2014_06_06)

We can set aside those points that need revisiting. (WA14_2014_08_29)

At the moment we can respond to the current situation. (WA14_2014_08_29)

We can also adjust policies as needed according to the nature of the problem.

(WA15_2014_09_05)

The modal auxiliary verb ‗need to‘ has a high inclination modality which is worth

closer examination. According to the entire corpus, the modal verb ‗need to‘ has the highest

frequency of occurrence, which when collocated with ‗We‘, totalled 155 occurrences. It

should be noted that high inclination modality might be employed with the intent of

expressing the determination and objective of General Prayuth to inspire Thai people

regarding the reforms which will be introduced to resolve existing conflicts with solutions

that are dependent on the situation and universal co-operation.

We need to solve many issues; from administration to the budget system,

corruption and even the starting point of democracy itself – the election.

(WA02_2014_06_06)

We need to dedicate and sacrifice to resolve the prolonged problems which

have existed for more than nine years. (WA02_2014_06_06)

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We need to improve the way government officials work to become more

proactive rather than being reactive as they have been in the past.

(WA05_2014_06_27)

We need to determine the cause of conflict and the means to resolve it.

(WA07_2014_07_11)

We need to address these problems at all levels, as we live in a society of

many different people who have come to live together but may have different

standards. (WA10_2014_08_01)

We need to first reform and move our nation forward on the security,

economy, social, and other fronts. (WA11_2014_08_08)

Another median inclination modality which seems to be significantly utilised and

worth mentioning is ‗would like‘. With regard the modal auxiliary verb ‗would like‘, it is

categorised as one of the types of median inclination modality, illustrating the highest

frequency with a total of 70 occurrences when co-occurring with the pronoun ‗I‘ (see

Appendix K). It should be noted that the modal verb ‗would‘ expresses the prediction and the

possibility of a phenomenon and judgments of the speaker. Being similar to the modal verb

‗will‘, the function of the modal verb ‗would‘ indicates the speaker‘s intention to take an

action (through the predictive form of language). As can be seen in the concordance lines

below, the modal auxiliary verb ‗would‘ collocated with ‗like‘ appeared to be the most

frequently employed strategy when compared with other main verbs. It can be understood

that General Prayuth tried to use the pattern of ―I would like to + verb‖ in order to express his

modesty and avoid impropriety when the directed statement or expression was given

throughout the speeches.

I would like to inform you of the progress of the NCPO’s operation in all

areas as follows. (WA03_2014_06_13)

I would like to reiterate that from October onwards there will be a cabinet to

administer the country in a way a normal administration would.

(WA03_2014_06_13)

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I would like put focus on developing vocational training so that it will, in turn,

develop our labour force. (WA03_2014_06_13)

I would like the public to understand and make a distinction between the

reconciliation aspect and the reform aspect. (WA07_2014_07_11)

I would like to insist on your cooperation. (WA08_2014_07_18)

I would like everyone to understand and ask for cooperation in swiftly solving

the problems of the nation. (WA08_2014_07_18)

So I would like to ask for cooperation from everyone to help bring peace and

sustainable democracy to the country, without further divisiveness among the

general public and politicians. (WA09_2014_07_25)

4.2.4 Summary of Modality Analysis

In the analysis, it can be observed that the modal auxiliary verbs of inclination (558

occurrences) and obligation (208 occurrences) appear to be widely used throughout the entire

corpus. In contrast, the modal auxiliary verbs of probability (25 occurrences) and usuality

(0 occurrence) as a category of modalisation are utilised relatively rarely. This difference

might be due to the fact that the speeches were delivered during a time of political crisis.

During such times, citizens are overwhelmed by emotive incidents caused by the upheaval

between the military, police officers and people with opposing political views. All these

serious incidents might bring about the citizens‘ disbelief in the political leader. As a

consequence, they would have a sense of insecurity about their living conditions and the

future of the nation. Amidst such uncertainty and political instability, it was necessary for

General Prayuth, as head of the NCPO, to reassure and encourage the citizenry, as well as to

provide solutions to the crisis.

It can be said that socio-political phenomena have a crucial role in shaping the way

discourses are created. Obviously, the use of modal auxiliary verbs such as ‗will‘, ‗need‘,

‗would‘, ‗have to’, ‗should‘ and ‗can‘ proved very successful in fulfilling the objectives of

General Prayuth, who, as the head of government, was attempting to persuade his potential

audience that his political point of view was one aspect people should pay attention to and

provide support for.

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In addition, these aforementioned modal auxiliary verbs, categorised in the modalities

of obligation and inclination, play a crucial role in representing the determination of General

Prayuth to emphasise predictions of a peaceful future for the Thai political process. It should

be noted that these modalities of obligation and inclination could be a linguistic strategy of

manipulation and propaganda conveying the sense of volition of the speaker‘s interest and

intentions. On the one hand their frequent use attests to the fact that the speaker shows

confidence in the development of the nation and on the other hand his zeal in finding

sustainable and peaceful solutions to the political crisis.

4.3 Analysis of Material Processes and the Major Participant Roles

The rationale behind the choice of the material process typology comes from the data-

driven approach by which I intended to rely on the frequency of the dominant use of process

types to direct further analysis and interpretation. After searching for all the verbs

surrounding the selected pronouns and social actors and manually categorising all the process

types, it can be observed that material processes were used most frequently, accounting for

1,409 occurrences (58.33%) in co-occurrence with all the selected pronouns and social actors

such as ‗We‘, ‗I‘, ‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘, as shown in Table 4.7.

Table 4.7: Distribution of Numbers of Clauses of the Participant Roles in the Material

Processes through the Selected Pronouns and Social Actors “We”, “I”, “NCPO”,

“Government” and “Military”

Process Types/

Participant Roles

Actor Recipient Goal

Number % Number % Number %

We 1,056 43.72% 33 1.36% 9 0.37%

NCPO 195 8.07% 17 0.70% 3 0.12%

I 54 2.23% 8 0.33% 2 0.08%

Government 16 0.66% 1 0.04% - -

Military 15 0.62% - - - -

Total Occurrences of

Each Type 1,336 55.32% 59 2.44% 14 0.57%

Total Occurrences 1,409 clauses (58.33%)

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Further analysis of the participant roles in the material processes showed the

occurrence of the Recipient and Goal was insignificant, with a total of only 59 occurrences

(2.44%) and 14 occurrences (0.57%), respectively. So, I placed emphasis on analysing only

the participant role of the Actors. Therefore, the following subsections place emphasis mainly

on the Actors, with the Recipient and Goals of the material processes generally excluded

from the analyses.

4.3.1 Analysis of Material Processes and the Major Participant Roles as the Actors

As previously mentioned, the quantitative results show that the Actors were used most

frequently as the participant role of the material processes with a total of 1,336 occurrences

(55.32%). On closer examination of the Actor co-occurring with each pronoun and social

actor, it was found that the Actor emerged mostly when appearing with the pronoun ‗We‘, a

total of 1,056 clauses (43.72%), followed by ‗NCPO‘ with a total of 195 clauses (8.07%) and

‗I‘ with a total of 54 clauses (2.23%). Meanwhile, the social actors ‗Government‘ and

‗Military‘ revealed a relatively small occurrence as Actors, totalling only 16 clauses (0.66%)

and 15 clauses (0.62%), respectively.

Table 4.8: Examples of Participant Roles assigned to General Prayuth as an Actor in

the Material Processes through the Pronoun “We” Clauses

Clause

No.

Date/Text No. Clauses as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Personal

Pronoun „We‟

1 WA01_2014_05_30 We have to strictly enforce the curfew from the beginning

2 WA01_2014_05_30 We move the work along effectively, expeditiously, transparently

3 WA01_2014_05_30 We are doing this for the country and the Thai people

4 WA01_2014_05_30 We make the democratic system right, just, responsible and beneficial to all

people

5 WA02_2014_06_06

We need to solve many issues; from the administration to the budget

system, corruption, and even the starting point of democracy itself – the

election

6 WA02_2014_06_06 We resolve the problem through peaceful dialogue and legal means

7 WA02_2014_06_06 We prepare ourselves for the ASEAN Community and AEC in the near

future

8 WA02_2014_06_06 We build our country and a democracy

9 WA03_2014_06_13 We will not use the law as a source for creating conflicts

10 WA15_2014_09_05 We can solve the problems in a sustainable way with stability and a positive

impact on future

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11 WA15_2014_09_05 We create more jobs and income for Thai people

12 WA14_2014_08_29 We shall continue with national administration in a fully fair and

transparent manner

13 WA15_2014_09_05 We can make greater contributions to the state

14 WA13_2014_08_22 We develop ourselves, especially the local administrators, in terms of

thinking and approaches in development for the public benefit

15 WA13_2014_08_22 We have already addressed the issues of energy, water and others

16 WA13_2014_08_22 We prioritise consideration for environmental impact and environmental-

friendly projects

17 WA13_2014_08_22 We resolve the existing problems effectively

18 WA13_2014_08_22 We are making preparations for conducting the nationality verification

process

19 WA13_2014_08_22 We need to address the problems of poverty, productive land tenure and

forest lands at the same time

20 WA13_2014_08_22 We want to create a conciliatory atmosphere

21 WA13_2014_08_22 We solve all of the country‘s problems in a short period of time

22 WA12_2014_08_15 We only address the issues with short term solutions

23 WA12_2014_08_15 We have to make long term plans, for example post-2015 national elections

24 WA12_2014_08_15 We support one another in maintaining security for our people

25 WA12_2014_08_15 We should manage the overall system—from basic education

26 WA12_2014_08_15 We implement these projects without causing a negative impact on the

environment

27 WA11_2014_08_08 We can solve the problems through legal means

28 WA11_2014_08_08 We need to address all dimensions of the problems for the reform

29 WA10_2014_08_01 We should develop an integrated network of freight transportation, power

connections and various modes of public transportation in the country

30 WA10_2014_08_01 We solve the problem such as considering projects such as ―Bringing

People Back Home‖

31 WA10_2014_08_01 We create understanding among the local people

As seen from the examples above, the personal pronoun ‗We‘ is used by the Actor

―the doer of the act‖ in this part of the analysis, and accounts for 1,056 clauses (43.72%). In

the section of pronoun analysis, ‗We‘ could be semantically classified as both ―inclusive‖ and

―exclusive‖, differentiating the exclusive ‗We‘ into ―We-NCPO‖ and ―We-Thai people‖.

With such a classification, there are cases where the exclusive and the inclusive ‗We‘ are

referred to as one category when ‗We‘ can be considered as one of the referential choices

represented by General Prayuth.

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Taking a closer look at the material process where ‗We‘ is considered as the actor who

does the action, it is likely that General Prayuth, as head of the NCPO or representative of the

military government, is perceived as the person who has great power and authority. The

material processes ‗enforce‘, ‗solve‘, ‗build‘, ‗create‘, ‗make‘, ‗develop‘, ‗address‘, ‗resolve‘,

‗implement, and ‗reform‘, for instance, signify the authoritative power of the Actor and these

action verbs were employed to represent him as having authoritative power as the head of the

NCPO or the representative of the military government.

Here it is likely that General Prayuth, as the producer of the discourse, attempts to

employ these material processes to indicate the physical act of enhancing developmental

assistance to control and improve an unstable political situation, enhance education, control

the cost of living and improve Thai society. The findings of my investigation demonstrate,

the pronoun ‗We‘, which co-occurred with material processes, is therefore utilised as a

performer and initiator of action. It is designed to portray a positive relationship between

General Prayuth, as a man of action, and the Thai populace. The pronoun ‗We‘ has in its

function the creation of a sense of togetherness and shared responsibility, promoting

agreement between the speaker and potential audience. Hence it can be implied that General

Prayuth and the Thai populace were in their critical condition together and confronted

common hardships within the same community. Thus, the results of the analysis highlight the

aim of using these material processes to depict positive change and fruitful progress towards

the political resolution working in tandem between the leadership and populace.


the Material Processes through the Social Actor “NCPO” Clauses

Clause

No.

Date/ Text No. Clauses as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Social Actor

„NCPO‟ Clauses

32 WA01_2014_05_30 NCPO has taken control of the national administration

33 WA01_2014_05_30 NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward incidents

34 WA02_2014_06_06 The NCPO has removed these external influences for you

35 WA03_2014_06_13 The NCPO will continue the task of building the international image of

Thailand

36 WA03_2014_06_13 The NCPO has set up the Monitoring and Auditing Committee on Fiscal

Expenditure

37 WA03_2014_06_13 The NCPO has established a committee on rice policy and management

38 WA03_2014_06_13 The NCPO has recently established the Energy Policy Executive

Committee, the National Energy Policy Committee and the Fund for the

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Promotion of Energy Preservation

39 WA04_2014_06_20 NCPO will reorganise the labour situation in the immediate term

40 WA04_2014_06_20 NCPO defends Thai interests on the global stage

41 WA04_2014_06_20 NCPO has improved the work of the public sector

42 WA04_2014_06_20 The NCPO will address the pressing problems

43 WA04_2014_06_20 NCPO will improve the rules and regulations

44 WA04_2014_06_20 The NCPO will create a conducive atmosphere for exchanging and sharing

opinion

45 WA05_2014_06_27

NCPO can successfully solve these multi-faceted and interconnected

problems involving social, economic, political and psychological aspects,

accumulated over the years and many governments

46 WA05_2014_06_27 The NCPO will use soft measures

47 WA06_2014_07_04 The NCPO facilitates all groups and parties

48 WA06_2014_07_04 The NCPO has supported the judicial process

49 WA08_2014_07_18 The NCPO has provided an opportunity for every sector

50 WA08_2014_07_18 The NCPO has approved the 2015 fiscal year Budget of 2.575 trillion Baht

51 WA08_2014_07_18 The NCPO has given importance to creating a peaceful society

52 WA08_2014_07_18 NCPO has designated the Committee on Public Budget Expenditure

together with the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand

53 WA09_2014_07_25 The NCPO has been working with fairness

54 WA10_2014_08_01 The NCPO has solved 86 per cent of the problems

55 WA11_2014_08_08 The NCPO has set a specific timeframe for the operation

56 WA11_2014_08_08

The NCPO has promoted understanding with the Board of Directors of the

German Asia-Pacific Business Association on several issues including

migrant workers and the economic operation of the future government

57 WA11_2014_08_08 The NCPO will formulate a master plan for the country

58 WA12_2014_08_15 The NCPO has organised activities that help support people‘s living costs

59 WA01_2014_05_30 A provisional constitution is being drawn up by NCPO‘s legal team

60 WA03_2014_06_13

The Committee will consist of all parties including the Office of the

Auditor General of Thailand, the Office of the National Economic and

Development Board, the Budget Bureau and other committees set up by the

NCPO

61 WA04_2014_06_20 These projects are currently under review for their transparency and

efficiency by a committee set up by the NCPO

62 WA06_2014_07_04 The corruption scrutiny process has been carried out over the past month by

the NCPO

63 WA06_2014_07_04 Reconciliation network founded by the NCPO

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It is evident from the examples above that the function of the material processes in

which ‗NCPO‘ is employed as the Actor appeared to be similar to ‗We‘. The material

processes ‗allow‘, ‗solve‘, ‗remove‘, ‗continue‘, ‗set up‘, ‗establish‘, ‗reorganise‘, ‗defend‘,

‗improve‘, ‗create‘, ‗facilitate‘, ‗provide‘, ‗approve‘, ‗increase‘, ‗designate‘, ‗formulate‘,

‗organise‘ and ‗carry out‘, for example, convey the authoritative and powerful role of the

actor. It should be noted that General Prayuth is represented through the action processes of

his discursive representation as a powerful social actor who has the ability to establish

a committee of other members, designate roles and make overall policy statements.

In this part of the analysis, the word ―NCPO‖ (an acronym for National Council for

Peace and Order) appeared to be a significant social actor in association to the referential

choices of General Prayuth. Based on the frequency of manual clause division of the material

processes, the ‗NCPO‘ played a secondary role the Actor compared to other pronouns with a

total of 195 clauses (8.07%) (see Appendix G: Distribution of the Number of Clauses of the

Process Types used to represent General Prayuth, as the head of NCPO for more details).

Despite their lower frequency, the material processes collocated with the social actor ‗NCPO‘

seemed to be worth examining in order to see how General Prayuth intentionally employed

those action verbs interconnected with social activities in relation to the socio-political

phenomena. In such doing it could be feasible to uncover beliefs, values, and viewpoints of

General Prayuth.

However, within the limits of the timeframe for this thesis it was impossible to

conduct a full investigation of all material processes which co-occurred with the four

remaining pronouns and social actors. Hence, I only categorised and identified the 195

material processes co-occurring with the social actor ‗NCPO‘ within their surrounding words

or local co-text into three major themes. However, there were some material processes which

could not be categorised in these three themes, and they were put into an ―others‖ category.

In other words, it can be said that the words surrounding a particular word or passage within a

text can provide context and help to determine meaning and the three major themes of

grouping the material processes as follows:

- Material processes or action verbs relating to the authorisation action and political

institutions;

- Material processes or action verbs relating to economic development;

- Material processes or action verbs relating to social development;

- Others

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Table 4.10: Frequencies and Percentages of Material Processes Categorised in Themes

Themes Occurrences Percentage

Material processes or action verbs relating to the

authorisation action and political institutions 108 55.38%

Material processes or action verbs relating to

economic development 32 16.41%

Material processes or action verbs relating to

social development 48 24.62%

Others 7 3.59%

Total 195 100%

Based on the themes of grouping the material processes into categories, as in Table

4.10, it is found that the material processes or action verbs related to the authorisation action

and political institutions appeared to be most frequently used in co-occurrence with the social

actor ‗NCPO‘, accounting for 108 occurrences (55.38%). While at the same time, the

material processes or action verbs related to social development came second with 48

occurrences (24.62%). The third most frequent use is the action verbs related to economic

development at 32 occurrences (16.41%). All other themes of material processes were

grouped into the category of ―others‖, accounting for 7 occurrences (3.59%) which is just too

few to draw any analyses and interpretations.

Through the investigation of material processes into themes related to the

authorisation action and political institutions, the findings revealed that General Prayuth was

more concerned with involvement in the political processes, particularly, his authority to

assign the people or governmental agencies to take action or duty to do political activities.

This can be seen in the following extracts.

NCPO has taken control of the national administration (WA01_2014_05_30)

The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any group

(WA12_2014_08_15)

The NCPO has assigned a legal team (WA12_2014_08_15)

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The NCPO has already appointed an authorized acting officer to perform the

duties (WA05_2014_06_27)

The NCPO has approved the 2015 fiscal year Budget of 2.575 trillion baht

(WA08_2014_07_18)

NCPO has assigned the relevant agencies to continue the judicial

(WA08_2014_07_18)

NCPO has designated the Committee on Public Budget Expenditures

Together with the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand

(WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO has taken charge of national administration (WA10_2014_08_01)

NCPO would have continued our administration of the country like in the first

phase, with fewer complexities (WA10_2014_08_01)

The NCPO has set specific timeframe for the operation (WA11_2014_08_08)

NCPO has assigned all concerned agencies (WA11_2014_08_08)

The NCPO uses special laws to find a quick way out (WA13_2014_08_22)

The NCPO has approved urgent projects to replace those that are about to

expire (WA13_2014_08_22)

The NCPO will use special authorities pursuant to the Provisional

Constitution (WA13_2014_08_22)

The NCPO has sent some of these drafts to the National Legislative Assembly

for expeditious consideration (WA14_2014_08_29)

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The NCPO has assigned the Legal and Judicial Process Working Group

(WA15_2014_09_05)

As the analysis has shown, the material processes such as ‗assign‘, ‗appoint‘,

‗approve‘, ‗take control‘ or ‗change of‘ appear to be significantly utilised in the theme of

authoritative action and political institutions. Within this group of material processes, it

seems that General Prayuth, as the head of the NCPO or the military junta government, has

full authority and power to command subordinates to do political activities based on his

policy and proposals in tackling politics-related problems.

The second most frequent theme worth analysing is the material processes or action

verbs relating to social development. The analysis indicated that General Prayuth was taking

on many social issues such as providing the basic needs of the public, developing

infrastructure systems, assisting people who work in the agricultural sectors, approving

projects for alternative education in remote areas, organising activities that help support

people‘s living costs and even raising the issue of equality and social justice to help all

individuals within the community. As can be seen in the following excerpts, the material

processes or action verbs relating to the theme of social development include ‗solve‘,

‗improve‘, ‗develop‘, ‗address‘, ‗assist‘, ‗create‘, ‗expedite‘, ‗provide‘, ‗give‘, ‗organise‘ and

so on. Through the strategic use of these action verbs, the analysis has demonstrated that

General Prayuth was more likely to be a captivating communicator who conveyed messages

to increase sharing and engagement between himself and his potential audience in relation to

the awareness of social issues which needed urgent resolution.

