TRANSITIVITY AND THEME SYSTEMS IN OMOBOWALE'S THE PRESIDENT'S ...

TRANSITIVITY AND THEME SYSTEMS IN OMOBOWALE’S THE
PRESIDENT’S PHYSICIAN


By


AYO OSISANWO






ABSTRACT

This paper is motivated by the dearth of work on Omobowale’s literary
works. It is an attempt to probe into the individuality of Omobowale and
unveil his style. The study is an exercise in systemic linguistic which peruses
the meaning making strategies adopted by Omobowale in The President’s
Physician. It is believed that to have a gainful analysis into a work of art, a
critical attempt must be made to gain an insight into the individuality of the
writer’s style. Therefore, our study is premised on the theoretical framework
of Systemic Functional Grammar with special emphasis on the transitivity
and theme systems. The study concludes that Omobowale made a judicious
use of the transitivity and theme structures in contexualising the text as a
whole even as he employed the field and mode of discourse to relay to us
what goes on in the entire Waverian society, a replica/symbol of
Nigeria(especially during the military era, and more specifically, the Late
General Sani Abacha regime).
AYO OSINOWO, Ph.D Candidate, Department of English, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
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Transitivity and Theme Systems in Omobowale’s the Presidents Physician
INTRODUCTION

Syntactic analysis is capable of providing the necessary details of a given
text. It plays a very significant role in the distribution and focusing of
information as it gives a skeletal framework of the sentence (see Wales
1989:450). It therefore beams light on the overall meaning of a sentence.
Obviously, it is not becoming uncommon to engage in a fruitful analysis with
ample introduction of syntactic elements. Attempts to develop the field of
syntax have given rise to different syntactic theories including SFG
(Systemic Functional Grammar), TGG (Transformational Generative
Grammar), TG (Tagmemic Grammar), IC (Immediate Constituents), etc.
However, SFG and TGG have been the mostly developed and influential
syntactic theories. Although, TGG (developed by Noam Chomsky) has been
described as a formal grammar which is not applicable to a study of this
nature, Engdahl (2001:111) affirms that,

In current linguistic theories such as HPSG, LFG
and the minimalist program, the use of syntactic
features is widespread. It is becoming increasingly
common to use such features not only for categorial
and distributional purposes but also for semantic and
pragmatic matters such as questions, topic and
focus.

In addition to Engdahl’s view, an earlier position by Traugott and Pratt
(1980:167) reveals that; “Non-transformational approaches to syntactic
stylistics tend to focus on analysis of surface structure”. The transformational
approach adds further dimensions that have proved useful in stylistic
analysis. Particularly fruitful has been the idea that not only the surface
sentence has significance for a work, but also the deep structure and the
degree of difference that may be found between the deep and surface
structure. The TGG (as espoused by Chomsky) therefore emphasizes the
centrality of syntax in the organization of grammar (Chomsky, 1957, 1965).
Chomsky regards syntax as being generative while other components of
grammar – phonology and semantics - are interpretive. What is more relevant
to us here is the dynamic inter-play between structure (syntax) and meaning.
That is, the interaction between language form and function, which is the
goal of SFG. The SFG has been viewed as a more enterprising theory and
according to Malmkjaer (2002:526), ‘a semantically significant grammar
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Contemporary Humanities Vol 3, September 2009
which Halliday often (for instance, 1970:142) refers to as the meaning
potential of language” In the same vein, Wales (1989: 451) sees it as a fairly
exhaustive and semantically sensitive taxonomic and functional approach
which has proved particularly useful for stylistic analysis. Based on the
aforementioned premise of SFG, and our goal to embark on a vigorous
analysis, we have decided to employ the Systemic Functional Grammatical
model for our analysis. Therefore, in this paper, we shall explore the various
grammatical strategies employed by Omobowale in the text, at the levels of
transitivity and theme systems.

