Tài liệu A transitivity analysis of the novel gone with the wind by margaret mitchell

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A transitivity analysis of the novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2018 Trần Thị Lan Hương Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Đỗ Kim Phương, Ph.D Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To fulfill this graduation thesis, I have been indebted to many people, so I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all of them for their valuable contributions. First and foremost, to my supervisor Ph.D Do Kim Phuong, I would like to deeply thank for her patient guidance, encouragement and supervision from the very initial to the final stage of submitting this thesis. Without her endless assistance, precious advice and detailed comments my work would not have been completed. Furthermore, I owe my special thanks to all the lecturers who have enthusiastically given precious lectures in my M.A course. I have obtained a lot of useful knowledge for my study from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Tuyet Minh, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Ngoc Trung, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Van Que, Prof. Assoc. Dang Ngoc Huong, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dang Suu, Prof. Assoc. Nguyen Thi Van Dong, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Dai Quang, and other lecturers at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies of Hanoi Open University. For concerns and assistance, my thanks also go to the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies. Besides, I highly appreciate the helpful advice, assistance and participation from my colleagues and friends who help the study to be fulfilled and willingly share their precious time during the process of conducting this thesis. In particular, I also would like to convey my great gratitude to my beloved family for their continuous support and encouragement they have provided during the course and throughout the entire study process. I will be grateful forever for their support. Last but not least, to all the authors of the publications in the list of references, I offer my sincere thanks for their useful materials. Hanoi, 2018 Trần Thị Lan Hương ii ABSTRACT This study is concerned with Transitivity System used Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. The purposes of this research are to identify the process types of transitivity system, to find out their significance in the characterisation of each character in Chapter 2 as well as to describe the implications of the analysis. This study is conducted by applying descriptive, analytic and statistical methods. There are 395 clauses selected from the chapter . All the process types of transitivity system are found in Chapter 2, which are material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal and existential process. The result of the analysis is shown as follows : material (42,53%), mental (19,75%), relational (28,86%), verbal (5,82%), behavioral (0,76%), and existential (2,28%). In addition, the result also presents the occurrences of process types with each of the five characters in the chapter. This will be carefully discussed in Chapter 4 of the study. The findings of the study can, to some extent, be used as some suggestions for English teachers and learners to have more access to Process types of Transitivity System in order to achieve success in teaching and learning writing English texts. Besides, linguistics researchers of Systemic Functional Grammar can conduct further study on the similar topic to investigate another aspects of the issue. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY .......................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................1 1.1. Rationale of the study...........................................................................................1 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study .........................................................................2 1.2.1. Aims ..................................................................................................................2 1.2.2. Objectives ..........................................................................................................2 1.3. Research questions ...............................................................................................3 1.4. Methods of the study ............................................................................................3 1.5. Scope of the study ................................................................................................3 1.6. Significance of the study ......................................................................................4 1.7. Design of the study...............................................................................................4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................6 2.1. Previous studies ....................................................................................................6 2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar .............................................................................8 2.2.1. Introduction to SFG...........................................................................................8 2.2.2. Metafunctions ....................................................................................................9 2.2.2.1. Ideational Metafunction ...............................................................................10 2.2.2.2. Interpersonal Metafunction ..........................................................................11 2.2.2.3. Textual Metafunction ...................................................................................12 2.3. Transitivity system .............................................................................................13 2.3.1. Three components of the process ....................................................................14 2.3.2. Types of process ..............................................................................................17 2.3.2.1. Material Process ...........................................................................................17 2.3.2.2. Mental Process .............................................................................................20 