The NCPO will try to solve our shared problem (WA02_2014_06_06)

NCPO has given priority to the issue of basic needs (WA03_2014_06_13)

NCPO has improved the work of the public sector (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO has policies to develop effective infrastructure systems

(WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO will address the pressing problems (WA04_2014_06_20)

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The NCPO will also assist farmers (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO alleviates the hardship of the people by eradicating the

exploitation of this group (WA04_2014_06_20)

NCPO will improve the rules and regulations (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO will create a conducive atmosphere for exchanging and sharing

opinion (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO has tried to encourage the small number of bad people to turn over

a new leaf (WA06_2014_07_04)

The NCPO has approved to raise the minimum pension to 9,000 baht per

month (WA07_2014_07_11)

The NCPO has expedited preparations in various areas including

infrastructure, transportation, road networks, immigration checkpoints,

warehouses, commodity distribution centres, and rail systems

(WA07_2014_07_11)

The NCPO has provided an opportunity for every sector (WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO is giving importance to resolving troubles of the public

(WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO has given importance to create a peaceful society

(WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO has approved the project on distance learning via satellite

(WA09_2014_07_25)

The NCPO continually provide the assistance needed (WA12_2014_08_15)

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The NCPO has organised activities that help support people’s living costs

(WA12_2014_08_15)

The NCPO puts importance on people at all levels and all groups

(WA12_2014_08_15)

A closer examination of the third most frequent use of the material process - relating

to economic development - revealed similar types of social development theme. All the

verbs appeared to be used for the purpose of stimulating the Thai economic recovery and

reform. It seemed to suggest that the NCPO put great emphasis on strengthening the bilateral

agreement with foreign investors for Thai economic development. As can be seen in the

following excerpts, the material processes or action verbs relating to the theme of economic

development comprise of ‗follow up‘, ‗allow‘, ‗continue‘, ‗give‘, ‗assign‘, ‗approve‘,

‗designate‘, ‗continue‘, ‗promote‘, ‗prepare‘ and so on. Through the use of these verbs, it can

be implied that General Prayuth was highly committed to stimulate Thai economic

development as well as establishing confidence in collaborative investment and the market

internationally. Despite uncertainties concerning the future of the Thai political processes and

democratic policies, he persists in attempting to arouse hope and reassurance in the public by

proposing solutions for strengthening and developing the Thai economy. These findings

reiterate how General Prayuth likes to portray confidence and present himself as the head of

an NCPO which may be trusted by the Thai populace.

NCPO will closely follow up on this economic plan (WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO allows for improvements on their state enterprises

(WA04_2014_06_20)

The NCPO held discussions with associations of entrepreneurs and business

people from the EU countries and the U.S. (WA05_2014_06_27)

The NCPO will continue to strengthen trade and investment relations

(WA05_2014_06_27)

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The NCPO has given approval for the Sugar Cane and Brown Sugar Fund

(WA05_2014_06_27)

The NCPO has assigned relevant agencies to devise measures to provide

relief to exporters and others within the agricultural products business cycle

(WA07_2014_07_11)

The NCPO has met with SMEs operators (WA07_2014_07_11)

The NCPO will assign the National Economic and Social Development Board

(WA07_2014_07_11)

The NCPO has not changed the reality of the economic foundations of the

country (WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO has given special emphasis on developing these special economic

zones (WA08_2014_07_18)

The NCPO has approved the waiver of visa entry fees for Chinese tourists for

a period of three months (WA08_2014_07_18)

NCPO has designated the National Economic and Social Development Board

to be the responsible agency in discussing with relevant governmental and

private sector in formulating resolution strategy in all dimension

(WA09_2014_07_25)

The NCPO has continued with the investment in the infrastructure system,

procurement of public buses, maintenance vehicles, and locomotives

(WA10_2014_08_01)

The NCPO has continued to build confidence on the economy, both

domestically and internationally (WA11_2014_08_08)

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The NCPO has promoted understanding with the Board of Directors of

German Asia-Pacific Business Association on several issues including migrant

workers and the economic operation of the future government

(WA11_2014_08_08)

The NCPO has monitored the developments in the improvement and remedy

of problems within various State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)

(WA12_2014_08_15)

The NCPO will have to prepare measures for new products

(WA13_2014_08_22)

The NCPO has approved the Rice Trading Agreement between the

Government of Thailand and the Government of the Philippines

(WA15_2014_09_05)

Overall, the findings from this part of the analysis suggest that the use of material

processes in three different themes of authorisation and political institutions, economic

development and social development could create a mutual understanding in communication

between General Prayuth and his potential audience. It is believed that the different use of

these material processes might have some impact on the thoughts and beliefs of the individual

audience on a certain level. Thus, the underlying discursive representation drawn from the

analyses of the three themes of material processes appear to be strongly associated with a

positive-self representation of General Prayuth as the head of NCPO and his team.

Besides this, the strategic use of the passive construction can be one way of obscuring

the agency, although they may still convey, by implication, the explicit agency. As can be

seen in the Table 4.9, excerpts numbers 59, 60, 61, 62 and 63 the actor of the clauses

appeared in passive construction which indicated the agency or the doer explicitly. As the

analysis has shown, the social actor ‗NCPO‘ achieves action via passive clauses. For

instance, in

A provisional constitution is being drawn up by NCPO’s legal team

(WA01_2014_05_30)

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The Committee will comprise all parties including the Office of the Auditor

General of Thailand, the Office of the National Economic and Development

Board, the Budget Bureau and other committees set up by the NCPO

(WA03_2014_06_13)

The corruption scrutiny process has been carried out over the past month by

the NCPO (WA06_2014_07_04)

My findings have evidenced that all material processes in passive construction seem

to be interconnected with the themes of the authoritative action and related political

institutions and economic development. Thus, it can be implied that this discursive strategy

was utilised with the objective of emphasising what the NCPO team has done in overcoming

the problems related to democratic policies and political processes of Thailand at the time of

political unrest.


the Material Processes through the Pronoun “I” Clauses

Clause

No.

Date/ Text No. Clauses as an Actor in the Material Processes through the Personal

Pronoun „I‟ Clauses

64 WA02_2014_06_06 I have touched on many issues involving many people

65 WA02_2014_06_06 I am doing my best to ease tensions

66 WA04_2014_06_20 I try to provide an understanding with you

67 WA05_2014_06_27 I did not participate in any movements

68 WA05_2014_06_27 I have given clear instructions for expediting the progress of work

69 WA11_2014_08_08 I am not going to interfere in the law on this matter

70 WA11_2014_08_08 I still need to rely on public servants, persons with the relevant knowledge

and abilities, and advisors

71 WA11_2014_08_08 I will mobilise these tasks to the new government

72 WA13_2014_08_22 I do take responsibility for all my actions

73 WA14_2014_08_29 I have not used martial law

74 WA14_2014_08_29 I will take punitive action

75 WA15_2014_09_05 I perform our duties for the benefit of all citizens

76 WA15_2014_09_05 I try to do everything possible to quickly ease the situation

77 WA15_2014_09_05 I do not want to maintain Martial Law

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When looking thoroughly at the proportions of the personal pronoun ‗I‘ used by the

Actor who does the action, the findings reveal that ‗I‘ has a lower percentage of instances by

20 times less than ‗We‘. The Actor appeared in the pronoun ‗I‘ in 54 clauses (17.36%). As

can be seen in the Table 4.11, the material processes ‗do‘, ‗provide‘, ‗participate‘, ‗give‘,

‗take‘ and ‗perform‘, for instance, signify a positive connotation of action taking by General

Prayuth to govern the nation. In examples 65, 72, 75 and 76 the Actor ‗I‘, referring to

General Prayuth, is used to express his commitment and determination in his attempts to

control the political crisis and to reduce the risk of violence.


the Material Processes through the Social Actor “Government” Clauses

Clause

No.


„Government‟ Clauses

78 WA01_2014_05_30 The caretaker government was unable to perform their duties effectively

79 WA05_2014_06_27 The government must revise its working strategies

80 WA05_2014_06_27 The government clearly formulates national and international strategies

81 WA10_2014_08_01 The government was not able to fully provide basic services to the people

82 WA12_2014_08_15 The government must expedite measures

83 WA13_2014_08_22 The government has purchased large amounts of rubber at a high price

84 WA13_2014_08_22 The government must offer more public transport services

85 WA13_2014_08_22 The government must improve the public transit system

86 WA15_2014_09_05 The government will do our very best

87 WA15_2014_09_05 The government will perform our duties for the benefit of all citizens

88 WA15_2014_09_05 The government must now continue to build on this foundation

89 WA11_2014_08_08 The budget has already been approved by the government

90 WA13_2014_08_22 Continuity of work in reform is carried out by the Government

The Actors in the material processes which referred to as the social actor

‗Government‘, amounted for 16 occurrences (0.66%) as can be seen in the Table 4.7. These

examples of the material processes ‗perform‘, ‘revise‘, ‗formulate‘, ‗provide‘, ‗expedite‘,

‗offer‘, ‗improve‘, ‗do‘, ‗continue‘, ‗approve‘ and ‗carry out‘ are employed to present

strategies which have been put into practice by the military government in order to re-

establish and develop the country socially and economically as illustrated in the Table 4.12.

It appears the majority of the material process type discourse is utilised to convey the events

that the interim government will (or has) taken action on to help rebuild Thailand

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economically and socially, in particular, the development of the basic infrastructure of the

country.


the Material Processes through the Social Actor “Military” Clauses

Clause

No.


„Military‟ Clauses

91 WA01_2014_05_30 The military will look after the country and the people

92 WA01_2014_05_30 The military ensure long-lasting happiness and prosperity

93 WA06_2014_07_04 Military officers have continuously carried out their operations

94 WA06_2014_07_04 Military officers have made a number of seizures

95 WA06_2014_07_04 The military has taken control of national administration to end violence

96 WA10_2014_08_01 Armed military officers must exercise caution while working among the

people

97 WA10_2014_08_01 The military does not resort to the use of weapons as the only means

98 WA10_2014_08_01 The military has been involved in the operations from the beginning

99 WA11_2014_08_08 The military can do these tasks

100 WA11_2014_08_08 The military has never made payments for positions

101 WA12_2014_08_15 Military officers exercise caution in every operation as well

102 WA02_2014_06_06 The ASEAN forests project has been carried out by military units

103 WA05_2014_06_27 The general public must be reinforced by the military

Considering the significant role of the social actor ‗Military’ there was only a low

frequency of this actor in the material processes, accounting for 15 occurrences (0.62%) as

illustrated in the Table 4.7. Examining the Actor role of the ‗Military‘, the findings reveal

that the material processes used was to explain the power relationship between the processes

of ―doing‖ in the physical world and the underlying intentions and goals of General Prayuth

as the spokesperson. As can be seen in the Table 4.13, almost all of those material verbs

‗reinforce‘, ‗ensure‘, ‗take control‘, ‗exercise‘ and ‗carry out‘ can be exercised to show the

power relationship. It should be noted that as the Actor, the ‗Military‘ are the Doers who have

authority and power to conduct certain actions.

As aforementioned, discussion of the linguistic features was based on the most

frequent participant role of the Actor in the material processes. In this subsection, it is worth

analysing the differences and similarities between the material processes used with the major

participant roles as the Actors including ‗We‘, ‗I‘ and ‗NCPO‘. According to the tables

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previously mentioned, it can be seen that the material processes dominate the data when

co-occurring with ‗We‘ as the Actor. The number of material processes co-occurring with

‗We‘ as the Actor was 1,056 clauses (43.72%). This compares with material clauses occurring

with the Actors ‗NCPO‘ and ‗I‘ of 195 clauses (8.07%) and 54 clauses (2.23%), respectively.

There was a higher concentration of material clauses occurring with the Actor ‗We‘ because

this type of material process was predominantly concerned with the tangible or physical

actions of the participants. Also, the pronoun ‗We‘ conveys semantically a positive meaning

that has been traditionally associated with inclusiveness, representing General Prayuth and

his administration as inclusive. This strategy appeared to be dominantly utilised in the

speeches during the chaotic political situation.

A closer examination of the domination of material clauses occurring with the

participant roles as the Actors ‗We‘, ‗I‘ and ‗NCPO‘, suggests that the material processes

used with the Actors ‗We‘ and ‗NCPO‘ seem to have more weight in terms of importance and

all the material verbs more impact on developmental activities and for solving the

complicated political problems of the country. The examples of material verbs identified in

co-occurrence with the participant roles as the two Actors of ‗We‘ and ‗NCPO‘ consist of

‗solve‘, ‗remove‘, ‗continue‘, ‗set up‘, ‗establish‘, ‗reorganise‘, ‗improve‘, ‗create‘,

‗facilitate‘, ‗build‘, ‗make‘, ‗develop‘, ‗address‘, ‗resolve‘, ‗implement‘ and ‗reform’. On the

other hand, it seems that those material processes used with ‗I‘ contain less weight in terms of

importance as they are limited to the action of an individual person, General Prayuth.

Examples of material verbs appearing with the participant role as the Actor ‗I‘ include ‗do‘,

‗provide‘, ‗participant‘, ‗give‘, ‗take‘, ‗use‘ and ‗perform‘.

Looking closely at the overall use of material processes, I found that those material

clauses portray the role of General Prayuth, as head of the NCPO, as an individual who is

enthusiastic, powerful and authoritative enough to take responsibility and feels a duty to bring

about positive change and a better future for the country and Thai citizens. Simply put, the

choices of material process evoke urgent provision to solve the political, economic and

socially-related issues by means of judicial processes acceptable to the citizens.

4.3.2 Summary of the Analysis of Material Processes and the Major Participant Roles as

the Actors

This section presents the results from the analysis of material processes and

participant roles of the Actors ‗We‘, ‗I‘, ‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘. Material

processes and participant roles as Actors were the major concerns of the data analysis. The

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examples analysed and discussed in each section show the way in which language can

support a specific method of belief and proposition. To summarise, the highest percentage of

participant roles of the material processes were the Actors with a total of 1,336 occurrences

(55.32%), which dominated all participant roles in the selected weekly addresses. These

findings seem to suggest that the discursive representation through the use of heavily loaded

material processes and the major participant roles of the Actors as the selected pronouns and

social actors ‗We‘, ‗I‘, ‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘ appear to be more authoritative,

powerful and active, in arousing the citizens‘ confidence in and trust of General Prayuth. This

confidence arousing strategy is undertaken in order to gain support for policies and measures

being established to overcome the politically-related issues arising during the political

turmoil and insurrection. In other words, the findings demonstrate that material processes can

be used to demonstrate the power and authority of General Prayuth through the delivery of

addresses that revealed the strong determination to re-establish democratic principles,

political processes and the developmental activities of all national affairs.

As the Thai political situation at the time of writing this thesis obviously led to the

crisis, instability and resolutions there was a great need for the head of government to

reassurance the populace. Thus, it was a necessity for General Prayuth, as head of the

National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), together with his administrative team to

attempt to create a sense of unity through the processes of ―doing‖ and ―action‖, reassuring

his audience at a time of political crisis. Hence, it can be noted that the material processes

which are mostly found in the corpus are more persuasive and promotional, serving to unify

and restore people‘s confidence both locally and internationally.

4.4 Critical Metaphor Analysis

In this part of the analysis, the findings reveal that metaphorical expressions on

politics and democracy-related issues were expressed through a wide range of conceptual

metaphors. The manual analysis yielded a total of 49 metaphoric expressions and identified

seven different conceptual metaphors. There are two issues that are primarily focused on in

the analysis of metaphorical expressions concerning politics and democracy. The conceptual

metaphors that appear in the selected excerpts are displayed in capitals as the conceptual

mappings of source and target domains presented in the following table.

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Table 4.14: Conceptual Mappings of Source and Target Domains of Metaphors in the

Weekly Addresses on Politics and Democracy-Related Issues

Conceptual Metaphors Number of

Occurrences

Percentage

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS MACHINES AND

TOOLS

19 38.77%

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A JOURNEY 8 16.32%

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS BUILDING AND

CONSTRUCTION

8 16.32%

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS HUMAN 8 16.32%

DEMOCRACY AS WAR 3 6.12%

DEMOCRACY AS AN ANIMAL (BIRD) 2 4.08%

DEMOCRACY AS AN OBJECT 1 2.04%

Total 49 100%

From the above table, it is clear that the conceptual metaphor of DEMOCRACY AND

POLITICS AS MACHINES AND TOOLS appeared to be used most frequently in the dataset

of a total of 19 occurrences (38.77%). Furthermore, the three conceptual metaphors of

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A JOURNEY, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

and HUMAN displayed smaller numbers of the same occurrences, accounting for 8

occurrences (16.32%). At a very low occurrence are the conceptual metaphors of

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS WAR, as an ANIMAL (BIRD), and as an OBJECT,

accounting for 3 occurrences (6.12%), 2 occurrences (4.08%) and 1 occurrence (2.04%),

respectively. In the subsequent sections, I have analysed and discussed only the four

dominant conceptual metaphoric themes; DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS MACHINES

AND TOOLS, JOURNEY, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION and HUMAN which are

interpreted and discussed, respectively.

4.4.1 Analysis of the Machines and Tools Metaphors

Individuals use machines and tools to work, play, fight, and for pleasure. Thus, the

source domain of the machines and tools plus the related-activities can be viewed as

metaphorical expressions such as ―the machine of democracy‖ and ―conceptual tools‖

Emerging lexical patterns for this source domain in this particular discourse included words

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such as ‗a democratic system‘, ‗the democratic mechanisms‘, ‗a fully functioning

democracy‘, ‗steer‘, ‗mechanisms for democracy‘ and ‗dysfunctional state‘. According to

these common domains, I employed the conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY AND

POLITICS AS MACHINES AND TOOLS to lead to further analyses and interpretations. It

should be noted that this complex system always links with abstract concepts such as the

legal system, the government, political parties, political systems and so on. As can be seen in

the excerpts illustrated below, the key conceptual metaphor is machine function and

operation. The phrases ‗a democratic system‘ and ‗a fully functioning democracy‘ are

predominantly utilised. It might be inferred that General Prayuth views democracy as a

mechanical system and intends to establish a political function which operates more

democratically. As can be seen in the following excerpts, phrases such as ‗a fully functioning

democracy‘ are often utilised:

Conceptual Mappings of Source and Target Domains of DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS

MACHINES AND TOOLS

Democracy and politics are designed to be like a machine system and it is necessary

for it to be installed and to function normally/satisfactorily.

―A general election under a democratic system which is legal and accepted by

all sides‖ (WA01_2014_05_30)

―to mend our democratic system and make it right, just, responsible and

beneficial to all people‖(WA01_2014_05_30)

―But we have reached a point where our democracy has stalled‖

(WA04_2014_06_20)

―If we build good mechanisms for democracy as we are trying to achieve in

our reform phase, if everyone cooperates‖ (WA07_2014_07_11)

―Democracy is thought by all to be the best system‖ (WA08_2014_07_18)

―Development of a democratic system that is right, comprehensive,

internationally accepted and appropriate for Thailand‖ (WA14_2014_08_29)

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Politics is established as a fully functioning democracy. The examples below refer to

Thai politics being established to be more fully democratic and with functioning

effectiveness.

―We came in to make our country stronger, laying firmer foundations to

prevent the structure from collapsing so that our country will be ready to

move towards becoming a fully functioning democracy‖(WA02_2014_06_06)

―But please be assured that we are doing the best we can in order to achieve

our goal of a fully functioning democracy which is accepted by all sides‖

(WA02_2014_06_06)

―we will accelerate the reform process in order to make Thailand a fully

functioning democracy‖(WA05_2014_06_27)

―The NCPO wishes that a free and fair general election be held under the

constitution, to lay a strong foundation for a fully functioning democracy

devoid of political conflicts‖(WA05_2014_06_27)

―they can be amended and improved so that the promulgation of a new

constitution can then be used for the next general election, in a just and fair

manner to all the parties in a fully functioning democracy without further

quarrels in the future‖(WA07_2014_07_11)

―We will need to make a transition from operations in the first phase to

addressing problems and carrying out reforms, as well as passing new laws,

and making preparations for elections to ensure that we will be a fully

functioning democracy‖(WA10_2014_08_01)

It should be noted that using a conceptual metaphor with a source domain of

machinery is salient and is most frequently employed throughout the speeches in comparison

with other source domains. It can be interpreted that a source domain of machinery can be

related to words as functions and the operations of a specified system, or even in the negative

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connotation as a malfunction and dysfunction which signifies an abnormality or impairment

in the function of a system.

By using this specific metaphor theme, it can be implied that the Thai democracy was

a broken machine during the time of protests which need a team of powerful, skilful and

knowledgeable mechanics to fix and solve it. It can be seen clearly from the following

excerpt.

―But we have reached a point where our democracy has stalled‖

(WA04_2014_06_20).

In other words, it conveys a sense of the need of making adjustment and repairing the

Thai democratic system in order to make it work properly again. It should be noted that

General Prayuth used metaphorical expressions to simplify politically related problems with

the purposes of creating mutual agreement with the public to contribute in the processes of

adjusting or repairing the democratic principles and political processes within Thai society.

During the time the speeches were being delivered, Thai democratic principles and

the political system appeared to be extremely unstable and at risk due to large scale unrest.

There were numerous anti-government demonstrations in many parts of Bangkok, which

were confronted with force by the military leading to numerous casualties and deaths. On

Tuesday morning 20th May 2014 at 3 am, Bangkok time, the Thai Military declared martial

law in the country and took over all governmental functions in the name of public order and

citizen safety. Based on this scenario, it was necessary to deliver messages which carried

thought-provoking messages in order to gain people‘s faith in the administration of the

military-led government, particularly, its active duty in shaping the future direction of the

Thai political system and society. Thus, General Prayuth, as the head of the NCPO and a

representative of the military government, widely used the source domain of machinery in

order to pinpoint the political value of establishing democratic principles and a stable

political system.

