panel 11 language and literature - khon kaen university · 2017. 6. 30. · the exchange and...

|Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Humanities & Social Sciences 2016 (IC-HUSO 2016) 14-15 November 2016, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

1. A Linguistic Analysis of Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Theory 422

in Political Texts Bushra Ni'ma Rashid 2. Definition System and Verbalism as Stimuli to Sociolinguistic Acumen 440

Jenifer Raymond R. Tallungan

3. English Language Constructs Preceding Communication Effectiveness 441

ANDRES Z. TAGUIAM, Jenifer Raymond R. Tallungan

4. Analysis of Thainess through an Iranian-American Perspective 442 Wigran Namphadon

5. Methods of Teaching Reading in Mother-Tongue and Pupils’ 452

Reading Performance in South 2 District Schools

Honey Swiert Y. Larayos

6. Semantic Bleaching of verb ‘ləɡ’ in Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla languages 453

Harjit Singh

Panel 11 : Language and Literature

422 Proceeding of 12th International Conference on Humanities & Social Sciences 2016 (IC-HUSO 2016),

14-15 November 2016, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand |

A Linguistic Analysis of Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Theory

in Political Texts

Bushra Ni'ma Rashid

Assistant Professor Dr., College of Education Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences,

English Department, Baghdad University, Iraq

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper investigates the linguistic analysis of Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar

Theory in political texts in 2012. M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar has been

adopted for analyzing the speeches of the president Barack Obama on election campaign in 2012,

and David Cameron's Conservative Party Conference speech, so as to identify the appealing

processes of the transitivity system obtained from the analysis of these two texts.

The study aims at identifying the linguistic choices made in the speech of Obama according

and David Cameron to Halliday's model. it tries to answer the following questions: What are the

linguistic choices of the transitivity system which occur in both Barack Obama speech on

election campaign in 2012 and David Cameron's Conservative Party Conference speech in 2012?

What are the frequent processes found in Barack Obama and David Cameron speeches? The

objective of this study is to characterize and describe the six process types and identify the more

frequent processes that Barack Obama and David Cameron used in their speeches.

The study concludes that the analysis of the process types in Barack Obama and David Cameron

speeches in 2012 shows that the most frequent types are material processes for both speeches.

The analysis shows that this theory is applicable to all cultures, all situations, and to any time.

Keywords: Transitivity, Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar, the linguistic choices


423

1. Introduction

When people need to express their opinions or thoughts to others, they use language whether

written or spoken as a tool to accomplish most of these things. Language is considered as a main

means of communication, because, through language one can share ideas and express thoughts. It

plays a crucial role in one's participation with other human beings. Halliday (1978:14) points out

that through language, individual human beings becomes a part of a group . It is impossible for

people to communicate without language. Additionally, people need to arrange or order their

speech in order to attract other's attention and to transfer their speech in a clear and simple way.

For this reasons they need to use functions of language to express meaning. According to

Halliday (1985, 1994), there are three functions or meta functions of language. they are 1.

ideational function 2. interpersonal function and 3. textual function. These functions represent the

main topics in Halliday’s theory of systemic functional Grammar who considers language as a

basic resource of making meaning. In this study, the main objective is to conduct a linguistic

analysis on Barack Obama and David Cameron speeches in particular. The purpose of this is to

reveal how the different process types are utilized by the two speeches by using Halliday’s

systemic functional grammar.

2. Meta-functions of Language According to Halliday (1978), there are three Meta-functions of language. These functions are

used in different senses in the literature of linguistics. they are:

A. Ideational Function This function is concerned with the relationship between the external world and the internal

world of our experience of the world. It reflects the speaker's experience of both the inner and the

outer world through language use. It is the content function of language through which language

encodes the cultural experience, and the individual's experience as a member of the culture

(Halliday, 1978: 112).

The experiential function and the logical function are two sub functions of the ideational

function. The experiential function is concerned with thoughts in general while the logical

function is concerned with the relationship between these thoughts. The ideational function is

reflected and realized through the transitivity system of language. Halliday (1994) states that

"transitivity translates the world of experience into a manageable set of process types"(p.107).

According to Richardson (2007) "the essence of representation is in the relationship of 'who is

doing, what to whom"(p. 54). Halliday (1978) says that "transitivity is the key to understand the

ideational meaning of texts"(p. 132). According to Halliday's theory, there are six process types

in the transitivity system of English: 1-Material; 2- Mental; 3- Relational; 4- Behavioural; 5-

Verbal; and 6-Existential.

He also distinguishes the process into three types

1. The process

2. The participants

3. The circumstances associated with the process.

B. Interpersonal Function

The interpersonal function is concerned with the relationship between the speaker and the hearer.

It represents the component through which the speaker intrudes himself into the context of the

situation, "both expressing his own attitudes and judgments and looking for to influence the

attitudes and behavior of others" (Halliday, 1978: 112). This function is concerned mainly with

clauses as exchanges. In analyzing a clause as an exchange of event, Halliday specifies two



components in a clause: the mood and the residue. The mood is carrying the syntactic burden of

the exchange and carries the argument forward (Halliday, 1994:71).

C. Textual Function

This function deals with the text forming and the flow of information in a text through which

language relates to the verbal world and the context of situation. It is concerned with clause as a

message. Halliday (1994:97) describes it as 'relevance'. According to him, a clause consists of a

theme accompanied by a Rhyme. Eggins (1994) mentions that "the theme is typically contains

familiar, or given information which has been given somewhere in the text, or is familiar from

the context" (p. 275). In Halliday's words, "the 'speaker's text-forming potential; it is that which

makes language relevant" (Halliday ,1978: 112).

It expresses the relationship between the language and its environment including both the verbal

environment and the non-verbal. It is worth mentioning that the researcher will confine herself

with one function only that is 'Ideational Function'.

1. Halliday's Theory: Six Process Types Six process types are recognized via mental, material, behavioural, relational, verbal and

existential. At first, Halliday recognizes the process of material, mental and relational as the three

main process types in the English transitivity system and then finds the other three processes,

which are located at the borderlines of the first three (Halliday: 2004).

1. Material process clause is the process of doing and happening. According to Halliday

(2004), a "‘material’ clause construes a quantum of change in the flow of events as taking place

through some input of energy"(p.179). He adds "Material clauses construe figures of ‘doing-&-

happening’(ibid). They express, according to Halliday (1985), "the notion that some entity ‘does’

something which may be 'to’ some other entity" (p.103). Halliday (2004) sees that ‘material’

clauses are concerned with our experience of the material world. Material clauses do not

represent concrete, physical events only. They may represent abstract doings and happenings.

2. Mental process clause, i.e. the process of sensing. According to Halliday (2004)," mental

clauses are concerned with our experience of the world of our own consciousness"(p.197). He

(ibid) claims that these processes may represent abstract doings and happenings. Verbs like (feel,

want, like, hate, know, think, fear, see, etc.) recognize these processes. This kind of process

construes either flowing from a person’s consciousness or impinging on it.

3. Relational process clauses are processes of being and having. The relational clause is the

third type of process. Halliday (2004) states that "Relational clauses serve to characterize and to

identify"(p.210). The relational clause is realized by the verb 'Be' in the simple present or past.

There are three main types of relational clauses which are intensive’, ‘possessive’ and

‘circumstantial. These types come in two modes: of being, attributive and identifying. The

attributive clauses construe class-membership by ascribing an attribute to some entity (the Carrier

and the attribute). The identifying clauses convey some attribute to an identity. (for more

information see Halliday, 1994; Halliday, 2004; Eggins, 2004)

4. Behavioural process clauses. According to Halliday (1994), behavioural clauses are

"processes of (typically human) physiological and psychological behaviour, like breathing,

coughing, smiling, dreaming and staring" (p. 139). He (2004) adds "they are partly like the

material and partly like the mental" (p.250). These clauses have two participant roles. They are'

Behaver’ and the ‘Behaviour’.

5. Verbal processes, i.e. processes of saying. These process clauses are an important resource in

various kinds of discourse. They contribute to the creation of narrative by making it possible to

set up dialogic passages. Halliday (2004) states that "Verbal clauses, in news reporting, allow


425

reporter to impute or assign information to sources, including officials, experts and eye

witnesses"( p.252), as in the following extract from a report of a Ferry disaster:

1- Several of the 18 survivor's said the vessel, which appeared to be overloaded, lacked life vests

and other safety equipment. 2- 'In less than one minute, everything was gone,’ survivor Somsak Thongtraipop told

Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.

3- He had heard the captain on the radio being warned by a crew member from another boat

that there were big waves ahead and he should turn back.

6. Existential clauses, the process of exists or happens. Existential clauses are not regular in

discourse, but they provide an important contribution to different types of texts. In narrative, for

instance, these clauses are used to introduce different participants. 'There' when used in

existential clauses enables the addressee to prepare for something which represents new

information that is about to be introduced. Notice the following example.

4- There was a historical city near the sea.

This is why "existential clauses have been interpreted as 'presentative' constructions (Halliday, 2004:257).

There in such clauses has no representational function in the transitivity structure of the clause. It

is neither a participant nor a circumstance, but it is used to indicate the feature of existence.

Below is a table which is adopted from Halliday(2004: 171).

Table (1) Six Processes of Halliday's Theory

Example (Process + participants underlined; process in bold;

circumstances in italics)

Process type

During the European scramble for Africa, Nigeria fell to the

British and the British ruled it until 1960

Material

People are laughing

Behavioural

The Ibos did not approve of kings

Mental

So we say that every fourth African is a Nigerian

Can you tell us about the political and cultural

make-up of Nigeria?

Verbal

That every fourth African is a Nigerian

Relational



So today there’s Christianity in the south

Existential

In the current study, the researcher believes that it is necessary to apply all six processes of

Halliday's Theory to this study i.e. to analyze the two political speeches by applying Halliday's

Theory. This will help to specify which linguistic choices is used more than the other.

1. Participants

According to Halliday(2004) "participants are inherent in the process: every experiential type of

clause has at least one participant and certain types have up to three participants"(p.175). As

shown previously, a process is realized by the verbal group. Participant is realized by nominal

group. The table below is adopted from (Halliday,2004:177).

Table (2) The Process Clauses of Halliday's Theory

Typically realized by Type of element

(Verbal group) Process

(Nominal group) Participant

(Adverbial group or prepositional phrase) Circumstance

There is more than one type of participants in process clauses. To begin with material process,

there are many types of participants .The first one is what Halliday called 'Actor'. He (2004)

states that "The Actor is an inherent participant in both intransitive and transitive material

clauses" (p.190).

