(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) Expansion and its realization in the short story Runaway by Alice Munro from systemic functional grammar perspective

.20 CHAPTER 3: EXPANSION RELATIONS BETWEEN CLAUSES IN CLAUSE COMPLEXES IN THE SHORT STORY “RUNAWAY” BY ALICE MUNRO 3.1.. Aim of the study and research questions The main aim of the stu

VŨ THỊ THẢO

EXPANSION AND ITS REALIZATION IN THE SHORT STORY

“RUNAWAY” BY ALICE MUNRO: FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR PERSPECTIVE

(Bành trướng và sự thể hiện của nó trong truyện ngắn ―Trốn chạy‖ của Alice Munro: Nghiên cứu theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

HANOI – 2014

VŨ THỊ THẢO

EXPANSION AND ITS REALIZATION IN THE SHORT STORY

“RUNAWAY” BY ALICE MUNRO: FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR PERSPECTIVE

(Bành trướng và sự thể hiện của nó trong truyện ngắn ―Trốn chạy‖ của Alice Munro: Nghiên cứu theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI – 2014

I, Vũ Thị Thảo, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research It is recognized that, should this declaration be found to

be false, disciplinary action could be taken and penalties imposed in accordance with the University policy and rules

Signature

Vũ Thị Thảo

Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, Dean of the School of Graduates, Vietnam National University Hanoi, for his continuous support, guidance, patience and inspiration to me in researching and writing this thesis I could not have imagined having a better supervisor for my M.A thesis

I also wish to extend particular thanks to lecturers at the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their positive and encouraging impacts on my work

in one way or another

Finally, my special thanks and blessings go to my parents and my friends for their love and support in any respect during the completion of the thesis Their well-being is of great inspiration to me all the time

The aim of this study is to examine how expansion relations between clauses are realized in the short story ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro, using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework The research findings show that

of 252 clause complexes collected from the story, the highest frequency use of expansion is enhancement, aiming to provide necessary circumstantial information

to the clauses Extension is the second dominant type and elaboration is the least popular type Besides using explicit conjunctive signals to link the clauses, implicit ones are also used, which sometimes cause challenges to identify the type of relations The results help to confirm the application of SFG in text analysis to understand lexico-semantic relations between clauses

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aim of the study and research questions 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Methodology 3

6 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY 1.1 An overview of systemic functional approach to grammar 4

1.2 Meta-function of the language 5

1.1.1 Ideational meta-function 5

1.1.2 Interpersonal meta-function 6

1.1.3 Textual meta-function 6

1.3 Ranks 7

1.4 The clause 8

1.4.1 Clause simplex and clause complex 8

1.4.2 Types of relationship between clauses in clause complexes 8

1.4.2.1 Taxis 8

1.4.2.2 Logico-sematic relations 9

1.4.3 Summary 10

CHAPTER 2: EXPANSION AND EXPANSION RELATION BETWEEN

CLAUSES IN CLAUSE COMPLEXES

2.1 Expansion 11

2.2 Types of expansion 11

2.2.1 Elaboration .11

2.2.1.1 Paratactic elaboration .12

2.2.1.2 Hypotactic elaboration .12

2.2.2 Extension 14

2.2.2.1 Paratactic extension 14

2.2.2.2 Hypotactic extension 15

2.2.3 Enhancement 16

2.2.3.1 Paractactic enhancement 16

2.2.3.2 Hypotactic enhancement 18

2.3 Summary 20

CHAPTER 3: EXPANSION RELATIONS BETWEEN CLAUSES IN CLAUSE COMPLEXES IN THE SHORT STORY “RUNAWAY” BY ALICE MUNRO 3.1 The chosen story ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro 21

3.2 A register analysis of the story 21

3.2.1 Genre 22

3.2.2 Field 23

3.2.3 Tenor 23

3.2.4 Mode 24

3.3 The expansion relation between clauses in the story 24

3.3.2 Data analysis and discussion 253.3.3 Summary 33

PART C: CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the study 36

2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 38

REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES I

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

It is apparent that people have been fascinated with language and communication for thousands of years Linguistics, therefore, becomes a growing and exciting area

of study with an increasing number of theories and research conducted aiming to explain the complex nature of language and communication Along with many branches of linguistics, grammar has been received great attention by linguists in attempts to understand how language works

Systemic functional grammar (SFG), a theory developed by M A K Halliday and his associates, provides a comprehensive account of how language is used in specific contexts for communication purposes It looks at how language works, how

it is organized and what social functions are represented SFG differs from other previous models of grammar in that it views language ―as a social semiotic a resource people use to accomplish their purposes by expressing meanings in context‖ (Chapelle, 1998) and seeks to provide a clear relationship between functions and grammatical systems (Halliday, 1994) SFG can also be an effective grammatical tool for text analysis as it is designed to ―make it possible to say sensible and useful things about any text, spoken or written‖ (Halliday, 1994: xv)

In Vietnam, there have been an increasing number of significant studies on different aspects of SFG, which not only makes important contributions to the study of this field in Vietnam, but also becomes great source of reference as well as motivation for me to choose SFG as the theoretical framework for my MA thesis

Amongst many interesting aspects of SFG, I decided to carry out a study on a specific phenomenon – expansion relation between clauses in clauses complexes

There are two key justifications for my study titled “Expansion and its realization

in the short story “Runaway” by Alice Munro: from systemic functional perspective” Foremost, the reason for choosing expansion is that I would like to

complexes are expanded and developed in the text Expansion, therefore, could help

to understand the interdependency and logico-semantic relation between clauses In addition, I am fascinated by the short story ―Runaway‖ written by the 2013 Nobel Laureate, Alice Munro, whose multi-layered writing styles and the characters portrayed in her story gave me a deep impression and inspired me to choose the story for text analysis In light of the above mentioned, I decided to select this story

for analysis to explore how expansion is realized in the text and how the findings

can help to understand the way the author constructs the story

2 Aim of the study and research questions

The main aim of the study is to investigate the realization of expansion relations between clauses in clause complexes in the story ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro

In order to fulfill the above mentioned aim, two research questions are raised for exploration:

 What is expansion in systemic functional grammar?

