Field Variable and Experiential Meaning in Flora Nwapa ’ s One Is Enough

This paper deals with Field Variable and Experiential Meaning in Flora Nwapa’s One Is Enough. The theory that underpins this study is systemic functional linguistics, which is one of the approaches proposed by scholars such as linguists M.A.K Halliday, S. Eggins, J. R. Martin, R. Fowler, J. D. Benson to mention but a very few, for the study of language and its function(s). In this system, the study of language involves three functional labels: experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings. The study of these different functional labels helps to have a deeper understanding of a text. This study aims at describing and analysing linguistic features which connote experiential meaning in One Is Enough so as to uncover the deep messages conveyed through the novel and provide a new interpretation of it. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used in this study. Thus, two extracts have been selected from One Is Enough and systemic functional linguistic theories have been applied to each of them. The linguistic description and analysis of One Is Enough has revealed that women are the most active, talkative and most mentally involved in the different issues discussed in the selected Texts. The results also indicate to what extent children are important in African families. The discussion and interpretation of these results has enabled the researcher to contend that the deep messages conveyed through One Is Enough mainly concern the importance of children and consequences of childlessness in African societies.


INTRODUCTION
Flora Nwapa is a Nigerian female novelist who has produced various literary works of great value.This paper is an attempt to study one of her fictions entitled One Is Enough.The compelling reason for choosing this author is her idiolect and more precisely, her conversational narrative style.Particular interest has been put on her conversational style in that dialogue is an important linguistic feature through which register variables (field , tenor and mode ) as well as metafunctions (experiential , interpersonal and textual meanings ) can easily be described.The theory that underpins this work is systemic functional linguistics.In this system, the study of language involves three functional labels: experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings.This study only focuses on experiential meaning which involves one major system that is the system of transitivity.Indeed, this system aims at describing meanings about the world, about experience, about how people perceive what is going on.Halliday (1971) contends that 'it is through the experiential function that the speaker or writer embodies in language his experience of phenomena of the real world; and this includes his experience of the internal world of his own consciousness.'This paper aims to describe linguistic features which con-a sample of something, a sample being a part of a whole that is looked at to see what the rest is like (Hornby, 1989).So, basing on this method, two extracts have been selected from One Is Enough and systemic functional linguistic theories have been applied to each of them.Qualitative research is collecting, analysing and interpreting data by observing what people do and say.It is a subjective approach as the researcher tends to become immersed in the subject matter.For Osuala (2007), 'this research method is of particular benefit to the practitioner because qualitative reports are not presented as statistical summations but rather in a more descriptive and narrative style ' (Osuala, 2007: 175).Here, the statistical results found from the quantitative research have been analysed, interpreted and more importantly, the reasons that underpin those statistics have been explained as well.

THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING
The theory that underpins this research work is that of systemic functional linguistics.This theory views language as a social semiotic a resource people use to accomplish their purposes by expressing meanings in contexts.It must be noted that the concept of context is very important in language study.A text taken out of its context undoubtedly raises problems of misunderstandings.This leads Widdowson (2004) to assert that: '…we identify a stretch of language as text when we recognize that it is intended to be related to a context.How we interpret a text is a matter of realizing that relationship' (Widdowson, 2004: 36).It is important to mention that the concept of context consists of three strata: context of culture, context of situation and cotext.Firth (1957) views context of situation as 'a suitable schematic construct to related categories at a different level from grammatical categories but rather of the same abstract nature' (Firth, 1957: 182) There is a close relationship between language and context.Context determines and is constructed by the choice of language.In this sense Leckie-Tarry, (1993:33-34) views the interaction between text and context as that of the form of the nexus between language and society.In fact, language considered as a system -its lexical items and grammatical categories -is related to its context of culture whereas its specific text and component parts are related to its context of situation.In other words, context of culture is related to genre, context of situation is related to register whereas co-text is related to the discourse itself.It is important to mention that context of situation is the stratum that underpins this research work.More specifically, context of situation consists of three aspects called register variables: field, tenor and mode.This study focuses only on field variable.

Register Variables
Bloor &Bloor (2004) argue that when people use language to make meanings, they do so in specific situations, and the form of the language that they use in discourse is influenced by the complex aspects of situation.Halliday (1978) finds the concept of register as 'a useful abstraction link-ing variations of language to variations of social context'.(Halliday, 1978:64) As for him, a register is constituted by 'the linguistic features which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features-with particular values of the field, mode and tenor' (Halliday, 1976:22).It must be noted that in systemic functional linguistics, the organisation of context correlates with the organisation of grammar.This means that there is a strong association between each of the three register variables and Metafunctions: field is related to experiential meaning, tenor is related to interpersonal meaning and mode is related to textual meaning.As mentioned above, this research work focuses on the analysis of field with its related metafunction, experiential meaning.Indeed, register analysis is of a great importance.In this sense, Marco (2001) contends that register analysis 'provides the necessary link between a communicative act and the context of situation in which it occurs' (Marco, 2001: 1).

