Interpersonal Metafunction Elements of Carrie

Underwood’s, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”:

Teaching Pragmatic Imports

A Research Paper
Presented to
Dr. Maria Teresa T. Asistido
STI West Negros University
Bacolod City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

BSE 123 (Language Education Research)
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

SHEMRY MARI THERESE E. SOTEO

CHRISTINE ANDREA D. ABAO
EUGIN B. DEMETILLO
MARLO C. OSORIO

January 2022
 ii

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the interpersonal metafunction elements

present in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" as
perceived by BSEd-English 4-A STI West Negros University students,
A.Y. 2021–2022. The theories of Michael Halliday's Systemic Functional
Linguistics and John Searle's Speech Act Theory were triangulated and
used as the theoretical framework of the study. The aspects that were
looked into were: mood structures, mood types, modality and polarity,
speech acts through the identification of illocutionary acts and felicity
conditions, readability tests of the text using Flesch Reading Ease Score,
and strategies that would be applied to the teaching of pragmatic
imports. The analysis revealed that there are null mood structures found
in the lyrics of the song. At the same time, declarative mood was the
most common mood type, which implies that the Speaker’s main
proposition towards the Hearers is to give information about her personal
thoughts, beliefs, or experiences, because declarative mood presents
both factual and attitudinal opinion, as stated by Matthiessen (1995).
Modulation was the common type of modality, which revealed that the
commodity being exchanged in the lyrics was information. Additionally,
positive polarity is commonly found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood's
"Jesus, Take the Wheel." On the analysis of speech acts, representatives
as an illocutionary act with preparatory felicity conditions, were used by
the Speaker of the song to express the truth or reality by narrating a
story about her experiences at a certain point in her life. Furthermore,
the Reading Ease Score of the song lyrics was equal to 103.735 and
indicated that the text was readable and could be easily understood by
an average 11-year-old student, according to the Flesch Reading Score
Scale. The most frequently applied strategy to teaching pragmatic
imports was information for the knowledge of language functions and
requests for the knowledge of speech act sets. This implies that teachers
should preferably incorporate statements from this material into
scenarios involving the use of specific speech functions, at the same
time, statements that represent an act of request for the teaching of
pragmatic imports.

Keywords: Systemic Functional Linguistics, interpersonal metafunction,

speech acts, illocutionary acts, felicity conditions, teaching pragmatic
imports, song
 iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researchers would like to express their heartfelt gratitude and

appreciation to the following people who offered their help, time, and

support in the process of making this research paper a success:

Dr. Maria Teresa Asistido, their adviser, who patiently corrected

everything in this study and gave suggestions which were all necessary

to the completion of this paper.

Mrs. Annie Christy D. Jones, their critic, who spared her time to

meticulously correct every part of this paper and gave technical advice.

Their Parents, who gave them undying support financially,

emotionally, and mentally from the beginning until the end of this study.

Their Friends, who were experiencing the same struggles but never

failed to encourage each other.

Most of all, in God Almighty, the Omniscient where all knowledge

comes from, the Omnipresent whom all run to, and the Omnipotent who

could provide everything. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Without them, the researchers would be unable to surpass their

limits in exploring the knowledge, methods, strategies, and ideas that

they have applied to this study.

The Researchers
 iv

DEDICATION

This piece of work is dedicated to:

the researchers’ parents, friends, and family

and to the one who provided the bookbinding expenses,

“Tita Dabing” for being the inspiration, challenge, and encouragement all the way

through their

Bachelor’s degree for Secondary

Education, major

in English.
 v

Table of Contents
Page

Title Page…………………………………………………….………….. i

Abstract…………………………………………………………….….… ii

Acknowledgment………………………………………………..……. iii

Dedication………………………………………………………………. iv

Table of Contents……………………………………………….……. v

List of Tables…………………………………………………………… vii

Chapter 1. Introduction

Background of the Study.........................................................1

Statement of the Problem………………………………………..…....4

Theoretical Framework…………………………………………….…...4

Schematic Diagram…………………………………...…....…..7

Conceptual Framework……………………………………….………..8

Scope of the Study….…………………………………………............8

Significance of the Study………………………………………..……..9

Definition of Terms……………………………………………………..10

Chapter 2: Review of Related Readings

Related Literature Reviewed …………….…………………….…....17

Review of Related Studies...……………………………………….…38

Synthesis……………………………………………………………...…48

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Linguistic Research Method Used…………………………..……...51

 vi

Sources of Data………………………………………………………....53

Data Gathering Procedure…………………………………………....54

Chapter 4. Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data

Phase One: The Analysis of the Mood Structures……………....63

Phase Two: The Analysis of Mood Types……………….........…..71

Phase Three: The Analysis of Modality……………………...…....76

Phase Four: The Analysis of Polarity……...……..…………….....79

Phase Five: The Analysis of Speech Acts……………………........81

Phase Six: The Analysis of Readability of the Text…….…........91

Phase Seven: Identification of Strategies to Teaching

Pragmatic Imports..................................................................92

Chapter 5. Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and

Recommendations

Summary of Findings………………………………………………….109

Conclusions……………………………………………………..….……118

Recommendations………………………………………………...…...122

References………………………………………………………..………124

Appendices

A: Lyrics of the Song…………………………..……………………….127

B: Profile of the Artist: Carrie Underwood………………….….….129

C. Profile of the Writers: Brent James, Gordon Francis

Sampson, and Hillary Lindsey……………………………….131

D. Researchers’ Profile…………………………………………………137
 vii

List of Tables

Table
Description Page
No.

1 The Mood Structures found in the lyrics of Carrie 56

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

2 Types of Mood found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s 57

song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

3 The Types of Modality present in the lyrics of Carrie 58

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

4 The Polarity found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s 59

song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

5 Interpersonal Elements and Pragmatic Imports found in 60

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the
Wheel”.

6 Flesch Reading Score Scale (Flesch 1948) 61

7 Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis Activities to 62

Teaching Pragmatic Imports

8 The Mood Structures found in the lyrics of Carrie 65

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

9.A Declarative Mood found in the lyrics of Carrie 72

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

9.B Imperative Mood found in the lyrics of Carrie 74

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

9.C The Frequency Distribution of Mood Types found in the 75

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s Song, “Jesus, Take the
Wheel”.

10.A The Types of Modality present in the lyrics of Carrie 77

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

10.B The Frequency Distribution of Modality found in the 78

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the
Wheel”.
 viii

11.A The Polarity found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s 79

song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

11.B The Frequency Distribution of Polarity found in the 80

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the
Wheel”.

12.A Interpersonal Elements and Pragmatic Imports found in 85

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the
Wheel”.

12.B The Frequency of Illocutionary Acts found in the lyrics 89

of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

12.C The Frequency of Felicity Conditions found in the lyrics 90

of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

13 Flesch Reading Score Scale (Flesch 1948) 92

14 Suggested Components of Actional Competence (Celce- 94

Murcia, et. al 1995)

15.A Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis Activities to 96

Teaching Pragmatic Imports with an Actional
Competence for the Knowledge of Language Functions

15.B Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis Activities to 106

Teaching Pragmatic Imports with an Actional
Competence for the Knowledge of Speech Act Sets
 Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

Many country songs take the form of narratives, ones that include

characters, dialogue, plot twists, and climaxes. Rather than being sung,

action will sometimes be spoken. These statements support the

researcher’s choice of linguistic research material, "Jesus, Take the

Wheel" by Carrie Underwood, because it is one of those country songs

that consists of the said characteristics and dramatically affects this

study since the focus is on interpersonal metafunction. In addition, the

previously mentioned song has piqued the interest of the researchers,

knowing the fact that it became a hit song in 2005 and that it is a

religious song. The influence of the song among people in their spiritual

aspect still prevails and is constant. The outcome of this study will be of

use in teaching pragmatic imports after it is analyzed in seven phases:

identifying mood structures, mood types, common modality types and

polarity, types of speech acts, determining the readability of the text

using the Flesch-Kincaid Ease Score method, and identifying strategies

in teaching pragmatic imports according to felicity conditions.

According to the Systemic Functional Framework, language can

have three metafunctions: experiential, interpersonal, and textual. The

first one is used in order to talk about our experience of the world, to

describe events or states and the components that help us express

 2

ourselves. The interpersonal metafunction allows us to interact with

people, to create relationships with people around us, and to express our

opinions about states or events. The third metafunction refers to the way

we organize our messages in order to integrate them with other messages

we say or receive in larger contexts (Cerban, 2009).

Specifically, the interpersonal metafunction is concerned with the

interaction between speaker and addressee and the grammatical

resources for enacting social roles in general and speech roles in

particular, in dialogic interaction, i.e., for establishing, changing, and

maintaining interpersonal relations (Bavali and Sadighi, 2008). This sub-

concept of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics theory has been

applied in this study to determine the interpersonal metafunction

elements present in the lyrics of the song. The elements of interpersonal

meanings are expressed in mood and residue. The component that gets

bandied back and forth is what we call the "mood element" of the clause,

while the other component is called the "residue."

Additionally, this study will also apply the concepts of modality

and polarity. According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), modality

refers to the area of meaning that lies between yes and no, and the

implication depends on the speech function of the clause. It describes

the level of certainty, frequency, and obligation in language. Modality has

various types, such as modalization and modulation (Cerban, 2009).

Modality analysis can be implemented to determine the speaker's

 3

interpersonal meaning reflected in his/her speech. Polarity, on the other

hand, according to Halliday and Matthiessen (2014: 144), is the choice

between positive and negative. In order for something to be arguable, it

has to be specified for polarity: either "is" or "isn’t" (proposition), either

"do!" or "don’t!" (proposal).

Pragmatics deals with utterances, by which we will mean specific

events, the intentional acts of speakers at specific times and places,

typically involving language. Hence, in this study, the researchers will

also seek to identify the pragmatic imports, which will cover two concepts

under the speech act theory: illocutionary acts and felicity conditions. In

pragmatics and speech act theory, the term "illocutionary acts" refers to

the use of a sentence to express an attitude with a certain function or

"force," called an illocutionary force. Felicity conditions, on the other

hand, refer to the conditions that must be in place and the criteria that

must be satisfied for a speech act to achieve its purpose. Furthermore,

analyzing interpersonal meaning through literary works that people hear

every day, such as song lyrics, will be easier and more interesting.

Generally, the use of the aforementioned theories serves as the

foundation of this study in order to derive a profound explanation,

particularly on the interrelationship of interpersonal metafunction in

Carrie Underwood's song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," with pragmatic

imports teaching.
 4

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the pragmatic imports through the

application of interpersonal metafunction on Carrie Underwood’s Song,

“Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Specifically, it aims to seek answers to the following questions:

1. What mood structures are found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"?

2. What is the dominant mood type found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"?

3. What is the common modality type present in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"?

4. What is the common polarity present in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"?

5. What type of speech acts are found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"?

6. What is the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score of the text?

7. What strategies could be applied to the teaching of pragmatic

imports?

Theoretical Framework

This study will be anchored on the Systemic Functional Linguistics

theoretical approach of Michael Halliday and will likewise utilize John

Searle’s Speech Act Theory.

 5

Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). According to

Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), it is a theoretical approach that

analyzes the relationship between social contexts and linguistic aspects.

The core concepts of SFL are language as functional and language as

meaning-making (Halliday, 1994). There are three metafunctions of

language: ideational, interpersonal, and textual. This theory was chosen

as the linguistic framework of the analysis in this study due to its

emphasis on the sociological aspect of language. 

Mood Structure. Mood structure is a system which describes the

types of clauses which are carried in a verbal interaction, whether it is

indicative (declarative, interrogative) or imperative. A mood structure is a

clause structure that realizes an interpersonal meaning. (Marhamah,

2014). This concept will be utilized in determining the interpersonal

elements such as the mood types found in the lyrics of the song.

Modality and Polarity. Modality refers to a speaker’s attitude

towards, or opinion about, the truth or event described by a sentence

(Simpson, 1993 as cited from Liping, 2017). According to Halliday and

Matthiessen (2014), modality refers to the area of meaning that lies

between yes and no, and the implication depends on the speech function

of the clause. It describes the level of certainty, frequency, and obligation

in language. As stated by Cerban (2009) modality has two types:

modalization and modulation. On the other hand, according to Halliday

and Matthiessen (2014: 144), polarity is the choice between positive and
 6

negative. In order for something to be arguable, it has to be specified for

polarity: either "is" or "isn’t" (proposition), either "do!" or "don’t!"

(proposal). Thus, the finite element, as well as expressing primary tense

or modality, also realizes either positive or negative polarity. Each of the

operators appears in both positive and negative form: did/didn’t,

can/can’t, and so on. In general, modality analysis will be used to

determine the types of modality. At the same time, polarity analysis will

be used as the basis to identify the common polarity or the positive and

negative clauses that are present in the lyrics of the song.

Searle’s Speech Act Theory. The Speech Act is an influential theory on

the actual communicative function of language that attempts to answer

the question of how much impartial interaction between speakers is

possible. There are three types of speech acts: the locutionary act that

occurs when the speaker performs an utterance (locution), which has

meaning in the traditional sense; the illocutionary act, which is the

performance of the act of saying something with a specific intention; and

the perlocutionary act, which happens when what the speaker says has

an effect on the listener. Searle (1976) proposed a classification of speech

acts such as representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, and

declarations.

Illocutionary Acts and Felicity Conditions. The concept that

refers to the use of a sentence to express an attitude with a certain

function or "force" is called an illocutionary force, which differs from

 7
Interpersonal Metafunction Elements of Carrie Underwood’s,
“Jesus,
locutionary acts in Take
that the
theyWheel”:
carry Teaching Pragmatic
a certain urgencyImports
and appeal to the

meaning and direction of the speaker. Meanwhile, felicity conditions refer

Mood
to the conditions that must be in Structure
place and the criteria that must be
Mood itsResidue
satisfied for a speech act to achieve purpose (Nordquist, 2019). Thus,
Mood Types
this study is focused on the illocutionary speech act together with the

kinds of felicity conditions that are the pragmatic imports of this study's

aim to determine.
Modality

Modals Polarity
Interpersonal Metafunction Elements of Carrie
Underwood’s, “Jesus, Take
Speech the Wheel”: Teaching
Acts
Pragmatic Imports
Illocutionary Acts Felicity Conditions

Mood Structure
Teaching
Moodof Pragmatic Imports
Residue
Mood Types

Modality

Modals Polarity

Speech Acts

Illocutionary Acts Felicity Conditions

Teaching of Pragmatic Imports

 8

Figure 1. A Schematic Representation of the Theoretical Framework of the

Study
 9

Conceptual Framework

The interpersonal metafunction elements will be identified from the

lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood to aid in

the teaching of pragmatic imports. The first element is the mood

structure, which consists of mood and residue. The mood carries the

interpersonal functions of the clause and consists of subject and finite.

The subject is realized by a nominal group that the speaker gives

responsibility for the validity of the clause, while the finite is realized by

the first member of the verbal group. The rest of the verbal group is the

predicator, which forms part of the residue. Next to be identified are the

mood types, which are the indicative and imperative moods. Modality,

which consists of modalization and modalization, will be identified from

the modals in the lyrics of the song, as well as the polarity, which are the

positive and negative clauses. Lastly, this study will focus on the

illocutionary acts and identify their types, which are directives,

declarations, commissives, expressives, and representatives, before

identifying the felicity conditions, which are preparatory, propositional

content, sincerity, and essential. After identifying the felicity conditions,

pragmatic analysis activities or strategies will then be determined.

Scope of the Study

This study mainly focuses on determining the pragmatic imports

through the application of interpersonal metafunction of the song of

Carrie Underwood, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” as perceived by BSEd-

 10

English 4-A students of STI West Negros University, A.Y. 2020-2022.

Systemic Functional Linguistics, a theory of Michael Halliday and Speech

Act Theory of John Searle were triangulated which will be used as the

theoretical framework of the study. The aspects that are looked into are

the mood types, modality types, polarity types, and speech acts present

in the lyrics of the song by determining the type of illocutionary acts and

felicity conditions. The researchers will also have to conduct a readability

test for the text. Lastly, the researchers will identify the strategies that

will be applied to the teaching of pragmatic imports.

Significance of the Study

The researchers believe that the result of the study will help the

following to improve the language teaching and learning of pragmatics.

The Language Researchers/Experts. The result of the study can

contribute to the foundation of the development of ideas in pragmatics.

The researchers of language will be able to utilize the results of this

study as their basis for future similar research.

The Curriculum Developers. The result of the study will aid the

curricularists in creating instructional materials for the teaching of

pragmatics.

The School Administrators. The result of the study will be the basis for

constructing and implementing innovative teaching aids to help teachers

fully supervise the language teaching and learning processes among

learners of the academe. This study will contribute to academic

 11

knowledge, which strengthens the school’s excellence and reputation in

the field of research.

The Language Teachers. The result of the study will help language

teachers in constructing and developing new language teaching

strategies and lesson plans in the teaching of pragmatics. This will be

used to provide students with a deeper understanding of pragmatic

import and interpersonal metafunction.

The Language Students. The result of the study will help the students

acquire a better understanding of the lessons in relation to pragmatics. 

The Future Researchers. The result of the study will help to have an

idea when they conduct studies using the same theoretical framework in

analyzing a particular literary work.

The Songwriters. The result of the study will be the basis of future song

compositions in terms of creating one with the same pragmatic and

semantic structure as in the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie

Underwood.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined conceptually and operationally in

accordance with the APA 7th edition format and are found in the study.

Actional Competence. Celce Murcia et. al. (1995:17) stated that actional

competence is defined as competence in conveying and understanding

communicative intent, that is, matching actional intent with linguistic

 12

form based on the knowledge of an inventory of verbal schemata that

carry illocutionary force (speech acts and speech act sets).

Operationally, this concept in pragmatics was utilized to facilitate

the integration of activities or strategies for the teaching of pragmatic

imports.

Commissives. Yule (1996) argues commissives are kind of illocutionary

act that is commit the speaker to some future course of action. In the

case of commissives, the world is adapted to the words via the speaker

him or herself.

Operationally, this term was utilized to describe the types of

sentences or clauses that are indicated through the use of performative

verbs such as ask, order, command, request, beg, plead, pray, entreat,

invite, permit, advise, dare, defy, and challenge, which are found in the

lyrics of the song.

Declaratives. Yule (1996) defines declaratives are kind of illocutionary

acts that change the world via their utterances.

Operationally, this term was utilized as one of the types of

illocutionary acts that are found in the lyrics of the song.

Declarative Mood. Palmer (1986) defines that declarative mood is an

epistemic mood that signals the proposition expressed by a speaker’s

utterance is offered as an unqualified statement of fact.

 13

Operationally, it was used as one of the mood types expressed by a

speaker’s utterance in the form of a statement, which can be found in

the lyrics of the song.

Directives. Yule (1996) explains directives are illocutionary act that

attempts by the speaker to get the hearer to do something. They express

about what they want directly to the hearer.

Operationally, this term was utilized to describe the types of

sentences or clauses that are indicated through the use of some

performative verbs, such as requesting, demanding, questioning, asking,

proposing, advising, suggesting, interrogating, urging, encouraging,

inviting, begging, ordering, etc., which are found in the lyrics of the song.

