university of ghana transitivity and characterisation in chinua achebe's things fall apart by irene

161 Pages·2017·10.16 MB·English

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UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

TRANSITIVITY AND CHARACTERISATION IN CHINUA
ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART

BY

IRENE SOMONE
(10188325)

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY
OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL ENGLISH
DEGREE

JULY, 2017
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DECLARATION
I certify that this thesis is my own original work produced under the supervision of my
supervisors, where reference has been made to other researchers’ views and analyses, full
acknowledgement is given. This thesis has not been presented in whole or part to any other
institution for any degree in any university.

………………………………. ………………………….
IRENE SOMONE DATE
(STUDENT/ CANDIDATE)

……………………………….. ……………………………
1. PROF. TAYO M. LAMIDI DATE
(SUPERVISOR)

……………………………… …………………………
2. DR. EDWARD SACKEY DATE
(SUPERVISOR)
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University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh
DEDICATION
To:

My father, Mr. Kafui Somone (late).
My mother, Mrs. Ruby Datsa Somone.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

At this emotional moment, I thank God for the strength and grace he has given me to enable to
me complete this arduous task. He is indeed faithful and it is his doing.
Furthermore, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my indefatigable supervisors Prof.
Tayo Lamidi, Ph.D. Professor of Generative Syntax and Contact Linguistics- Department of
English, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria and Visiting Scholar, Department of English,
University of Ghana, Legon- Ghana and Dr. Sackey, English Department, University of Ghana,
Legon- Ghana for their massive contributions to my work. I am appreciative of the constructive
criticisms offered me after going through my work and for enduring all the stress I put on them
without an ounce of complaint. Again, I thank you for your encouragement and always putting
me on my toes to enable me to finish the work in time.
Again, I am also highly indebted to the lecturers, students and the administrative staff of the
English Department, University of Ghana especially the Head of Department, Dr. Jemima
Anderson for their incessant enquiries on how the work was progressing and their pieces of
advice. My special thanks also go to Prof. Franklin Wiredu of the Department of English,
University of Ghana for his enormous encouragement and for taking time off to read through my
drafts even though he has a heavy schedule.
My deepest appreciation also goes to all my course mates in the English Department, University
of Ghana, especially, Abena Gyaawa Ofori, Selina Ahorsu and Divine Owusu for their immense
support and encouragement. I could not have finished this work without their being around to
absorb some of my stress and frustrations.
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To the management, staff and students of Koforidua Technical Institute, especially Mr. Eric
Gyamerah, former Principal, Mr. Isaac Gyamera, current Principal, Mr. Maxwell Afriyie, Vice
Principal Administration, Mr. Seth Annim Sarpong, Vice Principal Academic and Miss Doris
Nketia, Head of English Department, I say I really appreciate the support and assistance offered
me in various ways.
I am highly appreciative of the following: Miss Innocentia Phyllis Tengey (Guidance and
Counseling Coordinator, Koforidua Tech. Institute), Mr. Pascal F. Duhoe (Head of Mathematics
Department, Koforidua Tech. Institute), Miss Narh (Sarkodie Primary C School), Miss Coral
Nayat Ervin, Togbe Akoto IV, Chief of Tanyigbe (Anyigbe) Traditional Area, Betty Boakye-
Mensah, Phil B. Pholie, Mary A. Opoku, Akua, Affumwaa, Carlotta and Offeibea. Without their
support in various capacities, this work would not have been finished in time.
Lastly, to my beloved parents, Mr. Kafui Somone (late) and Mrs. Ruby Datsa Somone, my
aunties, uncles, cousins, my siblings Salomey, Fidel, Moses, Albert, Alberta and Daniel, and my
nieces and nephews Oswin, Desmond, Edna, Gertrude, Manvel, and Adelaide, I cannot quantify
their love, care, support and the daily prayers for me. I love them very much and God richly
bless them.