Field and Experiential Meaning
Field refers to what is happening, to the nature of social action that is taking place.It answers such questions as what is that the participant is engaged in.In other words, it refers to the topics and actions which language is used to express.Experiential is concerned with making sense of the world, with constructing reality as configuration of people, places and things, what they do, who or what they do them to and where, when, how and why they do them.The description of experiential meaning involves one major system that is the system of transitivity.This system aims at describing the meaning about the world, about experience, about how people perceive what is going on.Halliday (1985a) refers to transitivity as the grammar of the clause as the representation of the processes and accounts for the fundamentals of this grammar.As for Bloor and Bloor (2004), a process is divided into three parts: • The process itself, which includes material, mental, verbal, behavioral, existential and relational.• The participants, which are associated with certain process types as illustrated in Table 1 below.• The circumstances, which are the types of participants that can occur with all process types.According to Bloor & Bloor (2004:131), circumstances are the elements which carry a semantic load but are neither process nor participant.They conflate with Adjunct and their grammatical realisation is adverbial group or prepositional phrase.There are a total number of seven circumstances: extent (duration, distance), cause, location in time and space, matter, manner (means, quality, and comparison), role, accompaniment.
The description and analysis of transitivity patterns help uncover meanings about the world, about experience, about how people perceive what is going on.Halliday (1971) contends that 'it is through the experiential function that the speaker or writer embodies in language his experience of phenomena of the real world; and this includes his experience of the internal world of his own consciousness.'

Field in Texts 1 and 2
The field of Text 1 is: Childlessness: a determination of a mother-in-law (Obiora's mother) to put an end to a barren marriage after six years of marital life whereas the one of Text 2 is related to: Information about the resignation of a priest (Izu) father of twins: unsuccessful attempt by Izu and his future mother in law (Amaka's mother) to persuade a woman (Amaka) to accept a marriage.

Experiential Meaning in Texts 1 and 2: Transitivity Analysis
Thorough clause-by-clause transitivity analyses of Texts 1 and 2 are presented in the appendices.The Table 1 below displays the statistics of the different process types identified in both Texts 1 and 2.
Table 2 shows that material processes are predominant in both Texts 1 [35.86%] and 2 [39.74%].In both Texts, there are roughly the same high proportions of mental processes and relatively high proportions of verbal ones.The behavioural processes are in very low proportions whereas the existential ones are almost nonexistent in both Texts.The intensive relational are also high in proportions whereas the possessive ones are very low in both Texts.It is now important to separately carry out the analysis of each category of process types in order to identify in these Texts, who does what, to whom, where, when, how and why.For this purpose, Table 3 below displays the percentage distribution of the participants' material, mental physiological and psychological actions or reactions.

Material processes
Text 1 There are 85 material processes representing 35.86% of the total number of processes in Text 1. Participants perform either tangible/concrete actions or actions involving movement of the body.The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis of Text 1 has been presented in Appendix 1.The proportions of transitive and intransitive processes as well as active and passive processes are as follows: transitive processes 68/85 [80%]; intransitive processes 12/85 [14.11%] active processes 80/85 [94.11%]; passive processes 05/85 [06.25%].These statistics show that transitive processes are predominant in Text 1 whereas the intransitive ones are in low proportions.In the same way, active processes are highly dominant whereas the passive ones are in very low proportions.The following clauses have been selected for illustration: (4) how many times I have visited your home?(24) it will end today (111) We have performed all the ceremonies (121) She was brought back to herself by her mother-inlaw's words It must be noted that the material processes 'visited' and 'performed' respectively in clauses (4), and (111) are transitive as they require two participants (actor and goal) for their complementation whereas the one in clause (24) 'will end' is intransitive as it requires only one participant for its complementation.It must also be noted that the transitive material process in clause (121) 'was brought back' is passive.The   The material processes in (1a) 'drove' (transitive) expresses movement on a distance whereas those in (17) 'have left' (transitive), and (190) 'poured' (transitive), express concrete actions.It is important to note that the transitive material process in clause (189) 'was brought' is passive.

