1transitivity-system

Transitivityistherepresentationinlanguageofprocesses,theparticipantsandthecircumstantialelementsassociatedwiththem.Themeaningoftransitivityreferstothelanguagecharacteristicsoftheclausewhichembodythespeaker’sorwriter’sexperienceorsomethingelseintheworld,notthenarrowermeaningasin“transitiveandintransitiveverbs”.Thetermisusedinlinewith“mood”and“theme”whichconveyrespectivelytextualandinterpersonalfunction.Thetransitivitysystemofalanguageaimstoconstructpeople’sexperienceintothemeaningswhichdifferinthefollowingtwoaspects:theprocessitselfandthenatureoftheparticipantsinvolvedinit.Intermsoftransitivitysystem,therearemainlytwoviews,oneisfromtheperspectiveoftraditionalgrammar,andtheotherisformfunctionalview.Traditionalgrammarreferstotransitivityasawayofdistinguishingverbsaccordingtowhethertheycanbecomplementedbynounsphrasesornot.Traditionalgrammarmakesabinarydistinctionbetweenintransitiveverbsthatcannottakeadirectobject(suchasfallorsitinEnglish)andtransitiveverbsthattakeonedirectobject(suchasthrow,injure,kissinEnglish).TransitivityinSFGisusedinamuchwidersense;itcentersonthefunctionsoflanguageandisgenerallyabouthowmeaningisrepresentedintheclause.Transitivitysystem,accordingtoHalliday,isasetofgrammaticalsystemwhichconstruestheworldofexperienceintoamanageablesetofProcessTypes(Halliday,1994:106).Therearesixprincipleprocessestypesintransitivitysystem:Material,Mental,Relational,Behavioral,Verbal,andExistential.Processtypesintransitivitysystemhelpshumanbeingsrecognizeandencodetheirexperiencesorphenomenaoftherealworld.Theideationalfunctionoflanguageisconcernedwiththecommunicationandinterlinkingofideasandmayitselfbebrokendownintotheexperientialandlogicalfunctions(Morley,2000:11).Logicalfunctionisusedtorelateexperiences,andexperientialfunctionisusedtodescribeexperience.Theexperientialfunctionisrealizedbythetransitivitysystem.Processesarecentraltotransitivity.Theprocesscentersonthatpartoftheclausethatisrealizedbytheverbalgroup,butitcanalsoberegardedaswhat‘goings-on’arerepresentedinthewholeclause(BloorandBloor,1995:110).ThereareindeedsixdifferentprocesstypesidentifiedbyHalliday:material,behavioural,mental,verbal,relational,andexistential.Asoneofthemostsalienttypesofprocesses,Hallidaaydefinesmaterialprocessasprocessesofdoingandhappening,involvingphysicalactionssuchaseating,moving,cooking,standing,swimming,washing,etc.Semantically,materialprocessesindicateactivitiesorevents,whichhappenintheoutsideworldofhumanbeings(Saragih,2010:7).Thisprocessreferstophysicalexperienceofhumanbeings.Halliday(1994:110)statesthatmaterialprocessesareprocessesof‘doing’.Theyexpressthenotionthatsomeentity‘does’something–whichmaybedone‘to’someotherentity.So,clauseswithamaterialprocessobligatorilyhaveadoing(process),adoer(participantI)andanentitytowhichtheprocessisextendedordirected(participantII).Syntactically,theunmarkedtenseassociatedtomaterialprocessisthepresentcontinuoustense.Suchasthefollowingsentences:Edward(actor)wassawing(process:material)wood(goal).Edward(actor)ran(process:material).Beforewemoveontomentalprocess,thereissomethingweshouldknowaboutChinesematerialprocess.HallidayandMcDonaldintheirbookLanguageTypologyAFunctionalPerspective(2004)sub-categorizematerialprocesswiththetransitiveandtheintransitiveprocess.ThetransitiveprocessrefertoprocessespossessboththeActorandtheGoal,eventhoughinpassiveclausestheActorisnotexplicitlystated.Intransitiveprocessisthesubcategoryoftransitiveprocess,whichhasathirdparticipant,theBeneficiary.Theintransitivematerialprocesshasonlyoneparticipant,theActor,usuallywithRangeaccompanyingtheprocess.他(actor)洗了(process:material)澡(range)。Mentalprocessesrefertoverbsindicatingperception,cognition,affection,anddesire(Saragih,2010:7).Itenableslanguageuserstoexpressopinion,thoughtsandtastesthathelptoidentifytheirdefinitionsofreality.Thisprocesstypetendstoberealizedthroughtheuseofverbslikethink,know,feel,smell,hear,see,want,like,hate,please,repel,admire,enjoy,fear.MentalprocessesdifferfromMaterialonesinasmuchasthelatterarephysical,moving,overtdoings.Semantically,amentalprocessinvolvessense,whichisinsidethehumanorconsciousbeing.Mentalprocessisrelatedtopsychologicalmatters.Theparticipantthatisrelatedtothesensemustbeaconsciousorhumanbeing.Thepersoninwhosemindthementalprocessoccursisnotreally‘acting’.Mentalprocesscanbedividedintothreesub-categories:affectionorreaction(verbslikepleasing,loving,andworrying),cognition(verbsofthinking,knowing,understanding,choosing,deciding)andperception(verbsofhearing,seeing,smelling).Thesenserandthephenomenonaretwoparticipantsincolvedinmentalprocess.Suchas:Lucy(senser)likes(process:affection)sunflowers(phenomenon).Relationalprocessconstruesbeingandrelationamongentitiesthroughidentification,attribution,andpossession(Saragih,2010:8).Theprocessoccursoutsideandinsidehumanbeing.Relationalprocessesaretypicallyrealizedbytheverb‘be’orsomeverbsofthesameclass(knownascopularverbs);forexamples,seem,become,appear,etc,orsometimebyverbssuchashave,own,possess.Halliday(1994:119)statesthatrelationalprocessisdividedintotwomo