Mejoramiento de la calidad en los procesos

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Figure 2.7: Obligatory elements of genre structure

Figure 2.7 demonstrates how obligatory elements in the genre structure are determined by field, and the presence of optional ones for tenor and mode, and genre, register and language are realised in discourses.

However, despite the existence of diversified approach in the analysis of these relationships, one thing that remains apparent, and which is the concern of our analysis, is the fact that critical discourse analysis, in its adoptions and applications of theories from the Systemic Functional Linguistics, is more interested in those theories that cater for analysis of the discourse not only on the basis of its grammatical features but on the presence of the various social contexts which determine the choice and use of linguistic items in the various discursive instances.

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and contextual trappings. Hopper and Thompson (1980) provide that within the verbal group as expressed in traditional grammar, the only difference between transitive and intransitive verbs is simply a matter of the presence of the ‘object’ in the structure.

However, according to Cumming and Ono (1997), the distinction needs to be broken down into discrete categories in order to account for the various cross-linguistic correlations between verbs and the other grammatical structures. These factors, Cumming and Ono (1997) contend, include matters relating to the agent (such as volitionality), the verb (such as telicity; having an end point), and the patient (such as affectedness) as well as the overall structure of the argument in the clause. These structures, when placed together as discourse transitivity, correlate with each other.

Following the above deductions, conclusions can be drawn that in SFL the clause is classified into high and low degrees of transitivity. The clause which has many structural attributes is associated with high degree of transitivity and considered as possessing the discourse function of foregrounding; of playing to prominence an event in the structure of the sentence. Meanwhile, clauses with less degree of transitivity are the ones whose structures tend to sway off the event line as in the case of descriptive passages. Cumming and Ono (1997:130) provide a representation of this view in a diagram as follows:

Figure 2.8: Transitivity process

Figure 2.8 shows transitivity as a prototype category of typological correlations between the transitive parameters showing that there is an interwoven relationship between the affected object and the perfective aspect within two arguments.

Fairclough (1992), in his submission, distinguishes between four types of transitivity process to include: Relational, Action, Event and Mental processes which he uses to analyse the relationships between the lexical items within the clause. Relational

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process, in this regard, refers to a situation in which the verb marks a relationship (being, having, becoming, and so on) between the participants in the clause. The Action process, on the other hand, refers to an instance in which, as Locke (2004) calls, ‘an agent acts upon a goal’. This relationship is expressed in a transitive (subject- verb- object [SVO]

clause. And the instantiation is either in the passive or in the active voice. In the active, an action process is in the active voice; while in the passive, the goal becomes the subject and the agent is either passive named or omitted. This analysis may seem to be from the perspective of traditional grammar but the interest of systemic functional linguistics lies in the fact that within the utterance, the issue which is always important is whether agency, causality and responsibility are made explicit or left out in accounts of important events. Consequently, an event therefore involves an activity and a goal, which is usually conveyed in intransitive clause [SV]. Mental processes include verbs of knowing, perceiving, and feeling which are usually realised in transitive clause.

The import of these postulations is to demonstrate the fact that these linguistic principles, which are principally SFL analytical tools to explore language as an operating system that performs the functions it is evolved to do, are applied in critical discourse analysis not on the basis of SFL’s categorisations but on the various functions these linguistic constituents are made to perform as determined by both the textual and contextual variables in discourses.

2.8.2 Theme analysis

There are quite a number of perceptions about ‘THEME’ in analysis of the clause in text textures. However, Tomlin et al., (1997) sum up these views into three basic categories which include: (i) theme as being what the sentence is about, (ii) theme as the starting point of the sentence, and (iii) theme as the centre of attention of the sentence.

In the examination of the above categories, Tomlin et al., (1997) are of the view that the first item which concerns the ‘about-ness of a sentence’ attempts to provide explanations that a particular referent counts as the theme when the meaning of the remainder of the sentence is all about it. Gundel (1988) is of the view that in a given context, a particular noun phrase [NP], will definitely draw ardent attention in a proposed adverbial series; and therefore, attract attention to be regarded as the theme of such an utterance.

Analysis of theme as the starting point of the sentence is meant to substantiate that there is an element, like a signal-post, within the sentence framework as the focal point to

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which the rest of the structures in the sentence are connected to. This ‘‘signal-post’’ helps to frame the utterance by tying the predication segment to something already known and shared by the discourse participants (Chafe, 1994).

The third level of consideration; theme as the centre of attention, attempts to associate concept to the notion of attention. The basis of this kind of consideration has given rise to arguments that certain concepts come to mind first before the final post of an utterance. And as Tomlin (1997) contends, it is this coming into consciousness of emphasis on certain concepts that defines the theme. These concepts that come to mind first before the actual production of an utterance are shared by the participants involved in the discourse due largely to the existence of contextual variables.

However, some systemic functional linguists, especially those from the Prague Linguistic School are of the view that that the pedestal of analysis of theme in the structure of the sentence should be placed on the interaction going on between the speaker and the listener. These critics, therefore, suggest that the speaker should place his listener at the same point of view as himself. This can be achieved by providing an introductory word, which is the theme or the signal-post that precedes the remark intended about it. Apparently, given the position theme assumes in an utterance, the recipient/addressee can then lean on something present and unknown in the speech act process.

These suggestions about the functions of theme in the sentence structure have pressured the emergence of propositions that the theme, which is usually the noun phrase [NP] in the structure of the sentence, conveys a great deal of information that is known to both interlocutors; this is because it serves as the conceptual starting point against which other information in the sentence are construed. This argument must have facilitated Ogunsiji’s (2001) presumptions that theme structures the clause to depict its confined context [the point of departure] in relation to the general context of the text. And as a point of departure, the rest of the message of the clause is presented against this background.