2.3.2.3. Relational Process ........................................................................................21 2.3.2.4. Verbal Process ..............................................................................................23 2.3.2.5. Behavioural Process .....................................................................................25 2.3.2.6. Existential Process .......................................................................................26 iv 2.4. Summary ............................................................................................................26 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................27 3.1. Subjects ..............................................................................................................27 3.2. Instruments .........................................................................................................27 3.3. Procedures ..........................................................................................................28 3.4. Statistical Analysis .............................................................................................29 3.5. Summary ............................................................................................................29 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF PROCESS TYPES OF TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM USED IN CHAPTER 2 OF THE NOVEL "GONE WITH THE WIND" ......................................................................................................................31 4.1. Process Types of Transitivity used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the Wind" .........................................................................................................................31 4.2. The significance of the identified transitivity patterns in the characterisation of each character in Chapter 2 .......................................................................................38 4.3. Implications of the analysis in writing and teaching and learning writing ........50 4.4. Summary ............................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...............................................................................53 5.1 Summary of Findings ..........................................................................................53 5.2 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................54 5.3 Recommendations for Further Study ..................................................................54 REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................56 APPENDIX: ..............................................................................................................59 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Adj: Adjunct Cir: Circumstantial Compl: Complement Fin: Finite Pre: Predicator Pro: Process SFG: Systemic Functional Grammar SFL: Systemic Functional Linguistics vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 2.1. Main systems of the metafunctions (Wilcock, 1993, p.19). ...................10 Figure 2.1. Layers of the metafunctions (Wilcock, 1993, p.19) ...............................12 Table 2.1. Summary of processes and participants ...................................................15 Table 4.1: Process types in Chapter 2 .......................................................................31 Table 4.2: Summary of Process types in Chapter 2 .................................................39 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale of the study Language, no matter how it is defined, analyzed and accessed, is a tool of communication. It is widely believed that people who study and use a language are interested in how meanings can be made and understood through choices of words and grammatical resources. Therefore, language and language study attract a lot of academic researchers from different disciplines to better understand contemporary society. There are numerous language fields for linguistics researchers to conduct studies on. They may study the language of science, politics, religion, economics, literature, daily life, etc. for their own reasons. An analysis of a famous literary work in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar is my priotity over any other topics with the following justifications. The first motive for the study is based on the very book "Gone with the Wind". This is the only novel by American modern woman writer Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell, popularly known as Margaret Mitchell, was published in 1936. It is a successful commercial novel and a world popular classic. "Gone with the Wind" broke the sales record and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. As of 2014, a Harris poll found it to be the second favorite book of American readers, just behind the Bible. More than 30 million copies have been printed worldwide. Despite its popularity and great success, it has not got much attention from the literary critics and linguistics researchers. The second reason concerns the Systemic Functional Grammar approach. Among many different approaches to study and analyze the grammar of a language, Functional Grammar is found very useful and interesting because it offers language reseachers and learners an analytic tool of looking at the whole text. Although it has been studied by many famous linguists in the world, it has not been studied much in Vietnam. 1 The last crucial factor leading to this study is the implications of the analysis in writing as well as in teaching and learning writing. The result of the study provides an useful tool for teachers and learners to be able to analyze and understand English written texts. Applying process types in writing, teaching and learning writing, they will achieve better language competence. With these ideas in mind, in this study, Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell will be analysed in terms of Transitivity Process with the knowledge of Systematic Functional Grammar. It is hoped that this study will provide some insights into the characterisation of each character in the chapter as well as suggest some applications for English-writing teachers and learners. 