 How are expansion relations between clauses in clause complexes realized in the short story ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro?

3 Scope of the study

Within the framework of a minor MA thesis, the study cannot cover all types of relationship between clauses Only expansion relation between clauses in clause complexes is taken into consideration Projection and other aspects of SFG such as transitivity, mood and modality, theme and rhyme are, therefore, not examined The focus of the study does not lie in the theoretical findings but on the basis of these it

is to enlighten the analysis of the chosen story to understand the way the author constructs the text in terms of expansion relation between clauses

4 Significance of the study

The study is hoped to serve as a useful source of reference for those interested in this story by Alice Munro to further understand the content as well as the way clauses are built in the story and the interrelations between them This thesis may

be of significance for those who are fascinated in text analysis using SFG as the theoretical framework, especially the expansion relation between clauses in clause complexes and how it is realized in a specific text Through the theoretical background and text analysis in the study, the study is expected to play a complementary role in research on the field of SFG in Vietnam

5 Methods of the study

This study uses the theory of expansion in SFG as the theoretical framework to examine expansion relations between clauses and investigate how different types of expansion are realized in the short story ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro In this study, descriptive and analytical methods will be employed as the principal methods The descriptive method is concerned with the description of concepts relating to the expansion relation, and the analytical method is used to analyze the text Some statistics are calculated to show the frequency of use of different types of expansion realized in the text

6 Organization of the study

The study is organized into three major parts

Part A, Introduction, provides the reasons for choosing the topic, the aim, the research questions and the scope of the study, the methods of study, the significance

of the study, and the organization of the study

Part B, Development, consists of three chapters Chapter 1 is concerned with the theoretical background of the study in which some basic concepts of SFG are re-examined Chapter 2 gives a presentation of expansion relation between clauses in clause complexes In this chapter, types of expansion are discussed in some details

to provide the framework for the analysis of the story Chapter 3 analyzes the story

so as to see how different types of expansion are realized in the text

Finally, Part C, Conclusion, summarizes the results of the study, points out limitations and makes some suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY

This chapter presents some of fundamental concepts of SFG, namely the metafunctions, rank scales, clauses and clause complexes

1.1 An overview of systemic functional approach to grammar

Systemic functional grammar (SFG) is an approach to language description which aims to provide a comprehensive account of how language is used in context for communication It was originated with M A K Halliday, building especially on the ideas of his teacher J R Firth, in publications from the 1960s on, with major contributions by other scholars such as Ruqaiya Hasan and, in more recent years, Jim Martin and Christian Matthiessen among many others (Chapman, 2009: 225) From early in its development, SFG has had two main distinguishing features, which are reflected in the name It is ―systemic‖ in that grammar consists of a series

of choices that can be made in order to express ideas The grammatical structures are then seen as the outcome of choices from those available Sets of choices between options can most economically be shown in the form of systems (Chapman, 2009: 226) Secondly, SFG is ―functional‖ in that the systems achieve certain functions realized in the lexico-grammar of the language In other words, the model is oriented primarily towards meaning rather than form: that is, its aim is to describe how wordings are used in expressing meanings What a linguistic form consists of is seen as less important than the function that it performs in the clause Therefore, language is not just a part of ―cognitive mechanism‖ but how people use

it in social functions in certain culture (Reuter, 2000)

SFG is a useful tool for text analysis as it provides insightful approach into the language choices that underlie text production and comprehension It can be also said that systemic linguistics provides a useful theoretical and analytical framework for exploring and explaining how texts mean (Eggins, 1994: 307)

1.2 Metafunctions of the language

In SFG, functional bases of grammatical phenomena are divided into three broad areas, called metafunctions: the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual Each of the three metafunctions is about a different aspect of the world, and concerned with

a different mode of meaning of clauses The ideational metafunction is about the natural world in the broadest sense, including our own consciousness, and concerned with clauses as representation The interpersonal metafunction is about the social world, especially the relationship between speaker and hearer, and concerned with clauses as exchange The textual metafunction is about the verbal world, especially the flow of information in a text, concerned with clauses as messages

1.2.1 Ideational metafunction

The ideational metafunction is the ―content function of language‖ (Halliday, 2007:

experience into a manageable set of process types Processes can be divided into six main types, which reflect the cognitive categories that we use to make sense of the events around us Material process, the process of external world involving physical actions, reflects our ―outer‖ experiences The process of sending and consciousness, mental process, reflects our ―inner‖ experience, the things that go on our internal world of the mind The third type of process is relational process, which is the process of being and having On the borderline between material and mental processes is behavioral process, reflecting human physiological and psychological behavior On the borderline between mental and relational is the category of verbal processes, the processes of conveying messages by saying On the borderline between material and relational are the processes concerned with existence, the existential process For example:

1.2.2 Interpersonal metafunction

The interpersonal metafunction comprises the function to enact social relations between addressers and addressees and to express the speaker‘s viewpoint on actions and events in the world According to Halliday (1994: 69), the clause is organized as an interactive event involving the speaker, or writer, and the audience (listener or reader) The most fundamental speech roles in any exchange are the roles of giving and demanding Cutting across the basic distinction between giving and demanding is another distinction, equally fundamental, that relates to the nature

of the commodity being exchanged This may be either goods-and-services or information The usual labels for these functions are statement, question, offer and command

There are two components of a clause as exchange, namely the Mood and the Residue The Mood is the component carrying the syntactic burden of the exchange It consists of two parts: the Subject, which is a nominal group, and the Finite operator, which is part of a verbal group The Residue consists of functional elements of three kinds: Predicator, Complement and Adjunct For example:

According to Halliday (1994: 88), a clause can be positive or negative which is called Polarity and expressed in the Finite element The intermediate degrees between the positive and negative poles are known collectively as Modality The interpersonal meaning of a clause is realized through the system of Mood and Modality

1.2.3 Textual metafunction

Looking at the clause in its context and the rest of the language around it, we can understand the textual meaning of the clause As a message structure, a clause

consists of a theme accompanied by a rheme The theme of a clause is the initial experiential constituent, which has a special role in signaling how the current clause relates to clauses around it The Rheme is the part in which the theme is developed Broadly, there is a choice between unmarked themes (where theme and subject are the same), which typically signal continuity of some kind in the topic, and marked themes (where something other than subject, such as an adverbial adjunct, is theme), often associated with a change of textual frame

To sum up, each of these three kinds of meaning, according to Halliday (1994: 34)

―forms part of a different functional configuration, making up a separate strand in the overall meaning of the clause‖ Therefore, the three functions do not exist separately or operate independently and discretely but they ―operate simultaneously

in the expression of meaning‖ (Bloor, 1995: 9)

1.3 Ranks

According to Martin et al (1997), while metafunction refers to the different models

of meaning construed by the grammar, rank refers to the different ―size‖ of the grammatical units (layers of constituency) Rank orders units into a hierarchy according to their constituency relation: the highest-ranking units consist of units of the rank immediately below; these units consist of units at the next rank, and so on, until we arrive at the units of the lowest rank, which have no internal constituent structure Rank is thus a theory of the global distribution of the units of the grammar

The English grammatical rank scale is clause, group/ phrase, word and morpheme

To be more specific, a clause consists of groups, a group of words, and a word of morphemes Every word has a function as part of a group and every group has a function as part of a clause (Thompson, 1996) It is noted that there is no ―sentence‖

rank above clause for the reason that we can adequately account for sentences by introducing the concept of clause and clause complex

1.4 The clause 1.4.1 Clause simplex and clause complex

In functional grammar, the clause is divided into two smaller categories: clause simplex and clause complex As defined by Halliday, a clause simplex contains only one clause, whereas a clause complex contains more than one clause It may consist of a Head clause together with other clauses that modify it The notion of clause complex as Halliday (1994: 216) stated, ―enables us to account in full for the functional organization of sentences‖ Halliday used the concept ―clause‖ instead of

―sentence‖ because a sentence, in fact, can be defined as a clause simplex or complex A simple sentence is like a clause simplex, and a compound or complex sentence is basically a clause complex Hence, in SFG there will be no need to bring

in the term ―sentence‖ as a distinct grammatical category

1.4.2 Types of relationship between clauses in clause complexes

As stated by Halliday (1994: 218), there are two types of relationships between clauses: taxis (or interdependency) and logico-semantic relations In this part, these two dimensions are discussed in details

1.4.2.1 Taxis

Taxis, or interdependency, indicate the logical interdependency between clauses in

a clause complex It shows whether one clause is dependent on or dominates another, or whether they are of equal status There are two types of taxis: hypotaxis and parataxis

Parataxis is the logical interdependency between clauses where the clauses in the nexus are of equal status As defined by Halliday (1994: 218), it is ―the relation between two like elements of equal status, one initiating and the other continuing‖ Because of being equal in status, paratactic relation is logically symmetrical and

transitive For instance, “Peter is watching TV, and Nancy is reading a book” The

position of the two clauses in this clause complex can be interchanged without any

The second kind of logical interdependency is called hypotaxis According to Halliday (1994: 218), hypotaxis is the relation between a dependent element and its dominant – the element on which it is dependent The hypotactic relation is logically non-symmetrical and non-transitivity It is signaled by the Greek letter notation, using alpha (α) for the dominant, beta (β) for a clause dependent on it, and

a gamma (χ) for one dependent on that, and so on It is noted that a typical clause complex is a mixture of paratactic and hypotactic sequences, either of which may be nested inside the other, an example of which can be seen below:

|||He could not stand it || when she cried || and she could not help crying ||

The second type of relation between clauses in clause complexes is logico-semantic

It is further divided into two fundamental relationships: expansion and projection It

is also noted that in all clause complexes, the paratactic and hypotactic distinction applies together with logico-semantic relation

When a clause nexus is related by expansion, it means that the secondary clause expands the primary clause, by one of three ways: elaborating, extending or enhancing it An elaborating clause does not add any essentially new element to the message, but may restate it in other words, or specify it in greater details, or exemplify, or include speaker‘s comments Extension means adding some new information to the clause, giving an exception, or offering an alternative One clause can also expand another by enhancing it: qualifying it with some circumstantial feature of time, place, cause or condition

