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ANALYSIS OF TRANSITIVITY IN THE NEWS TEXTS DISCOURSE: STORIES

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 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

ISSN : 2582-1741
ANALYSIS OF TRANSITIVITY IN THE NEWS TEXTS
DISCOURSE: STORIES BEYOND THE LINES

Abdul Aziz Khan

Fahd Mohammed Sagheer Eid
Department of Linguistics
Aligarh Muslim University
aaziz_khan@rediffmail.com
fahdeid1982@gmail.com

Abstract
The language of the news, in general and newspaper articles in particular,
is full of ideologies and inner experiences. The ideologies instilled in the
news articles have a very strong impact on their readership and
consequently direct them towards a targeted aim. The speakers and writers
select their views or articles in such a way which carries their intentions
and beliefs semantically and syntactically. The linguistic style adopted by
them indirectly suggests their inner political stances. In order to analyze
the news propaganda, we need a tool that can unearth what lies
intentionally beyond the script. This tool is the transitivity system which
was proposed by the famous Functional Linguist M.A.K Halliday et.al
(2014). In line with Halliday, Paul Simpson (1993:82) states that
transitivity: “refers generally to how meaning is represented in the clause.
It shows how speakers encode in language their mental picture of reality
and how they account for their experience of the world around them.” It
has six types of processes which can describe meaning in the news
structures from different perspectives. This transitivity can analyze both
the isolated clauses and connected ones in their context. The aim of this
paper is to analyze and find out political intentions concealed by the news
structures in the select news articles. The types of the transitivity in
Functional Realm will briefly be explained supported by the examples
from the data.
Keywords: transitivity system, systemic functional linguistics, ideology,
news discourse.
Introduction
109

This paper focuses on semantic aspect of transitivity in the discourse of

newspapers and their roles in showing what lies behind the lines of
Page

different ideologies imposed by their locutors. It investigates the

representations of conflicts between the US and China over the US
drone seized by the Chinese marines in the South China Sea by applying
 Analysis of Transitivity in the News Texts Discourse – Khan et.al

the transitivity system patterns. The Systemic Functional Linguistics

(SFL) considers the context as an important part and parcel of clause
complex constructions. During the stream of discourse, the transitivity
permits or allows the speaker or writer to choose any meaning or
wordings he/ she prefers and holds what he doesn’t want to reveal by
offering a wide range of lexical and grammatical options. In order to
unveil the hidden agendas, we need to analyze the transitivity patterns in
the text under study. According to Paul Simpson (1993:82) “transitivity
is used in a much wider sense than that employed in traditional
grammars. Here it refers generally to how meaning is represented in the
clause. It shows how speakers encode in language their mental picture
of reality and how they account for their experience of the world around
them.”
Transitivity in SFL reflects the human’s cognition of the world around
him at the lexicogrammatical level both spoken and written language. The
processes mainly consider the verbs which refer to actions and states
whereas participants discuss the doers of the actions mainly the nouns and
pronouns and finally circumstances deal with when, how and where
actions take place which are represented by adverbs, prepositional and
adverbial phrases.

Types of Transitivity Process

There are six types of processes in transitivity system which cover the
spectrum of speech purposes. These are material process, mental
process, behavioural process, verbal process, existential process and
relational process. According to Halliday (2014:246) “Transitivity is a
system of the clause, affecting not only the verb serving as process but
also participants and circumstances.”
Table 1: Process types their meanings, and characteristic participants Halliday:2014:311)
Process Type Category Participants, Participants,
meaning directly obliquely involved
involved
material: ‘doing’ Actor, Goal Recipient, Client;
action ‘doing’ Scope; Initiator;
event ‘happening’ Attribute
110

behavioural ‘behaving’ Behaver Behaviour

mental: sensing’ Senser, Inducer
perception ‘seeing’ Phenomenon
Page

cognition ‘thinking’
desideration ‘wanting’
emotion ‘feeling’
 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

