Depersonalization of Power: A Lexicogrammatical Analysis of a Legal Text

Abstract

This study aims at analysing the selected text i.e. a charge sheet letter, from three different dimensions–interpersonal (modality), ideational (transitivity) and textual (theme) (Halliday, 1994). The selected text is a charge sheet issued to an employee of a public-sector university in Peshawar for his non-compliance with prescribed terms of his duty. The selected text falls into two parts: the first part deals with the allegations levelled against the addressee for his failure to attend to his duties; the second part deals with penalties that might befall him in wake of his ‘disobedience’. The study offers a clause-wise qualitative textual analysis of the charge sheet and also anonymises the data by removing all references to the identity of the addressee or the workplace. The findings offer an insight into what Halliday calls ‘understanding’ of the text which in Hallidayan terms refers to the meaning(s), alternatives, and ambiguities. The analysis of the language of the charge sheet is focused on the construal of authority, control, and agency through the lexicogrammatical resources. Our investigation highlights the way the writer employs language as a resource of realizing power and authority in a legal text.