The Grammar of Interpersonal Meaning in Wole Soyinka ’ s A Play of Giants Innocent

The aim of this article is to use the analytic and linguistic tools drawn from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to inquire into the language of Wole Soyinka’s play entitled: A Play of Giants. In order to stress how the protagonists interact with one another, the paper focuses on the study of interpersonal meaning. The method of analysis is that of sampling. The data, thus, includes two excerpts selected and analyzed through the linguistic features of mood, modality and adjuncts. The findings reveal that the two texts display various mood-types, mainly declarative, interrogative and imperative mood, as well as features of modality, including modulation and modalisation, which are combined with adjunct features to contribute to the realization of interpersonal function and to decode the tenor of discourse in the play. The work concludes that interpersonal meaning is an important theory as it has made it easy to decode the language and style of the writer and account for how the writer has satirized the characters of the play to address some of the political issues confronting contemporary Africa.


Introduction 1.
One important way of analyzing literary texts successfully is to use linguistic methods.This is probably one of the major goals set up by stylistics which is commonly viewed as the study of style.As observed by Simpson (2004), doing stylistics enriches people's ways of thinking about language and, exploring language offers a substantial purchase on people's understanding of literary texts.For Ngara (1982), in order to arrive at a satisfactory understanding of literature, the reader must have an understanding of language, its function and operation.In this respect, the reader must have to recourse to linguistics for a full understanding of the phenomenon of language.Thus, to provide a relevant investigation of some aspects of the message conveyed by Wole Soyinka, this research paper carries out a stylistic analysis of this writer's play entitled A Play of Giants through the approach devised by Systemic Functional Linguists.
As a matter of fact, Wole Soyinka is one of the most prolific West African literary scholars.He has produced various literary works such as prose, poetry , plays, essays, etc. and has been more concerned not only with issues related to his culture and society, but also with those affecting his country in particular and Africa in general.As a matter of fact, A Play of Giants focuses on themes around the subject of power.In this play, Soyinka describes the authoritarian and dictatorial regimes which have arisen in Africa in the days following the independence.Through the selection of two excerpts from the play, this study uses a theory about systems of meaning and relationship between language and social context to analyze Wole Soyinka's play.First, the theoretical approach related to mood, modality and tenor of discourse is accounted for and, second, a clause-to-clause analysis is provided so that the main linguistic features are studied to make it easy to find out some instances of meanings being made in the play under study.

Theoretical Foundation: Interpersonal Meaning 2.
SFL views language as a social-semiotic system, i.e., a meaning-making process which includes experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings.According to Simpson (2004), the interpersonal meaning is about how we orientate, shape and measure our utterances as discourse.Bloor & Bloor (2004) emphasize this assertion as follows: "language is used to enable us to participate in communicative acts with other people, to take on roles and to express and understand feelings, attitudes " (p.11).This is why Halliday & Mattiessen (2014, p.135) contend that an 'act' of speaking is something that might more appropriately be called an inter-act: it is an exchange, in which giving implies receiving and demanding implies giving in response.Actually, the interpersonal meaning is realized through the mood patterns of the grammar and modality (Eggins, 1994).According to Eggins (1994), the mood structure of a clause has to do with the organization of the functional constituents of that clause.As a matter of fact, each mood-type corresponds to each function.In that regard, Eggins (1994Eggins ( /2004) ) summarizes the different mood-types with their related speech functions in table 1 below: Table1: Speech function and mood-types (adapted from Eggins,1994Eggins, / 2004) )  As pointed out by Bloor & Bloor (2004, p. 46), in SFL, a clause is divided into two parts: the Mood and the Residue.The Mood is made up of Subject and Finite whereas the Residue includes the Predicator, Complement and Adjuncts.The second component of the realization of interpersonal meaning is modality.Halliday (1985a) defines it as the area of meaning that lies between yes and no-the intermediate ground between positive and negative polarity" (p.335).It is the expression of attitude and judgments.That is why Amoussou (2015) contends that "modality functions to indicate some aspects of the writer's/speaker's/ narrator's attitudes to the subject matter, or his/her comment on its trueness, relevance, reliability".On his part Fowler (1986) quoted by Koutchadé (2015) argues that " modality is the grammar of explicit comment, the means by which people express their degree of commitment to the truth of the propositions they utter, and their views on the desiderability or otherwise of the state of affairs referred to" (p.131).Modality includes modalization, i.e, the expression of speaker's judgment about certainty, likelihood, frequency, and operates through finite modal operators (can, may, must, etc.) or mood adjuncts (I think, I'm certain, I think, it is probable, etc. and modulation i.e., the expression of obligation and inclination through the finite verbal operators (must, will, shall, have to, etc).Actually, the interpersonal meaning is the realization of the tenor of discourse (Hasan ,1985(Hasan , /1989;;Eggins 1994).The tenor of discourse is a component of context of situation, i.e., the social environment in which meanings are being exchanged Halliday& Hasan (1985Hasan ( /1989)).It refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the participants, their status and roles.Put another way, it relates to the role relation of power and solidarity between the interactants: speaker/listener, addresser/addressee, writer or narrator/ reader or the writer/ speaker's attitude to the subject matter, etc. (Amoussou, 2015).Eggins (1994Eggins ( /2004) ) views the tenor of discourse as the social role played by interactants and points out those three dimensions for tenor which are "power", "contact" and "affective involvement".As a matter of fact, the way people interact with one another always determines whether they have equal or unequal power, frequent or infrequent power and high or low affective involvement.

The Analysis 3.
In order to facilitate the analysis of linguistic features related to mood, modalities and adjuncts, the sampling method used has consisted in selecting some excerpts from the play under study.To that purpose, two excerpts (henceforth text1 and text2) have been selected and analyzed.As a matter of fact, the first excerpt is a conversation between the "life president" KAMINI and his minister, CHAIRMAN who has been sent to negotiate for the president a loan of hundred million dollars from the World Bank.As for the second text, it mainly focuses on a conversation between KAMINI and AMBASSADOR about some eminent and well educated members of the government who have secretly decided to run away.The two texts have been selected because they mainly focus on the same theme.The analysis is carried out quantitatively and qualitatively.

Statistical analysis of text 1
In this section, various mood-types, modality and adjuncts have been identified.The result of this task is displayed in the appendix.As a matter of fact, a need to carry out a thorough analysis of these linguistic features used in the speech of each character of the selected extracts has prompted us to count, tabulate and display their number and related percentages, as identified in the first extract, in table 2 below: Consequently, it turns out that declarative mood overrides the other mood-types in the text.This suggests that the participants have mainly exchanged information.Moreover, the use of minor and abandoned clauses is suggestive of a dialogic mode which occurs in the text.Apart from declarative mood, interrogatives are used in this text.They are 21 in number, all of which are used by KAMINI and distributed as follows: fifteen (15) wh-interrogatives, (6) polar interrogatives, and two (2) elliptical interrogatives.This highlights the fact that president KAMINI requires more information through questions.Considering the exchange of goods and services, only thirteen (13) imperatives are uttered entirely by KAMINI.This implies that Kamini has power and authority over CHAIRMAN and other interactants.
As far as modality is concerned, interactants have made use of it to express their attitudes and judgments regarding the subject matter of their talk.In fact, the statistical figures show 08 instances of modalizations distributed between KAMINI [05 (66.66%)],CHAIRMAN [02 (25%)] and GUDRUM [01 (8.33%)] while only one (1) modulation is used standing for 7.69%.This highest modalization attributed to KAMINI proves that he is in a position of power over the other interactants.Finally, it is important to point out that the passage is almost unmodulated.The only case occurs in CHAIRMAN's speech.The above statistical figures have provided relevant information about the distribution of mood, modality and adjuncts, all of which are components of mood patterns and interpersonal meaning.A need to assess the language of the writer through these linguistic features requires a further appreciation of each of them.)].The use of these minor and incomplete clauses is an evidence of the dialogic mode feature that the text displays.

