A study on the semantic and lexicogrammatical features of the short story mr know all by w somerset maugham a systemic functional analysis

Aim of the study and research questions The overarching aim of the study is to investigate how transitivity, mood and theme are employed in the story Mr.. The analyses of the clauses in

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST –

GRADUATE STUDIES

************

N THI ̣BÍCH LIÊN

A STUDY ON THE SEMANTIC AND LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF THE SHORT

STORY MR KNOW ALL BY W.

SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

NGHIÊN CƯÚ VÊ CAĆ ĐĂC̣ ĐIÊM NGỮNGHIÃ VÀNGỮPHAṔ TỪVƯNG̣

TRONG TRUYÊṆ NGĂN ÔNG BIÊT TUÔT CỦA NHÀ VĂN W.SOMERSET

THEO QUAN ĐIÊM CHƯĆ NĂNG HỆTHÔNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST –

GRADUATE STUDIES

************

N THI ̣BÍCH LIÊN

A STUDY ON THE SEMANTIC AND LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF THE SHORT

STORY MR KNOW ALL BY W.

SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

NGHIÊN CƯÚ VÊ CAĆ ĐĂC̣ ĐIÊM NGỮNGHIÃ VÀNGỮPHAṔ TỪVƯNG̣

TRONG TRUYÊṆ NGĂN ÔNG BIÊT TUÔT CỦA NHÀ VĂN W.SOMERSET

THEO QUAN ĐIÊM CHƯĆ NĂNG HỆTHÔNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled A study on the semantic and

lexicogrammartical features of the short story Mr Know All by Somerset

Maugham: A systemic functional analysis is the result of my own research for the

Degree of Master of Art at University of Language and International Studies, HaNoi National University, and the thesis has not been submitted for any degree at anyother university or tertiary institution

Hanoi, 2016

Nguyêñ Thi Bị.ch Liên

I would like first to express my deep gratitude to Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân,

my supervisor, for his untiring and benevolent assistance granted to me throughoutthe process of my writing His practical advice, useful suggestions and criticalfeedback have been generous and beneficial, without which I would not have beenable to complete this thesis

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my whole-heartedcolleagues and friends for their help and kind encouragement during the researchperiod

My indebtedness is to my beloved family members whose help andencouragements contributed greatly to the completion of my study

Hanoi,2016

Nguyêñ Thi Bị.ch Liên

The shortcoming in most textual analyses is their dependence on contestableand value judgments of literary critics However, such prescriptive commentary isnot instrumental in exploring multiple meanings encoded in grammar Thisnecessitates a linguistic analysis of texts, which demonstrates how and why a textgets to be the way it is as well as the reader interprets it in the particular way Forthis reason, the functional text analysis undertaken in this study aims to investigatehow and why the text is written It is performed with regard to Halliday‟sFunctional Grammar framework The linguistic data were analyzed by using thequantitative and qualitative methods Consequently, how interpersonal relationshipsare created within texts, how information is organized in texts and how theideological positions of writers are implanted in texts were shown and interpreted It

is presented that the predominance of the material process reflects the main purpose

of the discourse And most of the processes are presented in the past tense and indeclarative mood which serves effectively the purpose of the author

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE‟STATEMENT i

CKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

PART I: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER1:GENER LINTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions 2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 Introduction 5

2.2 Systemic Functional Linguistics 6

2.2.1 Strata of the systemic functional model 7

2.2.2 Metafunctions 8

2.3 The ideational meaning 9

2.3.1 Process types 10

2.3.1.1 Material process 10

2.3.1.2 Mental processes 10

2.3.1.3 Relational processes 11

2.3.1.4 Behavioral processes 12

2.3.1.5 Verbal processes 12

2.3.1.6 Existential processes 13

2.3.2 Circumstances 13

2.4 The interpersonal meaning 14

2.4.1 Constituents of the Mood 15

2.4.2 Residue 16

2.4.3 Mood types 16

2.4.3.1 Indicative mood 17

2.4.3.2 Imperative mood 18

2.5 The textual meaning 18

2.5.1 Types of theme 19

2.5.1.1 Ideational or Topical theme 19

2.5.1.2 Textual theme 20

2.5.1.3 Interpersonal theme 20

2.5.2 Theme and mood 20

2.5.2.1 Theme in interrogatives 21

2.5.2.2 Theme in imperatives 21

2.5.2.3 Theme in declaratives 21

2.5.2.4 Theme in exclaimatives 22

2.6 Summary 22

CHAPTER 3: THE SEMANTIC AND LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF THE SHORT STORY MR KNOW ALL 23

3.1 W Somerset Maugham and the story Mr Know All 23

3.2 The analysis of the story in terms of clause and clause complex 24

3.3 The analysis of the story in terms of transitivity 25

3.4 The analysis of the story in terms of mood 39

3.5 The analysis of the story in terms of theme 41

3.6 Summary 43

PART III: CONCLUSION CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 44

4.1 Recapitulation 44

4.2 Implications of the study 45

4.3 Suggestions for further study 45

REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX 1: Clause and clause complex I APPENDIX 2: The transitivity pattern IX APPENDIX 3: The mood pattern XC APPENDIX 4: The theme pattern C

PART I: INTRODUCTIONCHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

Since its birth in early 18th century, linguistics has witnessed a great change

in the development of various approaches to grammar study such as Chomsky‟stransformational generative grammar, Bloomfield‟s immediate constituentgrammar Systemic functional grammar, among those, which was developed bycelebrities in linguistics such as Halliday, Hassan, Morley, Bloor, can be seen as themost useful tool to satisfy human‟s desire to explore the language‟s nature AsThompson (1996:6) states functional grammar is “a full analysis of sentence in bothform and meaning as well as their relationship”