There is one 'Actor' in material clause. The actor "brings about the unfolding of the process

through time, leading to an outcome that is different from the initial phase of the

unfolding"(ibid). The outcome may be restricted to the actor itself; in this case there is only one

participant inherent in the process. In such case a 'material’ clause represents a happening and it

is called intransitive material clause. When the process is extended to another participant, it is

called 'Goal', the outcome impacts on it rather than on 'Actor'. Such a ‘material’ clause represents

a doing and it is called transitive. For example

5- The lion sprang

6- The lion caught the tourist

The first one 'the lion' is the Actor, 'sprang' is a material process. It is called happening

represented by an intransitive material clause. The second, the lion is the Actor', 'caught ' is a

material process. 'The tourist' is the 'Goal'. It is called doing represented by a 'transitive' material

clause. According to Eggins (2004), "the goal is that participant at whom the process is directed,

to whom the action is extended"(p.216).


427

Additionally, there are other types of participant roles which are involved in the clauses of

material process. These are: Scope, Recipient, Client and Attribute. As denoted earlier, the Goal

is affected by the process of material, but the Scope of a ‘material’ clause is not in any case

affected by the process's performance. the Scope is restricted to ‘intransitive’ clauses (Halliday,

2004:192).

According to Halliday(2004), there are two types of Scope

1. The Scope may construe an entity which exists independently of the process. It indicates the

domain over which the process takes place. For instance

7 - You will be crossing some lonely mountains, so make sure you have enough petrol.

In the example above, 'mountains' exist as an entity whether anyone crosses them or not.

2. The Scope may not be an entity at all but rather another name for the process; for example

8- I play tennis.

In this example, it is noticed that 'tennis' is the Scope of the process, and it is clear that 'tennis' is

not an entity which exists alone. It represents a name of one kind of game. For that "this structure

enables us to specify further the number or kind of processes that take place"( Halliday,

2004:193). The main types of ‘process Scope’ are as follows

General: they played games

Specific: quantity they played five games

Specific: class they played tennis

Specific: quality they played a good game

The above types may be combined to one sentence as in:

9- They played five good games of tennis.

The other two participants are 'Recipient' and 'Client'. They both have a benefactive role and they

represent a participant that is benefiting from the performance of the process. The Recipient is

one that goods are given to; the Client is one that services are done for (ibid:191). These two

participants are either come with preposition or without. The preposition (to) is with 'Recipient'

and (for) with 'Client'. For example

10- She sent her best wishes to John. {to John is Recipient}.

11- Fred bought a present for his wife. {for his wife is Client}.

All of the Goal, Recipient and Client are affected by the process of the clause, but while the Goal

represents the participant that is affected by the process, the Client or Recipient is the one that

benefits from it. At last, the nominal group denoting to a human being (especially personal

pronoun) is the domain which Recipient' and Client are realized typically ( Halliday, 2004:192).

Finally, the last function of the participant which accompanies the material process clause is the

'Attribute'. Although this function belongs to the 'relational' process clauses, it also enters into the

'material' process clause. Halliday (2004) states that "the Attribute may be used to construe the

resultant qualitative state of the Actor or Goal after the process has been completed" (p,195). For

instance

12- They stripped her clean of every bit of jewelers she ever had.

where clean is an 'Attribute' participant describing the resultant state of the Goal her. The

'Attribute' participant in material clause is always an optional added specification, while it is an

inherent part of a relational clause.



As it is said previously, mental clauses represent the inner world of experience. There are two

types of participants related or accompanied with mental process. They are called 'Senser' and

'Phenomenon'. For example:

13- Mary liked the gift

14- The gift pleased Mary.

Senser represents the one that ‘senses’ ,i.e., thinks, feels, wants or perceives (Halliday, 2004:

201); as in the example above 'Mary'. Senser is the one which is interacting, thinking, etc. In

grammatical terms, Halliday (2004) refers to, 'Senser' as "the participant that is engaged in the

mental process is one that is referred to pronominally as he or she, not as it"( ibid). The

participant in a mental clause should be human, while this feature is not required in material

clause. According to Eggins (2004), one "participant in the mental process clause must be a

conscious human participant" (p. 227).

The other main element in the mental process clause is called the ' Phenomenon'. The

phenomenon is that which is thought, felt, wanted or perceived by the 'Senser'. The set of things

that can take on this role in the clause is in fact wider than the set of possible participants in a

‘material’ clause. It is not only a thing, but also an actor is a fact. In a material clause, every

participant is a thing; it is a phenomenon of our experience. It includes our inner experience or

imagination — some entity like (person, creature, institution, object, substance or abstraction).

These ‘things’ may be the object of consciousness in a mental clause (Halliday, 2004: 203) for

example:

15- You recognize her?

16- I learned that lesson a long time ago.

17 - she believed his cases.

In relational clauses, there are two inherent participants, attributive and identifying clauses. In

attributive clauses, the attribute is assigned to a participant who is called Carrier, e.g.

18 - She is atrocious. In this example, (she) is considered as a (Carrier) which means that she carries the attribute

(atrocious). In identifying clauses, they define a participant, they do not classify or ascribe

participant to attribute. For example:

19- The one in the back row must be you. In this identifying clause ,the one in the back row is identified while you is the identifier.

20- Tom is the treasurer.

21- Tom is the tall man.

In the first identifying clause, Tom is assigned by Treasurer a 'Value', while in the second one

Tom is identified by assigning a 'Token' to him. 'Token' is the participant (that which is being

defined). 'Value' is the participant (that which defines). So, in the first sentence Tom is

'Identified/Token' and the treasure is 'Identifier/Value'. In the second one, Tom represents as

'Identified/Value' and the tall man is 'Identifier/Token'. In other words, "the identity either

decodes the Token by reference to the Value or it encodes the Value by reference to the

Token"(Halliday, 2004:230).

The behavioural process clauses locate on the borderline between material and mental process

and as we mentioned before, "they are partly like the mental and partly like the material"(ibid:

250), which means their meanings are in mid may between material on the one hand and mental

on the other. There are two participants associated with behavioural process (Behaver and

Behavior). Halliday (ibid) says that "The participant who is ‘behaving’, labeled Behaver, is

typically a conscious being, like the Senser". e.g.

22- She is laughing.


429

In this example she is 'Behaver' and is laughing is behavioural process . while the behaviour is

dressed up as if it was a participant, is called 'Behaviour' (Halliday, ibid:251).For example:

23- She sang a song

24- He gave a great yawn

In the verbal clause, there are four types of participants. The first one is the 'Sayer'; the person

who is speaking, which means that 'Sayer' is restricted or limited to the speaker or writer, e.g.

25- John said 'I am hungry'

In functional grammar, the example above consists of two clauses: primary clause 'john said' and

secondary clause 'I am hungry'. It functions as a secondary clause being either directly quoted,

as in ‘I am hungry’, or indirectly reported, as in 'he was hungry' in the following example.

26- He said 'he was hungry'.

The primary clause represents the verbal one while the other may represent a process type of any

kind. The other participant function is 'Receiver'. It represents the person to whom the process is

directed. Halliday (2004) says that "The Receiver is the one to whom the saying is directed"( p.

255). For example:

27- Tell me the whole truth?

28- Did you repeat that to your parents?

29- Describe to the court the scene of the accident?

The 'Verbiage' is the participant that matches to what is said, representing it as a class of thing

rather than as a report or quote. Verbiage could be either the content of what is said. For example:

30- Can you explain the plan for me

Or it may be the name of the saying, e.g.

31 - Let me ask you a question

Finally, the 'Target' is the fourth participant; this function occurs only in a sub-type of ‘verbal’

clause. This type construes the entity that is targeted by the process of saying. For example:

32- He also accused Krishan Kant.

33- She always blamed him.

The last type of process which is called existential process has just only one participant. Halliday

(2004) claims that "The entity or event which is being said to exist is labeled, simply,

Existent"(p. 258). For example

34 - There was an old person of Dover.

35- There was a storm.

It is necessary to explain the units that realize the process, participant, and circumstance elements

of the clause which make distinct contributions to the modeling of a quantum of change . The

process and the participants involved in it explain complementary facets of the change. These two

facts are transience and permanence.

it has been suggested that 'transience' is the experience of unfolding through time. 'permanence'

is the experience of lasting through time and being located in (concrete or abstract) space. Thus

participants are relatively stable through time (Halliday, 2004:177). The following example is

adopted from Halliday to clarify the information that participants can take place in many

processes.



36- During the first part of the nineteenth century, there was a lighthouse keeper who was in

charge of the lighthouse. His name was Felipe. He was a brave young man, very dedicated to his

work. He lived very happily in the lighthouse with his wife, Catalina, and his little daughter

Teresa. He loved them both very much.

In this example, there are many types of processes as in {there was ….} is process of existence.

But there was one participant in all the clauses.

Accordingly, Change is construed as involving both transience and permanence, and the

phenomena of experience are construed either as transient processes or as permanent participants.

The concepts of process, participant and circumstance are semantic categories. Generally

speaking, these illustrate how phenomena of our experience of the world are construed as

linguistic structure. ( See table 3).

Table (3) A Summary of all the Types of Process and Their General Category Meaning.

Oblique

participants

Direct

participants

Meaning

Process type

Recipient, Client,

Attribute

Actor, Goal Doing

Doing happening Material: Action

Event

Behaviour

Behaver

Behaving

Behavioural

Senser,

Phenomenon

Sensing, seeing

thinking,

wanting

feeling

Mental: perception

cognition desideration

emotion

Receiver, Verbiage Sayer, Target Saying Verbal

Attributor

Assigner

Carrier, Attribute

Identified,

Identifier, Token,

Value

Being attributing

identifying

Relational:

Attribution

Identification

Existent

Existing

Existential

(Halliday, 2004: 260)


431

5. Data Analysis

1. Barack Obama's Speech in Election Campaign in 2012

1.Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony (Actor) won (Material) the right (Goal) to

determine (Material) its own destiny(Goal), the task (Actor) of perfecting our union moves

(Material) forward. (Cheers, applause.)

2. It (Actor) moves (Material) forward because of you. It (Actor) moves (Material) forward

because you (Senser) reaffirmed (Mental) the spirit (Phenomenon) that has

triumphed(Material) over war and depression(Goal), the spirit (Actor) that has lifted

(Material) this country(Goal) from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief

that while each of us (Senser)will pursue (Mental) our own individual dreams (phenomenon),

we are (Relational) an American family, and we (Actor) rise(Material) or fall (Material)

together as one nation and as one people. (Cheers, applause.)

3. Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded (Verbal) us that while our road

has been (Relational) hard, while our journey has been (Relational) long, we (Actor) have

picked (Material) ourselves (Goal) up, we (Actor) have fought (Material) our way back( Goal),

and we (Senser) know (Mental) in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is

yet to come.

4. (Cheers, applause.) I (Senser) want (Mental)to thank (Mental) every American (Actor) who

participated (Material) in this election. (Cheers, applause.) Whether you (Actor) voted

(Material) for the very first time (cheers) or waited (Material) in line for a very long time

(cheers) – by the way, we have to fix that – (cheers, applause) – whether you (Actor) pounded

(Material) the pavement (Goal) or picked up (Material)the phone (Goal) (cheers, applause),

whether you (Actor) held (Material) an Obama sign or a Romney sign(Goal) , you (Actor)

made (Material)your voice heard (Goal)and you (Actor) made (Material)a difference. (Cheers,

applause.).

5. I just spoke (Verbal) with Governor Romney and I congratulated (Verbal) him and Paul Ryan

on a hard-fought campaign. (Cheers, applause.) We (Actor) may have battled (Material)

fiercely, but it's only because we (Senser) love (Mental)this country (phenomenon) deeply and

we (Senser) care (Mental) so strongly about its future (phenomenon). From George to Lenore

to their son Mitt, the Romney family (Actor) has chosen (Material) to give back to America

through public service. And that is a legacy that we honour (Mental) and applaud (Behavioural)

tonight. (Cheers, applause.) In the weeks ahead, I (Senser) also look (Mental) forward to sitting

down with Governor Romney to talk (Verbal) about where we (Actor) can work

(Material)together to move(Material) this country(Goal) forward. (Cheers, applause.)

6. I (Senser) want (Mental) to thank(Mental) my friend and partner of the last four years,

America's happy warrior, the best vice-president anybody (Senser)could ever hope(Mental) for,

Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.)

7. And I wouldn't be (Relational)the man I am (Relational) today without the woman

(Senser)who agreed (Mental)to marry (Material)me (Goal) 20 years ago. (Cheers, applause.)

Let me say (Verbal) this publicly. Michelle, I (Senser)have never loved (Mental) you more.

(Cheers, applause.) I (Senser) have never been prouder(Mental) to watch(Mental) the rest of

America(Senser) fall in love (Mental) with you too as our nation's first lady. (Cheers, applause.)

8. Sasha and Malia – (cheers, applause) – before our very eyes, you'(Actor)re growing up

(Material) to become (Relational) two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like your

mom. (Cheers, applause.) And I am (Relational) so proud of you guys. But I will say(Verbal)

that, for now, one dog's probably enough. (Laughter.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/nov/07/barack-obama-victory-speech-video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/nov/07/barack-obama-victory-speech-video



9. To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics – (cheers, applause) – the

best – the best ever – (cheers, applause) – some of you were (Relational) new this time around,

and some of you have been (Relational)at my side since the very beginning.

10. (Cheers, applause.) But all of you are(Relational) family. No matter what you do or where

you go from here, you (Senser) will carry (Mental) the memory (phenomenon) of the history

we (Actor) made (Material) together. (Cheers, applause.) And you (Senser) will have

(Material) the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way –

(cheers, applause) – to every hill, to every valley. (Cheers, applause.) You (Actor) lifted

(Material) me (Goal) up the whole day, and I will always be (Relational) grateful for everything

that you (Actor) have done (Material) and all the incredible work that you(Actor) have put

(Material) in. (Cheers, applause.)

11. I (Senser) know (Mental)that political campaigns can sometimes seem (Mental)small, even

silly. And that provides (Material)plenty of fodder for the cynics who tell (Verbal) us that

politics is(Relational) nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But

if you ever get the chance to talk (Verbal)to folks who turned out(Material) at our rallies and

crowded(Behavioural) along a rope line in a high school gym or – or saw folks working late at a

campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, you (Senser) will discover(Mental)

something else.

12. You will hear (Behavioural)the determination in the voice of a young field organiser (Actor)

who's working(Material) his way (Goal) through college and wants (Mental)to make sure

(Mental) every child has (Relational) that same opportunity. (Cheers, applause.) You'll hear

(Behavioural) the pride in the voice of a volunteer (Actor) who's going(Material) door to door

because her brother was finally hired(Material) when the local auto plant (Actor)

added(Material) another shift. (Cheers, applause.)

13.You'll hear(Behavioural) the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse (Actor) who's

working (Material) the phones (Goal)late at night to make sure (Mental)that no one (Actor)

who fights (Material) for this country ever has to fight(Material) for a job or a roof over their

head when they (Actor) come (Material) home (Goal). (Cheers, applause.)

14. That's why we (Actor) do(Material) this. That's what politics can be. That's why elections

matter. It's (Relational) not small, it's (Relational) big. It's (Relational) important. Democracy

in a nation of 300 million can be(Relational) noisy and messy and complicated. We (Senser)

have(Mental) our own opinions. Each of us (Senser) has deeply held (Mental )beliefs. And

when we (Actor) go (Material) through tough times, when we (Actor) make (Material) big

decisions (Goal) as a country, it (Actor) necessarily stirs (Material))passions (Goal), stirs

up(Material) controversy. That won't change(Material) after tonight. And it shouldn't. These

arguments we have are (Relational)a mark of our liberty, and we( Senser) can never forget

(Mental)that as we (Sayer) speak (Verbal), people (Actor) in distant nations are

risking(Material) their lives (Goal) right now just for a chance to argue(Mental) about the

issues that matter – (cheers, applause) – the chance to cast (Material) their ballots like we did

today.

But despite all our differences, most of us (Senser) share (Mental) certain hopes (phenomenon)

for America's future.

15. We (Sayer) want (Mental) our kids to grow up in a country where they (Actor) have access

(Material) to the best schools and the best teachers – (cheers, applause) – a country (Actor) that

lives up (Material) to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation

– (scattered cheers, applause) – with all of the good jobs and new businesses that follow.


433

16. We (Senser)want (Mental) our children (Actor) to live (Material) in an America that isn't

burdened (Mental) by debt, that isn't weakened up(Mental) by inequality, that isn't threatened

(Mental) by the destructive power of a warming planet. (Cheers, applause.)

17. We want (Mental)to pass on (Material) a country that's safe and respected( Behavioural)

and admired (Mental)around the world, a nation that is defended (Material) by the strongest

military on Earth and the best troops this – this world has ever known(Mental) – (cheers,

applause) – but also a country (Actor)that moves(Material) with confidence beyond this time of

war to shape (Material) a peace that is built(Material) on the promise of freedom and dignity

for every human being.

18. We (Senser) believe (Mental)in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a

tolerant America open to the dreams of an immigrant's daughter (Actor) who studies(Material)

in our schools and pledges (Mental) to our flag – (cheers, applause) – to the young boy on the

south side of Chicago who sees (Behaviourl)a life beyond the nearest street corner – (cheers,

applause) – to the furniture worker's child (Senser) in North Carolina who wants (Mental)to

become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president.

That's the – (cheers, applause) – that's the future we (Senser) hope Mental for.

Table (1) Transitivity Analysis of Barak Obama Speeches (2012)

Total

number

Existen-

tial

process

Verbal

process

Behavioural

process

Relational

process

Mental

process

Material

process

President's

Speeches

2012

3 0 0 0 0 0 3 Par 1

9 0 0 0 1 2 6 Par 2

6 0 1 0 2 1 2 Par 3

10 0 0 0 0 2 8 Par 4

12 0 3 1 0 4 4 Par 5

3 0 0 0 0 3 0 Par 6

9 0 1 0 2 5 1 Par 7

4 0 1 0 2 0 1 Par 8

2 0 0 0 2 0 0 Par 9

8 0 0 0 2 1 5 Par10

8 0 2 1 1 3 1 Par 11

9 0 0 2 1 2 4 Par 12

6 0 0 1 0 1 4 Par 13

19 0 1 0 5 5 8 Par 14

4 0 0 0 0 1 3 Par 15

5 0 0 0 0 4 1 Par 16

9 0 0 1 0 3 5 Par 17

6 0 0 1 0 4 1 Par 18

132 0 9 7 18 41 57 total

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/chicago



Table (2) The Percentages Processes

The Percentage Process

43% Material

31% Mental

13% Relational

5% Behavioural

6.8 Verbal

0% Existential

The results of transitivity analysis about the speech of Barak Obama in 2012 show differences

in the process types. As shown, Material processes are the most common or frequent with

percentage of 43%, followed by Mental processes with 31%, then Relational processes with 13%

,Verbal processes with 6.8%, and Behavioural processes with 5%.

2. David Cameron's Conservative Party Conference Speech: in Full

1. In May 2010, this party ( Actor) stood (Material) on the threshold of power for the first time

in more than a decade. We (Senser) knew (Mental) then that it was (Relational) not just the

ordinary duties of office that we (Senser) were assuming (Mental). We (Actor) were entering

(Material) into Government at a grave moment in the modern history of Britain.

2. At a time when people (Senser) felt (Mental) uncertainty, even fear. Here was( Relational)

the challenge: To make (Material) an insolvent nation solvent (Goal) again. To set (Material)

our country (Goal) back on the path to prosperity that all (Actor) can share (Material) in. To

bring (Material) home our troops (Goal) from danger while keeping our citizens safe from

terror. To mend (Material) a broken society (Goal).

3. Two and a half years later of course I (Sayer)can't tell (Verbal) you that all is

(Relational)well, but I (Sayer)can say (Verbal) this: Britain is ( Relational) on the right track.

4. As Prime Minister (Sayer) it has fallen to me to say(Verbal) some hard things and to help

(Material) our country (Actor) face (Material) some hard truths. All of my adult life, whatever

the difficulties, the British people have at least been (Mental) confident about one thing.

We(Senser) have thought (Mental) we (Actor) can pay( Material) our way. That we (Actor)can

earn (Material) our living as a major industrial country…and we (Senser) will always remain

(Mental) one.

5. It has fallen to us (Sayer) to say (Verbal) - we (Senser)cannot assume(Mental) that any

longer. Unless we (Actor) act (Material), unless we (Actor) take (Material) difficult, painful

decisions, (Goal) unless we (Senser) show (Mental) determination and imagination, Britain may

not be in the future what it has been (Relational) in the past. Because the truth is (Relational)

this. We are (Relational) in a global race today. And that means an hour of reckoning for

countries like ours. Sink (Material)or swim(Material). Do(Material) or decline(Material).