It is therefore apparently clear that from whatever perspective these arguments are drawn, the fact still remains that, systemic functional linguist is not just interested in considering the formal properties of grammatical and lexical units in isolation, but how these sentential structures interact with, and within the various contextual variables (the

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extra linguistic context) that explicate substantial meanings since language is part of the social process.

2.8.3 Mood

Mood is considered as an aspect of the logical meta-function of language which configures the various speech roles that operate within an instance of a communicative event. Mood is often marked by special forms of the verb, or inflections, and it is sometimes expressed by a single word or a phrase, which describes the relationship of the verb with reality and intent.

SFL divides the English mood into two basic parts: the Realis and the Irrealis (Ogunsiji, 2001). These parts are further sub-classed into units depending on the expressive functions they perform within the clause. Realis embraces the grammatical moods that designate that something is actually the case or actually not the case as it may be. Realis mood is of two types: indicative /evidential, and generic realis moods. Indicate or evidential mood is used for factual statements which makes the clause negotiable by coding it with a positive or negative effect, and by foregrounding it, either in terms of time [it is / it isn’t: it was / it wasn’t: it will / it won’t] or in terms of modality [it may / it will / it must] (Ogunsiji, 2001:18).

The generic mood, on the other hand, is employed to generalise about a particular class of things. For example, in Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (HOAYS) Ugwu remembers what his aunty had told him to expect of a university woman in this manner:

[i]…university women kept framed photos of their student days in Ibadan and in Britain and in America on their shelves. [ii] For breakfast, they had eggs that were not cooked well, so that the yolk dances around, and they wore bouncy, straight-hair wigs and maxi-dresses that grazed their ankles (HOAYS: p.19).

In the above extract, Ugwu is speaking about Miss Adeboye but with the insertion of the

‘university women’ in sentence [i] the referent becomes generalised and plural pronoun reference is reflected in ‘their’ in sentence [i] and ‘they’ as in the second, fourth and fifth clauses of sentence [ii]. The change in the generic mood extends particular simple subject/theme to generalised reference that covers university women in general, rather than about Miss Adeboye, a particular university woman.

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This implies, therefore, that in some linguistic environment, lexical items, especially articles such as: this / that / those/ or their/they trigger differential reference to subject/theme in the clause distinguishing specific subjects from general subjects in the structure. For example, compare: [i] ‘Those majors are true heroes!’ with [ii] ‘majors are true heroes!’ (HOAYS: p.125). The first instance [i] is specifically referring to ‘specific army majors’ while the [ii] expresses a general reference. Interestingly, however they are arguments that English language has no means of morphologically distinguishing generic mood from indicative mood since their contents seem to point towards either what is actually the case or actually not the case.

The ‘Irrealis mood’, on the other hand, refers to a grammatical condition which expresses that something is not actually the case. Irrealis mood is said to be part of expressions of necessity, possibility, wish or desire, fear, or as part of counterfactual reasoning (Ogunsiji, 2001: 8). In this grammatical condition, the verb forms in the irrealis mood are used to describe specific events which are yet to occur, are likely to occur, or that which are removed from the real course of events. Apparently, Irrealis mood is categorised into: imperative, conditional, optative, subjunctive, jussive and potential levels.

The imperative mood is used to express a direct request or prohibitions. Given the structural nature and functions of the imperative Irrealis, mood makes it sound blunt or even rude in its use in some situations. Therefore, the imperative Irrealis mood is often used with care, especially as it involves instructing someone to perform an action without argument. The bare form of the verb such as ‘go’, ‘run’, ‘do’, and ‘eat!’, are used to form the imperative. The second person is implied by the imperative except when the first person plural is specified as in ‘let’s go’ [let us go].

The Irrealis conditional mood refers to an event whose realisation is dependent upon another condition, particularly but not exclusively, in conditional sentences. It is argued that in modern English, Irrealis conditional mood is regarded as a periphrastic construction with the form: would + infinitive [For example: ‘I would eat’]. Loos et al., (2004) are therefore of the suggestion that, in this situation the conditional version of:

‘John eats if he is hungry’ is ‘John would eat if he were hungry.’ Apparently, ‘would + infinitive’ construct are employed in the main clauses of English sentences, with a subjunctive sense. For example: ‘If you only tell me what is troubling you, I might be able to help.’

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The subjunctive mood refers a variable that expresses a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set of circumstances, and or expression of opinions or emotions, or making a polite request. Optative Irrealis which is considered as declarative mood consists of grammatical structures which code expressions of hopes, wishes or commands, and expressions of desire. The other uses of optative Irrealis mood may overlap with the subjunctive mood. Occasionally distinctions are made between different optative moods: a mood to express hopes as opposed to that of expressing desire.

The other category of Irrealis called the ‘Jussive mood’ harbour grammatical conditions that express pleading, insistence, imploring, and self-encouragement, wishing, desiring, intention, commanding, purpose or consequence.

The last category of Irrealis mood, ‘the potential mood’, is regarded as the grammatical conditions that signify a probability in the mood. This expression of probability is signalled in the speaker’s estimation that, the action or occurrence of an event is considered likely to occur. The potential Irrealis mood is formed by means of the auxiliaries ‘ought’ and ‘must’.

The import of the above analysis of the systemic functions of some of the structures in sentence as suggested in SFL has shed light on the forms, operational nature and the various functions performed by lexical and grammatical elements in the networks of the sentence which are exploited to construct sequences of meanings in the texture of texts.