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UNIT 1
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR (REFERRED TO AS
SFL)
It focuses on contextual meaning, language in use and functions of grammar rules (no phonetics or phonology). It’s functional and descriptive and it doesn’t tell you what you can and can’t do (grammatical errors). “NOT A GRAMMAR OF ETIQUETTE” Anti-structuralism : linguistic structures are important but our aim is to study what functions they have and how they are driven by them. Anti-formalism : language is choice-based rather than rule-based but we prefer to study their functions. Pro-contextualism : language and context are inseparable. Linguistic form follows context and situation. So, context is of key importance and we cannot analyse language without it. Text-centrism (or communication-centrism): text and communication are unity of meaning so there you can find function driven structures. Pre-applicationism : SFL is a powerful tool in the study of text. It’s not just theory, but you can also apply it. Multi-perspectivism : we can apply SFL to different cases, because it affords multiple viewpoints and can shift between them. Language takes place in context. The meanings we convey while using language are linked to both the cultural and the situational context in which language is used. There is a strict stratification: context contains culture, which is linked to identity, habits, traditions, value systems and so on; then there is situation which is the here and now of communication; we have semantics, the study of system of meanings; lexico-grammar, the system of wording; graphology or phonology, the system of symbols or sounds also linked to phonetics.
CONTEXT
We can define three variables: field , tenor and mode. Field : “what is going on?”, social context/activity Tenor : “who is taking part?” Mode : “how language is used?”
SYSTEMIC
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS 1
FIELD: IDEATIONAL: TRANSITIVITY, “What is going on?” =clause as representation of reality A clause is simple, a sentence is complex. Example: Harry’s scar / was almost blinding / him / with pain actor process material goal circumstance -Verbs tipically represent process , mental or material: physical (eat, make) or inner, emotional (think); -The actor is the doer of the action, “subject” is used in formal grammar; -The goal is the term that undergoes the action; -The circumstance corresponds to “complement”.
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS 2
TENOR: INTERPERSONAL MEANINGS: MOOD, “Who is taking part?” =clause as exchange Example: Harry’s scar / was almost blinding / him / with pain subject finite+adjunct+predicate complement adjunct -The subject has an interpersonal function. It is the element the agrees in number and person with the verb. The clause is valid only if there’s the subject. In this example we have a case of conflation, so the same element (Harry’s scar) plays different functions, that clash or overlap.
Clauses may combine to form clauses complexes. Clauses can be divided in groups and phrases. -Groups and Phrases (While) we – have faced – challenges – before, this one – is – different: we – join – with all nations – in a common endeavour While is neither a group nor a phrase, but a conjunction. Groups and phrases are made of words.
- Words While – we – have – faced – challenges – before, this – one – is – different: we – join – with – all – nations – in – a – common - endeavour Words are made of morphemes.
- Morphemes While we have fac-(e)d challeng-(e)s before, this one is different: we join with all nation-s in a common endeavour Every group has the potential to grow up, adding other words. A morpheme is the smallest unit in language having a meaning. UNITS OF MEANING Clause complex clause group/phrase word morpheme GROUPS There are different kinds of groups:
- Nominal groups ( NGs ) we, challenges, different;
- Verbal groups ( VGs ) have faced, is;
- Adverbial groups ( AGs ) before;
- Prepositional phrases ( PPs ) with all nations, in a common endeavour. Example: If all the world was apple pie and all the sea was ink and all the trees were bread and cheese what would we have to drink? Units of every rank may form complexes. So, two or more clauses form one clause complex, but also two or more nouns may form a nominal group complex. However, there are cases in which two nouns do not for a complex. For example, “bread and cheese” is a NG complex because the two nouns have the same importance and they are bound by “and”. Instead “apple pie” is not a complex, because “pie” is the head of the group and “apple” defines a kind of it.
ANALYSIS OF A NG
When we analize a NG group, we need to combine structures and functions. At first, we have to define the so-called THING, which is a function and which can be considered the head of his group. Example: “ The Queen ” “ Queen ” =THING After having found the thing, we consider what precedes it. So we find different elements that we call PRE-MODIFIERS.