To take office (Material) at such a moment is (Relational) a duty and an honour…and we

(Senser) will rise (Mental) to the challenge.

6.Today I’m (Actor) going (Material) to set out (Material) a serious argument (Goal) to this

country about how we (Actor) do (Material) that. How we in this world…how we (Senser)

can make sure( Mental) in this century, like the ones before, Britain is (Relational) on the rise.

Nothing matters more. Every battle we (Actor) fight (Material), every plan (Goal) we (Actor)


435

make( Material), every decision we (Senser) take (Mental) is(Relational) to achieve

(Material)that end…Britain on the rise.

7. Though the challenge before us is (Relational) daunting, I have (Mental) confidence in our

country. Why? Because Britain (Actor) can deliver (Material). We (Actor) can do (Material)

big things (Goal).We (Senser) saw (Mental) it this summer. The Jubilee, the Olympics, the

Paralympics…

…the best country in the world…and let’s say (Verbal) it: with our Queen, the finest Head of

State on earth.

8. I (Senser) was trying (Mental) to think (Mental) of my favourite moment. Was it telling

(Verbal) President Hollande that no, we (Senser) hadn’t cheated (Mental) at the cycling, we

(Senser) didn’t have (Mental) rounder wheels, it was (Relational) just that we (Actor) peddled

(Material) faster than the French? No… for me (Senser) it was seeing (Mental) that young

woman (Actor) who swam (Material) her heart (Goal) out for years…nine training sessions a

week, two hours a time.

9. My best moment was putting (Material)that gold medal (Actor) around the neck of Ellie

Simmonds. And I am (Relational)so grateful for what all those Paralympians did. When I

(Senser) used to (Mental) push (Material) my son Ivan (Goal) around in his wheelchair, I

(Senser) always thought (Mental) that some people saw (Behavioural) the wheelchair, not the

boy. Today more people would see (Behavioural) the boy and not the wheelchair – and that’s

because of what happened here this summer.

10. And the Olympics showed (Mental) us something else. Whether our athletes were

(Relational) English, Scottish, Welsh or from Northern Ireland …they ( Actor) draped

(Material) themselves in one flag. Now, there’s (Relational) one person who didn’t like

(Mental) that …and he’s called Alex Salmond. I’m (Actor) going to (Material) see

(Behavioural) him on Monday to sort (Material) that referendum on independence by the end of

2014.

11. There are many things I (Senser) want (Mental) this coalition to achieve (Material) but what

could matter more than saving our United Kingdom …let’s (Sayer) say (Verbal) it: we’re

(Relational) better together and we ( Senser)’ll rise( Mental) together – so let’s (Actor) fight

(Material) that referendum with everything we (Senser)’ve got (Mental) .

12. There are so many people to thank (Mental) for this summer. Those (Actor) that won

(Material) the bid, those (Actor) that built (Material) the stadia (Goal), that ran (Material) the

Games …and of course: the man (Senser) who put (Mental)a smile on our faces…

…the zinger on the zip-wire… …the Conservative Mayor of London: our Boris Johnson. And

those Games-Makers.

13.You (Senser) know (Mental), I (Senser) have spent (Mental) three years trying to explain

(Material) the Big Society …they(Actor) did (Material) it (Goal) beautifully in just three

weeks.



12.There is another group of people (Actor) who stepped into (Material) the breach (Goal) this

summer – and we (Senser) in this party never forget (Mental) them. Our armed forces (Actor)

have been (Material) on the ground in Afghanistan for over ten years now. 433 men and women

(Actor) have made (Material) the ultimate sacrifice. Just last weekend there was a memorial

service for one of the fallen, and the eulogy said (Verbal) this:“All that they had they (Actor)

gave (Material). All that they might have had. All that they had ever been. All that they might

ever have become.”

13. For all those (Actor) who serve( Material), and their families, I (Sayer) repeat (Verbal)the

commitment I made (Material) when this Government( Actor) came(Material) to office. By the

end of 2014, all UK combat (Actor)operations in Afghanistan will have come (Material) to an

end. Nearly all our troops (Actor) will be (Material) home – their country proud, their duty done

…and let everyone in this hall stand (Behavioural) and show (Mental) how profoundly grateful

we are (Relational) for everything they do (Material).

14. To meet (Mental) the challenges our country(Actor) faces (Material), we (Senser) must

have (Mental)confidence in ourselves… confidence as a party. We (Actor) have been (Material)

in office two and a half years now – and we (Actor) have done (Material) some big, life-

changing things( Goal).

15. Just ask Clive Stone, who you saw ( Behavioural) in a film earlier. I (Actor) met (Material)

him (Goal) years ago, when we were (Relational) in Opposition. He had cancer and he (Sayer)

said (Verbal)to me: the drug I need – it’s out there but they (Actor) won’t give (Material) it (

Goal) to me because it (Relational) is too expensive …please, if you get in, do something about

it. And we have. A new cancer drugs fund that has got (Material) the latest drugs to more than

21,000 people and counting. There was a reason we could do (Material) that. It’s because we

(Actor) made (Material) a big decision (Goal) to protect(Material) the NHS from spending

cuts. No other party( Actor) made (Material) that commitment. Not Labour. Not the Liberal

Democrats. Just us – the Conservatives.

16. To all those people (Sayer) who said (Verbal) we (Actor)’d bring (Material) the NHS down

... I (Sayer) say(Verbal) …well, yes, you (Senser) have got(Mental) a point. I (Sayer) will tell

(Verbal) you what is down. Waiting lists – down. Mixed wards – down. The number of

managers – down. Bureaucratic targets – down. Hospital infections – down. And what’s up? The

number of doctors, the number of dentists, the number of midwives, the number of operations

carried out (Material) in our NHS. So be in no doubt: this is the party of the NHS and that’s the

way it’s going to (Material) stay (Material).


437

Table (3) Transitivity Analysis of David Cameron Speech in (2012)

[

Total

number

Existen-

tial

process

Verbal

process

Behavioural

process

Relational

process

Mental

process

Material

process

President's

Speeches

2012

5 0 0 0 1 2 2 Par 1

7 0 0 0 1 1 5 Par 2

4 0 2 0 2 0 0 Par 3

8 0 1 0 0 3 4 Par 4

15 0 1 0 4 3 7 Par 5

9 0 0 0 2 2 5 Par 6

6 0 1 0 1 2 2 Par 7

9 0 1 0 1 5 2 Par 8

7 0 0 2 1 2 2 Par 9

8 0 0 1 2 2 3 Par10

7 0 1 0 1 3 2 Par 11

6 0 1 0 0 1 4 Par 12

10 0 1 1 1 1 6 Par 13

5 0 0 0 0 2 3 Par 14

11 0 1 1 2 0 7 Par 15

8 0 3 0 0 1 4 Par 16

125 0 13 5 19 30 58 Total

Table (4) The Percentages Processes

The Percentage Process

46% Material

24% Mental

15% Relational

4% Behavioural

10 Verbal

0% Existential

The results of transitivity analysis about the speeches of David Cameron in 2012 present

differences in the process types. As shown, Material processes are the most common with

percentage of 46% followed by Mental processes with 24%, then Relational processes with 15%

,Verbal with 10% and Behavioural processes with 4%.

6. Discussion

Material processes according to Halliday's theory are processes of doing and happening such as

play, write, do, work etc. Material processes deal with the idea that somebody or something does

something to some entity. That somebody expresses events in the outside world. That is why

material processes are frequently occurred. Material processes indicate activities which occur in

real world. That is why material process is the most frequent in Barak Obama's speech and

David Cameron's speech. In his speech, it is found that Obama asks or invites his people to take

part and improve the economy of their country. Obama does not give any promise in his speech.



Obama tells American people to participate in every real action. He, in most of his speech, uses

the participant "we" which means that Obama wants every American to improve and develop

his\her country together with others. In Cameron's speech, one can note that he speaks about his

party achievement. He tries to make people share and participate in every action that improve

their life more and more.

Mental process is the process of feeling and thinking such as love , hate, hope etc. It represents

states of consciousness. The tables show that mental processes are in the second stage for both

characters. It is very clear that the percentages of both material and mental are close in the two

political speeches. They usually use the speech that have materialistic events rather than mental

one to convey the real message of the external world. It is worth mentioning, in this regard, that

the results reveal the way Obama and Cameron think about the outer world.

In Halliday's theory, relational process deals with the relationship between entities. It is a type of

being, such as words like (resemble , become, remain, be, turn, have, look, grew, … etc). These

words are used to realize the relational process. It is important to indicate that relational process

is different from existential process. Relational processes include the verb become, turn, and verb

to be (is) and not (There is) as in the existential process. Relational processes deal with the

concept of changing, and developing. Thus, experience , that Obama and Cameron have, is

considered a critical factor in manipulating a various processes whenever required.

Behavioural processes in the Halliday's transitivity system are concerned with the particular types

of action which are known as psychological and physiological behaviour such as, breath, cry,

look at, stare, dream, smile, and listen … etc. Behaviour pattern is used in a small percentage.

This belong to the fact that Barack Obama and David Cameron may pay remarkable

consideration to what is concrete rather than psychological and physiological action. Moreover,

speeches in such events, do not require manipulating behavioural and psychological attitudes

because of the nature of such event. They also do not use verbal process in a large percent . The

reason is that, this kind of process is used in the situation when writers or speakers try to take

advantages of others' views and opinions to set the real scene of the event. It links between

mental and relational processes by certain actions of saying, and talking.

7. Conclusion

Based on the discussion above, there are some characteristics in Barak Obama and David

Cameron political speeches . These characteristics will be identified according to the transitivity

system of Halliday's Theory of Systemic Functional Grammar . From the results obtained, one

can arrive to some conclusions. First, process types for Obama and Cameron's speeches show

that the most frequent types are material processes. Obama in his speech, tries to make a

relationship with his people through using strong sentences which help to add more confidence

from his people towards him and to his government's achievements. In the same vein, Cameron

uses expressions and tells stories to attract his people attention and make them have trust on him.

Second, Obama Clarifies what the government will do in the future and this is exactly what

Cameron strives in his speech . Third, although Obama and Cameron use simple and clear

sentences but they are profound in meaning. They succeed to build a confidence and to persuade

the audience to support them more for the sake of their country. A linguistic analysis is the

fundamental objective to connect the semantic and grammatical aspects together to get the

meaning required.


439

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eggins, S (2004). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Continuum

International Publishing Group.

Halliday, M. A. K (1978). Language as Social Semiotics. London: Edward Arnold.

---------------------- (1985). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

---------------------- (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

---------------------- (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold Publishers.