Compared with traditional grammar, which considered grammar as “a set ofrules which specify all the possible grammatical structures of the language wheregrammatical and ungrammatical sentences are distinguished clearly” (Lock,1996:1), functional grammar “is a way of looking at language in terms of howgrammar is used” (Martin et al, 1997) In more details, functional grammar concernswith the grammatical patterns and lexical items used in text, as well as choices ofthose items, focusing on “the development of grammatical systems as a means forpeople to interact with each other” (Martin et al., 1997:1) In Vietnam, there alsohave valuable studies of grammarians relating to functional grammar, among which

there are Cao Xuân Hạo (1991) with Tiếng Việt: Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, Hoàng Văn Vân (2005) with Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo

quan điểm chức năng hệ thống Thanks to all these scholars, language is seen to be

“closer to life”

According to Halliday, a functional grammar was designed to study thewording and interpret the wording by reference to what it means in order to “make

it possible to say sensible and useful things about any text” (Halliday, 1994)

In detail, it is particularly helpful for explaining how language is selected andorganized in particular ways for particular socio-cultural purposes

Yet, “traditional approaches to the study of literary texts model text analysis

as an interpretive activity”, where “students learn to read a text and try to argueabout what meanings they think the writer was making in the text” (Eggins, 2000:309) “From a systemic perspective”, text analysis is, however, “not an interpretivebut an explanatory activity” (Eggins, 2000: 309) In fact, “the linguistic analysis oftext is not an interpretation of that text; it is an explanation” – an explanation ofboth “WHAT” and “HOW” “a text means” (Eggins, 2000: 309; Halliday & Hasan,1985: 327) In this way, students will become “effective readers”, who can “see theconstructedness of the text and of the reading position” imposed upon them by thewriter (Kress, 1990: 40)

As a teacher of English, I am deeply interested in developing both languageproficiency and structural accuracy for my students That is the reason why I have beendeeply concerned with systemic functional grammar and my absorption in it, I believe,will help me to apply the theory teaching English to my students more effectively

As shown in the title A study on the semantic and lexicogrammatical

features of the short story Mr Know All by W Somerset Maugham: A systemic

functional analysis, there are some main reasons for my choice of the topic Firstly, as

a language teacher, what I am supposed to do is to use and teach English correctly andappropriately In order to achieve this goal, analyzing texts to understand their meaning

is quite necessary Secondly, understanding what a text is through analyzing, it willcertainly help us a great deal in our teaching as stated by Halliday and Hasan (1985)

That is reason why I choose to explore the semantic and lexicogrammatical

features of Mr Know All by Somerset Maugham.

1.2 Aim of the study and research questions

The overarching aim of the study is to investigate how transitivity, mood and

theme are employed in the story Mr Know All by W Somerset Maugham to convey

experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings

To achieve this aim, the following research question are raised forexploration:

How are transitivity, mood and theme employed in the story Mr Know All bySomerset Maugham to reveal the experiential, interpersonal and textual meaning ?

1.3 Scope of the study

Within the framework of a minor thesis submitted in fulfillment of therequirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Linguistics, the primaryfocus of this study will be on investigating semantic and lexicogrammatical features

of the story; they are the transitivity pattern, the mood and modality patterns, and

the thematic pattern The text used as data for the study is a short story entitled Mr.

Know All by W Somerset Maugham.

1.4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aim as stated above, the study will use two main methods:qualitative and quantitative methods Quantitative method is used for literaturereview, re-examining the systemic functional grammar framework, analysing thedata for results, and discussing research results Quantitative method is concernedwith calculating the data and concerting it into percentages for discussion andcocnclusion The analyses of the clauses in terms of transitivity, mood and themeare based on Halliday‟s systemic functional grammar framework

1.5 Design of the study

The study is designed in three main parts:

Chapter 2: Theoretical backgrounds – provides the theoretical framework

of the study Its focus is on introducing important concepts of systemic functionallinguistics relevant to the topic of the study and a brief introduction to the author

and the story Mr Know All.

Chapter 3: Data analysis – analyses the semantic and lexicogrammatical

features of the story Mr Know All to see how transitivity, mood & modality, and

theme are patterned in the story and provides comments based on these findings

Part III – Chapter 4 - Conclusion – summarizes what has been studied; provides

some implications for teaching and learning English; and makes some suggestionsfor further research

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGOUND2.1 Introduction

It is not the aim of this chapter to present a comprehensive account ofsystemic functional linguistics; such an account is now widely available: Halliday(1992, 1996); Matthiessen (1995); Halliday & Martin (1981, 1993); Halliday &Hasan (1985); Berry (1975, 1977), Hasan, Cloran & Butt (1996); Hoang Van Van(2012) and many others In this chapter, I will draw attention to only those features

of the model which appear directly relevant to a grammatical study of this kind Tomake the task manageable, the review will follow Hoang Van Van (2012) byorganizing it around two major headings: semantics (the stratum of meaning) andlexicogrammar (the stratum of wording): metafunctional resonance

Semantics is the highest stratum within language; it refers to the systems ofmeaning in a language, for example, how sentences relate to the real world ofpeople, actions, places and so on

Lexicogrammar is a term used in systemic functional linguistics toemphasize the interdependence of and continuity between vocabulary (lexis) andsyntax (grammar) According to systemic functional theory, lexicogrammar isdiversified into a metafunctional spectrum, extended in delicacy from grammar tolexis, and ordered into a series of ranked units" (Halliday, 2014)