- DEICTIC : my Queen, the Queen, a Queen;
- NUMERATIVE : one Queen, two Queens;
- EPITHET : the terrible Queen;
- CLASSIFIER : a fantastic movie Queen. (“fantastic” is an epithet) Epithets and classifiers can be easily confused because there are adjectives that can be both. It depends on the context. Example: “ black curtain ” epithet “ black comedy ” classifier To recognize if an adjective is one or the other, we can add “very”/” more”/” less”. In fact, epithets can be found with them and it still makes sense; classifiers can’t. Example: Those / two / splendid very old / electric / trains deictic numerative epithet classifier thing The deictic tells us which thing/things are being referred to, and whether it is a specific or non-specific thing. The numerative tells us how many things are being referred to. The epithet gives us descriptive qualities of the thing or things. The classifier tells us which type or class of thing is being referred to. If we consider what follows the thing, we find instead POST-MODIFIERS , also called qualifiers. A qualifier is an embedded PP or an embedded clause providing additional defining or circumstantial information about the thing of the NG. Notice that you cannot move a qualifier to another position in the clause. The verb “to embed” means to fix something firmly into a substance or solid object. It can also have a figurate sense, like something very strong and difficult to change. WE CANNOT MOVE AN EMBEDDED ELEMENT AWAY FROM ITS NOMINAL GROUP (so to another position in the clause). Example 1: Much [of continental Europe] / is hardening / its attitude [to Brexit]. NG1 = Much [of continental Europe] FUNCTIONS: “ Much ” is the thing, “ [of continental Europe] ” is the qualifier. NG2 = its attitude [to Brexit]
The mental process regards the inner world, abstract paints of view. “Thinking”, “feeling”, but also “seeing”: these are all brain processes. The verbal process only regards the process of “saying” and so “expressing”, “talking”. The relational process regards the relation between entities: “having attributes”, “having identity” and also “symbolizing”. The existential process can usually be found in the form “there + verb to be” (“existing”). The material process regards all physical actions and the external world: “happening”, “creating”, “doing” and “acting”. The behavioural process is partly the material and partly the mental process. For example, “crying”, “behaving” (there is a physical component, the tears, and there is an emotion reflected, which is sadness, the mental component). Now we can see different processes, among which there are intermediate categories. We can generally define 3 different big categories of actions and verbs:
- “Doing” physical world
- “Sensing” world of consciousness
- “Being” world of abstract relation
MATERIAL PROCESS
Material processes are physical processes of doing/ creating/ changing/ happening. The main Participants in a material clause are: -the Actor = the Doer of the Process, it may be animate or inanimate, human or not; -often, but not necessarily , a Goal = an entity (human being, animal, object) that undergoes the Process. Note that conjunctions (e.g., and ) have no function in Transitivity. Example 1: The sun / rose / on the same tidy front gardens actor material process circumstance and / (the sun) / lit up / the brass number four actor material process goal on the Dursley’s front door. circumstance Example 2: He / rolled / onto his back actor material process circumstance Example 3: Rubbish / is left / by people goal material process actor N.B.: the actor is not the subject (like in example 3), it’s only who does the action so it can be eliminated by changing the clause from active to passive. The goal is who receives the action, the passive participant.
Sometimes we can find other elements in a clause: Example: you / lived / a cramped life actor material process range it’s not really affected by the action (“have a shower”, “live a life”)
MENTAL PROCESS
Mental processes express thoughts, feelings, desires, perception, etcetera. They typically have only animate Participants as doers. They can project other clauses. The main Participants in a mental clause are: -the senser = the human or human-like participant who “thinks”, “feels”, “wants”, “sees”, “hears”; -often, but not necessarily, a phenomenon = the entity that is ‘sensed’. Example 1: (He) / tried to remember / the dream (that he had been having) senser mental process phenomenon Example 2: Harry / heard / her senser mental process phenomenon When a mental process projects clause, like verbal processes, it corresponds to direct or indirect speech. Example: I / think / that the environment itself was toxic senser mental process projected clause
RELATIONAL PROCESS
Relational processes express states of “being” and “having”. They can be either attributive (= they assign an attribute, a generic quality, to an entity), or identifying (= they assign an identity to an entity). The Participants in an attributive relationalprocess are the carrier and the attribute. In an identifying relational process, they are called identified and identifier. Example 1: but / Dudley Dursley / was no longer / a baby carrier relational process attribute Example 2: Dudley Dusrsley / identified / Harry’s only cousin identifier relational process identified Example 3: He / had / a funny feeling carrier relational process attribute
Existential processes express existence and typically take the form «there» + verb to be. There is only one Participant: the existent (= the entity – person, thing, abstraction – that is said to exist). Note that the element «There» has no function in transitivity. Example: There / had been / a flying motorcycle / in it existential process existent circumstance To summarize:
- TRANSITIVITY DESCRIBES OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD: **IDEATIONAL EXPERIENTIAL MEANING.
- It falls within Field/ What is going on?/ Clause as representation.
- IT IS ANALYZED IN TERMS OF PROCESSES, PARTICIPANTS AND** **CIRCUMSTANCES.
