The forms and functions of passive constructions in Ghanaian newspaper editorials

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between Ghanaian newspaper editorials and the passive voice. Using six hundred (600) editorial articles, three hundred (300) each from the Ghanaian Times and the Daily Graphic, the study sought to ascertain the register features such as field, mode, participants and how they relate to one another, the communicative purpose and passive constructions employed in the above named newspapers, thereby establishing the link between the context and the passive voice. The study employed Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a theoretical framework and the Register perspectives of Halliday (1978) and Biber and Conrad (2009) as an analytical tool. The study indicated that the context of Ghanaian newspaper editorials determines the grammatical choices made to disseminate significant information to the citizenry of Ghana and this links the relationships among participants in conjunction with the situation of the register. The study showed that editors inform citizens about issues through register variables such as field, mode, tenor, setting, production circumstance and communicative purpose. The study also revealed three kinds of passives: agentive (passives with explicit agentive phrase and passives with implicit agentive phrase), non-agentive (passives without agents) and quasi (passives which resemble agentive passives). The findings have implications for SFL, the Register theory, Grammar and the passive voice. Thus, the choice of the passive voice creates a formal environment for the Ghanaian newspaper editorials.