verbal ‘saying’ Sayer, Target Receiver; Verbiage

relational: ‘being’ Carrier, Attributor; Beneficiary
attribution ‘attributing’ Attribute Assigner
identification ‘identifying’ Identified,
Identifier;
Token, Value
existential ‘existing’ Existent
The material process deals with action and doing events. It explains what
an entity has done to another entity. The actor in this process is called the
Doer and the second participant is labelled as the Goal. The clause can be
either active or passive. If active voice is used, then only Actor comes at
the beginning but comes at the end of clause if it is passive.
The second process is Mental which deals with sense and cognition and
makes the flow of events stream in our perception, awareness and
understanding. It is composed of two participants which are Senser and
Phenomenon. Mental processes have more subdivisions such as
cognition, perception, and reaction. Cognition processes are like ‘think’
and ‘understand’, perception ones are like ‘hear’, ‘see’ and ‘worry’
while reaction processes are seen as ‘hate’, ‘like’ and ‘enjoy’, etc.
The third type is Relational process which stands for being and having.
In this process, two more modes are mapped which are attributive and
identifying. The attribute is carried by the entity named the carrier
whereas the other entity (Identifying) identifies another entity called the
identified. Another element is seen as Token and Value in case nominal
groups in Identifying intensives are definite but if indefinite, they are
still considered as Carrier and Attribute.
The fourth type is called the Verbal process which is involved with act of
saying and it is composed of three participants which are Sayer, Receiver
and Target. It is the bridge between relational and mental processes.
The fifth type is Behavioural process which is mainly about
psychological acts such as smiling, staring and laughing. It acts as a
midway between material and mental processes.
The last type of transitivity is called Existential process which is
involved with the existence of something or an entity and has ‘there’
111

functions as the subject in the clause but not always.

Page

Analysis of News Transitivity

The news is the main place where politicians and other people feed their
agenda to their readers through the news outlets mainly the newspapers
 Analysis of Transitivity in the News Texts Discourse – Khan et.al

both online and offline versions. The ideologies are instilled carefully
and meticulously by expert editors or column writers. The data to be
analyzed in this paper are selected from China Daily and New York
Times. The examples that are selected for the study reflect the feud
between China and the USA and show the two countries views on the
same topic which is the seizure of US drone by Chinese navy in 2016.
1. The Material Process
As mentioned above, that this process focuses on actions and happenings
and has two components: Actor and Goal. Journalists go for their
selections of Actor and Goal cautiously with the intention of delivering a
specific message both to their allies and enemies.
Examples from China Daily newspaper (2016):
1. China should develop a strategy to deal with US reconnaissance
missions in the South China Sea, which are expected to increase
after president-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan 20, 2016
2. The US has taken advantage for years of an area in international law
to illegally collect oceanic information within Chinese waters.
3. The drone – retrieved on Thursday by a Chinese vessel 93
kilometres northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines — was
"transferred smoothly" to the US on Tuesday after "friendly
negotiation".
In the above examples by the China Daily, the newspaper tries to show
the negative impact of the US presence in the China neighborhood and
asking for a strong defense strategy to deter the US reconnaissance in
South China Sea. In the first sentence, the Actor is China and the Goal is
its strategy which will face the US Navy in the region. This sentence
actually represents what the Chinese government want to deliver to its
readers and giving justifications for their cause. The second clause puts
the US as the Actor whose Navy benefits illegally from their search in
the ocean. Also the use of expressions like “grey area in the international
law” indicates the Chinese contempt of what Americans are doing there.
The third example clearly mentioned the topic of issue which is the US
drone which China seized in its waters. The linguistic choice of
expressions such as “retrieved” not “abducted” and transferred
112

smoothly” not “by force” and then “friendly negotiation”, all indicate
that they want to show the world that they have the ability to control and
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holds way over their oceanic areas.

