The use of modal auxiliaries: a comparative study of commencement speeches from Ashesi University and the United States of America
| dc.contributor.author | Duku, Berengar Irene | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-11T13:29:35Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-11T13:29:35Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-02 | |
| dc.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 | |
| dc.description.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. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | KNUST | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/17531 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | KNUST | |
| dc.title | The use of modal auxiliaries: a comparative study of commencement speeches from Ashesi University and the United States of America | |
| dc.type | Thesis |