Illuminating Systemic Functional Grammatics (Theory) as a Viable Tool of Digital Humanities

The focus of the study is the application of Systemic Functional Grammatics (SFG) to text as a facility of meaning-making. Having provided a wide room for technological devices to read and account for elements of a text, it portrays the exercise within the scope of Digital Humanities (DH). The theory, championed by Halliday, describes a text from its systemic configurations to chain structures and social relationship frameworks. To explain the weight of SFG as an interface between text and technology, the author chose a poem, ‘Area Boy’, in which three perspectives of the mood system, thematic system, and transitivity system are instrumental to expose its nuances. The approach was followed by correlating the three systems together as a comparative analysis. The study reveals that ‘Area Boy’ operates in declarative clauses with heavy utilization of Subject and Finite. These are organized in marked themes. The contents of the text are represented in material processes (e.g. spent) with supports from both mental (e.g. remember) and verbal (e.g. said) processes. Some of the processes along with circumstances (e.g. Of washing …, Now that …) recur as repetitions for emphatic and enhancement purposes. On the one hand, the article concludes that SFG can assist in interpreting textual elements to generate meaning potential. On the other hand, through the SFG’s metafunctional applications to ‘Area Boy’, one can suggest that the society should give a helping hand to the less privileged. Such a behavior can eradicate vices experienced through the ‘Area Boys’ from the society. Cette etude se focalise sur l’application de la grammaire fonctionnelle systemique (GFS) a des textes comme moyen de facilitation de la creation de sens. Ayant pourvu une large marge pour des dispositifs technologiques pour lire et justifier des elements d’un texte, cette etude presente la mise en pratique dans le cadre des Humanites numeriques (HN). Cette theorie, promue par Halliday, decrit un texte, de ses configurations systemiques a ses structures de la chaine et structures des relations sociales. Pour expliquer la signification de GFS comme interface entre texte et technologie, cet auteur se sert du poeme « Area Boy », ou trois perspectives du systeme de mode, du systeme thematique et du systeme de transitivite ont des roles determinants dans l’exposition des nuances de GFS. Nous avons ensuite fait une analyse comparative en correlant les trois systemes ensemble. Cette etude revele que « Area Boy » fonctionne en des propositions declaratives avec une utilisation intensive du Sujet et du Fini. Elles sont organisees en themes indiques. Les contextes du texte sont representes par des processus materiaux (par exemple, spent) avec des soutiens des processus mentaux (par exemple, remember) et verbaux (par exemple, said). Certains des processus, ainsi que des circonstances (par exemple, Of washing…, Now that…), se reproduisent en tant que repetitions pour des raisons emphatiques et appuyees. D’un cote, cet article affirme que GFS peut aider a l’interpretation des elements textuels pour produire du potentiel de signification. De l’autre cote, a travers des applications metafonctionnelles de GFS a « Area Boy », on peut suggerer que la societe doit donner un coup de main aux moins privilegies. Un tel comportement peut eradiquer les vices venant de la societe et ceux vecus par les « Area Boys ». Mots-cles: « Area Boy »; Humanites numeriques; systeme de mode; Grammaire fonctionnelle systemique; systeme thematique; systeme de transit