Richardson, J. E. (2007). Analyzing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse

Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.



Definition System and Verbalism as Stimuli to Sociolinguistic Acumen

Jenifer Raymond R. Tallungan

Ph.D., College of Teacher Education, Nueva Vizcaya State University-Bambang Campus,

Buag, Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines


Abstract

The learners’ breadth of knowledge on the English language is greatly attributed to their

strategies of finding meaning to new words and their verbal dynamism to address immediate

needs as a member of an academic and cultural community. Employing descriptive design using

adopted and expert validated questionnaires and checklists, this study aimed at ascertaining the

English language learning scheme and its correlation with sociolinguistic intelligence among 50

randomly selected respondents representing 90.91% of the English major teacher education

students of a state university in Cagayan Valley, Philippines in SY 2014-2015 using means,

percentages and correlational procedures at 0 .05 level of significance. This educational venture

unveiled that the respondents employ paralinguistic definition (4.21, always) over pragmatic (4.11,

often), structural (3.72, often) and referential (3.69, often) definition strategies while majority of

them display normal verbal activity (39 or 78.00%). Positive significant correlations transpired as

the respondents’ English language learning scheme was tested with sociolinguistic intelligence

along metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral intelligence. Hence, the respondents’ definition system and verbalism could improve their sociolinguistic intelligence thereby

indicating favorable degree of their maturity, awareness or capability to grasp more directly what

happens around them, thus think and act more appropriately.

Keywords: definition system, sociolinguistic acumen, verbalism


441

English Language Constructs Preceding Communication Effectiveness

ANDRES Z. TAGUIAM, Jenifer Raymond R. Tallungan

Nueva Vizcaya State University, Philippines


Abstract

Educational managers transport information, thoughts and attitudes through a system of

verbal and nonverbal language. What differs across diverse personalities is the level of

communication effectiveness which ascertains the success in the flow of messages not only at the

organizational level but also in the classroom where learning takes place. This study, which

aimed to disclose correlations between language constructs and communication effectiveness,

puts the light to the randomly selected educational management students of a state university in

Cagayan Valley. Using a language test and a questionnaire, it was revealed that the level of

language proficiency of the respondents as to correct usage, presentation and writing is very

satisfactory, and as to subject-verb agreement, vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening

comprehension, and action research, satisfactory; while their level of communication

effectiveness along using non-verbal language, transmitting messages and receiving messages is

high. At 0.05 level analysis, significant correlations exist between communication effectiveness

(along using nonverbal language and receiving messages) and language proficiency along

reading. These findings provided insights in enhancing communication in classroom

management, organizational management as well as in communication management instruction.

Keywords: English Language Constructs, Communication Effectiveness, Educational Management



Analysis of Thainess through an Iranian-American Perspective

Wigran Namphadon

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Khon Kaen University, Thailand


Abstract

“A Ride out of Phrao” is a short story written by Dina Nayeri, originally appeared in “Alaska

Quarterly Review” and won the O. Henry Prize in 2015. In the short story, Nayeri told a story of Shirin the

former Iranian doctor who had moved to America with her 5 years old daughter. Then after her daughter

grew up and went to a university, she again moved to Thailand where she decided to stay for the rest of her life but alone as a volunteer in a medical care center in Phrao, a small town about 2 hours away from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Throughout the story, the character of Shirin revealed her attitude toward Thai

people, their values, lifestyle and behaviors. It is interesting that Nayeri and Shirin shared a similar

identity that they both were born Iranian and then moved to live in America . As Shirin who had been

depressed by her American life viewed Thai society with American eyes, her inner Iranian origin also played role. This cross-cultural background of the main character, in addition to the internal conflict

regarding her family and personal life, brought about thought-provoking criticism on Thainess, the new

culture that she came across and learned of its several aspects such as, superstition, hospitality, seniority, family, and community. The analysis of this study was on the ground of ethnomethodology.

Keywords: Thainess, Short story, Dina Nayeri, Ethnomethodology


443

Introduction

The Award-winning short story “ A Ride out of Phrao” was written by Dina Nayeri. After

earning BA from Princeton and M. Ed. and MBA from Harvard, she released her book “ A

Teaspoon of Earth and Sea” in 2013 and it was translated into 14 foreign languages. In her

writing, she always based her story on her own experience: Iranian people, American society,

female perspectives, etc. Also in “ A Ride out of Phrao” , she created her main character out of her

own experience. “Shirin” was a doctor in Tehran, Iran and then immigrated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa

where her Iranian Doctor of Medical Degree could only be applied for a position of a research

assistant. Due to the economic crisis of her own and the uncomfortable surrounding, in addition to

the fact that her daughter was grown up enough and already went to a university, she decided to

join in a volunteer program.She applied to come to Thailand. Here in Phrao, a village of two hours

away from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, Shirin had to adapt her lifestyle to blend in. She

eventually managed to enjoy the enjoyable and bear the unbearable to become a part of the

community.

Shirin in Thailand

When she arrived in Phrao, she had to withstand the unfamiliar circumstances. She found

herself living in a funny-looking hut with no other furniture except a small table and a sleeping

mat and the toilet was just a hole. In addition to the house, there were peculiar creatures. She hated

insects and lizard that showed themselves all over her place. When she killed one, another seem

to appear as if to replace the former. So she had to sleep in a net to protect herself from being

bitten. Moreover, she was not very much impressed with her neighbor who lived only three feet

away from her house. She thought they usually observed her. In fact, Thai people were observing

her personal life too close. They liked to ask inappropriate question such as her age, her family,

her routine, the price of her belongings, and so on. Except from these aforementioned, her life in Thailand was not bad at all. She felt so

comfortable with food here. Actually, she thought she liked Thai food because it had similar

ingredients to food from her hometown. Even though bread was rare to find, she did not mind

since it was easy to find those familiar spices in Thai groceries; thus, cooking is not her problem. Her most liking about Thai food was the choices of fruits that were available. She enjoyed the

variety of fruits available in Thailand.

“… She imagines that even the richest people on earth don’t eat better than the fruits of

Thailand—God’s bounty on a plate…”

Actually, she rather enjoyed having rice and ripe mango than meat because the meat people

usually had here was pork. Though she was not Muslim but she had unpleasant attitude towards

the animal.

“…Most of the meat here is pork. She’s no Muslim, but don’t the Thai people realize that

this vile animal eats the flesh of its own species?...”



Here in Thailand she volunteered to provide services as a staff of the medical service center. People called her “ Doctor Rin” , and she so let it be. Not only was she a staff in a medical service

center, she also became a voluntary English teacher for primary school children. Thai people had

always been her surprises. They did different things and talk to her with unfamiliar matters. However, they were surprisingly kind and helpful when she was in trouble. Through interactions

with Thai people day after day, she had observed and defined “ Thainess” through her own

perspective. Beyond that, she somehow took some advantage of her insight on Thainess while

living among Thais in Phrao.

What is Thainess

The study of Sattayanurak ( 2002) suggested that Thainess is Thai national identity

constructed to illustrate the very existence of the state and its people. Thainess can be observed by

various aspects - genetically such as DNA, chromosome, and blood cell; physically such as

appearance, hair color, and skin color; and verbally such as language, expression, and dialects;

artistically such as dancing, painting, and sculpture; culturally such as food, costume, and

literature; and conceptually such as value, belief, and stereotype. It is seen in tangible and

intangible legacy of Thais. Studies also revealed that some aspect of Thainess was intentionally

constructed and defined to cope with political crisis of each age since the absolute monarchy

period until nowadays. For example, when the superior Western power arrived in Siam, the Thai

ruling class had no better choice but accepting the new arrival culture; however, the definition of

Thainess was the political strategy assigned to encounter Western colonization and, at the same

time, it was to justify the political structure and maintained the king’ s power. The existence of

Thainess however was invisible since it had been rooted for long time and had become the norm

of Thai society. As a result of the political strategy in constructing Thainess, one of the outstanding features

of “Thainess” was “ respect” . It was Thai value to respect superiority. People had to respect, actually

worship, the king and his royal family. Status rank in workplace played role and lower rank

people had to show respect to those who were higher. Seniority was presented in any situation

such as kinship, workplace, religious institute, neighborhood, and everywhere-elses, indeed. Since

seniority and respect granted power to the superiors, compassion and generosity were the balance

to counterpart the privilege of elites and other higher positioned people. While subordinate were

to respect and follow, superiors were to have compassion and take care of them in return. This

reciprocity had always been rolling as the value in Thailand for many generations. As long as

these balances were remained, the society was considered to remain “ virtue” and “ beauty” of

Thainess which was seen as norm of Thai society.

Ethnomethodology

To study norm of the society, there had been so many schools. Garfinkle ( 1967) introduced

the ethnomethodology experiment to visualize the norm more clearly. The practice was simply to

intervene the norm of the target society believing that the way to discover one normal social

order was to disorder it. In one experiment; for example, the volunteers were requested they

behaved as if they were strangers or guests while they were with their families. Thus, the


445

volunteer pretended to be especially polite, impersonal, and rather quiet than usual. After the

experiment, each family reacted differently to the changing behavior. However, the study proved

that people relied on social interaction to keep up with the sense of reality in certain situation. In

daily life, people did not even realize that norm existed until the members of their society were

acting strangely. They soon learned that situation was unusual and the norm was violated. It was

so assumed that there were some agreements or consensus that had been made and it controlled

how people in the same community reacted to each other even though the agreement or the

consensus had never been officially discussed before. Similar to the study of Garfingle, Shirin was new to living in Thailand, so it seemed that she

was acting strange to people around here and at the same time she did feel that people around

here were also acting strange around her, too. From the view of a foreigner, she took time to

observe and learned to eventually find that Thai people in Phrao had certain lifestyle and value. Some of the lifestyles and values were similar and some were different from what she was used

to. Not only had she learned them, but she also made use of what she had learned to benefit her

living in Phrao as well. This study then analyzed Thainess according to the main character’s point of view as she was

naturally a stranger to the community. On some topics, Shirin adjusted herself to fit in to the

community; however, there were some aspect that she preserved her otherness since she found it

benefited her position in the community.

Superstition

The first view that Shirin had on Thainess was superstition. She found that Thai people were

superstitious. When she arrived at her place to stay in Phrao, she noticed the Buddha shelf in the

house which signified how close was superstition to Thai way of living. Of course, she did not

see it normal and even repelled.

