The use of modal auxiliaries: a comparative study of commencement speeches from Ashesi University and the United States of America
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Date
2023-02
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KNUST
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The uses of modal auxiliaries in research papers and political speeches have been well
established. The commencement speech, however, remains a green area as far as exploring
modal auxiliary usage is concerned. This study explores the semantic contribution of modal
auxiliaries in commencement speeches and their link to the speech act theory. To achieve this
aim, commencement speeches from Ashesi University and selected speeches from the United
States of America have served as the data for this study, with a total corpus size of 51,447
words. The study used AntConc 4.0 to generate the total frequencies of the modal auxiliaries
as well as their instances of usage in the commencement speeches. Leech’s (2004) theory of
modal auxiliary meaning and Searle’s (1969) speech act theory were employed to identify
modal meanings and speech acts performed per their instances of usage, respectively in the
commencement speeches. The results indicate that the American commencement speeches
employed more modal auxiliaries than the Ashesi University commencement speeches. It was
also established that the most frequent modal auxiliaries were ‘will’ and ‘can’ while the lest
used modal auxiliary was ‘shall’ Again, it was established that modal auxiliaries tend to carry
the import of the message being communicated i.e., the ability of graduands, a prediction of
the future, the obligation, the possibilities etc. The study therefore contributes to a deeper
understanding of modal auxiliaries and speech act in commencement speeches within the
Ghanaian and the American contexts.
Description
A thesis submitted to the department of English in partial Fulfilment of the requirement for the award of master of Philosophy degree in English