The relationship of projection is very different from that of expansion In a nexus related by projection, the secondary clause is instated by the primary clause as what somebody said (locution) or thought (idea) Locution means that the clause is projected by being reused the wording of the language event Idea, on the other hand, is projected the meaning of the original language event While locution is considered a construction of wording, idea is a construction of meaning The following table summarizes the basic types of relations between clauses in clause complexes:

John didn‘t wait; he ran away

1 = 2 John ran away, and Fred stayed

1 + 2 John was scared, so he ran away

1 x 2

John ran away, which surprised everyone

α = β John ran away, whereas Fred stayed

α + β John ran away because he was scared

John said: ―I‘m running away‖

1 ― 2 John thought to himself:

CHAPTER 2: EXPANSION AND EXPANSION RELATIONS BETWEEN CLAUSES IN CLAUSE COMPLEXES

This chapter re-examines the theory of expansion between clauses in clause complexes in SFG The three sub-types of expansion, i.e elaboration, extension and enhancement are presented The findings serve as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the chosen text in the following chapter

2.1 Expansion

As already discussed in previous section, expansion is one of two sub-types of logico-semantic relations According to Chapman (2009: 200), in expansion, one clause expands on the meaning of another in various ways: by elaborating it, or extending it, or enhancing it In the following example, the second clause provides some comparison to enhance the meaning of the first, dominant, clause

―He acted as if he hated her”

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

2.2 Types of expansion

Within the relationship by which one clause expands another, Halliday identified three broad semantic groupings: elaboration, extension and enhancement To be more specific, the secondary clause expands the primary by elaborating its existing structure, extending it by addition or replacement, or enhancing its environment

2.2.1 Elaboration

In elaboration, one clause elaborates on the meaning of another by further specifying or describing or clarifying it in some way The secondary clause, as stated by Halliday (1994: 225), ―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, or adding a descriptive attribute or comment‖ The equal sign (=) is used to denote this relation, which involves both parataxis and hypotaxis

2.2.1.1 Paratactic elaboration (1 = 2)

In a paratactic elaborating clause complex, an initial clause is restated, exemplified,

or further specified by another The combination of elaboration with parataxis consists of three subtypes: exposition, exemplification and exemplification

In exposition, the secondary clause restates the thesis of the primary one in different

words, to present it from another point of view or perhaps just to reinforce the message (Halliday, 1994: 226) The relationship may be made explicitly by

conjunctive expressions such as or (rather), in other words, that is to say, or in writing, i.e In the following example, “That clock doesn‟t go; it‟s not working‖, the

second clause restates the meaning of the first one in other way

In exemplification, the secondary clause develops the thesis of the primary clause

by specifying it, or citing an actual example Typical conjunctive expressions used

in this relation are for example, for instance, in particular and in writing e.g In the following illustration, “Peter‟s an excellent student – his GPA is 3,70”, the second

clause exemplifies the first one

The last sub-type of elaboration is clarification The secondary clause clarifies the

thesis of the primary clause, backing it up with some form of explanation or

explanatory comment Expressions such as in fact, indeed, actually, at least are common in this type The nearest written abbreviation is i.e., or sometimes, viz This

relation can also be implicitly expressed by juxtaposing, and in writing, by a colon (:) or a semicolon (;) or dash between the linked clauses (Lock, 1996: 256) In the following example, the second clause elaborates the meaning of the primary by clarifying it:

―It wasn‟t so sharp anymore; in fact, it no longer surprised her.”

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

2.2.1.2 Hypotactic elaboration (α = β)

In a hypotactic elaborating complex, the dependent clause provides some description or comment on the thing(s) mentioned in the primary clause or on the

clauses may be either finite or non-finite clauses

 Finite

If the secondary clause is finite, it has the same form as a relative clause of the type It is necessary to pay attention to the difference between defining (restrictive) and non-defining (non-restrictive) relative clauses

WH-Non-defining relative clauses do not restrict the scope of their antecedents, but provide additional information about the antecedents or give a comment on them Therefore, unlike defining relative clauses, which are rank-shifted (or embedded) clauses functioning as post-modifiers in a nominal group, non-defining relative clauses are considered as dependent clauses In writing, there is usually a comma put around the non-defining relative clause For instances:

(1) He sometimes got notions like this, which were not practicable

(2) It was Mary who stood the first in the class

In the first clause complex, the elaborating clause which were not practicable

provides some additional information to the first clause, and thus, the relation is

hypotactic elaboration However, in the second example, who stood the first in the class is an embedded clause which serves to identify the noun Mary This

embedded clause functions as a post-modifier to the noun, and therefore, is a constituent of the nominal group instead of being a clause of hypotactic relation The dependent clause in this type might refer to the whole primary clause or to one particular participant in the primary clause (usually a noun), in which case it often stands next to that participant

(3) The President, who was visiting Rome, met the Pope

Obviously, in (3) the non-defining relative clause who was visiting Rome elaborates the head noun the President and this clause is ―enclosed‖ in the primary one

Halliday (1994: 227) uses the angle brackets to denote this enclosure: α « = β»

 Non-finite

In English it is possible to substitute finite secondary clauses with non-finite ones

In non-finite elaborating clause complexes, the same semantic relationship obtains

as with the finites, and again the domain may be one nominal group or some larger segment of the primary clause, up to the whole clause According to Halliday (1994: 229), as is usual with non-finite clauses, the meaning is less specific; both the domain of the dependent clause and its semantic relationships to its domain are left relatively inexplicit There is no WH- form, as there is with the finites For example:

It must have been the heat of the shower, loosening her tears

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

2.2.2 Extension

In extension, one clause extends the meaning of another by adding something new

to it Basically, what is added may be an addition, or a replacement, or an alternative Extension might be paratactic or hypotactic; however, compared with paratactic extension, hypotactic extension is less common

2.2.2.1 Paratactic extension (1 + 2)

The combination of extension with parataxis can be recognized as co-ordination between clauses Therefore, Thompson (1996: 203) remarks ―paratactic extension covers most of what is traditionally called coordination‖ Paratactic extension includes three sub-types of addition, variation and alternation

 Addition

In addition relation, one process is simply adjoined to another It is typically

expressed by such conjunction as and (positive addition), nor (negative addition), or but (adversative addition) Paratactic additions are also accompanied by cohesive

devices such as too, in addition, also, moreover, on the other hand Sometimes this

relation can be recognized without any conjunctive signal For instances,

“He dug and planted and fenced a vegetable garden” (positive addition)

“She tried to deflect him, but he insisted” (adversative addition)

“Sylvia looked up, surprised by the watery sunlight that had come out” (positive addition, but no signal is used)

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

 Variation

In paratactic variation, ―one clause is presented as being in total or partial replacement of another‖ (Halliday, 1994: 230) The typical conjunctive signals used

with this meaning are instead, on the contrary, but, only The pair either … or is

also used with this meaning

I didn‟t go by car, but instead I took a bus (total variation)

He runs the business well, except he rarely holds meetings (partial variation)

 Alternation

In paratactic alternation, one clause is offered as alternative to another The

most typical conjunctions in this type include or, conversely, alternatively, on the other hand For example:

Hurry up, or you‟ll be late for school

2.2.2.2 Hypotactic extension (α + β)

In a hypotactic extending clause complex, the secondary clause extends the meaning of the primary clause by one of three ways: addition, replacement and alternation, but with the extending clause dependent The dependent clause may be finite or non-finite

 Finite Hypotactic extension of this type can be recognized by the use of conjunctions

while, whereas In this case, the meaning is ―addition with contrast‖ (Thompson,

1996: 203) For examples:

Some of the studies show positive results, whereas others do not

While Tom's very good at science, his brother is absolutely hopeless

Another type of hypotactic extension, alternation, is expressed by conditional

structure “if… not”, which can be paraphrased by “either … or” In this structure,

the dependent clause always comes first For instance:

“If you haven‟t lost it, then it‟s in that cupboard”

(Halliday, 1994: 231) The hypotactic form of subtractive relation is expressed by finite clauses

with conjunctive signals except that, but for the fact that:

“She remembered nothing about him except that his hair was black”

(Halliday, 1994: 231)

 Non-finite The non-finite form of hypotactic extending, as stated by Halliday (1994: 231), is

an imperfective clause This clause is often introduced by a preposition or a

preposition group functioning conjunctively such as apart from, besides (additive), without (adversative), instead of (replacive), other than (subtractive)

“We're going away in June but other than being here all summer”

“She said nothing, preferring instead to save her comments till later”

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

However, in reality, there might not be any conjunctive signals as in the case of taxposition For example,

“Dozens of people were killed, many of them being children”

(Quirk & Greenbaum, 1987: 312)

2.2.3.1 Paratactic enhancement (1 x 2)

The paratactic enhancing clause is a coordinated one with a circumstantial feature

Typical conjunctions, as listed by Halliday, include then, so, for, but, yet, still, or a combination of and with another conjunctive element such as and then, and thus, and yet, afterwards, and at that time, etc Halliday distinguishes four subtypes of

paratactic enhancement: temporal, spatial, manner and causal-conditional

Temporal enhancement can be signaled by a conjunction or a conjunction group

such as and then, and afterwards, first … then (later time), and just then, and at the same time, and at this time, now (same time) It is worth to note that conjunction

“and” is usually used to introduce an extending clause of addition; however,

in narratives, it can be used with the meaning „and then‟, and thus might be seen

with enhancing meaning For example:

―And to her surprise he got up and came into the kitchen”

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

The second subtype of enhancement is Spatial, which is introduced by „and there‟

to denote the same place For instance:

―Alice looked up, and there stood the Queen in front of them”

(Halliday, 1994: 234)

Manner enhancement consists of means and comparison Enhancing clause of

means is typically expressed by such conjunction groups as and in that way,

similarly, whereas and thus, and thereby, and so, and neither are used to introduce a

clause of comparison For example:

My sister doesn‟t go to school on Sunday and neither do I

The last subtype of paratactic enhancement is causal-conditional There are several

typical conjunctions used to express the cause-effect such as are so, and therefore, whereas the effect-cause is expressed by for Condition may be positive, negative or concessive Positive condition is usually expressed by and then, and in that case; negative condition by otherwise, or else; and concessive condition by yet, still, though, nevertheless For example:

―She taught botany at the college forty miles away, so she had to spend a good deal of her time on the road”

(Source: ―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

2.2.3.2 Hypotactic enhancement (α = β)

According to Halliday (1994: 235), the combination of enhancement with hypotaxis gives what are known in traditional formal grammar as ―adverbial clauses‖ As stated by Thompson (1996: 204), it ―corresponds very closely in function to Adjuncts, specifying aspects of the dominant process such as the time, reason, condition, etc‖ Like elaboration and extension, a hypotactic enhancing clause may

be finite or non-finite

 Finite The finite is introduced by a hypotactic conjunction, or in other words, subordinating conjunctions With a finite clause, the conjunction serves to express both dependency and circumstantial status

