CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
In daily communication, language is commonly used in spoken and written.
Matthews (1997:198) says, “language is the phenomenan of vocal and written
communication among human being generally.” Language has an important role in
human life. While Halliday (2003:196-197) says that language is a system to make
meaning in two contexts, they are context of situation and context of culture. In
addition, Sinar (2008:19) says that language is a social phenomenon. Based on their
definitions about language, we can conclude that basically language is used in social
interaction such as communicating and acting with another, giving self-expression,
stimulating someone else, sharing of thinking and idea, and adapting social in a
particular environment and situation.
In daily life communication, human commonly use language in spoken and
written language, but the users of language do not realize whether they use language
grammatically or ungrammatically. Consequently, they feel that they are not
necessary to learn their language. Based on this, many linguists are trying to develop
the quality of language, they refer to the general principles and the theories related
to the usage and purpose of language. We as the leaners and the users of language
need to know about what we read in texts in order to understand what the speaker or
the writer says and to recognize the conection of an incoherent discourse. Beside
that, the language user should know the purposes of language and how to use
language effectively, and also should know about discourse well, in order message in
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(2)Halliday (1985:xvii) says that language role is to make meaning : a semantic
system, which has relationship with discourse and system of meaning. Halliday
views the term ‘semantic’ does not refer to the meaning of word only, but entire
system of meaning of a language. That is why functional grammar is the way to
study of wording by referencing to what it means. When we use language, the role of
language is to express the meaning. We make meaning through our choice and use of
word and systematic study of language in use.
Language has three fuctions. These three funtions are called as
in systemic-functional linguistics. They are: (a)
to talk about our experience, to describe events, states and the entities involved.
Language serves as a coding system which deals with the relation between man and
nature. Ideational function has two terms, they are logical which is realized by the
clause complexity system and the experiental which is realized by the transitivity
system; (b)
and maintain relationships with them, to please them, and influence their behavior,
get help or sympathy for them. Language serves as a medium between individuals. It
is realized by the mood system; and (c)
organizes messages in a unified manner so that chunks of messages fit logically with
others around them and with the wider context in which the talking or writing takes
place. When language is in use, playing the above two functions, it naturally forms a
text. Textual function is realized by theme system of language.
The writer uses experiential metafunction in the analysis. Experiential
metafunction is realized by the transitivity system. In this case, the clause is the most
processes. There are three semantic categories related with this representation of the
processes which explain how the phenomena of real life are represented as linguistic
structures, they are :
a. The process itself : verbal group;
b. Participants in the process : nominal group; and
c. Circumtances associated with the process : adverbial group or preposional
phrase.
The process consists of material process (process of doing), mental process
(process of sensing), relational process (process of being), verbal process (process of
saying), behavioral process (process of behaving), and existential process (process of
existing). The participants directly involved in the process are the one that does,
behaves, senses, says, and exists. The participants are involved in the processes by
being affected by it, they are the one that is done to, behaved, sensed, said, etc.
Participant is called as initiator. While circumtances are type of adjuncts. They
answer such questions as when, where, why, how, how many and as what. They
realize meaning about time, place, manner, cause, accompaniment matter and role.
The concept of transitivity in Halliday’s grammatical system is a powerful tool
in the analysis of the meanings expressed in clauses. The term transitivity has a
broader and narrower meaning. The narrower meaning (found in traditional
grammatical description and the one with which most readers are probably familiar)
involves the verb’s relationship to dependent elements of structure. Transitive verbs
take a direct object and intransitive verbs do not. Stated differently, the action of the
verb extends to another entity in a transitive clause, but not in an intransitive clause.
tiger (Actor) ate (Process) the deer (Goal)” is that the action “eat” extends to “the
deer.” In the broader meaning (as proposed by Halliday), the system of transitivity
consists of the various types of processes together with the structures that realize
these processes.