Expressives. Yule (1996) explains that expressives are kinds of

illocutionary acts that state what the speaker feels, and it can be noted

with some performative verbs: greet, surprise, like, fear, apology, thank,

regret, and praise.

Operationally, this term was utilized as one of the types of

illocutionary acts that are found in the lyrics of the song.

Flesch Reading Ease Formula. It is a simple approach to assess the

grade-level of the reader. This formula is primarily use to assess the

difficulty of a reading passage written in English

(readabilityformulas.com)

Operationally, it is a method used to determine the readability of

the text.
 14

Felicity Conditions. Austin (1962) stated that felicity condition is a

state when the utterances made has met the appropriate conditions such

as, appropriate context, conventional existence, authority, and also

speaker’s sincerity.

Operationally, it is considered one of the pragmatic imports utilized

in this study.

Illocutionary Act. Searle and Vanderveken (1985), defined illocutionary

act as a complete speech act, made by typical utterance, which consists

of the delivery of the propositional content of the utterance and a

particular illocutionary force.

Operationally, these are declarations of the personal view or intent

of the speaker in the song. A sub-category of speech act and one of the

pragmatic imports utilized in this study.

Indicative Mood. Palmer (1986) stated that the term indicative is used

in a narrow sense as a synonym for the declarative mood.

Operationally, it was used as one of the mood types expressed by a

speaker’s utterance in a form of statement which can be found in the

lyrics of the song.

Interpersonal Metafunction. It is the language that allows expression

of the interactions and complex relations between the speaker of the

song and the hearer/s (Victoria, 2020).

Operationally, it is a conceptual framework used to determine the

interpersonal metafunction elements of the song.

 15

Interrogative Mood. Palmer (1986) defined interrogative mood as a type

of epistemic mood that signals that the speaker wishes to elicit

information

concerning the content of his or her utterance from the addressee.

Operationally, it was used as one of the mood types expressed by a

speaker’s utterance in a form of questions which can be found in the

lyrics of the song.

Imperative Mood. Palmer (1986) defined imperative mood as a type of

mood that signals directive modality, especially in commands. Its use

may be extended to signal permission.

Operationally, it was used as one of the mood types expressed by a

speaker’s utterance that uses special conjugated verb forms which can

be found in the lyrics of the song.

Metafunctions. According to Wilcock (2001), Halliday developed a theory

of the fundamental functions of language in which he analyzed lexical

meaning into three broad metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal, and

textual.

Operationally, this term is a sub-category of Systemic Functional

Linguistics Framework utilized in this study.

Modality. It refers to a category of linguistic meaning having to do with

the expression of possibility and necessity of the sentences or clauses

(MIT, 2006).
 16

Operationally, it is a term used to refer the type of commodity

being exchanged in the lyrics of the song.

Mood Structure. Syafirah (2017) stated that the mood structure of the

clauses refers to the organization of the set of functional constituents,

including constituent mood and residue, found in the lyrics of the song.

Operationally, it is a type of structure that identifies and classifies

each word or phrase in the lyrics of the song.

Polarity. Schachter (1985) defined polarity as a grammatical category

that distinguishes the affirmative and negative.

Operationally, it is a grammatical system associated with

distinguishing between positive and negative clauses present in the lyrics

of a song.

Pragmatics. Levinson (1983) defined that pragmatics is the study of the

aspects of meaning and language use that are dependent on the speaker,

the addressee and other features of the context of utterance.

Operationally, it is a main concept which serves as the basis for

the interaction and its context between the speaker and the hearer in

this study.

Pragmatic Imports. Operationally, this term is used to refer to concepts

related to pragmatics specifically on speech acts such as illocutionary

acts and felicity conditions found in the lyrics of the song.

 17

Representatives. Yule (1996) states representatives are types of

illocutionary act that commit the speaker believe about something the

truth or not.

Operationally, this term was utilized to describe the type of

sentences or clauses that are indicated through the use of some

performative verbs, such as state, tell, assert, correct, predict, report,

remind, describe, inform, assure, agree, guess, claim, believe, conclude,

etc., which are found in the lyrics of the song.

Speech Act Theory. This theory is a subfield of pragmatics that studies

how words are used not only to present information but also to carry out

actions (repository.teknokrat.ac.id)

Operationally, it is a theoretical framework used to determine the

interpersonal metafunction elements of the song.

Speech Acts. Yule (1996) defined speech acts as a variety of verbal

communication and also a subdivision of pragmatics, often takes place in

verbal and nonverbal communication.

Operationally, this term is used to define the type of act performed

by a speaker that can be found in the lyrics of the song.

Systemic Functional Linguistics. Caffarel, et. al.(2004) stated that SFL

refers to a theory developed by Michael Halliday which views language as

“social semiotic” or functional in terms of what it can do and what can be

done with it; and semantic since it is used to make meanings.

 18

Operationally, it is a theoretical framework used to determine the

interpersonal metafunction elements of the song.

 19

Chapter 2

Review of Related Readings

This chapter presents the review of literature studies related to the

study: Interpersonal Metafunction Elements of the Song, “Jesus, Take

the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood: Teaching Pragmatic Imports, to give

emphases to the following theories that support the aforementioned

study: Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL); concepts of Modality and

Polarity; and Searle’s Classification of Speech Acts.

Related Literature Reviewed

There was no local literature connected to this topic that could be

discovered. However, the readings listed below are foreign-related and

will be used to create this research.

Foreign Literature

Country Music. Country music is an American musical style that

incorporates elements of folk, bluegrass, blues, and rural dance music.

Music historians trace its origins to the southern Appalachian Mountains

in the late 1920s, particularly in eastern Tennessee and southwest

Virginia. Over the course of the twentieth century, the genre spread in all

directions, particularly westward, which has led some to refer to it as

"country western music." Country music often consists of ballads and

dance tunes with generally simple forms, folk lyrics, and harmonies,

often accompanied by string instruments such as banjos, electric and

acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), and
 20

fiddles, as well as harmonicas. Blues modes have been used extensively

throughout its recorded history.

Instruments. Many country songs have a particular "twangy"

sound. The majority of country songs feature instruments common to

folk music, such as banjos, fiddles, steel guitars, and string basses.

Washburn-brand guitars, made in Chicago and used by Dolly Parton and

outlaw country legend David Allen Coe alike, are particularly popular.

Song Structure. Most country songs are simple and easily

memorable, featuring three chords and a verse-chorus-verse structure.

According to the music website Cluas, most country songs feature a

chord combination of G-C-D, G-D-A or some combination thereof.

Subject Matter. Most country and western songs focus on a

handful of familiar topics. Country star Marty Stuart, speaking to the St.

Louis Post-Dispatch, said that the template for subject matter was

originally set by Jimmie Rodgers, commonly referred to as the father of

country music. Cheatin', drinkin', redemption, murder, jail, mama, love,

loss, and on and on," says Stuart.

Stories. Many country songs take the form of a narrative, one that

includes characters, dialogue, plot twists, and climaxes. Rather than

being sung, action will sometimes be spoken. While sometimes country

artists will be the stars of their stories and sing them in the first person,

other times they will function simply as narrators.

 21

Systemic Functional Linguistics. Systemic Functional

Linguistics is a theory of language centered on the notion of language

function. While SFL accounts for the syntactic structure of language, it

places the function of language as central (what a language does, and

how it does it), in preference to more structural approaches, which place

the elements of language and their combinations as central. Systemic

Functional Linguistics starts with the social context, and looks at how

language both acts upon, and is constrained by, this social context.

Halliday (1970) states that the context of a situation is arranged into

three categories: field, tenor, and mode. Corresponding to that, Halliday

analyzes language into three broad metafunctions: experiential,

interpersonal, and textual.

Metafunctions. According to Wilcock (2001), Halliday developed a

theory of the fundamental functions of language in which he analyzed

lexical meaning into three broad metafunctions: ideational,

interpersonal, and textual. Each of the three metafunctions is about a

different aspect of the world and is concerned with a different mode of

meaning of clauses. An important theoretical point is that, in general, in

the system networks, the systems within each metafunction are closely

interconnected, but they are largely independent of the systems in the

other metafunctions.

Interpersonal Metafunction. Interpersonal metafunction,

whereby language constructs our social collective and, thereby, our

 22

personal being (Halliday & Matthiessen, 1999). In other words,

interpersonal functions play the role of setting up and maintaining social

relations and indicate the roles of the participants in communication

(Halliday, 2002). The interpersonal metafunction comprehends a text's

tenor or interactivity, which is again comprised of three components: the

speaker/writer persona (whether the writer or speaker has a neutral

attitude, which can be seen through the use of positive or negative

language), social distance (how close the speakers are), and relative

social status (whether they are equal in terms of power and knowledge

on a subject). And here the last two are applicable only to spoken texts,

although a case has been made that these two factors can also apply to

written texts.

The interpersonal metafunction of language encodes interaction

between speakers. The clause construes exchange between users. The

system of expression for interpersonal meanings is called Mood, and it

contains a nominal type element that is the subject and a verbal type

element that is the finite. These mood adjuncts and comment adjuncts

validate propositions, obligations (must, need, have to) and inclinations

(possibly, maybe, certainly) in the expression of attitudes and opinions

(to be honest, understandably, honestly).

Mood Block. According to Marhamah (2014), a mood block is a

clause structure that realizes an interpersonal meaning. The mood

structure is a system which describes the types of clauses which are

 23

carried in a verbal interaction, whether it is indicative (declarative,

interrogative) or imperative. The mood carries the interpersonal functions

of the clause and consists of subject and finite. Subject and Finite are

two crucial clause elements that allow for all interaction. The order of

subject and finite determines the type of mood within the clause.

Subject. It is the nominal group which determines the mood of the

entire clause. (Banks, 2002). Generally, a subject can be identified in

which usually it is a nominal element, i.e., a noun or pronoun.

Finite. It expresses the tense and the view of the speaker or writer

(Butt et al., 2003). It is generally a verbal element, by which it is realized

through a verbal group. Finite can be characterized as a verbal group

that changes depending on its subject or time/tense, while modals such

as can, will, must, and etc. can be included as finite as well. Finite

expresses the process part of the clause that makes it possible to argue

about the subject participant (Eggins & Slade, 1997) as cited by (Emilia

2014).

Residue. According to Halliday (1985), the residue consists of

three kinds of functional elements: predicator, complement, and adjunct.

Predicator. It is realized by a verbal group minus the temporal or

modal operator, which functions as finite in the mood element. The

predicator itself is thus non-finite, and there are non-finite clauses

containing a predicator but no finite element.

 24

Complement. According to Eggins (1994), a complement is an

element within the residue that has the potential to be subject but is not.

A complement is typically realized by a nominal group. It is defined as a

non-essential participant in the clause. A participant is somehow

affected by the main argument of the preposition. The complement may

be in seven different forms: a noun, an adjective, a participle, a

preposition with object, an infinitive verb, an adverb, and a noun clause.

Adjuncts (Circumstance). The final constituent of the residue is

adjuncts. Adjuncts can be defined as clause elements that contribute

some additional (but non-essential) information to the clause. Halliday

(1985) explains that an adjunct is an element that has not got the

potential to be subject. It is typically realized by an adverb and an

adverbial group, a prepositional phrase, or a conjunction.

Mood Types. According to Cordeiron (2018), the mood of a clause

comprises two types: (a) indicative, which includes declaratives

(statements) and interrogatives (yes/no and wh-questions) and (b)

imperatives (commands and exclamations). Halliday further explained

that in the act of speaking, the most fundamental types of statements

and questions, which involve exchanges of information, are called

propositions, while offers and commands, which involve exchanges of

goods and services that exist independently of language, are called

proposals. These semantic categories are realized through grammatical

mood types.
 25

Indicative. Indiscriminate inflection is subdivided into two

available terms: declarative and interrogative. According to Aijmer (2016),

"in a declarative clause, the speaker is giving some information to the

hearer." In an interrogative clause, the speaker assumes the role of

asking for information. These represent the two more common patterns

of starting a conversation between two or more people. A speaker can

select whether he or she wants to communicate the message with a

declaration or through a question in advance. Both declarative and

interrogative sentences have different syntactic patterns.

Declarative. Matthiessen (1995) states that, "The option

declarative is the unmarked one in the mood system. It is the most

frequent choice, and it serves to express a wide spectrum of speech

functional meanings. Indicative clauses are typically used to negotiate

propositions, i.e., to exchange information. The system indicates type is

the choice between giving information, declarative, demanding

information, and interrogative. “Declarative clauses can be identified by

their structural element, which Subject occurs before Finite. This mood

type can present both factual information and attitudinal opinion.

Interrogative. This clause type is used to inquire about something

or anything. It deals with gaining or confirming information, so there are

two types of interrogative mood types: Polar Interrogative and WH-

Interrogative. Each type is also divided into two, elliptical and full. The

interrogative consists of WH-question words, e.g., who, what, which,

 26

where, why, how, in what way, for what reason and many others. The

function of the WH-interrogative is to probe for a missing element in

clause structure.

Imperative. Imperative clauses are the mood typically used for

exchanging goods and services and do not contain an element of the

subject of the finite, but the imperative subject consists of a predicator.

The tag of imperative clauses is either "will you" or "won’t you." This is a

way of testing whether a clause is in fact in the imperative or not. 

Modality. Modality is a facet of illocutionary force, signaled by

grammatical devices (that is, moods), that expresses the illocutionary

point or general intent of a speaker and a speaker’s degree of

commitment to the expressed proposition's believability, obligatoriness,

desirability, or reality (Crystal, 1985).

According to Halliday (2000), as cited by Ye, modality also plays an

important role in carrying out the interpersonal metafunction of clauses,

showing to what degree the proposition is valid. Modality refers to the

space between "yes" and "no," showing the speaker’s judgments of the

probabilities or the obligations involved in what he is saying. According

to Halliday’s model of functional linguistics, there are two types of

modality: modalization and modulation.

Modalization appears in commands that are concerned with

various degrees of obligation. Modulation appears in offers which are

concerned with the listener’s wish to fulfill this obligation. These types of
 27

modality have several degrees: high, median, and low, and can be

construed with the help of the Finite and the Mood Adjuncts. Each scale

of modal commitment can lead to a variety of meanings (Halliday, 1994).

If the commodity being exchanged is information, the modality of

these clauses expresses likelihood, how true this information is, and

usuality, how frequently the information is true. As we mentioned above,

there are some intermediate points for likelihood, such as possible,

probable, and certain, and for usuality, such as always, sometimes,

usually, and never. If the commodity exchanged is goods-and-services,

the modality of these clauses expresses the speaker’s trust in how

successful the exchange will be. In commands, the modality of these

clauses expresses the obligation the other person has to perform the

command. In offers, the modality of these clauses expresses the

speaker’s willingness to fulfill the offer.

Modality related to
Commodity Type of Modality
commodity
Exchanged
exchanged

Command (obligation)
Help me with my luggage!
Goods-and-services Modalization
Offer (inclination)
I’ll help you with your
luggage.

Likelihood
He might be late.
Information Modulation
Usuality
He never admits his
mistakes.
 28

The modality related to information is called modalization, and the

modality related to goods-and-services is called modulation. As we can

notice from the examples above, modality can be expressed in several

ways; of course, the most common one is by using modal verbs as finites.

This is why we consider modal verbs part of the mood. The Finite

expresses modality, the speaker’s attitude, as well as tense, the moment

when the action takes place. In reality, these two features are not

completely separated since modals express the speaker’s attitude in the

present. The difference between the present tense and past tense is

realized with the second verb after the modal.

Polarity. According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2014: 144),

finiteness is thus expressed by means of a verbal operator that is either

temporal or modal. But there is one further feature that is an essential

concomitant of finiteness, and that is polarity. This is the choice between

positive and negative. In order for something to be arguable, it has to be

specified for polarity: either "is" or "isn’t" (proposition), either "do! or

'don't! ’(proposal). Thus, the finite element, as well as expressing primary

tense or modality, also realizes either positive or negative polarity. Each

of the operators appears in both positive and negative form: did/didn’t,

can/can’t, and so on.

Speech Acts. Pragmatically, an action that is done through

language can be studied under the label of a speech act. Yule (1996), as

cited by Fahrurrozi (2015), uses the term "speech act" to refer to the
 29

actions that are performed via utterances. Language is also full of

implicit meanings. Sometimes when a speaker utters something, he/she

does not just utter the utterance, but the speaker means something

behind it. One can perform three speech acts simultaneously, such as a

locutionary act, an illocutionary act, and a perlocutionary act.

Locutionary acts. The locutionary act is the act of saying

something, the act of uttering certain expressions that are well-formed

from a syntactic point of view and meaningful. It may furthermore be

analyzed into phonetic acts (the act of uttering certain noises), phatic

acts (the act of uttering words, that is, sounds conforming to a certain

vocabulary and grammar), and rhetic acts (the act of using these words

with a certain meaning—sense or reference).

Illocutionary acts. An illocutionary act is a way of using

language, and its performance is the performance of an act in saying

something, as opposed to the performance of an act in saying something.

It corresponds to the force that an utterance like (5) has in a particular

context: order, request, entreaty, or challenge.

Perlocutionary acts. The perlocutionary act corresponds to the

effects brought about by performing an illocutionary act, or to its

consequences (intentional or non-intentional) on the feelings, thoughts,

or actions of the participants. According to Austin, the speaker, by

saying what she says, performs another kind of act (like persuading,

convincing, or alerting) because she can be taken as responsible for

 30

those effects. Yet the perlocutionary consequences of illocutionary acts

are non-conventional, not completely under the speaker’s control, but

rather related to the specific circumstances in which the act is

performed.

Searle’s Classification of Speech Acts. Searle, as cited by

Fahrurrozi (2015), divides speech acts into five categories: declarations,

representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.

Declarations. Declarations are types of speech acts that, when

spoken, change the world. The acts of declarative are approving, betting,

blessing, christening, confirming, cursing, declaring, disapproving,

dismissing, naming, resigning, etc., for example, "I quit from this job." In

this example, the speaker tells the hearer that he/she is quitting the job.

Representatives. Representatives are types of speech acts that

state whether the speaker believes something to be true or false. The type

includes arguing, asserting, boasting, claiming, complaining, criticizing,

denying, describing, informing, insisting, reporting, suggesting, swearing,

etc., for example, "I met your sister yesterday." The speaker here does the

act of informing by telling the hearer that he/she had met the hearer’s

sister yesterday.

Expressives. This type of speech act states what the speakers'

feelings are. The acts are apologizing, complimenting, condoling,

congratulating, deploring, praising, regretting, thanking, etc.; for

 31

example, "I like your house very much." By doing so, the speaker shows

his/her appreciation for the hearer’s house.

Directives. Directives are speech acts used by speakers to

persuade others to do something. The acts are ordering, commanding,

requesting, and suggesting. For example, "Would you like to come to my

tea party?" In this sentence, the speaker asks the hearer to come to

his/her party.

Commissives. Commissives are speech acts used by speakers to

commit themselves to a future action. The acts are committing,

guaranteeing, offering, promising, refusing, threatening, volunteering,

vowing, etc.; for example, "I will be there at 5 o’clock." In doing the act of

commissive, the speaker says a promise to the hearer to come at five.