- The order in which Participants occur does not change their** experiential role (e.g. «They make food» Actor ^ Mat. Process ^ Goal, but «Food is made by them» Goal ^ Mat. Process ^ Actor). ^ = is followed by
UNIT 4
IDEATIONAL MEANINGS FIELD: Logical meanings
The clause as representation
RECAP: when we consider the clause as representation, we are dealing with ideational meaning. These meaning can be experiential , which refers to transitivity, or logical that regards clauses in combination. The system of clause in combination includes taxis and logico-semantic relations.
TAXIS
TAXIS refer to the dependency status of the clauses in a clause complex. The term ‘ Hypotaxis’ (= subordination) is used to refer to a relationship in which one clause is dependent on another (called ‘main’ clause). The term ‘ Parataxis’ (= coordination) is used when two independent clauses are joined.
The difference between Hypo- and Parataxis mainly depends on the kind of connector (or connecting device) used to link the clauses: the first one has a subordinative conjunction and the second has a coordinative conjunction.
LOGICO-SEMANTIC RELATIONS
Logico-semantic relations are divided in two groups:
- Expansion extentions, elaborations and enhancement;
- Projection , which consists in joining clauses through verbal or mental processes. Verbal processes project locutions , while mental processes project ideas (reported or quoted). The difference between Expansion and Projection (and, within Expansion, between Extension, Elaboration and Enhancement) depends on the logical relation being set up between the clauses.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXPANSION AND TAXIS
-Elaborating = “equals”; -Extending + “is added to”; -Enhancing x = “is multiplied by”. ELABORATION «In elaboration, one clause elaborates on the meaning of another by further specifying or describing it […]. The secondary clause does not introduce a new element into the picture but rather provides a further characterization of one that is already there, restating it, clarifying it, refining it etc.» (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 396) Elaboration and taxis In paratactic elaboration , the elaborating secondary clause may be introduced by “for example”, “for instance”, “e.g.,”, “that is”, “i.e.,”, “namely”, “viz.”. Paratactic elaboration functions to provide an explanation /exposition (restating something in other words), an exemplification or a clarification. Example: «I do what I can to make the word a happier place: for example, I had my coffee today » In hypotactic elaboration , the elaborating clause is a non-definining relative clause, either finite or non-finite. Hypotactic elaboration provides a description of one of the elements we find in the main clause. Example with a FINITE, non-defining relative clause: «Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn’t believe his luck , was sitting in the back of the Dursleys’ car on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life» Example with a NON-FINITE, non-defining relative clause: «Harry, still staring at his letter , went back to the kitchen»
Enhancement «In enhancement one clause […] enhances the meaning of another by qualifying it in one of a number of possible ways: by reference to time, place, manner, cause or condition» (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 410) ( CIRCUMSTANTIAL INFORMATION involved, similar to the Circumstances of Transitivity, but this time expressed in/by a different clause). In paratactic enhancement , the enhancing clause may be introduced by different kinds of paratactic connectors expressing circumstantial information (when, why, how etc.), such as “so”, “(and) then”, “still”. Example 1: «Down, down, down: there was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again» Example 2: «Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the Dormouse, and repeated her question» In hypotactic enhancement , the enhancing clause is introduced by different kinds of hypotactic connectors expressing circumstantial information, such as temporal “while”, “since”, “because”, “as”, “after”, “before”, “if”, “(in order) to”, “so that”, “unless”, “although”. Example 1: « ‘I could tell you my adventures, beginning from this morning,’ said Alice a little timidly: ‘but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then’ » Example 2: «Harry woke early the next morning. Although it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight»
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROJECTION AND TAXIS
There are two main kinds of projected clauses, depending on the verb (process) that “projects”:
- mental processes project ideas ;
- verbal processes project locutions. Example 1: « ‘I’m glad I’ve seen that done’, thought Alice ». PROJECTED IDEA (think = mental Process) Example 2: « ‘I’m Ron Weasley’, Ron muttered». PROJECTED LOCUTION (mutter = verbal Process) In projection, the difference between parataxis and hypotaxis depends on whether the idea/locution is quoted (= traditional ‘direct speech’) or reported (= traditional ‘indirect speech’). Example 1: « ‘Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?’, the White Rabbit asked». PARATACTIC PROJECTED LOCUTION (the White Rabbit’s words are quoted) Example 2 : «The White Rabbit asked where he should begin». HYPOTACTIC PROJECTED LOCUTION (reported speech) TIP: quoted ideas/locutions are usually easily recognisable thanks to the presence of quotation marks (‘…’, «…», ‘‘…’’). TO SUMMARIZE
The residue is composed by predicator, complement and circumstantial adjunct (corresponding to the Circumstances of Transitivity).