The systemic-functional theory focuses on the language uses and the language
purposes. The theory claims that language is functional, language use is unique, and
can be explored. Real life situations as ‘going on’ can be expressed through language
which is explored through the transitivity process, especially in processes term. In
addition, the content of narrative genre in some short stories tells about what has
happened in the ‘going on’ process in the real life. It is the one way to explore the
language use.
Narrative is one of genre that is interesting to be analyzed, because it has
structure, sometimes it talks about the real life story, history, an aesthetic purpose
and effect to the real life. Narrative structure and transitivity process are good to be
combined in a text analysis, because in a narrative text, the author describes his/her
experiences, like Sinar (2008:69) says that narrative genre is creative and
imaginative writing whose purpose is to give pleasure, to get the attention of the
reader, and foster the reader's imagination toward the story. Narrative also has a
value of teaching, provide information as well as a reflection of the author towards
the realization of his experiences. The types of narratives are myths, legends, fairy
tales, mysteries, fables, moral stories, and others.
The writer’s intention to analyze narrative genre in some short stories which
tell about what has happened in the “going on” process in the real life is one of the
functions and experiences in life through information got from actors, processes,
goals and the like.
Narrative structure has its own structure. Martin in Sinar (2008:70) says that
the complete narrative structure consists of abstract, orientation, complication,
evaluation, resolution, and coda. Abstract is the beginning of a sentence or word that
states the summary of the whole story. Orientation is introduction as the initial events
reported the place, time and participants who took part in a story. Complications is a
set of events that can lead to complications. Resolution is described as a problem
caused by an occurrence and the problem can be solved. Instead, evaluation is an
action that goes with the suspension that accompanies the resolution. The last
element is the coda, which cover elements which become the end of the story.
Elements of the narrative genre progressed sequentially and systematically, which is
realized by elements of the other elements and present repeatedly to become
narrative structure.
Waltzky and Labov (1997:4) mentioned that narrative method is functioning
to recapitulate the past experience by matching a verbal sequence of clauses and the
sequence of event that is occured. So, in other words, narrative is the way of people
represent their experience, thinking, and idea in their daily life as an effective
communication. Therefore, to represent the experinces, we should know the
transitivity process of it.
Short story is one of narrative genre and one of the literary works, because it
has some elements such as : character, theme, setting, plot, and style. This is the
point of view of discourse analysis especially its transitivity process and narrative
tell about what goes on around us is one way of exploring language use by using the
transitivity process. Then narrative structure functions to recapitulate the past
experience by matching a verbal sequence of clauses and the sequence of event that
is occured.
In my opinion, we can learn many things, we can express our experience, idea
and mind through short story. Many people believe that a short story can teach
society a certain moral value. So, literary works inform us many things through the
literary language on the narrative text. While science text, although it gives us many
informations but the language is formal.
Surely, the literary language is different than scientific language although it
also has the same characteristic. Warren and Wellek (1942b:12) say, “it is, like every
other historical language, full of homonyms, arbitrary or irrational categories such as
grammatical gender; it is permeated with historical accidents, memories, and
associations. In a word, it is highly "connotative." Moreover, literary language is far
from merely referential. It has its expressive side; it conveys the tone and attitude of
the speaker or writer. And it does not merely state and express what it says; it also
wants to influence the attitude of the reader, persuade him, and ultimately change
him. There is a further important distinction between literary and scientific language:
in the former, the sign itself, the sound symbolism of the word, is stressed. All kinds
of techniques have been invented to draw attention to it, such as meter, alliteration,
and patterns of sound."
Concerned to the difference between literary language and scientific language,
Wellek and Warren (1942b:12) says ”It is fairly easy to distinguish between the
"thought" and "emotion" or "feeling" is, however, not sufficient. Literature does
contain thought, while emotional language is by no means confined to literature.”
Scientific language and literary language can be distinguished. Scientific language
uses the thought element, while literary language uses emotional feeling.