Felicity Conditions. According to Searle's perspective, as cited by

Fadhil (2018), "to perform a speech act is to obey certain conventional

rules that are constitutive of that type of act," and those rules are called

the "Felicity Conditions". Searle has an essential impact on the Speech

Act Theory because he develops the original Austinian felicity conditions

into four fundamental categories (propositional content, preparatory

condition, sincerity condition, and essential condition). Searle points out

that for an act to be achieved happily and successfully, it must meet

certain necessary conditions. If all these conditions exist in an utterance,

the act will be successful. These conditions are:

 32

Propositional Content Conditions. It is fundamentally concerned

with what the speech act is about. The propositional content of a

promise, for example, is to predicate some act of the addresser, but in

the case of a request, it is to predicate some future act of the listener

(Huang, 2007).

Preparatory Conditions. Preparatory conditions indicate what the

speaker implies in the performance of the act. They "state the real-world

prerequisites for the speech act." (Searle, 1969). For example, a promise

has two preparatory conditions: the listener prefers the act to be

achieved, the speaker realizes this, and it is clear to both the speaker

and hearer that the action of a promise will not be achieved in the

normal course of action (ibid.). That is to say, a speaker cannot promise

to do something he would be expected to do in any way.

Sincerity Conditions. They reflect what the speaker intends,

believes, and desires in the performance of the act. Sincerity conditions

"must be satisfied if the act is to be performed sincerely," as in the case

of request and promise. Although, the act is still performed when the

sincerity condition is not achieved, but there will be an abuse (Huang,

2007).

Essential Conditions. They delimit the achieved act in the sense

that the addresser has the purpose that his utterance will be taken as

the identifiable act and the hearer should know that intention (ibid.). For
 33

example, in making a promise, request, etc., the speaker intends for the

utterance to count as a promise, request, etc.

Pragmatics. Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics and semiotics

that studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. It

encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in

interaction and other approaches to language behaviour in philosophy,

sociology, linguistics and anthropology (Mey, 1993). As cited by

Hastamiwati (2009) in his study, Leech (1983:76) says that language

consists of grammar, vocabulary, and pragmatics. He then defines

pragmatics as a set of strategies and principles for achieving success in

communication by the case of grammar.

Levinson (1983:5-27) even gives several definitions to the term

pragmatics. He defines pragmatics as follows:

1. The study of language use.

2. The study of language from functional perspective that it

attempts to explain aspects of linguistic structure by

reference to non-linguistic pressures and causes.

3. The study of those relations between language and context

that are grammaticalized, or encoded in the structure of

language.

4. The study of all those aspects of meaning not captured in a

semantic theory.
 34

5. The study of the relations between language and context that

is basic to an account of language understanding.

6. The study of the ability of language users to pair sentences

with the contexts in which they would be appropriate.

7. The study of deixis (at least in part), implicature,

presupposition, speech acts, and aspects of discourse

structure.

In a similar way to Levinson's fifth definition, Fasold (1990:19)

states that pragmatics is the study of the use of context to make

inferences about meaning. The context in which an utterance is made is

also an important factor in a sentence. So, the meaning of language in

utterance cannot be separated from the context, because when the same

utterance is uttered in different context, it will also have different

meaning. In other words, pragmatics relates to meaning in interaction

since this takes into account the different contributions of both speaker

and listener as well as that of utterance and context to the making of

meaning (Thomas, 1995:23).

According to the explication above, pragmatics is defined as the

study of language use that is tied to the context of an utterance or

sentence. Pragmatics also concerns about the meaning of an utterance or

sentence such as deixis, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and

aspects of discourse structure. As a result, pragmatics is one of the fields

of linguistics that is critical to communication success.

 35

The primary function of language is to communicate. According to

Lubis (1988: 10), interaction between speakers is one sort of

communication. Interaction involves how speakers convey meaning and

express their feelings, what speakers do with words and utterances, and

then form good sentences to be delivered to other speakers.

Misunderstandings can constantly occur in everyday life conversations

because the speakers do not find the appropriate words to communicate

their feelings, even if they strive to use the medium of communication

effectively. One approach to counteracting this is to develop what is

known as "communicative competence," which deals with the message

being conveyed.

Communicative Competence. As stated by Hymes (1972),

communicative competence is the knowledge that enables someone to

use a language effectively for real communication, which involves two or

more speakers. These speakers interact with each other in the form of

oral or written communication and stimulate each other to respond to

what each says.

The component of communicative competence that relates to the

way students convey and understand their intent in communication is

what we call actional competence. This competence involves knowledge

of how speech acts and language functions are patterned and sequenced

in real-life situations (Celce Murcia et. al., 1995:17-21).

 36

Actional Competence. Celce Murcia et. al. (1995:17) stated that

actional competence is defined as competence in conveying and

understanding communicative intent, that is, matching actional intent

with linguistic form based on the knowledge of an inventory of verbal

schemata that carry illocutionary force (speech acts and speech act sets).

The suggested components of actional competence proposed by Celce

Murcia, Dornyei and Thurrel (1995:22) are divided into two main

components, knowledge of language functions and knowledge of speech

act sets.

Strategies to Teaching Pragmatics. Based on elaboration above,

the researchers believe that in conveying and understanding

communicative intent, they can use knowledge of language functions and

knowledge of speech act sets components for the teaching of pragmatics.

As a result, they adapted the works of Celce-Murcia et.al, entitled

“Suggested Components of Actional Competence”, and Margo Milleret’s

“Proposed Speech Act Performances” as discourse analysis activities or

strategies for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

The further explanation about two main components will be

elaborated as follows:

Knowledge of Language Functions. It includes interpersonal

exchange, information, opinions, feelings, suasion, problems and future

scenarios.
 37

a) Interpersonal Exchange consists of (1) greeting and leave taking, (2)

Making introductions and identifying oneself, (3) extending,

accepting and declining invitations and offers (4) making and

breaking agreements, (5) complementing and congratulating, and

(6) reacting to interlocutor’s speech, for example: showing

attention, interest, surprise, sympathy, happiness, disbelief,

disappointment.

b) Information consists of (1) asking for and giving information, (2)

reporting (describing and narrating), (3) remembering and (4)

explaining and discussing.

c) Opinions consists of (1) Expressing and finding out about opinions

and attitudes, (2) Agreeing and disagreeing, (3) Approving and

disapproving, and (4) Showing satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

d) Feelings consist of expressing and finding out about feelings, for

example: love, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anxiety, anger, pain,

relief, annoyance, surprise, etc.

e) Suasion consists of (1) suggesting, requesting and instructing, (2)

giving orders, advising and warning, (3) persuading, encouraging

and discouraging and (4) asking for, granting and withholding

permission.

f) Problems consist of (1) complaining and criticizing, (2) blaming and

accusing, (3) admitting and denying, (4) regretting and (5)

apologizing and forgiving.

 38

g) Future Scenarios consist of (1) expressing and finding out about

wishes, hopes, and desires, (2) expressing and eliciting plans,

goals, and intentions, (3) promising, (4) predicting and speculating

and (5) discussing possibilities and capabilities of doing something.

Knowledge of Speech Act Sets. The notion of a speech act is

fairly well understood. Searle and Bierswisch (1980: vii) state that the

theory of speech act starts with the assumption that the minimal unit of

human communication is not a sentence or other expression, but rather

the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as making statement,

asking questions, giving orders, describing, explaining, apologizing,

thanking, congratulating, etc.

The teaching of pragmatics aims to facilitate the learners' ability to

find socially appropriate language for the situations they encounter.

Lessons on pragmatics are sometimes (but not always) carried out

through speech act sets. A speech act set is a set of possible strategies

for use in a particular language function. Milleret (2007) had formulated

the following teaching strategies for speech acts which can also be

applied in teaching pragmatic imports.

a) For Requests. The teacher can come up with a number of scenarios

in which a request would be made. Each scenario has certain

specific features, such as the age of the speakers, context, the past

relationship of the speakers, and so on. The teacher gives the

scenario, and the students decide how they would make a request.
 39

The teacher and students go over the responses and talk about

why a certain response is appropriate for the situation and why

others are not. In the requesting situation, the speaker is asking

the hearer to take some action for the benefit of the speaker.

Normally, such an action does not profit the hearer. Therefore, the

speaker uses various strategies to minimize such an imposition on

the hearer. For example, in English, the speaker makes the request

seem smaller than it really is (e.g., Can I just take a peek at your

homework for a second?), or the speaker may acknowledge the

imposition by making it sound bigger than it really is (e.g., I know

I’m asking you a huge favor, but …).

b) For Apologies. In apologizing, the speaker recognizes the infraction

or offense caused through his/her fault and attempts to repair the

relationship with the hearer. The situation may be fairly tense if

the infraction is large or if the hearer is in a more powerful position

on the social scale than you are.

c) For Compliments. A compliment in English often functions as a

“social lubricant,” helping the social relationships to go smoothly.

As in performing other speech acts, using an appropriate level of

politeness is an important strategy in giving and responding to

compliments. Using appropriate adjectives/adverbs, as well as

selecting appropriate complimenting topics, is also key to giving

compliments.
 40

d) For Refusals. A refusal can be a response to a request, an

invitation, an offer, or a suggestion addressed to the speaker. What

is common to most refusals is the fact that the speaker is

communicating a potentially undesirable message as far as the

hearer is concerned. Unlike accepting an invitation or complying

with a request, refusing one is usually not a pleasant speech act to

perform.

e) For Thanks. In the thanking situation, there usually is an

imbalance in the relationship between the speaker and the hearer.

The speaker owes a favor to the hearer, as the hearer is doing or

has done something for the benefit of the speaker. By thanking,

the speaker expresses his/her feelings of indebtedness as well as

those of thanks.

f) For Complaints. These are expressions of displeasure, disapproval,

anger, or pain that are designed to evoke a response in the hearer.

The speaker feels a need to change the existing situation either by

addressing the responsible person or by speaking about the offense

to a third party in order to solicit solidarity. For instance, the

teacher will ask the students first to write down their answers in

their native language, and then they translate those responses into

English. Students and teacher then discuss what students have

written in the chart and whether or not it is appropriate.

Review of Related Studies

 41

The following related studies will help to support the one currently

being conducted by BSEd-English 4-A of STI West Negros University

(Interpersonal Metafunction Elements of the Song "Jesus, Take the

Wheel" by Carrie Underwood: Teaching Pragmatic Imports) as it will serve

as a guide in terms of not only the theories utilized but the process in

general, to support the latter study.

Local Studies

The Philippine Online News Headlines on COVID-19 Pandemic:

An Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis. A study conducted by

Kabigting (2020), focused on a tentative interpersonal metafunctional

analysis of the interpersonal metafunction online news headlines about

COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis involved the differences in the mood

type distribution, polarity, modality and other lexical characteristics. The

findings reveal the dominance of the declarative mood texts tells the

particular function of the online news headlines. It's informing the

readers, rather than questioning or demanding them. Positive declarative

clauses should convey information and convince readers with positive

facts. A negative polarity does not imply a negative impression but

confirms that a certain issue is inconsistent with what has become

apparent. The use of 'must' indicates that the speaker has a firm and

strong conviction about a particular issue and that the readers are

obliged to take the necessary steps in connection with what is believed.

Word choices and the clause structure reflect the context of the texts and
 42

not the mood adjuncts or the modal verbal operators. Analysis of the

functional structural mood text is very useful for understanding the

interpersonal relationships between participants.

The 'God' of Women: The Voice of the Divine, Motherhood, and

Philippine ELT. A study conducted by Cruz (2019) was an exploration of

the lines that connect values education and spiritual beliefs with English

language teaching (ELT) practices in the Philippines through the

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework of knowledge about

language (KAL) (Rose and Martin, 2012). It argues that through KAL,

teachers can lead classroom work to the reading and critiquing of the

regulative meanings that students receive through the texts that they

grapple with. That pedagogical contexts serve socially regulative

functions has been researched for many years. Christie (1997) has

argued that schools respond to 'the need to produce morally responsible

subjects' (p. 134). In the Philippines, religion plays an important role in

the regulative ordering of society. Catholicism, in particular, finds its way

in many contexts. The ELT classroom is no exception as language

pedagogy can be a vehicle for carrying faith and/or values related

regulative meanings. However, it is observable that whatever forces come

into play in the regulative functions of schooling are not necessarily

unbiased but perform interested roles that support the socio-political

and economic relations of an 'unequal society' (Apple, 2004: Loc. 592).

The challenge that faces teachers now is how to balance teaching the
 43

needed skills while at the same time, appreciating and/or critiquing the

regulative messages that texts project in the classroom. This balance is

the concern of this paper. As a study of ELT practices in a Catholic

context, it argues for the strong need to build knowledge about language

in order for both students and teachers to examine, problematize, and

critique the meanings that they receive.

How Customer Service Representatives Lose Control Of The

Call: A Metafunctional Analysis. A study conducted by Cruz and

Lockwood (2021) discussed that contact center industry has been

growing rapidly in the Philippines over the last two decades and now

boasts over one million customer service representatives (CSRs).

Outsourcing work to this destination, where English may not be the first

language, can lead to communication difficulties. Problems of locally

recruited CSRs ‘losing control of the call’, leading to customer frustration

and poor feedback, have previously been attributed to poor grammar and

incomprehensible accents. However, more recent research has suggested

that such communicative problems actually stem from a more general

inability to build relationships and appropriately select, explain and

describe information about the product or service and, if needed, instruct

the client on what to do. This paper therefore examines ‘losing control of

a call’ in terms of the overall exchange. Specifically, two calls were

examined to analyse how information was organised, packaged and

developed to the satisfaction (or not) of the client. We argue that discrete
 44

grammatical inaccuracies and regional accents do not result in losing

control as much as the way overall meaning is managed by the CSR. The

implications of these initial findings could be of importance to the

recruitment, training, coaching and appraisal of CSRs in an industry

where the nature of communication breakdown remains poorly

understood.

Comparative Analysis of the Textual Resources in Academic

Texts in Philippine and American Englishes from Systemic

Functional Linguistic Perspective. A study conducted by Hernandez

(2020) stated that due to the rise of World Englishes, one of the principal

challenges of teachers of English today is to keep paced with language

variation (Crystal, 2013). Such variation influences their choices on the

variety of English in instructional texts that they use in teaching

ESL/EFL academic writing. Grounded in Systemic Functional

Linguistics, this study compared the textual resources in academic texts

in Philippine English vis-à-vis that of American English. Results showed

that academic texts in the two English varieties contain textual

resources: theme and rheme, nominalization, and cohesion. Each of

these aspects of textual metafunction is discussed in the paper. It can be

concluded that PhE texts written by Filipinos are at par with the quality

of AmE texts produced by Americans. Pedagogical implications are

underscored in the conclusion of the study.

 45

Investigating Teacher Education Student-Leaders’ Language

Metafunctions in Supervisory Communication. A study was

conducted by Bañez (2019) stated that as student-leaders, they are

tasked to manage their respective student-organizations and protect the

interest of whom they represent, they are expected to be fluent

communicators. Hence, they need to be conscious of the way they

generate their utterances and text by considering appropriate language

functions. This survey type of research determined the extent of

utilization of language metafunctions in supervisory communication by

teacher education student-leaders in a state university at Malvar

Batangas, Philippines. By employing a researcher-made questionnaire as

a primary tool for obtaining data and applying appropriate statistical

tools, the study revealed that the respondents utilized the ideational

language metafunction as they influenced their fellow members to

actively participate in activities initiated by their respective organizations

through citing favorable and positive personal experiences, the

interpersonal metafunction as they listened willingly to the suggestions

and complaints expressed by their colleagues during various fora, and

the textual metafunction as they solicited in a friendly manner their

colleagues’ suggestions for the improvement of their organizations during

meetings. This study calls for enhanced supervisory communication

skills among student-leaders through capacity building communication-

related activities.
 46

Foreign Studies

Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Adele’s Song Lyric in 21

Album. A study conducted by Mulyani, et.al. (2019) stated that the

songs are one medium in language to communicate or deliver a message

created by a song writer through a singer to listeners. Songs are very

effective as a medium in analyzing systemic functional linguistics

because a song contains two texts at once. Those are when a singer

sings, the song is the spoken text, and the song lyrics are the written

text. The objective of this study is to describe the aspects of interpersonal

meaning in the lyrics of Adele’s album 21. The design of the research was

a descriptive qualitative method. The writers analyzed the song entitled

"Don’t You Remember" based on the Subject, Finite, Predicator,

Complement, and Adjunct that are described in the table. The writers

classified them based on mood-residue elements and made the

conclusion based on the research findings. The results of the data

analysis show that the interpersonal meaning in the lyrics Don’t You

Remember from Adele’s album "21" has only 4 clauses that do not have

aspects of interpersonal meaning out of 28 clauses that were analyzed

because the clauses only have one element, which is residue. Thus, the

conclusion is that 85.7% of the data can be analyzed to find mood and

residue as the aspects of interpersonal meaning.

Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Muse’s Song Lyrics in Black

Holes and Revelations Album (A Study Based on Systemic

 47

Functional Linguistics). This study was conducted by Marhamah

(2014), wherein he examined the interpersonal meaning realized in the

lyrics of Muse’s album Black Holes and Revelations. The researchers

believed that it would be easier and more interesting to analyze the

interpersonal meaning through literary works that people hear every day,

such as song lyrics. The objectives of this study are to describe the types

of interpersonal meaning, the most dominant mood types, and the

modality realized in the lyrics of Muse’s album Black Holes and

Revelations. The design of the research was descriptive and qualitative.

The main sources of data in this research were the lyrics in the Muse’s

album Black Holes and Revelations. There were three song lyrics that the

researcher analyzed in this research. The analysis of the data used the

following steps: first, I listened to the songs, then found the printed lyrics

of the songs, analyzed the clauses based on the Mood-Residue elements,

described the most dominant Mood Types, and found the Modality

through Modal Finite and Mood Adjunct. Finally, the researcher drew the

conclusion of this study.

The results of data analysis show that the types of interpersonal

meaning in the lyrics of Muse’s album Black Holes and Revelations are

realized in the wordings of the clause. If analyzed based on the elements

of interpersonal meaning, the most dominant mood type is declarative,

realized through the use of modal finite and mood adjunct. The

conclusions of this study are that to describe the types of interpersonal

 48

meaning in the song lyrics, people should read them thoroughly while

analyzing them based on the interpersonal meaning elements. Based on

the mood type analysis, the song writer or singer wants to declare

something and give information to the readers or listeners through these

songs. According to the results of the analysis of modalities through the

use of finite modal and Mood Adjunct, the results of the analysis found

only a few modalities. And all of them are in the form of finite modals.

Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Selected Song Lyrics from

Queen’s Greatest Hits Album. This study was conducted by Medina

and Noorman (2019). They discussed the objectives of this study, which

were to describe the types of interpersonal meaning by looking at the

most dominant mood types and the value of modality. The design of this

research is qualitative in data collection and analysis. The main sources

of data were taken from Queen’s Greatest Hits album, which are

Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, Don’t Stop Me Now, We are the

Champions, and You’re My Best Friend song lyrics. Halliday's Systemic

Functional Linguistics theory (Halliday, 1994) was used to analyze the

data, which is focused on mood types (Gerot & Wignell, 1994) and the

value of modality (Eggins, 1994).The analysis shows that declarative

mood and median modality are dominantly used in the song lyrics.

Declarative mood: realizing the speech function of a statement is used to

convey information. Median modality tends to position the speaker equal

 49

with the listener when the expression of willingness is used, and this

also generates how strongly the speaker commits himself to the truth.

The Realization of Interpersonal Meaning in Green Day’s Song

“American Idiot” Lyrics. This study was conducted by Prihatiningsih

(2011) explained about the interpersonal meaning analysis of clauses in

the Green Day song "American Idiot" that are realized in the system of

Mood and Modality. Song lyrics are the words of a song or song text. It

added meaning to the song that expresses the song writer's idea about

any phenomenon. Every song has its own meaning and moral values. It

is because, through song lyrics, the song writer can communicate with

the listener about what they think of something from their own

perspective that may be different from others. For the reasons above, he

analyzed the interpersonal meaning that is realized in the lyrics of Green

Day’s phenomenal song entitled "American Idiot” and also the main

moral values of this song. Interpersonal meanings are revealed by the

system of mood and modality. A descriptive qualitative method was used

in this research. He applied this method because all the data was in the

form of words. The interpersonal meaning includes the process of

analyzing the mood and modality of the clauses. The definition of mood

elements (subject and finite), residue (predicator and complement), and

the adjunct (mood adjunct, circumstantial adjunct, and comment

adjunct) are all part of the mood and modality. Identifying the mood

means identifying the type of each clause, whether it is imperative,

 50

declarative, interrogative, or exclamatory. The result of this study shows

that in "American Idiot" lyrics, declarative was the major mood in the

clauses, but there is only one interrogative. Moreover, only one clause

has a modality, and that is probability. The most dominant speech

function was a statement. The moral values of the song are to be smart,

critical, and to have your own personality.

An Analysis of Interpersonal Metafunction in “A Head Full of

Dreams” Coldplay’s Album of Song Lyrics. This study was conducted

by Pranoto, et. al. (2020) stated that Coldplay is a British band from

1998, and until today, the band has eight studio albums. One of the

albums is A Head Full of Dreams. The objectives of the research are to

describe the mood types used in the lyrics of Coldplay’s album A Head

Full of Dreams and to describe the modality in the lyrics of Coldplay’s

album A Head Full of Dreams. The researcher uses descriptive

qualitative for the research approach and content analysis for the type of

research. The data for this research is taken from the A Head Full of

Dreams song lyrics, which were taken by Coldplay’s official website.

Documentation is used in the data collection technique. The researchers

used the Flow Model by Miles and Huberman and a functional approach

to the data analysis technique. The result of the research reveals: (1)

mood shows three kinds of mood, which are declarative, imperative, and

interrogative, and found 76 declaratives, 83 imperatives, and 2

interrogatives. (2) Modality shows that there are categorized types of

 51

modality, which are low, medium, and high and found to be can’t, will,

would, and might.

Synthesis

The local and foreign studies reviewed and assessed in this section

can contribute to some phases of the current study and their analyses,

as well as their findings, can be utilized as the bases for the researchers

to arrive at dependable results. Furthermore, their focus was particularly

on the interpersonal metafunction analysis of certain texts.

Interpersonal metafunction allows us to interact with people, to

create relationships with people around us, and to express our opinions

about states or events. Thus, the local studies conducted by Cruz (2019)

and Hernandez (2020), and foreign studies by Mulyani, et. al. (2019) and

Marhamah (2014) entitled "The 'God' of Women: The Voice of the Divine,

Motherhood, and Philippine ELT", "Comparative Analysis of the Textual

Resources in Academic Texts in Philippine and American Englishes from

Systemic Functional Linguistic Perspective", "Interpersonal Meaning

Analysis of Adele’s Song Lyric in 21 Album", and "Interpersonal Meaning

Analysis of Muse’s Song Lyrics in Black Holes and Revelations Album (A

Study Based on Systemic Functional Linguistics)" respectively, can be

used as a guide to assess the interpersonal metafunction elements found

in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood's song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"

through the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework of

 52

knowledge about language (KAL) according to Rose and Martin (2012) as

cited by Cruz (2019).

The studies conducted by Mulyani, et. al. (2019), Marhamah

(2014), and Prihatiningsih (2011), mood structure elements were utilized

to aid them in determining differences and commonalities of mood types,

modalities, and polarity. Thus, researchers of the current study can use

this idea as basis of the future findings in the first phase which focuses

on identifying the mood structures present in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

A local study conducted by Kabigting (2020), entitled "The

Philippine Online News Headlines on COVID-19 Pandemic: An

Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis", focused on the differences in the

mood type distribution, polarity, and modality and revealed that the

dominance of the declarative mood texts tells the particular function of a

text which, in their case, was through online news headlines.

Additionally, the same study conducted by Marhamah mentioned

previously, the foreign study of Medina and Noorman (2019) entitled

"Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Selected Song Lyrics from Queen’s

Greatest Hits Album", a foreign study conducted by Pruhatiningsih

(2011), and that of Pranoto, et. al. entitled "An Analysis of Interpersonal

Metafunction in “A Head Full of Dreams” Coldplay’s Album of Song

Lyrics", also included modality and mood types. Overall, these studies

reviewed can be applied to the second phase of the current study, which
 53

focuses on the identification of the dominant mood type present in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood's song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel", third phase,

which focuses on determining the common modality type, and fourth

phase that focuses on determining the common polarity in the lyrics.

As a result of the assessment of conceptual and research

literature, the researcher had a better understanding of the present work

and more insightful ideas. Based on the sequence in which these

objectives are given in this study, the review of the conceptual and

research literature provided a greater understanding of how these

objectives may be met. Furthermore, the study literature included

empirical facts and findings on learners' ideas. The researchers were

directed by the results of the reviewed studies to offer objective solutions

to the specific questions addressed in this study with relation to the

factors discussed herein. The investigations also provided the researcher

with further information about students' thoughts on peace concepts. As

a result, the school will be able to develop a curriculum that will help

pupils become the individuals that society expects of them. Finally, the

study and conceptual literature from different nations provided a

comprehensive perspective of how concepts are perceived.

 54

Chapter 3

Methodology

This chapter introduces the linguistic research method used, the

source of data, and the data-gathering process to be implemented in the

analysis of the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus Take the

Wheel."

Linguistic Method Used

Discourse analysis (DA) is a qualitative and interpretive method of

analyzing different aspects of language in any means of communication.

It focuses on the social aspects of communication and the ways people

use language to achieve specific effects (e.g., to build trust, to create

doubt, to evoke emotions, or to manage conflict). Discourse analysis is a

research method for studying written or spoken language in relation to

its social context. It aims to understand how language is used in real-life

situations. The language used can be seen in a conversation, in a

speech, or in any type of genre, such as the lyrics of a song. At the same

time, it refers to the close linguistic study, from different perspectives, of

texts in use, and to socially shared habits of thought, perception, and

behavior reflected in numerous texts belonging to different genres.

In his socio-semiotic theory of language, Halliday (1978) alluded to

discourse in his concept of text, which he defined as ‘instances of

linguistic interaction in which people actually engage: whatever is said’

(1978: 108). Halliday used the concept of ‘text’ to refer to a

 55

‘supersentence,’ namely, a linguistic unit bigger than a sentence (p. 109).

Although ‘discourse analysis’ has been approached from different

perspectives, there is a general consensus regarding the elements that

characterize discourse. According to Stubbs (1983: 1), discourse analysis

refers to ‘the organization of language above the sentence or above the

clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as

conversational exchanges or written texts’. Brown and Yule (1983: 1),

stated that discourse analysis should not be limited to the analysis of

descriptive linguistic forms disconnected from social interaction; instead,

it should situate ‘the analysis of language in use’. And after a meticulous

analysis of the conceptualization of discourse from diverse approaches,

Schiffrin (1994: 41) concluded that discourse refers to “utterances as

units of language production (whether spoken or written) that are

inherently contextualized”.

Lou (2019) states that one can "make interpretations based on

both the details of the material itself and contextual knowledge." This

implies that instead of focusing on smaller units of language, such as

sounds, words, or phrases, discourse analysis is used to study larger

chunks of language, such as entire conversations, texts, or collections of

texts. The selected sources can be analyzed on multiple levels. The type

of discourse selected, is often analyzed on the basis of at least one of the

following characteristics: the level of formality/informality, the situation

or speech event, symmetric or asymmetric relations, goals and statuses

 56

of participants, the rights and responsibilities of the participants, and

the social setting in which socialization takes place.

Hence, this study will make use of the Discourse Analysis method,

which will serve as the backbone in the analysis of the song in terms of

its social context or the interpersonal metafunction, since "discourse

analysis looks at a running conversation involving a speaker and listener

(Nordquist, 2020)" and its application to real-life situations. In this case,

the song to be analyzed is "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood.

The application of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Speech Act

Theory in identifying interpersonal metafunction elements present in the

lyrics of the song.

Source of Data

"Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a song written by Brett James, Hillary

Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson, and recorded by American country music

artist Carrie Underwood. It was released in October 2005 as the first

single from Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts (2005). This song,

during the 2000s, was used in a few online forums and sermons,

including a 2000 Usenet article and a 2004 website called How Do I

Know God? "Get out of the driver's seat and let Jesus take the wheel,"

says the book. The phrase, on the other hand, was popularized and

expanded by Carrie Underwood, who won the fifth season of American

Idol in 2005. Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson wrote

the lyrics, and they said that the song has special significance and that
 57

they are all proud to have contributed to its development. Underwood

sings against the backdrop of three domestic scenes, including a young

mother trying to soothe her crying baby, an elderly man attempting to

spoon-feed his unresponsive wife, and a couple fighting over finances. It

was directed by Roman White, and each conflict was resolved in the end.

Furthermore, the song won numerous awards in the years 2006

and 2007. In 2006, it won the Academy of Country Music’s Single of the

Year award and was nominated as Song of the Year; it was nominated as

Music Video of the Year, Single of the Year, and Song of the Year in the

Country Music Association; won the Canadian Country Music Awards’

SOCAN Song of the Year award; won Female Video of the Year and

Breakthrough Video of the Year awards in the CMT Music Awards; and

won the Country Song of the Year award in the Gospel Music

Association. In 2007, it was nominated as the Song of the Year and won

the Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song

awards at the Grammy Awards. In relation to this, the lyrics of the song

will be used as the source of data for this study. Arikunto (1998) defines

"data source" as "subjects where data can be obtained," and he defines

data as "all facts and numbers that can become material for arranging

information."

Data-Gathering Process

This section discusses the data-gathering processes that will be

conducted in this study to determine the interpersonal metafunction

 58

elements and speech acts present in the lyrics of the song. The first

phase will undergo an analysis of the mood structures. The second phase

focuses on the analysis of mood types. The third phase will be devoted to

the analysis of the types of modality. The fourth phase will be an analysis

of polarity. The fifth phase will be devoted to the analysis of the types of

speech acts. The sixth phase will be an analysis of the readability of the

text. The last phase will be on the identification of strategies that can be

applied to the teaching of pragmatic imports.

Phase One: Analysis of the Mood Structure. To identify the

interpersonal metafunction elements present in the lyrics of the song

"Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood, a mood block structure

will be drawn up to determine the mood and residue in every line. The

analytic framework of phase one is shown in Illustration 1.

Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the

Wheel”

MOOD STRUCTURE

MoodResidue

Illustration 1. Analysis of the Mood Structure found in the lyrics of the

song.
 59

From the lyrics of the Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the

Wheel," the mood structures will be identified. A mood structure consists

of mood and residue. Mood consists of subject and finite, while residue

consists of predicator, complement, and adjuncts. The table below

synthesizes the verbal data of the interpersonal elements found in the

lyrics of the song.

MOOD STRUCTURE

Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Mood Residue

Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjuncts

Table 1. The Mood Structures found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Phase Two: Analysis of Mood Types. After analyzing the mood

structure in the first phase, the dominant mood types will be identified in

this phase. The analytic framework of phase two is shown in Illustration

2.

Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the

Wheel”

MOOD TYPES
Indicative Mood
(Declarative, Interrogative)
Imperative Mood
 60

Illustration 2. Analysis of Mood Types found in the lyrics of the song.

From the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the

Wheel," mood types will be identified. These mood types are indicative

(declarative, interrogative), and imperative moods. The table below

synthesizes the verbal data of the types of moods found in the lyrics of

the song.

MOOD TYPES

Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Indicative Mood

Imperative
Wheel”
Declarative Interrogative Mood
Mood Mood

Table 2. Types of Mood found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Phase Three: Analysis of Modality. This phase involves the analysis of

the types of modality, which are modalization and modulation, in the

lyrics of the Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. The

analytic framework of phase three is shown in Illustration 3.

TYPES OF MODALITY
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the
Modalization
Wheel”
Modulation

Illustration 3. Analysis of Modality present in the lyrics of the song.

 61

Modality types will be identified through the modals in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel". The first type of

modality is called modalization, which consists of command and offer.

Meanwhile, the second type of modality is called modulation, which

consists of likelihood and usuality. The table below synthesizes the

verbal data of the types of modality present in the song.

TYPES OF MODALITY

Modalization Modulation

Command Offer Likelihood Usuality

can
Lyrics of “Jesus,
Modals could
Take the Wheel” may
can must
might always
could may
will sometimes
will might
would usually
shall can’t
shall never
may couldn't
should
must
ought
Table 3. The Types of Modality present in the lyrics of
Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Phase Four: Analysis of Polarity. In this phase, the researchers will

analyze the polarity of identified lines in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s

song "Jesus, Take the Wheel". Polarity will be labelled as negative or

positive depending on its structure or context. The analytic framework of

phase four is designed in Illustration 4.

POLARITY
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take
the Wheel”
PositiveNegative
 62

Illustration 4. Analysis of Polarity present in the lyrics of the song.

Polarity will be identified through the modals found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel". The negative and

positive clauses or sentences are referred to as polarity. The table below

synthesizes the verbal data of the polarity found in the lyrics of the song.

POLARITY

Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Modals

Positive Negative

Table 4. The Polarity found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Phase Five: Analysis of Speech Acts. The speech acts found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" will be drawn

from the interpersonal elements: subject, finite, predicator, complement,

and adjuncts. Then the two concepts of pragmatic import—felicity

conditions and illocutionary acts—will be identified. The analytic

framework of phase five is shown in Illustration 5.

INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION ELEMENTS

Subject, Finite, Predicator, Complement, Adjunct

TYPES OF ILLOCUTIONARY
ACTS FELICITY CONDITIONS
Propositional Content Conditions
Representatives, Directives,
Preparatory Conditions
Commissives, Expressives, Sincerity Conditions
Declarations Essential Conditions
 63

Illustration 5. Analysis of Interpersonal Elements and

Speech Acts used in the lyrics of the song.
From the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel", interpersonal

elements will be identified first before pragmatic imports. Under the

interpersonal elements are the subject, finite, predicator, complement,

and adjunct. The researchers will then identify the illocutionary acts and

felicity conditions, which are the concepts under pragmatic imports.

Under the illocutionary acts are the representatives, directives,

commissives, expressives, and declarations. On the other hand, under

the felicity conditions are preparatory, propositional content, sincerity,

and essential.

The table below synthesizes the verbal data of the speech acts

found in the lyrics of the song.

Lyrics of Interpersonal Elements Pragmatic Imports

Jesus
Illocutionary Felicity
Take Acts Conditions

the Polarit Representatives Preparatory

Subject Finite Predicator Complement
y Directives Sincerity
Wheel Commissives Propositional
Expressives Content
Declarations Essential

Table 5. Interpersonal Elements and Pragmatic Imports found in

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Phase Six: Analysis of the Readability of the Text. The Flesch

Reading Ease Score will be used to determine first the readability of the
 64

text before the strategies for the teaching of pragmatic imports will be

applied.

The formula to determining the readability of the text is presented

as follows:

206.835−1.015 ( totaltotalsentences
words
)−84.6 ( total
total words )
syllables

Scores can be interpreted as shown in the table below.

The scores in the range of 90-100 are interpreted as very easy to

read and easily understood by an average 11-year-old student; 80-90

scores are interpreted as easy to read; 70-80 scores are interpreted as

fairly easy to read; 60-70 scores are interpreted as easily understood by

13 to 15-year-old students; 50-60 scores are interpreted as fairly difficult

to read; 30-50 scores are interpreted as difficult to read and best

understood by college graduates; and 0-30 scores are interpreted as very

difficult to read and best understood by university graduates.

Score Notes

90-100 very easy to read, easily understood by an average 11-year-old student

80-90 easy to read

70-80 fairly easy to read

60-70 easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students

50-60 fairly difficult to read

30-50 difficult to read, best understood by college graduates

0-30 very difficult to read, best understood by university graduates

 65

Table 6. Flesch Reading Score Scale (Flesch 1948)

Phase Seven: Identification of Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic

Imports. Discourse analysis will be employed to determine the strategies

for teaching pragmatic imports. The analytic framework of the analysis of

the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood is shown in

Illustration 6.

Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic Imports

Discourse Analysis

Illustration 6. The Utilization of Discourse Analysis in

Determining the Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic Imports.

From the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel", four

felicity conditions, which are general, preparatory, propositional content,

sincerity, and essential, will be identified first before determining the

discourse analysis activities or strategies that are Celce-Murcia et al.

"Suggested Components for Actional Competence" consist of

interpersonal exchange, information, opinions, feelings, suasion,

problems, and future scenarios for knowledge of language functions, and

Margo Milleret’s "Proposed Speech Act Performances" consist of requests,

apologies, compliments, refusals, thanks, and complaints for knowledge

of speech act sets. The table below synthesizes the verbal data of the

strategies for teaching pragmatic imports.

 66

Pragmatic Imports
Felicity Conditions Discourse Analysis Activities
Preparatory Knowledge of Knowledge of Speech
Conditions Language Functions Acts Sets
Lyrics of “Jesus,
Propositional Interpersonal exchange
Requests
Take the Wheel” Content Conditions Information
Apologies
Opinions
Compliments
Sincerity Conditions Feelings
Refusals
Suasion
Thanks
Problems
Essential Conditions Complaints
Future Scenarios
Table 7. Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis
Activities to Teaching Pragmatic Imports
 67

Chapter 4

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data

This chapter discusses the data analysis and findings shown in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood's song "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which follows

the sequence of research questions outlined in this study. The analysis

focuses on the interpersonal metafunction elements found in the song's

lyrics, employing two theories: Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics

and Searle's Speech Acts, from which the results will be the basis for the

teaching of pragmatic imports.

The research findings in this study include the analysis of seven

points: Phase One: The Analysis of the Mood Structures, Phase Two:

Analysis of Mood Types, Phase Three: Analysis of Modality, Phase Four:

Analysis of Polarity, Phase Five: Analysis of Speech Acts, Phase Six:

Analysis of Readability of the Text, and Phase Seven: Identification of

Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic Imports.