As the upper of the two content strata within language, semantics is theinterface between context and lexicogrammar as presented in the diagram below

Semantics Lexico-grammatical

From the point of view of analysis, the mapping is interpreted as decodinglexicogrammatical structure to recover the speaker‟s meaning Semantics transformsexperience and interpersonal relationships into linguistic meaning, and lexicogrammartransforms this meaning into words, adopting the speaker‟s perspective In other words,

a hearer recovers the speaker‟s meanings by interpreting the choices of lexical items,and the ways in which these are put together (the grammatical structure)

Within the scope of my study, this chapter will explore some basic concepts

that are relevant to the thesis‟s topic: there are transitivity, mood and theme But

before looking at them in some detail, it is necessary to provide a brief introduction

to systemic functional linguistics

2.2 Systemic functional linguistics

Systemic functional linguistics is a theory about language as a resource formaking meaning based on a context of culture It is developed by Michael Halliday,

a professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney, Australia The theory is based

on Firth‟s system- structure theory (Halliday, 1985; Hoang Van Van, 2012)

Beginning in 1950s, formal grammar, which was developed by NoamChomsky and his followers, is concerned with the description of the structure ofindividual sentences These linguists intend to explain the language structure in theway it is At the same time, a set of rules for grammatically correct or incorrectusage are established as the guide for language users In other words, whether asentence or an utterance is said to be wrong or right is due to its obedience to thelaws of grammar Unlike formal linguists, functional linguists have generallydedicated themselves to addressing practical concerns of the application of grammar

as well as relating grammar to its function within society Specifically, Halliday(1994) views language not as a system of rules but as “a system of meaning”

Halliday approaches language not from within the internal working of thelinguistic system, but primarily from outside He begins with the question: Why islanguage structured in the way it is and not in some other way? And his answer is:because it reflects the functions which language is required to serve as a mean of

social communication In other words, it shows how people use language to makemeaning in order to navigate their social interactions on their lives That is, thereason why systemic functional linguistics takes language to its functions throughmeaning, not just formation (cf Eggins, 1994; Martin, 1985; Lock, 1996).

Systemic functional linguistics has two characteristics: systemic andfunctional It is systemic because it is based on systemic theory, which emphasizesmeaning as the fundamental element in analyzing language Halliday (1994) states

“systemic theory is theory of meaning as a choice, by which a language or any othersemiotic system is interpreted as networks of interlocking options” (Halliday, 1985).Functionally, systemic functional linguistics is designed to explore how language isformed “It is functional in the sense that it is designed to account for how language

is used” (Halliday, 1985) which is represented in three metafunctions: textual – interpersonal

experiential-2.2.1 Strata of the systemic functional model

The model below is based on Halliday (1978 and elsewhere), Hasan (1993,

1995, 1996; Hasan & Perrett (1994); Teich (1999) and Hoang Van Van (2012) ininterpreting language as consisting of four strata, which are termed: context –semantics – lexicogrammar and phonology

Figure 1 - Four strata of systemic functional model

According to the model, phonology refers to the system of sounding;lexicogrammar refers to the system of wording; semantics refers to the system ofmeaning in a language and context refers to the social system

Also according to the model, each stratum can be further divided intofunctional components or functions The ideational, interpersonal and textualfunctions of language are considered in the semantic stratum Here, ideationalmeaning refers to the way one uses representational tools to compose the idea Inthe context stratum for example, functional components are concerned with field(what is going on in the communicative event), tenor (the social roles andrelationships involved) and mode (the channel in which communication takes placeand the medium for communication).

There are many other components relating to systemic functional linguistics.However, in this study, I will draw attention to only those features of the modelwhich appear directly relevant to my study Therefore, I will focus on exploring twostrata: semantics and lexicogrammar to see what they are and how lexicogrammarresonates semantics

In systemic functional linguistics, clause rather than sentence is the unit

of analysis In systemic theory, a clause is a unit in which the meanings of threedifferent kinds are combined Three distinct structures, each expressing one kind ofsemantic organization, are mapped onto one another to produce a single wording.These semantic structures are referred to as meta-functions

2.2.2.Metafunctions: Modes of meaning

In order to account for this meaning-making potential of language, Halliday(1994) proposes three metafunctions at a semantical level:

 Experiential – “construing a model of experience”

 Interpersonal – “enacting social relationships”

 Textual – “creating relevance to context”

(Halliday, 1994)The experiential meaning construes our experience of the world around usand inside us It‟s expressed through the system of transitivity which consists of sixtypes of process: material, behavioural, mental, verbal, relational, and existential Aclause is analyzed into Process, Participant and Circumstance

o The interpersonal meaning enacts our social roles and relations It‟sexpressed through the mood system A clause is analysed into Subject, Finite, Predicator, Complement, and Adjunct.

o The textual meaning presents the meanings construed and enacted as a flow

of information as message It is expressed through the thematic system A clause isanalysed into Theme and Rheme The Theme is the departure of the message and theRheme is what the Theme is about

Below is an example taken from Matthiessen & Bateman (1991); see also Halliday (1994: 371)

Figure 2: Metafunctional layering

The following parts are going to briefly summarize the main points of eachmeaning

2.3 The ideational meaning

The ideational meaning is the function for construing human experience(Alice, Martin, Christian, 2005: 26) It relates to meaning about phenomena; abouthow we represent experience in language Meaning of this kind are most certainlyinfluenced by the field of discourse (specify what is going on with reference towhat), hence it investigates about things, about what they are or do and also thecircumstance surrounding this happening and doing This meaning is realizedthrough wording by Transitivity system According to Suzanne (1994:229), inanalyzing transitivity system, it is concerned with describing three aspects of theclause: Process, Participants and Circumstances In transitivity system processes arethe central while the Participants and Circumstances are incumbent upon theprocesses There are six different types of processes identified by Halliday (1985):

Material, Mental, Verbal, Behavioral, Relational, and Existential Each of which

will be presented in 2.3.1 below

2.3.1 Process types

2.3.1.1 Material process

Material process is process of “doing”, usually physical and tangible actions They

express the notion that some entity “does” something which may be done “to” some other

entity These processes can be proved by asking: what did X do? or What did X do to Y?.

