A comparative study of transitivity system in english and vietnamese weather forecasts

Consistent with the theory of Halliday & Matthiessen 2014, there are six different types of processes: Material, Mental, Verbal, Relational, Behavioral, and Existential; and three compon

NGUYỄN LÊ MỸ NỮ

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRANSITIVITY

SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE WEATHER FORECASTS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN

NGUYỄN LÊ MỸ NỮ

SO SÁNH HỆ THỐNG CHUYỂN TÁC TRONG CÁC BẢN TIN THỜI TIẾT TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of the MA thesis entitled “A comparative study of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts” The thesis contains no material published elsewhere or written by other people except where reference is made in the text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Binh Dinh, 2021

Nguyễn Lê Mỹ Nữ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my research supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn, for his careful guidance and professional, academic advice on my thesis I am really lucky to receive his great encouragement, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge to finish my thesis in such a limited time

I am also grateful to all the lecturers of my MA course at the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University, for their useful guidance and support and all the staff of the Post - graduate Department at Quy Nhon University for their sympathy and administrative assistance

I would also like to send my special thanks to my friends and colleagues to support me in completing the research and sharing helpful materials and experiences during my study

Next, my sincere thanks to my school management board and colleagues at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School, whose assistance made it feasible for me to participate in this MA course and fully concentrate on completing my thesis

Finally, I owe my all family a debt of gratitude, especially my parents, who always stand by me and provide me with emotional support and great care while my thesis was in process and have helped me overcome many unexpected difficulties during the course and the thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RATIONALE 1

1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 3

1.2.1 Aim of the Study 3

1.2.2 Objectives 3

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 4

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 6

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 10

2.2.1 Overview of Functional Grammar 10

2.2.2 Ideational metafunction 12

2.2.3 Process 14

2.2.4 Types of Processes 15

2.2.5 Circumstances as the component of Experiential meta-function 23

2.2.6 Overview of weather forecasting 33

2.3 Summary 34

CHAPTER 3 BACKGROUND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36

3.1 Research design 36

3.2 Research methods 37

3.3 Criteria for collecting data 37

3.4 Data collection 38

3.5 Data analysis 38

3.6 Reliability and validity 40

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41

4.1 The transitivity systems in English weather forecasts 41

4.1.1 Process types 41

4.1.2 Participants 46

4.1.3 Circumstances 50

4.1.4 The most dominant process types 55

4.2 The transitivity systems in Vietnamese weather forecasts 56

4.2.1 Process types 56

4.2.2 Participants 62

4.2.3 Circumstances 67

4.2.4 The most dominant process types 72

4.3 Similarities and differences in transitivity between English and Vietnamese weather forecasts 73

4.3.1 Six processes types in EWFs and VWFs 73

4.3.2 Participants in EWFs and VWFs 75

4.3.3 Circumstances in EWFs and VWFs 76

4.3.4 Most dominant types in EWFs and VWFs 78

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 80

5.1 Conclusions 80

5.2 Implications 83

5.3 Limitations of the study 84

5.4 Suggestions for further researches 84

REFERENCES 85 APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Three lines of meaning in the clause 12

Table 2.2 Types of sensing, examples and examples of verbs serving as Process in mental clauses 18

Table 2.3 The principal categories of the ‘relational’ clause 20

Table 2.4 Example of verbs as Process in behavioural clauses 22

Table 2.5 Process types, their meanings, and characteristic participants 23

Table 2.6 Examples of Manner circumstantials 27

Table 2.7 Examples of Cause circumstantials 28

Table 2.8 Examples of Accompaniment circumstantials 29

Table 2.9 Types of circumstantial element 30

Table 3.1 Names and Official Websites for data collection 38

Table 3.2 Framework for data analysis 39

Table 4.1 Participants used in EWFs 46

Table 4.2 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process 49

Table 4.3 Circumstances involved in the Processes in EWFs 50

Table 4.4 Material Processes,Verbal Processes and other Processes in EWFs 55

Table 4.5 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process in VWFs 59

Table 4.6 Participant Functions used in VWFs 63

Table 4.7 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process in VWFs 65

Table 4.8 Circumstances involved in the Process in VWFs 67

Table 4.9 Relational Process, Material Process and other Processes in

VWFs 72

Table 4.10 Participants’ frequency of occurrence and percentage in EWFs and VWFs 75

Table 4.11 Circumstantial Elements frequency of Occurrence and Percentage in EWFs and VWFs 77

Table 4.12 Most dominant Processes in EWFs and VWFs 78

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 The grammar of experience: Types of processes in English 15

Figure 4.1 Type of Processes in EWFs 42

Figure 4.2 The percentage of Participants in the Material Process 47

Figure 4.3 The Percentage of Circumstance Types in EWFs 51

Figure 4.4 The Percentage of the most dominant types in VWFs 55

Figure 4.5 Types of Processes in VWFs 56

Figure 4.6 The percentage of Participants in Material Process in VWFs 57

Figure 4.7 The Percentage of Circumstance Types in VWFs 68

Figure 4.8 The Percentage of the most dominant types in VWFs 73

Figure 4.9 6 Process types of English and Vietnamese weather forecasts 73

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The researcher presents an overview of the study in this chapter, as well

as the rationale for selecting the research area This chapter aims to discuss the aim and objectives of the study, and in detail, it also presents the research questions Besides, the scope of the study, the significance of the research and the structure thesis are all presented in this chapter

