EXPLORING GENERIC STRUCTURE POTENTIAL OF SELECTED EDITORIALS IN THE MYANMAR TIMES NEWSPAPER

This study examines the Universities’ Anthems in Nigeria as a distinct Genre. The present study analyzes a corpus composed of ten (10) anthems texts belonging to six federal Universities, two State owned Universities, and two private Universities in Nigeria. This study seeks to establish University anthems in Nigeria as a sub-genre of anthems by identifying the Generic structure Potential (GSP) of the selected university anthems as permitted by their contextual configuration (CC) following the theory of Halliday and Hasan (1985) as a theoretical framework for the study. The analysis in this study intends to come up with the total range of optional and obligatory elements in the University anthems analysed which are the possibilities of text structure for every text that can come up under the Genre of University anthem. The analysis revealed two obligatory elements -Identity/ Orientation IO* and Mission /Vision MV*- and five optional elements- Ideology (ID), Evocation/Eulogy (EE), Prayer (PR), Exhortation (EX), and Pledge/Allegiance (PA). The study concludes that even though University anthems, as a form of poem seemingly appear in different structures, there is a certain pattern of a Generic Structure that construes the purpose the anthems are intended to serve for the institutions; that is to communicate the identity of the institution.

This paper investigated the generic structure potential of feature articles in four Nigerian newspapers: The Punch, The Nation, Vanguard and Nigerian Tribune. Halliday and Hassan’s concept of Generic Structure Potential served as the theoretical framework. The feature articles analysed had three obligatory elements: Headline, Orientation and Addressing the Issue, and three optional elements: Feature Lead, Proffering a Solution and Moral Lesson. A Nigerian newspaper feature article typically starts with a headline that may or may not be followed by a feature lead. This is followed by an orientation, an issue to be addressed, which is then followed by either a suggested solution or a moral lesson. The study posited that the GSP of feature articles in Nigerian newspapers can be catalogued as H^ [(FL) ^O^][AI^(PS).(ML.)].

This paper investigates the generic structural potential of admission notifications of four Pakistani universities: University of Central Punjab, University of Gujrat, University of Sargodha, and University of Education Lahore. Total forty admission notifications are selected for the genre analysis in light of systemic functional linguistics. Halliday and Hasan (1989 concept of “Generic Structural Potential (GSP)” for genre analysis, served as the theoretical framework for this study. This study highlights that the admission notifications analyzed has six obligatory elements: Logo, University Name, Announcement, Respective Department, Programs Offered, and Call info and five Optional elements: Admission Schedule, Instructions, Information desk, Why Choose Us? and Scholarship and Discounts. The study posits that the GSP of advertisements of admission notifications of universities in Pakistan could be cataloged as [L^UN^]A^RD^PO^[(AS)^(I).(ID).(WCU).(S)]^CI

This study describes the generic structure potential (GSP) of sexually transmitted infection (STI) consultations in Nigeria. It is a further effort from previous studies not only in its consideration of the phase structure of consultations in a specific medical context, but also in its exploration of both the broad and narrow generic structure potential of the consultations. Fifty audio recordings of mixed-visit doctor-patient interactions in hospitals in three states in southwest Nigeria constitute the data. The data were analysed using Halliday and Hasan’s (1985) Generic Structure Potential theory (GSP). The analysis revealed four broad stages in the structural organisation of STI medical interactions, namely Opening (O), Diagnostic Interactions (DI), Treatment Recommendations (TR), and Closing (C). The obligatory elements in the broad catalogue are the diagnostic interactions and treatment recommendations, while the narrow GSP of the phases revealed the doctor’s problem elicitation as the obligatory element in the opening phase, the patient’s problem presentation activity was solely obligatory in DI, and the doctor’s treatment procedure, the only mandatory activity of the TP phase. The study concludes that the diagnostic interaction and treatment recommendation phases define medical consultations in STI (and HIV) encounters in Nigeria.

With the return of civilian rule in 1999 to the Nigerian democratic landscape, electoral litigation has become an integral part of Nigerian history. The advent of Electoral litigation has become a defining feature of Nigeria's democratic landscape since the return to civilian rule in 1999. This study investigates the generic structure potential of Nigerian Supreme Court judgements on gubernatorial election petitions from Southwestern Nigeria between 1999 and 2023. With systemic functional linguistics as theoretical framework, this study analysed ten Supreme Court judgements in this context to arrive at ten distinct elements. These elements are divided into the obligatory elements, namely: Case Overview, Review of Court of Appeal Proceedings, Reference to Law, Application of Law, and Appeal Verdict, and the optional elements, namely: Production of Issues, Grounds of Appeal, Assessment of Preliminary Objection, Analysis of Cross Appeal Issues, and Summary and Conclusion. The elements formed the generic structure potential formula as: [CO^ RCAP^ (PI) ● (GA)^ (APO)^ {RL^ AL}^ AV^ {(ACAI)^ (SC)}]. This study contributes to legal literacy by bridging a communication gap by crafting a road map for individuals outside the legal profession to understand these judgements and contribute to democratic conversation.

