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International Journal of Language and Linguistics
2014; 2(3): 174-180
Published online April 30, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijll)
doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity analysis of
Bingu wa Mutharika’s inaugural address
Wellman Kondowe
Department of Languages and Literature, Mzuzu University, Malawi, C. Africa
Email address:
welkondowe@yahoo.com
To cite this article:
Wellman Kondowe. Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. International
Journal of Language and Linguistics. Vol. 2, No. 3, 2014, pp. 174-180. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
Abstract:
The study is set to analyse how the third Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika manipulated language in his
second inaugural address to enhance his political ideologies by using Halliday’s transitivity system as a theoretical
framework. Among the six processes outlined in the framework, the study discovers that material processes highly dominate
the speech, distantly followed by relational, while verbal processes come third. Material clauses suggest that Bingu construes
the world in terms of his past and future happenings by commemorating his first term achievements and setting his
administrative and political principles of his next tenure. His choice of actors suggests that Bingu attributes the achievements
to himself which is a characteristic of undemocratic leadership style. He also uses a majority of relational identifications to
point out to himself and his administration as the main development players. Verbal processes have been used as markers of
transition and topic shift; still, he refers to himself as the main sayer. The speech foregrounds Bingu as a leader with
autocratic and dictatorship leadership ideologies. The study concludes that such leadership characteristics could be possible
reasons that led to his political downfall as his record on good governance, human rights, and political tolerance significantly
got worsened in his second term.
Keywords:
Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi, Systemic Functional Grammar, Transitivity, Inaugural Address,
Political Ideologies
1. Introduction
Language is a heavily loaded vehicle. Our words are never
neutral, transparent or innocent. They always carry the power
and ideologies that reflect the interests of those who speak or
write them (Taiwo 2007). As language users, we have several
words at our disposal to choose from when producing a text;
the choice of certain words over others may reflect conscious
and unconscious ideologies held by those who produce them.
At the same time they may shape the meanings of a text
towards certain preferred ideologies. Therefore, as observed
by van Dijk (2006), the analysis of language is a critical
component in discovering and understanding particular
ideologies. Van Dijk (2006), uses the term ideology to refer to
attitudes, set of beliefs, values and doctrines with reference to
religious, political, social and economic life, which shape the
individual’s and group’s perception and through which reality
is constructed and interpreted.
Many studies have been conducted to analyze political
discourse especially with reference to countries’ presidents
(Horváth 2009; Duran 2008; Green 2007; Opeibi 2005).
Scholars have realized that Presidents stand for their
countries. They have also come to be viewed as common
fathers of their citizens, burdened with the care of their
children (Hinckley, 1990). They have become people’s
representatives; hence, they should speak for their people.
The voice of the President is taken as the voice of the people.
The political ideologies embodied in presidential speeches
and addresses, therefore, reflect the political ideologies and
realities of their nations.
In many democratic countries, it has become a de facto
requirement for the president-elect to deliver an address on
inauguration ceremonies. The address is an anticipated
feature of all inaugural ceremonies (Rossiter, 1960). It is an
essential element in a ritual of transition in which the
covenant between the citizenry and their leaders is renewed.
It is where the newly elected president outlines, among other
things, his perspective on the manner, conduct and overall
form of his government. The speech shapes the way in
which the people understand the system of government on
both theoretical and functional levels. The address is a form
of rhetoric where the president commemorates the nation’s
International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2014; 2(3): 174-180 175
past, envisions the future, and tries to set the tone for the next
years in office while focusing on the present (Sigelman,
1996). The current study aims at analyzing the inaugural
address of the third Malawian President Bingu wa
Mutharika’s second term in office.
1.1. Bingu wa Mutharika and his Presidency
Bingu wa Mutharika (hereinafter referredto as ‘Bingu’)
came into power in 2004 after a long and active early career
in both Malawian and International politics. In Malawi,
Bingu was one of the first founding members of United
Democratic Front (UDF), a party which ushered him into
power in 2004 general elections after all attempts to re-usher
Bakili Muluzi (his predecessor) through an Open Term Bill
proved futile (Green, 2008). UDF supporters then rallied
behind Bingu as their UDF torch bearer in the 2004 national
elections, a move that made him become the third president
of the Republic of Malawi.
