CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION       Introduction

This study explores the language of the Sermon on the Mount as delivered by Jesus from the perspective of grammar. Using Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG hereafter), the study will find out how Jesus’ grammatical choices construe His experience of the world around and within Him. This chapter discusses the general overview of this research and gives a brief theoretical and methodological framework within which the study was conducted.

      Background to the Study

Language is a very effective tool used to state facts, ask questions, give commands or give information among other uses. Anybody who uses language uses it in a way that they can do things with it; how they can make choices that will communicate their originally intended purpose or meaning. Bloor and Bloor (2004) affirm this when they say that “when people use language, their language acts produce – construct meaning” (p. 2). Also, Wood and Kroger (2000) believe that language should not be taken simply as a tool for description and a medium of communication but as a social practice, a way of doing things. Halliday (1985, xiv), writes that  “a language is interpreted as a system of meanings, accompanied by forms through which the meanings can be realized and answer the question, “how are these meanings expressed?” When language performs these functions, it is said to be functional rather than formal.

The intended purpose for which the language is used defines the style to be adopted. In the religious domain for instance, speakers or users of religious language use language to convince, persuade, educate and inform etc. but chiefly to persuade. Accordingly, users of religious language tend to use language in a functional way that assists them achieve this purpose. With

these goals, intentions and beliefs in mind, they make certain linguistic choices that aid their anticipated desire.

One framework that is oriented towards describing the functions of language in texts is  Halliday’s SFG. It concerns itself with meaning and language as a social phenomenon. Halliday (1978) says that language is controlled by social structures and these social structures are maintained and transmitted through language, making language very vital in the affairs of every speech community. SFG has been used extensively by scholars to analyse different kinds of texts. de Carvalho Figueiredo (1999) used it to analyse legal proceedings while Frimpong (2007) and Bonney (2008) used it to analyse editorials of newspapers. Al Faki (2014) and Adjei & Ewusi- Mensah (2016), on the other hand, used it to analyse political speeches while Halliday (1971), Burton (1982), Mwinlaaru (2012) and Cunanan (2011) used it to analyse literary texts. Graber (2001) used it to analyse the Parable of the Sower and Quainoo (2011) used it together with Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse what he calls “charismatic church advertisement sermons” in Ghana.

The interest of the current study, therefore, is to explore the application of the transitivity framework within the ideational metafunction of SFG to the Sermon on the Mount. By exploring transitivity in this text consequently, the study seeks to find out the process types and the participants that are predominant in the text. It is anticipated that the pattern that will be revealed will give a projection of the human experience in the field of the Sermon on the Mount.

Eggins (2004) says that transitivity helps to explain how the field of the situation is being constructed as in describing what is being talked about and how shifts in the field are achieved.

Halliday (1994) identifies transitivity as follows:

A fundamental property of language is that it enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of their experience of what goes on around them and inside them. …Our most powerful conception of reality is that it consists of “goings-on”: of doing, happening, feeling, being. These goings-on are sorted out in the semantic system of language, and expressed through the grammar of the clause… This… is the system of TRANSITIVITY. Transitivity specifies the different types of processes that are recognised in the language and the structures by which they are expressed (1994:106)

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.