Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address

Wellman Kondowe

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address

Wellman Kondowe

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 3)

Received: 17 March 2014 Accepted: 24 April 2014 Published: 30 April 2014

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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.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
Page(s)	174-180
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi, Systemic Functional Grammar, Transitivity, Inaugural Address, Political Ideologies

References

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Wellman Kondowe. (2014). Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(3), 174-180. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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Wellman Kondowe. Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(3), 174-180. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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AMA Style

Wellman Kondowe. Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(3):174-180. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16,
  author = {Wellman Kondowe},
  title = {Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {174-180},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/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.},
 year = {2014}
}

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T1  - Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address
AU  - Wellman Kondowe
Y1  - 2014/04/30
PY  - 2014
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AB  - 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.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Wellman Kondowe

Department of Languages and Literature, Mzuzu University, Malawi, C. Africa

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APA Style

Wellman Kondowe. (2014). Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(3), 174-180. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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ACS Style

Wellman Kondowe. Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(3), 174-180. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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AMA Style

Wellman Kondowe. Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(3):174-180. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16,
  author = {Wellman Kondowe},
  title = {Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {174-180},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/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.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Presidents and Ideologies: A Transitivity Analysis of Bingu wa Mutharika’s Inaugural Address
AU  - Wellman Kondowe
Y1  - 2014/04/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 174
EP  - 180
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140203.16
AB  - 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.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download