This study aimed to establish the genre status of the Bidayuh oral folk narrative, known as dondan, with a focus on the Bau-Jagoi Bidayuh group. In order to analyse the genre status of the dondan, the Generic Structure Potential (GSP) is used. The analyses revealed that the dondan has a similar GSP to English Fairy Tales but differs in terms of one of the elements, the Placement, which is an obligatory element in the dondan. The study also revealed that the Semantic Attributes which realises these GSP elements are more culturally based. Although the GSP of the dondan is similar to English Fairy Tales, it is the optional elements that reflect the culturally related elements of the dondan especially the communicative purpose to educate and disseminate cultural knowledge. Future work on oral folk narrative should include in-depth analysis of lexicogrammatical items.

Christian street evangelism is one of the Bible-based doctrinal practices found among Nigerian Christians, especially in Southwestern Nigeria. Studies have examined language use in Christian activities, including sermons in church services, at funerals and in marriage ceremonies. However, no scholarly attention has been paid to a linguistic description of language use in Christian street evangelism, which, although sit hares some features with other contexts of Christian activities, manifests some elements that characteristically define it within the series of Christian evangelistic activities. This study, therefore, is a generic structural potential analysis of Christian street evangelism in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were gathered using ethnographic techniques. Data comprised fifteen observed street evangelism activities randomly sampled in different cities in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were subjected to discourse analysis within the purview of Halliday and Hassan’s (1985) Generic Structure Potential (GSP) theory. Findings reveal Christian street evangelism features five obligatory elements: songs, greetings, sermon, prayer and finis; and three optional elements: declaration of purpose, call for confession, and welcome to the fold.

Christian street evangelism is one of Bible-based doctrinal practices found among Nigerian Christians, especially in Southwestern Nigeria. Studies have examined language use in Christian activities, including sermons in church services, funerals and marriage ceremonies. However, no scholarly attention has been paid to a lin- guistic description of language use in Christian street evangelism, which, although shares some features with other contexts of Christian activities, manifests some elements that characteristically define it among the series of Christian evangelistic activities. This study, therefore, is a generic structural potential analysis of Christian street evangelism in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were gathered using ethnographic techniques. Data comprised fifteen observed street evangelism activities randomly sampled in different cities in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were subjected to discourse analysis within the purview of Halliday and Hassan’s (1985) Generic Structure Potential (GSP) theory. Findings reveal Christian street evangelism features five obligatory elements: songs, greetings, sermon, prayer and finis; and three optional elements: declaration of purpose, call for confession, and welcome to the fold.

Communication gaps between members of the legal profession and people outside the profession still leave a lot to be explained. This study investigates the technicality of written legal documents by studying 10 Nigerian Supreme Court rulings, specifically the outcome of cases of human rights violations by the Nigerian military regime. Nine purposively selected excerpts were analysed using generic structure potential elements. The analysis generated nine elements, five of which are obligatory and the other four optional. The obligatory elements are Review of Lower Court Proceedings, Reproduction of Issues, Reference to Authorities, Application of Authorities, and Final Verdict. The optional elements are Review of Facts, Reproduction of Pleadings, Analysis of Evidence, and Analysis of Argument. This study concludes that generic structure potential is a useful theory for demystifying complex texts.

Internationalization is an important strategy for the participation of Higher Education institutions in the process of globalization. The academic community has sought a better understanding of its workings. It is well known that the actions that make up our lives, which include texts such as the international cooperation among universities, are partially constituted by different genres. However, due to the scarce number of textual genres analyzed in this area, there is a growing need to investigate them. In this work, 10 STAICs were used in order to investigate the Generic Structure Potential (Hasan, 1985, 1996, 2004). The selection was based on samples of STAICs from Federal, State and Private Brazilian Higher Education institutions. The results show that the STAICS are an administrative genre that presents obligatory and optional elements in its Generic Structure Potential. This study may be relevant for all areas of knowledge, in special Education, Linguistics.