1.1 RATIONALE

Weather forecasting uses science and technology to forecast atmospheric conditions for a specific location and time People have sought to predict the weather systematically since the nineteenth century Weather predictions are based on the collection of quantitative data about the current condition of the atmosphere at a specific location and the use of meteorology

to project how the atmosphere will evolve in the future

Nowadays, human beings apply science and technology to predict what conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time are like within the near future, a weather forecast Foretelling consists of predictions of changes

on Earth’s surface caused by atmospheric conditions like snow, ice cover, storm tides, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and floods Early warnings are provided to humans about natural disasters, so weather forecasts help people

at large scale back damage caused and increase public awareness for coming disasters in order that people can protect life and property The wants for weather prediction are popular around the world, so it has played an essential role in humans and affected a good range of aspects of day-to-day life Especially, there is an ever-increasing demand for more accurate weather survival and forecasts

All kinds of mass media like newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the net, etc., recommend weather forecasts that are usually given within the type of text Text is going to be analyzed, which attempts to explain the language in actual use and its contexts, either culture or situation, to assist readers in grasping them more profoundly and clearly from the linguistic perspective in light of Functional Grammar (FG) In FG, a transitivity system could be a system that deals with the content expressed in language: all doing, sensing, being, saying activities that happen within the world The Transitivity system provides the lexicogrammatical resources for constructing

a quantum of change as a figure - a configuration of elements centred on a process within the flow of occurrences Consistent with the theory of Halliday

& Matthiessen (2014), there are six different types of processes: Material, Mental, Verbal, Relational, Behavioral, and Existential; and three components have consisted in each process as the Process itself; the Participant; and Circumstances The process is the basic type of the clause as representation and is employed as a tool to explain the sector of the situation- what is being talked about

There have not been sufficient studies of transitivity system in weather forecasts Especially, an overall comparative study between English and Vietnamese in transitivity system at the component of experiential meta-function seems to be untouched This makes my decision to hold out this detailed analysis: "A comparative study of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts" as the topic of my master thesis This study is conducted with the hope that the results will probably provide some useful knowledge of transitivity systems of text, particular texts on weather forecasts for Vietnamese readers and learners of Functional Grammar in English, especially for those that have an interest in the weather forecast field

1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.2.1 Aim of the Study

The study is aimed to analyse the type of processes of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts The study aims to spot the similarities and differences of the transitivity system in both languages through these analyses

1.2.2 Objectives

The following subsequent objectives are fulfilled to realize the aim:

1 To explore the varieties of processes of the transitivity system used

in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

2 To search out the foremost dominant types of process used in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

3 To compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study mainly uses Halliday & Matthiessen’s (2014) systemic functional grammar to examine features of the transitivity system employed in weather forecasts The Transitivity system has six central processes, and this study works at processes in the light of Functional Grammar Each process

includes three elements, namely the Process itself, the Participants, and Circumstances

A clause is the mainspring of grammatical energy, and it has meaning

as a presentation of the analysis of the clause A verb realizes each process since a clause incorporates a verb, so every clause incorporates a process Thus the data is analyzed in aspects of the clause Besides, the study has mainly focused on the experiential metafunction of clauses, concentrated in some processes in the ongoing human experience but pay attention to neither the interpersonal metafunction nor the textual metafunction

The official websites of weather forecasts in the English-speaking countries, namely the United States and Vietnam, are chosen to record data for analysis in English and Vietnamese

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Finding and analyzing the transitivity system in weather forecasts create some contributions:

Firstly, the study helps anyone interested in weather forecasts know how to create weather forecasts effectively and helps hearers and readers understand them clearly

Second, based on Halliday & Matthiessen's theory, this study provides learners with information on how to use the Transitivity System in weather forecasts, particularly six process categories (Material process, Mental process, Relational process, Verbal process, Existential process, and Behavioral process) Thus, the learners know many sorts of Transitivity systems and how to deal with transitivity system elements for their purposes

Lastly, the study offers a minor contribution to Halliday & Matthiessen’s systematic functional grammar in applying the Transitivity system in weather forecasts From that, I can demonstrate the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

In the scope of this paper, the study consists of five chapters as follow: Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter shows an overview of the study, including the rationale for choosing the area for studying, the aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance, and the organization of the research

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Background

This chapter provides a review of the theoretical background for the study, including Functional Grammar, three meta-functions, and six process types of transitivity systems based on the theory of Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) with reference to Hoàng VănVân (2005)

Chapter 3: Methods and Procedures

This chapter shows the research methods, data collection and analysis, and research procedures The researcher supplies some examples to show how data are analyzed in data analysis The reliability and validity of data collection are also mentioned