Statistical analysis of text2
As far as adjuncts are concerned, these three interactants have used 117 of different types.Among these adjuncttypes, circumstantial are the most predominant with a total of 57.Out of these 57 adjuncts, KAMINI has used 36 (63.15%),AMBASSADOR: 20 (35.08%) and GUDRUM: 01 (1.75%).This is indicative of experiential elements of time, location, matter, cause, etc. added to the clauses (Eggins, 1994) to specify the circumstances, time, places, etc. related to the processes expressed in the clauses.The twenty-four (24) conjunctive adjuncts used are distributed among KAMINI [26(76.47%)],AMBASSADOR [07 (28.58%)], and GUDRUM [01 (2.94%)].They point out that connectors or linking words are used cohesively and coherently to tie up clauses.
Moreover, from the above table, one can notice the use of modality in the text.There are eleven (11) modalisations shared among the interactants as follows: KAMINI [06 (54.54%)],AMBASSADOR [03 (27.27%)],GUDRUM [02(18.18%)].Such a distribution reveals that these participants have expressed their attitudes and judgments which are more related to probability and judgments.Likewise, there are six (06) modulations in the text, which are distributed among KAMINI [01 (16.66%)] and AMBASSADOR [05(83.33%)].This means that the two participants have expressed obligations and inclination by giving goods and services.The following section makes it easy to elaborate on the mood, modalities and adjuncts analyses in this extract.

Discussion and Conclusion 4.
As said earlier, declarative mood is mostly predominant in text 1.Some of their clauses of occurrence are (6,7,11,12,14,15,16,19,20,22,23,29,36,37,38,39,44,45,46,55,56,57,64,65,66,90,91,100,106,107,108,109,112,113,114,115,132,133,134,135).These clauses are mainly used by KAMINI and are meant to convey information.Actually, CHAIRMAN has come to KAMINI to inform him that the World Bank has refused to grant Bugara the loan of two hundred million dollars.This has irritated KAMINI and the need to receive more information has prompted him to use both polar and Wh-interrogative mood clauses.As a matter of fact, polar interrogatives occur in (8,21,126,127,129,133) whereas Wh-interrogatives, whether elliptical or full interrogatives are expressed in clauses (2,5,17,18,40,67,68,74,75,78,80,111,116,117), to name only these.KAMINI has put clarification questions to CHAIRMAN and the latter cannot but attempt to answer questions in declarative forms to provide KAMINI with convincing information.Actually, the writer has used features of elliptical interrogatives to "create a rethorical interactive context" (Eggins, 1994, p.314).In that respect, the predominance of Wh-over polar interrogatives shows clearly that Kamini does not want to admit that his request for loan has been objected.To show his disagreement, he uses imperative mood in (25,26,33,34,53,54,92,97,98,102,103) to order CHAIRMAN to go back to the World Bank and not only agree to any conditions on which they insisted but also to get back to Bugara and start printing Bugara's notes.Moreover, the interaction is reinforced by the use of minor clauses by KAMINI in (51, 73) and CHAIRMAN in (118) but also by abandoned clauses used by CHAIRMAN in (115,123,136,144).This has provided the text with its actual dialogic mode.
Regarding modality, it can be noticed that the presence of modal operator "can" in KAMINI's speech in (11, 14, 31, 47) aims at expressing probability, a possibility he has to secure the money for his country, on the one hand, and to get the loan and welcome the supervisors of the loan project, on the other.Similarly, the same modal operator is used in negative form in (10) to show the inopportuneness for the World Bank to control Bugara's currency.As regards CHAIRMAN, he also modalizes through verbal operators such as "may" in (1, 43), "would" in (46, 116).He utters them to show his own attitude and judgments related to the issue of loan and KAMINI's reaction.The second dimension of modality is modulation.The only example identified in the extract occurs in CHAIRMAN's speech.In fact, he uses the modal operator "must" in (123) to express the necessity of backing Bugara's national currency, which KAMINI does not want to understand.
