I will analyse a famous speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. titled “I have a dream.” The speech was delivered by King in 1963, when African Americans were seriously discriminated in the U.S., to a crowd of protestors fighting for equal human rights in Washington D.C. This speech prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act and King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Both the audio file and the transcript of this speech are available on the Internet. I will analyse the transcript provided by AmericanRhetoric.com (see the appendix).

Since the speech is highly contextual, I will use a Critical Approach.

King’s speech is inspirational and motivating. While King addresses the problems of human rights, he is more concerned about how the problems could be corrected. “This raises the important issue of how activists mobilise to give peace a chance, using the discourses of popular culture, where the power to influence masses of people resides (Martin, 2006, p. 178).” Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) would be an appropriate approach to address this issue, because PDA is interested in positive development and what people can do to make the world a better place (Macgilchrist, 2007), which is exactly what King tried to do in the speech.

I will draw on some tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics, because its “rich semantic orientation to text in context across languages and modalities (Martin & Rose, 2005, p. 263)” has close link to PDA and will provide useful insights in this analysis.

I will investigate King’s identities in terms of his nationality, race, and ideology. King switched his identities in the speech to address the same issue from different perspectives. He also covertly used different pronouns to include and/or exclude certain groups of people and thus switched his identities.

King’s national identity in the speech is noticeably ambiguous. To establish himself as a member of the nation while at the same time an individual to fight against the government, King has to assume different yet coherent identities to persuade his audience. The identity change will be a focus in my paper.

From his linguistic features in the speech, we can also recognise his implicit identities such as leader and political activist. It is also worth attention to see how King used metaphors to deliver his political messages, and how he kept a potentially violent event peaceful by changing his own identities.

A provocative speech like “I have a dream” is conspicuously characterised by what Halliday (1994) refers to as elaboration and extension, which can exist in lexical, phrasal, clausal, or sentential levels. Elaboration renders the meaning clearer, “lest there be any doubt about what is being asserted (Martin, 1999, p. 44).” Extension serves to reinforce the message and elicit emotions from the audience. Together, elaboration and extension establish a common goal of the crowd, and, for the purpose of this analysis, King’s identity as a political leader who brings about public actions.

Line 41~45 is a long extension to express determination of the devotees of civil rights. This extension is in the same paragraph, only surrounded by the first and the last sentence of the paragraph. Line 60~69 form an extension that span several paragraphs. In this rather long extension, King used the exclusive pronoun “I” to represent all his comrades. In a sense, King became one of the people he was leading and spoke for the whole crowd. Here King assumed a new identity of a victim of racial discrimination in addition to his presumed identity of a political leader. Some extensions are embedded within other extensions. For example, within the sentential extension in line 71~73, line 73 consists of another extension that exists in a lower linguistic level: the independent clause is followed by four consecutive infinitive phrases. Other extensions include line 5~8, 20~23, 27~29, 52~57, 79~83, 85~88, 91~92, and 93~96.

Like extension, elaboration can also be embedded. Within the elaboration of line 13~14, line 14 consists of another elaboration: “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” Some paragraphs contains more than one elaboration, e.g. in paragraph 4, line 11~12 and line 13~14 are two different elaborations. Some paragraphs contain both extension and elaboration, e.g. in paragraph 6, line 18~19 is an elaboration and line 20~23 is an extension.

The extensions and elaborations were carefully deployed to maximise their effects. From the comparison chart below, we can identify King’s situated identity (Benwell, 2004) as an expert public speaker, which is closely related to his role as a successful political leader. He used predominantly elaboration in the first half of his speech to explain and justify his cause, then in the second half of his speech he switched to the extension strategy to build up solidarity and motivation of the already convinced audience.

To fulfil his category-bound obligations (ibid.), King’s identity as an activist becomes relevant here, because a political leader has to be active in organising and leading public actions. King’s identity of activist emerges at the very beginning of his talk, but it is not until paragraph 6 that this identity becomes prominent. The extension in paragraph 6 is composed of four sentences all with marked themes (Butt et al, 2000) that accentuate the importance of time. Through the use of the marked themes, King showed his aggressiveness of an activist and, speaking as an activist, he let people know the urgency of fighting for equal human rights. Similar technique can be found in paragraph 26. The sentences in paragraph 26 are slightly different from the four in paragraph 6 in that they contain both textual and topical themes (ibid.), but their function to sway public thinking is the same. In paragraph 26, King, who still played an activist, strengthened the confidence of his people again with the use of marked sentence structure, emphasising the power of faith this time.

King adeptly balanced his motivational speech with pacifism in a dramatic transition in paragraph 8 and 9. In paragraph 8, King manifested his pacifist identity by telling people that their protest must not “degenerate into physical violence.” This instruction was supported in paragraph 9 where King took on yet another new identity. We notice that before paragraph 9, King spoke as a leader of black people; he addressed his people explicitly as “citizens of color” and “Negro.” In paragraph 9, King transformed his identity of an ethnic leader to a leader of a national human right campaign: In line 35~36, he demonstrated that not all white people are hostile and further extended the identity of his people and his own from black American to American. Also, through “their destiny is tied up with our destiny” and “their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom,” King merged the identities of black and white people to unite the crowd. Thus King is no longer speaking only to black Americans; he is speaking to all Americans or whomever relates to his idea and is willing to join the action.

King’s pacifist identity is realised in microstructure as well. King avoided blaming anyone for black people’s suffering by using passive or middle voice (Lukin et al, 2004). For example, the passive voice in line 3 (…who had been seared in the flames…) eludes attributing “withering injustice” to anyone; the middle voice in line 16 (…there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity…) transforms the bad situation from the result of human actions into simply a state of the country. When King chose not to leave out the subject, the subject is always a very large and inclusive group so as to avoid hatred among different groups of Americans. For example, in both line 13 and 14, the actors are both America, so the audience do not channel their anger to any particular groups. By means of these techniques, King is able to maintain his seemingly incompatible identities of pacifist and revolutionist at the same time. More importantly, the pacifist identity serves to prevent potential bloodshed.