Introduction
In the light of development, digitization has become an inevitable phenomenon in human social affairs. As one feels its preoccupation in the physical and social sciences; digitization has also dynamically glided into the humanities, especially, the literary world. As a result, scholars have resolved to employ technological and scientific devices to explore literary items to benefit readers (Burrows 2004;Craig 2004). For instance, Robinson and Saklofske (2017) interconnect computer software, mobile applications, etc. with narratives. The utilization of mobile apps, computer software, as modular systems, assists in synchronizing networks on the perception of narratives. Such effort encourages distance readings and algorithmic appreciations. It is on that critical plane that this study suggests the application of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a reliable tool that can facilitate the meaning potential of literary texts. This is because SFL possesses capabilities to provide a type of analysis that can The deployment of conceptual terminologies to promote digital humanities (DH) situates SFL very viably in this arena. Consequently, the appropriate applications of theoretical techniques, as interpretive strategies, forge lucid and direct partnerships, and cement strong relationships between research components and meanings derived from the materials (Schreibman, Siemens, and Unsworth 2004, xxv).
The abilities of the theory to process texts into linguistic devices makes scientific instruments like tables and graphs effective in accounting for grammatical and semantic frequencies in the form of Jockers and Underwood's (2016) quantitative methods. Also, SFL works well, by supporting the computation of clause elements in their complex forms within the framework and methodology as discussed by Bradley (2004), and Drucker (2016).
As stated earlier, the need for a critical inquiry (Warwick 2016) stimulates the introduction of SFL as a reliable lens to manifest the nitty-gritty of a literary item (e.g. poem). This grammatics (Halliday 2013, 29) addresses this operation by characterizing the clauses of a specific poem into both structural labels and contextual situations. Apart from that, SFL considers language in the form of structures within the purview of socio-cultural manifestations (Kress 2010;Bartlett 2013;Dalamu 2017e, 2017h). This could be a reason for drawing a text into two separate planes. In Halliday and Hasan's (1985, 5) sense, "there is text and there is other text that accompanies it: text thus is with, namely the con-text." This notion of elements, associated with the text, pinpoints the production environment of the text. The socio-cultural norms, as Halliday and Hasan (1985) underscore, offer the text much meaningful detail. This is on the grounds that the context meshes with the text and its immediate indices as the unified element of communication.
In every language production, Halliday and Hasan assert, there are two texts.
The first text is the internal chains that bind the product of a text together as an indivisible entity of meaning (1985,(24)(25)(26). The menus of the structural elements are connected through cohesive ties (Eggins 2004;Dalamu 2018). The second, as characterized, is the context of the language of interaction (Halliday and Hasan, 1985). Dalamu: Illuminating Systemic Functional Grammatics (Theory) as a Viable Tool of Digital Humanities

Art. 8, page 4 of 50
This is the totality of the elements in the setting in which the language is applied.
One can argue that there is nothing fascinating in analyzing a text for the purpose of its structural components. It is rather captivating when an analyst considers the constituents of a text within the profile of its socio-cultural plane (Ravelli 2000, 29).
That suggestion is a probable projector of the text in the domains of cohesion and coherence. Cohesion describes the structure of the text while coherence realizes its context (Thompson 2004). Figure 1, below, adds flavor to the text and context abstractions of a piece of language in use.
The convention of coherence and cohesion, "merry-go-rounding" the text, ends up at the table of three metafunctions as shown in Figure 1, above. This explains the idea that the three metafunctions dominate and remain the focus of SFL. Both the meeting and melting point of coherence and cohesion are the three metafunctions (Halliday 1985;Matthiessen 1993). Through that synthesis, meaning is generated in text. Having said that, there are numerous conceptual frameworks in the theory that can assist in explaining texts. These are very possible without recourse to the celebrated three metafunctions. For instance, part of the grammatical metaphor has capabilities to explore a text independently (Thompson 2004, 220-224). Furthermore, within the domains of SFL, analysts can consider a text from the spheres of contextual, sociosemiotic, and multimodal perspectives (Hodge and Kress 1988;O'Toole 1994;Kress and Van Leeuwen 2003;Kress 2010;Dalamu 2017g). These are some of the incentives that propel the writer to suggest that SFL contains reliable resources useful in DH.
One can feel the waves of DH in Riguet and Mpouli's (2017) characterization of dialogism of French discourse on literary criticism. As a result, Riguet and Mpouli discuss how scientific terminologies are "loaned" and adopted, giving those terms new but literary meanings. While Muzny, Algee-Hewitt, and Jurafsky (2017)  This study, as a contribution to earlier analyses, explicates the application of technology that relies on the result of the application of SFL concepts to the text. As a practice, the analyst has applied SFL to Adesanmi's "Area Boy" (Adesanmi 2010, 308).
This exercise displays the influence that SFL can have on a text in terms of the writer's style and corpus development. In other words, the paper discusses how technology has assisted the analyst to do a reading of a specific poem ("Area Boy") within a framework of functional grammar. It is the hope of the author that this will trigger further research efforts, channeled in a similar direction of this course. As a fundamental textuallyfocused theory, SFL exercises its vitality on the grammar of a language, considering the clause, as the center of analysis. Grammar refers to the structural system of wordings of a language (Yule 1985, 69;Dalamu 2017a, 268) that can be viewed from below, from around, and from above. The functions and analysis of such a language are also carried out in the way that a language communicates (Burke 1969;Quirk and Greenbaum 1973;McGregor 1992;Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). It is pertinent to argue that the analysis of a quantum of grammatical elements cannot be done haphazardly because grammar itself is an organized event.
By implication, a consideration for making meaning from the grammar of a language must not be operationalized chaotically. Rather, its organization must be in sequences.
Thus, it is also demanded that the theoretical application on grammatical structures must begin from somewhere, that is, its constituted ordering. The concern drives SFL to start the analysis of text from the clause, its nerve, as applied later. This shows that the examination of every grammatical unit and function(s) has a connection with the clause. Thus, it is obligatory for every user of SFL to get acquainted with the clause and varieties of building blocks attached to it in either simple or complex forms. In corollary, Ravelli (2000, 29) points out that the key to beginning a systemic analysis is to identify a clause, which is the hub of grammar. Following Ravelli (2000), the clause is similar in concept to a sentence, except that a sentence pertains to written language, whereas a clause applies also to spoken language. In a specific sense, a clause represents a state of affairs.

