scholarly journals A Stylistic Investigation of the Act of Murder in Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ujjal Jeet ◽  
Keyword(s):  
White Woman ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
White Community ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Theoretical System ◽  
Nature And Nurture

This paper is a functional stylistic study of a selected passage from Doris Lessing’s novel The Grass is Singing. In the novel The Grass is Singing, a white woman in Rhodesia is killed by her black servant but surprisingly the murder instead of bringing a stir spreads a silence in the local white community. Further, the text on an intuitive reading seems to absolve the murderer of the crime which forms the research question of the paper. Thus, close and systematic textual analysis of the text representing the murder scene was conducted and it was found that the linguistic choices of the text does create a semantic universe where the murder and the murdered are allegorical figures representing nature and nurture in a mutual conflict. The methodology for linguistic analysis of the selected text is borrowed from Michael Halliday’s theoretical system Systemic Functional Linguistics. The text is analysed by means of transitivity system which provides the investigative tools to study the representational choices of the text.

An Exploratory Study of Cohesive features in Selected Excerpts from Sefiata’s News from Home

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Innocent Sourou Koutchadé
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Method ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Approach

This article aimed at providing a linguistic analysis of Sefi Atta’s novel entitled News from Home through the linguistic approach of cohesion drawn from Systemic Functional Linguistics. Two extracts were selected randomly from the novel and a descriptive mixed method of analysis was adopted. Aspects of cohesion studied in the text were reference, conjunction and lexical cohesion. The analyses revealed that various types of reference such as anaphoric, cataphoric, demonstrative, exophoric, and homophoric occurred in the selected texts. Features of conjunctions were used by the writer to display the logical relationships between elements of the texts. As for lexical cohesion, patterns of reiteration and collocation were used to point out the field of the study. The paper concluded that these cohesive patterns are organized to reveal the texture of the text.

Sites and parasites of meaning: Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Robin Melrose
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
The Right

Robert Browning’s so-called dramatic lyric ‘My Last Duchess’ has been interpreted differently by different critics, some seeing the Duke as shrewd and others seeing him as witless. This article attempts to account for these differing interpretations by analysing indeterminacies in the language of the poem. Starting out with the work of Derrida on speech act theory, and findings on the role of the right hemisphere in language processing, it goes on to propose techniques of linguistic analysis based on systemic-functional linguistics and the concept of particle-waves of language first discussed in Melrose (1996). The article then analyses a number of these so-called particle-waves in ‘My Last Duchess’, and concludes that opposing interpretations of the Duke can be traced to the indeterminacies of language in the particle-waves.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country as a Discourse of Hope through Cleft Sentences

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Maria Martinez Lirola
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Clear Link ◽  
Textual Organization ◽  
Linguistic Framework

This paper is intended to demonstrate that the recurrent use of the marked syntactic structure called a cleft sentence in the novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) has certain communicative implications because it is a structure appropriate to express feelings and to highlight information in climactic situations within this novel.The analysis of cleft sentences in context will point out that they allow the writer to be conscious that he is assuring or denying something in a firm way and that they are also important structures for the textual organization of discourse.The linguistic framework of this paper is Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a linguistic school that establishes a clear link between lexico-grammatical choices in the text and the relevant contextual factors surrounding it. Systemic linguistics explores how linguistic choices are related to the meanings that are being expressed.

scholarly journals Textual Analysis through Systemic Functional Linguistics

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Randy Y. Briones
Keyword(s):  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
News Article ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Relational Processes ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistic ◽  
Movie Star ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This paper primarily attempts to provide readers with a means of analyzing texts by using an approach that is considered important by applied linguists, that of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). This work identified the similarities and differences between two texts, a movie review and a news article, that dealt with the same topic, namely, the movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. In identifying the texts’ similarities and differences, the Systemic Functional Linguistic principles of Tenor/Interpersonal Metafunction and Field/Experiential Metafunction were applied. From the interpersonal metafunction analysis, it can be concluded that both texts share similar moods and modalities.  However, a closer inspection would reveal that Text 1 appears to negotiate a positive review of the film through an extensive demonstration of declarative statements that talk about the merits of the film and that of the director’s while Text 2 is more of a reportage of relevant information and interviews from the film.  In terms of the Experiential metafunction, Text 1 delves on material and relational processes that advance the film, the director, and the characters, whereas Text 2 differs as it focuses more on advancing the film while putting little emphasis on the director and the movie characters.

scholarly journals Writing Instructions at a University and Identity Issues: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Nagina Kanwal ◽  
Samina Amin Qadir ◽  
Kamran Shaukat
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Institutional Goals ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Writing Instructions ◽  
The University

In this paper, we explore the discoursal identity in the academic writing of a postgraduate student from the University of Pakistan where English is the medium of instruction as well as taught as a foreign language. The study aims to find out the extent and the specific ways dominant conventions and practices enable and constrain meaning-making. It also helps to identify the role of social and institutional goals in shaping the discoursal identity of students. To achieve our objectives, we have conducted a linguistic analysis of the student’s academic texts by using Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings from the linguistic analysis of academic texts are quite significant because the lexico-grammatical and discoursal choices in the academic texts reflect their writer’s desired disposition and their orientation within academia and their socio-cultural setting. Thus they reveal the writer’s discoursal identity and his positioning and affiliation with the academic community. The findings of the study provide significant implications for the reconceptualization of writing instructions at universities, also they point to the need to employ emerging technologies in the writing instructions program while not ignoring the students’ identity issues.

