LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:5 May 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

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         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
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         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

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Transitivity as the Grammatical Tool to Explore the Representation of Reality

Ujjal Jeet, PhD

Abstract

The present paper is a theoretical study of the system of transitivity which is an analytical tool in Functional Grammar under Systemic Functional Linguistics, a novel approach to language study offered by Michael Halliday. Although, transitivity as a system has been comprehensively dealt by Michael Halliday and others in various studies, still the literature on the subject is not widely available and needs attention. Further on, despite the availability of the limited studies on transitivity many minor topics under it are underexplored and, therefore, vague.

The present paper has attempted to make a contribution in filling up deficiency in the transitivity studies. The sections related to the explanation of

• the causative and permissive agents,
• the subtypes of relational processes
• and the relationship between Circumstance of matter and Phenomenon of matter

have often been found indistinct in the extant literature on the subject and therefore these topics have been investigated with special clarity, system and lucidity which are the hallmark of all scientific inquiry and a prerequisite for all scientific discovery.

Keywords: Systemic Functional Linguistics; Functional Grammar; Experiential metafunction; Transitivity.

Introduction

Systemic Functional Linguistics (Eggins, 2004; Halliday, 1998; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004; Halliday, 1978, p. 212; Thompson, 2014; Butt, 1995; Fontaine, 2013) as an approach to language is a paradigm shift from the other dominant linguistic approaches which consider language as an abstract set of generalized rules detached from its context of use.

The focus of such approaches is the abstract structure and the syntagmatic rules of combination. SFL, on the other hand, argues that language is a social semiotic system used by a community of people to make meanings. The linguistic forms or the utterances are not random or abstract, rather they are motivated by the purpose or the meaning which the user wants to convey and, further, meanings are bound in the socio-cultural context of the users. Therefore, any attempt to study a linguistic text cannot be divorced from the societal network of relations that underlie such use of language. Thus, the functions of language are the determinants of the structures of language. The Systemic Functional approach, therefore, shows that functionality is an inherent trait of language, and the complete architecture of language is built around its functional roles. This accounts for the word functional in the name Systemic Functional Linguistics.

Thus, Systemic Functional Linguistics as a theory begins at the social context in which language evolves as a system of lexical and syntactic choices motivated by meaning and, therefore, it gives theoretical priority to paradigmatic relations.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ujjal Jeet, PhD
Assistant Professor
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
ujjal.eng@gndu.ac.in
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1897-2142
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