CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The transitivity system of language has been widely used nowadays to analyze the
language of speakers and writers. It studies the structure of sentences, which is represented by
processes (realized by types of verbs), the participants involved in these processes (which are
part of the nominal group), and the circumstances in which they (participants and processes) are
involved (realized by the adverbial and prepositional phrase).
Halliday (1985:53, 60) states that transitivity generally refers to how meaning is
represented in the clause. It plays a role in showing how speakers encode in language their
mental picture of reality and how they account for their experience of the world around them.
Since transitivity is concerned with the transmission of ideas, it is considered to fall within the
realm of the ideational function of language. Further, linguistically, he said that transitivity is
concerned with prepositional meanings and functions of syntactic elements. The representations
that can be attested within a transitivity model are said to signal bias, manipulation and ideology
Halliday (1985: 55) states that transitivity is part of the ideational function of language
and is a fundamental and powerful semantic concept, an essential tool in the analysis of
representation. Kress (2009: 124) says that transitivity is the representation in processes of
language, the participants therein, and the circumstantial features associated with them. Whereas
Simpson (2002: 54) asserts that transitivity refers generally to how meaning is represented in the
clause. Transitivity shows how speakers encode in language their mental picture of reality and
how they account for their experience of the world around them.
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. For example, the
difference between ―The tiger (Actor) pounced (Process)‖ and ―The tiger (Actor) ate (Process)
the deer (Goal)‖ is that the action ―eat‖ extends to ―the deer.‖ In the broader meaning (as
proposed by Halliday and assumed in the OpenText.org annotation), the system of transitivity
consists of the various types of processes together with the structures that realize these processes.
When people speak or write, they produce text, the term ‗text‘ refers to any instance of
language. Human in society need language to interact, to communicate or to show the ideas to
the other. Every language has some rank scale of phonological constituents, but with
considerable variation in how constituency is organized (Halliday, 2004:3, 5). Language encodes
our experience and thereby plays a crucial role in our involvement with other people, animal life
From those statements, it is known that language plays a vital role and it also has many
advantages over many various aspect of human‘s life. Human has to stay along with language
because human cannot interrelate without using language. By using language, human is able to
interact and communicate with each other in doing activities.
We need a model of language that helps us understand how text works to make meaning.
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) can do this. Systemic functional linguistics is one of
theories relating to language and its context. The idea of context firstly was found by
Malinowski, continued by Firth and developed by Firth‘s students called Neo-Firthian. One of
his students is M.A.K Halliday. Systemic functional linguistics was developed by M.A.K
Halliday, a professor of linguistics from Sydney University, Australia. In this theory, the texts
are analyzed based on language and its context (www.ijllalw.org).
SFL works on language and its context. ‗S‘ for Systemic implies systemic relations and
their probabilities in systemic networks. The probabilities are started from general to specific
features. Next, it also implies that the systems of meaning involve interrelation relating to
investigating phenomena. The ‗F‘ for functional implies that it is concerned with the functional
realizations of the systems in structures. It also implies the semiotic functions or meaning that
operate in various semiotic levels and dimensions. The ―L‖ for ―Linguistics‖ implies that the
theory derives from a discipline called ―Linguistics‖. It is a language based on theory which is
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) describes that language is functional.
Language is unique and can be explored. Halliday (1978: 60) states that language has three
functions which are known as metafunction of language. They are ideational, interpersonal
and textual meaning. Language is used to describe, which is known as ideational meaning. It
is classified into two sub functions, the experiential meaning and the logical meaning. The
experiential meaning of language is realized by the transitivity system of language (clause).
Transitivity system refers to a system for describing the whole clause, rather than just the
verb and its object. The outer world of reality that is brought into the inner world of reality in
one‘s consciousness, which is encoded in the transitivity systems of language, is interpreted
as a what-is-going-on process, which is related to material actions, events, states and
relations.
While, the logical meaning of language is realized by the clause complexity system of
language, which is concerned with the logic-semantic and interdependency relations. The
logical meaning works above the experiential. It organizes 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 logic semantic and interdependency relations between clauses are
measured in terms of the degree and types of interdependency relations in the system. The
interdependency system is concerned with the paratactic and hypotactic relations. In a
paratactic interdependency relation, the relationship of the clauses are equal in status.
Next, Language is used to exchange, which is known as interpersonal meaning. The
interpersonal meaning is the use of language to establish and maintain social relations. The
interpersonal meaning of language is realized by the mood system of language (clause). The
mood system of clause is represented by the mood structure of the clause, which comprises
finite, while residue element consist of a predicator, one or more complement (s), and any
number of different types of adjuncts.
Further, the other function of language is the textual meaning. The textual meaning is
the use of language to signify discourse or textual meaning refers to the use of language to
relate what is said or written to the rest of the text and to other linguistic event. Here,
language becomes text, is related to itself and to its contexts of use, including the preceding
and following text, and the context of situation. The textual can be classified into two
structures, they are: thematic structure (theme and rheme) and Information structure (new and
given). Theme is the starting point of the message, while rheme is the part of the message in
which the theme is developed.
As a fundamental of communication, language is used to convey or share ideas and
express thoughts, human‘s need, wishes, intentions and desires. A writer uses language to
describe his or her surrounding, environment or even the message in his or her writing. Then,
to realize the meaning, idea, suggestion and message, only the transitivity processes are able
to do it.
