6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ……………………………………………………………………… i ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………………… iv PART I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………… 1 Rationale of the Study ……………………………………………………… Aims of the Study ………………………………………………………… Scope of the Study …………………………………………………… Methods of the Study ……………………………………………………… Data Collection …………………………………………………………… Design of the Study ……………………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………………… Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS …………………………………… 1.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 1.2 Systemic Functional Theory ……………………………………………… 1.3 Metafunctions …………………………………………………………… 1.3.1 Ideational Metafunction ………………………………………… 1.3.2 Interpersonal Metafunction ………………………………… 1.3.3 Textual Metafunction …………………………………………… 1.4 Cohesion Analysis ………………………………………………………… 10 1.4.1 1.4.1.1 Reference …………………………………………………… 11 1.4.1.2 Substitution ………………………………………………… 12 1.4.1.3 Ellipsis ……………………………………………………… 12 1.4.1.4 Conjunction …………………………………………………… 13 1.4.2 Lexical cohesion ……………………………………………… 13 1.4.2.1 Reiteration …………………………………………………… 14 1.4.2.2 1.5 Grammatical cohesion ………………………………………… 11 Collocation …………………………………………………… 14 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 14 Chapter 2: THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT 15 “ACID PRECIPITATION – A HUMAN IMPACT ON THE EARTH SYSTEM” 2.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 15 2.2 The Text ………………………………………………………………… 15 2.3 The Context of the Chosen Text ……………………………………… 16 2.4 Clause and Clause Complex Analysis ………………………………… 17 2.5 The Analysis of the Text in Terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme 19 2.5.1 The Transitivity Pattern ………………………………………… 26 2.5.2 The Mood Pattern ………………………………………………… 27 2.5.3 The Thematic Pattern …………………………………………… 2.6 28 Cohesion Analysis of the Text ………………………………………… 28 2.6.1 Grammatical Cohesion ……………………………………… 28 2.6.1.1 Conjunctive Devices ………………………………………… 28 2.6.1.2 Reference …………………………………………………… 29 2.6.2 Lexical Cohesion ………………………………………… 31 Context Configuration of the Text …………………………………… 34 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………… 36 Recapitulations …………… …………………………………………… 36 Implications for Teaching and Learning ……………………………… 37 Suggestions for Further Study ………………………………………… 37 2.7 PART III: REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………… 38 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………… I Appendix Clause and Clause Complex Analysis ………………………………… II Appendix Transitivity Pattern of the Text ……………………………………… V Appendix Mood Pattern of the Text …………………………………………… VII Appendix Thematic Pattern of the Text ……………………………………… IX PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the Study Linguists have approached the study of English from different points of view Some have tried to account for formal aspects of the grammar of language largely divorced from meanings Others have started out by looking at words and sentences and then asking how the forms of the language For M.A.K Halliday, language is a “system of meanings” That means when people use language, their language acts express meanings From this point of view, the grammar becomes a study on how meanings are built up through the use of words and other linguistic forms such as tone and emphasis This may seem fairly obvious to most people since it accords with a commonsense view of language, but not all linguists have been concerned with meaning in such a direct way as Halliday He developed a theory called systemic functional theory, which sees a text as a linguistic consequence of the interaction of the aspects of context which are called "field, tenor and mode" Based on Halliday‟s systemic functional theory, in this MA thesis I would like to analyze the geography text “Acid Precipitation – A Human Impact on the Earth System” to explore its meaning and structure The analysis will try to encompass as many aspects of text analysis as possible in order to arrive at a valid and accurate interpretation of the text This text is taken from a textbook for students learning ESP I hope that this study will contribute to some extent to the analysis of a text in terms of systemic functional grammar and to the teaching of English to students of science and technology in Vietnam Aims of the Study The aim of this study is to analyze a geography text in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion to see how it is organized lexically, grammatically and semantically using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework Scope of the Study Given the aim of study set above, in this thesis I would only focus on the analysis of a text in terms of transitivity, mood, theme and cohesion Also, at first I intended to analyze some texts, but due to the limit of a minor thesis, now I would only focus on the meaning and structure of one text in the book Egeo – An Advanved Course for Students of Geography, Book Methods of the Study This study attempts to analyze the meaning and structure of a geography text Therefore, description and analysis are the main methods of the study The descriptive method is used in the description of main aspects of functional grammar and the analytic method is used to analyze the text Data Collection The text is a scientific text on geography taken from Earth – An Introduction to Physical Geology, 8th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005 by Edward J Tarbuck, Federic K Lutgens, and was published in the book Egeo – An Advanved Course for Students of Geography, Book 