 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

On the other hand, New York Times presented the case differently as the
following examples will explain:
1. A Chinese warship had been shadowing the Bowditch, a United
States naval vessel, in the international waters of the South China
Sea when the Chinese launched a small boat and snatched the
unmanned underwater vehicle.
2. The episode set off one of the tensest standoffs between Beijing and
Washington in15 years and occurred a day after the Chinese
signaled that they had installed weapons along a string of disputed
islands in the South China Sea.
3. The seizure of the drone brought a formal protest from the United
States at a time when China is extending claims over the South
China Sea and is watching the United States — and its incoming
president — with wariness.
Clearly New York Times gave a detailed discussion over the abduction
of the drone and mentioned the topic from a different angle. It comments
on the incident that China ‘launched and snatched” the drone from the
international waters and not Chinese Sea. The Actor in the example is
China which committed the ‘snatching’ and the Goal is the unmanned
underwater drone and this indicates the deep anger by the Americans
because of Chinese act. The propaganda that NYT wants to convey is
that China violates the International laws because the drone was in “the
international waters”. In the second example by NYT it apparently
mentioned the history of conflicts over a long time and reminds the
readers that this one is the tensest standoff. The last example implies the
negative attitude and indirectly refuting China’s legal possession of the
South Sea by indicating that China claims it and owns.
2. Mental Process
This process focuses on expressing senses and hidden ideologies. It has
two parts Senser and Phenomenon. Looking at the examples in both
newspapers, they show opposite selection of their lexis and structural
linguistic options to highlight their political stances over their reactions
to the seized drone by China.
Examples:
113

1. This information, such as water salinity and current flow, might

seem innocent but could influence naval activities… (China Daily)
Page
 Analysis of Transitivity in the News Texts Discourse – Khan et.al

2. Dong Chunling, a researcher on US studies at the China Institutes of

Contemporary International Relations, said that through provocation
on the Taiwan question, Trump wants to gain more leverage for his
foreign policy after assuming the presidency next month. (China
Daily)
3. The Pentagon knows full well its device was not "stolen". (China
Daily)
4. Mr. Trump angered Chinese officials by holding a phone
conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, an island that
Beijing deems a breakaway province of China. (New York Times)
5. Nevertheless, it will be viewed by the U.S. as a clear challenge.
(New York Times)
6. Across Asia, diplomats and analysts said they were perplexed at the
inability of the Obama administration to devise a strong response to
China’s seizing of an American underwater drone.
In the examples listed above, China Daily attacks the USA stance
claiming that their drone was not in an innocent job but rather indicating
it challenging Chinese sovereignty. It further states that the US drone
was seized but not ‘stolen’ as the US claims. Chins expresses their anger
over the incident by using expressions such “might seem innocent but
could influence naval activities”, “Trump wants to gain more leverage
for his foreign policy after assuming the presidency”, and “The Pentagon
knows full well its device was not "stolen". Such mental linguistic
selections reflect their different attitudes towards the same incident.
On the other hand, Americans look at the act of China as a threat to their
global power and humiliation to their existence as the world super
power. New York Times attacks both the US administration’s weak
response and China act. It implied that the US should retaliate stronger
than only words by stating that “they were perplexed at the inability of
the Obama administration to devise a strong response”. What is more,
it insists that the act is “viewed by the U.S. as a clear challenge”. The
hidden ideology is observed mentally by the wordings of both sides and
this refers to the transitivity system ability to reveal the hidden stances
of any side. The mental processes with their subdivisions can unearth
114

what lies within and beyond the lines.

3. Verbal Process
Page

In this process, it focuses on ‘saying’ process which deals speech

exchanges among people and has three parts: Sayer, Receiver and
 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