Text 1
There are 52 mental processes representing 21.94% of all process types in Text 1.The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 1 includes the following selected clauses: (16) Did you hear me? (78) I knew your plight (188) She felt It must be mentioned that mental the process 'hear' in clause ( 16) is a process of perception, the one in clause (78) 'knew' is ranged in the category of cognition whereas 'felt' in clause ( 188) is ranged in the category of affection.The statistics displayed in Table 3 show that Amaka has been highly involved in mental reactions with a proportion of 59.61% of the total number of mental processes.

Text 2
There are 47 mental processes representing 19.66% of all process types in Text 2. The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 2 includes the following selected clauses: (11) If Amaka does not want marriage now (30) the three women looked at each other blankly (77) Yes, whether she likes it or not (153) She understood Amaka's point of view, of course The mental processes such as 'want', 'likes', respectively in clauses ( 11), (77), are in the category of affection , 'understood' in clause ( 153) is ranged in the category of cognition whereas 'looked at' in clause ( 30) is a process of perception.The statistics displayed in Table 3 show that Amaka has been the most involved in mental processes with a proportion of 38.29% of the total number of mental processes in Text 2.

Verbal processes
Text 1 There are 35 verbal processes representing 14.76% of all process types in Text 1.The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 1 includes the following selected clauses: (2)Tell me, my son's wife (8) but Amaka said nothing (9) Well, since you cannot answer me (93) Yesterday, when I talked to you The statistics in Table 3 show that Amaka has proved to be the most talkative participant followed by Obiora's mother and Obiora.

Text 2
There are 38 verbal processes representing 15.89% of all process types in Text 2. The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 2 includes the following selected clauses: (2) Amaka's mother welcomed him profusely (179) Mother, he said in his sweet way (183) My son, you have called me mother (210) I must thank you, Mother As mentioned in Table 3, the most talkative participants are Izu, Amaka's mother, Ayo and Amaka.

Text 1
There are 07 behavioural processes representing 02.95% of all process types in Text 1.The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 1 has helped identify the following behavioural processes: (6) And she paused (13) Amaka swallowed (84) I laughed at him (96) how I watched you? (97) I watched you (114) She began to tremble (117) So she did not faint It must be noted that Obiora's mother has used 04 (57.14%) behavioural processes whereas Amaka has used 03 (42.85%).The behaver role has been played by Amaka in clauses ( 13), ( 114) and ( 117) to express her attitude about the high pressure her mother-in-law has been putting on her whereas in clauses ( 6), ( 84), ( 96) and (97) Obiora's mother seriously influences Amaka through physiological and psychological reactions for the purpose of demoralizing her.

Text 2
There are 08 behavioural processes representing 03.34% of all process types in Text 2. The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 1 has helped identify the following behavioural processes: (6) He was relaxed among the three women (7b) He smiled at them (31) Amaka's mother slept badly (32) As for Amaka, she slept very well (45) Amaka should not shy away from marriage because of her previous experiences (70) I will not die (85) when you slept with him (120) Ayo smiled in spite of the seriousness of the whole thing It is important to mention here that the participants involved in physiologically and psychological reactions are Amaka (37.5%),Izu (25%), Amaka's mother (25%), and Ayo (12.5 %).

Text 1
There are 56 relational processes in Text 1.The clause-byclause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 1 includes the following selected clauses: (34) He is a stupid son (41) his house would have been full of children by now (80) you are barren (118) Obiara has two sons by another woman (113) At this, Amaka was utterly shocked It must be noted that the intensive relational processes 'is', 'would have been' and 'are' respectively in clauses (34), ( 41) and ( 80) have been used by Obiara's mother not only to condemn her son for having married a barren woman but also to deplore the fact that he has not many children.The statistics below show the proportions of the different categories of relational processes identified in Text 1: • Intensive processes: 50 [89.28%]• Possessive processes: 06 [10.71%] Causative processes: 00 [00%] The above statistics show that intensive processes are dominant in number, possessive ones are very low whereas causative are completely non existent.

Text 2
There are 50 relational processes in Text 2. The clause-byclause transitivity analysis presented in Appendix 2 includes the following selected clauses: (5) The twins were in the cots, wide awake (22b) and they still remain in the priesthood (43) She would have contracts (185) I have no schnapps (206) This is the society (207) that we all belong to The relational processes 'were' 'remain' and 'is' in clauses ( 5), ( 22b) and ( 206) are intensive whereas 'would have ', 'have' and 'belong' in clauses (43), ( 185) and ( 207 It appears that in Text 2, relational processes are dominant [84.31%] while possessive ones are very low in proportions whereas causative processes are completely absent.