In extract 2, as shown in the statistical analysis, full declarative mood is predominant in the speech of each interactant.For example, KAMINI uses declaratives in (12,13,16,17,20,23,24,26,28,29,38,39,40,57,63,64,66,68,69,70,71,72,74,75,76,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,87,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,124,125,126,138,149), to name only a few of them.Similarly, AMBASSADOR uses declaratives in (4,5,9,14,42,43,44,47,54,60,61,62,99,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,119,120,121,139,140,141,144,146,157).As for GUDRUM, he uses full declaratives in (7,18,30,31,32,33,34,35,36).This implies that each interactant's speech mainly aims at giving information.In fact, the AMBASSADOR has come to inform KAMINI that some members of his cabinet have left.In order to get more clarifications regarding the conditions of their departure, polar interrogatives have been used by KAMINI in (37,41,65,114,116,123) and wh-interrogatives in (2,3,6,11,21,22,25,27,46,53,67,73,100,103,118,132,142,143) to request for more information regarding the circumstances surrounding their running away.The AMBASSADOR's role in this extract is simply to answer all the questions straight away, which accounts for her use of declarative mood and abandoned clauses in (51,59,134,145,147).In addition, GUDRUM is a journalist who approves of any decisions taken by KAMINI; this shows how he has criticized these officials in his speech.Actually, the real dialogic mode of this passage is revealed not only through the use of elliptical Wh-interrogatives as pointed out earlier, but also the use of minor clauses by KAMINI in (10,11,20,45,52,127,130,131,148) and AMBASSADOR in (48,49,50).In this dialogue, both KAMINI and AMBASSABOR have played, interchangeably, the role of speaker and hearer; nevertheless, this overlaps with the role of questioner played by KAMINI and responder played by AMBASSADOR.Moreover, the text displays some instances of imperative mood, showing that "the text goes simply giving information, because the conveyed information has the potential to be packaged as goods and services" (Eggins, 2004, p.332).Actually, the peculiarity of this text is that these imperative mood-types are used by KAMINI, the president in clauses (55,56,58,86,88,135,150,152,154,155).KAMINI has used them to give commands.Indeed, in clauses (55,56,58,86,88), he orders the AMBASSADOR to see to the promotion of Seli Metatu after the departure of the others.Similarly, in (135), it is an instruction to AMBASSADOR to keep quiet when KAMINI is talking and in (150,152,154,155) KAMINI commands AMBASSADOR to get into touch with the presidential Task Force Special to go to the four men's villages.Finally, there is a use of imperative mood by KAMINI in (113) and this expresses disgust vis-à-vis the four officials who run away.
Regarding the use of modality in the text, one can notice that modalization is distributed among the three characters.They are used to express the interactants' attitudes and judgments about the conditions under which some of his officials have run away.KAMINI modalizes in (21,27,91,115,137),AMBASSADOR in (60,134,145) and GUDRUM in (30,31).It is important to mention that KAMINI uses "can" to say how likely members of his cabinet and some of his officials have betrayed him.As for GUDRUM, he uses "can" in (30) and "could" in (31) to confirm how likely AMBASSADOR will represent KAMINI's opinion when he is not present, on the one hand, and the possibility to help her, on the other.Regarding AMBASSADOR, she uses "may" in (60, 134) and "could" in (145) to express her own opinion and her explanation on the issue being discussed.As far as modulation is concerned, it must be pointed out that both KAMINI and AMBASSADOR have used modulation.KAMINI modulates in (90,93,98) whereas AMBASSADOR does so in (14,49,99,107,121,157).This means that Ambassador modulates more than president KAMINI.Actually, this does not imply that she has instructed the president to do things for her, but, rather, she has expressed her obligation to execute the president's decisions.