As soon as he was sworn in as president of Malawi on 24
May 2004, Bingu set out policies to combat corruption and
improve the government’s economic policies
1
.
Investigations started against several prominent UDF
officials, and many were arrested. International donors were
impressed with his policies and re-initiated the flow of aid,
which had been stopped over claims of Muluzi’s financial
mismanagement (Green, 2008). By the end of his first year
in office, political infighting against ex-President Muluzi’s
camp forced Bingu to quit the UDF party and formed his
own, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Several UDF
MPs followed him, a move that worsened the hatred with the
Muluzi’s camp. In June 2005, Bingu was placed under an
impeachment motion by the UDF in the National Assembly
(Ntata, 2012). The parliamentary meeting was so tense. In
many National budget assemblies, the UDF and MCP
prioritized the implementation of Section 65 of the Malawi
constitution before the budget got tabled. This section of the
Malawian constitution empowers the speaker of the National
Assembly to declare vacant seats of those parliamentarians
who have crossed the flow in the parliament. This was a
blatant move to frustrate Bingu’s government as it could not
operate without MPs. This posed a great threat to his
administration and the success of his presidency.
However, Bingu had an overwhelming support from all
walks of life in the nation and he emerged a winner, for the
second time, on the fourth Presidential and parliamentary
elections held on 19
th
May 2009, having defeated six
political parties with a very wide margin with a total of
2,963,820 votes (66%) (EISA, 2009). Some analysts
suggested that this election marked a departure from
Malawi’s traditional voting patterns, which were heavily
influenced by region (EISA, 2009). Bingu and Joyce Banda
were respectively sworn in as President and Vice-President
on 22 May 2009 at Kamuzu stadium in Southern city of
Blantyre. Therefore, as a president elect, he was expected to
give an address which this study seeks to analyze. The
1
Source: www.africanhistory.about.com
speech has been chosen because it is the most recent
inauguration address of the Malawian president-elect, which
periodically comes at five-year interval. Furthermore, being
his second inauguration, it is hoped that this speech would
give a good summary of the political and economic state of
the nation.
2. Theoretical Framework
The study employs M.A.K Halliday’s Systemic
Functional Grammar (SFG) as its theoretical framework.
SFG is called systemic because it is established that
individuals have alternative choices available for them to
produce linguistic utterances and texts. The system is what
integrates the notion of choice in language through grammar
which is the system network. The grammar offers language
users a variety of options and choices. The theory is called
functional because of the variety of purposes language is
used for (Halliday, 1994). The function of language is to
make meaning, and these meanings are influenced by the
social and cultural context in which they are exchanged, and
that the processes of using language is semiotic: a process of
making meanings by choosing.
Halliday postulates that language is a multi-strata system.
It starts out in the extra-linguistic realm of the social context
of situation called register, with its three variables of field,
tenor, and mode. It then goes through the intra-linguistic
strata of semantics. This is where meaning is realized in
three components: ideational, interpersonal, and textual.
Then it comes in form and wording in the lexico-grammar
with its meta-functional related systems of transitivity, mood
and modality, and theme.
Fig 1. Language as a stratified system network (from Patpong, 2009:197)
According to Halliday (1994), language mainly serves
three main functions which he refers to as three metafunctions:
the ideational metafunction, concerned with the
representation of reality; the interpersonal metafunction,
concerned with establishing and maintaining the interaction
between the speaker and the hearer; and the textual
metafunction, concerned with presentation of ideational and
interpersonal meanings as text. The three metafunctions in
turn give rise to three strands of meaning in a clause i) clause
as representation, ii) clause as exchange, and iii) clause as
message (Wang, 2008:58). However, this study mainly
176 Wellman Kondowe: Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address
focuses on how meaning of Bingu’s speech is represented and
realized in the transitivity grammar of the clause, which is the
crucial component in ideational metafunction.
