Abstract
Literature is a significant source of data for stylistic studies. The study aims to examine stylistic features in the AuwaluYusufuHaruna’s first novel in English. The research is primarily a content analysis. It recognises that the novel has not attracted much linguistic research interest since its coming into the limelight. To study it from the linguistic viewpoint, the research applies the transitivity model under Systemic Functional Linguistics by Halliday as an analytical tool. The study explores the clauses with reference to system networks in general and the transitivity system in particular. The research, first off, identified the independent clauses in the text. Subsequently, 20 independent clauses were randomly chosen for the analysis of transitivity patterns. The analysis pays attention to participants, processes and circumstances in the clauses. The research discovered that the material process is more frequent than other process types in the novel by far, accounting for 40% of the 20 clauses with the mental process accounting for 25%. This choice helped the writer in presenting actions of the characters rather than giving a mere narration, and in effect giving the story a sense of life.
Keywords: Style, stylistics, system networks, Systemic Functional Linguistics, transitivity
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2025.v01i03.022
author/Yusuf Musa Aliyu
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 1(3) | December 2025 |
