DEONTIC MODALITY IN GHANAIAN PENTE-CHARISMATIC SERMONS

Anita Avevor, Peter Mwinwelle, Grace Asante-Anyimadu

Abstract


The linguistic analysis of sermons has in recent times attracted some attention in linguistic research. Notwithstanding, studies on language use in sermons have predominantly examined the style of individual preachers but with limited attention to linguistic resources on deontic modality. To fill this gap, the present study examines the linguistic resources employed in expressing deontic modality in selected Ghanaian Pente-Charismatic sermons. It is theoretically underpinned by the Register Theory propounded by Halliday (1989) and Biber and Conrad (2009). The study is a qualitative case study that purposively sampled twenty Pente-Charismatic sermons delivered by three Ghanaian preachers namely Apostle General Sam Korankye-Ankrah; Bishop Charles Agyin-Asare and Bishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams. The findings reveal that modal verbs are used to make declarations and admonish listeners on various Christian principles, lexical verbs are used dominantly in the form of action verbs to construe preachers as powerful people who instruct congregants on their Christian obligations while auxiliary verbs are used to support the main verbs to emphasise various actions in the sermons. Phrasal verbs, adverbs, and clauses on the other hand are insignificantly used to enable the preachers to convey their messages in plain language that would be understood by their audience. This paper extends the scholarship on register analysis of sermonic discourse by focusing attention on Pente-Charismatic sermons, a context underexplored in the literature. It also illustrates the communicative implications that underpin the use of various forms of deontic modality in sermonic discourse. The study therefore has implications for the register theory and studies on language use in sermonic discourse.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


Register, Christianity, Pente-charismatic Sermons and Deontic Modality

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adams, E. M. (1985). The Accountability of Religious Discourse. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 18, p.3-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142276

Afrobarometer (2019). Round 8 survey manual in Ghana. https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/summary-results-afrobarometer-round-8-survey-ghana-2019-0/

Akinwotu, S. A. (2021). A pragma-rhetorical study of selected Pentecostal sermons in Nigeria. Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies, 2(33), 4-19.

Allan, R. J. (2013). Exploring Modality's Semantic Space: Grammaticalization, Subjectification and the case of Opheilo. Glotta, 89(1-4), 1-46.

Apata, G. O. (2016). Pentecostalism and Nigeria: New forms of religious life (Doctoral dissertation, Goldsmiths, University of London).

Baumert, N. (2004). ‘Charism’ and ‘Spiritual-Baptism’: Presentation of an Analysis. Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 12(2), 147-179.

Benicot, J. Comeau, J. & Feider, H. (1993). Speech Acts by Mother and Child: Determining their Nature and Form. European Journal of Psychology of Education. 8(1), 35-50

Berghegger, S. (2009). Sermons in Sociolinguistic Skins: An Analysis of Wharry's Study on Discourse Markers in African-American Sermons. Inquiries Journal, 1(10).

Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. New York: Longman Publishing.

Biber, D. & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, Genre and Style. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge: UK.

Biber, D. (1994). An analytical framework for register studies. Sociolinguistic perspectives on register, 31-56

Boggel, S. (2009). Metadisocurse in Middle English and Early Modern English Religious Texts: A Corpus-Based Study. Peter Lang.

Chapman, D. (2004). The Rise and Demise of Women’s Ministry in the Origins and Early Years of Pentecostalism in Britain. Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 12(2), 217-246.

Durst-Anderson, P. (1995). Imperative Frames and Modality: Direct vs. Indirect Speech Acts in Russia, Danish and English. Linguistics and Philosophy, 18(6), 611-653.

Dzameshie, A. K. (1995). Social Motivations for Politeness Behaviour in Christian Sermonic Discourse. Anthropological Linguistics. 37(2), 192-215.

Ekeoha, N. (2015). Linguistic Forms and Functions of Rhetorical Strategies in Sermons of Selected Pentecostal Churches in Lagos. An Unpublished PhD Thesis at the University of Ibadan.

Eldin, A. & Abdel, T. S. (2014). Critical Discourse Analysis of Religious Sermons in Egypt: Case Study of Amr Khalid Sermons. International Education Studies, 7 (11), 64-75.