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1. Aims This study aims at analysing Types of Process used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell and explaining the significance of the identified Transitivity patterns in the characterisation of each character in the chapter. 1.2.2. Objectives To achieve the aims mentioned-above, the following objectives are put forwards: + Identifying Process Types of Transitivity System used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell. + Showing the significance of the identified transitivity patterns in the characterisation of each character in Chapter 2 + Suggesting some implications of the analysis of Process Types 2 1.3. Research questions With the above aims and objectives, the study deals with the following research questions: 1. What are Process Types of Transitivity System used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell ? 2. What is the significance of the identified transitivity patterns in the characterisation of each character in Chapter 2? 3. What are the implications of the analysis of Process Types? 1.4. Methods of the study From the aims and objectives stated above, the study is conducted based mainly on three major methods: descriptive, analytic and statistical. The descriptive method concerns with the description of the theoretical background and framework of Systemic Functional Grammar, in terms of Metalfunctions and Transitivity System. The analytic method helps to identify Transitivity System used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell. The analysis of the source language text‘s clause is mainly based on Halliday‘s theories of Systemic Functional Grammar taken in “An introduction to Functional Grammar‖. The statistical method is used to figure out the percentage of each process type used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell. 1.5. Scope of the study With regards to the problems and objectives of the study, the writer has to limit the scope of the study. Therefore, this study concentrates on the analysis of Process Types in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell. 3 1.6. Significance of the study This study is expected to offer some theoretical and practical contributions. In terms of theory, this study can hopefully enrich the literature about Transitivity System in exposition texts and also hopefully be useful for the readers who are interested in studying Transitivity System in which it can help them to master English and to understand the system itself. In addition, this study can hopefully be used as a reference in the analysis of Transitivity System. Practically, the result of this study is expected to provide information for teachers, especially those regarding the quality of the texts so that teachers are able to select proper texts as teaching documents. In addition, this study will help teachers enhance their ability to analyze texts using transitivity system. Thus, teachers will be able to help students gain their ability to create well-written texts. 1.7. Design of the study This study pictures an exploratory case study which encompasses five chapters. Chapter 1: outlines the rationale of the study; the aims and objectives of the study, the significance of the study, the methods of the study, the scope of the study, and the design of the study. Chapter 2 attempts to establish the theoretical framework for the study. The key concepts in systemic functional linguistics are examined to provide a description of Metafunctions (Interpersonal metafunctions, Ideational metafunctions, Textual metafunctions) and Transitivity Sytem (Three components of the process, Material Process, Mental Process, Relational Process, Verbal Process, Existential Process, Behavioural Process) Chapter 3 : is concerned with the methodology of the research . It consists the subjects of the study, the instruments, the procedures, and the data analysis of the study. 4 Chapter 4: conducts the data analysis and explains the analysis results. In this chapter, the process types are carefully analyzed to help fulfill the purpose of the study mentioned in chapter 1. Chapter 5: provides a short conclusion of the study and makes some suggestions for further research. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Previous studies Transitivity has been a hot topic in linguistic studies for a long time. It has been studied from different angles. Transitivity analysis has been widely used to understand the language of speakers and writers. It examines the structure of sentences and clauses which are represented by processes, the participants involved in these processes, and the circumstances in which processes and participants are involved. Using transitivity analysis, researchers have tried to reveal that language structures can produce certain meanings and ideology which are not always explicit for readers. In other words, the task of functional analysis, particularly transitivity analysis, is to discover the relation between meanings and wordings that accounts for the organization of linguistic features in a text. Therefore, the concept of transitivity has been used by a number of linguists in the world and in Vietnam to shed more light on the use of language in a literary text. Spearheading the study in Transitivity analysis, a research labelled as ―one of the groundbreaking analysis in stylistics‖ (Carter and Stockwell, 1971 cited in Nguyen, p. 86) was done by M.A.K. Halliday to illustrate how the meaning is brought by the grammatical structure of the text‘s language of William Golding‘s the Inheritors. This study entailed a wide employment of the transitivity analysis in analyzing texts such as short stories (Nguyen, 2012; Msuya, 2014; Mwinlaaru, 2012), sonnets (Indrayani & Seomantri, 2014) play (Gallardo, 2006) and essay (Cunanan, 2011). Analyzing the short story entitled Heroic Mother by Hoa Pham, Nguyen (2012) looked into the personality portrayal of the mother. Perusing the same type of literary text, Msuya (2014) studied Peter Abraham‘s Mine Boy through the same framework but with particular regard to the verbal processes of the characters named Xuma and Leah. 6 Focusing on a different kind of literary text, Indrayani & Seomantri (2014) analyzed the sonnets written by Shakespeare. The study includes the analysis of three of Shakespearean sonnets namely The Time of the Year, Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds and My Mistress‟ Eye. It was found that only four of