The clause is interpreted as a process configuration. There are three components
involved in this configurations, they are the process, participants and circumstances
associated with the process. Halliday (1985: 14) says that there are six types of Experiential
Function that are not strange to be known. They are, material function is process of doing,
mental function is process of sensing, verbal function is process of saying, behavioral
function is process of behaving, existential function is process of existing and relational
function is process of being.
The transitivity process is really interesting to be analyzed by applying the systemic
situation, either spoken or written. It focuses on the purpose and the use of language. This
theory also claims that language is functional, language is unique and can be explored.
Besides, the concept of transitivity in Halliday‘s grammatical system is a powerful tool in the
analysis of the meaning expressed in clauses. In this case, the clause is the most significant
grammatical unit, because clause has function as a representation of the process.
The book that the writer wants to analyze based on transitivity process entitles ‗The
Chinese Pen‘ written by Nancy Chang Ing. This book consists of seventy seven pages and
four short stories written by different author. They are Earth God Shrine by Chuang
Hua-t‘ang, A Chip off the Old Block by Cheng Ming-li, The Four Seasons by Hsiang Yang and the
last is Empress Wu and The Feng –Hsien Cave- Tempel by Yen Chuan-Ying. The writer is
interested in analyzing that short story because it is really interesting and unique. It is
interesting to be analyzed because the language used in this short story is easy to understand.
It uses the simple sentences also the plot is predictable. It is unique because the story contains
a moral value as well the language inserted in it contains elements of humor.
In this study, the writer only chooses two short stories, namely, Earth God Shrine by
Chuang Hua-t‘ang and A Chip off the Old Block by Cheng Ming-li because the two short
stories are really different from the others, in which the first short story (Earth God Shrine)
contains a positive moral value that can motivate the reader to be stronger in facing this life
without despair and eventually the writer hopes that the readers are able to apply the value
contained in the short story in their own life.
This story tells about a farmer whose name is Ah K‘un. He is really poor. Every day,
he and his wife always go to the rice fields early in the morning and come home late. So poor
they are, they only eat rice at least once in a day. In facing the situation like this, he and his
turning yellow. At that time, his wife was in pregnant. His wife watched the golden waves of
rice swaying in the breeze. She prayed devoutly to the Earth God for a good winter and a boy
to carry on the family name. In return, she promised to donate incense money and get the
villagers to build a shrine. Months later, they reaped an abundant harvest, and, in the middle
of June, his wife gave birth to Loyalty. But in those days, the family was poor. There was not
even enough rice for three meals a day. The family was hard-pressed then, money was not the
only problem. But, they did not give up so easily, they kept working hard. As time goes by,
he and his wife reached for their dreams. He could give a better life on his family. In the end
of the story, they celebrated their triumph by lit the firecrackers in front of the Earth God
Shrine because the Earth God has helped them in protecting the paddy in the paddy fields.
While the second short story (A Chip off the Old Block) contains humorous elements
that can give the entertainment for the reader. This story tells about a child who has the
greatest resemblance to his Dad. Even his temperament is very much like his Dad. For
example, he is sensitive, prone to being emotional, soft-hearted, easily persuaded and has a
problem in remembering people or place. One day, he moved to Taipei to go to college, but
he only remembered the two bus routes that he took every day. After graduation, he taught at
First Taipei Girls‘ high school for eight years. Once he had an appointment with someone at
the Kuomingtang Party Headquarters, which is right next to the high school, and he asked
him where his office was! Over the past ten years or so. He has been to many places in the
city. Still, every time he goes to a place other than my office, he has to pull out a map, find
the location, and figure out how to get there.
Furthermore, once, when he was in high school, he saw one of his classmates under
an arcade. He ran over and slapped her hard on the back. It was only when she turned around
that he realized he had slapped the wrong person. After that, he stopped taking the initiative
walking quickly down hoping East Road when he sensed a woman was looking his way. he
responded with a smile. Then he realized she was actually stopped in the middle of the street,
staring at him the way a biologist examines viruses under a microscope. He was deeply
touched by her attention and thought she must be some friend or relative whom he had not
seen for many years. Just when he smiled at her, and was about to speak, she looked away,
turned around, and walked off.
1.2 Problem of the Study
Based on the background above, there are three problems that appeared in it, they are:
1. What types of transitivity processes are used in two short stories in Nancy Chang Ing‘s ‗The Chinese Pen‘?
2. Are the elements of transitivity process in each short story same or different?
3. What is the most dominant type of process used in two short stories in Nancy Chang Ing‘s ‗The Chinese Pen‘?
1.3 Objective of the Study
The objectives of this analysis are:
1. To find out the types of transitivity process in two short stories in Nancy Chang Ing‘s ‗The Chinese Pen‘.
2. To find out whether the elements of transitivity process in each story is the same or
different.
3. To find out the most dominant process used in two short stories in Nancy Chang Ing‘s ‗The Chinese Pen‘
Based on the background above, in this analysis, the writer only focuses on
transitivity process found in two short stories in ‗The Chinese Pen‘ book, they are Earth God
Shrine written by Chuang Hua-t‘ang and A Chip off the Old Wall written by Cheng Ming-li.
1.5 Significance of the Study
This thesis is expected to add the new insight in analysis of literary text by using
systemic functional linguistics theory. Theoretically, it will give information about
transitivity process in a text and how the text work as they do. At last, practically, it will be
useful for other researchers and English Department students who are interested in the field
of study transitivity process, so that they can use this thesis as a reference for their research