Verbiage or Target. There is a projecting clause which contains the act

of saying and the projected one which carries the content of saying. In
newspapers, this occurs when the newspapers quote any political or
influential statesmen who comment on some topics. They select their
speech according to what they want to show to the readers to affect their
opinions in such a way. Like any other competitors, China and the US
work on similar path to gain support by their people and allies as well.
This can be seen in the following selected examples:
1. On Sunday, after Beijing and Washington announced the drone would
be returned, Trump tweeted: "We should tell China that we don't want
the drone they stole back. - let them keep it! (China Daily)
2. Hua said that China has always opposed the United States
conducting reconnaissance and military surveys within Chinese
waters. "It has threatened China's security and sovereignty. China
will maintain vigilance against the relevant US activities and take
necessary measures in response," she said. (China Daily)
3. “By stealing a drone versus threatening the safety of the ship, China
may be trying to find a way to signal its opposition to U.S. activities
without creating a larger incident,” Mr. Fravel said. “Nevertheless, it
will be viewed by the U.S. as a clear challenge. (New York Times)
4. Whatever the case, the Pentagon said that China had no right to
seize the drone. “This is not the sort of conduct we expect from
professional navies,” Captain Davis said. (New York Times)
The verbal quotes from both sides indicate the tension they experience
over the drone and both accuse each other of wrongdoings. In example
(1), China Daily indirectly hints that President Trump would destroy the
return process of the drone by tweeting that China stole it. In example
(2), it clearly disagrees with actions that Americans are conducting in
their “Chinese waters” and it also “has threatened China's security and
sovereignty. China will maintain vigilance against the relevant US
activities and take necessary measures in response.” The clause complex
also has both direct and indirect quotations to stress their rights to
defend their land from any threat mainly the US presence.
On the other hand, New York Times quotes the US officials who accuse
115

China of stealing their drone and showcase the act as direct clear
challenge activities. This implies their dissatisfaction of their country
Page

response. in example (4), both direct and indirect speech to maximize

the China act and describe it as “This is not the sort of conduct we
 Analysis of Transitivity in the News Texts Discourse – Khan et.al

expect from professional navies.” This a clear accusation of China of

naval violations which are not professional in the eyes of the Pentagon.
Comparing both verbal instigations, each part tries to justify their naval
involvements in the waters. Both countries media express the contrasting
views and highlight others faults. Transitivity works on the clausal and
ideational levels to show how each side influences their readership of
their acts.
4. Existential Process
In this process, the experience or the opinion is stated with “there + verb
to be or verbs like exit, occur and arise” this indicates the existence of
something and has no meaning in it. It does not refer to location. It
introduces a new concept or an idea or information which is easy to
figure out. Newspapers writers use this type of this process to indicate
any news worthwhile that emerges and has an important reference.
Consider the following examples:
1. Trump may not care for such an ending, or he would not have
tweeted afterwards "let them keep it". He might believe there is
more to exploit.(China Daily)
2. But as well as the overlap and tricky distinction between what the
Pentagon calls "collecting unclassified scientific data" and "close-in
surveillance" and military surveys, chances are both parties are keen
to keep the incident low-profile knowing there is a legal grey zone
to the matter. (China Daily)
3. There was no immediate comment from Mr. Trump or his transition
team. (NYT)
4. Since then, China has hardened its position, sometimes referring to
the South China Sea as a “core interest” in which there is no room
for compromise, though others in the region call it bullying by the
Chinese president Xi Jin ping. (NYT)
A look at the above examples shows us that each newspaper tries to
counter each other with war of words. In example 1, the writer shows
that Mr. Trump is no more able to make use of this incident and exploit
China by tweeting “let them keep it”. It hints that China won the event.
116

And in the second sentence, it furthermore shows that the Pentagon is

giving different comments such as "collecting unclassified scientific
data" and "close-in surveillance" which indicate the discrepancy that
Page

China tries to show to the world that it is only military act and not
scientific work. It shows the existence of gray area to the issue legally
 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

by stating that “are keen to keep the incident low-profile knowing there
is a legal grey zone to the matter.” It is a kind of word selection and
word play to gain more victories over the issue.
New York Times, on the other side, sticks to their country’s stance that
it is a scientific job that their drone was engaged in when captured and
that Americans will no longer tolerate such actions and deny the
existence of tolerance by saying “there is no room for compromise,
though others in the region call it bullying by the Chinese president, Xi
Jin ping”. The newspaper accuses the Chinese president of “bullying”
which is a dangerous accusation from Chinese perspective. To sum up, it
is clear that the ideologies of both countries are manipulated by using
linguistic lexico-grammatical structures which are seen in the data.
5. Relational Process
This process involves “being” process among participants which share
some kind of relations. These relations can be intensive, possessive or
circumstantial. In newspapers under study, both sides try to show their
different ideologies on the same issue from different perspectives.
Consider the examples:
1. If the rampant drone strikes, the frequent military surveillance along
the Chinese coast, the regime change in Libya and the NSA
activities as revealed by Snowden are examples of accepting limits,
then Russel has to define what not accepting limits is. (China Daily)
2. It is not unusual for senior US officials to throw jabs at China in
their public speeches while travelling abroad. (China Daily)
3. The drone was part of an unclassified program to collect
oceanographic data, including salinity in the sea, clarity of water and
ocean temperature, factors that can help the military in its collection
of sonar data. (NYT)
4. But the very muted response means the equation falls down on
resolve. (NYT)
In above examples China and America are using relational processes to
support their claims that each party holds the right move over the issue.
In example 1, Chinese newspaper uses intensive identifying process to
117

