Transitivity SystemTransitivity SystemLaurea MagistraleLaurea Magistrale

October 23October 23rdrd, 2009 , 2009

CONTEXT

Contextof

Culture

Ideology

Genre

Contextof

Situation

Register

Field Tenor Mode

TEXT

Discourse-Semantic

Level

Experiential MeaningHow the writer describes

what is going onWho does what to whom, when, where and how?

Interpersonal MeaningHow the writer describes his

attitude to himself, the reader and the subjectWhat is the writer’s

attitude to himself, the reader, and the subject?

Textual MeaningHow the writer organizes the

content of the textHow is the content of the

text organized?

Lexical Relations Conversational Structure Reference & Conjunction

Lexico-Grammar

Level

Transitivity SystemParticipantsProcesses

CircumstancesClause as

RepresentationGrammatical Metaphor

Mood SystemMoodModality: Degree of probability or obligationAppraisalClause as Exchange

Thematic SystemTheme & Rheme

Given & New InformationClause as Message

Expression Graphology / Phonology

“The term ‘text’ refers to any instance of language, in any medium, that makes sense to someone who knows the language (cf. Halliday and Hasan, 1976: Chapter 1). To a grammarian, text is a rich, many-faceted phenomenon that ‘means’ in many different ways. It can be explored from many different points of view.”

(Halliday 2004: 3)

“A text is the product of ongoing selection in a very large network of systems – a system network. Systemic theory gets its name from the fact that the grammar of a language is represented in the form of system networks, not as an inventory of structures. Of course, structure is an essential part of the description; but it is interpreted as the outward form taken by systemic choices, not as the defining characteristic of language. A language is a resource for making meaning, and meaning resides in systemic patterns of choice.”

(ibid: 23)

Cement–clay grouts modified with acrylic resin or methyl methacrylate ester: Physical and mechanical properties

 Construction and Building Materials 21 (2007) 252–257

www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

 

 A 5’-nuclease real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of a broad range of influenza A subtypes, including H5N1

Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseasewww.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Scientific Research Article 

Transitivity = information about the Ideational meaning (Experiential + Logical meanings) of a text as well as the Field variable of register.

 Basic aspects of Transitivity:Types of Processes (nature of Participants)

 Grammatical Metaphor

Clause as representationLanguage is a means of representing the

world. More precisely: a means of representing ‘worlds’.

Language encodes our experience. It plays a crucial role in our involvement with other people.

Analyzing events, people, and things in terms of what is represented, we shall use the terms process and participant.

 

The process = the part of the clause that is realized by the verbal group. What ‘goings-on’ are represented in the whole clause?

 The participants = the entities

involved in the process.Participants are not always human or

even animate. We also find inanimate participants.

Process: MaterialThe prototypical action-type clause is called:

material process clause, labelled as Process: material.

Most material processes could reasonably be said to involve ‘doing-words’.

Actor = The performer of an action (Process).Goal = The person, the animal or the thing that

undergoes the action.Beneficiary = The participant that does not

undergo the impact of the Process (Goal), but actually benefits from the Process.

Process: MentalMental processes involve processes that can be best

described as states of mind or psychological events.

 Verbs that express mental processes are:think, know, see, feel, smell, hear, want, like, hate,

please, disgust, admire, enjoy, fear, frighten. They do not involve ‘doing-words’.  Senser = The participant experiencing the process. It is

a sentient being. A human or at least animate creature.

 Phenomenon = what is experienced. It can be animate

or inanimate. It can also be realized as a clause.

Process: RelationalRelational processes can be realized by the verb beother copular verbs: e.g. seem, appear,

becomeverbs such as have, own, possess.  Relational processes can be distinguished in

Attributive Processes and Identifying Processes.

Grammatical MetaphorFocus on METAPHOR as a LINGUISTIC

PHEONOMENON in English As a linguistic phenomenon, metaphor can take on two

major forms:it can be a lexical mechanism, i.e. a feature which

belongs to the lexis or vocabulary of a language;it can be a grammatical phenomenon, i.e. a special

resource of the grammar of a language EtymologyGreek meta-, ‘beyond’ + phora, from pherein, ‘to carry’

= a kind of movement from one thing to another, one thing is carried beyond itself to something different.

 

Lexical MetaphorTraditional concept of metaphor: basically lexical. A

word, a lexeme, i.e. one particular word which does have its own literal meaning, is used to express a new figurative meaning. There is a movement from something literal to a new figurative meaning

 Examples : All the senior managers will be swept outHe didn’t grasp itThe sky is crying For further study, see Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors

We Live By (1984), which introduces the notions of donor domain and recipient domain.

 

Grammatical MetaphorHalliday draws on the notion of lexical metaphor

and introduces his notion of grammatical metaphor (Introduction to Functional Grammar, 1985).

Halliday uses different types of nominalizations as typical instances of grammatical metaphor:

 John’s writing of a letter to his sister surprised me.

They started a letter writing campaign Rewording: 

John wrote a letter to his sister (last week …)

Grammatical metaphor = a movement: from a process as clause (the default encoding of a process) to a process as noun phrase.