Moreover, as noticed in text1, and pointed out in the previous session, this text displays various types of adjuncts namely circumstantial adjuncts, used mainly by KAMINI and AMBASSADOR.These elements indicate: (i) temporal or spatial location such as "immediately" in (14), "in appointment" in (20), "from our own Bugara University" in (41), "here" in (44), "for an hour or more" in (112, 121), (ii) manner such as "correctly" in (28), "carefully" in (104), "very carefully" in (107).Apart from circumstantial adjuncts, the text has also displayed an important number of vocative adjuncts used most specifically by Ambassador.Actually, vocative adjuncts such as " your (Gracious) Excellency" in (1,5,14,42,54,60,99,106,119,134,139,144,157) shows the degree of respect Ambassador has for the president.On his turn KAMINI uses the adjunct "you, Madam Ambassador" in (20) and "Madam Ambassador" in (153) to address AMBASSADOR during their conversation.In addition, mood adjuncts are also used by the three interactants.GUDRUM uses "actually" in (18) and "of course" in (30) to express inclination and certainty.First,"actually" in (18), is used to persuade KAMINI that Seli Metatu is a young graduate who is very bright and second, "of course" in ( 30) is meant to assure KAMINI that AMBASSADOR is capable of writing the president's address.Similarly AMBASSADOR uses mood adjuncts in (42) to assure that Seli Metatu has got his doctorate degree from Bugara University.Conjunctive adjuncts are also used predominantly by Kamini to hang clauses together and relate them to the context of use.These elements are used "to express the logical meanings of elaboration, extension and enhancement" (Eggins, 2004, p. 162).
Actually, through the study of mood and modality, we can deduce the tenor variables of each text in terms of power, contact and affective involvement.As a matter of fact, in text1, imperative mood clauses are only used by KAMINI to order CHAIRMAN to do things.In addition, the use of vocatives such as "Your Excellency", "your gracious Excellency", "Dr Life president", etc. illustrates a situation where KAMINI has more power than CHAIRMAN as the use of vocatives is non-reciprocal.In addition, the organization of the interrogative mood clauses describes a situation where CHAIRMAN is obliged to answer all the questions put to him immediately.In the second text, conversation is organized in a similar way between KAMINI and AMBASSADOR.Indeed, there are predominantly cases of non-reciprocal vocatives such as "your Excellency" which are added to each explanation provided by AMBASSADOR.All the imperatives are produced by "life president" KAMINI to show that orders are given and KAMINI uses high modalisations and some instances of modulation more than AMBASSADOR.From the above analysis, we can deduce that the mood analysis in text1 reveals there is an unequal power between KAMINI and CHAIRMAN; the contact is frequent and the affective involvement is low.As for text 2, we notice that the power between the main interactants, KAMINI and AMBASSADOR, is unequal, the contact is frequent and the affective involvement is low.