2, University of Education Publishing House, 2009 Design of the Study This minor thesis is divided into three parts as follows:  Part I: Introduction – presents the rationale of the study, the aims, the scope, the methods, data collection and the research design  Part II: Development o Chapter 1: Theoretical Backgrounds – provides some fundamental and theoretical concepts including systemic functional theory, metafunctions, and cohesion o Chapter 2: The Meaning and Structure of the Text “Acid Precipitation – a Human Impact on the Earth System” – analyzes the text in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion to explore the meaning and structure of the text  Part III: Conclusion – summarizes the results of the study and suggests some implications for English teaching and learning and provides some suggestions for further studies 10 PART II: Chapter 1: DEVELOPMENT THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction In this chapter I will present some fundamental concepts of systemic functional linguistics to establish a theoretical framework for the analysis of the text “Acid Precipitation – A Human Impact on the Earth System” in the next chapter The concepts chosen to be examined are metafunctions, process types, mood, theme and cohesion 1.2 Systemic Functional Theory Systemic functional grammar (SFG) or systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is a model of grammar which was developed by Michael Halliday in the 1960s It is part of a broad social semiotic approach to language called systemic linguistics The term “systemic” refers to the view of language as “a network of systems, or interrelated sets of options for making meaning”; the term “functional” indicates that the approach is concerned with meaning, as opposed to formal grammar, which focuses on word classes such as nouns and verbs, typically without reference beyond the individual clause Systemic functional theory views language as a resource people use to accomplish their purposes by expressing meaning in context Halliday (1994) describes the fundamental concepts of this theory, saying that language exists and must be studied in various contexts, those being professional settings, classrooms, etc Particular aspects of a given context define the meanings likely to be expressed and the language likely to be used to express those meanings In addition, particular aspects of context comprise elements such as topics being discussed, the language users and the medium of communication All of them are used to describe the linguistic variation in a given text, more widely known as register (Halliday 1994) It is seen as a linguistic consequence of the interaction of the already mentioned aspects of context which are called by Halliday “field, tenor and mode” Field refers to the topics and actions which language expresses, tenor denotes language users, their relationships and their purposes, and mode describes the channel in which communication takes place, be it speaking, writing or any combination of these two Each analyzed text can be viewed as having three important facets: textual, interpersonal and ideational The first one refers to the type/token ratio, vocabulary use and register, the 11 second one relies on concepts like exchange structure, involvement and detachment, personal reference and use of pronouns and discourse markers, whereas the third one describes propositional content and modality 1.3 Metafunctions Systemic Functional Grammar divides the social purpose of language into three semantic prongs which the grammar interweaves Language is seen as a representation of reality (ideational metafunction), transmitted for a specific purpose (interpersonal metafunction), and structured as a message (textual metafunction) Halliday calls these three aspects metafunctions, and uses them to explain the logic behind wording choices 1.3.1 Ideational Metafunction According to Halliday (1994), the ideational metafunction is concerned with how we present reality in language It is divided into two: experiential and logical metafunctions The experiential metafunction organizes our experience and understanding of the world It is the potential of the language to construe figures with elements and its potential to differentiate these elements into processes, the participants in these processes, and the circumstances in which the processes occur The logical metafunction works above the experiential It specializes our reasoning on the basis of our experience It is the potential of the language to construe logical links between figures; for example, “this happened after that happened” or, with more experience, “this happens every time that happens” The ideational metafunction relates to the field aspects of a text, or its subject matter and context of use Field is divided into three areas: semantic domain, specialization, and angle of representation The experiential aspect of meaning is expressed through the system of TRANSITIVITY The TRANSITIVITY system is the principal system for the ideational metafunction in the clause network For Halliday (1994), this system construes the world of experience into a manageable set of processes In the transitivity system of English, there are process types They are material, mental, verbal, behavioral, relational, and existential process Material process According to Geoff Thompson (1996), one of the most salient types of processes is the one involving physical actions: playing, cooking, and planting, and so on It is called 12 material process Graham Lock (2005) calls this process Action process Material process or Action process is the process of „doing‟ It expresses the notion that some entity does „something‟ – which may be done „to‟ some other entity The „doer‟ of this type of action is called the Actor Any material process has an Actor, even though the actor may not actually be mentioned in the clause In many cases, the action may be represented as affecting or „being done to‟ a second participant; this participant is called the Goal, since the action is, in a sense, directed at this participant In some material processes there exists a third participant This participant is called the Beneficiary The Beneficiary is either Recipient or Client The Recipient is one that goods are given to; the Client is one that services are done for The following examples illustrate the existence of the three participants in the clauses The mayor resigned Actor Process: material The lion caught the tourist Actor Process: material Goal She sent John her best wishes Actor Process: material Beneficiary: Goal Recipient Fred bought his wife a present Actor Process: material Beneficiary: Goal Client Mental process “This is the process of sensing such as thinking, loving, wanting, hoping It consists of four main subtypes: cognitive (thinking, knowing, realizing), perceptive (hearing, sensing, feeling), affective (loving, hating, adoring) and desiderative (wanting, desiring, wishing)” (Hoang Van Van, 2006) In a mental process, there are usually two participants referred to as Senser and Phenomenon The Senser is the conscious being that is feeling, 13 thinking or seeing The Phenomenon is that which is „sensed‟ – felt, thought or seen) The clauses in the following examples are of mental process The boy loved the girl Actor Process: mental Phenomenon (affection) We could hear it coming Actor Process: mental Phenomenon (perception) Relational process This is the process of being, having and being at It comes under three main types: intensive (x is a), circumstantial (x is at a) and possessive (x has a) Each of these comes in two distinct modes: attributive (a is an attributive of x) and identifying (a is the identity of x) When a relational process is in the attributive mode, it has one participant referred to as Carrier and the quality or the thing showing that the Carrier belongs to a class of things, which is usually realized by an adjective or an indefinite nominal group Sarah is wise Carrier Process: relational Attribute She is a teacher Carrier Process: relational Attribute In contrast, when a relational clause is in the identifying mode, it has two equating participants, one identifying the other They are referred to as Identified/ Identifier and Token/ Value Tom is the leader Identified/ Process: relational Identifier/ Value Token 14 Circumstantial process expresses being in terms of circumstantial elements such as time, place, distance, reason The relationship between the participant and its circumstantial element is that of Carrier and Attribute Peter has a piano Carrier Process: relational Attribute Behavioural process This is the process of (typically human) physiological and psychological behaviour like breathing, coughing, laughing, dreaming and staring The participant who is „behaving‟, labeled Behaver, is typically a conscious being, not a lifeless thing She breathed deeply Actor Process: behavioural Circumstance Verbal process Verbal process is the process of saying and is expressed by verbs such as say, tell, ask, speak, talk Unlike behavioural and mental process, a verbal process does not require a conscious participant and it can contain one participant referred to as Sayer, two participants referred to respectively, depending on particular subtype of verbal process, as Sayer and Target, and Sayer and Verbiage, and even three participants referred to respectively as Sayer, Target, and Recipient Sayer is one that puts out a signal, Target is one that the verbalization is directed to, Recipient if one that benefits from the verbal process, and Verbiage is the name of the verbalization itself He said loudly Sayer Process: verbal Circumstance They told me so Sayer Process: verbal Target Circumstance She spoke French to me Sayer Process: verbal Target Recipient 15 He ordered two beers Sayer Process: verbal Verbiage Existential process This is the process of existing, indicating that something or some natural force exists In this type of process, there is generally a participant, the Existent and one or two circumstantial elements On the wall there a picture Process: existential Circumstance hangs Existent 1.3.2 Interpersonal Metafunction One of the main purposes of communication is to interact with other people: to establish and maintain appropriate social links with them Interaction is an inherent part of language use Speakers and writers of language have to structure clauses in order to interact with one another This is the interpersonal metafunction of language It is concerned with Clause as Exchange Halliday (1994: 69) quotes a table by Thompson (1996) to characterize the primary speech roles which can be represented below commodity exchange (a) goods-&-services (b) information „offer‟ „statement‟ Would you like this teapot? He‟s giving her the teapot „command‟ „question‟ Give me that teapot! What is he giving her? role in exchange (i) giving (ii) demanding (Source: Thompson 1996:40) As an exchange or interactive event, a clause consists of two components: the Mood and the Residue Mood plays a vital role in carrying out the interpersonal function of the clause as exchange in English In English, the Mood consists of two elements: Subject and Finite  The Subject is the nominal component of the Mood 43 PART III: CONCLUSION Recapitulations In this thesis, the meaning and structure of a geography text have already been analyzed based on systemic functional grammar In order to for the study to be carried out, some theoretical backgrounds have been presented The study starts with the introduction of Systemic Functional Theory Then, the three metafunctions, ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions, are briefly illustrated together with their realizations in the Transitivity, Mood and Theme In addition, the thesis provides some background on cohesion and its two main types One is grammatical cohesion (including reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction) and the other is lexical cohesion (including reiteration and collocation) These theoretical backgrounds are illustrated by examples taken from grammar books by famous grammarians like Halliday, Nunan, Hoang Van Van, etc On the basis of these theoretical backgrounds, a geography text is analyzed in terms of transitivity, mood, theme and cohesion For transitivity, it can be shown that the main the main process type is material process This help to express the effects of human activities to the environment, which causes acid rain and what acid rain in turn affects human‟s life Relational process also exists in the text to convey the existence of acid rain Most of the mood pattern in the text is declarative, which is the typicality of a description Modality only exists in one clause to express the possibility of the destruction of acid rain For thematic pattern, it can be shown that most of the themes in the clauses are unmarked themes In the text some cohesive devices are also used They include conjunctives, reference, repetition, synonym, hyponym and meronym From the analysis above, it can also be concluded that systemic functional grammar is one of the most effective paradigms in text analysis to explore its structure and the meaning it conveys Owing to the limitation of time and limited sources of reference related to the field, there may be unavoidable mistakes in the paper I would highly appreciate any comments from readers to make it better 44 Implications of the Study This study on the meaning and structure of a geography text is hoped to be of great use to teachers and learners in language teaching and learning First, an overview of language backgrounds related to Systemic Functional Grammar, especially the three metafunctions, helps teachers to revise this field of language They may apply the procedure of text analysis in terms of transitivity, mood, theme and cohesion in language teaching to get a better view of language in general and text analysis in particular Thus, the features of their student‟s texts will be identified more effectively Second, students can adapt the procedures in text analysis to analyze their writing in order to produce logical and meaningful clauses, and this helps to make good discourses This study can also be helpful to writers of scientific text They may take this text analysis in consideration when they produce their own texts so that their texts would be clear, coherent and communicative Suggestions for further study On the framework of a minor thesis, this paper only examines the meaning and structure of a geography text in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, and cohesion Further study should focus on other ESP texts and compare the text structure in English and Vietnamese to see how ESP texts are organized structurally and semantically 45 REFERENCES Bình, Lâm Thị Hòa (2009), Egeo – An advanced course for students of Geography – Book 2, Nhà xuất Đại học Sư phạm Bloor, Thomas and Meriel (1995), The Functional Analysis of English, Oxford University Press Halliday, M.A.K (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Halliday, M.A.K and R Hasan (1997), Cohesion in English, London: Longman Lock, G (1996), Functional English Grammar: An Introduction for Second Language Teachers, Richards, J.C (Ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1993), Introducing Discourse Analysis, London: Penguin Thomson, G (1996), Introducing Functional Grammar, Oxford University Press Inc Vân, Hoàng Văn (2002), Ngữ Pháp Kinh Nghiệm Cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức hệ thống, Nhà xuất Khoa học Xã hội Vân, Hoàng Văn (2004), Dẫn luận Ngữ pháp Chức (dịch), Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 10 Vân, Hoàng Văn (2006), Introducing Discourse Analysis, Hanoi: Education Publishing House 46 APPENDICES 47 APPENDIX Table Clause and Clause Complexes I (1) II || || 1.1 || || 1.1 || || 1.1 || || 1.1 || (6) VII 1.1 (5) VI || (4) V || (3) IV 1.1 (2) III || (7) ||| || α VIII x || 1.1 || 1.1 ||| α || (13) 1.1 || || 1.1 || || 1.1 || (15) XIV || (14) XIII ||| || XII β || (11) XI ||| (10) X β (9) IX x (16) || α | | 48 XV (17) ||| 1 || + ||| x β ||| XVI (19) XVII || 1.1 || ||| α || (20) XVIII (22) XIX || 1.1 || (23) ||| α || XX || 1.1 || || 1.1 || || 1.1 || (27) XXIII ||| (26) XXII β (25) XXI x (28) ||| 1 || + ||| XXIV (30) XXV ||| 1 || ||| α || (31) x β || XXVI + γ ||| (34) ||| 1 || + || + ||| 49 XXVII (37) ||| 1 || + ||| Boundary markers used for this text analysis: | | | : clause complex boundary  | | : clause boundary Type of dependence: 1.1 1.2 α 1.3 : : Paratactic relation Hypotactic relation β  Logico-semantic relations: =: +: Extension x:  Elaboration Enhancement Others: I, II, III … : Number of clause complexes in the whole text (1), (2), (3) … : Number of clause in the whole text 1, 2, … : Number of clause within a clause complex 50 APPENDIX Table The Transitivity Pattern of the Text Clause Part Process Part I identified