In terms of King’s American identity, he distinguished himself from the oppressor as the oppressed. This identity of victim is marked in the extension of paragraph 3. Right after this extension began King’s identity as a revolutionist when he said “…to dramatize a shameful condition.” While the identity of victim needed no further explanation in the context of the U.S in 1950’s~1960’s, King had to enhance his revolutionist identity to be a model for his fellows. Many sentences after paragraph 3 could be seen as continuation of King’s revolutionist identity. For example, in the first elaboration of paragraph 4 King said that they are coming to cash a check of citizen rights; in the extension of paragraph 13, King said that the campaign would not stop until the goal is achieved; in paragraph 15, King urged people to take action instead of “wallowing in the valley of despair.” This revolutionist identity is so eminent in most paragraphs because revolution is a major theme of this speech. As a result, King’s revolutionist identity often overlaps with his other identities, e.g. in paragraph 29, King’s revolutionist identity coexists with his identities of egalitarian, theist, ethnic leader etc.

The U.S. is a country founded on religious principles. Around 90% of the Americans hold religious belief (CIA, 2007). Reference to religious belief is frequently seen in public speech in America to close the distance between the speaker and the audience. Therefore, King’s identity of a religious person becomes useful. King first identified himself as one of “God’s children” in line 23 and ended the entire speech by a Negro spiritual. Other religious references such as “land of the Pilgrim’s Pride (line 76),” “the glory of the Lord (line 69)” and “Protestants and Catholics (line 96)” are also used throughout the speech.

King’s diction of religious connotation not only makes him accessible, but also echoes with his American identity. When King took on the American identity, he made people understand that white people and black people belong to the same identity category (Schegloff, 2007). When King took on the religious identity, he did not make any distinction among his diverse audience but referred to them all as “God’s children.” Both the American and religious identities contribute to King’s egalitarian identity.

The aforementioned leader identities (political, ethnic, and national campaign) are also realised in the imperatives (Eggins, 1994), because imperatives are associated with actions that leaders are often in charge of. Although King was not necessarily giving orders that must be followed, his use of imperatives made the speech stronger and his intentions clearer. For example, in line 51~57, King used 7 imperatives. This helps to deliver his instruction effectively to his people. In addition to the plain imperatives, King used grammatical metaphors (Halliday, 1994) that create similar effects. For instance, the sentences in line 20~23 are syntactically declarative but semantically imperative (ibid.). Thus the audience is able to develop a sense of urgency, a need for being active.

King’s leader identities and activist identity are observable in microstructures. When King spoke as a leader or an activist, he showed his resolution and unequivocal ideology through the expression of modalities of extreme values, e.g. very high obligation or very low usuality (Martin, 1995), which leaves no space for ambiguities. This modality is realised in words such as must (line 30, 32~35, 38 and 78), forever (line 32), never (line 41, 42 and 44) and cannot (line 37, 39, 43 and 45). Compared with extension, extension can be said to serve the same function in macrostructural level.

From the analysis above we can observe that King’s goal of promoting equal human rights by peaceful means had remained the same through the entire speech, although he adopted different identities to speak from different angles. King’s identities in the speech are invoked in both micro- and macro- levels; some are realised only in microstructures, like the theist identity, others are realised in both micro- and macro- structures, such as the leader identities. The many identities King took on in the speech are often overlapping and contribute to the same goal to make the world a better place through positive actions.

Appendix:

paragraph 1

1. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

paragraph 2

2. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
3. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.
4. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

paragraph 3

5. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.
6. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
7. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
8. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
9. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

paragraph 4

10. In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.
11. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
12. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
13. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.
14. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

paragraph 5

15. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
16. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
17. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

paragraph 6

18. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.
19. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
20. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
21. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
22. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
23. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

paragraph 7

24. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
25. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
26. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.
27. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
28. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
29. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

paragraph 8

30. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
31. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
32. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
33. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.
34. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

paragraph 9

35. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.
36. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

paragraph 10

37. We cannot walk alone.

paragraph 11

38. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

paragraph 12

39. We cannot turn back.

paragraph 13

40. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?”
41. We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
42. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
43. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
44. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only.”
45. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
46. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

paragraph 14

47. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
48. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.
49. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
50. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
51. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
52. Go back to Mississippi,
53. go back to Alabama,
54. go back to South Carolina,
55. go back to Georgia,
56. go back to Louisiana,
57. go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,
58. knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

paragraph 15

59. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

paragraph 16

60. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
61. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

paragraph 17

62. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

paragraph 18

63. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

Paragraph 19

64. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

paragraph 20

65. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

paragraph 21

66. I have a dream today!

paragraph 22

67. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

paragraph 23

68. I have a dream today!

paragraph 24

69. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

paragraph 25

70. This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

paragraph 26

71. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
72. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
73. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

paragraph 27

74. And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

paragraph 28

75. My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
76. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
77. From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
78. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
79. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
80. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
81. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
82. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
83. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
84. But not only that:
85. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
86. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
87. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
88. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

paragraph 29

89. And when this happens,
90. when we allow freedom ring,
91. when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet,
92. from every state and every city,
93. we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children,
94. black men and white men,
95. Jews and Gentiles,
96. Protestants and Catholics,
97. will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

paragraph 30

98. Free at last! Free at last!
99. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

# This speech in its original written script was already paragraphed, but some sentences are further divided here for the purpose of analysis of extension and elaboration.

Reference:
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by Jesse Chen, Dept. of English, Uni. of Sydney