CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Humans need a language to talk to others, listening to others, reading, and
writing. Language enables people to describe events in the past and plan for the
future. Language makes humans can pass information from one generation to the
next and create a rich cultural heritage.
Santrock (2007:530) states:
“Bahasa adalah suatu bentuk komunikasi-entah itu lisan, tertulis atau isyarat yang berdasarkan pada suatu sistem dari simbol-simbol. Bahasa terdiri dari kata-kata yang digunakan oleh masyarakat beserta aturan-aturan untuk menyusun berbagai variasi dan mengkombinasikannya.” (‘language is a form of communication-whether it could be spoken, written or gesture that is based on a system of symbols. Language consists of words used by society and the rules to compose different variations and combine them’).
According to Gerrot (1994:158), there are two types of language, they are
Spoken and Written Language. Spoken and written language differ in a number of
ways. Written language is not simply speech written down. Speaking and writting are
manifestations of the some linguistic system but in general they encode meaning in
different ways because they have evolved to serve different puposes. Spoken
language is coded in or realized by sounds (phonemes) and that written language is
coded in scripts (grapheme), but also in grammatical aspects. Spoken language has
high grammatical intricacy and low lexical density whereas written language has low
grammatical intricacy and high lexical density. Spoken language is related to general
plays and films. Written language is related to the language of science and tecnology,
such as instant message, email, essay, article or book.
In appropriate with the title of this thesis “Transitivity System in Lancar
Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for Elementary School Grade Four”, the writer
analyzes a textbook and finds out the most dominant typeof transitivity process in a
texbook for child aged 9 years.The writer herself has some reasons why she chooses
a textbook as her main object which is going to be analyzed. First, it is because
textbook is the main media that is used in children's learning in school. Second, it is
because the textbook contains many stories and insights that are worth or not to be
studied children aged 9 years. Third, it is because textbook consists of the level of
meaning, saying or wording, and sounding or writing. So, a textbook can be analyzed
based on the system of transitivity.
Furthermore, the writer chooses Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for
Elementary School Grade Four by Dendy Sugono which is going to be analyzed. The
reasons choosing the textbook which is arranged by Dendy Sugonoinstead of others
are first it is because there are many stories in those textbook which are learned by
children aged 9 years. Dendy Sugono was born on May 7, 1949, in Banyuwangi,
East Java. He has served as a Chief of Language Centre of Departement of National
Education since 2001 to 2008. Besides, he is also remembered asChairman of the
Assembly Language Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia (Mabbim) Indonesia,
since 2001 to 2008, Linguistic Cooperation Committee Chairman since 2001 to
2008, Member of Indonesian Linguistics Society since 1978, and Member Film
Censorship Board since 2006 to 2008. For those reason, the writer chooses his work
The reason why the writer chooses Transitivity system as the topic of this
research because the writer wants to find or know the meaning which is contained in
the stories of 9 chapters in Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 textbook for Elementary
School Grade Four through transitivity.
Languages involve three generalized meanings or functions, called
Metafunctions; ideational, textual, and interpersonal.The ideational function relates
to the inner and outer worlds of reality; it is “language about something". According
to Halliday in Sinar (2002:42), whenever one reflects on the external world of
phenomena or the internal world of one’s consciousness, the representation of that
reflection would take the form of ‘content’. This form of content is called the
experiential function. Within the notion of ideational function there is logical
function, which stores information about the way in which one situation is related to
the other.
Focussing language on the clause level with respect to the notion of clause as
representation, clause as a representation means that one function of the clause is as a
representation of experience of both external reality (reality outside oneself) and
internal reality (reality inside oneself). The experiential or representational function
of language (clause) is realised by the transitivity system of langauge (clause). The
outer world of reality that is brought into the inner world of reality in one’s
conciousness, which is encoded in the transitivity system of language, is interpreted
as a what-is-going-on process, which is related to material actions, events, states and
relations.
The what-is-going-on process falls into various process. Halliday has
linguistically (grammatically) classified the various processes. He classified the
process into six principal process types: (1) Material Process(process of material
doing), (2)Mental Process(process of sensing), (3)Relational Process(process of
being and having), (4)Verbal Process(process of saying), (5) Behavioral
Process(process of psychological and physiological behavior), and (6)Existential
Process(process of existence).
According to Halliday in Sinar (2002:43), the framework of the process
status, as set up in the clause grammar, is that a process consists, in priciple, of three
components:
(1) the process itself, typically realised by a verb or a verbal group.
(2) participants in the process, typically realised by a noun or nominal group.
(3) circumstances associated with the process , typically realised by an adverbial
group or a prepositional group/phrase.
This tripartite interpretation of processes is what lies behind the grammatical
distinction of word classes into verbs, nouns, and the rest, a pattern that in some form
or other is probably universal among human languages.
For example:
Before I was born.
The concepts of process, participant and circumstance are semantic categories
which explain in the most general way how phenomena of the real world are
represented as linguistic structures.
1.2.Problems of the Study
According to the title of this proposal “Transitivity System in Lancar
Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for Elementary School Grade Four”, the writer try
to clarify the problem into some questions, they are :
1. What is the most dominant type of transitivity process found in nine
chapters of Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for Elementary
School Grade Four?
2. What is the meaning of the most dominant type of transitivity process
found in nine chapters of Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for
Elementary School Grade Four?
1.3.Objectives of the Study
Dealing with the,the objectives of the analysis of this proposal are:
1. To explainthe most dominant type oftransitivity process found innine
chapters of Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for Elementary
School Grade Four.
2. To explain the meaning of the most dominant type of transitivity process
found in nine chapters of Lancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for
1.4.Scope of the Study
In research, it is very important to limit the analysis on specific data that has
been chosen so that over complicating and unfocused issues and analysis do not
exist. As long as we know, Discourse Analysis is not only concerned with the
description and analysis of written text but it is also concerned with spoken
interaction. Therefore, the analysis is only focused on the analysis of the Ideational
function, focusing on the transitivity system (participant, process, and
circumstance)found in nine chapters ofLancar Berbahasa Indonesia 2 Textbook for
Elementary School Grade Four, they are chapter 1 page 1- 3 and 11 -15, chapter 3
page 39 – 42, chapter 5 page 52 – 54, chapter 7 page 78- 80, chapter 9 page 104 -105
and 109 -110, chapter 11 page 129 -130 and 131 – 134, chapter 13 page 152 -152,
chapter 15 page 178 -181, chapter 17 page 199 -202. The writer choos every even
chapters because there are some chapters which have same theme.
1.5.Significances of the Study
Through this research, the writer figures that the significance of this research
is hopefully can give contribution in Discourse Analysis. Besides, the writer also
hopes that this research can be useful for the students of English Department,
especially for students who are interested in the same subject. And finally, this
research can be additionalreference in analyzing Transitivity system used in a written