Existential processes
Text 1 Only two existential processes have been identified in Text 1: (138) and there is nobody fairer than I am in this community of ours ( 173) and there was no money to send it in for repairs It is important to note that existential processes are almost nonexistent in this text and have been used in negative clauses.

Text 2
Only one existential process has been identified in Text 2: (28) There was a mild threat in his words.Here too, existential processes are almost nonexistent.

Circumstances in Texts 1 and 2
Text 1

Discussion of the Findings from Text 1
The results presented above show that material processes are dominant in Text 1.This indicates that this Text is concerned with actions.Indeed, the most active participants are Amaka (29.41%),Obiora's mother (23.52%) and Obiora (18.82%).This suggests that these three participants have been in the centre of the actions performed in Text 1.It must be noted that after six (6) years of marriage with Obiora, Amaka has been visited six (6) times by her mother-in-law.Obiora's mother has kept on visiting Amaka for six years for the purpose of verifying whether she is pregnant or not.This indicates to what extent children are important in African families.It must be pointed out that Obiora's mother considers herself as the centre of Obiora's couple.The proportion of material processes she has used confirms this: Amaka (29.41%) -Obiora's mother (23.52%) -Obiora (18.82%)With 23.52% of material processes, Obiora's mother occupies a middle position.This indicates her high degree of interference in the couple for the purpose of separating Amaka from Obiora.In the same way, active processes are highly dominant whereas the passive ones are in very low proportions.This indicates the effectuality of material processes and thus confirms that participants in Text 1 are very active.The statistics displayed in Table 3 show that Amaka, Obiora's mother and Obiora have performed more than 70% of actions in Text 1.This explains the reason why emphasis has been put on them in this analysis.
The results also show a high proportion of mental processes indicating a high degree of mental reactions by participants in Text 1.In fact, Amaka has used 31 mental processes.This high proportion is due to three majors situations.First, Amaka is still childless after six years of marriage.Second, she is threatened by her mother-in-law who merely orders her to leave the house.Third, she is informed by her mother-inlaw that Obiora has two sons from another woman.These three situations explain her high involvement in mental reactions.Verbal processes represent 14.76% and indicate that the participants have expressed themselves and exchanged information as well.The very low proportion of behavioural processes (02.95%) suggests that this Text is less concerned with bodily behaviour.In fact, Obiora's mother has done everything necessary to demoralize Amaka.It must be pointed out that bodily behaviour can help not only to communicate or express emotion but also to demoralize people.This can be noticed through the physiological reactions of Amaka: (114) 'She began to tremble' (117) 'so she did not faint'.Existential processes are almost non-existent in this Text (00.84%).Their presence nevertheless indicates that the actions performed by participants are sometimes framed as existing.The relatively important proportions of relational processes (21.09%) indicate that this Text is concerned with defining and describing participants as well as events and happenings.

Discussion of the Findings from Text 2
In Text 2, the most active participants are respectively Izu (31.57%),Amaka (17.89%),Amaka's mother (17.89%) and Ayo (17.89%).Izu has proved to be very active because as priest of God, he has no child.But his relation with Amaka has enabled him to have twins.This explains the reasons why he has been so active.As far as Amaka is concerned, she has been less active than Izu because she wants a free relation without marriage.The following sentence confirms this: (56) 'I am not going to marry Izu.' Amaka's mother has used the same proportion of material processes as Amaka.Unlike Obiara's mother in Text 1, Amaka's mother has interfered not to separate Amaka from Izu but to encourage her to marry him.The following clauses and sentences illustrate this: (74) 'Amaka will marry Izu' (90) 'This man has given you such lovely boys' (97) 'and I will not stand by//and let my daughter ruin such a good man.'Through material processes, Amaka's mother not only encourages her daughter to marry Izu but almost forces her to do so.She has even performed some concrete actions for this purpose.The most important actions concern her visit to Izu and the libations she has poured to join both families.The following clauses and sentences illustrate this: (107) 'Then take me to Izu's house' (190) 'Amaka's mother poured libations implying that both families had been joined together already.' On superficial examination, it can be said that this is a forced marriage.But on a deep and close scrutiny, it must be pointed out that Amaka's mother is just encouraging Amaka to marry Izu for the reasons that are listed below: • Izu is a priest of God, as such, he is considered as a good man, • Izu has left the priesthood for Amaka's sake, • Izu has succeeded in making Amaka pregnant unlike Obiara who has failed to do so • after six years of marriage, • Amaka has given birth to twins boys, • No serious and wise mother encourages her daughter to a spinster's life.
For the reasons listed above, Amaka's mother has no choice but to encourage her daughter to marry Izu whom she (Amaka) has deliberately chosen.
In this Text, Amaka has used 18 mental processes.This proportion still places her at a top position.Two reasons explain why Amaka has been less involved in mental reactions than in Text 1. First, her main major problem (childlessness) is solved.Second, she is only confronted with her mother's insistence to marry Izu.Verbal processes in Text 2 represent 15.89%.This indicates that participants have expressed themselves and exchanged information as well.The low proportion of behavioural processes (03.34%) suggests that Text 2 is less concerned with bodily behaviour.Existential processes are almost non-existent in Text 2 (00.41%).Their presence nevertheless indicates that the actions performed by participants are framed as existing.The relatively important proportions of relational processes (17.099%) indicate that Text 2 is concerned with defining and describing participants as well as events and happenings.