“… She doesn’t like the Buddha shelf in her house. She considers Buddhism idol

worship…”

It was the fact that Shirin was not Muslim but she was born in a Muslim society where idol

worship was not well accepted. When she moved to live in America, again Buddhism was not the

main stream. As a result, she was not familiar with shrines, Buddha images, Buddha shelves, or

anything related to this religious superstition. Not only did they belief in the blessing they would

be granted by Buddha, Thai people did believe in the power of demon as well. The lizards that

kept coming to her room every night even though she kept killing one, another somehow

appeared one after another so it seemed more or less paranormal to her. She seemed to

comprehend the concept of demon and accept the scenario better than that of Buddha. “… The Thai people often talk of demons. Maybe her pretty new house has spirits and

they visit her in an endless line of lizards. Now one is dead and the others mourn it, a reptile

community, arriving every night to that same spot, flicking their wretched tongues, taunting her. You asked for this, didn’t you?...”



And also

“…Evil. A lot of things in Thailand carry the sensation of evil…” When one of her students came to school with bruised face and quite manner, demon was

what the school teacher explained to Shirin about what happened, “… Sawat whispers, “His father has a demon….”

Hospitality

“… Here (Thailand), it is better, simpler, to share your troubles so that the community

can help….”

Thai people were renowned for their hospitality. The country was promoted as “ the land of

smile” , and it actually was. Nonetheless, she pointed that friendliness was not the only personality

of Thai people. To a foreigner like her, Thais had different way to react to and they even seemed

cold at first. Because of her Iranian background, she was used to touching, hugging, and kissing

each other and she seemed to have difficulty to understand Thai style of interpersonal interaction

that she found here. She admitted that her Iranian tradition was more or less pretending but it was

good that people showed how they cared about other people. “…they aren’t naturally effusive to strangers, as Iranians are…” “…Thai people are restrained. No hugs. They bow and bow…” “… To Persians, a dramatic show of unearned love—hugs and kisses and empty offers—aren’t falsehoods so much as necessary illusions of warmth and community. Privately, Shirin

finds it tiresome, though she would never betray her native culture by saying so. Besides, there

are the good parts; the face-saving parts—Iranians give each other room to pretend…”

After spending years in America, when she arrived in Thailand, she was rather shocked with

how Thais talks to her as a foreigner and a stranger. They tended to ask questions that did not

seem to be polite to ask such as her age, her hometown and family, the price of her belongings,

and so on. Somehow, Shirin had to politely answer those questions as to effort to get acquaintance

to these people. Although Shirin felt rather uncomfortable at first, she was used to it later.

“ … She has been told that the Thai people are suspicious of strangers and that it is

important to answer all their questions, even if they seem nosey. Often as she bikes through

rice fields, wearing her straw hat and wraparound fisherman pants to blend in, fellow bicyclists stop her and ask strange things. What is your name? How old are you? What have

you eaten today? Though at first she thought she had misunderstood, now she presses her hands together as in prayer, greeting them with a sawat-dee-kha before answering simply, I am

Shirin. Forty-five. Much rice today. All is well…”

However, Shirin criticized that Thai people too were usually pretending. It was one of the bad

things in Thailand when people seemed to ignore what should not be ignored such as when her

school student was harmed by his own father and people did not seem to do anything about it.


447

Shirin commented on the fact that Thai claimed themselves to be smiley and always smiled all

the time to portray their hospitality.

“…Yes, there are demons here. There are crafty lizards and Buddha shelves, and

everything is a lie. You are told every day to smile, even if you have no joy in your heart….”

After all, the mission of finding a car to Chiang Mai at night proved to Shirin that Thai

people were caring and they were usually united and shared the burden of the community. House

after house that Shirin visited to ask for help, one after another person would follow her from

their own house to the next one and the company grew bigger and bigger. While Shirin and her

daughter wanted to keep this situation private and they were really uncomfortable having people

accompanying and learning their problem. Sawat the teacher of the village’ s school pointed this

was how much people cared about her and they felt it was their responsibility as the very

members of the community to provide proper service to their guests.

“Sawat,” she whispers, because what’s the use of holding back this one last favor she

needs? They already know all her business. “How do I get them all to go home?”

“Why go home?” says Sawat, surprised. “They want to see what happen!” Shirin stares dumbfounded. “I think it’s a lost cause,” she mutters. Sawat’ s thin eyebrows gather. She doesn’ t seem to know the expression, so Shirin

elaborates: “I think we failed at the mission.” Sawat laughs. “This Dr. Rin’s mission… it is Phrao that succeed or fail.” Absurd, thinks Shirin, then chastises herself, her bitter heart, for scoffing at such a

lovely sentiment. These people love her. In an hour and a half of knocking on doors, she and

Leila have no ride but they are weighed down with fruits. Leila, whose fatigue seems to go in

and out, is peeling lychee in a happy cluster of women her age . This too angers Shirin and she

thinks maybe she’s growing old and cynical. She looks back at the swelling crowd and wishes

she were in her bed beside the lizards….”

Family Relationship

To Thais, family was an important institute and actions taken by every member of the family

represented the living quality and value of each family . This affected to people’s judgment about

the member of the family when they were out of their house and joined in the community. This

can be observed when Shirin was very much frustrated about how Leila, her daughter, dressed

herself in only a pair of short and a tank top. “… Leila steps outside, into the half-covered area between Shirin’s house and the quiet

couple next door, wearing tiny shorts and a tank top. Shirin rushes to her, hoping to get her

back inside before the neighbors see. ‘You can’t dress like that here,’ she says.



‘ It’ s a hundred degrees. What else am I gonna wear?’ says Leila as she takes her

sunglasses out from between her breasts….” …………………………..

“…Leila,’ says Shirin, growing angry. “Stop this. People here won’t respect you in those

clothes. How will I go on living here if my daughter behaves like a total farang?...” …………………………..

“Leila is raising her voice now and they are only a few feet from the neighbor’s window. Shirin pulls her daughter inside, where Leila proceeds not just to put the whole house on her

head, but possibly the entire village. Shirin hurries to the kitchen window, to see if they are watching. The couple is sitting

on the floor, having tea, neither of them looking up from their cups. She can see from their

profiles that they are absolutely listening—such an impolite daughter, only the wickedest

woman must deserve such offspring. What has the foreign woman, this farang, done in her life

to earn such a curse, they will wonder. Shirin too wonders things. How much face has she lost in this one exchange? Will the

villagers still call her doctor? Will they listen raptly to her every word?...”

Not only that Leila did not listen to her mother’s order in dressing, but she also yelled back. With this, Shirin was worrying that the neighbor would listen and she could be easily discredited

for her abnormal family business. She was afraid that this fighting between her and her daughter

would bring about disgrace and villagers would never respect her as the way they respected her

for her title as Doctor and Teacher of the community. Another presentation of how much she

cared about people’s attitude towards her family and how she raised her daughter was when they

were finding a car for Leila to get to Chiang Mai. Too many people were gathering to observe the

mother and daughter’s mission to find a car and it was irritating to Leila.

“…Their errand has become an event. “This isn’t happening,” says Leila. “Fucking unreal.” “Please don’t speak,” says Shirin….”

If her daughter behaved badly or did not obey her mother, people would see her daughter as

a bad person and it also mirrored that Shirin herself was a bad mother who could not teach her

daughter to have proper manner. Shirin thought it was shameful.

“…In Iran and in Thailand, children never leave their parents, not even bad ones like

Khunpol….”

To Thais, family was considered to be personal and private space that other never intervened

the affair of other families. It can be seen when the boy Boonmee was bruised by his own father,

Shirin was angry that no one took any action to see what happened to this family. Moreover, they

just pretended that nothing happened and referred to demon instead of blaming Khunpol, the

child’s father. Even so, to outsiders, family members must represent Thai ideal quality of a family. One thing was that children had to obey their parents and the parents had to take care of their


449

children and teach them to behave properly in family and in public. Failure to comply with this

norm meant not only the children were judged as bad person, but their parents were also.

“ … How can she present her, knowing that everyone will whisper? Dr. Rin’s spoiled

daughter. The girl that yelled at her own mother in the front yard. The daughter who needs air-conditioning to survive….”

Hierarchy and Seniority

When Shirin was in America one of her dissatisfaction was the fact that her bosses was

younger than her and they did not listen to her suggestions. She was finally fired because she did

not strictly follow their instructions. In Thailand, for her volunteer position people call her

“ Doctor Rin” and as the English teacher at the village school, she gained respect from people

around her. She did not hesitate to tell people about her age since it was another way to earn

privilege in Thailand. It was a norm in Thailand to believe that older people were respectable and

should never be insulted by younger people. This was another aspect of Thainess that she

discovered and used it for her advantage.

“ … ( in Thailand) her bosses defer to her because she is older. And if she makes

suggestions, they make a show of complying. She marvels at this. How could it be so easy?

Later, when her Thai is better, her neighbor, a tiny speckle-faced woman, asks her about her

history and she mentions having been a doctor in Iran, then a housewife in America, and then a Manager of Advanced Research. From then on her neighbor calls her “Dr. Rin,” which is a

wonder for so many reasons. The name catches on, and she lets it…”

……………………………

She doesn’t lie about her age—this is how they decide how much respect to show. ……………………………

“…On the twentieth of the month, when she usually colors her hair, she tells herself that

she is too busy and as the weeks pass she continues to skip it, preferring to show her true age . Her neighbors’ bows grow deeper with each sawat-dee-kha….”

Her age was the only one thing that she never lied or slanted any detail of how old and

experienced she was. She even denied to dye her hair to allow the gray hair grew. Her strategy

was effective since people show more respect seen from the lower and deeper movement of their

bows and Sawat-dee -Thai greeting act.

Conclusion

Living in Phrao, Shirin learned so much about Thainess. She gained knowledge and made

use of what she had learned for her living in Thailand. The fact that she had been and experienced

with three cultures; Iran – her hometowm, America, and Thailand brought about the automatic

comparison between these cultures. In Thailand, there were some impressions and

disappointments for her. Not at all did Shirin mention Thainess in terms of arts or people’ s



physical appearance. As a result, the analysis can be concluded in four main aspects of Thainess

namely; superstition, hospitality, family relationship and hierarchy and seniority.

First of all, superstition was what she observed. She found that Thais believed in superstition

and explained all of phenomena that they cannot explain with superstition. Shirin was not serious

with superstition. She did not agree with Buddhism for the fact that it was idol warship which she

did not like. Thais believed in the virtue of Buddha and blamed evil incident on demon. However,

with many and continued appearance of lizard at her house which she could not understand the

reason of the occurrence, she suspected that demon or lizard spirit might had some responsibility for it.