4.4.2 Analysis of the Journey Metaphors

Considering the journey metaphors, these types of metaphorical expressions have a

long history in cognitive linguistics research. Theoretically, the words ―step‖ and ―forward‖

appear to be the common metaphorical key words accounting for the JOURNEY

METAPHOR in studying political discourse. In this part, I propose a conceptual metaphor of

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DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A JOURNEY as the focal point of the analysis. From

the corpus, the phrase ―move forward‖ appears to be predominantly employed. It expresses

an idea of political experience related to the concept of movement.

It can be suggested that the source domain of a journey is an attractive-metaphorical

expression which played a crucial role for General Prayuth. He discursively represented

himself as the ―guide‖, his proposal or policies as the ―map‖, and his potential audience and

supporters as ―fellow travelling companions‖. In this particular discourse, it can be observed

that the most common metaphorical key words ‗step‘ and ‗forward‘ were utilised

conventionally to denote positive progress towards an identified goal. It is seen that ‗forward‘

can be collocated with ‗move‘. The following table illustrates the mapping with evidence of

the conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A JOURNEY.


JOURNEY

Purposeful social activities travel along a path towards a destination or a journey

which proceeds to a destination (goal). It could be interpreted as politically related activities

travelling progressively along a path towards a destination.

―Our country will be ready to move towards becoming a fully functioning

democracy‖ (WA02_2014_06_06)

―This has been done through returning happiness activities in various forms

in moving the country towards sustainable reform and democracy‖

(WA04_2014_06_20)

―We request for time for us all to apply our conscience and rationality in

steering this country forward‖ (WA04_2014_06_20)

―We need to live in the present, learn from the past, and move forward

together to the future‖ (WA05_2014_06_27)

―I ask for patience from the Thai people and foreign friends to allow us to

move forward in unity‖ (WA08_2014_07_18)

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―This is their statement I have already mentioned that we have to use Thai

people’s intellect to develop Thailand’s democracy and determine how we will

move forward‖ (WA11_2014_08_08)

The conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS A JOURNEY in the table

above attempts to provoke potential audience‘s emotions and attitudes in order to invite the

Thai people as a whole to participate in the journey. To be precise, General Prayuth uses this

forward movement metaphor to arouse people into accompanying him on the roadmap to

reach a final destination. In other words, forward movement toward a positive development.

In this context, the development of the Thai political system is metaphorically constructed as

a journey on which obstacles always take places during movement. Particularly, the violent

clashes between anti-government protesters and government troops during the political crisis

can be considered as problems and obstacles to the movement of positive development. Thus,

a stable democratic system, stability of political processes and the effectiveness of national

reform are goals as the destination of a journey that all the Thai people will be happy to

accept and join in with.

4.4.3 Analysis of the Building and Construction Metaphors

There are a number of building metaphors identified in the literature, for instance,

THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS, SOCIETY IS A BUILDING, COMPLEX SYSTEMS ARE

BUILDINGS and CAREERS ARE BUILDINGS. It should be noticed that metaphors from

this source domain carry strong positive connotations and express aspiration towards desired

social goals. As previously discussed, the source domain of building and construction is

based on the conceptual metaphor of SOCIAL ORGANISATION IS A BUILDING. It can be

said that the act of building houses or other structures for particular activities serves as this

common metaphorical source domain. The emerging lexical patterns appearing in the

following excerpts include: ‗to build‘, ‗to lay a strong foundation‘, ‗to build the foundations‘,

‗set up a stable pillar of‘, ‗stability‘, ‗lasting regional and global stability‘, ‗fundamental‘

and ‗the framework of‘. These expressions serve as common metaphorical source domains

and are employed as a theme of analysis. The most frequent illustration of the conceptual

metaphor DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS A BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION in the

corpus below refers to the action of building which forms well-founded, strong and

permanent foundations for the democratic principles of Thailand.

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BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

Building and construction are designed to be stable and well-founded so that they will

not collapse. In other words, democratic principles and the Thai political system are designed

to be stable and well-founded so that they will withstand political turmoil and insurrection,

and ultimately will not collapse.

―As for the international community, we are asking for your patience to give

us time as we build our country and a democracy in which the Thai people

possess discipline and a true understanding of democracy with good

governance‖(WA02_2014_06_06)

―The NCPO wishes that a free and fair general election be held under the

constitution, to lay a strong foundation for a fully functioning democracy

devoid of political conflicts‖(WA05_2014_06_27)

―If we build good mechanisms for democracy as we are trying to achieve in

our reform phase, if everyone cooperates, then there will be no conflicts‖

(WA07_2014_07_11)

Building and construction are structured to be strong, solid and permanent in order to

progress towards long-term goals. It can be interpreted that the democratic principles and the

Thai political systems (judicial process, elections, good governance and so on) are structured

to be strong in order to progress towards long-term goals.

―Thailand is trying to build the foundations for a strong democracy, which

will lead to more sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships with the

international community‖ (WA08_2014_07_18)

―Today it is better for us all to help set up a stable pillar of Thai democracy,

rather than to criticise, particularly regarding the demand for an early

election‖ (WA08_2014_07_18)

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―I also ask for every country to be supportive of us in creating a country full

of hope as well as bringing about national stability, which will lead to lasting

regional and global stability in the future‖(WA08_2014_07_18)

―In the past, it could be said that the flaw of democracy in Thailand was the

lack of respect for fundamental democratic principles which include the

respect for the law, equality, and good governance, as well as the

maintenance of the check-and-balance system for executive, legislative, and

judicial powers‖(WA08_2014_07_18)

―If some say this matter should be so and so, they should have fixed it a long

time ago within the framework of democracy‖ (WA10_2014_08_01)

It can be argued that the concept of building and construction is twofold: (1) buildings

and construction are designed to be stable and well-founded so they will not collapse; and (2)

building and construction are structured to be strong, solid and permanent for longevity and

be fit for purpose. The implied meaning of this source domain of building connotes a strong

foundation for democracy or policies. Hence, it should be noted that the idea of physically

constructing a building is usually employed to portray the abstract concept of creating

political processes. This common metaphorical source domain expresses a positive evaluation

of political activities with an assumption of subsequent valuable outcomes. It might be

interpreted that this conceptual metaphor seems to be associated more with the underlying

ideology of General Prayuth in his attempt to shed light on building a stable and sustainable

democracy in Thailand during times of political disturbance and insurrection.

4.4.4 Analysis of the Human Metaphors (Personification)

In this part of the analysis, the term ―personification‖ can be employed

interchangeably as the conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS HUMAN

throughout this study. Because it is common to say ―human being‖ as a source domain it

might be easier to label it more specifically as ―personification‖ especially when something is

being strengthened. Therefore, the word ―strengthen‖ is normally considered as

personification.

In the following excerpts, the non-human entity ―democracy‖ has been given human

qualities and is thus personified. It should be noted that a number of metaphors may be based

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on body positions taken up by humans and individuals creating metaphors based largely on

the perspective of their own bodies, especially for having a vision, facing a challenge,

strengthening something, standing up for something and so on. I personally found it highly

influential on me in terms of categorising metaphors. Hence, the word ―facing‖ is normally

considered a personification or body position metaphor.

The emerging lexical patterns associated with metaphorical expressions include

‗democracy in Thailand is also facing‘, ‗the elections will bring and give to the people in a

sustainable manner‘, ‗the democratic mechanisms are paralysed‘, ‗to strengthen democracy‘,

‗democracy in Thailand must be strengthened in a sustainable manner‘, ‗a strengthened

democratic system‘, ‗to safeguard democracy‘ and ‗the well-being of your country‘. As

previously discussed, personification means human qualities are assigned to abstractions or

inanimate objects. Considering the examples above, this rhetorical strategy can be used in

order to obscure the actual social actor as well. For instance, ‗democracy in Thailand is also

facing‘ which is not an agent but a political model or the government. It should be noted that

personifying democracy as an agent, the head of the NCPO and the administrative team

known as the military government can conceal who the actual actors are. Another example

which is worth mentioning here is ‗democracy in Thailand must be strengthened in a

sustainable manner‘. It can be seen that this process of concealment helps General Prayuth to

avoid mentioning the actual social actors who need to be responsible for the action.

In the excerpts below, the conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS

HUMAN can be categorised into two main areas consisting of (1) the democratic principles

and political system in Thailand challenged by the difficult situation due to the political crisis

and insurrection, and (2) the democratic principles in Thailand becoming weak and

ineffectual, and hence incapable of strong decision-making in order to survive. There is

therefore the need for them to be protected and allowed to convalesce in order to allow them

to become stronger and healthier. General Prayuth used this metaphor in his weekly addresses

to signal how Thai democratic principles and political processes have encountered difficulties

and are in a critical and weakened condition.


HUMAN

A person who acts, behaves and interacts with obstacles, is personified as other

humans in his/her environment. It can be interpreted that democratic principles and the

political system in Thailand are represented as a difficult situation.

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―Democracy in Thailand is also facing many problems‖

(WA10_2014_08_01)

―It should also be measured on the basis of what the elections will bring and

give to the people in a sustainable manner‖ (WA08_2014_07_18)

A person, who becomes partly or wholly incapable of movement or weak needs to be

cared for in order to survive. This metaphor alludes to the democratic principles in Thailand

becoming partly or wholly weak and incapable of movement, so, in order to survive they

need to be cared for, to convalesce, and protected in order to make them stronger and

healthier.

―If government officials and the military did nothing, who would help the Thai

people resolve this deadlock when the democratic mechanisms are paralysed‖

(WA01_2014_05_30)

―However, this military intervention is inevitable, in order to uphold national

security and to strengthen democracy‖ (WA06_2014_07_04)

―A former leader of our country, who is a democracy and human rights

advocate, has remarked that no one supports a coup but understands that

democracy in Thailand must be strengthened in a sustainable

manner‖(WA13_2014_08_22)

―They hope to see the return to a strengthened democratic system‖

(WA08_2014_07_18)

―We therefore have had to safeguard democracy‖ (WA02_2014_06_06)

―We believe that, [if you were in our situation for the past 9 years] you would

choose the well-being of your country above a flawed democratic system‖

(WA01_2014_05_30)

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Thai democratic principles and political processes are personified as a patient. The

implied meaning of this conceptual metaphor DEMOCRACY/POLITICS AS HUMAN

suggests that General Prayuth and the Thai military government identify themselves

metaphorically in several roles, as a police officer to safeguard and protect the Thai

democratic principles and political processes from a turbulent environment and as a physician

who can cure the country‘s ills. This suggests two skills – correct diagnosis and appropriate

treatment. General Prayuth, as the head of the military government, therefore, has two clear

metaphorical roles – to protect the weak from a turbulent environment, whilst using his

diagnostic and treatment skills to correct that environment.

4.4.5 Summary of Critical Metaphor Analysis

In this part of critical metaphor analysis, I have shown how particular linguistic

expressions are metaphorically constructed and used in political discourse in order to provide

underlying ideologies of politics and democracy-related issues. Only the four dominant

metaphorically used words were analysed and interpreted in association with the Thai

political context. There is a wide range of emerging source and target domains that can

contribute to an understanding of how these linguistic features functions metaphorically.

The conceptual metaphor of DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS MACHINES AND

TOOLS are used most frequently, accounting for 19 occurrences (38.77%) compared to the

conceptual metaphors of DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A JOURNEY, BUILDING

AND CONSTRUCTION and HUMAN (PERSONIFICATION) which each displays 8

occurrences (16.32%).

It should be noted that metaphorical expressions can be an important part of particular

discourse and can also reflect particular ideologies. As can be seen, General Prayuth

attempted to use linguistic metaphors to promote national reconciliation and bring about a

viable and stable democracy for achieving political calm as opposed to political turbulence

and insurrection. Ultimately, as head of the NCPO, he aimed at raising people‘s awareness of

the value of democratic principles and political processes so they could be accepted by all

sides.

4.5 Chapter Summary

This chapter has presented the findings and interpretation of the data analysed within the

synergised theoretical frameworks including Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the

analytical notion of pronoun and social actor analysis, theoretical frameworks of transitivity

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and modality analyses based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Conceptual

Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The findings are illustrated

in the quantitative mean in terms of numbers and frequencies on the one hand and qualitative

results as excerpts and instances of relevant lexical choices and other linguistic features on

the other hand.

Firstly, the analysis of pronouns and social actors highlights that the pronoun ‗We‘

was exploited predominantly over other pronouns and social actors. This suggests that the

pronoun ‗We‘ plays a crucial role as a major discursive strategy to be employed for evoking a

sense of collectivism, indicating positive-self representation, and building good rapport

between the politician and the audience during times of political turbulence. Secondly, the

modality analysis showed that the inclination appeared to be at its highest percentage among

other types of modality in an attempt to represent the determination of the General Prayuth to

overcome the politically-related issues and problems.

Thirdly, the analysis of the material processes and participant roles reveals that the

participant role as the Actor in this process type was frequently utilised and is considered as

the major concern of this part of the data analysis. The findings suggest that material

processes can be used to show the authoritative power of General Prayuth. Furthermore, the

frequent use of material processes in the selected corpus places great emphasis on the attempt

to build and to restore people‘s confidence and assurance both locally and internationally

with regard to policies, measures and other developmental activities which he and his

administration accomplished during the time of political violence and what aspects of

national affairs they planned to take action on in the near future.

Fourthly, the findings of the metaphor analysis suggest that DEMOCRACY AND

POLITICS AS MACHINES AND TOOLS, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS A

JOURNEY, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION and

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS AS HUMAN appeared to be the top four percentages in the

corpus. It should be concluded that Thai political conflicts were regarded as part of the

problem of Thailand‘s dysfunctional power structure, political processes, the ideas and

viewpoint of democratic principle.

A closer examination of metaphorical linguistic expressions reveals that all source

and target domains were conceptually interconnected based on related political

circumstances. It can be said that the use of common source domains are more likely to

arouse an emotional reaction within the potential audience which seems to be very important

with topics related to the weakening of the Thai democracy and its political processes.

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Analysis and interpretation of the more significant conceptual metaphors concerning politics

and democracy-related issues in co-occurrence with the target terms ―democratic‖ and

―democracy‖ would lead me to conclude that the underlying political ideologies of General

Prayuth seem to emphasise a good understanding of the dynamism and contentious politics of

the two political networks which negatively caused the weakness of Thai political processes

and impacted on Thailand‘s democratic polity. Besides this, it might be concluded that

General Prayuth intentionally used linguistic expressions metaphorically to raise people‘s

consciousness towards the value of building the Thai democratic principles and political

processes in a sustainable manner that can be accepted both domestically and internationally.

In the next chapter, a summary of the major findings in order to answer two research

questions will be presented. In addition, the implications, the limitations, and the suggestions

for further research, together with a conclusion will be elaborated.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS

This chapter presents an overall summary of the major findings and implications of

this current study and also its limitations and suggestions for further research together with a

conclusion. The first section of this final chapter draws on a summary of all the major

research findings in order to answer the following research questions that were mentioned in

Chapter 1, namely:

(1) What are the discursive strategies utilised in the weekly addresses? How and why

are they constructed in terms of the discursive representation of the identities of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the head of the NCPO? And

(2) What are the dominant metaphors utilised in the weekly addresses? What do

these metaphors reveal about the underlying ideologies related to politics and

democracy-related issues during General Prayuth‟s tenure as head of the NCPO?

The second section focuses on the implications of the study, its limitations and suggestions

for further research and the conclusions of the study.

5.1 Summary of the Major Findings

As previously discussed in Chapter 4, the major discursive strategies utilised by

General Prayuth were the exclusive and inclusive pronoun „We‟; the auxiliary verbs which

are in the category of modulation (inclination); the material processes and the major

participant roles as the Actors; and finally the machine and tool based metaphors. Through

the utilisation of the exclusive and inclusive pronouns „We‟, the modulation of inclination,

and the Actor role of participant in the material processes, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s

discursive representations were dynamic in the light of positive self-representation, aimed at

asserting his credibility as the head of NCPO administration, while at the same time seeking

to gain the trust and support from the Thai populace.

On the one hand, through his frequent use of the exclusive pronoun „We‟ General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha aimed to use this effective persuasion strategy to gain the trust and

support of the Thai electorate whilst emphasising his administration‟s willingness to

overcome the politico-related issues. On the other hand, through the frequent utilisation of the

inclusive pronoun „We‟, he seemed to be identified as an active and enthusiastic person who

evoked a sense of empathy with Thai citizens. It can be pointed out that when the inclusive

pronoun „We‟ is used, its main function is to portray him as a good politician who is putting

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in considerable effort to achieve the best solution for the public at a time of political turmoil.

It should also be noted that the inclusive pronoun „We‟ reveals the identity of an individual

who is a member of the collective to which General Prayuth Chan-o-cha belongs in a

particular socio-cultural context. From this point of view, Bramley (2001) pointed out the

“pronoun „We‟ is the central construction of identities of politicians as members of groups

and can be used to invoke a collective identity or group membership which politicians want

to make salient at the time” (p. 260). In the analysis of the inclusive pronoun „We‟ presented

in Chapter 4, it is suggested General Prayuth Chan-o-cha utilised this discursive strategy for

appealing to the sense of unity among his potential audience.

Through a closer analysis of modulation of inclination, depicting General Prayuth as

a man with great ambition and a desire to solve the politically-related problems of Thailand,

as previously discussed in Chapter 4, the findings revealed that this inclination modality

appeared to be frequently employed in the entire corpus and that these discursive strategies

had a positive effect on the interpersonal relationship between General Prayuth and his

potential audience. It should also be noted that this type of modality has been categorised as a

discursive strategy whose function portrays the personal attitude of General Prayuth towards

his own statements through the weekly addresses as well as depicting his commitment to Thai

citizens in tackling politically-related problems in Thailand. Thus, the determination and

intention conveyed in the modulation of inclination reflect the positive-self representation of

General Prayuth, expressing his positive personal qualities and showing strong will in his

tackling of the country‟s problems.

Furthermore, through the frequent use of the Actor role of participant in the material

processes, his discursive representations synergise with the qualities of being powerful and

authoritative to create a sense of unity and to restore Thai citizen‟s confidence both locally

and internationally in the actions, policies, measures and other developmental activities

which he and his administration achieved or plan to undertake in the near future.

When looking at the metaphorically used words, it is found that the ideological

perception of politics and democracy-related issues raises the awareness of Thai citizens to

the hope of seeing the democratic-building processes become accepted by both the Thai

populace and the international community. This study has shown that the patterns of

discursive representations and underlying ideologies portray a positive-self representation of

General Prayuth as the head of the NCPO and a producer of discourses.

As previously discussed in Chapter 1, the main purpose of this study was to

investigate the discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

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through the deployment of the selected first personal pronouns, social actors, modality system

and material processes and the major participant roles as the Actors as they appear in the

English subtitled version of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s weekly addresses. In addition, this

study aimed to analyse metaphoric expressions in those addresses in order to uncover the

underlying political ideologies which are related to politics and democracy-related issues and

concepts. A summary of the major findings, in order to answer the two research questions,

are reported in the following subsections.

5.1.1 Summary of the Major Findings for Research Question 1: What are the discursive

strategies utilised in the weekly addresses? How and why are they constructed in terms of the

discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as

the head of the NCPO?

This thesis provides a definition of the discursive representation of identities as the

relevant social dimensions and one‟s personal identity is represented through discourse and a

variety of linguistic means. For this study, the discursive representation of the identities of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha are revealed through examining the language used in the English

subtitled version of his weekly addresses during his tenure as head of the NCPO.

Examination reveals that the linguistic element most used was the pronoun „We‟

compared to other pronouns and social actors. When looking closely at the use of the

inclusive and exclusive „We‟, the exclusive pronoun „We‟ (referring to the NCPO and

government team) occurs twice the number of times as the inclusive pronoun „We‟ (where it

refers to the NCPO and Thai citizens). As discussed in Chapter 4, in order to gain the trust

and support from Thai citizens, the use of exclusive pronoun „We‟ was employed to

emphasise the willingness of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the government team to

overcome the politic-related issues.

On the other hand, the inclusive use of „We‟ also plays an important role in the

discourse, evoking a sense of responsibility, empathy and commonality in creating a good

rapport with the Thai people while, at the same time, the use of the pronoun „I‟ was similarly

utilised as a means of building a good relationship, indicating General Prayuth‟s positive-self

representation and establishing a collaborative rapport with audience during the time of

political crisis.

Furthermore, General Prayuth tended to employ social actors such as „NCPO‟,

„Government‟, and „Military‟ for the purposes of indicating positive-self representation,

asking for supportive cooperation and understanding from the public, and being enthusiastic

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for the national administration, represented by the NCPO. Most of the abstracted sentences

listed use provoking and stimulating words expressing the willingness and enthusiasm of the

NCPO to tackle the problems that the state was encountering at that time of political crisis. It

was also found that there were many harmonious, positive and motivated words and phrases

to evoke the audience‟s feelings, perceptions and attitudes towards national unity, empathy

and citizen reconciliation.

In a similar vein, in the analysis of selected social actors, General Prayuth employed

„Government‟ as one of his referential choices that referred to his identity construction for

positive-self representation. Most of the selected sentences list provoking and stimulating

words to indicate the determination and enthusiasm of the government to address all

obstacles during the political unrest. While at the same time, General Prayuth utilises the

social actor „Military‟ to refer to himself as head of state, aiming to build a positive image of

the military for being enthusiastic and able to govern the nation.