The „doer‟ of the action is called Actor The one that is affected by the action is called

Goal Any material process has an actor, even though the actor may not be mentioned in

the clause The actor may be elliptical in the case of passive clauses For example:

In some material processes, there exists a third participant called Beneficiary

The Beneficiary is either Recipient or Client The Recipient is one that goods are

given to The Client is one that services are done for For example:

Actor Process: Material Beneficiary: Recipient Goal

Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary: Client

2.3.1.2 Mental process

Mental process is the process of feeling, thinking and seeing (Halliday, 1994;

Halliday, 2012) Unlike material process which belongs to the physical world,

mental process usually reflects the world of consciousnes It involves four main

subtypes: cognitive (thinking, knowing, understanding, realizing etc.), perceptive

(hearing, sensing, feeling etc.), affective (loving, hating, adoring, enjoying etc.), and

desiderative (wanting, desiring, wishing etc.) In this type of process, the subject is

labeled Senser (who experiences the process) and the complement is labeled

phenomenon (what is experienced) For example:

The boy loved the girl.

Senser Process: mental (affection) phenomenon

We should be aware that the Sener must be human or at least animate

creature (except in metaphorical uses) since only animate beings (human and

animals) can think or feel Phenomenon may be animate or inanimate

2.3.1.3 Relational process

Relational process is the process of being, having and being at According to

Halliday (1994), there are three main types of relational process which are named:

 intensive „X is A‟ (establishes a relationship of sameness between two entities)

 Circumstantial „X is at A‟ (defines the entity in terms of location, time, manner)

 possessive „X has A‟ (indicates that one entity owns another)

 attributive (A is an attribute of X)

 identifying (A is the identity of X).

Halliday offers the principal types of relational process as follows:

Tom is the leader

Circumstantial The fair is on a Tuesday Tomorrow is the 10th.

The 10th is tomorrow

Possessive Peter has a piano The piano is Peter‟s.

Peter‟s is the piano

Table 1: The principal types of relational process

In the attributive mode, one participant is known as Carrier and the quality to

represent the possessive relation of carrier is referred to as Attribute, which is

usually realized by an adjective or an indefinite nominal group

Carrier Process: relational (intensive) Attribute

When a relational process is in the identifying mode, it has two equating

11

Tom is the leader.

Identified/ Process: relational (intensive) Identifier/

2.3.1.4 Behavioral process

Behavioral process is the process of (typically human) physiological and

psychological behavior, like breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming and staring It is on

the borderline between material and mental processes In this type of process, the only one

participant who is “behaving”, labelled Behaver, is typically a conscious being

According to Halliday (1994: 139), the boundaries of behavioral processes

are indeterminate, but we can recognize the following kinds as typical: processes of

consciousness represented as forms of behavior: look, watch, stare, listen ,

processes as behavior: chatter, grumble, talk Other physiological processes:

breathe, cough, faint , bodily postures and pastitmes: sing, dance, lie (down)

Normally, there is one participant in a behavioral process However, the

second participant, which is repeated, is called Range And when the second

participant is not a repetition, it is labelled Phenomenon

2.3.1.5 Verbal process

Verbal process is the process of saying It expresses the relationship between the

ideas constructed in human consciousness and the ideas enacted in the form of

language In addition, it shares the characteristics of mental and relational processes

The participants of the process are: Sayer (the participant who is speaking),

Receiver (the addressee to whom the process is directed), Verbiage (what is said in

form of a nominal group or an embedded clause), Target (the object of the talk)

Verbal process contains one participant referred to as Sayer, two participants

referred to respectively as Sayer and Target or Sayer and Verbiage depending on

each particular subtype of verbal process, and even three participants are referred to

respectively as Sayer, Target and Recipient

The relationship of quoting or reporting is also mentioned in this type of process

2.3.1.6 Existential processes

These processes represent that something exists or happens Normally, the

word “There” is necessary as a subject although it has no representational function.

These clauses typically have the verb be, or some other verb expressing existence,

such as exist, arise, occur, happen, take place followed by a nominal group

functioning as Existent (a thing which exists in the process) The existent may be a

phenomenon of any kind, and is often, in fact, an event For example:

Process: existential Existent: event 2.3.2 Circumstances

In systemic functional grammar, the components which are used to express

the aspects such as time, place, manner, accompaniment, etc, are called

Circumstances (Hoang Van Van, 2005: 325) Typically, they occur freely in all

types of process and with the same significance they occur Circumstances are

realized by adverbial groups or prepositional phrases

Halliday (1994: 151) introduces a list of nine main types of circumstantial

elements in English: extent, location, manner, cause, contingency, accompaniment,

role, matter and angle, which can be represented in Table 2 below:

Type Specific Example

a) Place a) We work in the kitchen

b) Time b) I get up at six o’clock

3

a) Means

a) My mother went by bus.

b) It was snowing heavily.

a) Reason a) For want of a nail the shoe was lost

Cause b) Purpose b) For the sake of peace

c) Behalf c) I’m writing on behalf of Aunt Jane

5

a) Condition

a) In the event of typhoon, open all windows.

b) Despite the rain, the excursion was a great

Contingency b) Concession

success.

c) Default

c) We shall give them the benefit of the doubt.

