Confluence of Text and Genre in Kincaid’s “Girl”: A Transitivity Analysis
Abstract
![](/public/site/graph.png)
This paper aims to explore “Girl” (1978), a short story by Jamaica Kincaid. Halliday’s theory of transitivity is applied to examine the alliance between text and genre, and how it helps reveal the ideological construction within a colonized society. The roles of the two women in the poem have been analyzed to identify the linguistic choices that play a significant role in emphasizing the character of women as suppressed individuals, symbolizing the British colonization of Antiguan society. The study concludes that Pakistani society, which also remained under British rule, shares similarities with Antiguan culture with regard to the control and suppression of women. Women are depicted as lacking freedom of thought, unable to raise their children appropriately and support others. The study, thus, highlights the issue concerning the status of women in Pakistani society and aims to advocate for change by accepting their rights and granting them freedom for an independent life.
Downloads
References
Alvin, L. P. (n.d.). SFG page. https://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgtrans.html
Briones, R. R. (2016). Textual analysis through systemic functional linguistics. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 1(2), 109–144. https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v1i2.27
Christina, W. M. (2020, May 16). The biological mother in daughter’s identity formation in Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy and Jean Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark. MAES Conference 2020. Hong Kong: School of English, University of Hong Kong. https://english.hku.hk/public_uploads/MAESConference2020Programme.pdf
Edubirdie. (2021, August 06). The main ideas of the short story "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. https://edubirdie.com/examples/the-main-ideas-of-the-short-story-girl-by-jamaica-kincaid
Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systematic functional linguistics. Continuum International Publishing Group.
Eggins, S. (2004). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
Ekhteyar, A., & Umrani, T. (2021). CPEC in Pakistani print media: Transitivity analysis of English newspapers’ articles. Progressive Research Journal of Arts and Humanities, 3(1), 157–169. https://doi.org/10.51872/prjah.vol3.Iss1.93
Fakhruddin, W. F., & Hassan, H. (2015). A review of genre approaches within linguistic traditions. LSP International Journal, 2(2), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.11113/lspi.v2n2.28
Halliday, M. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold.
Hutz, M. (2018). Focus on form—The Lexico-Grammar approach. In C. Surkamp & B. Viebrock (Ed.), Teaching English as a foreign language (pp. 133–158). J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart.
Kincaid, J. (1979, June 19). Girl. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl
Mack, N., Woodsong, C., Macqueen, K. M., Guest, G., & Namey, E. (2005). Qualitative research methods: A data collector's field guide. Family Health International. http://elibrary.mukuba.edu.zm:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/484/1/Copy%20of%20Qualitative%20Research.pdf
Matthiessen, C., & Halliday, M. (1997). Systemic functional grammar: A first step into the theory. Higher Education Press.
Nguyen, T. (2012). Transitivity analysis of heroic mother by Hoa Pham. International Journal of English Linguistics, 2(4), 85–100.
O’Donnell, M. (2011). Introduction to systemic functional linguistics for discourse analysis. Language, Function and Cognition, 12, 1–8.
O'Donnell, M. (n.d.). What is systemic-functional linguistics? Information On Systemic Functional Linguistics. http://www.isfla.org/Systemics/definition.html
Omari, O., Harchaoui, K., & Dagamseh, A. (2020). A systemic functional grammar-based critical discourse analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy. Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literatures, 12(3), 307–325.
Rabea, A., & Almahameed, N. A. (2018). Genre crossing in Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’: From short fiction to poetry. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(3), 158–165.
Rabiah, S. (2012, November 7–8). Language as a tool for communication and cultural reality discloser (Paper presentation). 1st International Conference on Media, Communication and Culture “Rethinking Multiculturalism: Media in Multicultural Society”, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.31227/osf.io/nw94m
Richardson, C. (2017). A text wrestling analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. University of Alaska, Anchorage: https://ua.pressbooks.pub/bourneempoword/chapter/text-wrestling-example/
Rosenthal, P. (2022, September 22). Analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”. Panmore Institute. https://panmore.com/analysis-jamaica-kincaid-girl
Sardinha, T. B. (2012). Lexicogrammar. In The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0698
Tearle, O. (2022, December). A summary and analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’. Interesting Literature: https://interestingliterature.com/2022/12/jamaica-kincaid-girl-summary-analysis/
Trosborg, A. (1997). Text typology: Register, genre and text type. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Text typology and translation (p. 1–23). John Benjamins.
Tuija, V. (1990). On the definitions of text and discourse. Folia Linguistica, 24(3/4), 447–455.
Yaghoobi, M. (2009). A critical discourse analysis of the selected Iranian and American printed media on the representation of Hizbullah-Isreal war. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 9(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v9i3.491
Copyright (c) 2024 Salma Naeem, Saba Zaidi
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.