the six processes were present namely material, mental, relational and existential are present wherein the first occurred most frequently among the others. The research also identified some archaic words and how these played an important role in the clauses. Cunanan (2011), on the other hand, studied the essay written by Virginia Woolf entitled Old Mrs. Grey and explained how stylistic analysis could help the ESL readers understand the text through giving considerations to the author‘s linguistic choice. The study pointed out that transitivity analysis allows the readers to have an access to the persona‘s stream of consciousness. Through the transitivity analysis, according to Nguyen (2012), ―…researchers have tried to reveal that language structures can produce certain meanings and ideology which are not always explicit for readers‖ (p. 86). With this, ―…a good number of textual stylistic scholars have embarked on making analyses of different texts (Msuya, 2014:134) to unfold its different ideologies through the systemic-functional linguistics which established a bond between the word choice and meaning. The aforementioned studies ―…are just few among many‖ (Nguyen, 2012: p. 86) existing research that have employed transitivity analysis. These studies have invited other scholars to analyze different literary and non-literary texts to construe their underlying objective meanings embedded in the language. Meanwhile, the present study which adapts the same framework explains briefly what transitivity theory. Thus, however small the study is, I would like to contribute to this fledgling field by analyzing Transitivity System used in Chapter 2 of the novel "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell from the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar. Before that, in this chapter, background knowledge of Systematic Functional Grammar and Process Types will be presented. 7 2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar 2.2.1. Introduction to SFG The origins of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) can be traced from earlier works of the Prague School Formed in Europe in the 1920‘s. Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday is the founder of SFL. He expanded the theory from his teacher, JR Firth‘s work. SFL is an approach that sees how the meaning of a language can be related to human experience. Many SFL-oriented linguists begin an analysis with social context and discovered how languages act upon, and is constrained and influenced by this social context. The functional grammar is primary concerned with the function of structures and their constituents and with their meaning in context. The focus of this kind of grammar is usually on the appropriateness of a form for a particular communicative purpose in a particular context. On the other hand, it is concerned with the way in which grammar is organized to make meaning. David et. al ( 1995:23) stated whenever human speak or write, they make selections from entire lexical and grammatical system of English to choose appropriate meanings for the field, tenor, and mode of a context of situation, they introduce the notion that language simultaneously perform three functions (Ideational: Experiential and Logical, Interpersonal, and Textual). Halliday in David et. al (1996:13) calls these main functions metafuctions. Also, Gerot and Wignell (1995:6) state that ―functional grammar views language as a resource for making meaning‖. This kind of grammar attempts to describe language in actual use and so focus on text and their contexts. It is concerned not only with the structures but also how those structures construct meaning. Functional grammar explains language viewed from the relationship between context, meaning, and wording. It starts with the question, ‗How are the meaning of a text realized?‘ However, Halliday (1994:17) assert that ―functional grammar is a study of wording, but one that interprets the 8 wording by reference to what it means and the meaning is encoded in the wording as an integrated whole‖. In simple words, Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) is a grammar based on the view that language is a system for making meaning. Systemic refers to the fact that when we use language, we make choices from sets of available options. This is contrary to the traditional view of grammar as sets of rules. Functional assumes that every time we make a choice from the available options, we are doing so in order to fulfill a communicative purpose. And Grammar simply refers to the fact that there is an overall organisation to all of these possible options. From all of the above-mentioned, it can be concluded that functional grammar is a study of context, meaning and structure of language, the meaning which constructed by the wording or structure of a language. Meanings are created by combining function and structure. It means that different structure builds different meanings. Thus, analyzing functional grammar needs a good comprehension in relating the function and structure (Fontaine, 2013). However, function in a clause structure is mostly not only one. Therefore, to discover those functions, metafuntions concept is presented (Halliday and Matthiesen, 2014). 2.2.2. Metafunctions Metafunction is a term referring to three different functional components in systemic theory (Halliday and Matthiesen, 2014:361). The first component is ideational metafunction. This metafunction views language as human experience reflection of the world. It represents processes like doing or happening, saying or sensing, being or having accompanied with several different participants and circumstances. That is why the function is even called clause as representation. The second is interpersonal metafunction. It views language as action. This function reflects actions like informing or questioning, ordering or offering, expressing appraisal and attitude to whoever being addressed and whatever being talked about. 