Based on an analysis of the modality system, as previously discussed in Chapter 4, the

modal auxiliary verbs of inclination and obligation (modulation) appeared to be widely used

throughout the entire corpus of the weekly addresses. In contrast, the modal auxiliary verbs of

probability and frequency (modalisation) were rarely used. This might be due to the fact that

the speeches were delivered during a time of political crisis. Hence, the use of the modal

auxiliary verbs „have to‟, „must‟, „should‟, „will‟, „can‟, „need‟ and „would‟ which are in the

category of modulation (obligation and inclination) plays a significant function in

representing the determination of the spokesperson (as head of state) to find the best

sustainable resolution for the national crisis and also, ultimately, supporting his and the

administrative team‟s commitment to the proposals transmitted through discourse to potential

audience.

With regard to the frequent utilisation of the process types and the major participants

role as the Actors, the material processes were found to occur most frequently, compared to

other process types. By closely examining the material processes, it can be observed that the

participant roles of the so called Actors co-occurred with the selected pronouns and social

actors „We‟, „I‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟ and „Military‟ and appeared to be more frequently

and significantly used in the weekly addresses compared with other participant roles such as

the Goal and the Recipient. The participant roles of the Goal and the Recipient were, thus,

omitted from further analysis. When looking closely at the participant roles as the Actors, it

can be said that those material processes signify the authoritative power of those Actors such

as „We‟, „I‟, „NCPO‟, „Government‟, and „Military‟. Instances of material processes include

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„solve‟, „remove‟, „continue‟, „set up‟, „establish‟, „reorganise‟, „defend‟, „improve‟, „create‟,

„facilitate‟, „provide‟, „perform‟, ‘revise‟, „formulate‟, „expedite‟, „offer‟, „reinforce‟, „take

control‟, „exercise‟, „participate‟, „give‟, „take‟, „perform‟ and so on. Furthermore, these

action verbs were deliberately employed to represent General Prayuth Chan-o-cha as having

authoritative power, as either head of the NCPO or representative of the military government,

for taking action to rebuild Thailand in many developmental dimensions - politically,

economically and socially.

The findings reported in this study lead to the conclusion that the material processes

have been used to create a good impression of the government to the citizens. These findings

are in accord with the findings of Wang (2010) in regard to investigation of Barack Obama‟s

speeches that concluded that “material process, a process of doing in the physical world, has

been employed most in the speeches in order to show the citizens what the government has

achieved and what they are trying to do in the future plans and policies” (p. 261). This idea

was reinforced by Naz, Alvi and Baseer (2012) who asserted that material actions seem

necessary to cope with future challenges when a country is facing hardship.

To summarise, it can be seen that the discursive representation of the identities of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha can be alluded to through the utilisation of first personal

pronouns, social actors, modality system and the frequent process types and the major

participant roles of the Actors. The major features are displayed in the following table.

Table 5.1: Discursive Representation of the Identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

Discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha emerging

in his weekly addresses to the Thai nation

- Being an active and ambitious person

- Being enthusiastic about the national administration

- Being involved in showing strong will in tackling the country‟s problem

- Being a compromising person

- Having a powerful role as the head of the National Council for Peace and Order

(NCPO)

It can be seen that General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as the originator of his discourses,

uses persuasive linguistic functions to emphasise his strong personal intentions,

determination, certainty and positive-self representation through the use of personal

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pronouns, social actors, modality system and the frequent material processes and the major

participant roles as the Actors, which emerged in his public announcements.

To conclude, whilst General Prayuth Chan-o-cha used all the above techniques, he

tended to be spoke his discourses to the specific socio-political context and shared his

personal determination and enthusiasm with audience in enacting political reform, promoting

national reconciliation and restoring Thai democratic principles during a time of political

crisis.

5.1.2 Summary of the Major Findings for Research Question 2: What are the dominant

metaphors utilised in the weekly addresses? What do they reveal about the underlying

ideologies related to politics and democracy-related issues during General Prayuth‟s tenure as

head of the NCPO?

Metaphors are designed to simplify, by analogy, complex material which it is often

difficult for the public to understand. This study examined the metaphors used to explain

complex concepts such as democracy and political issues. To be more specific, the purpose of

this research question was to focus on how these metaphors reflect General Prayuth Chan-o-

cha‟s strategies for promoting his policies and creating particular political activities which

were shaped by the socio-political context, whilst at the same time, showing how his

linguistic metaphors attempted to overcome the political crisis.

Based on the Thai political crisis taking place in 2014, Thailand experienced another

military coup on 22nd

May 2014. Since then, a military junta, going by the name of the

National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has governed the country. Its avowed aim

was to stabilise the country, which was enacted through “an oppressive post-coup political

milieu has been one of the most influential factors in limiting the political role of the Red

Shirt group or network of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and

even fragmenting its network” (Thabchumpon, 2016, p. 109).

Many Thai and foreign scholars in the field of political sciences, observing this

strategy posited that “the overall Thai political situation from 2014 – 2015 reflected a

weakening of Thai democracy” (Ockey, 2014; Thabchumpon, 2016). Furthermore, the

network of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), in particular, has

been placed under considerable threat from the junta, which has used coercive means to deter

or prohibit political gatherings. For instance, Article 44 of the 2014 Interim Constitution was

employed regularly by the military and the police in order to justify investigations,

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detentions, or any other curbs on the rights of anyone suspected of participating in activities

deemed to threaten the security of the nation (Thabchumpon, 2016).

At this time of political crisis, in relation to the instability of the democratic system in

Thailand, this issue created sensitivity among the Thai populace which could have led to a

national-level conflict. It was necessary to deliver addresses which carried a thought-

provoking message in order to gain people‟s trust for the administration of the military-led

government, particularly in its active duty of shaping the future direction of the Thai political

system and society.

Thus, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha used metaphorical linguistic expressions in order

to make these political phenomena more understandable and tangible to his potential

audience. The lexical fields of machines and tools, journey, building and construction and

human (personification) appeared to be extensively utilised throughout the entire corpus as

can be seen in Chapter 4 (see Table 4.14). This study leads me to conclude that metaphors

enabled General Prayuth Chan-o-cha to communicate effectively by expressing his

underlying political ideologies more persuasively through metaphorical illustration which

appealed cognitively and imaginatively to the audience‟s knowledge and understanding of the

historical, cultural and political aspects.

Utilising the machines and tools, journey, building and construction and human-based

metaphorical linguistic expressions in association with the democracy and politics-related

concept combined with the unstable Thai political context, invoked public attention with a

high degree of mutual agreement and cooperation between General Prayuth Chan-o-cha and

his potential audience who may have had different political points of view. To conclude,

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha exploited metaphorical expressions in order to shed light on and

inspire confidence in the impending resumption of Thai democratic and political processes.

5.2 Towards Strategic Political Communication during Times of Political Crisis

Through the language used by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha in the English subtitled

version of weekly addresses, the discursive representation of the identities and the underlying

ideologies can be investigated not only through linguistic means, but also through the socio-

political context in which they are used.

On the surface, the findings suggest that most of the linguistic features used played a

significant role in pinpointing the positive-self representation of General Prayuth, expressing

his positive personal qualities and showing his strong commitment and determination to

overcome the country‟s politic-related problems. At the same time, these linguistic devices

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were always shaped by the contextual conditions within which they were communicated -

conditions formed by the political system. In other words, it may be said that General

Prayuth, as the head of the NCPO and coup leader, used persuasive language strategies to

persuade the public to believe in his campaign and find a solution to the long-standing

political issues of the country.

Furthermore, it is important to note that the primary goal of the strategic political

communication and the campaign was to maximise political support, achieved through

generating his audience trust and approval for his administrative team‟s credentials (Downs,

1957). Even through the discursive strategies appeared to be useful to General Prayuth

personally in obtaining the audience‟s approval and increasing his credibility after the coup

d‟état, it was believed that he was expected to be sincere and to make his proposals and ideas

transparent to the audience, for objectives higher than personal aggrandisement.

Based on the findings presented in Chapter 4, a strategy of personal involvement such

as the overt use of the inclusive pronoun „We‟ was a way to represent himself as an

enthusiastic person and to stimulate a sense of unity in Thai citizens, while the explicit use of

inclination modality was considered to be a way of emphasising his discursive representation

as being a compromising person who was willing to take responsibility for solving political

problems.

In addition to the frequent use of the Actor role of participant in the material

processes, his discursive representation was imbued with the positive qualities of him being a

compelling and influential person promoting peace and bringing harmony to Thai society.

The use of the machines and tools, journey, building and construction and human

(personification) based metaphors represent his underlying political ideologies in a positive

light regarding the democratic and political processes. However, there is a dilemma as to

whether the use of metaphors in this way were a deliberate strategy for gaining the audience‟s

approval or just a way of involving himself directly with the audience in order to dominate, to

manipulate, and to conceal his hidden ideologies.

Regarding manipulation in political discourse, Fairclough (1989) asserted that

manipulation is one of the discursive social practices of dominant groups geared towards the

reproduction of their power to control others. From the findings of this current study it is

difficult to assess how much was persuasion through language, but it can be said that such

linguistic mechanisms could influence people‟s beliefs, attitudes and behaviour or even

impact on the structure of society if used on a regular basis. As Sriwimon (2015) stressed,

“language can produce and reproduce social life and within a particular society, certain

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groups are likely to be disadvantaged by linguistic mechanisms” (p. 156). As with such

dominant groups, for instance, General Prayuth and his administrative team might have used

manipulative language as a means of persuasion by providing information which was aimed

at getting their audience to agree with their point of views on a particular topic.

To conclude, examining the language and contextual conditions in political discourse

works compatibly with a diverse theoretical paradigm, such as the three-dimensional model

of Fairclough‟s (2010) Critical Discourse Analysis, and is crucially relevant to a concern for

the representation of identity and ideology through the use of language.

5.3 Theoretical and Methodological Implications of the Study

The implications of the study can be considered in two dimensions: (1) the theoretical

and (2) the methodological.

5.3.1 Theoretical Implications of the Study

This study represents several theoretical implications to the understanding of how the

abstract concepts of the representation of identities and underlying ideologies of General

Prayuth Chan-o-cha can be discursively revealed through the analyses and interpretations of

the use of personal pronouns, social actors, the modality system and the material processes

and the major participant roles as the Actors and metaphorical linguistic expressions. As

previously discussed in Chapter 3, this study aimed at employing a wide range of theoretical

frameworks including the three-dimensional model of Fairclough‟s (2010) Critical Discourse

Analysis as the underpinning theoretical framework; the notion of pronouns and the social

actor for creating the thematic analyses; the modality system and process types based on

Halliday and Mattheissen‟s (2004, 2014) Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to examine

the discursive representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, and all shaped

by contextual conditions at a time of political unrest.

For the metaphorical analysis I blended three different analytical approaches, namely

Lakoff and Johnson‟s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), Charteris-Black‟s (2004,

2014) Critical Metaphor Analysis and Kövecses‟s (2002, 2010) notion of metaphor study to

form the analytical framework. They were collectively designed to reveal the underlying

political ideologies on politics and democracy-related issues through examining metaphors

conveyed in General Prayuth‟s weekly addresses.

Through the utilisation of a wide range of theoretical frameworks it allowed the study

to explore research data through different Critical Discourse Analysis perspectives of

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investigation. Examining discourses by adopting different theoretical frameworks makes this

current study more of theoretical triangulation-orientated approaches study. As Brown (2001)

mentioned “triangulation is believed to maximize the possibility of obtaining credible

findings by cross-validating them” (p, 28). As well as Critical Discourse Analysis which is

often regarded as an eclectic framework, this study adopts different theoretical frameworks to

triangulate its findings. Drawing on multiple frameworks has provided the conception for

analysis that has met the research objectives.

Throughout the present study these theoretical frameworks contribute to illustrating

intangible concepts such as the representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

and how they were discursively constructed and shaped by contextual conditions during times

of political turmoil. To be more specific, the discursive representation of General Prayuth

was revealed through the examination and analysis of the use of personal pronouns, social

actors, the modality system and the frequent process types and major participant roles as the

Actors.

As evident from the linguistic analysis presented in Chapter 4, the consequences of

linguistic choices used to represent General Prayuth Chan-o-cha through the lens of positive-

self representation are, for instance, the use of the inclusive pronoun „We‟, the modality of

inclination, the dominant participant role as the Actors in material processes providing a

positive image of the characteristics and intentions of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha

concerning shared responsibility, commitment and sympathy to audience during times of

political uncertainty.

Additionally, adopting the frameworks of Lakoff and Johnson‟s (1980) Conceptual

Metaphor Theory (CMT), as well as Charteris-Black‟s (2004, 2014) Critical Metaphor

Analysis and Kövecses‟s (2002, 2010) notion of metaphor study, these theoretical

frameworks provide a multitude of perspectives to unveil the hidden political ideologies on

politics and democracy-related issues. For example, the major findings reveal that a source

domain of machinery based metaphors appears to be widely utilised in order to pinpoint

General Prayuth‟s political value in establishing democratic principles and a stable political

system in Thailand. From Critical Discourse Analysis perspectives, a multi-theoretical

framework of discourse investigation seemingly provides a clear picture of how the

discursive strategies can be associated with social relations where it would probably be

difficult to reach research objectives by using a single theoretical framework of data analysis.

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5.3.2 Methodological Implications of the Study

This study employed a variety of methodological approaches for data collection and

analysis. The research data was presented in both a quantitative and qualitative format. The

study used a corpus-assisted approach to generate linguistic features before developing the

manual coding sheets and further investigating those linguistic features from CDA and CMA

perspectives. In this regard, the mixed methodology research design of this study is a QUAL-

QUANT model which represents a qualitative-driven exploratory research design (Gay, Mill

& Airasian, 2009). As discussed in Chapter 2, Critical Discourse Analysis is a qualitative-

oriented or theory-driven approach, while, at the same time, Corpus Linguistics is a

quantitative-oriented or data-driven approach.

In addition to adopting the corpus-assisted approach by utilising the concordance

software AntConc 3.4.4 w (Windows) 2014 to see the overall features of the linguistic

elements such as word frequency lists and concordance lines to develop the manual coding

sheets as presented in Chapter 3, this procedure of data collection has lessened a sense of

subjectivity and proved insightful in the subsequent qualitative phase. Even through it is

mentioned that the dataset to be studied is a relatively small sample size, dealing with a

massive amount of data could have been seriously unmanageable within the time frame limit

of this current study. Also, it was likely to have been laborious and exhaustive when

conducting manual linguistic analysis, for example, there were 1,974 clause complexes which

split into 2,415 individual clauses or clause simplexes as presented in Chapter 3. Many more

would have been unmanageable. I was assisted by the methodological synergy of CDA and

CL in the process of data collection to create a manual coding sheet of linguistic features that

contributed to the implications of this research.

Though utilising the concept of CDA, van Dijk (2001b) pointed out that “CDA can be

conducted in, and combined with, any approach and sub-discipline in the humanities and

social sciences” (p. 96). This would seem to be an advantage for this present study in that this

paradigm allows a wide range of methods to be employed for the further investigation of

discourse. This theoretical framework is deemed to be appropriate for this present study.

Nevertheless, many criticisms have been levelled at the methodologies adopted by CDA

research as presented in Chapter 2. According to Carreon (2012), criticisms of CDA may be

grouped into four aspects: (1) prioritising context over text, (2) cherry-picking data, (3) over-

interpreting findings, and (4) choosing methods. This study attempts to address those

criticisms by adopting the corpus-assisted approach for critical discourse analysis. As

previously mentioned in Chapter 3 regarding the reliability check procedures of process type,

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modality types and degrees, and the inter-rater reliability of metaphor identification, this data

selection procedure was designed in a more rigorous and systematic way and this can

minimize some criticism to a certain extent. In short, I believe using both quantitative and

qualitative approaches for data collection and analyses contributed to reducing the

researchers‟ subjectivity and strengthening the credibility of the analysis and interpretation

process.

It should be noted that this study could contribute to the existing knowledge on

politics and linguistics in several ways. The investigation of discursive strategies done in this

thesis is an attempt to “remake the connections between discourse,…language use in the

social and political contexts in which these occur” (Pennycook, 2006, p. 796). The use of

CDA for this study, combined with a diverse range of theoretical frameworks and

methodological approaches, to systematically investigate the relationships between discursive

practices, structural forms of language and the external social world, I believe works well and

improves accuracy of results and interpretation.

I believe this study would be of interest to textually-orientated people and language

analysts who are interested in explaining how abstract concepts such as the representation of

the identities and the underlying political ideologies of an individual are discursively

constructed during a time of political unrest. This present study provides a valuable

description of the link between discursive strategies and social structures, particularly those

embedded in discourses of a political figure in the Thai political context. These findings

therefore will add to the literature in the field of critical discourse analysis.

5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research

This study is limited in scope since the number of addresses, at 15, is relatively small,

and all of which were related to General Prayuth‟s time as head of the NCPO. He was

subsequently elevated to Prime Minister so it is recommended that any future study

investigate the weekly addresses being delivered during his tenure in this latter role. This will

make the results more interesting by undertaking a “compare and contrast” study of two

different datasets.

As already mentioned in Chapter 3, this study selected only one type of data source,

the so-called weekly addresses of General Prayuth, broadcast on all Thai media. It might be

interesting if future researchers examined the discursive representation of the identities and

ideologies of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha by gathering a wider range of corpuses or different

types of discourse such as English based print media (Bangkok Post and The Nation),

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168

YouTube, television channel interviews and other types of media discourse. Such

investigations should provide additional insight with different dimensions and wider

perspectives of Critical Discourse Analysis research within the political sphere.

Furthermore, this study focused only on examining the metaphorically used words

extracted from collocations and surrounding words of the target terms “democracy” and

“democratic” by using the corpus-assisted approach for Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA).

Further research might investigate metaphorical expressions by searching for source domain

vocabulary over a wider range throughout the entire corpus without restricting itself solely to

the target terms “democracy” and “democratic”. As a result, a relatively large amount of

candidate metaphors might appear to be analysed through Critical Metaphor Analysis

(CMA).

Another point regarding the limitation of this present study worth noting is the use of

the English translations of the weekly addresses as the corpus of the study. General Prayuth

delivered his public weekly addresses orally in the Thai language, which was communicated

with simultaneous English language subtitles, designed to inform and influenced the non-

Thai international audience. It can be assumed that the translation was done prior to broadcast

through television channels nationwide, was mediated in real time and that these English

translations were officially provided by the Royal Thai Government.

However, there are some Thai words which do not have an accurate English

equivalent. Therefore, the translation process might not reflect (in English) the accuracy of

the Thai equivalent. In order to mitigate criticism of the accuracy of the English translation of

the Thai verbiage, an expert from a public university who specialises in the field of

translation studies was asked to identify the translation types of English in the subtitled

weekly addresses (see Appendix C for more details). Conclusion of an expert was that the

technique of literal translation or word-for-word translation was predominately utilised

throughout the 15 English-subtitled weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha,

whereas the techniques of free translation and non-literal translation were also partially found

in some paragraphs of the weekly addresses based on Pinmanee‟s (2014) the types and

methods of translation.

5.5 Conclusion of the Study

This study primarily draws on the concepts of the critical study of discourse,

particularly, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) in

order closely to connect the linguistic features to socio-political realities. That is, the aim of

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this thesis is not only a quest for knowledge but also uncovering identity and hidden ideology

and, ultimately, changing society for the better.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge on how discourse, politics, identity,

power, ideology and metaphor are interconnected by examining how the discursive

representation of the identities of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as the head of the National

Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and the underlying ideologies of politics and

democracy-related concepts were shaped by socio-political context and were constructed

through the specific genre of the English subtitled weekly addresses which were broadcast on

the national television channels and officially published on the Thai government website.

It is hoped that the findings of this thesis will provide readers with a greater

awareness and understanding of how language plays its role in political discourse and how

linguistic identity and ideology appear to correlate with specific socio-cultural, discursive and

textual practices, in particular, a critical study of discourses in association with a turbulent

scenario as evidenced by the Thai political crisis. I also hope that this thesis will serve as an

additional source for further and broader research on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),

Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) and the Thai political context.

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170

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The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 775-794). Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.

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methodology. In R. Wodak, & M. Meyer, (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse

analysis (pp. 1-33). London: Routledge.

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Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://www.thaigov.go.th/index.php/en/speech-

2/item/83656-national-broadcast-by-general-prayut-chan-o-cha-head-of-the-national-

council-for-peace-and-order.html

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APPENDICES

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Appendix A: Sample of the First Weekly Addresses Delivered on 30th May 2014

Weekly Address Number 1: National Broadcast by General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Head

of the National Council for Peace and Order, on 30 May 2014

Good evening. On behalf of the National Council for Peace and Order, I would like to thank

all different groups of people and government officials who have supported and cooperated

with the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) throughout the previous week. The

situation on the whole has been relatively calm.