Phase One: The Analysis of the Mood Structure found in the lyrics of

the song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

In this section, a mood block structure was drawn to determine the

mood and residue in every line present in the lyrics of the song "Jesus,

Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood. According to Marhamah (2014),

mood structure is a clause structure that realizes an interpersonal

meaning, and this includes the mood and the residue. The mood carries

the interpersonal functions of the clause, which consists of subject and

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finite. On the other hand, the residue consists of three kinds of

functional elements: predicator, complement, and adjunct (Halliday,

1985).

Gerrot and Wignell (1995:28) explain that the subject is that upon

which the speaker rest his case in exchanges of information, and the

one responsible for insuring that the prescribed action is or is not

carried out in exchanges of goods and services. On the other hand,

Halliday (1995:76) says that subject is something by reference to which

the proposition can be affirmed or defined. The subject when it first

appears may be any nominal group.

Meanwhile, the finite element is one of the small numbers of verbal

operators expressing tense, modality and polarity. Gerot and Wignell

(1995:27) give statement that the finite elements has the function of

anchoring or locating an exchange with reference to the speaker and

making a proposition something that can be argued about.

Gerot and Wignell (1994:31) also stated that the predicator is the

verb part of the clause, the bit which tells what’s doing, happening, or

being. In addition, Eggins and Slade (1997:78) state that predicator

encodes the action or process involved in the clause. It gives content to

verbal element of the preposition, telling listeners what is or was

happening. The second component of the residue is the complement. A

complement is defined as a non-essential participant in the clause. A

participant is somehow affected by the main argument of the preposition.

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Complement answers the question, “is/had”, “what”, “to whom”, or “did

to what”. According to Eggins (1994:163), a complement is an element

within the residue that has the potential of being subject but is not

which typically realized by a nominal group.

Simultaneously, adjuncts are the final constituent of residue. It

can be defined as clause elements which contribute some additional (but

non-essential) information to the clause. Halliday (1985:80) explains that

an adjunct is an element that has not got the potential of being subject.

It is typically realized by an adverb and adverbial group, a prepositional

phrase or a conjunction.

The following table shows the distribution of mood structures that

were analysed from the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take

the Wheel”.

Table 8. The Mood Structures found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
MOOD STRUCTURE
Mood Residue
Line Stanza
Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjuncts
on her way to
1 1 She was driving last Friday
Cincinnati
On snow white
1 1 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ
Christmas Eve
to see her
2 1 Ɵ Ɵ Going mama and her home
daddy
2 1 the baby Ɵ Ɵ in the backseat With
low on faith Fifty miles to
3 1 she was running
and gasoline go, and
a long, hard
4 1 It had been Ɵ Ɵ
year
a lot on her
5 1 She had Ɵ and
mind
5 1 Ɵ didn’t pay attention Ɵ
6 1 She was going way too fast Ɵ
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7 1 she Ɵ knew It Before

on a thin black
7 1 She was spinning Ɵ
sheet of glass
both their lives
8 1 She Ɵ saw flash before her Ɵ
eyes
9 1 She didn’t have Ɵ time to cry even
10 1 She was scared Ɵ so
her hands up
11 1 She Ɵ threw Ɵ
in the air
12,
18, 2, 2, 4,
Jesus Ɵ take the wheel Ɵ
28, 5
39
13,
2, 4 It Ɵ Take from my hands Ɵ
29
14,
2, 4 I can’t do this on my own ‘Cause
30
15,
2, 4 I am letting go Ɵ
31
16,
one more
32, 2, 4, 5 me Ɵ give So
chance
36
17, from this road
2, 4 me, Ɵ save And
33 I’m on
19 3 It was getting colder still
it to the
19 3 she Ɵ made when
shoulder
20 3 the car Ɵ came to a stop And
21 3 She Ɵ cried Ɵ Ɵ
that baby in
21 3 she Ɵ saw when
the backseat
21 3 Ɵ Ɵ Sleeping like a rock Ɵ
for the first
22 3 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ time in a long And
time
her head to
23 3 She Ɵ bowed Ɵ
pray
24 3 She Ɵ said Ɵ Ɵ
24 3 I am sorry for the way Ɵ
25 3 I have been living my life Ɵ
26 3 I Ɵ know Ɵ Ɵ
26 3 I have got to change Ɵ
from now on,
27 3 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ So
tonight
34 Ɵ Jesus Ɵ take the wheel Oh
35 5 I am letting go Oh
37 5 me Ɵ Save from this road I’m on
38 5 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ From this road I’m on
40 5 It Ɵ Take from me Oh
 71

41 5 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Oh, why, ooh

Table 8 displays mood structures that can be found in the lyrics

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel”. The mood

clause is one of the essential interpersonal elements, which consists of

the subject and the finite. Specifically, as stated by Banks (2002), the

subject is the nominal group that determines the mood of the entire

clause. It can be identified by its usually being a nominal element, i.e., a

noun or pronoun. For instance, "she," "I," and "me" are the common

subjects that can be found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song,

"Jesus, Take the Wheel." The pronoun "she" implies that the Speaker in

the song is a woman who narrates the story herself. The singer would

become now the Speaker and the listeners of the songs become now the

Hearers.

Meanwhile, finites express the process part of the clause that

makes it possible to argue about the subject participant (Eggins & Slade,

1997, on Emilia 2014). It is generally a verbal element, by which it is

realized through a verbal group. Finite can be characterized as a verbal

group that changes depending on its subject or time/tense, while modals

such as can, will, must, and etc. can be included as finite as well. In

relation to this, modals such as "was", "can’t", "had," "didn’t" and "am"

are the finites that are found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song,

"Jesus, Take the Wheel." Butt et al. (2003) found that finite expresses

tense and the view of the speaker or writer.

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A finite verb is an essential part of the mood element that indicates

the tense of the verb used in the sentence or clause. For example, a

statement in line 1 of the first stanza of the song, "She was driving last

Friday on her way to Cincinnati on a snow white Christmas Eve" shows

that "was" is a finite verb that modifies the subject "She" and gives us the

clue that the tense of the verb is in the past tense.

Furthermore, it was also shown in this table the set of predicators

indicated in residual clauses that are found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel". A predicator is realized by a

verbal group minus the temporal or modal operator, which functions as

the finite part of the mood element. The predicator itself is thus non-

finite, and there are non-finite clauses containing a predicator but no

finite element.

Non-finite words, also known as "verbals," have three categories:

gerunds, infinitives, and participles. In this table, the predicators are

"driving" in line 1 of the first stanza, "going" in lines 2 and 6 of the first

stanza, "running" in line 3 of the first stanza, "spinning" in line 7 of the

first stanza; "letting" in line 15 of the second stanza and 31 of the fourth

stanza, "getting" in line 19 of the third stanza, "sleeping" in line 21 of the

third stanza, and "living" in line 25 of the third stanza are identified as

present participles because these adverbs end with the "ing" form, while

"scared" on line 10 of the first stanza, and "bowed" in line 23 of the third

stanza are past participles.

 73

Complements are also indicated in the residual clauses, which are

found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

According to Eggins (1994), a complement is an element within the

residue that has the potential to be subject but is not. A complement is

typically realized by a nominal group. It is defined as a non-essential

participant in the clause. A participant is somehow affected by the main

argument of the preposition. The complement may be in seven different

forms: a noun, an adjective, a participle, a preposition with object, an

infinitive verb, an adverb, and a noun clause. For instance, the noun

clause "On a snow white Christmas Eve" from line 1 of the first stanza is

considered a complement because of the preposition "on", which

indicates the time of an event happening, and the "snow white," which is

an adjective that describes the noun "Christmas Eve". Other

complements found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus,

Take the Wheel” are in the form of infinitive verbs, such as "to see" in line

1 of the 2nd stanza and "to change" in line 26 of the 3rd stanza.

Lastly, adjuncts are indicated by the residual element, which was

also found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the

Wheel." Adjuncts, also known as "circumstance," are the final

constituents of residue. Adjuncts can be defined as clause elements that

contribute some additional (but non-essential) information to the clause.

Halliday (1985) explains that an adjunct is an element that has not got

the potential to be subject. It is typically realized by an adverb and an

 74

adverbial group, a prepositional phrase, or a conjunction. In this case,

"last Friday" in line 1 of the first stanza is an adjunct because it was

considered a non-essential part of the clause. However, similar to the

claim of Halliday about adjuncts, it is also a noun phrase that has the

potential to be a subject of the sentence.

Meanwhile, lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza, line 14 of the second

stanza, line 19 of the third stanza, line 30 of the fourth stanza, and line

35 of the fifth stanza had complete elements under the mood

structure. Lines with null finites only were line 7 of the first stanza, lines

16 and 17 of the second stanza, lines 19 to 21 of the third stanza, lines

32, 33, and 36 of the fourth stanza, line 34, and lines 37 and 40 of the

fifth stanza. Second line of first stanza had null finite and predicator

only. Lines 8 and 11 of the first stanza, lines 12, 13, and 18 of the

second stanza, line 23 of the third stanza, line 28 to 29 of the fourth

stanza, and line 39 of the fifth stanza were the lines with null finites and

adjuncts only. Lines 5 and 9 of the first stanza were the lines that had

null predicators only. Line 4 of the first stanza was the only line with null

predicator and adjuncts. Line 10 of the first stanza was the only one with

null complements. Lines 6 and 7 of the first stanza 1, line 15 of the

second stanza, lines 24 to 26 of the third stanza, and line 31 of the

fourth stanza are lines with null adjuncts only. There was no line with

null subject, finite, complement, and adjunct simultaneously. First line

of the first stanza was the only line with null subject, finite, predicator,
 75

and adjunct simultaneously. Line 41 of the fifth stanza was the only one

with null subject, finite, predicator, and complement simultaneously.

Second line of the first stanza had null subject and finite only. Lines 22

and 27 of the third stanza and line 38 of the fifth stanza were the only

lines with null subject, finites, and predicators simultaneously. Only line

21 of the third stanza had null subject, finite, and adjunct

simultaneously.

The analysis revealed that there are certain lines of the song that

have null results regarding with their mood block elements. As stated by

Marhamah (2014), the mood carries the interpersonal functions of the

clause and consists of subject and finite which are two crucial clause

elements that allow for all interaction. It simply implies that lacking of

these elements would be a critical issue for identifying the mood types

and speech acts particularly illocutionary acts and felicity conditions of

clauses from the lyrics of the song which are essential components for

the teaching of pragmatic imports.

Phase Two: The Analysis of Mood Types found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

After the mood structure was analyzed in the first phase, the

researchers identified the dominant mood types from the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel”. According to Searle as cited

by Cordeiron (2018), the mood of a clause comprises two types: (a)

indicative, which includes declaratives (statements) and interrogatives

 76

(yes/no and wh-questions); and (b) imperatives (commands and

exclamations). For Searle, the basic unit of language is the speech act or

illocutionary act, the production of a token in the context of a speech act

(not the word, the sentence type, or the theory).

The declarative mood may indicate that the author is claiming a

higher status or expertise than the reader, i.e., setting themselves up as

an "authority" or "expert." It is important to consider that declarative

sentences express statements, but they often have other functions too.

Declarative sentences typically have subject-verb word order, but

sometimes there is no subject (Marhamah, 2014).

The table below shows the declarative moods found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 9.A Declarative Mood found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
MOOD TYPES

Declarative Mood
Line Stanza
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel”
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati on a snow
1 1
white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her mama and her daddy with the baby in the
2 1
backseat
3 1 Fifty miles to go, and she was running low on faith and gasoline
4 1 It'd been a long, hard year
5 1 She had a lot on her mind, and she didn't pay attention
6 1 She was going way too fast
Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of
7 1
glass
8 1 She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
9 1 She didn't even have time to cry
10 1 She was so scared
11 1 She threw her hands up in the air
14, 30 2, 4 'Cause I can't do this on my own
15, 31 2, 4 I'm letting go
 77

19 3 It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder

20 3 And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a
21 3
rock
22 3 And for the first time in a long time
23 3 She bowed her head to pray
24 3 She said, "I'm sorry for the way
25 3 I've been living my life
26 3 I know I've got to change
27 3 So from now on, tonight"
35 5 Oh I’m letting go
38 5 From this road I'm on
41 5 Oh, whoa, ooh
In Table 9.A, displays the lines from the lyrics of the song "Jesus,

Take the Wheel" that were identified and grouped in accordance with

their characteristics, or the type of sentences they possess. In this case,

these clauses are recognized in declarative forms. Declarative clauses

can be identified by their structural element, which is that the subject

occurs before the finite. This mood type can present both factual

information and attitudinal opinion (Matthiessen, 1995).

For instance, a statement, "She was driving last Friday on her way

to Cincinnati" in Line 1 of the first stanza expresses that the subject "She"

is the doer of the action indicated by the verb "driving." The statement

expresses a fact or describes about what a persona is actually doing.

This aspect of declarative mood is also indicated by the identical lines of

14 in the second stanza and 30 in the fourth stanza with a statement

“Cause I can't do this on my own”, as they are repeatedly mentioned in

the lyrics of the song. The same way with lines 15 of the second stanza

and 31 of the fifth stanza with a statement “I'm letting go” in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

 78

On the other hand, as stated by Muhyidin (2019), imperative

clauses typically do not contain element of subject or finite, but

imperative clauses consist of a predicator, any of the non-core

participant of complement and adjuncts. It is the only one types of mood

in which have the predicator (the verb). Imperative sentences express

directives, such as orders, instructions, requests, invitations, etc.

The following table shows examples of the use of imperative mood

in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." It is

also important to take note that the lines that repeat or have the same

sentences or statements from the lyrics of the song were grouped into

one row.

Table 9.B Imperative Mood found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
MOOD TYPES

Imperative Mood
Line Stanza
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel”
12, 18, 28, 39 2, 2, 4, 5 "Jesus, take the wheel
13, 29 2, 4 Take it from my hands
16, 32, 36 2, 4, 5 So give me one more chance
17, 33 2, 4 And save me from this road I'm on
34 Ɵ Oh, Jesus, take the wheel
37 5 Save me from this road I'm on
40 5 Oh, take it, take it from me
Table 9.B displays the imperative moods that are found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." As stated by

Cerban (2009), the imperative mood may be used to convey a command.

For instance, lines 13 of the second stanza and 39 of the fourth stanza

from this table share the statement "Take it from my hands." It has the
 79

verb phrase "take it," which can be argued that it expresses a command.

This is also apparent in line 40 of the fifth stanza wherein the verb

phrase “take it” was repeated twice. Additionally, lines 12 and 18 of the

second stanza, 28 of the fourth stanza, line 34, and 39 of the fifth stanza

have common statement “Jesus, take the wheel” which also expresses a

command. The same characteristics are found in lines 16 of the second

stanza, 32 of the fourth stanza, 36 of the fifth stanza which has a verb

phrase “give me”, and “save me” in lines 17 of the second stanza, 33 of

the fourth stanza, and 37 of the fifth stanza. Thus, the use of imperatives

as a command can indicate that the Speaker of the song is in a position

of greater power than the Hearer.

The researchers determined the dominant mood type found in the

lyrics of the song. The following table shows the summary of the

frequency distribution of the mood types found in the lyrics of the song.

These mood types include the indicative and imperative moods, whereas

the indicative mood is classified into two moods: the declarative mood

and the interrogative mood.

Table 9.C The Frequency Distribution of Mood Types found in

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s Song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
MOOD TYPES
Lyrics of
Indicative Mood
“Jesus, Take Imperative TOTAL
the Wheel” Declarative Interrogative Mood
Mood Mood
Frequency 27 0 14 45
Percentage (%) 66% 0% 34% 100%
Table 9.C shows that twenty-seven lines in the lyrics of the song

are considered declarative clauses, which roughly dominated 66% of the

 80

text. Meanwhile, there are fourteen lines, or 34%, that are found as

imperative clauses in the lines of the lyrics of the song. However, 0%, or

there are no interrogative clauses, were identified. Interrogative mood

sentences usually express the question. Thus, declarative mood is the

most common type of mood found in the lyrics of the song.

Matthiessen (1995), states that declarative mood present both

factual and attitudinal opinion. In this case, the Speaker of the Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel”, generally performs the act of

stating something to the Hearer in which declarative sentences are used

most frequently. Halliday also further explained that in the act of

speaking, the most fundamental types of statements and questions,

which involves exchanges of information are called “propositions”. This

implies that the Speaker’s main proposition towards the Hearer is to give

information about her personal thoughts, beliefs or experiences.

Phase Three: The Analysis of Modality present in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s Song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

In this section, the researchers identified the common modality

type through the modals present in the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take

the Wheel." According to Halliday (2000), as cited by Ye, modality refers

to the space between "yes" and "no," showing the speaker’s judgments of

the probabilities or the obligations involved in what he is saying.

According to Halliday’s model of functional linguistics, there are two

types of modality: modalization and modulation. Modalization appears in

 81

commands which are concerned with various degrees of obligation,

which consist of command and offer. Modulation appears in offers which

are concerned with the listener’s wish to fulfil this obligation, which

consists of likelihood and usuality.

The following table displays the types of modality present in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." It is also

important to take note that the lines that repeat or have the same

sentences or statements from the lyrics of the song were grouped into

one row.

Table 10.A The Types of Modality present in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
TYPES OF MODALITY
Line Stanz Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the
Modals Modalization Modulation
a Wheel”
Command Offer Likelihood Usuality
4 1 had
It'd been a long, hard year 
been
5 1 She had a lot on her mind,
Had 
and she didn't pay attention
14, 2, 4 'Cause I can't do this on my
can’t 
30 own
25 3 have
I've been living my life 
been
26 3 I know I've got to change have to 
Table 10.A shows the result of an analysis for the common

modality type found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus,

Take the Wheel." Modals such as "can’t" and "have to" are auxiliary verbs

that were identified to determine the common modality in the lyrics of

the song. The modal "can’t" suggests a function as an "ability," which can

be seen in lines 14 of the second stanza and 30 of the fourth stanza. The

"ability" function falls into the likelihood category under the modulation
 82

type. In addition, "had been" in line 4 and "had" and line 5 of the first

stanza, and "have been" in line 25 of the third stanza commonly suggest

a function of "frequency," which falls in the category of usuality under the

modulation. Meanwhile, a modal "have to" implies a function, as

"necessity," found on line 26 of the third stanza, falls under the category

of command, which is under the modalization.

The table below displays the frequency distribution of modality

found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 10.B The Frequency Distribution of Modality found in

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
TYPES OF MODALITY
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Modalization Modulation TOTAL
Command Offer Likelihood Usuality
Frequency 1 0 2 3 6
Percentage (%) 17% 0% 33% 50% 100%
As shown in Table 10. B, there are a total of six modals that were

found in the lyrics of the song, where five of these modals belong to

modulation and only one to modalization. Under modalization, a modal

that belongs to the category of command has a 17%. Meanwhile, under

modulation, there are two modals that belong to the category of likelihood

that took 33% and three modals that belong to the category of usuality

that had 50%. Modals under modulation have a total of 83% combined.