The next discovery of Thainess from her own perspective was their hospitality to foreigners

and strangers. Shirin did not mention about their hospitality towards the members in their own

community, but as an honor guest of the community she was impressed with their generosity. Even though they seem impolite with their questions that usually invaded into her privacy, she

tried to get used to it, for she realized that they love her and can be very helpful when help was

needed. Nonetheless, she remained her status as guest and she let them call her Doctor Rin. She

preferred wearing fisherman pants, but in official occasion she always had her old Chanel on to

make herself a little bit different and higher than villagers.

“They’re not your people until you share a meal with some ease”

This was the very reason she might accept their food but she never shared hers or joined in eating

meals together with the villagers. She always asked for bread from the groceries instead of rice. She wanted to always be the guest and received such nice hospitality from her neighbors.

Another perspective was on family relationship. She found that each family member was the

representation of the whole family. If children were nice, that demonstrated how well they were

raised up by their parents. Bad parents were not expected to produce good children. Children were

to obey their parents and behaved properly to bring honor to their family unless their whole

family would be blamed for raising their children badly. This worried Shirin very much when her

daughter dressed up in improper outfit and yelled at her. This is not only disgrace but it

discredited her who was supposed to be respectable person in the community as well. This could

be one reason she let her daughter go back to have a lifestyle as she preferred and left for Chiang

Mai city as soon as possible.

The last feature of Thainess which she used to benefit her status the most was hierarchy and

seniority. Though she only worked as a volunteer in the community’s medical center, not actually

a real doctor, people called her Doctor Rin and she let them call since that represented the

privilege they allowed her to have. Also as the English teacher at the village’ s school, she gained

even more respect from the villagers. Unlike her former boss in America, officers at the center

listen to her suggestions and opinions because of her age. Hence, it was beneficial and she liked to

look older here in Thailand to gain respect and was placed in the higher hierarchy in the

community.


451

This study revealed that there were several aspects of Thainess and some of them were

implicit.. According to ethnomethodology experiment suggested, it was normal that even the very

member of the community may never be aware of their norm. So the eyes of a stranger could see

clearer. As a result the story of Shirin was a good example and a model of how a norm could be

discovered by ethnomethodology experiment. She who was new to the norm can effectively

observe the life style and value that the people who had been with the norm cannot reflect it

explicitly. Thainess can be deeper that Thai food, Thai dance, or Thai costume. The very root of

this tangible Thainess laid beneath the intangible values and ideas of the community that had

been imparted and rooted for ages. It was applicable to any cultures in the world that it took more

than watching and quick visiting, but one had to blend in and spend time with the community to

deeply understand who they really were.

Bibliography

Anderson, B. ( 1983) . Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism,

London: Verso.

Anderson, M. L. and Taylor, H. F. ( 2009) . Sociology: The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Thomson

Wadsworth.

Barmé, S. (1993). Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai Identity,

Singapore: ISEAS

Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Nayeri, D. (2015, May 21). O. Henry prize winner: Dina Nayeri’s ‘A ride out of Phrao’. Retrieved

from http://lithub.com/o-henry-prize-winner-dina-nayeris-a-ride-out-of-phrao/

Reynolds, C. J. (ed.) (2002) National Identity and its Defenders: Thailand Today. Chiang

Mai: Silkworm Books

Sivaraksa, S. (1996). M.R.Kukrit Pramoj that I Know Kukrittiyalai. Bangkok: Santiprachatham Institute.



Methods of Teaching Reading in Mother-Tongue and Pupils’ Reading

Performance in South 2 District Schools

Honey Swiert Y. Larayos

MAEd Reading

Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines


Abstract

This study is grounded on two related theories: Threshold and Interdependence Theory.

Threshold theory contend that there may be threshold levels of linguistic competence which

bilingual or even multilingual learners must attain in order to go away with cognitive deficits and

allow cognitive benefits. Interdependence Theory emphasize that greater first language abilities

and more underlying linguistic knowledge available among learners pave way to a more rapid

and complete acquisition of a second or third language . With this, the research aims to determine

the teaching reading method utilized by Grade One teachers which yield the most favorable result

in the reading performance of learners in Mother Tongue considering five months teaching

coverage. The respondentsof this research are the Grade One teachers and pupils from the five

elementary schools in South 2 District of Iligan City. In gathering the data, two research

instruments were used: profile questionnaire for both learners and reading teachers and a teacher

designed oral reading test based on the budgeted skills taught for first and second quarter in

MTB. A descriptive-correlational research design was utilized. Results of the research will be the

reference of the Reading Coordinators of the five respondent schools in designing a reading

program that will cater to the needs of Grade One learners who are expected to master the early

reading skills assessed in EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) conducted during the first

quarter and this coming fourth quarter .

Keywords: teaching method, mother tongue, budgeted skills, reading assessment


453

Semantic Bleaching of verb ‘ləɡ’ in Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla languages

Harjit Singh

Research Candidate(M.Phil), Center For Linguistics,

School of Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India


Abstract

This paper specifies some aspects of grammaticalization process through verifying parallel three

languages (Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla) primary data. The whole study is divided into two kinds of initial

observation related polysemous verb ‘ləɡ’. In Punjabi, this verb (ləɡ) has various interpretations (of attend,

give, use etc.) that directly subject matter of knowing grammaticalization phenomena in languages. But

these interpretations of one language become more visible and useful when we try to locate similar or dissimilar results of such verb in other languages also. For such purpose of study, I selected Punjabi as the

source language here with Hindi and Bangla and can easily be marked semantic bleaching cases in these three languages. By and large, the investigation starts with the occurrence of verb ‘ləɡ’ in V1 and V2

positions, where similarities and dissimilarities both come out straightforwardly. Second, I also noticed

semantic range of verb ‘ləɡ’ where Bangla gives some different results from other languages. Other cases

like ‘de-categorization’ can be included in the future work with knowing more closeness above three

languages.

Keywords: ləɡ, V1 and V2, grammaticalization, semantic bleaching, semantic range



1. INTRODUCTION

"lɘɡ" is a polysemous verb. In the Hindi language "laɡna" has different uses, like begin, attach, seem,

appear, etc. Like Hindi, Punjabi language has also different usages of lɘɡ. While Punjabi language has

shown similarities with Hindi, sometimes it is also different from Hindi in the use of lɘɡ. Bangla is also an

Indo-Aryan language. Bangla speakers also used lɘɡ and its usage can be compared to the other two

languages.

2. THE SPOKEN REGION OF LANGAUAGES

The Hindi language is an Indo-Aryan language that is spoken across northern India. Hindi descended from

the Madhya Prakrit. This is one of the official languages of the Republic of India. Punjabi language is also part of the Indo-Aryan language family, a tonal language, and spoken by

inhabitants of the Punjab region. Punjabi can be subdivided into two major varieties, known as Eastern and

Western Punjabi. According to the Ethnologue 2005, there are 88 million native speakers of the Punjabi

language, which makes it approximately the 10th most widely spoken language in the world.

Bengali language is an eastern Indo-Aryan languages family. It is native to the region of eastern South

Asia known as Bengal which comprises different states of India such as West Bengal, Tripura and Assam .

3. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

My goal in this paper is not only to show the different usages of lɘɡ but also provide some information about grammaticalization of lɘɡ . For this purpose, I am giving data about lɘɡ verb from three languages

(Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali) which are known as Modern Indo-Aryan languages.

For showing simple usages and grammaticalization of lɘɡ, I will look at lɘɡ in two contexts: (1) To see the

occurrence of lɘɡ in the V1 position (2) To see the occurrence of lɘɡ in the V2 position. Under these two

criteria, I will also try to give information about semantic range of lɘɡ because it may be accepted as a natural phenomena of the languages. First of all, I will follow the first criteria of lɘɡ when it occurred in

the V1 position in these languages.

4. lɘɡ in V1 position

4.1. lɘɡ as appear:

When lag appeared in V1 position and also follows a noun it easily takes other semantic forms like appear or seen. Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla have also shared this feature. For example,

Punjabi

(1) oh sadu lɘɡ reha hai

He saint appear -ing is. PRES.3m.sg. He is appearing to be a saint.


455

Hindi

(1) vo sadu lɘɡ rɘha hai

He saint appear -ing is. PRES.3m.sg. He is appearing to be a saint.

Bangla

(1) oke ʃadʰʊr moto lacʰe. He saint like appear PRES. 3m.sg. He appears as a saint.

4.2. lɘɡ as seem:

When lɘɡ appears after adjective in the imperfective form, it also recognized as seem in these languages. For example, Punjabi

(2) oh cɘla:k lɘɡda hai

He clever seem is. PRES. 3m.sg. (imperfective ) He seems clever.

Hindi

(2) vo cɘla:k lɘɡta: hai

He clever seem is. PRES. 3m.sg. (imperfective) He seems clever. Bangla

(2) oke cɘlak lagcʰe. He clever seem+Prog.3m.sg. (imperfective) He seems clever. lɘɡ is used in Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla to mean seem or appear. This refers to the speakers perspective,

not the subject of the sentence. Unlike languages such as English, lɘɡ in this sense may be used with

progressive tense. This is an example of one part of grammaticalization called de-semanticization



4.3. lɘɡ as wear

In the following examples, lɘɡ as wear and lɘɡ as close, lɘɡ occurs after noun as in V1 position, but here it does not only follow the idea of semantic bleaching but also it includes stative information about the sentences. For example,

Punjabi

(3) usde cɘʃma lɘɡea: hai

He-GEN spectacles wear is PRES.3 m.sg. He has worn spectacles.

Hindi

(3) uske cɘʃma: lɘɡa hai

He-GEN spectacles wear is PRES. 3m.sg. He has worn spectacles.

Bangla

(3) o- r cokʰe choʃma lɘɡa ache

He-GEN eye spectacles wear is PRES. 3m.sg. He has worn spectacles.

4.3.1 lɘɡ as close:

Punjabi

dɘrwaɟa: lɘɡea: hai

door close is PRES.3m.sg. The door is closed. Hindi

dɘrwaɟa: lɘɡa hai

door close is PRES. 3m.sg. The door is closed. Bangla

dorɟa lɘɡa ache door shut is PRES.3m.sg. The door is closed.


457

4.4. lɘɡ as exist

In this example, lɘɡ occurred as exist form which also gives information about the physical environment of the event of the sentence. In other words, in this sentence, the use of lɘɡ verb acts as a physical verb

which is acceptable phenomena of the languages.