Transitivity and ergativity in 'The Lotos-Eaters'

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Benson ◽  
William S. Greaves ◽  
Glenn Stillar
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Clear Case ◽  
Material Process ◽  
Function Structures

This article argues that Bakhtin's repeated assertions that poetry, unlike the novel, is inherently monologic can be questioned in the light of a clear case of dialogism in Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters'. A discussion of its dialogism is formalised by an analysis of grammatical function-structures of the Experiential component of the Ideational function of clause structure, following Halliday (1985), in the tradition of Systemic Functional Linguistics. In particular, the paper discusses the significance of the instantiation of transitivity and ergativity. It incorporates modifications suggested by Davidse (1992a) to the analysis of Material process types and argues that these modifications are useful for foregrounding the different worlds construed by the poem. The analysis reveals three worlds or voices in the poem: (1) the transitive:effective, or Deed and Extension paradigm of the outside world; (2) the transitive:middle/ergative, or Instigation of Process paradigm of lotos-land; and (3) the Behavioural/ Mental:Perceptive paradigm of the mariners-in-Lotos-land. It is argued that the mariners oppose (1), wish to ally themselves with (2), but settle for (3) as a strategy.

scholarly journals Transitivity choices in an abridged text: The case of a graphic novel

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 544-557
Author(s):  
Thusha Rani Rajendra
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Graphic Novel ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
The Core ◽  
Jules Verne ◽  
The Earth

This article investigates the application of Halliday’s theory of transitivity to analyse the verbal structures of an abridged text in the form of a graphic novel. Having been condensed from the original classic Journey to the Centre of the Earth (JttCotE) by Jules Verne, the present study examines the link between these structures and how they represent the original text. The focus of the analysis concentrates on the verbal text contained in speech bubbles and caption boxes; common characteristics of the comics medium.  Based on the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework of the ideational metafunction, this article discusses how linguistic formations are constructed and construed through transitivity in an abridged text. In addition, the analysis also looks into how the authors have adapted the original text into a graphic novel through the adoption of a few specific Processes. As such an exploration is limited, the current study fills the gap in this area.  The analysis of data indicates that careful employment of linguistic choices forms the core of the novel which inherently is also supported through its visual representations. The results reveal that Material Processes are the most prominent in this adapted version of the novel, followed by Relational and Behavioural Processes respectively. This study highlights how linguistic choices support the original text, though an abridged version, specifically in the panels of Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The findings can serve to understand how authors construct their versions of abridged texts to adhere to the original text.

A Textual Analysis of Theme and Rheme Structures in Editorials A Systemic Functional Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Huzaifah A. Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Way

The present study aims to analyze the way writers use language in order to fulfill a purpose by measuring the similarities and differences in editorials with regard to Theme and Rheme choices. Two letters of opinion of an editorial were used in this study to investigate the thematic choices that might differ, given their different purposes. The results indicated that the writers presented the information directly without emphasizing on any proposition encoded in the clauses. Besides, it was also found that the intervention made by the writers is less obvious, as measured by the low occurrences of Interpersonal Theme. In addition, it can also be concluded that the letter of support is more cohesive than the letter of oppose because of its higher occurrences of Textual Theme. Textual metafunction; ; ; systemic functional linguistics; comparative studies

scholarly journals TRANSITIVITY PROCESS IN MARY NORTON’S NOVEL THE BORROWERS (1952)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Rendadirza ◽  
Havid Ardi
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Data Card ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Dominant Process ◽  
Main Components ◽  
New Research

This study analyzed the transitivity process in the novel The Borrowers. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative.This study focused on transitivity which is a part of the Ideational meaning in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL).According to Halliday, the three main components in transitivity are the process itself, the participants involved in the process and circumstance. There are six process of transitivity, namely Material, Mental, Relational, Behavioral, Verbal and Existential. The data in this study were divided into two, which were utterances and narrations. This study only focused on chapter one. The source of data in this research wasa novel The Borrowers written by Mary Norton. This study aims to find out the dominant process found in the novel. The instrument used was the researcher herself and assisted by the analysis tableto show the dominant process found in the novel.In analyzing the data, the researcher used several steps, which were reading the text, identify the data and put it in data card, calculated the data, and making conclusion.There are 269 clauses of transitivity found in the chapter one of the novel The Borrowers. The process that appears mostly in chapter is Relational: Attributive with 67 clauses/ 24.90%. Research on transitivity has been done a lot before. Nonetheles, there is a difference between between the new research and the old one. Other researchers who also examined transitivity in fiction text were (Kurnia, 2018; Koutchade, 2017; Rashid, 2016). Most researchers in fiction text only examined short story, and the data results that obtained are all the clause of the full story. However, this research only focuses on the beginning chapter in fiction text.

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