Thus, modulation is the common type of modality found in the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

This implies that the commodity being exchanged in the lyrics of

the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is information. Since most of the

clauses express likelihood, how true the information is, and usuality,
 83

how frequently the information is true, which are both under the

modality type of "modulation" and typically realized through modal verbs

as finites (Ye, 2010).

Phase Four: The Analysis of Polarity present in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s Song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

In this section, the researchers identified the common polarity

through the modals of each line found in the lyrics of the song "Jesus,

Take the Wheel." Liping (2017) stated that polarity refers to the negative

and positive clauses or sentences that are labelled depending on their

structure or context. It is mainly expressed through the finite, indicated

by a modal. Although it may also be expressed through other elements

such as mood adjuncts, subject, complement, etc., especially when it is

negative polarity. The word "not" or, more commonly, the contractions "-

n't" or "ain't" attached to the Finite to express Negative Polarity are

included in the Mood.

The following table shows the types of polarity found in the lyrics

of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." It is also important

to take note that the lines that repeat or have the same sentences or

statements from the lyrics of the song were grouped into one row.

Table 11.A The Polarity found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
Stanz POLARITY
Line Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Modals
a Positive Negative
4 1 It'd been a long, hard year had been 
5 1 She had a lot on her mind, and she didn't
had 
pay attention
14, 2, 4 'Cause I can't do this on my own can’t 
 84

30
25 3 have
I've been living my life 
been
26 3 I know I've got to change have to 
Table 11.A shows the result of the analysis of the common polarity

found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

Modals such as "had been," "had", "can't," "have been," and "have to" are

identified to determine the common polarity in the lyrics of the song.

Lines 4 and 5 of the first stanza, 25 of the third stanza, and 26 of the

third stanza have modals considered as positive polarity. On the other

hand, lines 14 of the second stanza and 30 of the fourth stanza have

modals considered to have negative polarity.

The table below shows the frequency distribution of polarity in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 11.B The Frequency Distribution of Polarity found

in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
POLARITY
Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” TOTAL
Positive Negative
Frequency 4 2 6
Percentage (%) 60% 40% 100%
Generally, among the six modals that are found in the lyrics of the

song, four of these were identified as having positive polarity, which

include "had been," "had been," "have been," and "have to," while two of

these specifically "can't," which is the only modal considered to have

negative polarity. The positive polarity has 60%, while the negative

polarity has a percentage of 40%. Henceforth, positive polarity is

commonly found in the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by

Carrie Underwood.
 85

The analysis revealed that positive polarity is commonly found in

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

According to Halliday and Matthiessen (p.116), polarity is one way that

allows speech functions to be arguable in terms of exchange by setting

up an opposition between "yes" and "no": "either" is" or "isn’t"

(proposition), or "do" or "don’t" (proposal). Positive finite can mark that

the polarity of a clause is assertive (representatives). The negative mark

that shows in finite will influence the polarity. As cited in the study of

Sholihah (2020), Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) explain that if the

negative word is part of some element in the residue, the clause itself

may be positive.

This implies that teachers can anchor these positive polarity

clauses in teaching, specifically as representatives, as a type of speech

act that states whether the speaker’s argument is true or false. These

include arguing, asserting, boasting, claiming, complaining, criticizing,

denying, describing, informing, insisting, reporting, suggesting, swearing,

etc. Fahrurrozi, 2015).

Phase Five: The Analysis of Speech Acts found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s Song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

In this section, the researchers identified the speech acts that are

drawn from the interpersonal elements—subject, finite, predicator,

complement, and adjuncts—found in the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take

the Wheel." According to Searle (1976), speech acts can be categorized

 86

according to their illocutionary force or the intended meaning that the

speaker tries to convey. Searle created five categories of speech acts,

such as representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, and

declarations.

The first category is any act of speech that commits the speaker to

stating the truth or a fact and is referred to as a Representatives.

Utterances that assert, suggest, conclude, or describe something are

examples of this type of speech act. The second category in Searle’s

taxonomy is Directives, which are speech acts that get the hearer to do

something. With a directive, the speaker is attempting to get the world to

fit their words. Commanding, advising, and challenging are some

examples of directives. Commissives are the third category of speech

acts, and they are defined as speaker utterances that commit to a future

action, such as making a promise to the hearer. Pledging, vowing,

threatening, or making an offer are also considered commissives. The

fourth category of speech acts is Declarations. A declaration is an

utterance that changes or alters the condition of something. Often,

declarations are associated with authorities or institutions. Hiring, firing,

or resigning from a job, marrying, naming a newborn baby, or

christening a boat are all instances of declarations. The fifth category of

speech acts, according to Searle, is Expressives. Expressive speech acts

are utterances that express a psychological state of being. The psycho-

emotional state of the speaker is what drives the expressive utterance.

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The need to make amends, express regret, apologize for a mistake, show

gratitude, greet or welcome someone, or congratulate a hearer on a job

well done are examples of conditions that prompt expressive speech acts.

In relation to this, through the interpersonal elements that were

analyzed in the first phase of analysis, pragmatic imports that are

composed of the two concepts—felicity conditions and illocutionary acts

—were also identified. Yule (1996) states that An Illocutionary Act is a

way of using language, and its performance is the performance of an act

in saying something, as opposed to the performance of an act in saying

something. It corresponds to the force that an utterance like it has in a

particular context: order, request, entreaty, or challenge. Illocutionary

acts are analyzed based on Searle’s different classifications of speech

acts, such as representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, and

declarations. Meanwhile, Felicity Conditions refer to certain conditions

that must be in place and the criteria that must be satisfied for a speech

act to achieve its purpose (Nordquist, 2019). Felicity conditions are

classified as propositional content, preparatory, sincerity, and essential.

Searle (1969) has set some more detailed rules concerning the

felicity condition for each illocutionary act. In his accordance, several

conditions have to be fulfilled for a sentence to be felicitous. These rules

are mostly regarding the psychological and religious beliefs of the

speaker or hearer, and each one of them has to be fulfilled in order to

create a felicitous act. These rules are prepositional content, preparatory

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condition, sincerity condition, and essential condition as explained in the

following:

The Propositional Content Conditions explain the illocutionary

forces that specify the acceptable conditions regarding propositional

content. In other words, it is the proposed condition of the speaker or

hearer. As stated by Huang (2007), the propositional content of a

promise, for example, is to predicate some act of the addresser, but in

the case of a request, it is to predicate some future act of the listener.

Preparatory Conditions indicate what the speaker implies in the

performance of the act. They "state the real-world prerequisites for the

speech act." In an attempt to conduct a felicitous illocutionary act, the

speaker has to have certain beliefs about the speaker's act and

conditions, and also, the speaker is required to have the power of

authority over the hearer. For example, a promise has two preparatory

conditions: the listener prefers the act to be achieved, the speaker

realizes this, and it is clear to both the speaker and hearer that the

action of a promise will not be achieved in the normal course of action

(ibid.). That is to say, a speaker cannot promise to do something he

would be expected to do in any way.

Sincerity Conditions reflect what the speaker intends, believes, and

desires in the performance of the act (Huang, 2007). In performing a

felicitous act, the performer must have a certain psychological attitude

concerning the propositional content of the utterance. For example, when

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a person makes a promise, he/she must have the intention of keeping it

(Searle, 1969).

The Essential Conditions of an utterance has to do with its

intention to get the hearer to perform the intended act. They delimit the

achieved act in the sense that the addresser has the purpose of having

his utterance taken as the identifiable act and the hearer should know

that intention (ibid.). For example, in making a promise, request, etc.,

the speaker intends for the utterance to count as a promise, request, etc.

The analysis of these concepts is shown in the table below.

Table 12.A Interpersonal Elements and Pragmatic Imports found

in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
Interpersonal Elements
Pragmatic Imports
(from the Lyrics of Jesus Take the Wheel)

Illocutionary Felicity
Line Stanza Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjuncts
Acts Conditions
on her way
last
1 1 She Was Driving to Representative Preparatory
Friday
Cincinnati
On snow
white
1 1 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Representative Preparatory
Christmas
Eve
to see her
2 1 Ɵ Ɵ Going mama and Home Representative Preparatory
her daddy
the in the
2 1 Ɵ Ɵ With Representative Preparatory
baby backseat
Fifty
low on faith
3 1 she Was Running miles to Representative Preparatory
and gasoline
go, and
had a long, hard
4 1 It Ɵ Ɵ Representative Preparatory
been year
a lot on her
5 1 She Had Ɵ And Representative Preparatory
mind
5 1 Ɵ didn’t Pay attention Ɵ Representative Preparatory

6 1 She Was Going way too fast Ɵ Representative Preparatory

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7 1 she Ɵ Knew It Before Representative Preparatory

on a thin
7 1 She was spinning black sheet Ɵ Representative Preparatory
of glass
both their
lives flash
8 1 She Ɵ saw Ɵ Representative Preparatory
before her
eyes
didn’t
9 1 She Ɵ time to cry even Representative Preparatory
have
10 1 She Was Scared Ɵ So Representative Preparatory
her hands
11 1 She Ɵ Threw Ɵ Representative Preparatory
up in the air
12,
18, 2, 2,
Jesus Ɵ Take the wheel Ɵ Directive Preparatory
28, 4, 5
39
13, from my
2, 4 it Ɵ Take Ɵ Directive Preparatory
29 hands
14, this on my
2, 4 I can’t do ‘Cause Representative Sincerity
30 own
15,
2, 4 I am letting go Ɵ Declaration Essential
31
16,
2, 4, one more
32, me Ɵ Give So Directive Preparatory
5 chance
36
17, from this
2, 4 me, Ɵ Save And Directive Preparatory
33 road I’m on
19 3 It was getting colder still Representative Preparatory
it to the
19 3 she Ɵ Made When Representative Preparatory
shoulder
20 3 the car Ɵ Came to a stop And Representative Preparatory

21 3 She Ɵ Cried Ɵ Ɵ Representative Preparatory

that baby in
21 3 she Ɵ Saw When Representative Preparatory
the backseat
21 3 Ɵ Ɵ Sleeping like a rock Ɵ Representative Preparatory
for the first
Propositional
22 3 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ time in a And Representative
Content
long time
her head to
23 3 She Ɵ Bowed Ɵ Representative Preparatory
pray
24 3 She Ɵ said Ɵ Ɵ Representative Preparatory

24 3 I Am sorry for the way Ɵ Expressive Sincerity

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have
25 3 I living my life Ɵ Expressive Sincerity
been
26 3 I Ɵ know Ɵ Ɵ Commissive Preparatory

26 3 I Have Got to change Ɵ Commissive Preparatory

from now
27 3 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ So Declaration Essential
on, tonight
34 Ɵ Jesus Ɵ Take the wheel Oh Directive Preparatory

35 5 I am letting go Oh Declaration Essential

from this
37 5 me Ɵ Save I’m on Directive Preparatory
road
From this Propositional
38 5 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ I’m on Representative
road Content
40 5 it Ɵ Take from me Oh Directive Preparatory
Oh, why,
41 5 Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Ɵ Representative Essential
ooh
Representatives are those types of speech acts that represent what

a speaker believes and does not believe. They were expressed in a form of

a statement that asserts or describes something. Table 12.A shows that

these acts appeared in lines 1 to 11 of the first stanza, and 19 to 21, 23

and 24 of the third stanza with preparatory conditions. For instance, a

statement “Going home to see her mama and her daddy” with an

illocutionary force of asserting which portrays that the Speaker has

evidence (reasons) for the truth of her proposition. On the other hand,

line 22 of the third stanza, and line 38 of the fifth stanza are

representatives with propositional conditions. The statement “And for the

first time in a long time” signifies a proposition. Line 41 of the fifth stanza

has an illocutionary act of representative with essential conditions. The

statement “Oh, why, ooh” counts as an attempt to elicit this information.

Representatives with sincerity conditions appeared in lines 14 of the

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second stanza and 30 of the fourth stanza. The statement “Cause I can’t

do this on my own” means that the Speaker believes with her proposition.

Directives, on the other hand, are speech acts used by the speaker

to persuade the listener to do something. For instance, they were

expressed in the lyrics of the song through a form of asking or

requesting, which can be found on lines 12, 13, and 16 to 18 of the

second stanza, 28, 29, 32, and 33 of the fourth stanza, 34, and 36, 37,

39, and 40 of the fifth stanza, are directives with preparatory conditions.

On the statement, “Jesus, take the wheel” foretells that the Speaker has

a right to tell Hearer to do the action.

The third one is declarations, which refers to the utterance that

changes or alters the condition of something. In this study, they

appeared in lines 15 of the second stanza, 27 of the third stanza, 31 of

the fourth stanza, and 35 of the fifth stanza are declarations with

essential conditions. The statement, “I am letting go” counts as an

undertaking to the effect that propositions represents an actual state of

affairs.

Expressives are those kinds of speech acts which express the

speaker’s feelings or psychological state. The types of expressive found in

this study suggests an illocutionary force in the form of apology, which

are found in lines 24 and 25 of the third stanza with sincerity conditions.

The statement, “I am sorry for the way I have been living my life” entails
 93

that the Speaker was remorseful for the things she did concerning with

the propositional content of her utterance.

Lastly, commissives are the kinds of speech acts performed by

speakers to commit themselves to future actions. The illocutionary force

of commissives found in this study was promising, which appeared in

line 26 of the third stanza with preparatory conditions. The statement, “I

know I’ve got to change” conveys an idea that the Speaker believes

Hearer wants an action to be done for he will also benefit from it.

All of these illocutionary acts and felicity conditions found in this

study are summarized in the table below.

Table 12.B The Frequency of Illocutionary Acts found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
No. Illocutionary Acts Frequencies Percentage
1. Representatives 28 57%
2. Directives 14 29%
3. Commissives 1 2%
4. Expressives 2 4%
5. Declarations 4 8%
TOTAL 49 100%
Table 12.B shows the summary of different illocutionary acts that

are found in the lyrics of "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which are indicated

through frequencies and percentages. The total number of illocutionary

acts is placed at the bottom part of the table. As shown above,

representatives have the highest frequency of 28 which represent 57% of

the illocutionary acts found in the lyrics of the song. Directive speech

acts occupied the second place among the other types. They appeared in

fourteen utterances representing 29% out of the total utterances. Then,

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declarations, which have occurred in four instances which represent the

8% of the total utterances. Meanwhile, expressives has two utterances

which represent the 4% of total utterances. The least illocutionary act

produced by the speaker of the song was commissives. This kind of

illocutionary act has only one utterance interpreted as 2% of the total

utterances.

Illocutionary acts also have their corresponding felicity conditions.

The table below summarizes the total of felicity conditions found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 12.C The Frequency of Felicity Conditions found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
No. Felicity Conditions Frequencies Percentage
1. Propositional Content Conditions 2 4%
2. Preparatory Conditions 39 80%
3. Sincerity Conditions 4 8%
4. Essential Conditions 4 8%
TOTAL 49 100%
Table 12.C shows the summary of different felicity conditions that

are found in the lyrics of "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which are indicated

through frequencies and percentages. The total number of felicity

conditions is placed at the bottom part of the table. As shown above,

Preparatory Conditions have the highest frequency of 39 which represent

80% of the felicity conditions found in the lyrics of the song. Sincerity

Conditions and Essential Conditions occupied the second spot with both

of them have a frequency of 4 which represents 8% of the total felicity

conditions found in this study. Meanwhile, there are two utterances

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produced by a speaker that suggest a Propositional Content Conditions,

which is interpreted as 4% of the total utterances.

Generally, 49 illocutionary acts are found in the lyrics of a song.

The table points out that the production of representatives is revealed as

the dominant speech act having the highest significance performed by

the speaker of the song, with 28 instances, which represents 57% of the

total number of utterances. Searle (1976), stated that representatives are

acts of speech that commit the speaker to stating the truth or a fact. On

the other hand, preparatory conditions have the highest frequency of 39,

which represents 80% of the felicity conditions found in the lyrics of the

song. Searle (1969) states that preparatory conditions indicate what the

speaker implies in the performance of the act. They "state the real-world

prerequisites for the speech act." Therefore, it implies that the speaker of

the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" generally used these kinds of

utterances to express the truth or reality by narrating a story about her

experiences and describing how things transpired at a certain point in

her life. At the same time, as revealed by her utterance intentions, it can

be argued that it is critical for her to have the authority or power to

engage the hearer by asking him to do what she wants. The lyrics of the

song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" can be utilized as a learning material for a

specific strategy that demonstrates representative illocutionary acts and

preparatory felicity conditions for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

Phase Six: The Analysis of the Readability of the Text.

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In this section, the researchers determined the readability of the

text using the Flesch Reading Ease Score formula before recommending

the strategies to the teaching of pragmatic imports will be applied.

Solving of Flesch Reading Ease Score. The following data shown below

was the result for determining the readability of the using the Flesch

Reading Ease Score formula.

206.835−1.015 ( totaltotalsentences
words
)−84.6 ( total
total words )
syllables

The lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” has

294 total words, 41 total sentences and 333 total syllables. The solving

process of readability test is shown below.

206.835−1.015 ( 294
41 ) −84.6 (
294 )
333

206.835−7.278−95.822

103.735

Interpretation of Flesch Reading Ease Score. The Reading Ease Score

for the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," was

equal to 103.735, whereas according to the Flesch-Kincaid Reading

Score Scale as presented in the table below, it indicates that the text is

readable and can be easily understood by an average 11-year-old

student.

Table 13. Flesch Reading Score Scale (Flesch 1948)

Score Notes
90-100 very easy to read, easily understood by an average 11-year-old
student
80-90 easy to read
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70-80 fairly easy to read

60-70 easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students
50-60 fairly difficult to read
30-50 difficult to read, best understood by college graduates
0-30 very difficult to read, best understood by university graduates

Phase Seven: Identification of Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic

Imports.

In this section, the researchers employed discourse analysis to

determine the strategies for teaching pragmatic imports. Based on the

previous analysis of speech acts, felicity conditions were identified from

the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which are the preparatory,

propositional content, content, sincerity, and essential.

Then, the researchers determined the appropriate discourse

analysis activities or strategies which are Celce-Murcia et al. "Suggested

Components for Actional Competence" consist of interpersonal exchange,

information, opinions, feelings, suasion, problems, and future scenarios

for knowledge of language functions and Margo Milleret’s "Proposed

Speech Act Performances" consist of requests, apologies, compliments,

refusals, thanks, and complaints for knowledge of speech act sets

according to the specified felicity conditions as for the teaching of

pragmatic imports.

Celce-Murcia et. al. (1995:17) stated that actional competence is

defined as competence in conveying and understanding communicative

intent, that is, matching actional intent with linguistic form based on the
 98

knowledge of an inventory of verbal schemata that carry illocutionary

force (speech acts and speech act sets).

The suggested components of actional competence proposed by

Celce-Murcia, et. al. (1995) are divided into two main components,

knowledge of language functions and knowledge of speech act sets.