Punjabi

et he lo ka di piɽ lɘɡi: hai

there people GEN crowded EXIST is PRES.3m.sg. There is people crowded. Hindi yɘha loɡo: ki: bʰiɽ lɘɡi hai

there people GEN crowded EXIST is PRES .3m.sg. There is people crowded.

Bangla

ekʰane manuʃer bʰiɽ leɡe acʰe there people crowded EXIST is PRES.3m.sg. There is people crowded. In these sentences, all these three languages have shared similar semantic bleaching. I mean to say that the

basic meaning of lɘɡ is also de-semanticized, but one thing we can note that the semantic bleaching of

these sentences may take any of these meanings: attach/ close / existential.

4.5. lɘɡ as feel:

Like Punjabi and Hindi, Bangla has the feature is that the lɘɡ verb sometimes de-lexicalised and takes new

meaning. For example,

Punjabi

us nu: peyas lɘɡi: He-dat thirst feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt thirsty.

Hindi

us ko peya:s lɘɡi

He-dat thirst feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt thirsty

Bangla

O ke jol tre ʃʈa leɡecʰe He-dat water thirst feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt thirsty.



Punjabi

us nu bɘɽa: dʊkʰ lɘɡea: He-acc very sorrow feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt very sad.

Hindi

us ko bɘɽa: dʊkʰ lɘɡa

He-dat very sorrow feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt very sad.

Bangla

o-r k ʰub d ukkʰo leɡecʰe

He-dat very sorrow feel-PERF 3m.sg. He felt very sad. With the help of these examples, we can also see another meaning of lɘɡ which is feel. This possibility of

lɘɡ is not only the feature of Punjabi and Hindi languages but also it can be seen in the Bangla language .

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

“lɘɡ” in V1 position: In my first criteria, I had tried to show the uses of lɘɡ in the V1 position in Punjabi,

Hindi and Bangla. The verb lɘɡ in V1 position or conjunct verb status is more grammaticalized . Although,

I have to touch only one area of grammaticalization (semantic bleaching) but in this case, I have also tried

to find out the similarities among these languages.

5. lɘɡ in V2 position

Now I will describe those examples of lɘɡ in which it occurred in V2 position. In these examples I will

also follow the previous paradigmatic series of these languages. First of all, I will give examples of

Punjabi language and then try to compare it with Hindi and Bangla. 5.1 lɘɡ as begin:

When lɘɡ appears in V2 position and also followed infinite verb it changes its semantic content from attach to begin. For example,

Punjabi

(1) oh kʰaɳa: kʰa:ɳ lɘɡ ɡeya: He-agt food eat-INF BEGIN go-PERF 3m.sg. He begun to eat food.


459

Hindi

(1) vo kʰana: kʰa:ne lɘɡ ɡɘya: He-agt food eat-INF BEGIN go-PERF3m.sg. He begun to eat food.

Bangla

(1) o kʰabar kʰete ʃuru kore dIyeche

He-agt food eat-INF start give-PERF3m.sg. He started to eat food.

5.2 lɘɡ as presumptive:

When lɘɡ appears after infinite verb but also takes future marker ɡa then it provides presumptive information about the sentence from the perspective of the speaker. For example,

Punjabi

(2) raj fʊʈba:l kʰ edɘɳ leɡeɡa: raj-agt football play-INF begin-FUT 3m.sg. (presumptive) Raj will begin to play football.

Hindi

(2) raj fʊʈba:l kʰelɘne lɘɡeɡa

raj-agt football play-INF begin-FUT 3m.sg. (presumptive) Raj will begin to play football.

Bangla

(2) raj-agt hɔeto fʊʈbɔl kʰ elte leɡecʰe

Raj PRESUME football play-INF begin-FUT 3m.sg. (presumptive) Raj presumed to play football.

In the V2 position of lɘɡ in the 1st sentence of these languages has changed its semantic property of attach. but in Bangla, there is not used lɘɡ verb for start or begin in this context. For start or begin, Bangla

speakers used separate verb (ʃuru kore). In the 2nd sentence although the base form of lɘɡ interprets the

inceptive meaning but in Punjabi and Hindi, the attachment of future marker ɡa:does not interpret the

same information. At there, its occurrence to provide the presumptive sense to the whole sentence. On the

other hand, Bangla has also separate word (hɔeto) which gives presumptive information about the sentence. I also want to mention the one idea is that when lɘɡ is followed the infinitive verbs most probably it gives the inceptive information. For example, Punjabi



(a) oh rɔɳ lɘɡɡ ɡeya: He-agt cry-INF BEGIN go-PERF 3m.sg. He began to crying. (b) oh hɘssɘɳ lɘɡɡ ɡeya: He-agt laugh-INF BEGIN go-PERF 3m.sg. He began to laughing.

Not only these two verbs but also ot her infi nitiv e ver bs of the P unjab i lan gu age li k e dekʰɘɳ (to see) , sɔtʃɘɳ (to think), bolɘɳ(to speak), nɘtʃtʃɘɳ(to dance) also be used as same construction. In this case, Hindi

and Bangla have also shown this type of construction.

5.3 lɘɡ as come:

When lɘɡ appears inV2 position but followed finite verb. At that time, it also grammaticalized. For

example, Punjabi

us nu sɘmɘjʰ lɘɡ ɡɘi: He- dat understand CAME go-PERF 3m.sg. He came to understand.

Hindi

us ko sɘmɘjʰ lɘɡ ɡɘi He-dat understand CAME go-PERF 3m.sg. He came to understand.

Bangla

O buje ɡecʰe He understand go-PERF 3m.sg. He understood. In the above example of 3rd sentence lɘɡ is represented the same meaning of come in Hindi and Punjabi languages but in this case of Bangla, we do not find this kind of construction at all .

5.4 lɘɡ as ran: Unlike Hindi and Bangla, only Punjabi has this type of data which tell us lɘɡ can be understood as ran. Punjabi

manɘv rɘma vɪtʃ ja: lɘɡeya:

manav rama in go ran-PERF 3m.sg. Manav ran in to rama.


461

In this sentence, lɘɡ followed the finite verb go and changed into ran. It is an interesting thing is that

except Punjabi, in Hindi and Bangla there is no such type of construction which can be formed with the use of lɘɡ. In the comparison of finite and infinite verbs, the use of lɘɡ in V2 position develops the

different semantic bleaching of lɘɡ.

6. Semantic range of lɘɡ

With the analysis of lɘɡ in V1 and V2 position, I will also try to find out the semantic range of lɘɡ in these languages. A word might have more than one meaning (in context). The more meanings, the

greater the word's semantic range. This concept is especially important in anthropology when different

languages as well as different cultures are involved. Inflected form of lɘɡ: 6.1. lɘɡai: as attend

Punjabi

(1) us ne jɘma:t nɘhi: lɘɡai: He-erg class NEG attend-PST 3m.sg. He did not attend the class. Hindi

(1) us ne kɘlas nɘhi lɘɡai: He-erg class NEG attend-PST 3m.sg. He did not attend the class. Bangla

(1) ʃe klas kore ni

He class do-PST NEG 3m.sg. He did not attend the class.

6.2. lɘɡai: as tell

Punjabi

(2) us ne sɘhi kimɘt nɘhi: lɘɡai: He-erg right price NEG tell-PST 3m.sg. He did not tell the right price. Hindi

(2) us ne sɘhi kimɘt nɘhi: lɘɡai

He-erg right price NEG tell-PST 3m.sg. He did not tell the right price.



Bangla

(2) o ʃotʰik mʊllo lɘɡai ni

He right price tell-PST NEG 3m.sg. He did not tell the right price.

6.3. lɘɡai: as give

Punjabi

(3) us ne mɛnu a:va:j nɘhi: lɘɡai: He-erg me call NEG give-PST3m.sg. He did not call me.

Hindi

(3) us ne mujʰe a:va:dʒ nɘhi lɘɡai

He-erg me call NEG give-PST 3m.sg. He did not call me. Bangla

(3) o am ake dake ni

He me call-PST NEG 3m.sg. He did not call me.

6.4. lɘɡai: as use

Punjabi

(4) us ne kɘri:m nɘhi: lɘɡai: He-erg cream NEG use-PST 3m,sg. He did not use cream.

Hindi

(4) us ne kɘri:m nɘhi lɘɡai

He-erg cream NEG use-PST 3m.sg. He did not use cream. It is another interesting idea of semantic range is also be covered by the help of these examples. In these

examples, the inflected form of lɘɡai with or without negation shows the same semantic range. For

example,

lɘɡai (+NEG) lɘɡai (-NEG) attend / tell / give / use attend / tell /give / use


463

But in these examples, Bangla did not show proper similarity with Hindi and Punjabi languages. because

Bangla speakers used different verbs like( kore, dake) in the place of lɘɡ for the same sense. It means that

the frequency of lɘɡ in the context of semantic range is not the same like Hindi and Punjabi . But it is not

the final conclusion because at there we are not following very vast sources for the investigation of lɘɡ in Bangla.

CONCLUSION

In this way, I can say that the verb lɘɡ in the Punjabi,Hindi and Bangla is occurred as polysemous verb. It’s

polysemous nature is analyzed under grammaticalization. The occurrence of lɘɡ in VI and V2 position is

proved that it is more close to de-semanticization than de-categorization. Semantic range of lɘɡ is the

additional information which shows that in this case, Bangla is merely different from Punjabi and Hindi . The hidden idea is that the contextual use of lɘɡ does not only provide the information about grammaticalization but also demonstrate how these languages are close or far from each other?



TABLE OF COMPARISON AMONG THREE LANGUAGES OF “lɘɡ”

VERB’S POSITION PUNJABI HINDI BANGLA

lɘɡ in V1 Yes Yes Yes

Appear Yes Yes Yes

Seem Yes Yes Yes

Wear Yes Yes Yes

Exist Yes Yes Yes

Feel Yes Yes Yes

lɘɡ in V2 Yes Yes Yes

Begin Yes Yes Yes

Presumptive Yes Yes Yes, without “lag”

Come Yes Yes No

Run Yes No No

Semantic Range

Attend Yes Yes Yes

Tell Yes Yes Yes

Give Yes Yes Yes

Use Yes Yes No

Call Yes Yes No

REFERENCES

1. Shapiro, M.C., 1987., Hindi lagnaa: A study in Semantic Change , American Oriental Society,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/603461

2. Ahmad, Tafseer,. Ablative, Sociative and Instrument Markers in Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.

3. Fillmore, C. J; Atkins, B T S (2000). “Describing polysemy: The case of “crawl”. In Leacock, C.

Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/603461

panel 11 language and literature - khon kaen university · 2017. 6. 30. · the exchange and...

Documents