The mood block
The notion of subject In structural or formal grammar there is only one type of subject , which is the doer of the action, so the element having number/person agreement with the verb. In functional grammar, there are three types of subject: -the logical subject the actor; -the grammatical subject the subject; -the psychological subject the theme. Plus, identifying the FG subject is easy: it is usually the same as the subject in structural/ formal grammar. You can “probe” it by adding a tag question to the clause. Example: You play tennis, don’t you? where “you” is the subject. However… The FG subject’s correct definition is “ the entity that the speaker wants to make responsible for the validity of the clause ” (Thompson 2014: 55), or – in other words – “the entity by reference to which the clause can be affirmed or denied ” (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 117). The notion of finite The finite is the part of the VG that expresses tense , polarity (= positive or negative validity), and (when present) modality. The remainder of the VG is called predicator. Example: The work ahead of us will be hard In the VG “will be” , “will” is the finite and “be” is the predicator. “The work ahead of us” (with an embedded PP) is the subject of the clause.
Now consider a clause like I promise you this. Here the finite is conflated with the predicator: the two functions are “fused” into the same word (“ promise ”). This typically happens in simple present (except for the third person singular form, where the morpheme –s functions as finite) and simple past tense with irregular verb forms (otherwise, the morpheme –ed functions as finite). How can I identify the finite? Just like the subject, the finite can be «probed» by adding a tag question. The tag question picks up the finite, together with the subject, changing the polarity. Example: The work ahead of us will be hard, won’t it?
SUBJECT AND FINITE COMBINE TO MAKE THE MOOD BLOCK OF
THE CLAUSE, THE “CORE” OF THE CLAUSE AS EXCHANGE.
THE ORDER OR PRESENCE OF SUBJECT AND FINITE IS THE
GRAMMATICAL MARKER OF THE MOOD TYPE IN ENGLISH
(DECLARATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, IMPERATIVE…)
The notion of modal adjuncts Modal adjuncts typically take the form of AGs or multi-word expressions, such as “unfortunately”, “always”, “frankly”, “to be honest”, “never”, “maybe”. These are adjuncts that either express the speaker’s comment on the clause as a whole (“unfortunately”, “frankly”, “to be honest”) or express temporal or modal meanings proper (“always”, “never”, “maybe”). We can divide adjuncts in two big groups:
- mood adjuncts , which can express probability (“probably”, “possibly”), usuality (“usually”, “sometimes”), obligation (“absolutely”, “definitely”), temporality (“yet”, “still”, “after”) and typicality (“generally”, “occasionally”);
- comment adjuncts , like “unfortunately”, “hopefully”, “of course”, “surprisingly”, “in my opinion”, “to be honest”, “fairly”, “apparently”, “no doubt”. The main difference between these two types of interpersonal adjuncts is in the scope of their meaning: mood adjuncts are limited to the VG, while comment adjuncts refers to the whole clause.
The residue
The residue is the part of the clause that is left after the mood block has been identified. Within the residue, we may find the following functions: -the predicator , which is the non-finite, the VG minus the temporal and modal operator. Example: The work ahead of us will be hard
Finite followed by Subject = Indicative INTERROGATIVE Mood INTERROGATIVE clauses are typically used to DEMAND INFORMATION, though sometimes they may actually function as rhetorical questions in context. In the Tweet above, Trump’s question probably does not expect a ‘real’ answer from the reader. He uses this interrogative clause to catch the reader’s attention and to provocatively accuse some media outlets of being biased (look at the lexical choice Lamestream Media , instead of ‘mainstream media’). Note how, in the same Tweet and in the following one, DECLARATIVE clauses are used to subtly convey information, for example to implicitly (here) contest election and support his voter fraud allegations. Subject followed by Finite , but clause introduced by an exclamative wh- word = Indicative EXCLAMATIVE Mood EXCLAMATIVE clauses are typically used to INTRODUCE EXCLAMATIONS, thus giving special ‘emphasis’ to an assertion, as in the Tweet above, where Trump underlines with an exclamative clause one of his recurring claims about the 2020 Presidential elections. Note how, in the previous clause, DECLARATIVE Mood is used to give information that is essential for the reader to fully appreciate the following exclamation, also providing ‘evidence’ for it. No Mood block = IMPERATIVE Mood, standard form
The Subject is not expressed: it is by definition ‘you’. Tense is not expressed either: it can only be ‘now’. ‘Keep’ in the example above is the Predicator. In the Imperative Mood, there can be no conflation between Finite and Predicator. IMPERATIVE clauses are typically used to GIVE COMMANDS. Due to their exhortative or persuasive function, they are typically used in slogans (including electoral/political slogans, as in the Tweet above), advertising, some forms of parent- child interaction etc …
Examples of interpersonal analysis
UNIT 6
TEXTUAL MEANINGS MODE
The clause as message