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

This chapter includes two sections The first shows the results of the data analysis in which six process types and the most dominant types of the transitivity system are mentioned The second is that the similarities and differences of Transitivity systems in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts are also found in this chapter

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications

This chapter is the conclusion of the study and its implications It offers

an overview of the study, summarizes the significant findings, draws conclusions, suggests implications and limitations, and offers forward

suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND

This chapter presents most theoretical aspects of Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) and Hoàng Văn Vân (2005), on which this thesis relies Moreover, this chapter also supplies readers with a theoretical background for analysing the data in the study Therefore, theories of Functional Grammar,

three metafunctions, and six processes are mentioned

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Language is employed to express meanings and perform various functions in different contexts and situations of our daily lives Suppose grammar is “the way within which a language is organized” (Butt et al., 2000) In that case, Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), which Halliday developed, attempts to elucidate and describe the organization of the

“meaning-making resources” we use to achieve such goals (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) SFG is a study of meaning construction through a system

of lexico-grammatical choices that serve functions within social and cultural contexts SFG has two components, namely Systemic Grammar and Functional Grammar Systemic Grammar aims to explain the internal elation

in language as a system network of meaning potential This network consists

of a sub-system from which language users make choices Meanwhile, Functional Grammar aims at revealing language as a means of social interaction

Halliday (1925-2018) was a renowned British-born Australian linguist, teacher, and proponent of neo-Firthian theory who viewed language basically

as a social phenomenon Halliday developed systemic functional linguistics, including systemic functional grammar, elaborating on the foundations of his

British teacher Firth and the Prague school's group of European linguists of the early 20th century Halliday described his grammar based on and affected the work of many linguists Halliday's grammar differs markedly from traditional accounts that emphasize the classification of individual words (e.g noun, verb, pronoun, preposition) or informal, written sentences in a restricted number of "valued" forms of English In Halliday's concept, grammar is expressly defined as the process of coding meanings into wordings in both spoken and written modes across all kinds and registers of a language

According to Thompson (2013), Functional Grammar stated in numerous contexts how language was constructed as a semiotic system and conceived of it as a meaning-making device closely tied to the social context around it in a variety of circumstances Consequently, Functional Grammar was a linguistic description technique that investigated both the possible structure and how speakers arranged the relevant linguistics options in each context (Thompson, 2013, pp 8–9)

The third and fourth editions of "An Introduction Functional Grammar" were released in 2004 and 2014 These editions were evaluated by Halliday and Matthiessen There are six types of Processes, according to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), and the Process is the most central element within the clause; Participants are close to the centre and directed involved in the Process or influenced by the Process while the Circumstance components, on the other hand, are peripheral to the Process and not coordinated with it

Functional Grammar has recently become a framework for various studies in a wide range of fields, and a developing number of researchers has been drawn to its theory Eggins (1994), for instance, established the principles and techniques of the functional approach to language According

to Flower (1996), functional grammar is a semantic framework for analyzing representations of reality in a linguistic text and creating the same experience

through numerous lexico-grammatical options influenced by diverse thinking styles or authorial ideology

Bloor and Bloor (1995) presented “The Functional Analysis of English”, an introduction to the analysis and description of English for those starting with Functional Grammar based on systemic functional linguistics concepts It explains Halliday's grammar devices and analytic procedures and illustrates them with examples from various texts, including science, travel, history, and literature It sets out the devices and analytic techniques Christie and Martin (2006) also attempted to use and work with FG, a workbook designed to teach and practice a variety of grammatical analyses presented by Halliday in “Introduction to Functional Grammar”

Until now, various researchers from all around the world have conducted practical investigations in this field Gwilliams and Fontaine (2015) published a journal article entitled "Indeterminacy in Process Type Classification" They attempted to identify some indeterminacy in process type classification and focused their examination on 20 clauses Faherini (1999) published a summary entitled "An Analysis of Transitivity Clause Types in The Jakarta Post's Headlines-A Systemic Functional Approach." This thesis was based on a Functional Approach to evaluate the April 2003 Jakarta Post headlines to explore the Transitivity clause, and Faherini tracked down that the most common process

in Jakarta Post headlines was the verbal process

Cao Xuân Hạo (2006) offered the comprehensive description in the portion of Functional Grammar in "Tiếng Việt: Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng”

in Vietnam, utilizing the view of functional grammar to investigate about clauses of Vietnamese Hoàng Văn Vân (2005), who examined “Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú Tiếng Việt- Mô tả theo quan điểm hệ thống chức năng” is the Vietnamese translator of Halliday's An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Second Edition) and several other linguistics books He is well-

known in Vietnam for applying systemic functional theory to the description

of Vietnamese and demonstrating the transitivity system and process grammar Another scholar worth mentioning is Diệp Quang Ban, who studied the Vietnamese clause using functional grammar He made an effort to learn more Vietnamese by exploring and understanding it In addition, Hoàng Văn Vân (2012) used Halliday's Functional Grammar framework to depict the experiential clause grammar of Vietnamese in his book "An Experiential Grammar of the Vietnamese Clause" In Vietnamese, he discovered six process types: Material, Behavioural, Mental, Verbal, Relational, and Existential