X-raying systemic functional linguistics
Unlike so many ideas within schools of linguistics, SFL comes along with many linguistic tickets, as means of constructing and illuminating the thoughts of the exponents. This is because Halliday does not only make choices from scholarly resourceful materials; the sage also champions the compatibility of the raw materials; and moreover, injects invaluable terms to the subjects that SFL accommodates. This study, in that regard, considers Halliday as the architect as well as the mason of the theory.
The centrality of the clause to grammar, as mentioned earlier, cannot be undermined. The fragmentation of the clause produces phrases and words; the elaboration leads to the formation of clause complexes. The writer points out that every statement deployed by an interactant either in the form of the spoken or written language has its origin negotiated in the clause. Such place of occupancy encourages systemicists to make the clause kernel in analyses rather than the sentence. The significance of the veins of the clause operations on the text can be demonstrated, as in Table 1, below.
In one way or another, SFL is functionally-cyclical, most especially, in the dominance of the clause in all operations. Besides, point (v), (vi), and (vii), in Table 1, link the clause again to the three metafunctions. Beginning the construction of meaning of a text (e.g. poem) from below the clause (e.g. word) to a full-fledged clause and ending the exercise around the clause (e.g. discourse) is, perhaps, a sign  Figure 8, below Vi Clause as message Thematic system As in Figure 9, below Vii Clause as representation Transitivity system As in Figure 10, below of building up meaning from the scratch to a broad meaning derivative. It is on that ground that SFL serves as an interface between a poem (e.g. "Area Boy") and technological devices (e.g. graphs) in order to position "Area Boy", as an entity of DH.

Digital Humanities: Historical developments
In the historical development of DH, the name of Roberto Busa is estimable.

Hockey's perspectives on DH history
Hockey's approach to the history of DH from the effort of Father Busa serves as the point of departure (2004,4 is precisely the automation of every possible analysis of human expression (therefore, it is exquisitely a "humanistic" activity), in the widest sense of the word, from music to the theater, from design and painting to phonetics, but whose nucleus remains the discourse of written texts (Busa 2004, xvi).
This perspective is very broad. It is coherent, Busa explains, to all possible human social endeavors. The pointer in the description is the text. Again, at this point, the relevance of SFL to text can be referred. As the nucleus of DH is the text, the same text is the hub of SFL as well as the wheel of language. SFL seems the chair of DH and language because of its theoretical underpinning in both the textual claims and social connections (Wodak and Meyer 2001, 3-9). As such, domains of SFL are contextually-expressed, as publicized earlier in Figure 1, in the terminology of cohesion and coherence. The study sees a joint venture between DH and SFL.
DH seems to embrace two customary but academic lifestyles by creating a robust and intertwining relationship between the digits (1, 2, 3, etc.