The further explanation about the two main components of

actional competence that will be the basis for determining the discourse

analysis activities with the knowledge of language functions and the

knowledge of speech act sets to teaching pragmatic imports are

illustrated and elaborated on the table as follows:

Table 14. Suggested Components of Actional

Competence (Celce-Murcia, et. al 1995)
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KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

INTERPERSONAL EXCHANGE
 Greeting and leave taking
 Making introductions
 Identifying oneself
 Extending, accepting and declining invitations and offers
 Making and breaking engagements
 Expressing and acknowledging gratitude
 Complimenting and congratulating
 Reacting to the interlocutor's speech showing attention, interest,
surprise, sympathy, happiness, disbelief, disappointment
INFORMATION
 Asking for and giving information
 Reporting (describing and narrating)
 Remembering
 Explaining and discussing

OPINIONS
 Expressing and finding out about opinions and attitudes
 Agreeing and disagreeing
 Approving and disapproving
 Showing satisfaction and dissatisfaction
FEELINGS
 Expressing and finding out about feelings
love, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anxiety, anger,
embarrassment, pain, relief, fear, annoyance, surprise, etc.
SUASION
 Suggesting, requesting and instructing
 Giving orders, advising and warning
 Persuading, encouraging and discouraging
 Asking for, granting and withholding permission
PROBLEMS
 Complaining and criticizing
 Blaming and accusing
 Admitting and denying
 Regretting
 Apologizing and forgiving
FUTURE SCENARIOS
 Expressing and finding out about wishes, hopes, and desires
 Expressing and eliciting plans, goals, and intentions
 Promising
 Predicting and speculating
 Discussing possibilities and capabilities of doing something
KNOWLEDGE OF SPEECH ACT SETS

Table 14. categorizes language functions according to seven keys

areas: interpersonal exchange, information, opinions, feelings, suasion,

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problems and future scenarios. a) Interpersonal Exchange consists of (1)

greeting and leave taking, (2) Making introductions and identifying

oneself, (3) extending, accepting and declining invitations and offers (4)

making and breaking agreements, (5) complementing and congratulating,

and (6) reacting to interlocutor’s speech, for example: showing attention,

interest, surprise, sympathy, happiness, disbelief, disappointment. b)

Information consists of (1) asking for and giving information, (2)

reporting (describing and narrating), (3) remembering and (4) explaining

and discussing. c) Opinions consists of (1) Expressing and finding out

about opinions and attitudes, (2) Agreeing and disagreeing, (3) Approving

and disapproving, and (4) Showing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. d)

Feelings consist of expressing and finding out about feelings, for

example: love, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anxiety, anger, pain, relief,

annoyance, surprise, etc. e) Suasion consists of (1) suggesting,

requesting and instructing, (2) giving orders, advising and warning, (3)

persuading, encouraging and discouraging and (4) asking for, granting

and withholding permission. f) Problems consist of (1) complaining and

criticizing, (2) blaming and accusing, (3) admitting and denying, (4)

regretting and (5) apologizing and forgiving. g) Future Scenarios consist

of (1) expressing and finding out about wishes, hopes, and desires, (2)

expressing and eliciting plans, goals, and intentions, (3) promising, (4)

predicting and speculating and (5) discussing possibilities and

capabilities of doing something.

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They intend it to serve as helpful organizational construct and

practical guide for teachers, materials writers, and those designing

classroom language tests. And then, in order to be able to use language

functions in context, language learners need to be familiar with how

individual speech acts are integrated into the higher levels of the

communication system. Actional competence also involves knowledge of

how speech acts and language functions can be patterned and

sequenced in real-life situations.

The table below shows the discourse analysis activities to develop

actional competence specifically for the knowledge of language functions

of the learners. These activities or strategies to teaching pragmatic

imports were identified through the felicity conditions of every lines in

the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 15.A Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis Activities

to Teaching Pragmatic Imports with an Actional Competence
for the Knowledge of Language Functions
Pragmatic Imports
Line Stanza Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Discourse
Felicity
Analysis
Conditions
Activities
She was driving last Friday on her
1 1 way to Cincinnati on a snow white Preparatory Information
Christmas Eve
Going home to see her mama and her
2 1 Preparatory Information
daddy with the baby in the backseat
Fifty miles to go, and she was
3 1 Preparatory Information
running low on faith and gasoline
4 1 It'd been a long, hard year Preparatory Information
She had a lot on her mind, and she
5 1 Preparatory Information
didn't pay attention
6 1 She was going way too fast Preparatory Information
Before she knew it she was spinning
7 1 Preparatory Information
on a thin black sheet of glass
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She saw both their lives flash before

8 1 Preparatory Information
her eyes
9 1 She didn't even have time to cry Preparatory Information
10 1 She was so scared Preparatory Information
11 1 She threw her hands up in the air Preparatory Information
12, 18, 2, 2, 4,
"Jesus, take the wheel Preparatory Suasion
28, 39 5
13, 29 2, 4 Take it from my hands Preparatory Suasion
14, 30 2, 4 'Cause I can't do this on my own Sincerity Problems
15, 31 2, 4 I'm letting go Essential Feelings
16, 32,
2, 4, 5 So give me one more chance Preparatory Suasion
36
17, 33 2, 4 And save me from this road I'm on Preparatory Suasion
It was still getting colder when she
19 3 Preparatory Information
made it to the shoulder
20 3 And the car came to a stop Preparatory Information
She cried when she saw that baby in
21 3 Preparatory Information
the backseat sleeping like a rock
Propositional
22 3 And for the first time in a long time Future Scenarios
Content
23 3 She bowed her head to pray Preparatory Information
24 3 She said, "I'm sorry for the way Sincerity Problems
25 3 I've been living my life Sincerity Problems
26 3 I know I've got to change Preparatory Future Scenarios
27 3 So from now on, tonight" Essential Future Scenarios
34 Ɵ Oh, Jesus, take the wheel Preparatory Suasion
35 5 Oh, I'm letting go Essential Feelings
37 5 Save me from this road I'm on Preparatory Suasion
Propositional
38 5 From this road I'm on Information
Content
40 5 Oh, take it from me Preparatory Suasion
41 5 Oh, why, ooh Essential Information
Table 15.A displays the identified components for actional

competence with the knowledge of language functions suggested by

Celce-Murcia, et. al. (1995) as discourse analysis activities to teaching

pragmatic imports that were determined through the felicity conditions

from the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. The

use of information for the knowledge of language function involves (1)

asking for and giving information, (2) reporting (describing and

narrating), (3) remembering and (4) explaining and discussing (ibid). For
 103

instance, a statement in Line 7 of the first stanza, “Before she knew it

she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass” indicates that the

speaker is giving us an information about what happened to persona in

the song. It was also realized in lines 8 and 9 of the first stanza, and 38

of the fifth stanza of the song. On the contrary, the statement in Line 41

of the fifth stanza “Oh, why, ooh” signifies that the speaker is also asking

for an information from the hearer.

Furthermore, Line 1 of the first stanza, “She was driving last

Friday on her way to Cincinnati on a snow white Christmas Eve” suggests

that the speaker is narrating or describing the situation that happened

in the song. This aspect was also revealed in lines 3, 5, 6, 10 and 11 of

the first stanza, and 19, 20 and 21 of the third stanza of the song. In

relation to this, Line 4 of the first stanza carries a statement “It'd been a

long, hard year” which signifies that the speaker is actually remembering

and describing how the events happened in the past. Aside of that, Line

2 of the first stanza, “Going home to see her mama and her daddy with

the baby in the backseat” and Line 23 of the third stanza, “She bowed

her head to pray” also involves explaining and discussing the persona’s

purpose of doing a certain action. Generally, the component of

information appeared in lines 1 to 11 of the first stanza, 19, 20, 21, and

23 of the second stanza, 38 and 41 of the fifth stanza of the song.

Suasion is also one of the suggested components for actional

competence which consists of statements that gives order (Celce-Murcia,

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et. al). Particularly, the statement "Jesus, take the wheel” in lines 12, 18

of the second stanza, 28 of the fourth stanza, 39 of the fifth stanza

suggest that the speaker is giving an order to the hearer to do something.

This aspect of using the verb “take” signifies as a form of order which

was also observed in lines 13 of the second stanza and 29 of the fourth

stanza, 34, and 40 of the fifth stanza of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus,

Take the Wheel”. Another aspect of suasion was depicted along the lines

of the song, namely lines 16 of the second stanza, 32 of the fourth

stanza, and 36 of the fifth stanza. For instance, the statement “So give

me one more chance” which is common from these lines reveals that the

speaker is persuading and encouraging the hearer to do something to

her. It was also realized on lines 17 in the second stanza, 33 in the

fourth stanza, and 37 in the fifth stanza of the song.

Celce-Murcia, et.al (1995) suggested Problems as one of the

components for actional competence which consists of (1) complaining

and criticizing, (2) blaming and accusing, (3) admitting and denying, (4)

regretting and (5) apologizing and forgiving. For instance, lines 14 of the

second stanza and 30 of the fourth stanza share a statement, “Cause I

can't do this on my own” which suggests that the speaker is admitting of

her weakness of being not able to make it by herself. Line 24 and 25 in

the 3rd stanza of the song have statements which are related to each

other. If these statements are merged, these can be read as “She said, “I

am sorry for the way I’ve been living my life”. This gives us an idea that
 105

the persona of the song was apologizing to somebody for the way she had

been living her life.

Expressing for the way we feels on something is one of the key

functions of language in our daily basis. It could also be the reason for

using of Feelings as one of the suggested components for actional

competence proposed by Celce-Murcia, et.al (1995).

Feelings consist of expressing and finding out about feelings, for

example: love, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anxiety, anger, pain, relief,

annoyance, surprise, etc. In the same manner, the statement “I’m letting

go” in lines 15 of the second stanza, 31 of the fourth stanza, and 35 of

the fifth stanza of the Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”

gives us an impression that the speaker is provides us a meaning and

surrendering from whatever hardships that she had on that particular

moment of her life.

On the other hand, the table above also shows that Future

Scenarios is also one of the identified components for actional

competence with the knowledge of language function from the lyrics of

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. It consists of (1)

expressing and finding out about wishes, hopes, and desires, (2)

expressing and eliciting plans, goals, and intentions, (3) promising, (4)

predicting and speculating and (5) discussing possibilities and

capabilities of doing something (Celce-Murcia, et. al.,1995). For instance,

line 22 of the third stanza provides a statement “And for the first time in
 106

a long time” which can be viewed that the speaker is finding out hope

and anticipating for something to happen in the future. At the same

time, statements like "I know I've had to change" in line 26 of the third

stanza and "So from now on, tonight" in line 27 of the third stanza give us

the idea that the speaker is expressing and evoking plans to do

something better or to improve herself.

The notion of a speech act is fairly well understood. Searle and

Bierswisch (1980) state that the theory of speech act starts with the

assumption that the minimal unit of human communication is not a

sentence or other expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds

of acts, such as making statement, asking questions, giving orders,

describing, explaining, apologizing, thanking, congratulating, etc.

The goal of pragmatics teaching is to help students learn socially

appropriate language for the situations they encounter. Pragmatics

lessons are sometimes (but not always) taught using speech act sets. A

speech act set is a set of possible strategies for use in a particular

language function.

Milleret (2007) had formulated strategies for speech act

performances. These are scenarios that would proposed activities on the

teaching of pragmatic imports which are listed below.

On the Teaching of Requests

According to Bach and Harnish (1984), request is a speech act

which is used to express the speaker’s desire so that the hearer does
 107

what the speaker wants. Additionally. Trosborg (1995) stated that a

request is an illocutionary act in which a speaker requester conveys to

hearer requestee that he or she wants the hearer to perform a certain act

which is beneficial to the speaker.

1. Last week, you were sick and missed two class lectures for your

history course. Since the exam is drawing near, you need to get the

class notes from a classmate. Who do you choose and what do you

say?

2. You are about to enter a music concert hall for a performance

with a good friend. Just before buying a ticket, you realize that you

are a bit short of money and you ask your friend to help you buy

the ticket.

On the Teaching of Apologies

In apologizing, the speaker recognizes the infraction or offense

caused through his/her fault and attempts to repair the relationship

with the hearer. The situation may be fairly tense if the infraction is large

or if the hearer is in a more powerful position on the social scale than

you are.

1. You have stayed out late with some friends. As soon as you

return to the apartment, you realize that you have left your keys in

your room and are locked out. You will have to wake up your

roommate in order to get in. You ring the doorbell several times

and finally she answers. What do you say?

 108

2. The bus is very crowded and as you attempt to get off you step

on several people’s feet and bump into others. What do you say?

3. You call to a friend’s house late at night and his mother

answers the phone. How do you tell her you are sorry for waking

her up?

On the Teaching of Compliments

Compliments are expressions of positive evaluation that commonly

occur in everyday conversational encounters among interlocutors of

equal or higher status. A compliment may be used to open a

conversation or to smooth conversational interaction by reinforcing the

links of solidarity between the interlocutors. People often compliment

qualities related to personal appearance (e.g., clothes, hair), possessions,

skill, or accomplishments.

1. A close friend of yours, Augusto, is wearing a new T-shirt he

just brought back from his trip to New York during summer

vacation. You notice it immediately. What do you say? (Can you

ask where he bought it? Can you ask how much he paid for it?)

2. Imagine an informal dinner party that a married couple is

having at their home. Supposing that the wife prepared the meal,

how would the husband and the guests compliment her on the

wonderful meal? What do guests say? What does the husband say?

3. When you visit your friend at his apartment, he shows you the

new computer he has just bought. It’s the newest model and very
 109

fast. You are impressed. What do you say?

On the Teaching of Refusals

A refusal can be a response to a request, an invitation, an offer, or

a suggestion addressed to the speaker. What is common to most refusals

is the fact that the speaker is communicating a potentially undesirable

message as far as the hearer is concerned. Unlike accepting an invitation

or complying with a request, refusing one is usually not a pleasant

speech act to perform.

1. Last week, the instructor for your seminar invited the class to

an informal party to be held two weeks later. A week later she runs

into you on campus, she asks you if you will be able to join them.

You have another party invitation that you have already accepted.

What do you say?

2. You’ve just begun to work part-time. Your boss asks if you can

cover for a co-worker tomorrow who just called in sick with the flu.

In fact, you have a date scheduled for the first time in three weeks.

Will your boy/girlfriend understand? Can you avoid working

tomorrow? What do you say?

3. Several good friends of yours are treating you to dinner for your

birthday. They offer to order you even more food and drink, but

you’ve already had enough. What do you say?

On the Teaching of Thanks

 110

In the thanking situation, there usually is an imbalance in the

relationship between the speaker and the hearer. The speaker owes a

favor to the hearer, as the hearer is doing or has done something for the

benefit of the speaker. By thanking, the speaker expresses his/her

feelings of indebtedness as well as those of thanks.

1. Now imagine that you are a student and a part-time teacher.

This is the end of the semester and you have three important final

exams and a long-term paper to write this week. Due to your bad

planning, you feel swamped. Ask your close friend and fellow

teacher if he can teach for you this week. Your friend is

sympathetic about your situation and accepts your request. You

are really relieved to hear his response and thank him.

2. You and a friend travel to Rio de Janeiro and stay with your

friend’s uncle. He is a retired man who hosts you, feeds you, and

shows you around during your entire stay. As you leave, what

would you say? A month later, the uncle comes to your town and

you see him at your friend’s house. How might you thank him

again for his previous kindness?

On the Teaching of Complaints

A complaint is an expressive speech act that can be expressed

directly or indirectly. An indirect complaint is defined as “the expression

of dissatisfaction to an interlocutor about oneself or someone/something

that is not present” (Boxer, 1996). These are expressions of displeasure,

 111

disapproval, anger, or pain that are designed to evoke a response in the

hearer. The speaker feels a need to change the existing situation either

by addressing the responsible person or by speaking about the offense to

a third party in order to solicit solidarity.

1. Can you return defective merchandise to a store? If so, what do

you say? What can you expect to receive in return, money or a new

item?

2. The bus driver on your route is especially careless today. He is

running red lights, stopping too quickly and not letting passengers

get off the bus safely. What can you do?

3. The food you have been served in an elegant restaurant is cold.

Who do you talk to? What should you say?

The table below shows the discourse analysis activities to develop

actional competence specifically for the knowledge of speech act sets of

the learners. These activities or strategies to teaching pragmatic imports

were identified through the felicity conditions of selected lines in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.

Table 15.B Felicity Conditions and Discourse Analysis Activities to

Teaching Pragmatic Imports with an Actional Competence for the
Knowledge of Speech Act Sets
Pragmatic Imports
Line Stanza Lyrics of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” Discourse
Felicity
Analysis
Conditions
Activities
12, 18, 2, 2, 4,
"Jesus, take the wheel Preparatory Requests
28, 39 5
13, 29 2, 4 Take it from my hands Preparatory Requests
14, 30 2, 4 'Cause I can't do this on my own Sincerity Complaints
15, 31 2, 4 I'm letting go Essential Refusals
 112

16, 32,
2, 4, 5 So give me one more chance Preparatory Requests
36
17, 33 2, 4 And save me from this road I'm on Preparatory Requests
24 3 She said, "I'm sorry for the way Sincerity Apologies
25 3 I've been living my life Sincerity Apologies
34 Ɵ Oh, Jesus, take the wheel Sincerity Requests
35 5 Oh, I'm letting go Essential Refusals
37 5 Save me from this road I'm on Preparatory Requests
40 5 Oh, take it from me Preparatory Requests
Table 15.B displays the appropriate strategies for teaching

pragmatic imports—two concepts under speech acts such as the

illocutionary acts and felicity conditions that were initially explored in

the fifth phase. According to the analysis, the most commonly used

strategy is request. The statement "Jesus, take the wheel" implies that

the speaker is addressing the hearer in the form of a request. They

appeared on lines 12 and 18 of the second stanza, 28 of the fourth

stanza, and 34 and 39 of the fifth stanza with a felicity condition of

preparatory. The same way applies to a statement like "Take it from my

hands," as the verb phrase "take it" signals a function of request. These

are found in lines 13 of the second stanza and 29 of the fourth stanza,

with a felicity condition of preparatory. In addition, verbs like "save" and

"take" that appear in lines 37 and 40 of the fifth stanza also have felicity

conditions of preparatory. A strategy for refusals was also followed with a

high occurrence. The statement "I’m letting go" suggests an act of refusal

to do something, and this was found in lines 15 of the second stanza and

31 and 35 of the fourth stanza with essential felicity conditions. The

third most commonly used strategy is apologies. Lines 24 and 25 of the

third stanza form a statement "I’m sorry for the way I’ve been living my
 113

life." This implies that a speaker is apologizing for doing something that

turned out to be inappropriate or unexpected. Both indicate a sincerity

felicity condition. Complaints are the least applied teaching strategy. A

clause “Cause I can't do this on my own” found in lines 14 of the second

stanza and 30 of the fourth stanza suggests an act of complaining with a

felicity condition of sincerity. The word "can’t" reveals the inability of the

persona in the song to do something.