Esimaje, A. U. (2013). Patterns of Lexical Collocation in Sermonic Texts. Token: A Journal of English linguistics. 2(11), 207-222.

Esimaje, A. U. (2014). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of Sermons in Nigeria. Journal of English Language Teaching, 5(9), 24-32.

Esser, D. (2009). Introduction to English Text Linguistics. Frankfurt Main: Peter Lang.

Finnegan, E. (2004). Language; Its Structure and Use. 4th edition. Wadsworth Publications, Massachusetts: U.S.A.

Firth, J. R. (1935). The Technique of Semantics. Transactions of the Philosophical Society, 34 (1), 36-73). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-968x.1935.tb01254.x

Frimpong, G. K. (2015). A Comparative Register Analysis of Editorials from Ghanaian and British Newspapers. Doctoral Thesis: University of Ghana, Legon. http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/23295

Garner, M. (2007). Preaching as a Communicative Event: A Discourse Analysis of Sermons by Robert Rollock. Journal of Reformation and Renaissance Review. 9(1), 45-70.

Ghana Statistical Service (2021). Population & Housing Census Report. https://census2021.statsghana.gov.gh/

Guazzieri, A. (1998). Language to Language. Trada da Taylor: Cambridge University Press.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1989). Spoken and Written Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). Functional Grammar. 2nd Edition. London: Edward Arnold

Harold, A, (2007). A Literature Survey of Genre-Based Approaches to EST Reading and Writing from 1960-2002. Master of Arts Thesis Submitted to the South African University.

Idowu, M. O. (2007). The Great Revival of 1930. Lagos: Divine Artillery.

Idowu, O. A., Aliu, Y. O. & Ikuelogbon (2021). Analysis of Verbal Hygiene in Bishop Oyedepo’s Crisis Motivated Sermon. Journal of English Studies, 6. 73-96.

Kareem, S. (2018). Impoliteness in Muslim Discourse: A Study of Nigerian Friday Sermons. Linguistics. International Journal of Linguistics and Communication, 6 (2), 20-34.

Kim, E. J. (2016). Persuasive Strategies in a Chauvinistic Religious Discourse: The Case of Women’s Ordination. Faculty Publications. 97. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/pub/97.

Klaus, B. D. (2006). Pentecostalism and Mission. Presented to the American Society of Missiology. Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Springfield: Missouri.

Koncar, A. B. (2008). Contemporary Sermons: from Grammatical Annotation to Rhetorical Design. Systemic Functional Linguistics in Use. Odense Working Papers in Language and Communication, 29, 503-521.

Ladzekpo, G. K. (2012). Beyond the Homiletics: Aesthetics of Rev. K.K. Kwasikpui and E. K. Gawu of E. P Church. Unpublished MPhil Thesis, University of Education: Winneba.

Martin, J. R. (1992). English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and Modality. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ronan, P. (2013). Categorizing Expressive Speech Acts in the Pragmatically Annotated SPICE Ireland Corpus. ICAME Journal, 39 (4), 25-45.

Rose, L. (1997). Sharing the Word: Preaching in the Roundtable Church. Westminster: John Knox Press.

Sinclair, J. (1992). Priorities in Discourse Analysis in Coulthard M. (ed) (1992). Advances in Spoken Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge.

Smart, J. J. C. (1984). Ethics, Persuasion and Truth. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.

Thompson, G. (2014). Introduction to Functional Grammar. Routledge: New York.

Underwood C. R. Kamhawi, S.S. (2015). Friday Sermons, Family Planning and Gender Equity Attitudes and Actions: Evidence from Jordan. Journal of Public Health, 37(4), 641-48 doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdu090.

Wharry, C. (2003). Amen and Hallelujah Preaching: Discourse Functions in African American Sermons. Language and Society, 32, 203-225.

Yong, A. (2004). Beyond the Empasse? Responding to Dale Irvin. Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 12(2), 277-280.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v7i2.458

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Anita Avevor, Peter Mwinwelle, Grace Asante-Anyimadu

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2017-2023. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies (ISSN 2559 - 7914 / ISSN-L 2559 - 7914). All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.