relational are identifier direction II actor material cause goal manner III actor material modify goal direction IV actor material cause goal V identified relational is identifier VI identified relational are identifier VII senser mental expect phenomenon actor material have Circumstance location location manner succumbed VIII identified relational is identifier IX 10 carrier relational is attribute X 11 actor material dissolves 12 identified relational is identifier XI 13 identified relational refers identifier XII 14 goal material are location temporal released XIII 15 carrier relational include attribute XIV 16 identified relational are direction identifier converted into XV 17 goal material is manner deposited 18 XVI 19 material converted actor material have attribute temporal goal temporal experienced XVII 20 identifier relational have manner shown 21 existent existential occurs location XVIII 22 actor material originates spatial XIX 23 existent existential occurs location 51 24 XX carrier relational remain 25 phenomenon mental are location attribute location identifier location carrier spatial location thought XXI 26 identified relational is XXII 27 attribute relational have been XXIII 28 carrier relational are attribute 29 actor material are range approaching XXIV 30 identified relational are manner characterized XXV 31 sayer verbal indicates 32 actor material reduce goal material impair goal material harms goal 35 material damages goal 36 material leaches goal material promotes goal material range 33 XXVI XXVII 34 37 38 actor actor contributes direction location 52 APPENDIX Table The Mood Pattern of the Text Clause Subject Finite Mood I Human are declarative II Our actions cause declarative III We humans modify declarative IV These atmospheric modifications cause declarative V Acid precipitation is declarative VI Decomposed monuments and are declarative structures VII declarative We expect declarative Many of these monuments have declarative VIII An important cause is declarative IX 10 Rain is declarative X 11 Carbon dioxide dissolves declarative 12 The product is declarative XI 13 The term acid precipitation refers XII 14 About 40 million tons of sulfur are declarative include declarative and nitrogen oxides XIII 15 The major sources of these emissions declarative XIV 16 Some of these pollutants are declarative XV 17 Another portion is declarative 18 XVI Northern Europe and eastern North have declarative America XVII 19 (ellipsis) declarative 20 Studies have declarative 21 Acid rain occurs declarative XVIII 22 A portion of the acidity originates declarative XIX 23 This situation occurs declarative 24 Many pollutants remain declarative 25 The damaging environmental are XX Modality 53 effects of acid rain declarative XXI 26 The best known effect is declarative XXII 27 Substantial increases have declarative XXIII 28 Some lakes are declarative XXIV 29 Others are declarative 30 Ecosystems are declarative 31 Research indicates declarative 32 Acid precipitation may declarative impair declarative harms declarative 35 damages declarative 36 leaches declarative promotes declarative contributes declarative XXV 33 XXVI XXVII 34 37 38 Acid rain Acid precipitation possibility 54 APPENDIX Table Thematic pattern of the text Clause Textual theme I II III As such For example IV in turn V VI VII VIII IX X 10 11 XI 12 13 XII 14 XIII 15 XIV 16 XV 17 18 19 XVI Although When However As a consequence of burning large quantities of fossil fuels, like coal and petroleum products, Through a series of complex chemical reactions, and Interpersonal theme Topical theme Human Our actions by going about our normal routine These atmospheric modifications Acid precipitation Decomposed stone monuments and structures We many of these monuments An important cause for this accelerated chemical weathering Rain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere the product the term acid precipitation about 40 million tons of sulfur and nitrogen oxides Markedness of theme unmarked unmarked marked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked The major sources of these emissions some of these pollutants unmarked Another portion (ellipsis) Northern Europe unmarked unmarked unmarked 55 XVII 20 21 XVIII 22 XIX XX 23 24 25 XXI 26 XXII XXIII 27 28 29 30 31 that XXIV XXV 32 33 XXVI 34 35 36 XXVII 37 38 In addition to local pollution sources Because Consequently, And In addition to the many lakes that can no longer support fish, That And but also and Finally And and eastern North America Studies acid rain unmarked unmarked a portion of the acidity found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada This situation many pollutants The damaging environmental effects of acid rain The best-known effect Accompanying this some lakes others Ecosystems Research unmarked acid precipitation (ellipsis) Acid rain (ellipsis) (ellipsis) acid precipitation (ellipsis) unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked marked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked unmarked 56 57 ... fundamental and theoretical concepts including systemic functional theory, metafunctions, and cohesion o Chapter 2: The Meaning and Structure of the Text “Acid Precipitation – a Human Impact on the. .. – An Advanved Course for Students of Geography, Book Methods of the Study This study attempts to analyze the meaning and structure of a geography text Therefore, description and analysis are the. .. reveal some of the damages that acid precipitation has caused to our environment and what damages human have been aware of up to now The circumstantial components in the clauses of the text are of