The reason NCPO has taken control of the national administration was because of the

prolonged political deadlock and protests. There were also various violent situations, use of

warfare weapons, including corruption and widespread illegal activities, affecting the well-

being and livelihood of all people. The caretaker government was unable to perform their

duties effectively. Both the disbursement of national budget for fiscal year 2014 and the

budgetary process for fiscal year 2015 had been severely delayed. If these problems were

to persist, Thailand’s economy would have been adversely affected, as well as the interests of

those countries which have economic ties and long-term commitments with Thailand.

The NCPO has taken control of the situation, temporarily, in order to stop the violence and

break the deadlock that had prevented the previous government from moving the country

forward, and to solve urgent problems affecting the economy. This is to return happiness and

safety in lives and properties to the Thai people as well as foreign nationals residing in

Thailand, and to place the Monarchy, who is always revered and protected by the Thais,

above all conflicts.

The scope of the work of the NCPO comprises two main parts:

The first part is concerned with maintaining national security.

The invocation of Martial Law, the supreme security law, was necessary as it allows officials

to take immediate control of violent situations. General laws had been ineffective in

preventing violent conflicts from spilling over, harming innocent households. The

application of Martial Law also ensures safety and security to lives and properties of all

people while all sides learn to respect law and order, as well as human rights. However,

having said that, all officials will try to apply provisions from Martial Law only at a

minimum and as necessary to ensure minimal effects on the people and to avoid human rights

violation. When the situation returns to normal, the Martial Law will be immediately lifted.

Regarding the curfew, it is intended to restore peace and order, and to provide security for the

society. There might be some disruptions in people’s daily lives and commutes. We have to

strictly enforce the curfew in the beginning in order to separate perpetrators of crime from

law-abiding citizens, and to stop transportation of military-grade weapons and explosive

devices as well as other illegal activities, such as narcotic smuggling. It is also to stop armed-

groups from committing violent acts which have become a more frequent occurrence with a

growing tendency to escalate. Since 22nd

May, many members of armed-groups have been

apprehended and large quantity of military-grade weapons have been seized.

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Possible adjustment of the curfew period will depend on the situation. The NCPO has already

shortened the curfew, from between 22.00 to 05.00hrs to between 00.00 to 04.00hrs. As the

situation improves, curfew hours will be shortened in areas without violent incidents, and in

tourist areas. Eventually we are planning to lift the curfew altogether as soon as possible.

To minimize the effects of the curfew, some exemptions have been announced for some

people and organizations. For example, Public-health workers and organizations such as

doctors and hospitals, energy transports, night shift workers, as well as those travelling

abroad, are allowed to travel during curfew hours with the permission of relevant

police/military personnel in their respective areas. This relaxation of the curfew has been

carried out without any incidents. People feel safer in traveling to and from their homes after

having been subjected to risks caused by violence and prolonged protests for the past 6

months and after having to live amidst conflicts for almost 9 full years.

Regarding the summons of certain individuals, it was necessary for us to request that they

report to the officials. These individuals, such as protest leaders, key protest supporters,

certain thinkers, and politically-motivated opinion leaders, are directly or indirectly involved

with the protracted political conflicts. These people were requested to report to officials in

order to give them a cooling-off period. They now have the opportunity to reflect on their

beliefs and actions, and to listen to the others’ opinions. It is hoped that eventually all of

them will put our country before themselves and learn to live harmoniously and act

constructively in a society where individuals can have differences of opinions. Under Martial

Law, these individuals can return home within seven days, while those who face criminal

charges will undergo judicial process.

Individuals who reported themselves to the NCPO were invited to stay as our guests for a

period from 1-2 day, up to 5-6 days. People with a violent tendency would stay longer than

others, but not exceeding 7 days. They were well looked after and accommodated. Let me

assure you once again that all human rights principles have been fully respected – there has

been no torture, threats or any physical violation. On the other hand, those who failed to

report themselves to the NCPO are considered uncooperative in the reconciliation effort, and

hence directly breaking the law. They will be prosecuted according to the law. Some of these

people are still inciting violence; their efforts shall firmly be stopped.

All the measures that we have been used above had one common goal – to restore peace,

order, and security to our society. We cannot keep fighting each other just because we think

differently, or, even worse, use the law to our own advantage. Such actions will only create

further conflicts that could devastate our country and its credibility in the international

community. I strongly and sincerely urge all sides to put Thailand above themselves, to

cooperate and unite, and to stop violent action. Differences should be discussed in order to

find agreeable solutions, move the country forward and return happiness to the people.

Regarding the prohibition of political gatherings of more than 5 people, this also is necessary.

Because we are in the initial phase of our operation, the NCPO cannot allow any group to

create untoward incidents that may affect the stability of the country. If one group is allowed

to form, then others will follow and the situation will escalate. We ask all groups not to

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gather during this sensitive period in order to avoid unnecessary confrontation. The NCPO

will take appropriate legal measures against any group that violates this law.

Regarding freedom of the media, some programs or stations have to be suspended because

some of these channels, including social media, have been used, during the past 9 years of

protracted conflict which culminated in continuous protests of the last 6 months, to distort

facts and propagate hatred among the people. Coercion, threats and propaganda have been

used by each side to widen their circle of supporters, leaving people who are neutral “lost” in

the middle. One side questioned the propriety of certain cases – some of which are already

being dealt with by our judicial process – while the other side – limited by their roles as state

officials – used the law to argue their case, leading to a deadlock where a democratic solution

is inadequate. So-called “academics” were interviewed, propagating unbalanced and

incomplete facts and creating confusion among the people. These were the reasons why some

of the media have to be temporarily suspended. The NCPO does not have a policy of

interfering with the use of social media in any form.

Regarding the management of government organization, it should be the internal affairs of

each organization. As for the recent reorganization of some agencies, this is necessary to

reduce inherent conflicts within those agencies. It is certainly not to promote one side while

punishing the other as some people claimed. People who have been reshuffled are those who

were involved with the previous government, some of whom were in authoritative positions

which caused difficulties and conflicts under the administration, and thus needed to be

reassigned for administrative purposes. All internal reshuffles are within the purview of the

permanent secretaries, and caretaker Chief of Police. Inter-ministerial reshuffles are, on the

other hand, previously under the responsibility of the Prime Minister/Cabinet members, so

they need the approval of the Head of the NCPO. These reshuffles are necessary to regain

the trust and confidence of the general public, and do not reflect negatively on the

performance of the concerned individuals.

The second part of NCPO’s work concerns national administration.

After Thailand’s national administration has been paralyzed in legal deadlock for many

months, resulting in the disruption of budgetary disbursement for 2014, both the general

public and government agencies have been adversely affected. It is necessary to have a

government with full power to drive the country forward and ensure that the budgetary

process for 2015, due to start very soon [1st October 2014], will be completed in time, so that

Thailand can move ahead towards joining the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

For the most part, the NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the administration of

all government agencies, unless there are emergencies or urgent problems that need

immediate attention. The NCPO will not order any government agency to perform illegal

activities, or activities that unlawfully favour specific individuals. We will only assign a

working committee to work alongside those in the agencies to move the work along

effectively, expeditiously, transparently, in order to regain the trust of the people.

For those who are concerned that the NCPO will be spending the national budget

inefficiently, I would like to reassure you that it is not possible. All financial transactions

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must strictly adhere to the existing rules and regulations of each agency. Discussions and

enquiries on relevant rules and regulations will always be made to ensure transparency.

We will adhere to fiscal prudence and not overspend the national budget. We will also keep

national debt in check. We are in the process of finding out the actual figures of the

disbursed budget [of 2014 fiscal year] to distinguish between those that have been spent and

those that have not. We are trying to increase the credibility of the national financial system

in the eyes of the international community and foreign investors. Thailand is fortunate to

have a good economic foundation and, with good and effective direction, we can become a

key driver in the ASEAN as well as global economic community in the future.

Priorities for the rest of the 2014 fiscal year [ending 30th September] are:

a) Plans/projects delayed due to the political vacuum, which have direct impact on the

economy, especially those affecting the basic needs of the people. We began by approving a

budget of 92,000 million baht to be paid to rice farmers participating in the rice-pledging

scheme. Some of this amount has already been paid out;

b) Plans/projects that have been approved but could not be carried out due to the legal

constraints experienced by the previous government. These will be prioritized and carried out

as soon as possible, especially those that affect cash flows of the economy, natural disaster

funds, public utility funds, or national emergency funds. These funds do not involve

extraordinarily large sums of money or mega projects.

c) Mega projects that require special budget. These will be studied carefully and considered

very carefully for their costs and benefits. If they pass such considerations, they will be

given the go-ahead project by project in the most transparent manner; for example, the dual-

track train project, electric train project, and other public infrastructure projects. We will try

to use normal fiscal processes for these projects, or perhaps private sector financing to reduce

the country’s financial burden. The consideration and implementation of these projects will

be transparent. Not all projects will be carried out. Every project will begin with the

planning integration of all ministries concerned to ensure maximum benefit for the

people. The projects will not be approved based on popularity or political reasons as was the

case in the past. This approach will allow us to move forward with the planning of the 2015

budget, which should be under the responsibility of the next government/cabinet before 1

October 2014.

- All financial plans/projects will be carried out in a similar manner, or as close as

possible to, those under the responsibility of a normal government. Emphasis will be

placed upon the monitoring system to ensure transparency and fairness.

- Transportation and public utility infrastructure, such as water management, road

construction or maintenance, especially those necessary for ASEAN connectivity, will

be given immediate priority. However, they will not be made a burden to the new

government. Therefore, all ministries and agencies must cooperate and integrate their

efforts.

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- We are considering measures which could manage the prices of agricultural

products sustainably without bringing on more problems like measures applied in the

past. Some of these measures include 1) cost reduction, such as the cost of fertilizers

and seedlings; 2) increase productivity while reducing areas used, 3) environmentally-

friendly measures such as substituting chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizers and

use of local raw materials, and 4) improving the quality of Thai products in order to

compete with other countries.

- At present, the NCPO has given first priority to making payments to farmers in the

rice-pledging scheme. The Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives

(BACC) is the responsible financial institution in this scheme and the NCPO is

considering various measures to alleviate the BACC’s financial burden.

- We are also considering the promotion of free and fair trade, the reduction of

monopolies, the establishment of central markets [so that regional distributors could

not form cartels], and the effective management of tax collection. In addition, special

economic zones will be established to support small factories along Thailand’s

borders and rural areas. This is to provide economic opportunities not only for Thais

but also our neighbours, which could help prevent illegal migrants from crossing into

inner provinces of Thailand, thereby giving more work opportunities to Thai

nationals.

- Concerning energy, we are also in the process of considering measures to oversee

energy management. Everything has to be within the rule of law and financial

regulations. This includes the establishment of more private funds and large national

funds to reduce the fiscal burden. As for state enterprises, we will try to improve and

modernize them. We will urgently develop renewable energy sources from wind,

solar power, and biomass.

- Boards of state enterprises will have to be restructured to ensure effectiveness,

transparency, and good governance. They need to be equipped with able technocrats

who can ensure transparency, impartial auditing, as well as good governance.

In summary, Thailand and the Thai people still face many problems that require immediate

attention and timely solutions. Enough time has been wasted on conflicts. It is time for us to

move forward for the benefit of our country.

Roadmap of the NCPO:

1) Phase 1: The first phase will involve efforts to achieve national reconciliation as soon as

possible, at least within two to three months. In addition to security operations, a

reconciliation center will be established for central and rural reforms paving the way for the

second phase. We will begin in all areas starting from family units upwards to villages, sub-

districts, districts and provinces. The NCPO has assigned the Internal Security Operations

Command (ISOC) to be responsible for holding dialogue between all sides to ensure a

successful second phase. A reform committee will also be set up to pave the way for a

confrontation-free second phase. There is no restructuring of any agencies, no request for

monetary payment, or any proposal of amnesty.

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2) Phase 2: A provisional constitution is being drawn up by NCPO’s legal team. A legislative

council will be established to select an interim Prime Minister, appoint cabinet members to

administer the country, and draft a new constitution. A reform council will also be

established to resolve existing conflicts, with solutions that can be accepted by all sides. This

will probably take approximately one year. It could be longer or shorter depending on the

situation and cooperation from all sides. If the situation returns to normal, and a successful

reform and national reconciliation and social harmony have been achieved, we will move to

the third and final phase.

3) Phase 3: A general election under a democratic system which is legal and accepted by all

sides. We will modernize existing rules and regulations in order to achieve a just legal

system ready for the globalization age so that decent, honest people will be in the

administration of our country that will carry out good governance.

All that I have said above cannot be achieved in time without peace and security. It will not

happen if there are still protests without a true understanding of democracy and the

realization that we are doing this for the country and the Thai people, and that it will be

beneficial for the development of the country and the relationships with our allies.

I think that all of you share my feelings. For the past nine years, I have not been happy. But

after the 20th and 22

ndMay 2014, we have at least regained our sense of security. The NCPO

does not want power for our own benefit. It was because the country was not able to move

forward. If government officials and the military did nothing, who would help the Thai

people resolve this deadlock when the democratic mechanisms are paralysed; when there are

incessant conflicts; when people do not trust the government; and when the rule of law does

not work. Please trust our intentions. We, the government officials, civilians, police, and

military, must support one another. Our country must come first.

The NCPO understands the concerns of our international friends. We understand that we are

living in a world that values democracy. All we are asking for is to give us time to reform in

order to mend our democratic system and make it right, just, responsible and beneficial to all

people. With everyone’s cooperation to help move the country forward, the situation will

improve. We believe that, [if you were in our situation for the past 9 years] you would

choose the well-being of your country above a flawed democratic system.

There are many issues that need cooperation from all sides. Nothing can be achieved if there

are still protests or disruptions to our efforts. Please give us time to resolve the problems.

After we have achieved our mission, the military will go back to our national defense duties,

and look after the country and the people, and to ensure long-lasting happiness and prosperity

in accordance with the philosophical principles bestowed by His Majesty the King. Thank

you.

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Appendix B: Data Codes of 15 English Subtitled Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth

Chan-o-cha during His Tenure as the Head of NCPO (30th May – 5th September 2014)

15 English Subtitled Weekly Addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during

His Tenure as the Head of NCPO (30th May – 5th September 2014)

Codes of weekly addresses Date of weekly addresses to be delivered

Pre-1 = WA01_2014_05_30 30 May 2014

Pre-2 = WA02_2014_06_06 6 June 2014

Pre-3 = WA03_2014_06_13 13 June 2014

Pre-4 = WA04_2014_06_20 20 June 2014

Pre-5 = WA05_2014_06_27 27 June 2014

Pre-6 = WA06_2014_07_04 4 July 2014

Pre-7 = WA07_2014_07_11 11 July 2014

Pre-8 = WA08_2014_07_18 18 July 2014

Pre-9 = WA09_2014_07_25 25 July 2014

Pre-10 = WA10_2014_08_01 1 August 2014

Pre-11 = WA11_2014_08_08 8 August 2014

Pre-12 = WA12_2014_08_15 15 August 2014

Pre-13 = WA13_2014_08_22 22 August 2014

Pre-14 = WA14_2014_08_29 29 August 2014

Pre-15 = WA15_2014_09_05 5 September 2014

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Appendix C: Sample of Identification Sheet of Translation Types

แบบตรวจสอบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ในบทสนทรพจนภาษาองกฤษของพลเอก ประยทธ จนทรโอชาในชวงทด ารงต าแหนงหวหนาคณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต หรอ

คสช. (National Council for Peace and Order)

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ค าชแจงในการตรวจสอบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types)

1. แบบตรวจสอบนมวตถประสงคเพอระบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ในบทสนทรพจนภาษาองกฤษของพลเอก ประยทธ จนทรโอชาในชวงทด ารงต าแหนงหวหนาคณะรกษาความ

สงบแหงชาต หรอ คสช. (National Council for Peace and Order) เพอใชเปนขอมลเพอการวจยเรอง ภาษา การเมอง และเอกลกษณ: วาทกรรมวเคราะหเชงวพากษในบทสนทรพจน

ภาษาองกฤษของพลเอก ประยทธ จนทรโอชาในชวงวกฤตการณการเมองในประเทศไทย

2. แบบตรวจสอบประเภทการแปลนม 2 ตอน ดงน

ตอนท 1 ขอมลเกยวกบตวบท ภาษาตนทาง และประเภทการแปลทสรปมาจาก (สพรรณ ปนมณ, 2555) ซงการตรวจสอบนผวจยไดเลอกประเภทการแปลมา 3 ประเภท โดยผเชยวชาญสามารถ

ระบประเภทการแปลโดยท าเครองหมายกากบาทในชองวาง ของหวขอประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ทสอดคลองกบตวบทแปลและภาษาตนทางดงน

1. การแปลโดยพยญชนะ (literal translation) ในรปแบบของการแปลค าตอค า word-for-word translation คอการแปลเพอรกษาค า รกษารปประโยค ผอานบทแปลจะเหน

กลไกของภาษาตนฉบบได วธนเปนวธการแปลทนยมใชในการแปลพระคมภรไบเบลในระยะแรก ซงผแปลจะรกษาโครงสรางและความหมายของภาษาตนฉบบและภาษาฉบบแปลอยางเครงครด

ท าใหเนอความของภาษาฉบบแปลเขาใจไดยากมาก วธนไมเปนทนยมกนแลวในปจจบนน

2. การแปลโดยอรรถ (non-literal translation) คอการแปลเอาเฉพาะความหมาย หรอเนอหาสาระโดยไมสนใจเรองค าหรอรปแบบใดๆ กลาวคอการแปลทไมไดมงรกษาโครงสราง

ความหมาย ทวงท านอง หรอรปแบบของตนฉบบอยางเครงครด มการโยกยายขยายความ ตดทอนหรอเปลยนแปลงรปค าหรอขอความทางดานไวยากรณได การแปลแบบนใชกบเรองทไม

จ าเปนตองรกษาความถกตองแนนอนของตนฉบบนก เชน การแปลนวนยาย เรองสน นทาน เปนตน

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3. การแปลแบบเสรหรอเอาความ (free translation) เปนกลยทธการแปลชนดหนงเพอมงสรางบทแปลทดเปนธรรมชาตในภาษาเปาหมายมากกวาเพอทจะใหบทแปลสอดคลองตาม

สวนประกอบตางๆและโครงสรางของตนฉบบ การแปลประเภทนแคทฟอรด (1967) เรยกวา unbounded translation เปนการแปลทปรบเปลยนความสนยาวของสวนยอยในบทแปลได เชน

จากวลเปลยนเปนอนประโยค เปนตน (อางถงใน สพรรณ ปนมณ, 2555, หนา 19-20)

ตอนท 2 ทศนะเพมเตมโดยภาพรวมของอาจารยผเชยวชาญดานการแปลทมตอการระบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ในบทสนทรพจนภาษาองกฤษของพลเอก ประยทธ จนทรโอชา

ในชวงทด ารงต าแหนงหวหนาคณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต หรอ คสช. (National Council for Peace and Order)

หมายเหต: ทานสามารถระบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ในบางตอนของบทสนทรพจนไดมากกวา 1 ประเภท หรอกรณาระบประเภทการแปลอนๆทผวจยอาจจะไมไดก าหนดไวในแบบตรวจสอบนกไดเพอเปนประโยชนในงานวจยน

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ตอนท 1: ผเชยวชาญสามารถระบประเภทการแปลโดยท าเครองหมายกากบาทในชอง ของหวขอประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) แตละประเภททสอดคลองกบตวบทแปลและภาษาตนทางดงน

บทสนทรพจนท 1 หวหนาคณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต (คสช)

ตวบทแปล ภาษาตนทาง ความเหนเพมเตม

Speech 1- Head of the National Council for Peace

and Order

National Broadcast by General Prayut Chan-O-Cha,

Head of the National Council for Peace and Order, on

30 May 2014 Good evening. On behalf of the

National Council for Peace and Order, I would like to

thank all different groups of people and government

officials who have supported and cooperated with


throughout the previous week. The situation on the

whole has been relatively calm.

บทสนทรพจนท1หวหนาคณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต (คสช) พล.อ.ประยทธ จนทรโอชา หวหนาคณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต กลาวในรายการ คสช. : คนความสขใหคนในชาต ออกอากาศทางโทรทศนรวมการเฉพาะกจแหงประเทศไทย วนศกรท 30 พฤษภาคม 2557 เวลา 21.00 น. สวสดครบ ในนามของ คณะรกษาความสงบแหงชาต (คสช.) ขอขอบคณ ประชาชนทกกลมทกฝาย และขาราชการทกหมเหลาทใหความรวมมอและสนบสนนการปฏบตงานของ คสช. เปนอยางด ตลอดชวงสปดาหทผานมา ซงถอไดวาสถานการณโดยรวม มความเรยบรอย

การแปลโดยพยญชนะ (literal translation) ในรปแบบของการแปลค าตอค า word-for-word translation

การแปลโดยอรรถ (non-literal translation)

การแปลแบบเสรหรอเอาความ (free translation)

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The reason NCPO has taken control of the national

administration was because of the prolonged political

deadlock and protests. There were also various

violent situations, use of warfare weapons, including

corruption and widespread illegal activities, affecting

the well-being and livelihood of all people. The

caretaker government was unable to perform their

duties effectively. Both the disbursement of national

budget for fiscal year 2014 and the budgetary

process for fiscal year 2015 had been severely

delayed. If these problems were to persist, Thailand’s

economy would have been adversely affected, as well

as the interests of those countries which have

economic ties and long-term commitments with

Thailand.

