A Corpus-based Analysis of King Charles’s Inaugural Speech from the Perspective of Transitivity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v3i4.102Keywords:
King Charles III, Inaugural Speech, Corpus Analysis, Systemic Functional Grammar, TransitivityAbstract
After taking the throne, King Charles III addressed a pre-recorded inaugural speech to the people of the United Kingdom and all Commonwealth countries. In this historic speech, the new king affirmed his role as per the customs of the United Kingdom, deeply mourned his mother, and acknowledged his family’s new roles by providing them with their respective titles. This study used Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar theory to conduct a transitivity analysis of King Charles III’s inaugural speech with the aim of outlining the process types, participants, and circumstances of the speech and identifying the most dominant transitivity type process. A corpus-based analysis was conducted to achieve these aims and UAM software was used to analyze the inaugural speech. The analysis revealed that the frequent transitivity processes found in the speech were material, mental, relational, and verbal processes, and each process type involved its own particular participants and different circumstances. Most significantly, material clauses were the most dominant in the speech to affirm the king’s determination and seriousness as he took on his new kingship duties and to ensure the continuity of serving the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations.
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