6 Accompaniment a) Comitative a) Fred came with Tom

b) Additive b) Fred came instead of Tom.

b) Product b) She is turning into another person.

Table 2: Types of circumstantial element

2 4 The interpersonal meaning

Interpersonal Meanings are meanings which express a speaker‟s attitudesand judgments and personality which enable speaker participates in the speechsituation These are meaning for acting upon and with others which are realized inwording that is called Mood and Modality

In the Interpersonal meaning, one of the things we are doing with it isestablishing a relationship between the person speaking now and the person whowill probably speak next To establish this relationship, we take turns at speaking,

we take on different roles in the exchange The basic speech roles we can take onare: giving and demanding We also choose commodity, where the choice isbetween exchanging information, goods or services While exchanging commodity

14

speakers involve four basic move types of statement, question, offer and command which are called speech acts or speech functions.

a) Goods and services b) Information

Would you like this teapot? He is giving her the

teapot

Give me that teapot What is he giving herThe principle grammatical system here is the Mood system, which the choice

is between imperative and indicative

Figure 3: Network of MOOD systems (Matthiessen and Halliday, 2009)

2.4.1 Constituents of the Mood

In English, the Mood consists of two elements: the Subject which is realized

by a nominal group that the speaker gives responsibility for the validity of theclause and the Finite which is realized by the first of the verbal group, expressingtenses, modality and polarity For example:

The Finite element is one of the small number of verbal operators expressing

tense, modality and polarity These are listed below:

Modal:

could, might is to, was to need,

Table 3: Finite verbal operators (Halliday 1994:76) 2.4.2 Residue

The Residue accommodates the remainder of the clause It consists of

functional elements of three kinds: Predicator (can be only one), Complement (can

be one or two) and Adjunct (indefinite number)

 Predicator is realized by a verbal group minus the temporal or modal operator,

which as we have seen functions as Finite in the Mood element It presents in all major

clauses, except being displayed by ellipsis For example: was shining => predicator:

shining

 Complement is an element within the residue that has the potential of being

subject but is not, and it is typically realized by a nominal group

For example:

 Adjunct is an element that has not got the potential of being a subject It is

realized by an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase

duke.

There are several other types of adjuncts The two which fall outside of

Mood structure are Conjunctive adjuncts, Comment adjunct and Mood adjunct

2.4.3 Mood types

Figure 4: Mood types (Matthiessen and Halliday (2009)

2.4.3.1 Indicative mood

Indicative mood is realized by the features Subject + Finite The order of the

Subject and Finite releases Declarative and Interrogative

• Declarative

- unmarked: Subject + Finite

- Unmarked: Finite + Subject

• Interrogative

- Polar (Yes/No Questions): Finite + Subject

- Wh-Questions: + subject: Wh/Subject ^ Finite

Mood

Residue

 Exclamatives: Wh+S+F+P where C/Wh or A/Wh

2.4.3.2 Imperative mood

In Imperatives the Mood element may consist of Subject + Finite, Subject

only, Finite only, or they may have no Mood element There will always be a

Predicator For example:

Don’t you put it there. [Subject + Finite]

Let’s put it there. [Subject]

 Commands are variable in their realisation:

Turn it down! [Imperative]

Why don’t you turn it down? [Wh-Interrogative]

 Offers also don‟t have a typical grammatical realisation.

Have a chocolate! [Imperative]

Like a coffee? [Polar Interrogative]

2.5 The textual meaning

Appropriately named “clause as message” (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004), thetextual metafunction contributes to the organization of the message within and betweenclauses Seemingly, it is closely linked to theories of cohesion in discourse The structurewhich gives the clause the characteristics of a message is the Thematic structure

In the Thematic structure, the theme functions as the departure point whichhas been chosen for the text by the speaker and it takes the initial position in theclause Rheme is the remainder of the message, which develops the theme in order

to complete the message of the clause

The Theme position lets the reader or listener know what the clause is going to beabout However, first position in the clause is not what defines the Theme, it is the meanswhereby the function of the theme is realized, in the grammar of English For example:

Theme may be a nominal group, a prepositional phrase, an adverbial group

or even a clause

With sobs and tears he sorted out those of the largest

size.

What the duke did with that

was given it to my aunt.

teapot

When Theme stands at the first place as a subject of the clause, it isunmarked due to the obvious role it is supposed to play On the other hand, anythemes other than the subject in a declarative are referred to as marked theme Themost common types of marked theme are circumstantial adjuncts or complements

What they could not eat that night the Queen next morning fried.

2.5.1 Types of theme

The Theme can be divided into a number of categories: topical, textual andinterpersonal theme which relates to three metafunctions: Ideational, Textual andInterpersonal A clause can have any, all or none of these categories present

2.5.1.1 Ideational or Topical Theme

The Ideational or Topical Theme is usually but not always the first nominalgroup in the clause Topical Themes may also be nominal group complexes,adverbial groups, prepositional phrases or embedded clauses There are two types ofIdeational or Topical Theme

1) Unmarked Topical Themes: the Topical Theme is also the Subject

Unmarked topical theme (nominal) Rheme

2) Marked Topical Themes

The Topical Theme is not the Subject

Marked topical theme (adverbial) Rheme

(Gerot and Wignell, 1994: 105)

The Theme of a clause extends to and includes the Topical Theme.Therefore, elements which precede the Topical Theme are also thematic butelements which come after the Topical Theme are not.