Hornby (2005:1408) says, “short story is a story, usually about imaginary
character and events, that is short enough to be read from beginning to end without
stopping”. The short story is a literary work that is often encountered in a variety of
media. The short story is a form of fictional narrative prose. The characteristics of a
short story : a short prose, fictional, narrative, and has a single impression.
The writer uses short story in this analysis, because the short story requires the
reader’s utmost attention, a focusing of the mind on each detail in order to realize the
finall fullness of effect, The short story depends on concreteness, on sensual
impressions that deliver their meaning. Stone,et. al (1976:6) said that there are three
qualities which show that short story is clearly different from other forms of prose
fiction, that make it a “genre”. The first quality is about the brevity, then it is a power
of compensating for the consequences of shortness and the last is the interaction of
one and two.
The beautiful of short story can be seen in all its elements that can be drawn to
a single point which shine with such brightness that all the past moment of the story
are bathed in light seen as a whole, as a radiance. Stone, et. al (1976:10) say, “ we
think the short story at its best is an art form responsive to the highest reaches of the
human imagination.”
The short story uses clauses to represent the writer experinces. In other words,
bodily, it may happens inside and outside the body of human, it can be a physical
representation, mental representation and can be a attitude. That is why the writer
uses the transitivity process in this analysis, because transitivity process is used for
interpreting a world of experience as a process system into the grammar of a clause.
The writer analyzes the transitivity process and the narrative structure of five
short stories in ‘Short Story ‘book edited by Stone, et. al (1976). They are The Rock
by E. M. Forster is a short story about the admonition from the God, Hills like White
Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about two American who are
waiting for train, Wife-wooing by John Updike tells about a fable with an actual
moral at the end (an expected gift is not worth giving), The Last Judgement by Karel
Čapek tells us about a man who makes many crimes in his life, and The Shore by
Alain Robbe-Grillet tells us a story about the children play in the shore. As Stone, et.
al (1976:11) said that by analyzing the part of a short story and seeing how they work
together, we can enlarge the impact of the work upon us – and enlarge our
understanding of literature and how it is made.
In this thesis the transitivity process is analyzed by applying the systemic
functional linguistic theory (SFLT) of M. K. Halliday (1985). The theory focuses on
the purpose and the use of language. This theory also claims that language is
functional, language is unique and can be explored. While narrative structure is
1.2 Problems of the Study
According to the background, there are three problems appeared in it, they are:
a) What types of transitivity process are used in five short stories of “The Short
Story” book by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H.P. and Robert Hoopes?
b) What is the most dominant type of transitivity process used in five short
stories of “The Short Story” book by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H.P. and Robert
Hoopes?
c) What is the narrative structure used in five short stories of “The Short
Story” book by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H.P. and Robert Hoopes?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
Based on those problems, the objectives of the thesis are:
a) To find out the types of transitivity process in five short stories of “The
Short Story” book by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H.P. and Robert Hoopes.
b) To find out the most dominant types of transitivity process in five stories of
“The Short Story” book by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H. P. and Robert Hoopes.
c) To find out the narrative structure in five stories of “The Short Story” book
by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H. P. and Robert Hoopes.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The analysis only focuses in the transitivity process and narrative structure in
“The Short Story” book, which consists of five short stories, they are The Rock by E.
M. Forster, Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, Wife-wooing by John
Updike, The Last Judgement by Karel Čapek, and The Shore by Alain Robbe-Grillet.
The book of The Short Story written by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H. P. and Robert
1.5 Significance of the Study
This thesis has some significances and they are:
a) This thesis can add the new insight in analysis of literary text by using
Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory.
b) The reader will understand about transitivity process and schematic
structure in discourse analysis.
c) The analysis will be useful for the learners who want to study the
transitivity process and narrative structure of five short stories in “The
Short Story” book written by Wilfred Stone, Nancy H. P. and Robert
Hoopes.
d) The analysis will be useful for other researchers as the information and
reference for the furture research on transitivity process and narrative