Remarkable suggestion of John Unsworth
Father Busa, perhaps the most distinguished pioneer of the well-known DH Kirschenbaum 2010, 56-57). Although, the labeling rests on Unsworth, DH is a child of circumstance borne per chance.
However, it is pertinent to think back to Busa's assertion on "Digitus Dei est hic! i.e.
The finger of God is here!" Busa perceives the phenomenon as an outstanding activity involving human beings, yet, charged and influenced by God. That is the rationale for Busa to add that "it is just like a satellite map of the points to which the wind of the ingenuity of the sons of God moves and develops the contents of computational linguistics, i.e., the computer in the humanities" (Busa 2004, xvi). Very salient in the Unsworth's (2010) construct is the adjective "digital." The coinage, in Unsworth's standpoint, appears in order to move away from simple digitization of lexemes.
"Digital" as a modifier signals a form of "sporadic" shift from the counting of words into all manifestations of humanistic operations. The "randomization" of the affiliation of computer technological applications to various humanistic domains is a probable factor that has prevented the discipline of DH from one-face value on definition.

SFL: The interface between "Area Boy" and technology
Although, the three metafunctions of SFL -interpersonal, textual, and experiential -are the theoretical concepts of the study; it is significant to demonstrate the function of SFL in the study as manifested in Figure 2, below.
The portion in the blue color (identified as A) is the poem, "Area Boy", while the portion in the green color (identified as C) is the technology. On the one hand, "Area Boy" is a piece of literature that contains textual elements with embedded meaning potential. On the other hand, the green color is the facility useful for calibration. Because, it is seemingly difficult for the technological device to approach "Area Boy" in order to generate systemic meaning, SFL (identified as B) bridges the lacuna. Its application processes "Area Boy" structures into countable  the technological facility to act on "Area Boy." In a simple term, the outcomes of the application turn the whole exercises on "Area Boy" to semiotic slots of SFL, and SFL to computerization devices in order to operate as DH. The theoretical application of SFL is the wheel that turns "Area Boy" into an entity of DH. Besides the current application, as mentioned earlier, SFL with the use of any of its concepts (substitution, ellipsis, grammatical metaphor, coherence, context of situation, etc.) can be applied to texts for meaning-making.

Theoretical breadth
Significantly, a demonstration of SFL as a very resourceful tool of DH inspires the author to adopt the three metafunctions as the relevant conceptual entities.
That being said, the three metafunctions, as mentioned earlier, are the core concept of SFL. The applications of the triadic terms to a text provide the target audience structural, paradigmatic, and contextual meanings (Eggins 2004). Table 2, below, shows the operational slots of the three metafunctions.
The grammatical spheres of the metafunctions shown in the analyses of and 5, below, are indicators of the metafunctions, operating from below, from around, and from above. However, some of these functions are basically-intrinsic. Besides, the system network represents the choice that a language user makes out of numerous ones available to the individual. Contextual implications of interpersonal, textual, and experiential metafunctions are accommodated discursively. Mood system Thompson (2004) probes the interpersonal metafunction as a device that fulfils the "performative" roles of every addresser to the addressee. The concept reveals either constitutive functions or ancillary functions. The speech roles, Thompson (2004, 46-47) emphasizes, permit questions (interrogatives), commands (imperatives), statements (declaratives), and offers (modulated interrogatives) to be realizable in discussions (also in Dalamu, 2017b, 190-193). However, Halliday and Matthiessen