9 It is supposed to be clause as an exchange since it reflects interaction between speaker and listener. The third is textual metafunction. It is also called clause as message. The function connects the clause and the text. It develops the discourse sequences so that the discourse becomes cohesion and coherence (Halliday and Matthiesen, 2014: 30-31). There are also three situation contexts: field, tenor and mode. Field is what happens in the situation; tenor is about social relation; and mode is about contextual coherence (Halliday and Matthiesen, 2014:33). Those contexts can be explored by analyzing metafunctions through functional grammar. The field can be comprehended by analyzing ideational function through transitivity system. Tenor can be understood by finding interpersonal function through mood and modality systems. Then, the mode context can be explained by elaborating mode context through theme and cohesion (Gerot and Wignell, 1995:15). The table below summarises the three systems and their respective metafunctions: Figure 2.1. Main systems of the metafunctions (Wilcock, 1993, p.19). 2.2.2.1. Ideational Metafunction The ideational metafunction refers to the use of language to construe and organise one‘s experience of the world. It is further divided into the experiential and the logical subfunction. The former describes clauses as representation and focuses on content and ideas, and how people actively construe and make sense of reality, classifying the objects and events within their awareness (Halliday, 1999). Halliday‘s claim that grammar has an active role in helping construing reality in the experiential subfunction also shows a Whorfian influence. 10 On the other hand, the logical subfunction focuses on the relationship between ideas, or in Halliday‘s words, systems ―which set up logical–semantic relationships between one clausal unit and another‖ (Halliday, 2003), and the emphasis is put on the symbolic representation of reality and experience through language. The ideational metafunction deals with how reality is represented in language, and asks questions such as ―who, (does) what, whom, how, why, where, and when‖. Halliday devised a system to analyse texts in the spectrum of this category: transitivity, which includes processes, participants, and circumstances. These will be in the next part of the study (2.3. Transitivity System) Below is an analysis example of a clause in terms of ideational metafunction : Susan has Actor Pro: Material written ten novels so far Goal Circumstance 2.2.2.2. Interpersonal Metafunction The interpersonal metafunction expresses the role relationship between speaker and hearer or between writer and reader associated with the situation (Halliday, 1994:68) . In addition, Bloor and Bloor (2004:28) the language is used to enable us to participate in communicative acts with other people, to take on roles and to express and understand feeling, attitude, and judgments. The interpersonal metafunction also concerns the use of language to set up and sustain interaction between people using language. In interpersonal analysis, meaning is considered from the point of view of its function in the process of social interaction. A clause is analysed into Mood and Residue, with the mood element further analysed into Subject and Finite. The Subject and Complement are typically realized by nominal groups. The Finite is realized by the tensed element of the verb. The Predicator is realized by the nontensed (or nonfinite) element or elements of the verbal group. The Adjunct is realized by an adverbial group or prepositional phrase. 11 Below is an analysis example of a clause in terms of interpersonal metafunction : Peter Is washing his car at the moment Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjunct Mood Residue 2.2.2.3. Textual Metafunction The textual metafunction refers to ―the use of language to organise the text itself‖ (Bloor & Bloor, 1995) and deals with clauses as messages (Wilcock, 1993). Two important elements of the textual metafunction are Theme and Rheme. Theme is ―the point of departure of the message‖ carried by one clause (Halliday/Bloor& Bloor 1995: 71), it tells what the clause is about and is placed at the beginning of the clause. Theme is followed by the Rheme, which comprises the rest of the message. Below is an analysis example of a clause in terms of interpersonal metafunction : Their enthusiasm for the job impresses me the most. Theme Rheme The table below summarises the practical application of the metafunctions and their systems: Figure 2.1. Layers of the metafunctions (Wilcock, 1993, p.19) Although there are three metafunctions, this study narrows down to adapt the ideational metafunctions. Therefore, the theoretical framework of this study is based 12 on System of Transitivity as proposed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) and by other linguists who draw on Halliday (1994), Bloor and Bloor (2004), Thompson (2004), Eggins (2004) and Martin et.al (1997). Analyses using this function will construe the experience that can be realized by analysing the sentences using Transitivity. According to Halliday (1973), the System of Transitivity is a major contribution to text-based understanding and the text-based investigation. 2.3. Transitivity system Transitivity is a system that construes the world of experience for describing the whole clause with a set of process types as its central. Transitivity is relevant to the Ideational Meaning of semantics and field of context of situation. The term transitivity is probably familiar as a way of distinguishing between verbs according to whether they have an object or not. It is a proper of verb that relates to whether a verb can take direct object and how many such objects a verb can take. Martin et.al (1997) describes transitivity as a resource for construing our experience in terms of configurations of a process, participant, and circumstances. Butt et. al (1996) state that ―most English clauses have a constituent structure that can be described functionally in terms of participant, process, and circumstance with process being the essential ingredient‖. However, Thompson (1996) states that ―transitivity refers to a system for describing the whole clause, rather than just the verb and its object‖. According to Halliday (1994) ―transitivity is a system that construes the world of experience into a managable set of process types‖. While, Gerot and Wignell (1995) state that ―processes are central to transitivity. Participant and circumstance are incumbent upon process. It indicates different processes suggest different participants in varying circumstances‖. This can be concluded that Transitivity is the system of grammatical choice, which involves the experiential meaning of the clause. Transitivity choices have close 13