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ABSTRACT

This study attempted to help bridge the gap between language and literature by using Halliday's
Transitivity model in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a framework to explore
characterisation in Achebe's Things Fall Apart (TFA). Halliday (1994) believes that language is
“functional and systemic” and it is used to make meaning (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014:23).
The study focused on the process, participants and circumstances as well as patterns that are
linked to Okwonko, Ekwefi and Mr. Smith (Rev. Smith). The objective was to examine what the
transitivity patterns attributed to the three characters in the text reveal about them by answering
the questions: which types of process are predominant in TFA, what are the participant functions
of the characters and what do the transitivity patterns attributed to characters in the text reveal
about the three characters selected and the writer's thematic concern? Both quantitative and
qualitative research designs were employed. The study revealed that of all the process types, the
material process dominates the text, followed by the relational and verbal. This suggests that
Achebe uses these processes to enable him to educate the world about Africans. Again, the study
showed that even though the three characters are active participants, Okonkwo is characterised as
effectual while Ekwefi and Mr. Smith are ineffectual. The study contributes to the knowledge of
Achebe's novels and adds a nouvelle dimension to the study of characterisation. The study
concluded with recommendations for further research.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION ........................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................ ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................... v
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................. viii
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................. ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTON ................................................ 1
Background of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................. 5
Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................ 8
Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 8
Scope of the Research .................................................................................................. 8
Significance of the Study ............................................................................................. 9
Overview of the Thesis .............................................................................................. 10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................... 12
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 12
Key Concepts that Are Relevant To The Study ............................................................. 12
Text ....................................................................................................................12
Character and Characterisation ..................................................................................14
Character ................................................................................................................................ 14
Characterisation ..................................................................................................................... 16
System Network ....................................................................................................17
Grammatical Metaphor ............................................................................................19
Review of Previous Studies ........................................................................................ 22
Some critical studies on Things Fall Apart ................................................................... 31
Differences between Previous Studies and the Current Study ......................................... 41
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Background to Things Fall Apart ................................................................................ 42
Approaches in Analysing Characterisation ................................................................... 44
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................... 50
The Ideational Metafunction .....................................................................................55
Interpersonal Metafunction.......................................................................................56
Textual Metafunction ..............................................................................................56
Transitivity ...........................................................................................................57
Process Types .......................................................................................................58
Material Process ..................................................................................................................... 58
Mental Process ....................................................................................................................... 61
Relational Process .................................................................................................................. 63
Behavioural Process ............................................................................................................... 64
Verbal Process ........................................................................................................................ 65
Existential Process ................................................................................................................. 65
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .......................................... 69
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 69
Primary Data............................................................................................................. 69
Research Design ........................................................................................................ 70
How the data were selected from the text ..................................................................... 71
Basis of Character Selection ....................................................................................... 72
How the Data were Analysed ...................................................................................... 73
Summary of the Chapter ............................................................................................ 74
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................. 74
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 74
Results ..................................................................................................................... 75
Analysis and Discussion ............................................................................................. 80
Okonkwo .................................................................................................................. 81
Transitivity Pattern of Data on Okonkwo ....................................................................82
Ekwefi ................................................................................................................... 104
Transitivity Pattern of Data on Ekwefi ...................................................................... 104
Mr. Smith ............................................................................................................... 114
Transitivity Pattern of Data on Mr. Smith .................................................................. 115
Summary of Chapter ................................................................................................ 122
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ............................................... 124
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 124
Major findings ........................................................................................................ 126
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Implications of the study .......................................................................................... 129
Summary of the chapter ........................................................................................... 130
Further Research ..................................................................................................... 130
REFERENCES.................................................................... 132
APPENDIX A: A Sample of Analysed Data on Okonkwo ........................................... 140
APPENDIX B: A Sample of Analysed data on Ekwefi ................................................ 142
APPENDIX C: A Sample of Analysed data on Mr. Smith............................................ 144
APPENDIX D: Distribution of Results on all the Characters ........................................ 146
APPENDIX E: A sample of a screen shot of the analysis using the Antconc software ..... 147

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