Phan Văn Hòa and Phan Thị Thủy Tiên (2010) worked to develop a suggested model for experiential analysis in written texts, and they gathered data from electronic newspapers to interpret clause structure in English and Vietnamese news In addition, Nguyen Hoài Nhi (2018) also conducted a study titled "An Investigation into Processes in English Texts on Makeup in Light of Functional Grammar," which focused on Ideational Metafunction into Processes in English Texts on Makeup Instructions Furthermore, they all examined and covered all six categories of Processes

In addition, master theses are available, such as “An Investigation into Distinguish between Material and Mental Processes in English and Vietnamese" by Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thủy (2007), "An Investigation into Linguistic Features of Ranger in English and Vietnamese" by Nguyễn Thị Yến Mai (2011), "An Investigation into Linguistic Features of Goal and Ranger in Material Processes in English and Vietnamese" by Phan Đức Vy

An (2011), "An Investigation into The Features of Participants in Mental Process Senser and Phenomenon in English and Vietnamese” by Dương Ngọc Bích Đào (2008) Their thesis partially demonstrated the roles and functions

of the Processes, which was important information for my research

In English and Vietnamese, Bùi Thị Quỳnh Hoa (2015), Đinh Thị Diệp Thảo (2002), and Huỳnh Thị Diễm Trinh (2009) attempted to investigate Relational Attribute Processes, Material and Mental Processes, Existential Processes, Verbal Processes and Mental Processes, and participants of Mental Processes Phạm Đoàn Thanh Dung (2020) conducted the thesis about the weather forecasts Võ Ngọc Bình (2018) investigated Circumstances in airport announcements Their analysis was collected data from novels, short stories, magazines, websites and announcements in those theses

However, there has been no research into Weather Forecast Processes in English and Vietnamese texts of weather forecasts to see how and why Transitivity is used As a result, I conducted a comparative study of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts for my MA thesis with the desire to make a minor contribution to this specific field

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1 Overview of Functional Grammar

Linguistics in the early twentieth century has witnessed a considerable variety of theories, and each one has its distinct orientations, trends, and research subjects However, in most of these theories, like Halliday and Chomsky's traditions, the square measure is initiated by many followers or severally Besides, every theory has been successful in accounting for aspects

of language from a particular perspective Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is one of the most substantial theories that has attracted the most attention and has often been utilised in linguistics and applied linguistics Halliday’s grammatical descriptions pass the name of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) later SFL is an approach to language developed primarily by

Halliday (1978, 1985a, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2014) and his followers throughout

the 1960s in the United Kingdom and later in Australia SFL is constructed on previous works of some influential linguists such as Malinowski and Firth

Malinowski was a polish anthropologist who did most of his works primarily in

England Firth, the second linguist, established linguistics as a discipline in the United Kingdom He developed Malinowski's theory concerning the spatial relation of the content of the situation and applied it through his linguistic model From Firth’s theory, Halliday (1985) has developed an approach of Systemic Linguistics The systemic theory focuses on the link between language and context Halliday (1994, p 55) mentions that applying Systemic

Linguistics is “to understand the quality of texts: why a text means what it does, and why it is valued as it is” Halliday’s SFG could be a linguistic theory

supported on the principle that language is a social semiotic system, and every person has the proper to make meanings unlimitedly In other words, Halliday’s functional systemic linguistics is concerned with nature grammar within the sense that everything in it can be explained by the relevancy of how language is used to form meanings At the beginning of Halliday’s functional systemic linguistics speculation, three metafunctions will be presented shortly Halliday distinguishes three layers – called metafunctions - of meaning in

language: the ideational, the textual, and the interpersonal metafunctions Ideational (experiential) metafunction mentions the linguistic resources that

present the experience of humans about the world It describes states, events, and entities, and the Transitivity system realizes it The grammar of the experiential meanings, which is realized by the system of transitivity and varieties of circumstances, is mentioned clearly at the centre and final a part of the theoretical background because they’re considered the tools to know the experiential meaning of language because of the time and site that announcements happen Interpersonal metafunction refers to linguistic resources used to interact with other people to establish and maintain relations with them, and the system of Mood recognizes it That interaction can be requests, statements, offers, or questions The remaining metafunction is

Textual which is concerned with a message and is mainly recognized by the Theme system Table 2.1 summarizes three lines of meaning in the clause

Table 2.1 Three lines of meaning in the clause Metafunction Clause as System Structure

Interpersonal Exchange MOOD Mood [Subject + Finite]

+Residue [Predicator (+ Compliment) (+ Adjunct)]

Experiential Representation TRANSITIVITY Process + participants

(+ circumstances), e.g Process + Actor + Goal (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 83)

2.2.2 Ideational metafunction

According to Thompson (1996, p 28), “ideational meaning is the using

of language to talk about the experience in the world, including the worlds in the minds, to describe events and states and entities involved in them”

Moreover, Gerot and Wignell (1995, p 14) state that “ideational meaning are meanings about phenomena-about things (living and not living, abstract and concrete), about goings-on (what the things are or do) and the circumstances surrounding these happenings.”