Overall interpretation of the Findings
In the analyses carried out above, the statistics show that women are the main characters since they are the most active, talkative and most mentally involved in the different issues discussed in the selected Texts.In Texts 1 and 2, Ama-ka, Obiora's mother (Amaka's mother-in-law), Amaka's mother and Ayo (Amaka's sister) are the dominant female characters.The results also indicate to what extent children are important in African families.Indeed, a childless woman cannot have a peaceful family in African societies.This view is shared by Mojola (1988) who observes that: '. in spite of the onerous responsibilities shouldered by the woman, she is "not a woman" if she is barren.'(p.124).In addition, parents in law have control on everything in African families.This is illustrated through Obiora's mother's high commitment to put an end to the marriage.It can thus be inferred from these analyses that the deep messages conveyed through One Is Enough mainly concern the importance of children and consequences of childlessness in African societies.

CONCLUSION
This study has helped explore the participants' reactions, cognitions, perceptions as well as their linguistic acts of speaking and understanding in One Is Enough.The linguistic description and analysis of One Is Enough has revealed that women are the most active, talkative and most mentally involved in the different issues discussed in the selected Texts.In Text 1 it has been found out that Amaka, Obiora's mother and Obiora are the most active participants respectively with 31.76%,23.52% and 20% of actions performed.Obiora's mother considers herself as the centre of Obiora's couple.The proportion of material processes she has used confirms this: Amaka (31.76%) -Obiora's mother (23.52%) -Obiora (20%).With 23.52% of material processes, Obiora's mother occupies a middle position.This indicates that she is interfering in the couple for the purpose of separating Amaka from Obiora.The reason for this interference concerns Amaka's childlessness.The high proportions of mental processes in Texts 1 and 2 indicate a high degree of mental reactions by participants in both Texts.In Text 1 Amaka has used 31 mental processes for three major situations: she is still childless after six years of marriage; she is threatened by her mother-in-law who merely orders her to live the house; she is informed by her motherin-law that Obiora has two sons from another woman.These three situations explain her high involvement in mental reactions.On the whole, the transitivity analyses have shown that the deep messages conveyed through One Is Enough mainly concern the importance of children and consequences of childlessness in African societies.

Table 2 .
Statistics of process types in texts 1 and 2

Table 3 .
Percentage distribution of participants' actions and reactions displayed inTable 3 show that Amaka, Obiora's mother and Obiora are the most active participants in Text 1.There are 95 material processes representing 39.74% of the total number of processes in Text 2. Participants perform either tangible/concrete actions or actions involving movement of the body.The clause-by-clause transitivity analysis of Text 2 has been presented in Appendix 2. The proportions of transitive and intransitive processes as well as active and passive processes are as follows: transitive processes 81/95 [85.26%]; intransitive processes 11/95 [11.57%]; active processes 92/95 [96.84%]; passive processes 03/95 [03.15%].It appears that transitive processes are predominant in Text 2 whereas the intransitive ones are in low proportions.Simi- statistics larly, active processes are highly dominant whereas the passive ones are in very low proportions.The following clauses have been selected for illustration:(1a) Izu drove in (17) I have left the priesthood (50) and when her mother finished (189) A new bottle of whisky was brought in on a tray by Izu himself (190) Amaka's mother poured libations Here too, high proportions of circumstances have been identified in Text 2. The transitivity analysis carried out in Appendix 2 has helped identified 98 circumstances which include the following categories: extent 06 [06.12%];Cause 05 [05.10%];Location 53 [54.08%];Matter 04 [04.05%];Manner 27 [27.55%];Accompaniment; 03 [03.06%].It appears that location circumstances are predominant in Text 2, extent cause, matter and accompaniment circumstances are almost nonexistent whereas manner circumstances are important in proportions.