A Metafunctional Analysis of Barack Obama’s Second Term Inaugural Address

This study presents a Metafunctional Analysis of Barack Obama’s second-term inaugural address. M.A.K Halliday’s Metafunction is used as a theoretical framework for the analysis in this study with the task of providing a better understanding of the speech. The data (Barack Obama’s written speech) is obtained from the internet. The speech is presented as data. Halliday’s cohesive devices (reference, ellipsis, conjunction, repetition) as well as mood and residue are identified and analysed using tables. It is found that additive conjunction is the most frequently used cohesive device. In terms of mood and residue, all the sentences in speech are declarative. The declarative mood helps the speaker to express his point of view and send his message. It also shortens the distance between the speaker and the listener/reader. It is concluded that Halliday’s Metafunctions help the reader to understand the intention and the message the speech is trying to pass across.