identify the mistakes of the US. The newspaper counts the US mistakes
such as “drone killings, the frequent military surveillance along the
Page

Chinese coast, the regime change in Libya and the NSA activities”
which all come in the position of Token at the beginning of the sentence
and the Value (complement of the sentence) is “are examples of
 Analysis of Transitivity in the News Texts Discourse – Khan et.al

accepting limits.” In example 2, the Chinese insist that US is always

doing unthinkable criticism against China in public. In their view,
America does not spare any moment to attack China and this indicates
the Chinese ideology towards the Americans. The readers can get the
gist of the meaning through the lexical selection of words such as “it is
not unusual for the US officials”. In this example, the writer uses the
“drone” as the Carrier (subject) and the remaining sentence as an
intensive attributive process “is not unusual for the US officials”.
New York Times, on the other hand, uses relational process to defend
their country stances. In example 3, NYT still argues that the drone was
part of a scientific mission which contradicts China narrative. The NYT
uses the drone as the Token (subject) in the clause and intensive
identifying process “was part of an unclassified program to collect
oceanographic data.” It identifies the work of the mission as a data
collector. In example 4, again the American journalists insist that silent
response was not preferred and used the Token “the very muted
response” to show their dissatisfaction from their country weak
response. The identifying intensive process “means the equation falls
down on resolve” explains the undesired consequence. Obviously, both
sides express their hidden agendas in their news smoothly to their
readers so as to show the contempt they inherit against each other.
6. Behavioural Process
This type of transitivity process deals with psychological and
physiological processes and it is mid-way between mental and material
processes because this involves action and thinking at the same time in
the sense that the ‘Behaver’ is actively doing something consciously.
Behavioural verbs are like ‘dream, laugh, watch, taste, smile, and sniff,
etc.’ used in the process very effectively
In the news, editors and column writers make use of this process to let
the readers consciously understand their logics and propaganda more
effectively. Consider these examples:
1. The seizure of the drone brought a formal protest from the United
States at a time when China is extending claims over the South
China Sea and is watching the United States — and its incoming
president — with wariness. (NYT)
118

2. But in Tokyo, the government was watching the outcome of the

Page

drone episode with some anxiety. (NYT)

Using the verb “watching”, New York Times tries to impose its biasness
and indicating that China is watching what the incoming president will
 AMU Journal of Language and Media Discourse, Vol. 03, No 1-2, 2020-21

do “with wariness”. It puts China as the “Behaver” who is anticipating

the impending consequence. The main objective is to put the reader’s
guess also what will happen later. In the second example, NYT also
indicates that other countries like Japan is also watching the incident and
waiting for the result of such an act. Apparently, the ideology is seen in
the light of what is reported and transitivity processes show it clearly by
its six types collectively.

Conclusion
The critical analysis of the newspaper discourse using transitivity system
is very useful to show what lies within and beyond the storylines. This
paper attempts to find out the ideologies and hidden interests between
China and the USA over the drone capture in South China Sea. It was
found that news reports are not impartial and each part tries to impose its
own agenda and defend their interests. Transparency and impartiality are
actually absent in the reports of both sides because they serve different
agendas. There are many differences between China and the US and this
incident adds flame to the already existing issues such as the trade war
among others. Analysing the texts using transitivity system and relating
news reports to context, the readers can get a clearer picture of what is
going on and they can comprehend any future similar news reports in a
better manner.

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