Types of doing-and-happening

CLAUSE AS REPRESENTATION

5.2 Material clauses: processes of doing-and-happening

5.2.3 Types of doing-and-happening

So far we have mentioned the properties of ‘material’ clauses in general. There are other properties that are specific to particular sub-types of ‘material’ clauses. The material realm

the tourist was caught by the lion

Goal Process: passive Actor

Subject Finite Predicator Adjunct

Mood Residue

Theme Rheme

the lion caught the tourist

Actor Process: active Goal

Subject Finite Predicator Complement

Mood Residue

Theme Rheme

* It is helpful to make a terminological distinction between the voice contrast of the clause —

operative/receptive, and the voice contrast of the verbal group — passive/active: cf. Halliday (1967/8).

183

↓ material +Actor;

Actor: nom. gp.

↓ transitive + Goal;

Goal: nom. gp.

↓ operative + Subject/Actor

↓ + client + Client;

Client: nom. gp.

↓ receptive Process: passive Subject/Goal

↓

resultative attribute +Attribute;

Attribute: nom. gp., adjective at head

↓

resultative role (product) + Role;

Role: prep.phrase

↓ + recipient + Recipient;

Recipient: nom. gp.

↓ + location + Place;

Place: prep. phrase

↓ + scope +Actor;

Scope: nom. gp.

↓ agentive by ^ Actor

non-agentive TYPE OF

DOING

IMPACT

TYPE OF OUTCOME

CLIENCY

VOICE

AGENTIVITY QUALIT-

ATIVE OUTCOME

RECIPIENCY

LOCATIVE OUTCOME

SCOPING transformative

creative

intransitive

elaborating extending enhancing

+qualitative outcome –qualitative outcome

– location

– scope – recipient

–client

is, as noted in Section 5.1, p. 168, quite vast, covering events, activities and actions involving both animate Actors and inanimate ones. But we can discern some features in the material landscape, taking the description a few steps further in delicacy. To do so, we need to discuss the nature of the unfolding of a material process through time.

The quantum of change represented by a material clause is construed as unfolding through distinct phases, typically over a fairly short interval of time — with at least an initial phase of unfolding and a separate final phase, as with tying down,replacing,cutting off and cutting. The final phase of unfolding is theoutcomeof the process: it represents a change of some feature of one of the participants in the material clause. In the procedural gardening text above, the outcome is that a shoot has been tied down, cut or cut off, and so on: texts instructing people in procedures are typically concerned with achieving such material outcomes.

The nature of the outcome affecting the Actor of an ‘intransitive’ clause and the Goal of a ‘transitive’ one turns out to be the general criterion for recognizing more delicate subtypes of ‘material’ clauses.* The most general contrast is between (i) ‘creative’ clauses, where the Actor or Goal is construed as being brought into existence as the process unfolds, and (ii)

‘transformative’ ones, where a pre-existing Actor or Goal is construed as being transformed as the process unfolds (Figure 5-9). Examples are given in Table 5(4).

(i) In a ‘creative’ clause, the outcome is the coming into existence of the Actor (‘intransitive’) or the Goal (‘transitive’). The outcome is thus this participant itself, and

* We shall see below (Section 5.7, p. 280) that seen from a different perspective from that of the traditional transitive/intransitive model, these two functions, the intransitive Actor and the transitive Goal, are actually one and the same — the Medium. The differentiation of different sub-types of ‘material’ clauses is thus based on the combination of Medium + Process in the first instance. One might have expected that it would be based on Actor + Process instead, as the traditional model would suggest; but it turns out that although they have been favoured by philosophers of language drawing on action theory, distinctions based on Actor + Process such as animacy, potency and volitionality are less central to the system of ‘material’ clauses than distinctions based on Medium + Process. In fact, the grammar of transitivity is more centrally concerned with consciousness rather than with animacy, potency or volitionality: see Section 5.3, p. 197.

Table 5(4)TYPE OF DOING: ‘creative’/‘transformative’

intransitive transitive

creative Actor + happen Actor + do

What happened? — Icicles formed. What did they do? — They built a house.

transformative happen to+ Actor; Actor + do happen to+ Goal; Actor + do to+ Goal What happened to the icicles? — They melted. What happened to the icicles? — The sun melted

them.

What did Henry do? — He ran away. What did they do to Henry? — They chased him away.

there is no separate element in the clause representing the outcome. The Process is realized by a verb such as form,emerge,make,create,produce,construct,build,design,write,compose, draw, paint,bake. For example:

(a) intransitive

He is of the view that the writer’s use of one language or the other is determined by the objective conditions under which the spiritual life of the given peopleis developing. (KOLH_A)

Limestonecan formin many ways || as shown in Table 4-4. (Text 68) (b) transitive

Well,hewas making a cubby house a minute ago. (Text 76) Istarted writingshort stories while I was at Yale. (Text 7)

Theseare formedby chemical precipitation, by biological precipitation, and by accumulation of organic material.

(Text 68)

Given plenty of advance notice, . . . businesseshave printednew stationery and supplies. (Text 15)

Even the verb docan be used in a creative sense, typically with a semiotic product such as a play, film or book:Idid a book called Sand Rivers, just before the Indian books. In the category of ‘creative’ clauses, we can perhaps also include phases of creation, as in Then I started my first novel, where startedcan be interpreted as ‘began to write’, and I’d better try some more non-fiction, where trycan be interpreted as ‘try to write’.* (However, processes of destruction seem to be treated by the grammar as ‘transformative’ rather than as ‘creative’:

but the wild places were being destroyed in many parts of the world; the bar and all the marble fittings of the interior were painstakingly dismantled.) ‘Intransitive’ ