Abstract:
The study examined how language has been used by President John Evans Attah
Mills to present the message in his first State-of-the-Nation address. The main focus
of the study was the analysis of transitivity in the address and the functions it plays in
political discourse. Halliday‘s Systemic Functional Grammar was applied as a
theoretical framework and the qualitative research design was used for the content
analysis of the text. The study applied the interpretative content analysis to investigate
the communicative functions of the linguistic choices made in the address. The study
used 536 clauses in the State-of-the-Nation address for analysis. The study discovered
that material processes dominate the speech with a total occurrence of 59.14%
whereas the existential process types are used minimally in the speech with an
insignificant total occurrence of 0.93%. The dominant use of material processes
implies that Mills and his government are the main actors working on a number of
concrete projects in an attempt to create a sense of continuity in development and
policy direction in a challenging administration he has inherited. The minimal use of
the existential processes also implies that though there have been some attempts to
solve Ghana‘s socio-economic challenges, some problems still persist in the country.
The 2009 SONA recorded no behavioural process type because the study did not
analyse the paralinguistic elements of the text. The study concludes that the 2009
SONA uses more primary process types than the secondary process types. The study
affirms Halliday‘s (1985b, p.101) assertion that ―Transitivity specifies the different
types of processes that are recognized in the language, and the structures by which
they are expressed.‖ The study recommends that since teachers use language as a
medium of instruction in the classroom, it would be useful that they undergo series of
seminars and workshops to brainstorm the need to make Systemic Functional
Grammar an integral part of the English curriculum.
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION, FACULTY
OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION,
SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY
OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARD OF THE MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY OF
ENGLISH DEGREE.
JULY, 2015