A Transitivity Analysis of Urhobo Women’s Songs

Numerous studies have been conducted on various aspects of the Urhobo language, including its history, phonology, morphology, and grammar; however, there is a dearth of research on the transitivity analysis of Urhobo women’s songs. To fill this gap, this study examines Urhobo songs performed exclusively by women. The theoretical framework for the analysis is M.A.K. Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL). The data for this study comprise ten recorded Urhobo songs that center on family life, marriage, polygamy, and childbirth. The results reveal the presence of five of the six process types, with material processes being the most dominant. Interestingly, no behavioral processes were identified in the data, suggesting that the songs are centered on events involving some activity or action. By examining these songs from a transitivity perspective, this study illustrates how Urhobo women utilize various processes and participant types in their song lyrics to convey their stories, thereby highlighting dominant social structures that mediate gender roles and the sociocultural meanings embedded in the processes. The findings of this study contribute to the existing body of knowledge and open new avenues for research, encouraging further investigation of song lyrics using SFL.