There is therefore a dearth of work on the works of Omobowale. This is
probably due to the fact that he is a new and up-coming. As a relatively new
writer, he showed his scholastic vision through the production of the
following books among others, The Eagle Must Fly and Other Stories (1992),
The Melting Pot: A Collection of Four Stories (1993), Seasons of Rage
(1997), An Eye for an Eye (2000). The President’s Physician is his most
recent book, written in 2004. This justifies why the writer’s works are yet to
be critically examined in the academics, it has not yet been examined in the
literary and linguistic fields. We have also decided to go for this playwright
in order to differ from the repetitive analysis on selected writers whose works
have actually been over-flogged. We therefore hope that the present study
would serve as a reference material to future researchers who may wish to
also work on Omobowale, any of his other works or this one in particular.
The ideas espoused by Halliday (1961, 1970, 1978, 1985/94) and further
supported by Eggins (2004) recognize the different levels of language
description, that is, phonological, graphological, syntactic, lexical and
semantic levels. However, in this paper whose central drive point is a
syntactic analysis, we shall only use the systems analysis. We shall be
interested in the substance employed in Omobowale’s The President’s
Physician in order to probe into the meaning-making processes employed in
the work. It is an exercise which is aimed at investigating the meaning
making strategies employed by the playwright and his combination of the
languages of medicine and politics in the play. We shall therefore examine
the peculiar use of language as a piece of social discourse using the
Hallidayan approach to explore the various grammatical strategies employed
by Omobowale in the text, specifically at the levels of transitivity system and
theme system.


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Transitivity and Theme Systems in Omobowale’s the Presidents Physician
A SYNOPSIS OF THE TEXT (THE PRESIDENT’S PHYSICIAN)

The play, The President’s Physician is structurally divided into five
movements with each movement having its own significance. The play
revolves round the major characters, the military President of Wavaria,
General Kalunga Ntibantunganyah (a dictator and avaricious leader who does
not have the love of the citizens at heart) and his personal physician, Bituki
Warunga (a medical practitioner, who is in a dilemma of keeping to his
Hippocratic Oath or kill the President and grant his people the much desired
freedom from the tyrant). Wavaria is an African country that has not
experienced true political and economic independence since it gained
freedom from its colonialists. The country has experienced a frustrated and
unpalatable chain of dreadful experiences. The entire political landscape has
continuously been pervaded by the dictatorial tendencies of egocentric
political leaders who feign to be divinely appointed Messiahs. In fact, the
terror of despotism has gradually become a part of life in the political
landscape, having been transferred from one dictator to the other.

The Play, The President’s Physician can be contextualised within the
sociological nexus of Nigerian drama (though the names of the characters do
not indicate this), moreso, that the playwright is a Nigerian who hails from
Osun State. Ogundeji (2004: 674) points out a number of identifiable features
of Nigerian drama, all of which are incorporated in the sociological
consequences of interaction of the indigenous languages and are observable
in the text under consideration. The text depicts a bilingual multilingual
African setting, incorporates indigenous language including names of places
and people, folksongs (for instance the country’s anthem) and other
expressions into the English language. Each of these indigenous features has
a particular role/function it performs. Indigenous features including songs
and expressions are used in the play. Songs are used for general structural
purposes to emphasise meaning, themes and to create appropriate settings in
the play.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

THE MAJOR RESOURCE SYSTEMS

Halliday’s explanation of how language works involves the idea that a
language consists of a set of systems, each of which offers the speaker (or
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Contemporary Humanities Vol 3, September 2009
writer) a choice of ways of expressing meaning (Bloor and Bloor 1995:2).
The word ‘system’ is a central category for representing linguistic
organizations especially the choice making aspect, that is, the paradigmatic
aspect. Following Berry (1975:32), systems can therefore be defined as a
paradigmatic set of choices available in a certain environment. In the same
vein, Nesbit and Plum (1988:18) say a system is:
an entry condition together with an exhaustive set of
mutually exclusive options, one of which must be
chosen… because the system is an organizing
principle of the grammar, the integration of the
probabilistic modeling of grammatical variation is
theoretically promised and linguistically meaningful.