ส าหรบเหตผลท คสช. เขามาบรหารราชการในครงน สบเนองมาจากความแตกแยกทางความคดทางการเมองของประชาชนทหยงรากลก ดวยเหตผลหลายประการ ทงผด ทงถก การชมนมประทวงทยาวนาน ตลอดจนเหตการณความรนแรง มการใชอาวธสงคราม รวมทงมการทจรต ท าผดกฎหมาย เปนผลใหประชาชนทวไปไมมความสข และไมปลอดภย รฐบาลรกษาการไมสามารถบงคบใชกฎหมายปกตได และไมสามารถบรหารราชการแผนดนดวยอ านาจทมอยอยางเพยงพอ การใชจายงบประมาณป 2557 ตดขด ไมสามารถด าเนนการไดดวยขอกฎหมาย ขอบงคบ ระเบยบค าสงตาง ๆ ทมอย การจดท างบประมาณป 2558 มความลาชา ปญหาเหลานหากปลอยใหยดเยอยาวนาน ยอมสงผลกระทบกบระบบเศรษฐกจของคนไทยโดยรวม และประเทศไทย ตลอดจนผลประโยชนของมตรประเทศทมในประเทศไทย รวมทงพนธสญญาตาง ๆ ทไทยไดท าไวกบมตรประเทศตางๆมาอยางยาวนาน




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The NCPO has taken control of the situation,

temporarily, in order to stop the violence and break

the deadlock that had prevented the previous

government from moving the country forward, and to

solve urgent problems affecting the economy. This is

to return happiness and safety in lives and properties

to the Thai people as well as foreign nationals residing

in Thailand, and to place the Monarchy, who is

always revered and protected by the Thais, above all

conflicts. The scope of the work of the NCPO

comprises two main parts:

การเขามาควบคมสถานการณของ คสช. เปนการเขามาเพอยตความรนแรง ปลดลอคขอจ ากดเลกนอยตาง ๆ ทคงคางอยในกระบวนการ รออนมตจากรฐบาลทผานมาอกมากมาย และเพอคนความสขใหประชาชนคนไทยทงชาต รวมทงแกไขปญหาความเดอดรอนเรงดวนเฉพาะหนาเปนการชวคราว เพอใหประเทศนนเดนหนาตอไปได ประชาชนชาวไทยทกหมเหลา ชาวตางชาต มความสข และมความปลอดภยในชวตและทรพยสนของทกคน ทกประเทศโดยรวม และทส าคญทสดคอ เพอใหสถาบนพระมหากษตรยทรงอยเหนอความขดแยงทงปวงตลอดมา ไดรบการปกปองจากคนไทยทกคน




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ตอนท 2 หากอาจารยมความคดเหนเพมเตมเกยวกบประเภทการแปล (Translation Types) ในบทสนทรพจนภาษาองกฤษของพลเอก ประยทธ จนทรโอชาในชวงทด ารงต าแหนงหวหนาคณะรกษาความ

สงบแหงชาต หรอ คสช. (National Council for Peace and Order) อาจารยสามารถใหขอมลหรอค าแนะน าเพมเตมได ขอขอบคณทใหความอนเคราะหและความรวมมอเปนอยางด

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ชออาจารยผเชยวชาญ: ________________________________

ต าแหนงทางวชาการ: ________________________________

ภาควชา/ คณะ/ มหาวทยาลย: ___________________________________________

วน/เดอน/ป ทใหขอมล: ______/________/________

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Appendix D: Sample of Classification of Exclusive and Inclusive Pronoun “We”

(Exclusive We as “We-NCPO” and “We-Thai People”)

Numbers Excerpts as Sentential Level Implied Meaning of We

1 We have to strictly enforce the curfew in the beginning

in order to separate perpetrators of crime from law-

abiding citizens, and to stop transportation of military-

grade weapons and explosive devices as well as other

illegal activities, such as narcotic smuggling.

Exclusive

2 Eventually we are planning to lift the curfew altogether

as soon as possible.

Exclusive

3 All the measures that we have been used above had

one common goal – to restore peace, order, and

security to our society.

Exclusive

4 Because we are in the initial phase of our operation,

the NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward

incidents that may affect the stability of the country.

Exclusive

5 We ask all groups not to gather during this sensitive

period in order to avoid unnecessary confrontation.

Exclusive

6 We will only assign a working committee to work

alongside those in the agencies to move the work along

effectively, expeditiously, transparently, in order to

regain the trust of the people.

Exclusive

7 We will adhere to fiscal prudence and not overspend

the national budget.

Exclusive

8 We will also keep national debt in check. Exclusive

9 We are in the process of finding out the actual figures

of the disbursed budget [of 2014 fiscal year] to

distinguish between those that have been spent and

those that have not.

Exclusive

10 We are trying to increase the credibility of the national

financial system in the eyes of the international

community and foreign investors.

Exclusive

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(Inclusive We as “NCPO” and “Thai Citizen”)

Numbers Excerpts as Sentential Level Implied Meaning of We

1 We cannot keep fighting each other just because we

think differently, or, even worse, use the law to our

own advantage.

Inclusive

2 Thailand is fortunate to have a good economic

foundation and, with good and effective direction,

we can become a key driver in the ASEAN as well

as global economic community in the future.

Inclusive

3 We, the government officials, civilians, police, and

military, must support one another.

Inclusive

4 We were thus becoming an immoral society. Inclusive

5 On international relations, we were losing trust and

confidence and our dignity was not duly honoured

by the international community.

Inclusive

6 We understand that we are living in a democratic

world, but is Thailand ready in terms of people,

form and method?

Inclusive

7 We need to solve many issues; from administration

to budget system, corruption, and even the starting

point of democracy itself – the election.

Inclusive

8 If we set higher expectations but could not reach all

of them, then we might not be that disappointed.

Inclusive

9 We need to think a bit beyond. Inclusive

10 We will continue to see each other for some time. Inclusive

11 At the beginning we will have to start from small

and medium size factories that can produce value

added high technological components, particularly

machinery.

Inclusive

12 If we still depend on other countries for the

production of machinery, we will not develop

technology of our own.

Inclusive

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Appendix E: Reliability Check of 242 Clause Simplexes (10%) from 2,415 Clause

Simplexes

Clause No. Clause Simplexes Process/Participant Role

1 I would like to thank all different groups of people and

government officials

VE/Sayer

2 I strongly and sincerely urge all sides to put Thailand above

themselves

VE/Sayer

3 I would like to reassure you that it is not possible VE/Sayer

4 I think that all of you share my feelings ME/Senser

5 I have not been happy RE-ATTRI/Carrier

6 I will not mention about the existing good things VE/Sayer

7 I will only mention things that are damaging VE/Sayer

8 I shall refer only to the problems VE/Sayer

9 I had to ask myself “Can we let this continue?” VE/Sayer

10 I will mainly consider the criticisms ME/Senser

11 I will turn them into actions MA/Actor

12 I do not want the international community VE/Sayer

13 I can assure you that VE/Sayer

14 I am asking for your understanding and support VE/Sayer

15 I will oversee the development process which includes

personnel, structure, and equipment development

MA/Actor

16 I have been ordered by some influential figure to approve

some projects

VE/Target

17 I have been coerced by some influential figure MA/Goal

18 I only receive suggestions from various sectors through my

working group

MA/Recipient

19 I value all suggestions ME/Senser

20 I can assure you that the NCPO does not gain anything from

this

VE/Sayer

21 I urge you all to be vigilant VE/Sayer

22 I understand it is very dangerous to use absolute power ME/Senser

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23 I think all agencies involved already know their duties and the

scope of their powers

ME/Senser

24 I have touched on many issues involving many people MA/Actor

25 I am asking for the cooperation from all media VE/Sayer

26 I am concerned as it is political work and deals with populist

policies which are not inclusive

ME/Senser

27 I think the international community will understand ME/Senser

28 I fully understand your grievances and problems as well as

your distrust

ME/Senser

29 I find that there have been some misinterpretations ME/Senser

30 I believe my message is already clear ME/Senser

31 I refer to the civil servants and NCPO who need to make

more sacrifices

VE/Sayer

32 I do not want to impose restrictions on movements ME/Senser

33 I have asked all sectors especially the business sector to help

in explaining the situation

VE/Sayer

34 I would like to talk about but I shall find time to do so at a

later date

VE/Sayer

35

I appeal to the university students and human rights groups

and activists to refrain from instigating abrasive protest

movements

VE/Sayer

36 I have already given instructions so that these measures will

lead to sustainable solutions and a stronger Thailand

MA/Actor

37 I appeal to you all to join together and rebuild our nation VE/Sayer

38 I urge all sectors to support me VE/Sayer

39 I have no conflict with you RE-ATTRI/Carrier

40 I am doing my best to ease tensions MA/Actor

41 I do not wish for anyone to fear the use of full administrative

power

ME/Senser

42 I ask for your cooperation and continued support VE/Sayer

43 I believe that all Thai people understand my intentions ME/Senser

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44 Thank you again for listening to me over the last seven times BE/ Behaviour

45 Let me recount that, in the past and during present times VE/Sayer

46 Please inform me so that we can punishment them

immediately

VE/Receiver

47 the support shown to me MA/Recipient

48 It has been quite exhausting for me RE-ATTR/Token

49 Thank you for listening to me BE/ Behaviour

50 We respect the democratic process ME/Senser

51 We safeguard democracy MA/Actor

52 We came in to make our country stronger MA/Actor

53 We were thus becoming an immoral society RE-ATTR/ Carrier

54 We were losing trust and confidence MA/Actor

55 We are living in a democratic world MA/Actor

56

We need to solve many issues; from administration to budget

system, corruption, and even the starting point of democracy

itself – the election

MA/Actor

57 We tried everything MA/Actor

58 We resolve the problem through peaceful dialogue and legal

means

MA/Actor

59 We return happiness to everyone MA/Actor

60 We expand economic and social cooperation with our

partners

MA/Actor

61 We prepare ourselves for the ASEAN Community and AEC

in the near future

MA/Actor

62 We have received both praise and criticisms MA/Recipient

63 We are doing the best MA/Actor

64 We achieve our goal of a fully functioning democracy MA/Actor

65 We are using the highest security law MA/Actor

66 We are asking for your understanding of our intentions VE/Sayer

67 We have to change this perception MA/Actor

68 We are using the highest security law MA/Actor

69 We cannot keep the situation under control MA/Actor

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70 We invoked the martial law MA/Actor

71 We return to the use of normal laws as soon as possible MA/Actor

72 We will have to use force to suppress them MA/Actor

73 We have gone that way many times unsuccessfully MA/Actor

74 We will collect ideas from all sides MA/Actor

75 We use information MA/Actor

76 We encourage national reconciliation and reforms VE/Sayer

77 We welcome all sides; conflicting groups, political parties MA/Actor

78 We will discuss all issues and openly share information VE/Sayer

79 We are inviting all VE/Sayer

80 We participate with less involvement of the military in this

effort

MA/Actor

81 We can move onto the second phase – the forming of a

government, a reform council and a legislative council

MA/Actor

82 We want to stop all conflicts MA/Actor

83 We may be rushing through the process MA/Actor

84 We are giving an opportunity to all government officials MA/Actor

85 We resolve the people‟s suffering MA/Actor

86 We foster happiness according to their oath of allegiance MA/Actor

87 We do not start at the top MA/Actor

88 We are asking for your patience VE/Sayer

89 We build our country and a democracy MA/Actor

90 We have to look ahead to the people and the problems ME/Senser („look‟ means think)

91 We need to overcome MA/Actor

92 We have to look beyond ourselves or our own benefits ME/Senser

93 We have given our priority MA/Actor

94 We solve the economic problems concerning people with

low income

MA/Actor

95 We have continued with the operations of all 21 ministries in

accordance with the NCPO‟s policies

MA/Actor

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96 We listened to all stakeholders BE/Behaver

97 We consider all suggestions and use them as guidance ME/Senser

98

We need to prepare ourselves for the three main pillars of the

upcoming ASEAN Community and particularly the ASEAN

Economic Community

MA/Actor

99 We have clear policies RE-POSS/ Carrier

100 The media must also verify the news with us MA/Recipient

101 Please verify with us MA/Recipient

102 Foreigners will surely not understand us ME/ Behaviour

103 Others can have trust on us MA/Goal

104 Others can have understanding on us ME/Phenomenon

105 They expressed understanding to us ME/Phenomenon

106 They gave support to us MA/Recipient

107 Today it is better for us RE-ATTR/Token

108 Thai people and foreign friends allow us to move forward in

unity

MA/Goal

109 A majority of the people has encouraged us to do our work MA/Goal

110 Government agencies have asked us VE/Target

111 Please do not attack us on such issues MA/Goal

112 Cooperate with us MA/Recipient

113 Share views and opinions with us MA/Recipient

114 Both countries continue to further develop friendly relations

with us in the future

MA/Recipient

115 Please cooperate with us on this MA/Recipient

116 Please understand us ME/Beneficiary

117 Farmers also need to cooperate with us MA/Recipient

118 They were sold to us MA/Recipient

119 The groups try to put pressure on us MA/Goal

120 Please cooperate with us on this MA/Recipient

121 If you do not listen to us BE/ Behaviour

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122 NCPO has taken control of the national administration MA/Actor

123 The NCPO has taken control of the situation MA/Actor

124 The NCPO has already shortened the curfew MA/Actor

125 NCPO cannot allow any group to create untoward incidents MA/Actor

126 The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any

group

MA/Actor

127 The NCPO does not have a policy of interfering with the use

of social media in any form

RE-POSS/ Carrier

128 the NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the

administration of all government agencies

MA/Actor

129 The NCPO will not order any government agency to perform

illegal activities

VE/Sayer

130 NCPO will be spending the national budget inefficiently MA/Actor

131 The NCPO has given first priority to making payments to

farmers in the rice-pledging scheme

MA/Actor

132 The NCPO is considering various measures to alleviate the

BACC‟s financial burden

ME/Senser

133 The NCPO has assigned the Internal Security Operations

Command (ISOC)

MA/Actor

134 The NCPO ensures a successful second phase MA/Actor

135 The NCPO does not want power for our own benefit ME/Senser

136 The NCPO understands the concerns of our international

friends

ME/Senser

137 The NCPO will act as an observer, a facilitator and an

information provider

RE-ATTR/ Carrier

138 The NCPO will only collect information MA/Actor

139 The NCPO will only provide information MA/Actor

140 The NCPO has been working for only 2 weeks MA/Actor

141 The NCPO will support any efforts to inspect the rice stock if

requested

MA/Actor

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142 The NCPO will look into the problems ME/Senser

143 The NCPO brought the problems to its attention MA/Actor

144 The NCPO will try to solve our shared problem MA/Actor

145 The NCPO has removed these external influences for you MA/Actor

146 NCPO will not argue VE/Sayer

147 NCPO never said to default on debts, including informal

debts

VE/Sayer

148 NCPO is considering the curfew ME/Senser

149 The NCPO will continue the task of building the international

image of Thailand

MA/Actor

150 The NCPO expects that the second phase ME/Senser

151 The NCPO has set up the Monitoring and Auditing

Committee on Fiscal Expenditures

MA/Actor

152 The NCPO has established a committee on rice policy and

management

MA/Actor

153 The NCPO has assigned the Ministry of Commerce MA/Actor

154 The NCPO has also requested relevant agencies with the

capabilities

VE/Sayer

155

The NCPO has directed the Ministry of Agriculture and

Cooperatives, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of

Commerce

VE/Sayer

156

The NCPO has recently established the Energy Policy

Executive Committee, the National Energy Policy

Committee, and the Fund for the Promotion of Energy

Preservation

MA/Actor

157 The NCPO may consider revocation of the license ME/Senser

158 The NCPO prohibit the right to transfer the license within the

stipulated timeframe

MA/Actor

159 NCPO has given priority to the issue of basic needs MA/Actor

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160 NCPO has instructed the implementation of numerous

assistance programmes for the Thai people

VE/Sayer

161

The NCPO received exceptional cooperation from the general

public and the private sector in creating an atmosphere of

unity

MA/Recipient

162 NCPO have to expedite the re-organization MA/Actor

163 NCPO will reorganize the labour situation in the immediate

term

MA/Actor

164 NCPO will allow registered and unregistered labourers MA/Actor

165 NCPO recognizes that this labour force is vital to the Thai

economy

ME/Senser

166 NCPO will suppress these movements as soon as possible MA/Actor

167 NCPO continues to give importance to creating a correct

understanding among international community

MA/Actor

168 NCPO defend Thai interests on the global stage MA/Actor

169 NCPO met with representatives from various Foreign

Chambers of Commerce in Thailand

MA/Actor

170 NCPO has given top priority MA/Actor

171 NCPO has improved the work of the public sector MA/Actor

172 NCPO have a lot of work to expedite RE-POSS/ Carrier

173 NCPO will closely follow up on this economic plan MA/Actor

174 The NCPO is expediting various plans under the budget year

2014

MA/Actor

175 The NCPO has policies to develop effective infrastructure

systems

MA/Actor

176 The NCPO may consider additionally applying internationally

accepted measures for the review

ME/Senser

177 The NCPO will address the pressing problems MA/Actor

178 The NCPO appreciates the understanding of executives ME/Senser

179 The NCPO has entered the second phase of the Roadmap BE/Behaver

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180

These projects are currently under review for their

transparency and efficiency by a committee set up by the

NCPO

MA/Actor

181 foreign entrepreneurs have a better understanding of Thailand

and have tried to help the NCPO to work out solutions

ME/Beneficiary

182 These strategies and measures will then be submitted to the

NCPO for further consideration

MA/Recipient

183

The approval of projects and plans worth more than 100

million, 1 billion or 10 billion baht have already been

approved by the NCPO

MA/Actor

184 the corruption scrutiny process has been carried out over the

past 1 month by NCPO

MA/Actor

185 reconciliation network founded by the NCPO MA/Actor

186 the work to be done for an issue exceeds the capability of the

people in the area, they are to be presented to the NCPO

MA/Recipient

187 Myanmar‟s officials have expressed their gratitude to the

NCPO

VE/Receiver

188 Other issues will come in the form of recommendations by

the NCPO to the Government

MA/Actor

189 Please also pray for NCPO VE/Receiver

190 Do not hesitate to inform NCPO for investigation

immediately.

MA/Recipient

191 The promulgation of the charter will enable the NCPO to

move according to plan set out in Phase 2

MA/Recipient

192

On employing additional public health personnel, the

Ministry of Public Health has notified the NCPO of the

problem of personnel shortage

VE/Receiver

193

Persons who have been appointed by the NCPO have been

scrutinized by an NCPO committee regarding their personal

record, performance, corruption, prosecution and cases under

legal proceedings

MA/Actor

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194 some people claimed that they are able to make connections

with the NCPO or the Head of NCPO

MA/Recipient

195 So please trust NCPO in using its powers ME/ Beneficiary

196

the Indian Ambassador to Thailand and the Singapore

Supreme Commander last week paid a courtesy call on the

NCPO

VE/Target

197 people in every step have to be vigilant and inform the NCPO

of any misconduct

VE/Receiver

198 please report to the NCPO VE/Receiver

199 she has discredited the NCPO MA/Goal

200 please quickly report this to the NCPO MA/Recipient

201 the name lists will be forwarded to the NCPO MA/Recipient

202 continuity of work is carried out by the NCPO MA/Actor

203 Members of the NRC can also submit information they obtain

to the NCPO

MA/Recipient

204 Do not pass on such burden to NCPO MA/Recipient

205 For example on police restructuring, it cannot be done by a

single order of NCPO

MA/Actor

206 Thank you to those that have cooperated with the NCPO MA/Beneficiary

207 A provisional constitution is being drawn up by NCPO’s

legal team

MA/Actor

208 Any problem will be reported to the head of NCPO MA/Recipient

209 Please ask the NCPO if you have any enquiries VE/Target

210 the issues have come up to NCPO for consideration MA/Beneficiary

211

The Committee will comprise all parties including Office of

the Auditor General of Thailand, Office of the National

Economic and Development Board, Budget Bureau and other

committees set up by the NCPO

MA/Actor

212 Should you have any questions, feel free to contact the NCPO MA/Goal

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213 The caretaker government was unable to perform their duties

effectively

MA/Actor

214 The government must revise its working strategies MA/Actor

215 The government clearly formulates national and international

strategies

MA/Actor

216 The government was not able to fully provide basic services

to the people

MA/Actor

217 The government will not have to allocate a high budget for

subsidising crops

MA/Actor

218 The government must expedite measures MA/Actor

219 The government cannot afford subsidizing all types of crops MA/Actor

220 The government has purchased large amount of rubber at high

price

MA/Actor

221 The government must offer more public transport services MA/Actor

222 The government must improve the public transit system MA/Actor

223 The government cannot look after just any one group in

society

MA/Actor

224 The government will do our very best MA/Actor

225 The government will perform our duties for the benefit of all

citizens

MA/Actor

226 The government must now continue to build on this

foundation

MA/Actor

227 People do not trust the government ME/ Beneficiary

228 The budget has already been approved by the government MA/Actor

229 The name lists will be forwarded to the government MA/Recipient

230 Continuity of work in reform is carried out by the

Government

MA/Actor

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231 The military will go back to our national defense duties MA/Actor

232 The military will look after the country and the people MA/Actor

233 The military ensure long-lasting happiness and prosperity MA/Actor

234 The military will not judge what is right or wrong ME/Senser

235 Military can only observe certain border areas ME/Senser

236 Military officers have continuously carried out their

operations

MA/Actor

237 The military has never make payments for positions MA/Actor

238 Military officers need to strictly observe protocols ME/Senser

239 Military officers exercise caution in every operation as well MA/Actor

240 the ASEAN forests project has been carried out by military

units

MA/Actor

241 Some members will be military personnel in order to ensure

progress

RE-ATTR/Token

242 The general public must be reinforced by military MA/Actor

Rater for Reliability Check of Classification of Process Types

Full Name: _________________

Position/Academic Rank: ________________

Department, School or Faculty, University: ______________________

Day/Month/Year: __________________________

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Appendix F: Classification of Selected Ambiguous Process Types

Criteria of classification of overall process types which co-occurred with the five-selected pronouns and social actors including ‗We‘, ‗I‘,

‗NCPO‘, ‗Government‘ and ‗Military‘ adopted by Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. K. (2004, 2014)‘s Systematic Functional

Grammar as the following information.