2.5.1.2 Textual Theme

Textual Themes are typically thematic since they relate the clause to thepreceding text or help structure the text by developing links to other clause and thususually come first in order to realise this linking role It is a combination of:Continuatives, Conjunctive adjunct and Conjunction

 A continuative Theme indicates a new move at the beginning For example: well, right, ok, anyway, of course (Gerot and Wignell, 1994: 106).

 A conjunctive adjunct relates the clause to the preceding text by providing a

logical link between messages (Gerot and Wignell, 1994: 106)

2.5.1.3 Interpersonal Theme

Interpersonal Theme functions to explicitly construe writer viewpoint and

are realised by Modal Adjunct, Vocative, and Finite in Interrogative (yes/no

interrogative) (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1994: 79).

2.5.2 Theme and mood

What the element is typically chosen as theme in an English clause depends onthe choice of mood Every independent clause selects for mood An independent major

clause is either indicative or imperative in mood If indicative, it is either declarative or

interrogative If interrogative, it is either polar interrogative ( yes/no type) or WH –type

* Wh-Interrogatives: the Wh-element alone is thematic

Subject

Merrily we roll along

Adjunct

2.5.2.4 Theme in exclaimatives

This consists of Wh-element plus either a nominal group or an adverbial group

Having finished the tasks set for this chapter, I now move to chapter 3, where

I will use the framework set up in this chapter to analyze the story Mr Know All by

W Somerset Maugham

CHAPTER 3 THE SEMANTIC AND LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF THE

SHORT STORY MR KNOW ALL 3.1 W Somerset Maugham and the story Mr Know All

William Somerset Maugham was born on 25 December 1874 at the BritishEmbassy in Paris, France, the fourth son (of seven children total, but only four that

survived infancy) born to socialite and writer Edith Mary née Snell (1840-1882) and

Robert Ormond Maugham (1823-1884), a lawyer for the British Embassy His

reputation as a novelist rests primarily on four books: Of Human Bondage (1915),

The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930) and The Razor’s Edge

(1944) He died in 1965

The source of data for this thesis is a short story entitled Mr Know All, in

which he employs the irony technique brilliantly In all of Maugham‟s works, the

quality that shines through is his grasp of the greys of human nature Mr Know-All

is a classic example The story takes place after World War I on a boat travelingfrom San Francisco in the United States to Yokohama in Japan A rich Britishmerchant of Oriental origin, called Mr Kelada, meets a group of Westerners on aship sailing across the Pacific Ocean His cabin-mate, a British citizen who is thenameless narrator of the story, dislikes Mr Kelada even before he sees him.However, at the end of the story Mr Kelada, the Levantine jeweler, proves to be areal gentleman when he sacrifices his own pride and reputation to save an Americanlady‟s marriage As a result, he earns the respect of the narrator

The story will be divided into three parts: part one is from the beginning of

the story to “I did not like Mr Kelada.”, part two is from “I not only shared a cabin

with him ” to “It shone in her like a flower on a coat”, part three is from “One evening at dinner the conversation by chance drifted to the subject of pearls.” to the

end of the story In part one we are told that our narrator was a highly prejudicedman who was willing to dislike Max Kelada, his cabin – mate on the boat, even

before he met him He observes, comments and judges Mr Kelada as he sees himthrough his own eyes In the second part, Mr Kelada took upon himself to arrange

all the social affairs of the cruise The passengers called him Mr Know All to his

face and Mr Kelada takes it as a compliment Mr and Mrs Ramsay are alsointroduced In the last part, Mr Ramsay decides to start an argument with Mr.Kelada about the peals and bet Mr Kelada on the authenticity of the string of pearls

of Mrs Ramsay Just when Mr Kelada is about to announce about the real of thepearls, he catches sight of Mrs Ramsay‟s face which has turned pale, he allowedhimself to be “caught” being wrong and that the pearls are fake Mr Kelada waswilling to lose a $100 bet The next morning, an envelope with a $100 note is placedunder the door of the cabin of the narrator and Mr Kaleda

Mr Know All by W Somerset Maugham is a short story of simple facts, but

with a deeper meaning below the surface This story shows that first impressions are

often misleading and that appearances are sometimes deceptive Mr Know All who

is described as a disgusting person who shows off all the time and knows everythingbetter than others, is in reality a sensitive, brave gentleman who wouldn't hurtothers On the other hand, Mrs Ramsay, whose modesty and good qualities no onequestions, has been unfaithful to her husband So rather than judging a person by hislooks, color or origin we should observe his behaviour and reactions in difficultsituations The moral value of this story is conveyed softly but deeply That is thereason why I love this story and I want to use it as the chosen text in my study

3.2 The analysis of the story in terms of clause and clause complex

In terms of clause and clause complex, there are 384 clauses in total, ofwhich 157 are clause complexes The clause complexes in the story are often made

of two, three or more clauses It is believed that experienced authors used a variety

of clauses to make their writings interesting and lively Too many independentclauses will sound choppy and immature while too many complex clauses will bedifficult to read and hard to understand The use of clause and clause complex in thestory seems to be precise and effective since clause complexes are used to give

more information without being too complicated to the readers Moreover, in spite

of using more clause complexes, the story is still remarkable thanks to its brevity.For the analyses clauses and clause complexes, see APPENDIX 1