2.1. Transitivity System
The main argument of the transitivity system is that our
most powerful conception of reality consists of “goings-on”
of doing, happening, feeling, being. These goings-on are
sorted out in the semantic system of the language, and
expressed through the grammar of the clause (Halliday,
1994). The clause is, therefore, analysed for its potential to
represent both the outer and the inner world of human beings.
The representation of reality is achieved by means of a set of
processes along with their participants and the
circumstances in which they unfold (Filho, 2004). It
expresses what’s happening，what’s being done，what is felt
and in what state it is (Cheng Yumin, 2007). The transitivity
system includes six processes: material，mental，relational，
behavioral, verbal, and existential. The term ‘process’ is
used here in an extended sense to cover all phenomena and
anything that is expressed by a verb; this can be an event,
whether physical or not, state, or relation.
2.1.1. Material Processes
Material processes are processes of doing in the physical
world. They have two inherent participants involved in
them. The first is the Actor, which is an obligatory element
and expresses the doer of the process (Halliday &
Matthiessen, 2004). The second is the Goal, which is an
optional element and expresses the person or entity whether
animate or inanimate affected by the process.
2.1.2. Relational Processes
Relational processes are concerned with the process of
being in the world of abstract relations (Thompson, 2004).
Normally, an abstract relationship that exists between two
participants associated with the process is considered, but
unlike the case of material process, a participant does not
affect the other participant in a physical sense.
Relational processes can be classified into two types:
Attributive and Identifying (Thompson, 2004). Attributive
relational process expresses what attributes a certain object
has. This type of relational process basically suggests the
relationship of ‘x carries the attribute y,’ where an attributive
adjective is assigned to a participant, the carrier. The
relationship between the attribute and the carrier is
commonly expressed by the verb be. The identifying
relational process expresses the identical properties of two
entities. This process contains two independent participants:
a Token that is a holder or an occupant that stands to be
defined, and a Value that defines the token by giving it
meaning, referent, function, status, or role (Halliday, 1994).
2.1.3. Mental Processes
Mental processes encode the meanings of feeling or
thinking. They are internalized processes, in contrast to the
externalized processes of doing and speaking. Halliday and
Matthiessen (2004) observe that, unlike material processes,
mental processes always involve at least one human
participant who has the mind in which the process occurs.
The participant involved in the mental process is known as
Senser. The Phenomenon is the entity which is felt, thought,
or perceived by the sensor.
2.1.4. Verbal Process
A verbal process is the process of saying, and it exists on
the borderline between mental and relational processes. Just
like saying and meaning, the verbal process expresses the
relationship between ideas constructed in human
consciousness and the ideas enacted in the form of
language (Thompson, 2004). The participant who is
speaking is called Sayer, the addressee to whom the process
is directed is Target, and what is said is Verbiage.
2.1.5. Existential Processes
They represent processes of existing and happening.
Existential sentences typically have the verb be, and the
word there is necessary as a Subject although it has no
representational function (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).
The object or event that is being said to exist is called
Existent. An Existent can be any kind of phenomenon, such
as a thing, person, object, institution or abstraction, action,
or event.
2.1.6. Behavioral Processes
Behavioral processes are processes of physiological and
psychological behavior. They are the least salient of six
process types, and the boundaries of behavioral processes
are indefinite, they are partly material and partly mental
(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). Behavioral processes
represent outer manifestations of inner workings, the acting
out of processes of consciousness and physiological states.
The participant who is behaving is called Behaver.
3. Data Analysis
The transitivity analysis of processes, participants
followed the following three steps: (1) the text was parsed
into its constituents clauses, (2) processes were then isolated,
and we determined which participant is doing each process;
finally (3) we determined what sorts of processes they are,
and which participant is engaged in which type of process.
A discussion focuses on the first three most frequent process
types as they are statistically distributed in the introduction,
the main body, and the conclusion of the address.
4. Results and Discussion
As the study of the speech proves, contrary to Herriman’s
(2000a) (cited in Wang, 2008) the majority of the clauses,
identified in this study, are material, followed by relational,
and verbal in that order, as shown in the Table 1 below.