The ideational meta-function organises the speakers or writer’s experience of the real or the imaginary world and is recognized by the transitivity system The Ideational function relates to reality's inward and

external world; it is “language about something” The ideational meaning is

further divided into the logical sense and the experiential meaning

The logical meaning

The logical meaning refers to the grammatical resources available for constructing complexes out of grammatical units, such as merging two or

more clauses into a clause complex This meaning is embedded in the clause complex rather than the clause itself

Experiential Meaning

According to Halliday (1978, p 112), whenever one reflects on the outside world of phenomena or the internal world of one’s consciousness, the representation of that reflection would take the frame of setting This form of context is called Experiential Meaning Experiential Meaning centres the language

on the clause level concerning the notion of a clause as a representation

Clause

Clause as a representation implies that one function of the clause is as a representation of both external reality (i.e reality outside oneself) and internal reality (reality inside oneself)

Transitivity

The experiential meta-function includes the transitivity system, which realizes interactants' encoding of their experienced reality: the world of acts, relations, participants, and situations that give content to their conversation

As a result, the ideational meta-function interrogates questions such as "who, (does) what, whom, how, why, when, and where"

Martin et al (1997, p 102) describe transitivity as a resource for construing our experience in configurations of a process, participant, and

circumstances Butt et al (1996, p 44) state that “most English clauses have a

constituent structure that can be described functionally in terms of participant, process, and circumstance with the process being the essential ingredient” However, Thompson (1996, p 78) states that “transitivity refers to a system for describing the whole clause, rather than just the verb and its object” According

to Halliday (1994, p 106), “transitivity is a system that construes the world of experience into a manageable set of process types”, while Gerot and Wignell (1995, p 54) state that “processes are central to transitivity.”

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) state there are three basic elements to all process structures of transitivity; the process itself, the participant in the process, and the circumstances associated with the process Each process type constitutes a distinct model or schema for interpreting a particular domain of experience as a figure of a special sort, such as the one illustrated above for construing signification: Token (usually) + Process (means) +Value (mostly)

We can explain the Field of the scenario - what is being discussed - by looking at the Transitivity patterns in the text

2.2.3 Process

“Process” is a technical term used in systemic functional grammar (SFG

henceforth) to describe two purposes: “(i) to refer to what is going on in the whole clause, and (ii) to refer to that part of the proposition encoded in the verbal group” (Bloor & Bloor, 2004, p 109) Verbs usually realize processes

The process is realized in grammar through verbal groups Subject with the nominal group, the verbal group may consist of a single word or a group

of words According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), the clauses that relate

to what is happening, such as doing, happening, seeing, feeling, thinking or relating to being, and having, are called processes The Process centres on that part of that clause that the Verbal group realizes, but it can also regard as what

"going on" is represented in the whole clause

The Process is also central to Transitivity, Participant, and Circumstances are incumbent upon the doings, happenings, feelings, and beings The Process is divided into Nonrelational Processes (Process of doing) and Relational Processes (Process of being and having) Nonrelational Processes consist of 4 sub-types into Material Processes, Mental Processes, Behavioural Processes, and Verbal Processes, while Attribute, Identifying Processes, Existential Processes, and Meteorological Processes belonged to Relational Processes

2.2.4 Types of Processes

The transfer of the worldview is linked to transitivity, according to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) It is concerned with the representation of meaning in the clause It also plays a role in demonstrating how speakers encode their language in their mental representation of reality and account for their world experiences

The system of transitivity, on the other hand, is a lexical grammatical system that supplies the potential for expressing the relationship between processes and participants’ roles Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) also state that the transitivity system has six processes, mostly carried out by verbs Material process, Mental process, Relational process, Verbal process, Existential process, and Behavioral process are examples of these types of processes Material, Mental, and Relational are the three main types of processes in the English transitivity system Each process can be seen clearly in Figure 2.1

Figure 2.1 The grammar of experience: Types of processes in English

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 216)

In this section, each type of Process, Participant and Circumstance are

examined

2.2.4.1 Material Processes and Participants

The type which frequently occurs in clauses is perhaps Material Process According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), Material Process is when the Process in the clause represents the experience of events and actions 'Material' clauses are doing-and-happening clauses: "a "material" clause construes a quantum of change in the flow of events as occurring through some input of energy."