3.3 The analysis of the story in terms of transitivity

The “What is going on” of the story is well represented in the experientialcomponent of meaning From the point of view of transitivity, in total 384 clauses, thereare 150 material clauses, 108 relational clauses, 56 mental clauses, 44 verbal clauses, 17behavioural clauses and 9 existential clauses More details are presented below

Material clauses are concerned with our experience of the material world They model this experience as „doing‟ In Mr Know All, 150 material processes

are found They are: had just finished in 3, to get in 6, had to put up with in 7, to be

given in 11, sank in 14, excluded in 16, to share in 18, was going in 19, went in 22, had packed in 27, made in 33, called for in 34, began in 35, had started in 36, came

up in 37, sat down in 43, are sharing in 44, blinked in 53, to prove in 58, took in 59, waved in 60, would have betrayed in 68, was born in 69, flashed in 78, have to say

in 79, fished in 80, laid in 81, chose in 82, came from in 87, is nourished in 97,

loses in 99, to put in 102, to put in 105, uses in 107, had out aside in 109, sat down

in 110, went on in 113, are playing in 116, have turned up in 118, is coming out in

121, finished in 123, seized in 124, would go down in 131, get in 132, have taken in

135, might sit in 138, shared in 140, ate in 141, could not walk in 142, to snub in

144, occurred in 145, might have kicked in 152, slammed in 153, ran in 157,

managed in 158, conducted in 159, collected in 160, got up in 161, organized in

162, arranged in 163, took in 167, would not drop in 175, had brought in 176,

occurred in 177, sat in 180, sat in 185, was stationed in 190, bulged in 192, to resume in 194, had been spending in 197, achieved in 202, should not paid in 203, shone in 208, drifted in 209, were making in 211, must diminish in 213, rushed in

216, could not resist in 221, stung in 225, thumped in 226, am going to in 230, to

look into in 231, goes in 235, was going in 241, pointed in 245, wore in 246, take in

247, flushed in 250, slipped in 251, leaned in 252, gave in 253, flickered in 254,

didn’t buy in 260, cost in 263, was bought in 265, was paid in 267, bought in 270, flushed in 271‟, bet in 275, bet in 276, done in 278, can’t bet in 279, get in 283, not

to take in 285, continued in 287, can afford to lose in 292, take off in 294, put in

298, can’t undo in 299, have to take in 301, to occur in 303, jumped up in 306, will

undo in 307, handed in 308, examined in 310, spread in 311, handed back in 312, caught in 314, held in 319, stopped in 323, flushed in 324, was making in 326, took out in 335, handed in 336, will teach in 337, took in 340, were trembling in 342, spread in 343, do in 344, had to put up with in 345, had been caught in 347, retired

in 348, got up in 349, began to shave in 350, lay in 351, smoking in 352, pushed in

355, opened in 356, picked up in 359, was addressed in 361, was written in 362,

handed in 363, opened in 365, took out of in 366, tore in 369, gave in 370, did in

372, shouldn’t let spend in 379, stayed in 380, reached in 383, put in 384.

As can be seen, the above material processes are used to describe thephysical actions of main characters: Mr Kelada, Mr and Mrs Ramsay, the narrator

in the story It is easily realized that the material process is used the most This istrue to the nature of the narrative type It is also a good choice to display a series ofactions when the narrator learnt Mr Kelada‟s characters The reader can see thefocus of showing how the character experiences feelings

108 relational processes can be found in this story, which are one of the third

major type of process, serve to characterize and identify persons and things These

processes are mainly realized by the verb be or it models this experience as and they appear to have two inherent participants ( was in 4, 5,10,17, 26, 29, 39, 40,

having been in 195, possessed in 204, may be in 205, is not in 206, 237, should be in

215, to have in 222, am in 232, will never be able to get in 243, will be in 248, would

be in 261, round in 264, shouldn’t be in 266, will be in 269, is not in 272, had in 281, should be in 284, had in 302, wasn’t in 332, not to be in 338, had in 378) They mainly

serve to describe the state of being of things and describe the characteristics of the maincharacters: Mr Kelada and the narrator, Mr and Mrs Ramsay

Mental process is represented in 56 clauses They are concerned with our

experience of the world of our own consciousness They are: was prepared to

dislike in 1, knew in 2, could not hope in 9, found in 23, did not like in 24, observed

in 28, saw in 30, did not like in 32, 108, 139, think in 45, know in 47, heard in 49,

understand in 52, don’t think in 56, is seen in 70, do not know in 77, do not wish in

101, thinking in 111, like in125, hate in 126, thought in 136, was not wanted in 146,

to see in 149, 151, knew in 156, knew in 172,179, 201, 220, 240, should disagree in

174, resented in 187, was to be known in 218, do not believe in 219, had seen in

224, ought to know in 228, know in 236, noticed in 256, think in 262, have seen in

274, wants in 296, hesitated in 297, could think in 304, wondered in 321, did not

see in 322, could almost see in 325, saw in 331, think in 333, noticed in 341, saw in

354, looked out in 357, saw in 360, mind in 371, likes being made in 375, did not

dislike in 382.