Thematic system
Theme and rheme fall into the organizational ideas of a text. A user of a language determines the componential arrangements of the communication as desired (Halliday 1994, 34-67). Apart from that, the function that the language is deployed to achieve  has a great implication on the background details of a discourse. Rashidi (1992, 192) illuminates the theme as the starting point of the message. That is, the constituent that begins moving the encoder towards the essence of the communication. There is the essential ideational jumping-off point directing the decoder's attention to the ultimate goal of the communication. The theme, in Rashidi's approach, begins a clause irrespective of the linguistic device experienced at the start up. In other words, it gives a track to text productions. It is that operational condition that further influences Rashidi (1992, 197) Figure 4, below, reveals the system network of the thematic system of the clause, exhibiting textual, interpersonal, and experiential/ideational elements as the configuration of the multiple themes.
The system in Figure 4, below, shows the theme and rheme as two separate tools of interpretations.

Transitivity system
Bloor and Bloor (2004)     This study demonstrates the treaty in the three metafunctions in Figure 6, above, in order to serve a good purpose of understanding their usefulness in DH through technological appreciations.

Methodology
The author has chosen the poem of "Area Boy" written by

Measures
After the systemic analysis, the researcher exploited AntConc, a text-computing technology (Laurence Anthony's Software), to account for the processes in "Area Boy." The first step was to identify and write down the processes in a piece of paper after which the entire "Area Boy" file was inputted into AntConc by selecting the "Open Files" icon in the "Navigation Menu" and the "Concordance" in the "Tool Tabs". As the "Area Boy" file has appeared in the "Corpus File" window, each process term (e.g.

Procedure
The analytical as well as reading processes in Figures 9 to 14, as later illustrated below, inform the patterns of the discussion. However, the discussion gives preferences to the transitivity system because the grammatical term provides expressions for the contents of the clause. Besides, as the transitivity shows concern for the narrator's experience (inner and outer), the terminology also communicates universal relations of subcomponents of logical items (Butler 1985; Olivares 2013).

Data presentation
The items, below, are the data of "Area Boy", written in paragraphs and poetic lines. The investigation further exhibits the frequencies of the grammatical constituents of "Area Boy", based on SFL's applications in Figures 8, 9, and 10, below, in tables and graphs as expressed in the result section. Table 3, below, displays the values of the semiotic slots in the "Area Boy" mood analysis in Figure 8, below.

Dalamu: Illuminating Systemic Functional Grammatics (Theory) as a Viable Tool of Digital Humanities
Art. 8, page 22 of 50 Table 3: "Area Boy" mood system recurring value.  Table 3, above. Figure 11, above, indicates Adjunct as the priority because it is more functional in the "Area Boy" text. Subject, Finite, and Predicator are next with Complement being the less functional device. The figure shows that the text is constructed in declarative clauses, issuing statements to the target audience in order to show the feelings of the speaker. Table 4, below, reveals the values of the semiotic slots in the "Area Boy" thematic analysis in Figure 9, as shown earlier, above.  Table 4, below.

Dalamu: Illuminating Systemic Functional Grammatics (Theory) as a Viable Tool of Digital Humanities
Art. 8, page 27 of 50 Table 4: "Area Boy" thematic system recurring value. Rheme is the most prominent in Figure 12, above. This is the core of the message of the "Area Boy." Besides, Theme 1 recurs in almost all the clauses. This signals that the organizations of the clauses are hardly elliptical. The structures are complete statements that sometimes have Theme 2 as a support for the clauses points of departure. Theme 3 is available only in clauses 12, 13, 14, and 18. That points out the rarity of Theme 3 in the textual operations.
Transitivity system of the "Area Boy" analysis Table 5, below, shows the values of the semiotic slots in the "Area Boy" transitivity analysis in Figure 10, above. Figure 13, below, is the cumulative of the values manifested in the thematic system in Table 5, below.
Material processes record the highest value in Figure 13, above. This is in alignment with the claim of Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) that material processes are the most deployed in language usages. Apart from mental processes that operate at the frequency of five, other processes such as relational and behavioral operate at the minimal levels of two points each. It is surprising that verbal processes function in a relatively similar category with other processes with three points. This act seems to happen because the narrator makes a sort of reported speeches from time to time.   and transitivity systems, as displayed earlier in Figures 8, 9, and 10, above. Figure 14, above, demonstrates the Adjunct of the mood system, rheme of the thematic system, and material processes of the transitivity system as the highest in functional values, as followed by mental processes. By implication, SFL illustrates Adjunct, rheme, and material processes, as the strongest areas of domination of the "Area Boy" text. These are followed by Subject, Finite, and Predicator of the mood system, and Theme 1 of the thematic system. The computing outcomes of SFL of "Area Boy" indicate analytical skills that can augment cross-fertilization of ideas in disciplines. The graphical appearances of textual elements create a sort of communicative interaction for the audience in an easy way.

Discussion
There are five stanzas in the poem of "Area Boy." The segments explain the concern of the narrator about an "Area Boy" named George in the epigraph not actually integral to the stanzas. It is striking to read from the epitaph that the poem is for George, the "Area Boy", who opened up a bitter heart to me at Ojuelegba, Lagos. This Underneath the flyover are motor parks, petty trading activities, and prostitutes.
On top of these, Ojuelegba is a domain for miscreants for twenty-four hours a day.
In all these, Ojuelegba points to a place where prostitutes transact businesses.
However For the Participant, Those agonizing years, analyzed earlier as Phenomenon, in Figure 10, CL1, is a painful expression that demonstrates how the "Area Boy" has been subjected to the modern day slavery in the General's farm, where the individual works and receives a meager salary. The circumstantial communicative device, in the General's farm, seems to refer to "an individual who was an Army General" and after the service years retired to establish a farm to generate money. In that course, the "Area Boy" becomes a useful-cum-precious tool in the farm. This is because an average Nigerian graduate detests tilling the land. Most elites are in search of and doing white-collar-jobs. Perhaps, that attitude has contributed to the importation of food from most parts of the world to the country. Even those that read Agricultural (related) Sciences in Universities may not be ready to practice farming either as relating to livestock or crop productions. It is in that light that the "Area Boy" becomes a resourceful personality for the General, as expressed in CL2. That exploitation encourages the speaker to conclude that Yet nobody said anything then. The clause with a verbal process indicts every onlooker at the manhandling of the "Area Boy." The poet expects that all the concerned should have raised their voices concerning the abuse of the rights of the "Area Boy" in the General's farm. Individuals have all been recalcitrant simply because the "Area Boy" is not a family member of successful persons. Such unwillingness reveals the nature of relationship between the rich and the poor. The people have forgotten that the "Area Boy" is a member of the Nigerian society who has the right equivalent to the General's. The adjunct, then, serves a purpose of reminding the society of the situation of the "Area Boy" when he needs helps and nobody is observant of his plight. Then links the past agony of the "Area Boy" to his present status of being a vagabond. The structure below shows the thematic functions of the stanza one.