 Grammatical metaphor = is a variation between something

common, standard, default (i.e. a process realized as a clause) and something which is extended from that (i.e. a process realized by some other form, e.g. a noun phrase).

 similar to the traditional type of metaphor, but lexical metaphor = from a lexeme to another lexeme

grammatical metaphor = from a grammatical form or a grammatical means of expression to another grammatical form or another grammatical means of expression

 Thus, the grammatical metaphor consists in two aspects:

the metaphorical movementthe variation between the grammatical forms

Halliday sub-classifies the grammatical metaphor into:

Experiential grammatical metaphor

Logical grammatical metaphor  Interpersonal grammatical metaphor

Experiential grammatical metaphor or nominalization

Nominalization frequently appears in genres such as university textbooks, academic journals, scientific writing.

Generally speaking, texts which make heavy use of nominalization are able to pack in a lot of information economically.

Texts rich in nominalizations usually refer to expert-to-expert communications.

Logical grammatical metaphor

Interpersonal grammatical metaphor

Metaphorisation in Scientific Language

a) The researcher set up the equipment

carefully so the experiment succeeded

 

b) Researcher’s careful setting up of the

equipment resulted in experimental

success.

The metaphorical shift has involved two kinds of grammatical movement: one in rank, the other in structural configuration.

From clause complex to complex noun phrase

Other ExamplesThe contents of the tank are discharged by a pumpDischarge of the contents of the tank is effected by a pump A station in which people observe the weather both by day

and nightA day and night weather observation station Oscillations depend on frequencyOscillations are frequency-dependent The tyre does not skidThe tyre is non-skid Danger does not practically existDanger is practically non-existent 

Grammatical metaphor in translation EN IT (Scarpa 2001: 136-40)Verb Phrase Noun Phrase

Conversely, any point below […] the schedule corresponds to depreciation, improving competitiveness, and increasing aggregate demand.

 Viceversa, tutti i punti al di sotto della retta […]

corrispondono a un deprezzamento della moneta nazionale, al miglioramento della competitività e all’aumento della domanda aggregata

Adjective Noun Phrase

In general, all these ferrous metals are very strong, relatively inexpensive, easy to form and machine, and must be protected from corrosion.

 I metalli ferrosi fin qui elencati presentano in

genere caratteristiche di resistenza meccanica, di economicità, di deformabilità e di lavorabilità alla macchina e richiedono una protezione dalla corrosione.

Subordinate clause Noun / Prepositional Phrase

If you’re writing a legal contract, […] you can number headings, paragraphs […]

Per la redazione di un contratto legale […] è possibile numerare i titoli, i paragrafi […]

 When they are issued, the bonds are

noncurrent liabilities.Al momento dell’emissione, i titoli emesis sono

passività a lungo termine

Lexicalized Verb De-lexicalized Verb + Noun Phrase

Modify / effettuare una modificaBorrow /contrarre un prestito  Preposition + - ing Form Prepositional PhraseBy eliminating / Attraverso l’eliminazione

Relative clause Prepositional Phrase / Adjectivea neurotransmitter that plays a key role in memoryun neurotrasmettitore di fondamentale importanza nel

funzionamento della memoria. Changes you want / i cambiamenti desiderati

Adverb + Past Participle Prepositional PhraseCurrently used / di uso corrente  Noun + Prepositional Phrase Il fatto che +

subordinate clauseThe potential for capital flows to finance a current account

deficit is extremely importantIl fatto che i movimenti di capitali possano finanziare un

disavanzo di conto corrente è estremamente importante  Assume … / Take … / Suppose … Posto che +

CongiuntivoAssume the upper end of the oil is open to the atmosphere

[…][…] posto che la sua superficie si trovi all’aperto, a

contatto con l’atmosfera […]

Clause Nominalization (assenza / esistenza /presenza …)

The infections recur because […] / L’apparizione delle recidive è dovuto al fatto che …

 Because the immune system is detective / In assenza di

un’efficace risposta immunitaria  Clause NounA carpenter applies V-groove tongue-and-groove redwood

siding to an eave soffit, using a pneumatic nail gun. Applicazione, mediante una pistola sparachiodi

pneumatica, di doghe con scanalatura a V collegate a maschio e femmina per il rivestimento dell’intradosso di un aggetto di gronda.

 

- ing form Noun PhraseOpening a document / Apertura di un documentoBorrowing money / Accensione di debiti  Prepositional phrase Subordinate clauseFor goods market equilibrium […] we requie a higher

level of outputPer raggiungere l’equilibrio del mercato dei beni […]

è necessario un livello più elevato di produzione  Adjective Relative clauseConscious minorities / minoranze che hanno una

coscienza collettivaTheir farmland / la terra che coltivano

BibliographyBloor T. and Bloor M., The Functional Analysis of

English, London, Arnold, 2004, 2nd edition, pp. 106-137.Halliday M.A.K., An Introduction to Functional

Grammar, London, Arnolod, 2004, pp. 1-36Halliday, M.A.K., The Language of Science, London,

Continuum, 2006Lipson M., Exploring Functional Grammar, CLUEB,

2006.Scarpa F., La Traduzione Specializzata, Milano, Hoepli,

pp. 136-140.Widdowson H.G., Explorations in Applied Linguistics,

Oxford, OUP, 1976, p.. 26