Mood Structure Analysis and Thematisation Patterns in Niyi Osundare’s “My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe”

Toyese Najeem Dahunsi,Sola Timothy Babatunde

doi:10.5539/ijel.v7n3p129

Abstract

One of the theories that seek to unravel how the human language functions is the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). SFG achieves its uniqueness by seeking to develop a theory about language as a social process and an analytical methodology for detailed and systematic description of language patterns (Eggins, 2004). Given its suitability for the analysis of any text, SFG was used in this study for the analysis of the poem “My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe”. Though SFG shows how three different strands of meanings (ideational, interpersonal and textual) are expressed in the structures of clauses, the focus of analysis was on the grammar of textual and interpersonal meanings, hence the thematic and Mood structure analyses of the poem. The thematisation patterns identified in the poem included the use of textual themes (for inter-clause cohesive purposes), interpersonal themes (for the assignment of Mood labels to clauses) and topical themes, which altogether enabled the poet bring into thematic prominence the major issues of worry to an average Nigerian who had always thought judges and the courts of law should be immune from corruption. The Mood structure analysis showed the poet’s conscious choices of the indicative Mood, with alternating options of interrogative and declarative clause types. Overall, the SFG-based analysis showed how the poet made conscious paradigmatic choices and arranged them into linear (syntagmatic) structures to make the different meanings conveyed in the poem.

Highlights

IntroductionThe analysis of texts (written and spoken) using acceptable analytical theories and frameworks is one of the major pre-occupations of linguists
The analysis of texts using acceptable analytical theories and frameworks is one of the major pre-occupations of linguists
The thematisation patterns identified in the poem included the use of textual themes, interpersonal themes and topical themes, which altogether enabled the poet bring into thematic prominence the major issues of worry to an average Nigerian who had always thought judges and the courts of law should be immune from corruption

Summary

Introduction

The analysis of texts (written and spoken) using acceptable analytical theories and frameworks is one of the major pre-occupations of linguists. One of the theories and analytical frameworks frequently adopted for textual analysis is Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), a postulation of Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday, a British-born Australian linguist. Central to SFG is the focus on the clause as the basic unit of analysis, with the postulation that the clause is multi-functional, having three types of meanings expressed in it These three types of meaning are ideational (that is, construing experience function) elsewhere referred to as experiential (Thompson, 2004), interpersonal (enacting social relationships function) and textual (“creating discourse” function), technically described by Halliday (1985), Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) and Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), Butt et al (2003) as the metafunctions of language. This study is unique in the sense that it attempts to bridge the gap among previous studies by focusing on the mood structure analysis and thematisation patterns in Niyi Osundare’s poem: “my lord, tell me where to keep your bribe”

An Overview of Interpersonal and Logical Meanings of Clauses

The Material Studied and Method of Analysis

Clause Components

Thematic Analysis

Mood Analysis

Conclusion