The research studies Friday sermons from the linguistic perspective, especially from the generic structures, not from the religious (Islamic) point of view. The structures of Friday sermons in Jember may vary from one text to another. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the reason why the generic structures of Friday sermons in Jember can vary, to present the actual structures of each Friday sermon, and to reconstruct the generic structure potential (GSP) to accommodate the various elements, sequences, and iterations occurring in Friday sermons in Jember. The research results show that (1) the variations of the actual structures of Friday sermons in Jember are determined by the optional elements, the optional element orders, and the iterations of the elements, but variation does not affect the acceptance of the sermon practices religiously, and (2) those variants of the actual structures of Friday sermons still belong to the same contextual configuration, consequently a GSP can be generated to accommodate the actual structures of different Friday sermons in many different mosques in Jember. The paper concludes that the GSP model could be applied to other Friday sermons not only in Jember but also in any other different cities.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of hospitalisation and disability worldwide. There is general consensus in the literature reporting poor communication and social outcomes for individuals with TBI. While the literature is extensive in describing cognitive communication difficulties manifesting in the discourse of individuals with TBI, it does not include genres that represent everyday interactions. Furthermore, there are very few studies in the literature that explore interactions of individuals with TBI and their friends, even though it is common for individuals with TBI to lose friends within the first year of their injury. Aims: To explore discourse participation and performance of individuals with and without TBI in a shared problem‐solving task with their friends. Methods & Procedures: Ten participants with severe TBI were matched with ten control participants for sex, age, and education. Participants problem‐solved names and functions of unfamiliar objects with their friends. The resulting discourse was transcribed, divided into moves, and analysed for its generic structure potential (GSP) within a systemic functional linguistics approach. The number of moves contributed by each participant (participation) and frequencies of moves assigned to generic structural elements (performance) were tallied and then statistically analysed. Results & Outcomes: There was no significant difference in discourse participation and performance between participants with and without TBI. Individuals with and without TBI mostly talked about the task, gave thesis propositions, offered the possible function of the object, and gave rationales for their decisions. These may be obligatory (not optional) elements of problem‐solving discourse. Individuals without TBI used significantly more tangential and unrelated talk, which may be indicative of more frequent and successful attempts to engage in social chat, even in a goal‐driven activity. Conclusions: Competent discourse participation and performance is possible for individuals with TBI when they engage in meaningful interactions with friends. Problem solving may be a useful therapy genre for maximising communication outcomes of individuals with TBI, as it encourages the involvement of friends and elicits social chat as well as other creative language options.

■ It is true that analyses of English language texts dominate the literature. It is equally true that a flourishing field of Contrastive Rhetoric (CR) research has begun to address the way various text types and/or genres may differ across cultures and languages (see Connor 1996, 2003). Very much in line with these developments, this study was an attempt to first characterize the global and/or macro-rhetorical structure of English newspaper editorials and formulate what Halliday and Hasan (1989: 64) call `the Generic Structure Potential' (GSP) of a genre. Secondly, this study attempted to cross-examine whether there is significant macro-structural variation from one culture to another within the same genre. To this end, a total of 90 editorials culled from three English newspapers (30 editorials each) published in three different socio-cultural environments by native speakers of English ( The Washington Times), and non-native speakers ( The Iran News, and The Pakistan Today) were text-analyzed. The results of a GSP analysis of texts indicated that, in terms of the rhetorical elements of structure, there is `statistically' no significant difference (α = .05) between editorials written by (non-)native editorial writers, in whatever socio-cultural and socio-political context they are produced and disseminated. In plain words, results revealed that an `unmarked' English newspaper editorial, published either in Iran or Pakistan or the USA, typically consists of four obligatory and two optional generic rhetorical elements.

This paper investigates the Generic Structure Potential (GSP) of Lati inu aka aka Biodun/Kayode (LIABK), a Nigerian secondary gatekeeping radio news programme, with the aim of indicating the stages of the genre where conversational humour typically occurs, and then it analyses humour types in the data through the neo-Gricean concept of untruthfulness and pragmatic act theory. The data for the study constitute a ten hour audio recording of Lati inu aka aka Biodun/Kayode from two radio stations in Ekiti and Ondo States, South-Western Nigeria. The GSP of LIABK is constituted by five obligatory elements: Opening (O), Advertisement (A), Pre-news Presentation (PnP), News Presentation (NP) and Closing (C). The genre-based expectations for O, PnP and C, and then NP are to provide entertainment and information to the listeners respectively. Thus, humour typically occurs in the O, PnP, and C stages of the programme, and rarely occurs in NP. Four humour types are indicated: song-as-humour, absurdity, joint fantasising and speaker-meaning-telic humour respectively. While song-as-humour resists being neatly categorised as autotelic humour, absurdity and joint fantasising are easily characterised as thus. The pragmatic act analysis reveals the incremental, sequential and co-constructed nature of the humour types. Furthermore, the pragmemes of entertainment and offering of opinion by the news presenters constitute the affordances or genre-based expectations that constrain the social activities that constitute LIABK. The study contributes to the scholarship on secondary gatekeeping in Nigeria broadcast media, conversational humour and pragmatics.

The script frameworks model (R. Schank, 1975) and causal network model (T. Trabasso & L. Sperry, 1985) were used to assess script-based story retellings of children with and without language impairments (LI). When retelling scripts and stories, children developing typically include (a) more obligatory than optional elements, with few temporal sequencing errors, and (b) story elements having several versus few causal connections to other story elements. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with LI demonstrated a similar pattern of recall. A script-based story retell was collected from 22 children with LI and 22 age-matched peers (AM). Retells were analyzed for inclusion of obligatory and optional elements, elements with high and low causal connectivity, and temporal sequencing accuracy. Retells from both groups contained more obligatory elements and elements with high causal connectivity. However, groups differed on the specific elements included. Children in the AM group appeared to utilize script and causal connectivity elements when retelling a script-based story. Children in the LI group appeared to focus more on script elements than causal connectivity. Their deficiencies may reflect difficulties with flexible application of scripts and accessing relevant knowledge, and/or generalized difficulties organizing information and extracting patterns.