Temporal relation can refer to same time, later time or earlier time Conjunctions

used to introduce this relation include such subordinators as after, before, since, until, when etc Temporal clauses are common in initial position However, it can be

found in the middle or at the end of the complex

Spatial clauses are usually expressed by where, wherever, as far as For instance:

―And adapted to live up to what, as far as she could see, were Mrs Jamieson‟s – Sylvia‟s – expectations”

(―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

Clauses of manner are typically introduced by as, as if, as though, like, etc For

example:

―She dressed as if she were going to town”

(―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

The causal relation can be introduced by because, as, since, in case, seeing that

“She could not help crying because he was so mad”

“Now she went over to the exercise ring to see how dry the ground was, in case the five-o‟clock pupil did show up”

(―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

Clauses of condition might be positive, negative, or concessive, which can be

introduced by if, as long as, provided that (positive condition), unless (negative condition), even if, even though, although (concession) For instances,

“She had agreed, as long as she could choose to be a veterinarian”

“She could tell by the sky that the moon had risen, though she could not see it”

(―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro)

 Non-finite Typically, a non-finite enhancing clause does not have a Subject However, when the Subject of the non-finite clause is expressed, it should appear in either oblique

or in possessive form The meaning of non-finite clause is the same as its finite counterpart Therefore, non-finite enhancing clause can belong to one of these subtypes: time, manner, or cause

“Nearing the entrance, I shook hands with my acquaintances”

(Quirk and Greenbaum, 1987: 311)

“Pouring the coffee, she decided that she would keep quiet about the other gift she had brought”

The relation in this category might be expressed explicitly through the use of conjunctions or implicitly by taxposition

“Being a man of ingenuity, he soon repaired the machine”

(Quirk and Greenbaum, 1987: 327)

2.3 Summary

In this chapter, expansion and its relationship between clauses in clause complexes

in English have been introduced Expansion refers to the relationship between clauses in a clause complex in which one clause expands the meaning of another by one of three ways: by elaborating, by extending, or by enhancing it Extension is, therefore, divided into three categories: elaboration, extension and enhancement, which are respectively labeled =, +, and x In each of these categories, there are

a number of subtypes Elaboration is classified into exposition, exemplification and clarification; extension consists of addition, variation and alternation; and enhancement is divided into temporal, spatial, manner and causal-conditional It is noted that these categories may be combined with two types of interdependency, either parataxis or hypotaxis Therefore, we have paratactic and hypotactic elaboration, paratactic and hypotactic extension, paratactic and hypotactic enhancement This chapter serves as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the chosen text in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3 EXPANSION RELATIONS BETWEEN CLAUSES IN CLAUSE COMPLEXES IN THE SHORT STORY “RUNAWAY” BY ALICE MUNRO

In the previous chapter, the theory of expansion relation between clauses in clause complexes and its three types (i.e elaboration, extension and enhancement) have been discussed In this chapter, the realization of this relation in the short story

―Runaway‖ by Alice Munro is examined

3.1 The chosen story – “Runaway”

―Runaway‖, the first story in a story collection of the same title, written by the 2013 Nobel Prize winning Canadian author, Alice Munro, debuted in the August 11, 2003 issue of The New Yorker This story collection was translated into Vietnamese and published by Nha Nam Publishing House in 2012 ―Runaway‖ is a typical work that presents the reader with a description of Munro‘s artistic interests, motifs and writing techniques It tells the story of Carla, a young woman fixed in a marriage with a moody, rather threatening husband named Clark Carla was twice a runaway When she was 18 and college-bound, she ran off to marry Clark, against her parents' expectations And now, getting on a bus to Toronto, she ran away the second time – this time from Clark – with the help of Ms Jamieson, a widow living next door On the way of running away, Carla underwent severe inner war of self-doubts and growing panicky feelings that she is incapable of living without him She decided to get off the bus and did not run away In the end, readers can feel a new Carla, more independent and self-confident Her runaway breathed some new fresh air into their marriage

3.2 A register analysis of the story

A key concept in Halliday‘s approach is the ―context of situation‖, which obtains

―through a systematic relationship between the social environment on the one hand,

The analysis of context is broken down into three facets of field, tenor and mode Collectively, they constitute the ―register‖ of a text (Halliday, 1985: 12) Register is important in systemic linguistics because it is seen as the linguistic consequence of interacting aspects of context Field, tenor and mode determine the experiential, interpersonal and textual meaning respectively In this part, along with examining register, the genre of the story is also taken into consideration in order to understand the text in the fullest

that the text is a narrative and has achieved its social purpose – to tell the readers a story and entertain them

3.2.2 Field

Field refers to the subject matter or the topic of the text It answers the questions

―What is being talked about?‖ To be more specific, field refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place Field mainly determines the experiential meaning, and realized by the transitivity system

The text under discussion is an English short story written in narrative style, which describes a runaway of a young woman named Carla from her husband with the help of a widow living next door There is a little white goat depicted in the story, who was also a runaway and became the true reflection of main character It can be noticed that different process types are used to construct the text Material process is seen as the predominant process type, which is to reveal the actions of the characters in the story A significant number of mental processes are employed to express the characters‘ belief, feeling and opinion It is also noted that there are numerous dialogs depicted in the story; thus a large number of verbal process is used However, the transitivity system is not the focus of this thesis, and therefore,

is not examined further

3.2.3 Tenor

Tenor refers to the roles of the participants in the text Tenor answers the question:

"Who are participating and what is their relative status or power?" In SFG, tenor mainly determines the interpersonal meaning, and realized by the mood and modality

Regarding the speech function in the story, it can be seen that there are two role relationships; one between the writer and the reader, and the other between the characters (i.e Carla and Clark, Carla and Sylvia, Clark and Sylvia) with information exchange roles In this story, the writer plays the role of the narrator,

belongs to the narrative style Interrogative mood is also popular, mainly in conversations Most of the clauses in the text contain subject and finite verbs, in which the finite elements are combined with the past tenses

3.2.4 Mode

As defined by Eggins (1994), mode is ―the role language is playing in an interaction‖ To be more specific, the mode of a text is concerned with the channel

in which communication takes place and the medium of communication This story,

in its organic form, is a written text, and the writer uses language in order to tell readers a story in written form There is a high lexical density with a large number

of content words Besides, the mode mainly determines textual meanings; thus it is realized by the thematic structure of the text However, the theme-rheme pattern is not the focus of this thesis, therefore, is not investigated in depth

3.3 The relation of expansion between clauses in clause complexes in the story

3.3.1 Data collection

For the purpose of the study, only clause complexes which contain expansion relation are collected from the story For that reason, clause simplexes and clause complexes of projection type are not included Also excluded are embedded clauses which function as post-modifier in nominal or adverbial groups, or as Head in a nominal group These embedded clauses, accounting for a large quantity in the story, are not examined for the reason that they only function as a constituent within the structure of groups and phrases, whereas expansion are relations between clauses

Another highlighted point is that there are a number of clause complexes containing both expansion and projection relations For these ―mixed‖ complexes, only those whose primary relation is expansion are taken into account Mixed complexes in which projection is the primary relation are all excluded

For the reasons mentioned above, among 323 clause complexes collected from the story, there are 219 clause complexes of pure expansion relation, and 104 complexes containing both expansion and projection However, of these mixed complexes, only 33 complexes, in which expansion is the primary relation, are taken into consideration The rest 71 complexes, in which projection is seen as the primary relation, are excluded from the data collection and not be examined As a result, in this study, 252 complexes, including 219 complexes of pure expansion and

33 mixed complexes in which expansion is main relation, are investigated

For more information, please see the Appendix 1, 252 clause complexes which are analyzed to see how different types of expansion are realized The other 71 mixed complexes are included in Appendix 2 and are not investigated

3.3.2 Data analysis and discussion

As can be observed from the data collection in the Appendix 1, there are 675 clauses, making up 252 clause complexes interrelated by expansion It is noted that the ordinal numbers at the beginning of each clause complex are used to denote the number of clause complexes, while the cardinal numbers in brackets represent the number of clauses in the complexes The types of expansion relation between clauses are marked below the clauses

It is noticed that many of these complexes contain what Halliday calls ―nesting‖ That is to say, there are different layers, or rank shifts, in the same nexus, making

up long and complicated complexes This can be seen in the pie chart below

It can be seen from the chart that more than half of the clause complexes collected from the text are made up from 2 clauses interrelated by expansion There are 73 clause complexes containing 3 clauses, accounting for 29% of the total clause complexes 17 complexes, which consist of 4 clauses, take up 7% Noticeably, there are 19 clause complexes containing up to 5 clauses, which account for the rest 8% These complexes have complicated structures with different layers and logico-semantic relations To be more specific, there is more than one type of expansion

and has structure 1 = 21 x 22 x 23 (α + β) x 3 x 4, organized in two layers with three kinds of expansion – elaboration (i.e exposition), extension (i.e variation) and enhancement (i.e temporal)

In terms of expansion relation between clauses in clause complexes collected from the text, it can be remarked that all the three types of expansion – elaboration, extension and enhancement – are realized Generally, of the highest frequency is enhancement Extension is the second dominant type and elaboration is the least popular type The classification of expansion, showing the frequency of each type realized in the text, is presented in the table below

Type of expansion Paratactic Hypotactic Total

up about 38%

The numbers indicates that about half of the clauses taken from the text are constructed to enhance the meaning of the primary clauses by providing various circumstantial features of time, place, cause, manner, and condition To be more specific, in the category of enhancement, the author used a large number of temporal relations to denote chronological sequences of the events This relation alone, being used 125 times, accounts for more than half of all enhancement types More than half of the temporal enhancement are of paratactic relation There are a

variety of temporal conjunctions such as “then”, “and then”, ―while”, “as”,

25th, 32nd, 34th, 43rd, 57th, 63rd, 67th, 117th, 132nd, 138th, 141st, 213th, to name just a few Particularly, there are two or more than two temporal relations used in a clause

complex For instance, in complex 117th, the author used five temporal relations to

four temporal relations are realized In this category, causal - conditional relations are the second dominant type, which are employed 61 times, both paratactically and hypotactically The writer utilized causal - conditional enhancement aiming to qualify the meaning of the clauses by providing references to cause, effect, reason, purpose and condition of the events The most popular connective devices used to

denote the causal relations are ―because”, “as”, “so”; to represent condition are

―if”, “even if”, “even though”, “though”, “seeing that”, “in case” and ―as long

71st, 82nd, 124th, 142nd, 166th, 176th, 180th, 221st, 228th, 246th, etc In addition, the writer also enhanced the meanings of the primary clauses by providing some kinds

of comparison, or showing the means and manner of the actions, with a total of 27 times of use, most of which are finite Relation showing manners of the actions can

signals are used to represent comparison relations, namely as and as if as seen in

clause complexes 50th, 55th, 72nd, 75th, 84th, 88th, 96th, 111th, 116th, 121st, 151st, 236th