(1) Material processes describe processes of doing. Usually, these are concrete actions that have a material result or consequence, such as

arrest, fall, demolish, and other related verbs.

(2) Behavioral processes refer to processes of denoting psychological or physical behavior such as watch, taste, stare, dream, breathe, cough,

smile and laugh. They are semantically a cross between material and mental processes. For example, ‗look at‘ and ‗listen to‘ are classes as

behavioral, whereas ‗see‘ and ‗hear‘ would be mental processes. Behavioral processes are also in part about action.

(3) Mental processes refer to processes of sensing and can be divided into three classes: ‗cognition‘ (verbs of thinking, knowing or

understanding), ‗affection‘ (verbs of liking, disliking or fearing) and ‗perception‘ (verbs of seeing, hearing or perceiving). Examples of the three

classes of cognition, affection, and perception such as understand, see, like, worry, and other related verbs.

(4) Verbal processes refer to verbs which are expressed through the verb ‗to say‘ and its many synonyms such as explain, tell, utter, and other

similar meaning verbs such as explain, allege, tell, and other related verbs.

(5) Relational processes refer to processes that encode meanings about states of being, where things are stated to exist in relation to other

things. They are expressed through the verb ‗to be‘, which is the most frequent, but synonyms such as ‗become‘, ‗mean‘, ‗define‘, ‗symbolize‘,

‗represent‘, ‗stand for‘, ‗refer to‘, ‗mark‘, ‗exemplify‘ are also classed as relational processes.

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Abbreviation and full name of each process types

1. MA = Material process

2. ME = Mental process

3. BE = Behavioral process

4. VE = Verbal process

5. RE = Relational process

5.1 RE-ATTR = Relational – Attributive /Carrier

5.2 RE-POSS = Relational – Possessive /Carrier

Remark 1: Attributive process: a common type of relation process ascribes an attribute to some entity. Bloor and Boor (2013) propose the

components of this process can be displayed as follows:

- Carrier: it is the topic of the clause.

- Process: there are the verbs of being or copular verbs.

- Attribute: Its function is to provide a description of the topic.

Remark 2: It should be noted that all clause simplexes were split up into clause simplexes or individual clauses in order to make them to be

suitable for the unit of analysis of this study which is clausal level. The excerpts below are taken directly from the transcript of the weekly

addresses downloaded from the official Thai government website at www.thaigov.go.th.

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Direction: Please identify the underlined process type in the selected individual clause by putting X in the boxes provided.

No. Selected individual clauses/clause simplexes MA ME BE VE

RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

1 We have allowed those workers to remain on their jobs on a temporary basis

2 We do not adhere to any principles

3 I appeal to the university students and human rights groups and activists to

refrain from instigating abrasive protest movements

4 We cannot afford to do everything at once

5 We shall continue with national administration in a fully fair and transparent

manner

6 We will forward them to the concerned agencies

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

7 I am not going to involve myself in this dispute

8 The NCPO has directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the

Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Commerce

9 We prohibit people from making use of the forest areas

10 The NCPO will not manipulate any decision

11 We should strive to learn modern agricultural knowledge

12 We do not intervene in the reform process.

13 The NCPO is bullying any group or any person

14 We take care of this group of people

15 We have already proposed this to previous governments

16 I will oversee the development process which includes personnel, structure, and

equipment development

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

17 I have been coerced by some influential figure

18 I invite all stakeholders including representatives from the 11 areas of reform to

attend to show our cooperative spirit in moving ahead on reforms

19 I did not look down on anyone

20 I admit that with the tremendous support given to us

21 I have pledged that there will be no corruption on our part

22 We invoked the martial law

23 We welcome all sides; conflicting groups, political parties

24 We may be rushing through the process

25 We foster happiness according to their oath of allegiance

26 We have prioritized the problems for implementation into three phases

27 We have seized caches of war- grade weapons

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

28 We investigated in accordance with the judicial process

29 We will waste a lot of money

30 We may pursue legal proceedings

31 We cannot forever rely on gas and oil for fuel sources

32 We engage with all countries on the basis of trust, fairness and as good friends

33 We pray for the safety of oneself, family and the nation

34 We need to abide by the laws and regulations

35 We may face some legal limitations

36 We can no longer fight each other over democracy

37 We compete in the business arena

38 We promised to transcend the joint border conflicts

39 We brainstorm for ideas from all sectors

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

40 We regress further and further due to conflicts, selfishness, dishonesty,

divisions, and so on

41 We have issued a statement conveying our sincere condolences to victims of the

earthquake

42 We implement these projects without causing negative impact to the

environment

43 We should strive to learn modern agricultural knowledge

44 We further education to career and income

45 We have assigned our Security Division

46 We need to appoint responsible agencies

47 We comply with the international standard

48 We have to balance some budget

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

49 We have to influence within the area

50 We must proceed in a concrete manner in accordance with the National Social

and Economic Development Plan and in tune with global trends

51 We must raise our competitiveness

52 We require the cooperation of all sectors, including the state and private

sectors, civil society, and the population at large

53 We cannot accomplish anything

54 We are also protesting against each other

55 We must instill in our children the disdain for corruption and indifference

56 We alleviate the problems

57 We must be able to co-exist

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RE

RE-

ATTR

RE-

POSS

58 We all unite

59 We support SMEs to improve quality

60 We need to improve our machineries

61 We integrate globally in every dimension

62 We expedite this development in the past 3 months

63 I follow up on the work of my predecessors and then initiate new developments

on my part

64 We need to educate them through these centers

65 We ease the distress of the people

66 The NCPO has instructed the Reconciliation Center for Reform

Thank you very much for your valuable time and consideration in completing this procedure.

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Please give additional comments or suggestions in relation to process type classification of the ambiguous-and- underlined process types in the

selected individual clauses

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rater for Reliability Check of Classification of Ambiguous Process Types

Full Name: ______________________

Position/Academic Rank: ________________________

Department, School or Faculty, University: ______________________________

Day/Month/Year: _______________________________

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Appendix G: Distribution of Numbers of Clauses of the Process Types used to represent General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, as the Head of

National Council for Peace and Order

Process Types/

Participant Roles We I NCPO Government Military

Total Occurrences of

Each Type Total Occurrences

Material No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Actor 1,056 43.72% 54 2.23% 195 8.07% 16 0.66% 15 0.62% 1,336 55.32%

1,409 58.33% Goal 9 0.37% 2 0.08% 3 0.12% - - - - 14 0.57%

Recipient 33 1.36% 8 0.33% 17 0.70% 1 0.04% - - 59 2.44%

Behavioral No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Behaver 78 3.22% 5 0.20% 7 0.28% - - - - 90 3.72% 96 3.97%

Behaviour 2 0.08% 4 0.16% - - - - - - 6 0.24%

Mental No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Senser 251 10.39% 84 3.47% 54 2.23% - - 4 0.16% 393 16.27%

408 16.89% Beneficiary 8 0.33% - - 4 0.16% 1 0.04% - - 13 0.53%

Phenomenon 2 0.08% - - - - - - - - 2 0.08%

Verbal No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Sayer 70 2.89% 134 5.54% 55 2.27% - - - - 259 10.72%

274 11.34% Target 4 0.16% 2 0.08% 2 0.08% - - - - 8 0.33%

Receiver 1 0.04% 1 0.04% 5 0.20% - - - - 7 0.28%

Relational No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Token 2 0.08% 1 0.04% - - - - 1 0.04% 4 0.16%

228 9.44% Value - - - - - - - - - - - -

Attribute Carrier 100 4.14% 16 0.66% 14 0.57% - - 1 0.04% 131 5.42%

Possessive Carrier 73 3.02% - - 20 0.82% - - - - 93 3.85%

Total 1,689 69.93% 311 12.87% 376 15.56% 18 0.74% 21 0.86% 2,415 100% 2,415 100%

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Appendix H: Sample of Inter-rater Reliability Check of Modality Types and Degrees in General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s 15 Selected

Weekly Addresses during His Tenure as the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

This procedure of inter-rater reliability check of modality types and degrees is divided into two sections:

Section I is about the objectives of procedure.

Section II is about the process of inter-rater reliability check of modality types and degrees and instruction.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


This procedure is aim to crosscheck the selected modality types and degrees occurred in the General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‘s weekly addresses

during his tenure as the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in order to strengthen the reliability and consistency of data

collection and further analyses. Information obtained from this process will be employed for undertaking a thesis on the topic ―A Critical

Discourse Analysis of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‘s Weekly Addresses in Times of Political Crisis‖.

Section II is about the process of inter-rater reliability check of modality types and degrees.

In order to analyze and interpret modality types and degrees through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, the researcher will ask a person who

specialize in the fields of applied linguistics which relates to textual analysis, Discourse Analysis (DA), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),

Corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis as well as other related areas of language theories such as semantics and pragmatics for the procedure

of inter-rater reliability check of modality types and degrees.

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Degrees of Modalization and Modulation

In order to distinguish the degrees of modalization and modulation based on the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, I then adopted both

modal verb operators and mood Adjuncts which express the degrees of modality values based on the Systemic Functional Grammar (Halliday &

Mattheissen, 2004, p. 62; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696) which is presented in the following two tables.

Types of Modalization Degrees of Modalization

High Median Low

Probability

certainly, definitely,

must, can‘t

probably, will be,

won‘t

possibly, perhaps,

maybe, hardly, may,

can, needn‘t

Usuality

always, never

usually

sometimes,

occasionally, seldom,

rarely

Degrees of Modalization (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696)

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Types of Modulation Degrees of Modulation

High Median Low

Obligation

must, required to,

have to, ought to,

can‘t

should, shall,

supposed to,

shouldn‘t

can, could, may,

might, allowed to,

needn‘t

Inclination determined to, need

to

keen, will, would,

want to, won‘t,

wouldn‘t

willing, can

Degrees of Modulation (Halliday & Mattheissen, 2004, p. 618-624; 2014, p. 189 & pp. 694-696)

Coding instruction for inter-rater:

Instruction: Please put a tick () in the relevant box provided to code the correct types and degrees of modality based on the types and degrees

of modality values from the Systemic Functional Grammar displayed in the tables above.

Remark: The excerpts below are taken directly from the transcript of the weekly addresses downloaded from the official Thai government

website at www.thaigov.go.th. The modal verb operators and mood Adjuncts are specifically highlighted in boldface type in each sentence.

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Coding Sheet for Modality Types and Degrees in General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s 15 Selected Weekly Addresses during His Tenure as the

Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

Clause

No. Selected clauses

Modality Types and Degrees

Modalization Modulation


H M L H M L H M L H M L

1

Some people have expressed concern whether NCPO can successfully solve

these multi-faceted and interconnected problems involving social, economic,

political and psychological aspects, accumulated over the years and many

governments.

2 As for the issue of overpriced lottery, presently the NCPO can only ask for

cooperation from the current operators.

3 NCPO cannot push for every agenda.

4

We would like to design and manufacture ourselves with budget for research

and development but it would take a long time which the NCPO could not do

on its own.

5 The NCPO may consider additionally applying internationally accepted

measures for the review.

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Clause






6

According to this provisional constitution, regardless of any power the NCPO

may have, if the user of power uses it for good, for the benefit of Thai people

and Thailand, there is no need for much worry—that is, if the administrators of

the country and all power-users adhere to the principles of good governance,

morality, integrity, transparency, and efficiency in doing their work.

7 NCPO should be given time, opportunity and tools to function.

8 The NCPO will take appropriate legal measures against any group that violates

this law.

9

For the most part, the NCPO will use existing rules and regulations in the

administration of all government agencies, unless there are emergencies or

urgent problems that need immediate attention.

10 NCPO will not argue with those holding different views, either from internal or

external sources.

11

The NCPO will continue the task of building the international image of

Thailand to regain confidence from the international community, including the

diplomatic, business, industrial segments, and so on.

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Clause






12 The NCPO will act as facilitator and create a conducive atmosphere for

exchanging and sharing opinion.

13 I would like to assure and guarantee that the NCPO will never get involved in

any interests of the Government Lottery Office even a single baht.

14 The NCPO will not influence the National Reform Council.

15 Today the NCPO would like to convey to you all that we are doing our utmost

in a limited time to yield results.

16 NCPO would like to reiterate that we have never assigned any individual to

implement any of these projects on our behalf.

17 NCPO would have continued our administration of the country like in the first

phase, with fewer complexities.

18 NCPO have to expedite the re-organization so that workers get welfare and fair

treatment.

19 The NCPO has a duty to bring happiness to all even though the burden is on us

but we are willing to work hard for everyone.

20 The NCPO wants to put an end to and resolve these problems sustainably.

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I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your valuable time and consideration in completing this procedure. Your support is

greatly appreciated.

Rater for Inter-rater Reliability Check of Modality Types and Degrees

Full Name: _______________________________

Position/Academic Rank: _______________________________

Department, School or Faculty, University: _______________________________

Day/Month/Year: _______/ ________/________

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Appendix I: The Frequency of Probability Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly

Addresses


Degrees

High 1 8.33% 0 0% 1 25% 0 0% 2 100% 4 16%

Median 2 16.66% 1 33.33% 0 0% 2 50% 0 0% 5 20%

Low 9 75% 2 66.66% 3 75% 2 50% 0 0% 16 64%

Total 12 100% 3 100% 4 100% 4 100% 2 100% 25 100%

We

Probability

High Cannot 1

Median Will be 2

Low May 9

Total Total 12

I

Probability

High - -

Median Will be 1

Low May 1

Can 1

Total Total 3

NCPO

Probability

High Cannot 1

Median - -

Low May 3

Total Total 4

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Government

Probability

High - -

Median Will be 2

Low May 1

May not 1

Total Total 4

Military

Probability

High Must 2

Median - -

Low - -

Total Total 2

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Appendix J: The Frequency of Obligation Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly

Addresses


Degrees

High 110 58.51% 3 42.85% 2 33.33% 6 85.71% 0 0% 121 58.74%

Median 59 31.38% 3 42.85% 1 16.66% 1 14.28% 0 0% 64 31.07%

Low 19 10.10% 1 14.28% 3 50% 0 0% 0 0% 23 11.05%

Total 188 100% 7 100% 6 100% 7 100% 0 0% 208 100%

We

Obligation

High Must 33

Have to 76

Median Shall 2

Should 42

Should not 15

Low Could not 4

Could 10

May 3

Might 1

Might not 2

Total Total 188

I

Obligation

High Must 1

Have to 2

Median Shall 3

Low Could 1

Total Total 7

NCPO

Obligation

High Have to 1

Has 1

Median Should 1

Low Can 1

Total Total 4

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Government

Obligation

High Must 5

Has to 1

Median Should 1

Low - -

Total Total 7

Military

Obligation

High - -

Median - -

Low - -

Total Total -

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Appendix K: The Frequency of Inclination Expressions found in the NCPO Weekly

Addresses


Degrees

High 155 38.94% 4 3.70% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 159 28.49%

Median 197 49.50% 101 93.51% 46 95.83% 2 100% 1 50% 347 62.19%

Low 46 11.56% 3 2.77% 2 4.16% 0 0% 1 50% 52 9.32%

Total 398 100% 108 100% 48 100% 2 100% 2 100% 558 100%

We

Inclination

High Need to 155

Median Will 147

Will not 20

Would like 10

Would 3

Would not 2

Want 16

Low Can 44

Willing to 1

Total Total 398

I

Inclination

High Need 4

Median Will 12

Will not 3

Would like 70

Would 2

Would not 4

Want 10

Low Can 3

Total Total 108

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NCPO

Inclination

High - -

Median Will 33

Will not 5

Would 2

Would like 4

Want 2

Low Can 2

Total Total 48

Government

Inclination

High - -

Median Will 1

Will not 1

Low - -

Total Total 2

Military

Inclination

High - -

Median Can 1

Will 1

Low - -

Total Total 2

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Appendix L: The Result of Reliability Check of Modality Types and Degrees between

Researcher & Expert

Pronouns & Social Actors Numbers of selected sentences

Government 13

I 30

Military 4

NCPO 20

We 130

Total 197

Sentences with agreement 186

Sentences with disagreement 11

Percentage of agreement 94.42 percent

Remark: The result highlighted that the inter-rater agreement of the reliability check

procedure was high, indicating 94.42 percentage of agreement.

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Appendix M: Inter-rater Reliability of Democracy and Politics-Related Metaphor Identification Procedure in General Prayuth Chan-o-

cha’s 15 Selected Weekly Addresses during His Tenure as the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)

This procedure of metaphor identification is divided into three sections:


Section II is about the process of metaphor identification for the preliminary stage and instructions of inter-rater reliability of metaphor

identification for inter-raters.

Section III is about additional comment and overall recommendation regarding the metaphors in relation to the concept of democracy identified

from the selected excerpts.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


This procedure is aim to crosscheck the selected metaphors occurred in the General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s weekly addresses during his tenure as

the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in order to strengthen the reliability and consistency of metaphor identification

procedure and further analyses. Information obtained from this process will be employed for undertaking a thesis on the topic “A Critical

Discourse Analysis of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha‟s Weekly Addresses in Times of Political Crisis”.

Section II is about the process of metaphor identification for the preliminary stage and instruction of inter-rater reliability of metaphor

identification for inter-rater for the second stage.

In order to analyze and interpret metaphors in relation to concept of democracy, the researcher will ask a person who specialize in the fields of

applied linguistics which relates to textual analysis, Discourse Analysis (DA), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Corpus-based Critical

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235

Discourse Analysis) as well as other related areas of language theories such as semantics and pragmatics. As a starting point for corpus

investigation of metaphors in selected two terms „Democratic‟ and „Democracy‟ appeared to be restricted for the focus of analysis, this study

then extracted the entire concordance of each word and expanded to the whole paragraphs which these two terms were highlighted in order to

obtain an overview of its relevant context and other surrounding lexis. Once all paragraphs regarding the selected two terms „Democratic‟ and

„Democracy‟ were extracted, a close reading for each paragraph was conducted to find out which lexical bundle or word appeared likely to be

metaphorical based on the metaphor identification principle (Pragglejaz Group, 2007, p. 3) which consists of the following steps:

1. Read the entire text-discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning.

2. Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse

3. (a) For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is, how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation

evoked by the text (contextual meaning). Take into account what comes before and after the lexical unit.

(b) For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other contexts than the one in the given context. For our

purposes, basic meanings tend to be:

- More concrete; what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste;

- Related to bodily action;

- More precise (as opposed to vague);

- Historically older;

- Basic meanings are not necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit.

(c) If the lexical unit has a more basic current-contemporary meaning in other contexts than the given context, decide whether the contextual

meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it.

4. If yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical.

After the aforementioned procedure has been conducted as a preliminary stage, the researcher created the tool for inter-rater reliability of

democracy-related metaphor identification procedure as a second stage for inter-raters. The selected conceptual metaphors will be employed for

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further analysis which is based on the works by Charteris-Black (2004, 2014) and Kövecses (2010). Their work is based closely on Lakoff and

Johnson‟s (1980) study of metaphor.

Coding instruction for inter-raters:

1. Please read the words, phrases, or sentences which are bolded or underlined from each selected excerpt number 1 – number 41 carefully.

2. Consider the highlighted words or phrases in relation to conceptual metaphors in order to specify them in the following columns of the source

and target domains provided in the selected excerpts from number 1 – number 41.

3. Put the following specific number in the columns of the source domain in each excerpt:

Number 1 = Machine and Tool Metaphor;

Number 2 = Journey Metaphor;

Number 3 = Building and Construction Metaphor;

Number 4 = Conflict Metaphor;

Number 5 = Animal Metaphor (Bird Metaphor);

Number 6 = Object Metaphor;

Number 7 = Human Metaphor (Personification)

4. Put the following specific number in the columns of the target domain in each excerpt:

Number 1 = Democracy;

Number 2 = Politics

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The lists of conceptual metaphors are provided in the following table.

Source Domain Target Domain

Number 1 = Machine and Tool Metaphor;

Number 2 = Journey Metaphor;

Number 3 = Building and Construction Metaphor;

Number 4 = Conflict Metaphor;

Number 5 = Animal Metaphor;

Number 6 = Object Metaphor;

Number 7 = Human Metaphor (Personification)

Number 1 = Democracy;

Number 2 = Politics;

Examples of metaphorical linguistic expressions suggest the existence of a number of conceptual metaphors as follows:

1. Machine and Tool: The machinery of democracy could be created quickly but its spirit was just as important (Kövecses, 2010, p. 150).