From all the above analysis, a further linguistic appreciation of the findings has prompted us to deduce that A Play of Giants is a satirical play in which the writer portrays the tyranny and dictatorship orchestrated by some African leaders.According to Jeyifo (2004, p.96), the play involves a rather extended, static tableau in which the "giants" of the title, KAMINI, GUNEMA, KASKO and TOBUM-each respectively serving as very thinly disguised representations of Idi Amin, Macias Nguema, Jean-Bedel Bokasa and Mobutu -talk about and parade themselves as incarnations of replete, fulfilled power.Through the study of mood and modality analyses in the two selected excerpts, one can understand how the writer has carried out a portrayal of one of the main protagonist of the play, i.e., KAMINI.In the first extract, we notice how KAMINI has used the various mood types to express his disapproval of the fact that some conditions must be met before the loan can be granted.Actually, KAMINI is portrayed as an illiterate who lacks basic knowledge in economics and finance.He takes all decisions without taking into account their consequences.This is illustrated through the whinterrogative mood in (24) and imperatives in (25,26): "What I care about condition.Agree to any condition .Just get the loan".Actually, in the context of the play, international financial institutions grant loans to some developing countries to finance development projects.Unfortunately, some African leaders like KAMINI use this money for their personal purposes.In addition, the theme of dictatorship and tyranny described in the play is well illustrated in the character of KAMINI. For example,in (112,113,114,115,116), CHAIRMAN's attempt, through declarative mood, to explain why it is impossible to print Bugara notes has been interrupted by interrogative mood in (117,118).This shows that apart from being a despot, KAMINI is a self-centered president who is not ready to receive any advice from others.He even decides to torture CHAIRMAN.This is a proof that as the president of Bugara, KAMINI is more concerned with his selfish interests.The well-being of his country does not matter.In addition, he has very little knowledge about diplomatic relations and he is a prototype of a corrupt leader.Similarly in text 2, bad governance is a political system put in place by KAMINI.As a matter of fact, in text 2, the information provided by AMBASSADOR in (8,9) shows that KAMINI is a stubborn dictator.Fed up with supporting him, some of his collaborators have decided to run away.This has irritated him because the specialist of the presidential speech is among them.In (10), the use of minor clause "my speech" is another form of satire where Soyinka portrays the intellectual incapability of the president as the passage shows that he is not able to write his own speech and he has to hire somebody who will be doing the work for him.The hypocrisy of Bugara president is displayed when he is told that the minister of foreign affairs is among those who ran away.The use of various mood types from (63) to (85) illustrates how he wrongly accuses his minister, a strategy to avoid disclosing what he is used to doing with the money of the country.Finally, the use of imperative clauses in (150,152,154,155) shows that KAMINI is a demagogue and a tyrant who always pretends to preserve the interest of his country.
On the whole, this paper has inquired into the language of Wole Soyinka's A Play of Giants.The theory of mood and interpersonal meaning has been accounted for in terms of definitions and clarifications.The practical analysis has shown that various mood types have been identified in the interactants' speech and their study has impacted the understanding of style and meaning of the author.The interpersonal meaning has proved conclusive.All in all, through the portrayal of KAMINI, the writer has arrowed some socio-political cankers, vices and follies of some African leaders.More importantly, the writer is raising his readers' awareness on the fact that, some African leaders are responsible the underdevelopment of Africa as their mode of management does nothing but holds back the development of the continent.

Table 2 :
Statistics of mood, modality and adjunct-types in text 1

Table 3 :
Statistics of mood-types, modality and adjuncts in text2As the above table exudes, one hundred and fifty-seven clauses have been identified in this extract.Out of this number, one hundred and four (104) are full declaratives.The distribution of these declaratives among participants shows that KAMINI ranks first with 65 clauses standing for 62.5% followed by AMBASSADOR with 30 clauses standing for (28.84%) and finally GUDRUM: [09 (08.65%)].This text also displays some cases of interrogative clauses.As a matter of fact, we have identified 25 interrogative mood clauses in which there are 17 Wh-, 06 polar and 02 elliptical interrogatives.More importantly, these interrogatives are all used by KAMINI.The dominance of these full declaratives and the use of interrogatives imply that interactants are mainly concerned with making statements and giving information through sequences of questions-answers.More importantly, interrogative mood clauses are all produced by KAMINI.Moreover, there are ten (10) imperative clauses which are used by KAMINI.The presence of imperatives shows that apart from giving information, this text serves as a forum for interactants to exchange goods and services.Eventually, one can notice the use of minor and abandoned clauses in the text.In fact, there are 11 minor clauses shared by KAMINI [10 (90.90%)] and AMBASSADOR [01(09.09%)].Minor clauses occur in AMBASSADOR's speech: [06 (100%