As can be seen, all of the above mental processes are used to characterizethe perception, affection and cognition of the narrator when he first met Mr Keladaand when he learned Mr Kelada‟s generosity Especially, in this kind of process,

there exists the appearance of two verbs like and dislike Right at the beginning of the story is a clause with the verb dislike „I was prepared to dislike Max Kelada’ Not far from that, clause 24 uses the verb like in negative form (I did not like the

look of it -24) and clause 32 „I did not at all like Mr Kelada’ What is more, the

clause „ I did not like Mr Kelada’ is repeated in the two clauses 108 and 139 Two

clauses are short, simple but very clear to express the attitude of the author toward

Mr Kelada With the outstanding appearance of the two verbs, the reader seems to

feel the prejudice and dislike for Mr Kelada of the author grow stronger But at the

end of the story, the verb dislike is reused in clause 382 in negative form „ At that

moment I did not entirely dislike Mr Kelada‟ Because in the end, the narrator

discovers Mr Kelada‟ s true character, he changes the attitude In the end, themeaning of the story is presented effectively This story shows that first impressionsare often misleading and that appearances are sometimes deceptive Mr Kelada who

is described as a disgusting person who shows off all the time and knows everythingbetter than others, is in reality a sensitive, brave gentleman who wouldn't hurtothers On the other hand, Mrs Ramsay, whose modesty and good qualities no onequestions, has been unfaithful to her husband Besides showing audiences how the

character acts, the author also employs „mental process’ to present his inner

experience with perception, inside and outside, is exhibited to the readers toevaluate the character themselves

In Mr Know All, 44 verbal processes are found They play a vital role in

conveying the author‟s message throughout the text They are: chose to offer in 8,

was told in 13, added in 42, asked in 38, 55,72, 373, spoke in 64, said in 85, 114,

130, 134, 258, 280,293, 300, 328, 339, 376, 381, calling in 83, ordered in 84, tell in

89, talked in 93, discussed in 94, addresses in 106, to be told in 117, answered in

127, will show in 128, showed in 129, called in 166, to retell in 196, remarked in

212, told in 217, shouted in 227, am talking about in 229, won’t tell in 234, had

never told in 239, answered in 257, can’t tell in 44, can be proved in 286, will tell in

291, to say in 305, to speak in 313.

There are 17 behavioural clauses found in the text: should have looked

upon in 20, looked at in 73, to look in 120, cried in 122, could not look at in 207, looked in 242, smiled in 268, look at in 289, 295, look in 309, looked in 316, were about to faint in 317, was staring in 318, looked through in 330, looked at in 367, reddened in 368, looked at in 374 denoting the action of the character.

Finally, there are 9 existential clauses (were in 12, 25, was in 65,353,358,

are in 86, is in 115, had been in 210, is not in 233) which are used to confirm the

things that are in existent and describing the state of being of the characters, MrKelada, Mr and Mrs Ramsay under the observation of the narrator.

The following table presents the number of instances of each type of process(both ranking and embedded) in the story and their respective distribution

Table 4 Summary of process types in the story Mr Know All

It can be seen from the table that material, relational and mental process are the main ones As table 4 makes clear, Material processes are the most numerous

type of process employed in this story This indicates that the story is principallyconcerned with representing actions and events and the participants involved inthem This is consistent with the mood analysis that I made of this text which

showed the predominance of Declarative clauses which were used to impart

information to the audience

The clear predominance of material processes (39.1 %) reflects the main

purpose of the text, which is to describe a person‟s actions, revealing thecircumstances in which the story happened, the actions at every moment Thus, thestory is objective, not affected by psychological factors The second highest

percentage belongs to relational process (28.1 %) This proves that the main focus

of the text is on the description of the main character- Mr Kelada Thus, the text ismore descriptive than is just concerned with identifying Therefore, readers aregiven a clear and objective view of the main characters of the story Ranking third

in the number of occurrence in the text is mental process (14.6 %) Most mentalprocesses are used to convey the change in the author‟s attitude towards the maincharacter, Mr Kelada

The result found is understandable as it helps to convey the meaning of the storyand the purpose of the author From beginning to end, the author seems only to focus onthe pushy, inconsiderate, vulgar and boasting character of Mr Kelada But the real

meaning of the story is totally different What is covered by the boasting and vulgarcharacter is the loftiness of the sacrifice At the end of the story, Mr Kelada proves to be a

real gentleman when he sacrifices his own pride and reputation to save an American lady‟s

marriage This is the great talent of the author He makes readers misunderstand, or not

realize the main content of the story, or realize but think that this story is not balanced

cause he spends a lot of words describing the pushy, inconsiderate, vulgar and boast

character of Mr Kelada However, the more the boasting character is described, the more

sacrifice is appreciated and the author does not need to say much about it It is generally

known that “action speaks louder than words” This maybe the reason why material

processes are mostly used to convey the meaning in the shortest but most sufficient way

Besides, most of the processes are presented in the past tense (263/384)

characterizing the action which are used in the narrative portions It serves the

intention of the author He only observes, comments and judges Mr Kelada as he

sees him through his own eyes He acts like a cameraman who takes photos and

writes down what he sees and hears objectively The present simple tense (70/ 384),

simple future (14/384), present perfect (12/384), past continuous (13/384), past

perfect (10/384) and present continuous (2/384) are used in the dialogic portions,

stating the real things about the characters and phenomena around them

There are 14 passive clauses, (1, 11, 69, 70, 97, 117, 146, 218, 265, 267, 286,

347, 361, 362) where the Goals are placed in the first position, serving the purpose

of the author but making it difficult for the reader to comprehend the story precisely

Let‟s take the first clause as an example „I was prepared to dislike Mr Kelada’ This clause is used to begin the story as a possible reason for the narrator‟s

unjustified antagonism towards Mr Kelada

I was prepared to dislike Mr Kelada.