The circumstance of space is the least frequently used in this category Only 4 finite

hypotactic relations are found with two conjunctive signals ―where” and ―as far as”

which are realized in complexes 30th, 99th, 141st and 172nd The rare use of the spatial relation can be explained by the fact that to describe spatial settings of the events in this story, the author tended to use more clause simplexes rather than complexes

In the category of extension, additive relation is, noticeably, more popular used than any other single sub-types, with a total of 151 times In most of the cases, Munro

12th, 15th, 66th, 72rd, 74th, 115th, 122nd, 124th, etc.), and “but”, “without”, denoting

adversative addition (as in complexes 4th, 19th, 32nd, 48th, 54th, 130th, 134th, 140th,

Alternative relation is exploited only in 6 clause complexes, aiming to extend the

meaning of the primary clauses by providing an alternative The only signal “or” is

It is also shown from the table that the lowest frequency use of expansion type is elaboration In terms of paratactic elaboration, there is no exemplification relation found in the text Exposition is a rare type, appeared only in 3 clause complexes

record of 15 times, as in complexes 26th, 34th, 36th, 42nd, 100th, 108th, 114th, 115th,

using finite clauses to non-finites (in 18 and 12 complexes relatively) Many of these hypotactic elaborating clauses are in the form of non-defining relative clauses

of Wh-type, which are used to add extra information about one element in the message The numbers indicate that the author preferred clarifying the primary clauses with explanation or comments, rather than restating it in another way, or giving examples

It is worth emphasizing that there are a number of defining relative clauses functioning as post-modifiers or heads of nominal groups These embedded clauses only function as a constituent within the structure of groups and phrases; and therefore, cannot be treated as clauses of ―tactic‖ relations For instance, in clause

||The worst thing, <<as far as Carla was concerned>>, was the absence of Flora, the little white goat who kept the horses company in the barn and in the fields|||

The defining relative clause ―who kept the horses company in the barn and in the fields” functions as a post-modifier of the noun phrase ―the little white goat”, and

therefore, does not show the tactic relations with the previous clauses Therefore, in

the complex 30th there are only two clauses interrelated by spatial relation linked by

|||Every piece of clothing Leon had ever worn and some things he hadn‟t some gifts from his sisters that had never been taken out of their packages, had been piled in the back seat of the car ||and taken to the thrift shop|||

In this case, the writer used several embedded clauses to modify the meaning of the

preceding noun phrases That is to say, the defining relative clause “Leon had ever worn” is a post-modifier of the noun phrase ―every piece of clothing” and ―he hadn‟t” functions as a post-modifier of the noun phrase ―some things”, and ―that had never been taken out of their packages” is a post-modifier of the noun phrase

―some gifts from his sisters” These embedded clauses make up the subject of the

first clause Therefore, this complex contains only two clauses interrelated by

66th, 90th, 94th, 103rd, 105th, and 175th Another remarkable feature of the text concerns the use of conjunctive signals Munro flexibly employed a variety of signals to link two or more clauses in a clause

complex There is a high percentage of conjunction ―and”, many of which are used

to extend the meaning of the primary clause by adding new information to it

However, in narratives, ―and” by itself can be paraphrasable as ―and then”,

referring to temporal sequences of events, and thus be more enhancing rather than extending This phenomenon is very popular in the text Some examples can be clearly seen in clause complexes 52nd, 57th, 60th, 91st, 95th, 116th, 117th, 118th, 137th,

155th

In some complexes, there are two or more finite clauses linked with no conjunctive devices That is, the author used no explicit signals to connect the independent clauses, which can cause difficulty in determining the relations It appears that she may intend to challenge the readers by letting them decode the text by themselves and interpret the meaning based on their own understandings of the contexts In

these cases, when no conjunction is realized, the relation can be determined based

on the semantic relation between clauses, and thus there may have more than one way to interpret the meaning without being absolutely right or wrong For illustration, there is no connection device between clauses 20 and 21 in clause

temporal sequences, and thus belong to the category of temporal enhancement, as in

is an enhancing clause, the non-finite is enhancing Clauses 21 and 22 (complex

overhead sending down random showers

Clause 23 is a non-finite in the form of –ing clause It does not restate the previous

clause, or enhance it Here this clause just adds more information to describe the scenery of the countryside where Carla has been living; thus it functions to add new

information to clause 22 Its finite form can be “and the long grass soaking leaves overhead sent down random showers” As a result, the relation between clause 22

as ―While she poured the coffee, she decided that ” and therefore, the expansion

relation between these two clauses is temporal

In some special cases, there is an overlap between extension and enhancement

|||(254) One day Sylvia sat in the living room ||(255) going through all the condolence letters she had received|||

Clause 255 can be interpreted as ―while‖-type temporal (same time extent) to enhance the meaning to its previous clause However, in the case like this, according to Halliday (1994: 241), unless the simultaneous time factor is foregrounded, it is probably treated as straightforward ―and‖-type additive A

can also be interpreted as an additive type

she might think they were bluffing

stubborn

||| (18) But this was July || (19) and it didn‟t get dark till late|||

Here clause 19 can be merely of extension relation because of conjunctive “and”

under the structure 1 + 2 However, it can also be understood as enhancement