Dalamu: Illuminating Systemic Functional Grammatics (Theory) as a Viable Tool of Digital Humanities
Art. 8, page 33 of 50 The point of departure of CL1 and CL4 is the same as having two themes; whereas CL2 and CL3 elements have one theme each.
The second stanza is comparatively-parallel to the first stanza because it begins with a flashback into the past, remembering the painful years … spent as a houseboy in Ikoyi. The "Area Boy" is connected to Ojuelegba, while the master lives in Ikoyi.
The implication is that Ikoyi is in the Lagos Island, while Ojuelegba is in the mainland, representing two different worlds or perspectives. Foreigners and well-meaning Nigerians reside in Ikoyi. This can indicate that if the "Area Boy" will have an access at all to Ikoyi, it can only be made possible through rendering services to the master.
The poet constructs one domain for the poor and the other for the affluent. The "Area Boy" is neither a foolish person nor a senseless individual. It is that he needs helps from the society and no one appreciates his humble cries to assist the helpless human being. Such supports, if rendered, could give the individual breakthroughs in order to showcase his talents and skills in resourceful ways. The mood system in stanza two is similar in structure to stanza one. The study locates the differences in CL7 and CL8 where the Subjects, Oga's callousness and Madam's overbearing attitude/you, attract different Finites. The two Finites, haunt and can no longer, operate in present forms.
It is salient to have no longer in the verbal group. It is a negative polarity that compels the boy to continue to flashback to his experience with the wife of his master. That is, the Madam's imperious characteristic. attitude. The Oga (i.e. master) is emotionally-hardened. That heartlessness has made the boss to be careless of the sufferings of the concerned, which has turned him to a restless individual. Perhaps, that has lead to the persistent complaints that the writer observes from the "poetic narrative." The other approach is that the woman in the house does not help matters. Madam makes the situation possibly-worse.
The madam's domineering role overwhelms the "Area Boy" to be forcefully-dedicated to his responsibilities despite the initial reluctance. Indirectly, the destitute engages in a sort of forced labor in the house of the rich and, probably, in the presence of the children Yet nobody said anything then. It is painful that nobody comes to his aid, being a reason for the lamentation. The structure below illustrates the thematic organization of stanza two.
CL5, CL8, and CL9 portray similar thematic choices of dual theme operations; whereas CL6 and CL7 organize single theme each.
The third outpouring of a hurting heart shows in a psychological form in the third stanza. The poet calls that The psychological oppression, which is Phenomenon to the mental process, remember. The first concern positions the "Area Boy", as a laborer in the farm. The second challenge is the nagging of the master and wife on the houseboy. The experience here plays out as a kind of feeling and not an exercise of personal strength in order to achieve a mission. One can argue that the concern of the "Area Boy", this time, does not have a solid logical foundation. This is because the grievance is not objective. The circumstantial devices of Of washing their scions spray dollars in parties/Of that limousines splashing water on you … are pains that fall into the terrain of personal feelings, expressed in the form of envy. The sentiments of jealousy classified as oppression can lead to perpetration of evil. Moreover, the resentment is a thought that has the potency to persuade the "Area Boy" to look for Boy" has forgotten that fingers are not equal and can never be equal. The throbbing heart needs to transcend the mundane activities that he witnesses and complains of in diverse forms in order to focus on how to survive socially economically.
To fully register the grievance, four circumstantial facilities with the markers of of (three times), and in are employed. These demonstrate the degree of the "Area Boy's" annoyance against the family of his master. The longevity of the clause supports the claim above. As if that is not enough, the playing of a blamegame emanates to project the individual as someone, who has sometimes missed opportunities. Probably, that validation influences the speaker to begin to query where the "Area Boy" has gone wrong. In my argument, the "Area Boy" needs to dig deep in terms of his past, his parents, and perhaps personal disobedience to instructions from the guardian. The stubbornness, ignorance, and lackadaisical qualities of the complainant might have caused his present situation of indigence.
The declarative, Yet nobody said anything, motivated with a verbal process, is striking. This is because the content recurs three times in stanzas, one, two, and three -CL4, CL9, and CL11. The implication of the repetitive statement is that it strongly expresses the wish of the "Area Boy." The verbs "to be" and "to have" as well as the auxiliary "can no longer" exhibited The organization of the clauses in stanza three reveals different communicative background, when one makes a dialectical appreciation with earlier dissected stanzas one and two. Three organizational structures unfold here. CL10 and CL11 have two themes each. CL12, CL13, and CL14 operate with three themes each whereas CL15 has neither the thematic system nor the mood system. The poet restricts the function of CL15 to rhematic elements, corresponding to the interpersonal devices of Predicator, Lashing out at and Complement, the system.
After the past that stanzas one, two, and three favor, the conformity of stanzas four and five operates in the present events. The narrator describes the phenomenon, using the circumstantial mechanism of Now, which refers to the engagement of time.
One observes the emphasis of Now in clauses 12, 13, 14, and 20 as well. The past can be categorized as the premature stage, while the mature stage connotes the present.
The past unveils the "Area Boy" as being in servitudes of influential people, who violate social standards to take advantage of the boy's weakness and cheat him. The present displays the "Area Boy", as an individual with freedom. Thus, he troubles the The poet fraternizes with the "Area Boy" by calling him brother as a point of departure of CL20. The association becomes a necessity because George, the "Area Boy" provides the poet pieces of information about the environment and personal feelings. The poem, "Area Boy", seems to honor the citizens, who are victims of being miscreants; the poet is a probable voice for "Area Boys." Besides, the poet, being an intellectual, subsumes himself into a similar situation in order to sensitize the government to rise to the plight of "Area Boys", who cause headaches to the larger society. In respect of that, the poet perceives the challenge of the notion of "Area Boy", as a concern that rocks the social boat of Lagos and Nigeria at large. Even if the government should rescue "Area Boys" after that they have been socially bartered; what about the damages that the misfortune has created in their subconscious souls? The Subjects, your being an Area Boy and Nobody in CL20 and CL21 take on the Finites, is and will ever respectively to reflect the mood system of the interaction.
The structure below indicates the themes of the stanza.
CL20 demonstrates a marked multiple structure of themes, while CL21 shows an unmarked thematic organ. The poet concludes with a declarative that Nobody will ever bother to evacuate/The fossils of disenchantment/Buried deep down in your soul.
Perhaps, irrespective of the aids given to the "Area Boy" the past experience might prevent the agonized destitute from adopting the full status and responsibility of a good citizen. In that case, it becomes imprudent to allow citizens to degenerate in social treasures before the society rescues them from their plights. Such delay could be very extortionate in relation to loss of lives and property.