In essence, system is choice based probably between positive or negative,
transitive or intransitive structures, declarative/interrogative/imperative
mood. It is a list of choices and choices are meaning – driven.

It is noted that the concept of ‘systems’ is grammar based. Nevertheless, it is
an attempt to give meaning to the structural choices made in different
contexts. From Ventola’s (1988:56) viewpoint, the whole concept started in
an attempt to describe the context of situation (first used by Firth), which is
used in referring to an extralinguistic stratum, and realized by extralinguistic
variables (field, mode and tenor) which characterize the context of situation.
The same idea is semantically realized by Halliday (1970, 1978) as the
metafunctions of language, that is, ideational, textual and interpersonal. It is
these semantic options that are
realized
by specific grammatical system choices and structures: transitivity, mood and
theme systems and structures.

The whole idea is summarized by Ventola (1988:57) thus:

Context of
Semantics Lexico

(rank:
clause)
situation
grammar
Field Ideational
Transitivity
Transitivity structure
component
system
Tenor Interpersonal
Mood system
Mood structure
component
Mode Textual Theme system
Theme structure
component
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Transitivity and Theme Systems in Omobowale’s the Presidents Physician
In the table below, we have worked upon Ventola’s correlation to expand the
table characteristically, generating more features specific to each descriptive
category:

Context
Metafunctions/
Characterizati
Function Major
of
Semantics
on
resource
situation
system
Field Ideational
Ideational
Cognitive
Transitivity
function
world of
meaning/pr
/complemen
(representational,
experience
epositional
talization
experiential and

content of (process/part
logical)
sentences
icipant
roles)
Tenor Interpersonal Attitudinal
Difference
Mood and
functions
model
between
Modality
(participatory)
statement,

questions

&

commands


Mode Textual
function
Representation
Relates the Theme &
(enabling)
of (field/tenor differences
Rheme/
in text/context)
between
Topicalizato
internation
n
al
(Information
structures
structure)
of
sentences

The above discussion is perceived important for a concise relational
discussion. Though our study, a discourse stylistic analysis accommodates
the three approaches, we shall adopt the resource systems approach since we
intend to carry out our grammatical analysis in this section. However, we
shall engage in occasional addition of terminologies from others, for
instance, for an insightful examination of the metafunctions (see Berry
1981:120).



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Contemporary Humanities Vol 3, September 2009
TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM

The linguistic expression of processes, and of the participants (and, by
extension, the circumstances) associated with them is known by the general
term ‘transitivity’ (Halliday, 1970: 148). The transitivity system which is one
of the delicate systems in English, accounts for choices made in relation to
the clause element (Osisanwo 1999:84). The transitivity system is very
central to the ideational function of language. Its structural functions/roles
have been identified as actor, goal and beneficiary. Contextually, it is the
field of discourse which relates to what goes on in the social action
(Malmkjaer 2002). “The field of discourse – what is going on – will tend to
determine choices in the ideational component of the language, among
classes of things, qualities, times, places and in the transitivity system.”
Following the views of Halliday (1985:101), Wales (1989:466), Malmkjaer
(2002:527) and Haynes (1989:53) there are three main types of transitivity
role which invariably correspond by and large to the three major word (or
word group) found in most languages. It includes process (expressed by the
verb group), participant (expressed by the nominal group) and circumstance
(expressed by the adverbial group).
A further study on the components of process shows that using
grammatical and semantic criteria, the traditional verbs can be categorized
into three major different processes:
i.
the material process (which is the process of doing)
ii.
the relational process (which is the process of being)
the mental process (which is the process of sensing, feeling and
thinking).

THEME SYSTEM

Thematization is the process which gives consideration to the positioning of
elements in a structure. It places importance on texts in a given language as
the basic unit of a language to afford the speaker an opportunity to structure
texts in ways relevant to the context (cf. Halliday 1970:160). Hence, a
message is organized/structured in a clause relevant to the given situation.
The thematic system sees to the preposing/fronting of certain structural
elements for foregrounding purpose, suffice to adduce Halliday’s position
that, “the theme of a clause is the element which is put in the first position.”
(p. 161). Therefore, when the elements ‘SPCA’ are reordered, the fronted
element is marked for thematization as it is more common with the
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Transitivity and Theme Systems in Omobowale’s the Presidents Physician
interrogative structures/mood. In essence, the speaker makes a choice for
theme by making any of the structural elements other than the subject,
occupy the initial position.

