CULTURAL HYBRIDITY IN THINGS FALL APART: A HALLIDAYAN PERSPECTIVE THROUGH TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study explores the construal of cultural hybridity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart through the lens of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar, particularly the transitivity framework. By examining material, verbal, mental, and existential processes in the novel, the research highlights how Achebe linguistically encodes the complexities of colonial encounter and identity negotiation. Material processes demonstrate hybridity through actions that transform Igbo traditions under colonial influence, while verbal processes reveal the negotiation of belonging and cultural fracture through speech acts. Mental processes uncover the double consciousness of characters caught between Igbo cosmology and Christian ideology, and existential processes expose the ontological rupture in indigenous beliefs. The findings indicate that hybridity in Things Fall Apart is not merely thematic but systematically inscribed in the linguistic fabric of the text. By applying a Hallidayan perspective, this study fills a research gap, linking postcolonial theory and linguistic analysis to show how Achebe reclaims African identity and challenges colonial misrepresentations.