2. Journey: It is time for this country to move on and move forward (Charteris-Black, 2004, p. 75).

3. Building and Construction: It is the foundation stone of a capital-owning democracy (Charteris-Black, 2004, p. 71).

4. Conflict: The first priority of any government must be to defend the value of the currency and to bring inflation down from the present

ruinous rates (Charteris-Black, 2004, p. 69).

5. Animal: The American people become frustrated if politicians only engage in bull sessions and do not get anything done (Gallagher, 2015).

6. Object: “And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is

stronger and cannot be broken-you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you” (Gallagher, 2016).

7. Human (Personification): “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and

destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength” (Gallagher, 2017).

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I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your valuable time and information in completing this process. Your support is greatly

appreciated.

Remark: It should be noted that some excerpts are repeated if they contain multiple metaphors. The excerpts below are taken directly from the

transcript of the weekly addresses downloaded from the official Thai government website at www.thaigov.go.th. The conceptual metaphors are

specifically highlighted in boldface type and underlined in each excerpt.

Excerpt

No.

Original Excerpts Source Domain Target Domain

1 Phase 3: A general election under a democratic system which is legal

and accepted by all sides. We will modernize existing rules and

regulations in order to achieve a just legal system ready for the

globalization age so that decent, honest people will be in the

administration of our country that will carry out good governance.

1 1

Additional comments or suggestions:

The idea of a system is very vague and could apply to any machine, organization or process.

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Excerpt

No.


2 I think that all of you share my feelings. For the past nine years, I have not been

happy. But after the 20th and 22ndMay 2014, we have at least regained our

sense of security. The NCPO does not want power for our own benefit. It was

because the country was not able to move forward. If government officials and

the military did nothing, who would help the Thai people resolve this deadlock

when the democratic mechanisms are paralysed; when there are incessant

conflicts; when people do not trust the government; and when the rule of law

does not work. Please trust our intentions. We, the government officials,

civilians, police, and military, must support one another. Our country must

come first.

1

1


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Excerpt

No.


3 The NCPO understands the concerns of our international friends. We

understand that we are living in a world that values democracy. All we

are asking for is to give us time to reform in order to mend our

democratic system and make it right, just, responsible and beneficial to

all people.

1

1


The metaphor of mending is more likely derived from the concept of mending clothing.

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Excerpt

No.


4 With everyone‟s cooperation to help move the country forward, the

situation will improve. We believe that, [if you were in our situation for the

past 9 years] you would choose the well-being of your country above a

flawed democratic system.

1

1


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Section III: Please give additional comments or suggestions in relation to the democracy-related metaphors from selected excerpts of the weekly

addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha during his tenure as the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO):

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you very much for your valuable time and consideration in completing this procedure.

Rater for Inter-rater Reliability of Metaphor Identification Procedure

Full Name: ____________________________

Position/Academic Rank: ______________________________

Department, School or Faculty, University: ___________________________________________

Day/Month/Year: __________________________________

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Appendix N: Concordance Lines of the Search Term “Democratic” in English Subtitled

Weekly Addresses during General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s Tenure as the Head of NCPO

(30th May – 5th September 2014)

1 case, leading to a deadlock where a democratic solution is inadequate. So-called ―ac

2

phase. 3) Phase 3: A general election

under a democratic system which is legal and accepted by

3

Thai people resolve this deadlock when

the democratic mechanisms are paralysed; when there ar

4 to reform in order to mend our democratic system and make it right, just, respons

5 -being of your country above a flawed democratic system. There are many issues that need

6

most important was because we respect

the democratic process. Our decision was based on the

7 understand that we are living in a democratic world, but is Thailand ready in terms

8

cades without being resolved through the

existing democratic process. Today we are giving an opportu

9 , it signifies that Thailand has a fully democratic regime with His Majesty the King as

10 Thai citizens uphold and have faith in democratic system with His Majesty the King as

11 by the West as a threat to democratic system and against the liberty of the

12

ng 7. Understanding, learning the true

essence of democratic ideals with His Majesty the King as

13

Phase 2 should be more normal and

more democratic, I ask you whether we will be

14 is the lack of respect for fundamental democratic principles which include the respect fo

15 to see the return to a strengthened democratic system—with proper institutions to safe

16 ’s efforts in making Thailand a fully democratic country. There are other areas in which

17 behind, as we are all Thai. - Every democratic country has gone through stages of diff

18

consider how Thailand can become a

fully democratic country. - For our foreign friends and

19

criticise us as determined by the

universal democratic form. 3. On natural resources, enviro

20 to the conflict lay claim to be democratic. The NCPO wants to put an end

21 2 so as to pave the way to democratic elections and tangible reforms that eve

22 criticized that their set up is not democratic and society groups are not represented

23 of fighting, whether through the laws or democratic process and eventually end up killing e

24

own situation without greatly going

against the democratic principles of the international communi

25 that there were many flaws in the democratic system of the past. It was an

26 reform in various sectors, so that the democratic form of government with the King as

27

and requiring urgent attention

Development of a democratic system that is right, comprehensive, in

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Appendix O: Concordance Lines of the Search Term “Democracy” in English Subtitled

Weekly Addresses during General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s Tenure as the Head of NCPO

(30th May – 5th September 2014)

1

still protests without a true understanding

of democracy and the realization that we are doing

2 are living in a world that values democracy. All we are asking for is to

3

undermined. We therefore have had to

safeguard democracy. We came in to make our country

4

to move towards becoming a fully

functioning democracy. The undermining structure which I menti

5 , corruption, and even the starting point of democracy itself – the election. Parliamentary dic

6 achieve our goal of a fully functioning democracy which is accepted by all sides. In

7 as we build our country and a democracy in which the Thai people possess discipl

8

possess discipline and a true understanding

of democracy with good governance in accordance with

9 to symbols of the political landscape and democracy. But you should understand the current s

10

moving the country towards sustainable

reform and democracy. In the past week NCPO stressed upon

11 . But we reached a point where our democracy has stalled. We request for time for

12 EU what our problems are. An unsustained democracy can be detrimental to both Thailand and

13 order to make Thailand a fully functioning democracy. The NCPO hopes that the EU and

14

of concern are labour, human trafficking

and democracy in Thailand. As I stated earlier, it

15 differentiate our position and the matters of democracy, constitution, law, state mechanism, and

16 a strong foundation for a fully functioning democracy devoid of political conflicts. A reform

17

to uphold national security and to

strengthen democracy. On international affairs, the NCPO has

18

one results have been announced. Indonesia

had democracy around 20 years ago and is now a

19 can no longer fight each other over

democracy. If we build good mechanisms for

democra

20

democracy. If we build good mechanisms

for democracy as we are trying to achieve in

21 . We have wasted much time on our democracy. This decades-long problem needs to be

22 all the parties in a fully functioning democracy without further quarrels in the future.

23 the principles of human rights and electoral democracy as those practiced in the West and

24

century and regarded as normal for

cohabitation. Democracy is thought by all to be the

25 to build the foundations for a strong democracy, which will lead to more sustainable and

26 could be said that the flaws of democracy in Thailand is the lack of respect

27 from happening again, and ways to achieve democracy for Thailand? - Countries that are our f

28

sustainably benefit the country in the

future. - Democracy should be about more than just whetherel

29 set up a stable pillar of Thai democracy, rather than to criticize, particularly

30 a country with a complete and sustainable democracy and that will benefit Thai people as

31 do not want anyone who fights for democracy to disregard their safety, and overlook

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245

32 in order to bring about the complete democracy. Sometimes it may be too hasty to

33

reform and development of proper and

sustainable democracy. In the past week, there have been

34 of social importance: On the demand for democracy, the NCPO does not deem it to

35 peculiar though is the situation of Thai democracy in the past which has been problematic

36 not understand how those who demand for democracy could overlook such problems I just ment

37 works. Do not look solely at the democracy aspect otherwise we cannot move forward

38

everyone to help bring peace and

sustainable democracy to the country, without further divisive

39 and its people to become a sustainable democracy in the near future. As for military

40 of governance to become a full-fledged democracy, in order to thoroughly and equally prov

41 that we will be a fully functioning democracy. After the second phase, for the long

42 has been so for a long time. Democracy in Thailand is also facing many problems

43 long time ago within the framework of democracy. But they were not able to, which

44 worrying about the country not being a democracy, or not having elections, or about the

45 not receive them. In a system of democracy, everyone, every group, and every side n

46 different opinions. This is the politics and democracy of Thailand. On the National Legislative

47 to do things that normal politics or democracy consistently cannot achieve in the past.

48 cabinet, it may be viewed as a democracy too, albeit in a temporary Thai style

49 too, albeit in a temporary Thai style democracy. But those foreign countries have been m

50 that we are a country of liberal democracy, not a country of socialism or other

51 counter them. We need to be a democracy in our own way and use the

52 , it can be concluded that ―Western-style democracy may not be a perfect model of

53 may not be a perfect model of democracy. Therefore, it is not necessary for ever

54 people’s intellect to develop Thailand’s democracy and determine how we will move forward

55

and oppose us—incessantly uttering words

like ‘ democracy’, ‘return our power’, and ‘elections’, m

56 we were in, carelessly using words like ‘ democracy’ and ‘elections’ without realising that

57 the past. It was an abuse of democracy, leading to failures in governance and t

58 , we well go back to being a democracy—a full-fledged one, this time—with

59

eople. Other Matters 1. Moving towards

Thailand’s

Democracy/Reform/Reconciliation Many of you are

co

60 leader of our country, who is a democracy and human rights advocate, has remarked

61 one supports a coup but understand that democracy in Thailand must be strengthened in a

62 tackle it. Today we want to have democracy and already have a provisional constitut

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Appendix P: Sample of Inter-rater Reliability Score Sheet for Metaphor Identification

between Researcher and Expert

Remark: It should be noted that some excerpts are repeated if they contain multiple

metaphors. The excerpts below are taken directly from the transcript of the weekly addresses

downloaded from the official Thai government website at www.thaigov.go.th. The

conceptual metaphors are specifically italicized in each excerpt.

Excerpt

No. Conceptual Metaphors Mapping Researcher

Rater

1

A general election under a

democratic system which is legal and

accepted by all sides.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

2

If government officials and the

military did nothing, who would help

the Thai people resolve this deadlock

when the democratic mechanisms are

paralysed; when there are incessant

conflicts; when people do not trust the

government; and when the rule of law

does not work.

Source

domain

1 1

Target

domain 1 1

3

All we are asking for is to give us

time to reform in order to mend our

democratic system and make it right,

just, responsible and beneficial to all

people.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

4

We believe that, if you were in our

situation for the past 9 years] you

would choose the well-being of your

country above a flawed democratic

system.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

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Excerpt


Rater 1

5

We came in to make our country

stronger, laying firmer foundations to

prevent the structure from collapsing

so that our country will be ready to

move towards becoming a fully

functioning democracy.

Source

domain 2 2

Target

domain 1 1

6

We came in to make our country

stronger, laying firmer foundations to

prevent the structure from collapsing

so that our country will be ready to

move towards becoming a fully

functioning democracy.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

7

But please be assured that we are

doing the best we can in order to

achieve our goal of a fully

functioning democracy which is

accepted by all sides.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

8

As for the international community,

we are asking for your patience to

give us time as we build our country

and a democracy in which the Thai

people possess discipline and a true

understanding of democracy with

good governance in accordance with

the philosophy of sufficiency

economy of His Majesty the King.

Source

domain 3 3

Target

domain 1 1

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Excerpt


Rater 1

9

This has been done through returning

happiness activities in various forms

in moving the country towards

sustainable reform and democracy.

Source

domain 2 2

Target

domain 1 1

10 But we reached a point where our

democracy has stalled.

Source

domain 2 2

Target

domain 1 1

11 But we reached a point where our

democracy has stalled.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

12

We request for time for us all to apply

our conscience and rationality in

steering this country forward.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 2 2

13

We request for time for us all to apply

our conscience and rationality in

steering this country forward.

Source

domain 2 2

Target

domain 2 2

14

Therefore, we will accelerate the

reform process in order to make

Thailand a fully functioning

democracy.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

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Excerpt


Rater 1

15

The NCPO wishes that a free and fair

general election be held under the

constitution, to lay a strong

foundation for a fully functioning

democracy devoid of political

conflicts.

Source

domain 3 3

Target

domain 1 1

16

The NCPO wishes that a free and fair

general election be held under the

constitution, to lay a strong

foundation for a fully functioning

democracy devoid of political

conflicts.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

17

We need to live in the present, learn

from the past, and move forward

together to the future.

Source

domain 2 2

Target

domain 2 2

18

If we build good mechanisms for

democracy as we are trying to

achieve in our reform phase, if

everyone cooperates, then there will

be no conflicts.

Source

domain 3 3

Target

domain 1 1

19

If we build good mechanisms for

democracy as we are trying to

achieve in our reform phase, if

everyone cooperates, then there will

be no conflicts.

Source

domain 1 1

Target

domain 1 1

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Appendix Q: Crosstabs from PASW Statistics18 version for Source Domain

Crosstabs Source Domain

Case Processing Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

Researcher * Expert 49 100.0% 0 .0% 49 100.0%

Researcher * Expert Crosstabulation

Expert

Total

Machine & Tool

Metaphor

Journey

Metaphor

Building &

Construction

Metaphor

Conflict

Metaphor

Animal

Metaphor

Object

Metaphor

Human

Metaphor

(Personification)

R

es

e

ar

ch

er

Machine & Tool Metaphor Count 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 17

% within Researcher 100.0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert 89.5% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 34.7%

% of Total 34.7% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 34.7%

Journey Metaphor Count 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 9

% within Researcher 11.1% 88.9% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert 5.3% 100.0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 18.4%

% of Total 2.0% 16.3% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 18.4%

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Building & Construction

Metaphor

Count 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 9

% within Researcher 11.1% .0% 88.9% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert 5.3% .0% 100.0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 18.4%

% of Total 2.0% .0% 16.3% .0% .0% .0% .0% 18.4%

Conflict Metaphor Count 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3

% within Researcher .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% .0% .0% 6.1%

% of Total .0% .0% .0% 6.1% .0% .0% .0% 6.1%

Animal Metaphor Count 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2

% within Researcher .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% .0% 4.1%

% of Total .0% .0% .0% .0% 4.1% .0% .0% 4.1%

Object Metaphor Count 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

% within Researcher .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% .0% 2.0%

% of Total .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 2.0% .0% 2.0%

Human Metaphor

(Personification)

Count 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8

% within Researcher .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% 100.0%

% within Expert .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0% 16.3%

% of Total .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 16.3% 16.3%

Total Count 19 8 8 3 2 1 8 49

% within Researcher 38.8% 16.3% 16.3% 6.1% 4.1% 2.0% 16.3% 100.0%

% within Expert 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

% of Total 38.8% 16.3% 16.3% 6.1% 4.1% 2.0% 16.3% 100.0%

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Symmetric Measures

Value

Asymp. Std.

Errora Approx. T

b Approx. Sig.

Measure of Agreement Kappa .947 .037 13.253 .000

N of Valid Cases 49

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.

b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

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Appendix R: Crosstabs from PASW Statistics18 version for Target Domain

Crosstabs Target Domain

Case Processing Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

Researcher * Expert 49 100.0% 0 .0% 49 100.0%


Expert

Total Democracy Politics

Researcher Democracy Count 42 0 42

% within Researcher 100.0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert 97.7% .0% 85.7%

% of Total 85.7% .0% 85.7%

Politics Count 1 6 7

% within Researcher 14.3% 85.7% 100.0%

% within Expert 2.3% 100.0% 14.3%

% of Total 2.0% 12.2% 14.3%

Total Count 43 6 49


% within Expert 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

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Expert

Total Democracy Politics

Researcher Democracy Count 42 0 42

% within Researcher 100.0% .0% 100.0%

% within Expert 97.7% .0% 85.7%

% of Total 85.7% .0% 85.7%

Politics Count 1 6 7


% within Expert 2.3% 100.0% 14.3%

% of Total 2.0% 12.2% 14.3%

Total Count 43 6 49


% within Expert 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

% of Total 87.8% 12.2% 100.0%

Symmetric Measures

Value

Asymp. Std.

Errora Approx. T

b Approx. Sig.

Measure of Agreement Kappa .911 .087 6.405 .000

N of Valid Cases 49

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.

b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

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Appendix S: Approval Letter regarding the Changes of Thesis Title, Scope of the Study,

Relevant Theories, and Research Methodology

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Appendix T: Permission Letter regarding Data Collection to the Secretariat of the

Prime Minister (in Thai)

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Appendix T: (Continued)

An English Translation of Thai Permission Letter for Data Collection

No. 0516.17/137 Faculty of Liberal Arts,

Thammasat University,

Tha Phra Chan, Bangkok 10200

August 19, 2016

Subject: A Request for a permission letter for data collection of English-subtitled

versions of the weekly addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha downloaded from the

official Thai government website

Dear The Secretariat of the Prime Minister

My name is Chatchawan Chaiyasat. I am a graduate student in Master of Arts in English

Language Studies (ELS), at the English Department, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat

University. I would like to ask for your kind assistance and permission in using the Prime

Minister’s weekly addresses from your organization. Due to at the present I am undertaking a

thesis on Critical Discourse Analysis of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s Weekly Addresses.

My overall aim is to study the relationship in the use of linguistic features, grammar

structure, identity and sociocultural contexts.

This research requires the collected data through a total of 15 English-subtitled versions of

the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, when he was the head of National

Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). In addition, a total of 15 English-subtitled versions of

the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha in the period of his being Thailand’s

prime minister were also gathered. Therefore, the total number of English-subtitled versions

of the weekly addresses of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha downloaded was 30. I decided to

select this information as sources of my data collection because these weekly addresses were

officially published for public accessibility on the Thai government website:

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261

www.thaigov.go.th. In addition, I passed for the thesis proposal defense for the first three

chapters under supervision from advisor and approved by external examination committee.

All speeches will be analyzed from linguistic perspectives through the lens of Critical

Discourse Analysis, close reading technique, Corpus-based methodology and manual coding

sheet. This study is interdisciplinary in its nature. Therefore, it is necessary to take relevant

linguistic theories into account for data analysis such as Systemic Functional Linguistics,

transitivity/process type, modal auxiliaries verbs, presupposition, metaphor, and word

connotation. These samples will be kept confidential. I assure that your data will be used only

in this Master’s degree thesis and my relevant research. Additionally, this thesis will be

presented to an advisor and an internal committee at the English Department, Faculty of

Liberal Arts, Thammasat University and an external committee at English Department,

Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University.

I would appreciate it if you could help on this matter in order to raise awareness of this

knowledge and to help develop a better understanding of further research in English linguistic

analysis. This present study can be applied for particular types of electronic discourse such as

related political discourse in newspaper, magazine, journal, article, Internet and other relevant

publications. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact me at 087-924-9803,

or email at [email protected]. Please kindly send the permission letter to the address

above at your convenience so that I will propose to the advisory committees for the further

step. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Chatchawan Chaiyasat

(Project Head)

Asst. Prof. Dr. Melada Sudajit-apa

(Project Advisor)

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Appendix U: Letter regarding the Permission for Data Collection from the Secretariat

of the Prime Minister (in Thai)

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Appendix V: Request Letter for Identification of Translation Types of the Weekly

Addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha (in Thai)

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Appendix W: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification of Modality Types

and Degrees in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha (in Thai)

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Appendix X: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification of Process Types in

the Weekly Addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha (in Thai)

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Appendix Y: Request Letter for Reliability Check of Classification of Selected

Ambiguous Process Types in the Weekly Addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha

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Appendix Z: Request Letter for Inter-rater Reliability of Metaphor Identification in the

Weekly Addresses of General Prayut Chan-o-cha

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BIOGRAPHY

Name Mr. Chatchawan Chaiyasat

Date of Birth October 27, 1985

Educational Attainment

2004 - 2008: Bachelor of Education in Guidance

(Guidance Psychology), Minor in German,

Faculty of Education, Srinakharinwirot University

2013 - 2016: Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor

in French, Faculty of Humanities, Ramkhamhaeng

University

Work Position

Publications

Educator, Institute of International Studies,

Ramkhamhaeng University (IIS-RU)

Chaiyasat, C., & Sudajit-apa, M. (2017).

A corpus-assisted critical metaphor analysis of

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s English subtitled

weekly addresses on politics and democracy-

related issues in times of political turmoil. Journal

of English Studies. 12(1), 70-109.

Chaiyasat, C. (2016). Visiting professors’ voices

for change: A case study of classroom

environment and its effects on instructional

practices in a particular Thai tertiary education

context. Rangsit Journal of Educational Studies.

3(2), 104-119.

Chaiyasat, C. (2016). Thai cultural assimilation

through extra-curricular activities: A case study of

exchange students at the Institute of International

Studies, Ramkhamhaeng University. Rajabhat

Chiang Mai Research Journal. 17(1), 121-134.

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Work Experiences 2012 – Present: Educator

Institute of International Studies, Ramkhamhaeng

University

2009 – 2012: English Language Teacher

Lertlah School Kaset - Nawamin

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