Functionally, the thematic role relates to the textual axis as a means of
constructing a text. Contextually, it is the mode of discourse which relates to
the role being played by language in the prevailing situation. In summarising
the existing link between theme/rheme cum mode of discourse and the
textual function of a clause, Malmkjaer (2002:170) says “the mode of
discourse – the part the text is playing –will tend to determine choices in the
textual component of language, in the system of choice, among cohesive
patterns, information structures and in choice of theme. We have earlier said
in our derived table that the theme/rheme system is responsible for the textual
representation of field/ideation (transitivity system) and tenor/interpersonal
(mood/modality system), we shall consider Omobowale’s text by (identifying
examples and analyzing from two broad angles of transitivity and
mood/modality alongside its discussion.


ANALYSIS

TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM

The table below presents a summary of the total occurrence of clauses of
each process type in our data.

S/N Process
Type Frequency
Percentage
distribution
distribution
1. Material
174 39.3%
Process
2.
Mental Process
59
13.3%
3.
Verbal Process
34
7.7%
4. Behavioural 22
4.9%
Process
5. Existential 30
6.8%
Process
6. Relational 124
28%
Process
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TOTAL
443
100%
Transitivity system
The table above depicts the dominance of the material process in our text.
While it occurs 174 times (39.3%) the mental process occurs 59 times
(13.3%), verbal process occurs 34 times (7.7%), behavioural occurs 22 times
(4.9%), existential occurs 30 times (6.8%), and the relational process occurs
124 times (28%).

The preponderance of the material process shows that our data is
significantly dominated by actions and events, together with the characters
who carry out the actions and events. Closely followed by this is the
relational process. The 124 occurrences (28%) of this process show the
description of the various human and material states of being. The occurrence
of the mental process (59 times, 13.3%) depicts it as one of the major
processes in the text. In addition, the verbal processes show a reduction in
direct oral performance(s) or affirmations. Finally, the least occurrence of the
behavioural process depicts a reduction in psychological dominance. In
essence, the influence of the human reaction to nature is less important in the
text. Let us consider the following extracts and their analysis:
1. “You wither lives, maim little children, arrest the oppressed
and send them into their graves” (p. 63).
1. “As a medical doctor, I know a thousand methods I can
use to permanently silence Ntibantunganyah (p. 6)
2. “I cannot help myself, my head is sore, my heart is sore,
and my hands are bleeding blood of wanton desires” (p. 64)
1.
You wither
Lives
Actor Process

Goal/processed
Material

Maim little
children
Process
Goal/Processed
Material

Arrest the
oppressed
Process
Goal/Processed
Material

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Transitivity and Theme Systems in Omobowale’s the Presidents Physician
and
Send them into
their
graves
Process
Goal/Processed
(circumstance)
Material

2.
As a medial doctor,
(circumstance)

I
know
a thousand methods I can use to
permanently silence Ntibantunganyah.
Sensor Process
Phenomenon
Mental

3.
I cannot
help
Myself
Actor Process
Goal
Material

my head
is
Sore
Carrier Process Attribute
Relational

my heart
is
Sore
Carrier Process Attribute
Relational

and
my hands
are bleeding
blood of wanton desires
Carrier Process
Attribute
Relational

Example 1 (analysed above) shows that the processes involved are ‘material’
in nature all through. The material process of doing presents the actor ‘you’,
that is Ntibantunganyah as the active actor of the action. Hence, his actions
are entirely material process. Example 2 (above) shows an instance of
mental process with the verb ‘know’, which expresses Bituki’s technical
know-how in his medical profession on how he can get rid of
Ntibantunganyah, the troubler of Waveria. Example 3 shows through
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