Functional Linguistic Discourse Analysis. Although the prisoners’ recounts speak volumes after only a single reading, a more systematic approach was necessary to complete this project successfully. The systematic approach used in this project is a functional linguistic discourse analysis. This project analyzes each recount from a functional linguistic perspective to tease out qualitative and quantitative features of the recount that highlight the inmates’ interaction with the Stasi prison apparatus. Based on Xxxxxxxx’x Systemic-Functional Linguistics (2004), a functional approach to discourse analysis focuses on how language functions to make meaning in specific registers and contexts. Inherently, each context requires the language user to make a range of lexico-grammatical choices that ultimately affect the meaning conveyed. The task of a functional discourse analyst therefore is to analyze the specific choices made in terms of such lexico-grammatical topics as voice, tense, mood, conjunction, reference, lexicon, and theme. From such a fine-grained linguistic analysis the project points to the specific language-based features in each recount that reveal the effects of imprisonment, surveillance, and control on the inmates’ thought and language. By using this form of analysis the project seeks to focus on the meaning in the language the inmates chose to use. Although Systemic-Functional-Linguistics offers a variety of avenues for analysis, such as the analysis of verb form, adjective type, or noun form, for the purposes of this project a focus on (1) theme, (2) passive voice, (3) repetition, (4) semantic field, and (5) personal possessive pronouns proved most effective and revealing. Before embarking on the analyses themselves, explanations of each of these five linguistic features are necessary. First, theme is essentially the first element in the sentence before the main verb. According to Xxxxxxxx, the primary architect of Systemic-Functional Linguistics, the theme serves as “’the point of departure for the clause as a message’ and as ‘the peg on which the message is hung’” (Fries & Xxxxxxx, 1995, p. 48). For example, in the sentence, I rode my bike to the store yesterday, “I” is both the theme and the subject of this sentence. Another example would be, Yesterday I rode my back to the store. In this sentence, the theme is “yesterday”. Although the sentences have comparable meanings, the first sentence emphasizes the subject, “I”, and in the second sentence “yesterday” is emphasized. This projec...
