4/29/2020

April 2020

Approaches to Language Study

FORMAL FUNCTIONAL
View of A set of rules A resource for making and
grammar exchanging meanings

Focus Form Function

Examples Made-up (contrived, Authentic (naturally

invented) occurring, real)

1
 4/29/2020

Levels (of Analysis)

• Four levels of analysis can be distinguished.
PHONOLOGY The sound system of a language

LEXIS The vocabulary

GRAMMAR MORPHOLOGY The ways morphemes combine to form

words
SYNTAX The ways words combine to make up
groups/phrases, clauses and sentences.
SEMANTICS System of meaning

Ranks
• Rank refers to different levels of organization within
grammar.

WORD GROUP / PHRASE CLAUSE SENTENCE

N.B.
A group is an expanded word and is an endocentric structure,
whereas a phrase functions like a mini-clause and is an
exocentric structure. In English there is ONLY ONE type of
phrase called Prepositional Phrase.

A clause can be finite or non-finite depending on whether it

contains or does not contain a finite/modal verb.

2
 4/29/2020

Embedding
• Embedding refers to cases where one unit is
used as a constituent of another unit of the
same or lower rank.
e.g.
1. The man who died in the battle (embedded clause)
2. I don’t believe what he says. (nominal clause)

Class
• Nouns
• Pronouns
• Adjectives
• Verbs
• Adverbs
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Articles, etc.

3
 4/29/2020

Grammatical Functions
• Subject
• Finite
• Predicator
• Object
• Complement
• Adjunct

The Three Meta-functions

Experiential Interpersonal

Textual

4
 4/29/2020

Meta- Has to do with and is realized by

function
Experiential The way we represent the world as we The transitivity system
experience it And Lexis

Interpersonal Interaction between speaker and Mood and modality

hearer, and the speaker’s judgment of
the likelihood of an event happening or
the requirement of a course of action

Textual The way the message is organized in Theme-Rheme structure

relation to its context to achieve
coherence

The three meanings (meta-functions)

encoded in a clause
He kicked the ball into the net.

Experiential [ACTOR] [Pr:DOING] [GOAL] [CIRCUMSTANCE]

Interpersonal MOOD RESIDUE

SUBJECT FINITE

Textual THEME RHEME

10

5
 4/29/2020

Experiential and Interpersonal Meanings

Consider the following sentences.
A. He [ACTOR] kicked [PR:DOING] the dog [GOAL].
B. Did he [ACTOR] kick [PR:DOING] the dog [GOAL]?
C. He [ACTOR] must have kicked [PR:DOING] the dog [GOAL].
D. He [ACTOR] should have kicked [PR:DOING] the dog [GOAL].
(i) All three sentences are identical in terms of their experiential meaning,
but A differs from B and C in terms of their interpersonal meanings.
(ii) In choosing the declarative mood in A, the speaker puts himself in the
role of the one who gives the information and the hearer in the role of the
receiver of the information. The choice of the interrogative mood in B
reverses the roles.
(iii) A differs from C and D in that it does not contain a modal element,
which expresses the speaker’s judgment of the likelihood of an event
happening (C) or the requirement of a course of action (D).

11

Experiential and Textual Meanings

Consider the following sentences.

A. He [ACTOR] kicked [PR:DOING] the dog [GOAL].

B. The dog was kicked by him.
C. What he did was kick the dog.
D. It was he who kicked the dog.
E. It was the dog that was kicked by him.
F. He is the one who kicked the dog.
G. The dog he kicked.

(i) All the sentences above make use of the declarative mood and contain no
element of modality.
(ii) Notice how the experiential content is reorganized.

12

6
 4/29/2020

The Experiential Meaning

• Has to do with the ways we represent the

world as we experience it, and

• Is realized by Lexis and Transitivity system.

13

Transitivity
• Transitivity refers to the different configurations of
participants associated with their Processes.
• At the core of a transitivity structure is a Process, which
represents an action, a happening, a feeling, etc. Processes
are realized by Verbs or Verb Groups.
• The Process dictates the number of entities (called its
Participants) that are associated with it and assigns each
participant a semantic role. Participants are typically
realized by Nouns or Noun Groups.
• Other elements are Attributes (typically realized by
Adjectives or Adjective Groups) and Circumstances
(optional and typically realized by Adverbs or Adverb
Groups, or Prepositional Phrases.

14

7
 4/29/2020

Transitivity Analysis
In doing transitivity analysis, we indentify the types
of Process and their associated participants
(semantic roles), as well as Attributes and
Circumstances.
e.g.
I SAW HIM AT THE FAIR
SENSER PR: MENTAL: PERCEPTION PHENOMENON CIRCUMSTANCE

HE SANG A SAD SONG

ACTOR PR: ACTION: DOING RANGE

15