Analysing the Lexicogrammatical Patterns of Alur folktales

Alur folktales are a prose orature narrative genre of the Alur which have been transmitted orally across generations. They contain distinct and recognisable lexicogrammatical patterns that shape meaning across them, reflect their communicative purposes and permit us to understand how language functions in different social contexts. The aim of this paper was to examine the lexicogrammatical patterns of Alur folktales to reveal their genre-unique lexicogrammatical structure at the sentence level. The study adopted a qualitative descriptive design and was underpinned by the Systemic Functional Linguistics approach (SFL) to genre theory. Within SFL, genre analysis was adopted as a methodological framework to examine the lexicogrammatical patterns realising meaning at the sentence stratum. Six Alur folktales selected from a corpus of 51 folktales collected through audio recording were analysed. The study findings reveal that three types of sentences are employed in Alur folktales, including simple, compound, and complex sentences, each of which performs a specific communicative function. A sentence consists of three elements encompassing participant, process, and circumstance realised by nominals, verb groups, and adverbials, respectively. Another recurring genre-unique lexicogrammatical pattern of Alur folktales is that non-human participants are personified. Hence, the lexicogrammatical resources used for human actors are also deployed for non-human entities. Alur folktales are narrated in the simple past and simple present tenses. The indicative and imperative moods are used. The analysis of the sentence structure also revealed that the message is structured into a theme and a rheme. Thus, the research concludes that Alur folktales are instances of language use. They are characterised by specific lexicogrammatical resources which create meanings in the folktales and define their narrative genre nature. The study recommends the use of Alur folktales not just for entertainment and imparting moral values, but also as resources for casting light on how language functions in different social contexts.