The analysis revealed that the most frequently identified discourse

analysis strategy for the knowledge of language functions in the lyrics of

the Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” was information

and for the knowledge of speech act sets was request. An information as

a language function affirms or denies propositions, as in science or the

statement of a fact (Madriella.org). Meanwhile, a request is a directive

speech act whose illocutionary purpose is to get the hearer to do

something in circumstances in which it is not obvious that he/she will

perform the action in the normal course of events (Searle 1969). By

initiating a request, the Speaker believes that the Hearer is able to

perform an action. This suggests that the teacher should preferably

incorporate statements from this material into scenarios involving the

use of specific speech functions, at the same time, statements that

represent an act of request for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

 114

Chapter 5

Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

This chapter elaborates on the summary of findings, conclusion,

and recommendations of the research on the Interpersonal Metafunction

Elements of Carrie Underwood’s "Jesus, Take the Wheel": Teaching

Pragmatic Imports. The summary of findings is presented in the order

according to the sequence of the questions raised in this paper.

Conclusions are concerned with the summary of the research findings.

Meanwhile, a recommendation section is presented to offer some

suggestions for linguistic students, teachers, and other researchers.

Summary of Findings

The summary of findings in this study was based on the analysis

of the interpersonal metafunction elements of Carrie Underwood’s song,

"Jesus, Take the Wheel," which focuses on seven points: the analysis of

the mood structures, analysis of mood types, analysis of modality,

analysis of polarity, analysis of speech acts, analysis of readability of the

text, and the identification of strategies to teach pragmatic imports. With

these, the following has been explored:

On the Analysis of the Mood Structures

1. Pronouns such as "she," "I," and "me" are the common

subjects that can be found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which implies

that the speaker in the song is a woman and the one who
 115

narrates the story herself. The singer would become now the

Speaker and the listeners of the songs become now the

Hearers.

2. Modals such as "was," "can't," "had," "didn’t" and "am" are

the finites that are found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s

song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

3. Most of the finite verbs are in the past tense.

4. Non-finites (verbals) in the form of participles are the

common predicators. Present participles include adverbs

such as "driving," "going," "running," "spinning," "letting,"

"getting," "sleeping," and "living," while past participles are

adverbs such as "scared" and "bowed".

5. Complements are most often in the form of noun clauses

and infinitive verbs.

6. A phrase "last Friday” is an adjunct because it was

considered a non-essential part of the clause. However,

similar to the claim of Halliday about adjuncts, it is also a

noun phrase that has the potential to be a subject of the

sentence.

7. The analysis revealed that there are certain lines of the song

that have null results regarding with their mood block

elements. As stated by Marhamah (2014), the mood carries

the interpersonal functions of the clause and consists of

 116

subject and finite which are two crucial clause elements that

allow for all interaction. It simply implies that lacking of

these elements would be a critical issue for identifying the

mood types and speech acts particularly illocutionary acts

and felicity conditions of clauses from the lyrics of the song

which are essential components for the teaching of

pragmatic imports.

On the Analysis of Mood Types

1. Declarative statements express a fact about what a persona

is actually doing.

2. The use of imperatives as a command can indicate that the

Speaker of the song is in a position of greater power than the

Hearer.

3. Declarative clauses roughly dominated 66% of the text.

However, 0%, or there are no interrogative clauses, were

identified.

4. There are fourteen lines, or 34%, that are found as

imperative clauses in the lines of the lyrics of the song.

5. Declarative mood is the most common type of mood that can

be found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus,

Take the Wheel."

6. Matthiessen (1995), states that declarative mood present

both factual and attitudinal opinion. In this case, the

 117

Speaker of the Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the

Wheel”, generally performs the act of stating something to

the Hearers in which declarative sentences are used most

frequently. Halliday also further explained that in the act of

speaking, the most fundamental types of statements and

questions, which involves exchanges of information are

called “propositions”. This implies that the Speaker’s main

proposition towards the Hearers is to give information about

her personal thoughts, beliefs or experiences.

On the Analysis of Modality

1. Modals such as "can’t" and "have to" are auxiliary verbs that

are commonly identified in the lyrics of the song.

2. The modal "can’t" suggests a function as an "ability," which

is a function that falls into the likelihood category under the

modulation type.

3. Modals such as "had been," "had," and "have been"

commonly suggest a function of "frequency," which falls into

the category of usuality under the modulation.

4. A modal "have to" implies a "necessity" function that falls

under the category of command is under the modalization.

5. A total of six modals that were found in the lyrics of the

song, where five of these modals belong to modulation and

only one to modalization.

 118

6. Under modalization, a modal that belongs to the category of

command has a 17%.

7. Under modulation, there are two modals that belong to the

category of likelihood that took 33% and three modals that

belong to the category of usuality that had 50%. Modals

under modulation have a total of 83% combined.

8. Modulation is the common type of modality found in the

lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

9. This implies that the commodity being exchanged in the

lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is information.

Since most of the clauses express likelihood, how true the

information is, and usuality, how frequently the information

is true, which are both under the modality type of

"modulation" and typically realized through modal verbs as

finites (Ye, 2010).

On the Analysis of Polarity

1. Modals such as "had been," "had", "can't," "have been," and

"have to" are identified to determine the common polarity in

the lyrics of the song.

2. Among the six modals that are found in the lyrics of the

song, four of these were identified as positive polarities,

which include "had been," "had", "have been," and "have to."

These covered 60% of the total identified polarities.

 119

3. Two modals of "can't", which are considered negative

polarity, have covered 40% of total identified polarities.

4. Positive polarity is commonly found in the lyrics of the song

"Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood.

5. The analysis revealed that positive polarity is commonly

found in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take

the Wheel." According to Halliday and Matthiessen (p.116),

polarity is one way that allows speech functions to be

arguable in terms of exchange by setting up an opposition

between "yes" and "no": "either" is" or "isn’t" (proposition), or

"do" or "don’t" (proposal). Positive finite can mark that the

polarity of a clause is assertive (representatives). The

negative mark that shows in finite will influence the polarity.

As cited in the study of Sholihah (2020), Halliday &

Matthiessen (2004) explain that if the negative word is part

of some element in the residue, the clause itself may be

positive. It implies that teachers can anchor these positive

polarity clauses in teaching pragmatic imports specifically as

representatives, as a type of speech act that states whether

the speaker’s argument is true or false. These include

arguing, asserting, boasting, claiming, complaining,

criticizing, denying, describing, informing, insisting,

reporting, suggesting, swearing, etc. (Fahrurrozi, 2015).

 120

On the Analysis of Speech Acts

1. Representatives have the highest frequency of 28 which

represent 57% of the illocutionary acts found in the lyrics of

the song.

2. The second highest illocutionary acts found in the lyrics of

the song are directives that appeared in fourteen utterances

representing 29% out of the total utterances.

3. Declarations have occurred in four instances which

represent the 8% of the total utterances.

4. Expressives has two utterances which represent the 4% of

total utterances.

5. The least illocutionary act produced by the speaker of the

song was commissives. This kind of illocutionary act has

only one utterance interpreted as 2% of the total utterances.

6. Preparatory Conditions have the highest frequency of 39

which represent 80% of the felicity conditions found in the

lyrics of the song.

7. Sincerity Conditions and Essential Conditions occupied the

second spot with both of them have a frequency of 4 which

represents 8% of the total felicity conditions found in this

study.

8. Two utterances produced by a speaker that suggest a

Propositional Content Conditions, which is interpreted as 4%

 121

of the total utterances.

9. It implies that the speaker of the song "Jesus, Take the

Wheel" generally used these kinds of utterances to express

the truth or reality by narrating a story about her

experiences and describing how things transpired at a

certain point in her life. At the same time, as revealed by her

utterance intentions, it can be argued that it is critical for

her to have the authority or power to engage the hearer by

asking him to do what she wants. The lyrics of the song

"Jesus, Take the Wheel" can be utilized as a learning

material for a specific strategy that demonstrates

representative illocutionary acts and preparatory felicity

conditions for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

On the Analysis of Readability of the Text

1. The Reading Ease Score of the lyrics to Carrie Underwood’s

song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," was equal to 103.735,

whereas according to the Flesch Reading Score Scale as

presented in the table below, it indicates that the text is

readable and can be easily understood by an average 11-

year-old student.
 122

On the Identification of Strategies to Teaching Pragmatic Imports

1. Requests are the most frequently applied strategy based on

the analysis. The statement "Jesus, take the wheel" implies

that the speaker is addressing the hearer in the form of a

request with a felicity condition of preparatory.

2. A strategy for refusals was also followed with a high

occurrence. The statement "I’m letting go" suggests an act of

refusal to do something, and it has essential felicity

conditions.

3. The third most commonly used strategy is apologies. A

statement like "I’m sorry for the way I’ve been living my life"

implies that a speaker is apologizing for doing something

that turned out to be inappropriate or unexpected, which

has an sincerity felicity condition.

4. Complaints are the least applied teaching strategy. A clause

“Cause I can't do this on my own" suggests an act of

complaining with a felicity condition of sincerity. The word

"can’t" reveals the inability of the persona in the song to do

something.

5. The most frequently identified discourse analysis strategy for

the knowledge of language functions in the lyrics of the

Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” was

information and for the knowledge of speech act sets was

 123

request. An information as a language function affirms or

denies propositions, as in science or the statement of a fact

(Madriella.org). Meanwhile, a request is a directive speech

act whose illocutionary purpose is to get the hearer to do

something in circumstances in which it is not obvious that

he/she will perform the action in the normal course of

events (Searle 1969). By initiating a request, the Speaker

believes that the Hearer is able to perform an action. This

suggests that the teacher should preferably incorporate

statements from this material into scenarios involving the

use of specific speech functions, at the same time,

statements that represent an act of request for the teaching

of pragmatic imports.

Conclusions

The analysis of this study aimed to determine the pragmatic

imports through the application of interpersonal metafunction elements

in the lyrics of Carrie Underwood's song "Jesus, Take the Wheel". The

interpersonal metafunction allows us to interact with people, to create

relationships with people around us, and to express our opinions about

states or events. The elements of interpersonal meaning are expressed in

mood and residue and we also applied the concepts of polarity and

modality.
 124

The outcome of this study will be of use in teaching pragmatic

imports after it is analyzed in seven phases: identifying mood structures,

mood types, common modality and polarity types, types of speech acts,

computing the data using the Flesch Reading Ease score method, and

determining strategies in teaching pragmatic imports according to felicity

conditions.

The mood structures showed that the common subjects found in

the lyrics of the aforementioned song were pronouns which implied that

the speaker/narrator was a woman. The finites were modals such as

"was", "can't", "had", "didn't", and "am" and most of them were in the

past tense. Non-Finites (verbals) in the form of participles were the

common predicators. Complements were most often in the form of noun

clauses and infinitive verbs. A phrase "last Friday” is an adjunct because

it was considered a non-essential part of the clause. However, similar to

the claim of Halliday about adjuncts, it is also a noun phrase that has

the potential to be a subject of the sentence.

Among the mood types that were used in the lyrics of the song,

"Jesus, Take the Wheel", Declarative mood is the most common.

Matthiessen (1995), states that declarative mood present both factual

and attitudinal opinion. In this case, the Speaker of the Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel”, generally performs the act of

stating something to the Hearers in which declarative sentences are used

most frequently. Halliday also further explained that in the act of

 125

speaking, the most fundamental types of statements and questions,

which involves exchanges of information are called “propositions”. This

implies that the Speaker’s main proposition towards the Hearers is to

give information about her personal thoughts, beliefs or experiences.

On the other hand, on the analysis of modality, Modulation is the

most common type found in the song. This implies that the commodity

being exchanged in the lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is

information. Since most of the clauses express likelihood, how true the

information is, and usuality, how frequently the information is true,

which are both under the modality type of "modulation" and typically

realized through modal verbs as finites (Ye, 2010).

Also, positive polarity is commonly found in the song. The analysis

revealed that positive polarity is commonly found in the lyrics of Carrie

Underwood’s song, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." According to Halliday and

Matthiessen (p.116), polarity is one way that allows speech functions to

be arguable in terms of exchange by setting up an opposition between

"yes" and "no": "either" is" or "isn’t" (proposition), or "do" or "don’t"

(proposal). Positive finite can mark that the polarity of a clause is

assertive (representatives). The negative mark that shows in finite will

influence the polarity. As cited in the study of Sholihah (2020), Halliday

& Matthiessen (2004) explain that if the negative word is part of some

element in the residue, the clause itself may be positive. It implies that

teachers can anchor these positive polarity clauses in teaching pragmatic

 126

imports specifically as representatives, as a type of speech act that states

whether the speaker’s argument is true or false. These include arguing,

asserting, boasting, claiming, complaining, criticizing, denying,

describing, informing, insisting, reporting, suggesting, swearing, etc.

(Fahrurrozi, 2015).

There are forty-nine illocutionary acts found and the production of

representatives was revealed as dominant or has the highest significance

performed by the speaker of the song. It implies that the speaker of the

song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" generally used these kinds of utterances to

express the truth or reality by narrating a story about her experiences

and describing how things transpired at a certain point in her life. At the

same time, as revealed by her utterance intentions, it can be argued that

it is critical for her to have the authority or power to engage the hearer by

asking him to do what she wants. The lyrics of the song "Jesus, Take the

Wheel" can be utilized as a learning material for a specific strategy that

demonstrates representative illocutionary acts and preparatory felicity

conditions for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

According to the Flesch Reading Score Scale, the result was equal

to 103.735 which it indicates that the text is readable and can be easily

understood by an average 11-year-old student.

On the identification of strategies to teaching pragmatic imports;

the most frequently identified discourse analysis strategy for the

knowledge of language functions in the lyrics of the Carrie Underwood’s

 127

song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” was information and for the knowledge of

speech act sets was request. An information as a language function

affirms or denies propositions, as in science or the statement of a fact

(Madriella.org). Meanwhile, a request is a directive speech act whose

illocutionary purpose is to get the hearer to do something in

circumstances in which it is not obvious that he/she will perform the

action in the normal course of events (Searle, 1969). By initiating a

request, the Speaker believes that the Hearer is able to perform an

action. This suggests that the teacher should preferably incorporate

statements from this material into scenarios involving the use of specific

speech functions, at the same time, statements that represent an act of

request for the teaching of pragmatic imports.

Recommendations

Interpersonal Metafunction Elements play a big role in the

teaching of pragmatic imports. The purpose of this study is to enlighten

individuals and groups that may benefit the results of the analysis.

Thus, the following individuals and groups may use and value these

claims:

The Language Researchers/Experts. To utilize the results of this study

as their basis for future similar research since the result of the study can

contribute to the foundation of the development of ideas in pragmatics.

The Curriculum Developers. They can create instructional materials for

the teaching of pragmatics.

 128

The Administrators. To construct and implement innovative teaching

aids to help teachers fully supervise the language teaching and learning

processes among learners of the academe. This study will contribute to

academic knowledge, which strengthens the school’s excellence and

reputation in the field of research.

The Language Teachers. To construct and develop new language

teaching strategies and lesson plans in the teaching of pragmatics. This

will be used to provide students with a deeper understanding of

pragmatic import and interpersonal metafunction.

The Language Students. To acquire a better understanding of the

lessons in relation to pragmatics. 

The Songwriters. To use basis of future song compositions in terms of

creating one with the same pragmatic and semantic structure as in the

song "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood.

 129

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Appendix A

Lyrics of the Song

Jesus, Take the Wheel

Written by: Brett James, Gordon Sampson, Hillary Lindsey

Performed by: Carrie Underwood

She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati on a snow white
Christmas Eve
Going home to see her mama and her daddy with the baby in the
backseat
Fifty miles to go, and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It'd been a long, hard year
She had a lot on her mind, and she didn't pay attention
She was going way too fast
Before she knew it, she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was so scared
She threw her hands up in the air

"Jesus, take the wheel

Take it from my hands
'Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel"
 133

It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder

And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock
And for the first time in a long time
She bowed her head to pray
She said, "I'm sorry for the way
I've been living my life
I know I've got to change
So from now on, tonight"

"Jesus, take the wheel

Take it from my hands
'Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I'm on"

Oh, Jesus, take the wheel

Oh, I'm letting go

So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
From this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel
Oh, take it, take it from me
Oh, why, ooh

Source: Musixmatch
 134

Appendix B

Profile of the Artist

Carrie Underwood

Famous as:
American Country music singer

Birth Name:
Carrie Marie Underwood

Birth Date:
March 10, 1983

Birth Place:
Muskogee, Oklahoma

Claim to fame:
Season 4 of American Idol, multi-platinum
debut album Some Heart (2005)

Height:
1.6m

Nationality:
American

Father:
Stephen Underwood
 135

Mother:
Carole Underwood

Sister:
Shanna Underwood and Stephanie Underwood

Spouse:
Mike Fisher

Children:
Jacob Bryan Fisher and Isaiah Michael Fisher

School:
Northeastern State University in tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Source: https://countrystars.live/artists/carrie-underwood
 136

Appendix C
Profile of the Writers:

Brett James, Gordon Sampson, and Hillary Lindsey

Brett James

Famous as:
American country music singer, songwriter

Birth Name:
Brett James Cornelius

Birth Date:
June 5, 1968

Birth Place:
Columbia, Missouri USA

Claim to fame:
Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal
Performance (Country Song) in 2006

Nationality:
American
 137

Father:
Dr. Sam Cornelius

Mother:
Carolyn Cornelius

Spouse:
Sandra Cornelius

School:
Oklahoma University

https://allfamous.org/people/brett-james-19680605.html
 138

Gordon Sampson

Famous as:
Singer

Birth Name:
Gordon Francis Sampson

Birth Date:
July 30, 1971

Birth Place:
Big Pond, Nova Scotia, Canada

Claim to fame:
Sampson has received a Grammy Award,
a Juno Award, two ASCAP Awards

Nationality:
Canadian
 139

Father:
Francis Xavier Sampson

Mother:
Florence Ray

Spouse:
Helen Musial Sampson

Child:
Amelie Sampson

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gordon-sampson-mn0002425467
 140

Hillary Lindsey

Famous as:
American singer-songwriter

Birth Name:
Hillary Lee Lindsey

Birth Date:
1967

Birth Place:
Washington, Georgia, United States

Claim to fame:
Golden Globe that same year for Best Original Song
along with "There's A Place for Us"

Nationality:
American
 141

Father:
Ricky Lindsey

Mother:
Kathy Lindsey

Sister:
Lauren Lindsey Fowler and Taylor Harris Lindsey.

Spouse:
Cary Barlowe

School:
Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School

https://www.bmg.com/de/artist/hillary-lindsey
 142

Appendix D
Profile of the Researchers

The researchers of this study entitled Interpersonal Metafunction

Elements of Carrie Underwood’s, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”: Teaching

Pragmatic Imports are Christine Andrea D. Abao, Eugin B. Demetillo,

Marlo C. Osorio and Shemry Mari Therese E. Soteo of STI West Negros

University, taking Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English,

fourth year level.

Name: Christine Andrea D. Abao

Age: 22 years old
Birthdate: November 13, 1999
Email address: abaochristineandrea@gmail.com

Name: Eugin B. Demetillo

Age: 22 years old
Birthdate: September 19, 1999
Email address: inhugebass@gmail.com

Name: Marlo C. Osorio

Age: 22 years old
Birthdate: August 08, 1999
Email address: mharz.official@gmail.com

Name: Shemry Mari Therese E. Soteo

Age: 22 years old
Birthdate: May 2, 1999
Email address: shemrysoteo21@gmail.com