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014, p 236) state that The Actor and the Goal are two participant roles in material clauses In both intransitive and transitive material, the Actor is an inherent participant; the Goal is only inherent in intransitive clauses

(1)

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 226) and (Hoàng Văn Vân, 2005, p 234)

In addition to these two roles, several different participant roles may be included in the process of a "material" clause, including Scope, Recipient or Beneficiary, Client, and (much more marginally) Attribute

Scope is the most across different participants in ‘material’ clauses Scope is very similar to Goal; however, Scope remains basically unaffected

by action and is usually ‘restricted to intransitive clause’, while the action is usually directed to the participant labelled as Goal Below is an example:

(2) They played the piano (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 238)

Recipient is the participant that benefits from the doing, corresponding

to the item that answers the question “to whom?” Verbs like give, send, offer, buy, take, and so on are commonly used

(3) She sent John her best wishes/ She sent her best wishes to John

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 237)

The Recipient is one that receives goods; the Client receives services which are done for Depending on its location in the clause, either may appear

with or without a preposition; the preposition is to with Recipient, for with

Client.” (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 237) Below there is an example of

a Client that would be (for) his wife in:

(4) Fred bought a present for his wife/ bought his wife a present

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 237)

Lastly, the Attribute ‘may be used to construe the resultant qualitative state of the Actor or Goal after the process has been completed’ (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 242)

(5) They stripped her clean of every bit of jewellery she ever had

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 242)

2.2.4.2 Mental processes and Participants

According to Bloor and Bloor (1995), the processes which refer to the description of states of mind, cognitive and psychological events, or emotion are called Mental processes The internal experience is represented through the Mental Processes (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) They are recognized by

verbs such as think realize, know, recognize, like, hate, love, want, enjoy, feel, see, smell, etc There are usually two participants in the Mental Process: the

Senser - the sensing function and the Phenomenon- the thing (a person, a concrete object or a fact) being sensed This can be a conscious being, an object, a substance, an abstraction, or an act In the Mental process, the Senser takes the role of a subject in a clause, and the Phenomenon is a Complement Now and then, their roles are reversed in some Mental clauses

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014, p 256) state there are four different subtypes of sensing: ‘Perceptive’, ‘Cognitive’, ‘Desiderative’ and ‘Emotive’ Table 2.2 shows the usual patterns

Table 2.2 Types of sensing, examples and examples of verbs serving as Process in

Cognitive

think, believe, suppose, expect, consider, know; understand, realize, appreciate; imagine, dream, pretend; guess, reckon, conjecture, hypothesize; wonder, doubt; remember, recall, forget; fear

Desiderative

want, wish, would like, desire; hope (for), long for, yearn for; intend, plan; decide, resolve, determine; agree, comply, refuse

Emotive

like, fancy, love, adore, dislike, hate, detest, despise, loathe, abhor; rejoice, exult, grieve, mourn, bemoan, bewail, regret, deplore; fear, dread; enjoy, relish, marvel

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, pp 256–257) The Mental process relates emotionally, intellectually, and sensorily They are probed by asking about mental reactions, thoughts, felling, and perceptions

It makes more sense to ask ‘what do you think/feel/know about X?’

2.2.4.3 Verbal processes and Participants

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014, p 302-303) state through verbs of introducing or describing speech, Verbal processes are realized Therefore, Verbal processes are processes of saying and include the main participant named Sayer and three sub-participants: (1) Receiver, (2) Verbiage, (3)

Target These processes are realized by some verbs such as say, tell, ask, suggest, blame, criticize, promise, order, etc Verbs such as said, told, etc.,

can be expressed in direct or indirect speech In verbal processes, Sayer is the central participant who gives out the message, and the one that is received the message is the Receiver Verbiage and Target are two other important participants At the same time, the Verbiage presents what is said as a class of things rather than a report or quote For instance, he told her a funny short story The last participant is the Target which construes the entity that is targeted by the process of saying as in:

(6)

(Halliday, 2004, p 254) and (Hoàng Văn Vân, 2002, p 318)

2.2.4.4 Relational processes and Participants

According to Bloor& Bloor (2004, p 120), the Relation process is the process that is mainly recognized by the verb “be” or some verbs are known

such as seem, appear, become, or by possessive verbs such as own, have, possess, and so on

Halliday (2014, p 263) states that Relational processes come in two distinct modes:

a) Attributive ‘a is an attributive of x’

b) Identifying ‘a is the identifying of x’

The English system operates with three primary types of relation –

‘intensive’, ‘possessive’ and ‘circumstantial’; each of which has two distinct modes of being – ‘attributive’ and ‘identifying’

Table 2.3 The principal categories of the ‘relational’ clause

(i) Attributive ‘a is an attribute of x’

(ii) Identifying ‘a is the identity of x

(1) intensive

‘x is a’

Sarah is wise Sarah is the leader;

the leader is Sarah

(2) possessive

‘x has a’

Peter has a piano the piano is Peter’s;

Peter’s is the piano

‘attribute’ Attribute is a class of things that is typically attributed to an entity Token is an entity, and Value is generic or indefinite of an entity The participant (carrier) in the former type relates to Attribution; the later type

emphasizes identifying Token (Identifier) and Value (Identifying) are called

the participants in this kind

2.2.4.5 Existential processes and Participants

According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014, p 307), something that represents existence or happens is called the Existential process A participant

in this process involves in the process of being The Existent may be the only participant involved in the process The Existential process goes with an event, a countable or an uncountable entity, and it is a minor process The

processes are realized by the presence of there, by the verb be, and other verbs expressing existence or happen such as exist, arise, occur, emerge, lie,

hang, stand, come about, happen, take place etc Circumstances element is

often had in Existential process: e.g time (follow, ensue) - place (sit, stand, lie, hang, rise, stretch, emerge, grow) The existence of these can be omitted if its location is at the thematic position Below are some examples:

(7)

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 309) and (Hoàng Văn Vân, 2005, p 396)

2.2.4.6 Behavioural processes and Participants

The process that is described as a combination of mental and material is called the Behavioral process This means that saying and sensing are construed as

an activity, and it is realized by some verbs such as chat, gossip, watch, listen, smile, etc Being one of six processes, the Behavioral process contains mixed

characteristics above The Behavioural process construes human behaviour Differing from the Mental and the Verbal processes, the Behavioral process states the present progressive and can’t report Below are some examples:

(8)

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 301) and (Hoàng Văn Vân, 2005, p 260)

Behavioural processes are also minor processes Most Behavioral processes only have one participant who is named Behaver Halliday reckons that Behavior is like Senser, but the process tends to present action He also claims that Behavioral processes are like a mental one in which one participant is contributed to human consciousness Behavioural processes often happen with circumstantial elements

Table 2.4 Example of verbs as Process in behavioural clauses

(i) [near mental] processes of consciousness

sing, dance, lie (down),

sit (up, down)

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 302)

2.2.4.7 Summary of Process types

Table 2.5 summarizes the types of processes defined in English grammar and their general category meaning and the participants, which are the term used to refer to entities involved in the process in general It can be a person, a location, or an object, and the participant is realized by a nominal group in the grammar of a clause In every major clause, at least one participant is included, which is labelled according to the process type, as shown in Table 2.5

Table 2.5 Process types, their meanings, and characteristic participants

Process types Category

meaning

Participants, directly involved

Participants, obliquely involved

Identifier, Token, Value

Attributor, Beneficiary

Assigner

Existential ‘existing’ Existent

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 311)

2.2.5 Circumstances as the component of Experiential meta-function

The circumstance is “any kind of contingent fact or subsidiary situation which is associated with the process or the main situation” (Angela Downing, 1995, p 3)

“Circumstance is more peripheral than participants, being concerned with such matters as the settings, temporal and physical, the manner in which the process is implemented, and the people or other entities accompanying the process rather than directly engaged in it.”

(Bloor and Bloor, 2004, p 129)

In the book “An Introduction to Functional Grammar” in 1995, Halliday defines that a configuration is taken to consist potentially of three components: the Process itself, Participants in the configuration, and

Circumstances associated with the configuration "Circumstances are elements which lie at the other end of the continuum typically; they occur freely in all types of process” (Halliday, 2014, p 310)

Martin et al (1997) separate circumstances into nine types, identifying them based on their functions Extent, Location, Manner, Cause, Contingency, Accompaniment, Role, Matter, and Angle have different characteristics For example, while Manner involves means, quality, and comparison, Location helps us to identify place and time

Halliday (2014, p 310) argues circumstances appear in the context; they have characteristics of the same significance They refer to the location

of an event in time or space, their manner, or their clause Circumstances are known as Adjuncts when they are looked at from the clause perspective They are typically stated as either adverbial groups, prepositional phrases, or occasionally circumstances recognized by nominal groups as adverbs Halliday also identifies Circumstances into nine types like Martin et al (1997): Extent, Location, Manner, Cause, Contingency, Accompaniment, Role, Matter, and Angle

In Vietnamese, based on the classification of Halliday in English, Hoàng Văn Vân writes “Ngữ Pháp Kinh Nghiệm Của Cú Tiếng Việt Mô Tả Theo Quan Điểm Chức Năng Hệ Thống” in 2005 In this book, he classifies Vietnamese Circumstances into in the following subtypes: Chu cảnh Phạm vi, Định vị, Phong cách, Nguyên Nhân, Đồng hành, Vấn đề, Vai diễn, và Quan điểm

Although there are some similarities in some points of view, these

researchers describe circumstances and their notions more or less differently There are, thus, some overlaps in distinguishing between subtypes of circumstances Therefore, Halliday's theory is used to investigate circumstances basing on their structural and functional features

Up to now, many researchers having studied Circumstances have done

in their way by looking at only one of many aspects of this part of speech Each one of the circumstances has come up with a somewhat distinct classification These classifications are based on functional and structural features However, all of these classifications have a lot of similarities as well They specify spatial, temporal, location of the process, its extent in space or time, its cause, the manner of its occurrence, and so on There are nine types

of circumstances

2.2.5.1 Extent

According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014, p 315), Extent refers to the scope of a process's unfolding in space-time: the distance in space across which the process unfolds or the period in time during which the process

unfolds Extent’s interrogatives form are how far?, how long?, how many [measure units ]? how many times? Extent’s typical structure must be a nominal group with a quantifier, either definite, e.g five miles, five years or infinite, e.g many miles, a long way, a long time This can occur either with

or without preposition, and the most usual preposition for

(9) How long were you at camp for? (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 315)

2.2.5.2 Location

The location of the unfolding of the process in spacetime, the place where it unfolds or the time when it unfolds, is referred to as Location This