Conclusion
The study shows that SFL is an instrument of DH by allowing scientific facilities to process the structural values of the poem, as illustrated earlier in Figures 8, 9, and 10; Tables 3, 4, and 5; and Figures 11, 12, 13, and 14. The results of the analysis of the poem, "Area Boy", in which SFL is applied display the tenor of discourse, as explicating the experience of the painful heart in declarative statements functioning with Subject and Finite. These semiotic values are highly supported with Adjuncts.
The interactions reveal how the society creates bitterness in the soul of the "Area Boy." The organization of the clauses operates on themes, which are sometimes marked multiple themes, as means of expressing the markedness. The mode of discourse exhibits meaning in the rhemes, which are in alignment with most processes.
The experience that the text shares utilizes material processes of having and being (e.g. spent, fighting back, lashing out at, stinging, and operate) in order to explain the situation of the "Area Boy" in the past and in the present. The study also observes the field of discourse, oscillating between mental processes (e.g. remember, can no There are two divisions in the poem, that is, the environment of the past and that of the present. The past experience displays accumulated thoughts of the "Area Boy" as a laborer as well as a houseboy. Apart from that, personal feelings, crowded with sentiments, disturb the victim. The later can be accepted as the fault of the society.
However, one is also compelled to indict the boy, and to negate his grievances.
The boy does not need to blame others for his shortcomings, failings, and challenges.
Instead of groaning, the individual ought to chart a new course of survival in a legallyacceptable way. The envy of the master's family berates social norms. Nevertheless, the present, the poet alerts, is a fighting back -a time of retaliation. This represents a period when the concerned individual feels being frustrated by the society. The disappointment might have permitted the "Area Boy" to become a burden to the society because the government has somehow abdicated its social responsibility of caring for its own. That is, all citizens. The selfishness of the society contributes as well to make a nuisance out of the helpless individual. Instead of assisting the "Area Boy" in order to have access to good things of life, the penniless is taken advantage of in order to slavishly serve the haughty.
From a theoretical perspective, the study suggests that SFL has the potency to provide socio-cultural meaning potential to texts in their literary forms. It also deduces from "Area Boy" that the government and private individuals should endeavor to consider the less privileged, which have equal rights to survive as citizens of the nation. Apart from the corpus that can be achieved, SFL textual interpretations have the capacity to stimulate computer experts to construct simulations of poetic devices that the audience can easily observe from computers. It is the hope of the study that