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Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis

This paper describes an analysis of the three U.S. 2016 presidential debates published in The New York Times using Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory. The three presidential debates in the U.S., which occur every four years, remain as the most sensitive political rhetoric that lead to the electio...

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Main Authors: Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani, Mohamad Ali, Afida, Mohd Kasim, Zalina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Australian International Academic Centre 2018
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/1/Immigration%20in%20the%20United%20States%202016%20presidential%20debates%20a%20functional%20analysis.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/
http://journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJALEL/article/view/4247
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spelling my.upm.eprints.745512020-12-10T21:05:22Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/ Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani Mohamad Ali, Afida Mohd Kasim, Zalina This paper describes an analysis of the three U.S. 2016 presidential debates published in The New York Times using Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory. The three presidential debates in the U.S., which occur every four years, remain as the most sensitive political rhetoric that lead to the election of the next U.S. President. These debates include discussion of different issues between the two presidential candidates. One of these issues is immigration. The U.S. presidential debates have been researched by many on various aspects but there has not been a study that focus primarily on the issue of immigration in the three 2016 U.S. presidential debates. All statements regarding this issue between the two presidential candidates, Trump and Clinton, were extracted from these debates and analyzed using Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory. Findings revealed that attack statements occurred more than acclaims, and defences were less used than acclaims. The statements included in these debates pertained to policy (30%) and character (70%). As expected, general goals were employed more often using acclaim function rather than attack and defend. However, ideals were employed more often using defence than to acclaim and attack. Due to different contexts, situations, and participants, Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory may not be generalized for all debates. This study reveals certain inconsistencies regarding some of the hypotheses of Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory in relation to our knowledge of the presidential debates, specifically the issue of immigration. Australian International Academic Centre 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/1/Immigration%20in%20the%20United%20States%202016%20presidential%20debates%20a%20functional%20analysis.pdf Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani and Mohamad Ali, Afida and Mohd Kasim, Zalina (2018) Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 7 (3). 41 - 48. ISSN 2200-3452; ESSN: 2200-3592 http://journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJALEL/article/view/4247
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description This paper describes an analysis of the three U.S. 2016 presidential debates published in The New York Times using Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory. The three presidential debates in the U.S., which occur every four years, remain as the most sensitive political rhetoric that lead to the election of the next U.S. President. These debates include discussion of different issues between the two presidential candidates. One of these issues is immigration. The U.S. presidential debates have been researched by many on various aspects but there has not been a study that focus primarily on the issue of immigration in the three 2016 U.S. presidential debates. All statements regarding this issue between the two presidential candidates, Trump and Clinton, were extracted from these debates and analyzed using Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory. Findings revealed that attack statements occurred more than acclaims, and defences were less used than acclaims. The statements included in these debates pertained to policy (30%) and character (70%). As expected, general goals were employed more often using acclaim function rather than attack and defend. However, ideals were employed more often using defence than to acclaim and attack. Due to different contexts, situations, and participants, Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory may not be generalized for all debates. This study reveals certain inconsistencies regarding some of the hypotheses of Benoit’s (2007a) functional theory in relation to our knowledge of the presidential debates, specifically the issue of immigration.
format Article
author Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani
Mohamad Ali, Afida
Mohd Kasim, Zalina
spellingShingle Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani
Mohamad Ali, Afida
Mohd Kasim, Zalina
Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
author_facet Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani
Mohamad Ali, Afida
Mohd Kasim, Zalina
author_sort Yaseen, Ahmed Hasani
title Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
title_short Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
title_full Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
title_fullStr Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
title_full_unstemmed Immigration in the United States 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
title_sort immigration in the united states 2016 presidential debates: a functional analysis
publisher Australian International Academic Centre
publishDate 2018
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/1/Immigration%20in%20the%20United%20States%202016%20presidential%20debates%20a%20functional%20analysis.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/74551/
http://journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJALEL/article/view/4247
_version_ 1687395150532182016
score 13.211869

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