Citations (24)
References (22)
… Several studies have been conducted to analyze political discourses especially with reference to countries’ presidents (Boakye 2014;Kondowe 2014;Naz et al 2012;Alvi&Baseer 2011;Wang 2010;Nadashkivska 2006). Presidents of countries have come to be known as common fathers of their citizens, burdened with the care of their children (Hinckley, 1990). …
… The system is what combines the notion of choice in language through grammar which is the system network. The grammar offers language users a variety of options and choices (Kondowe 2014). Text and specific combinations of situational context, according to Christie (2002), is a condition of cultural context. …
… These goings-on are sorted out in the semantic system of the language, and expressed through the grammar of the clause (Halliday, 1994). The clause is, therefore, analysed for its potential to represent both the outer and the inner world of human beings (Kondowe 2014). The representation of reality is achieved by means of a set of processes along with their participants and the circumstances in which they unfold (Filho, 2004). …
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… These processes explain happenings, doings, feelings, and states (Yumin, 2007). Therefore, the process is very important in ideational meta-function that represents the event, state, relation, behavior, existence or anything expressed by a verb (Kondowe, 2014). Figure 1.shows the conceptual framework of the study. …
… Fairclough (2001)also points out that the civil rights and peace are spread through political speeches. There are some studies by Frimpong (2007), Adjei (2010), Ayoola (2013) and Kondowe (2014) that have used Systemic Functional Grammar to discover the intended meanings of the speakers. Therefore, the current study also uses Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar as its theoretical framework. …
… As far as this study is concerned, it only investigates the ideational meta-functions in Nelson Mandela’s political speeches that he delivered on different occasions. For this purpose, transitivity analysis has been carried out which is “The most powerful conception of reality consists of going on of doing, happening, feeling, being” (Kondowe, 2014). …
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… Relevant research discussing ideational meaning was conducted by Oliveira [5] presents an LSF analysis of two papers sample from University of California analytical writing and English language learner writing (ELLs). Alaei&Ahangari [6]focusing on the realm of ideational meaning, namely participants, processes, and circumstances to analyze the novel “Heart of Darkness”.Furthermore, the relevant research discussing transitivity is Kondowe [7] discussing Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity analysis of BinguwaMutharika’s inaugural address. Li Fengjie’s research on Transitivity Analysis of David Cameron’s Speech in Retaining Scotland and Transitivity Analysis of American president Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address [8]. …
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… In other words, it is the foundation of a speaker’s semantic organisation of what is happening, what we perceive, and what we experience. Happening, sensing, feelings, goings-on, and being (Kondowe, 2014) are some of the different words used to describe these experiences and realities. In this context, Filho (2004) claims that the individual’s world of reality is defined by transitivity processes, their participants, and the environment in which they are exposed. …
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… Among the critically analyzed speeches, the president or head of state’s speeches become the favorite since the voice of the president is considered the voice of his constituents; hence, whatever philosophy, ideology, or belief being presented publicly become the framework of the entire nation (Kondowe, 2014b). Similarly, the president’s voice becomes significant in the formulation of the government policy as his discourse linguistically or non-linguistically varies that reveal his persona and his intentions to his people (Akinseye, 2015). …
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… Alaei & Ahangari [6] memfokuskan ke ranah makna ideasional yakni partisipan, proses, dan sirkumstan untuk menganalisis novel “Heart of Darkness”. Selanjutnya, penelitian yang relevan membahas transivitas adalah Kondowe [7] membahas Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s inaugural address. …
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… Research about experiential meaning through transitivity analysis has been applied in various fields. For instance, Kondowe (2014) has investigated the president and ideologies through his inaugural address by using transitivity analysis; it showed that Halliday’s transitivity concept could be beneficial in exploring language and politics. The second study has pointed out the used of transitivity system in psychology; here, the researchers aimed at proposing a framework to investigate the social value, particularly in the term of point of view which carried various style and meaning (Tsirogianni and Sammut, 2014). …
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… The researchers also used Transitivity and Appraisal separately as independent tools to carry out CDA of texts. Kondowe (2014) analyzed the inaugural address of Malawian President Bingu Wa Mukhtarika. He aimed at exploring the ideologies that were embodied in the speech and the ideologies that it aimed to construe. …
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