Circumstance of Location probes of questions of "where?" and "when? Place

consists of not only a static place in space but also the movement's source, path, and destination Similarly, time includes a static location in time and the

temporal analogues of source, path, and destination

(10) Outside the station, turn right into Pitt Street, then right again at Park

Street and at George Street, turn left and walk to St Andrews Cathedral

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 316)

An adverbial group or prepositional phrase is the typical structure;

examples are down, beneath, beside the door, in Canberra, long ago, before sunset, on Wednesday evening, among friends, and between you and me

2.2.5.3 Manner

According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2014, pp 318-319), the circumstantial element of Manner construes the way in which the process is actualized There are four subcategories: Means, Quality, Comparison, and Degree Means and Comparison tend to be realized by prepositional phrases, while Quality and Comparison tend to be realized by adverbial groups

(a) The Agent, through which a process is carried out, is referred to as

the Means A prepositional phrase with the preposition by or with is usually used to express it The interrogative forms are how? and what with?

Examples:

(11) It seems to me that answers to most such questions have to be learned by

experiment (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 318)

(b) Quality is typically expressed by an adverbial group, with -ly and adverb as Head; the interrogative is how? or how ? plus appropriate adverb

Less commonly, Quality is realized by a prepositional phrase For example:

(12) Morgan calmly surveyed the scenery from the top of Rock Island

(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014, p 319)

(c) A prepositional phrase with like or unlike, or an adverbial group of

similarity or difference, is commonly used to convey comparison The

interrogative is what like?

(d) Degree is typically expressed by an adverbial group with a general

indication of degree such as much, a good deal, a lot, or with a collocational more restricted adverb of degree such as deeply, profoundly, completely, heavily, badly ; for example:

(13) To what extent is The Snow Leopard a shaped creation? (Halliday &

Matthiessen, 2014, p 320)

Table 2.6 Examples of Manner circumstantials

means how? what with? (mend it) with a fuse wire

comparison what like? (he signs his name) differently

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 321)

2.2.5.4 Cause

Halliday and Matthiessen, (2014, p 320) state that, "The Circumstantial element of Cause construes the reason why the process is actualized" There are three subtypes known as Reason, Purpose and Behalf

(a) Reason tells what causes the Process - what causes it; they have the sense of ‘because’ It is typically expressed by a prepositional phrase with

through, from, for, or a complex preposition such as because of, as a result of, thanks to, due to; also the negative for want of

(b) Circumstantials of Purpose tells the purpose for which an action takes place – the intention behind it; they have the sense of ‘in order that’

They are typically expressed by a prepositional phrase with for or with a complex preposition such as in the hope of, for the purpose of, for the sake of

(c) Expressions of Behalf represent the entity, typically a person, on whose behalf or for whose sake the action is undertaken – who it is for They

are expressed by a prepositional phrase with for or with a complex preposition such as for the sake of, in favour of (negative: against), on behalf of

Table 2.7 Examples of Cause circumstantials

Reason why? how? (they left) because of the draught

Purpose what for? (it's all done) with a view to the promotion

Behalf who for? (put in a word) on my behalf

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 322)

2.2.5.5 Contingency

Circumstances of Contingency specify an element on which the actualized of the process depends what, which consists of three subtypes: Condition, Concession, Default

(a) Circumstantials of Condition construe circumstances is obtained something in order for the process to be actualized and have the sense of ‘if’ which are expressed by prepositional phrases with complex prepositions in

case of, in the event of, on condition of

(b) Concession circumstantials construe frustrating cause sensed by the use of 'although'; prepositional phrases with the prepositions express them

despite, notwithstanding, or the complex prepositions despite or regardless of

(c) Default circumstantials represent a negative condition – ‘if not,

unless’; they are expressed by prepositional phrases with the complex

prepositions in the absence of, in default of

Table 2.8 Examples of Accompaniment circumstantials

comitative, positive:

‘accompanied by’

who/what with?

and who/what else?

Fred came with Tom Jane set out with her umbrella comitative, negative:

‘not accompanied by’

but not who/what? Fred came without Tom

I came without my key

additive, positive:

‘in addition to’

and who/what else? Fred came as well as Tom

additive, negative:

‘as alternative to’

and not who/what? Fred came instead of Tom

(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 324) (a) The Comitative represents the process as a single instance of a process, one in which two entities are involved, or in some cases, Comitative could be conjoined as a single element

(b) The Additive represents the process as two instances; here, both entities share the same participant function, but one of them is represented circumstantially for contrast

2.2.5.7 Role

This category tells about the meanings ‘be’ and ‘become’ circumstantially The Role corresponds to the Attribute or Value The subcategories of Guise (‘be’) and Product (‘become’) belong to Role Guise corresponds to the interrogative

what as? The usual preposition is as; other, complex prepositions with this function are by way of, in the role/ shape/guise /form of Meanwhile, Product refers to a probe what into?, with the sense of "becoming."

2.2.5.8 Matter

Matter is related to verbal processes; it is the circumstantial equivalent

of the Verbiage, ‘that which is described, referred to, narrated, etc.’ The

interrogative is what about? Matter is expressed by prepositions such as about, concerning, regarding and sometimes simply of It frequently occurs in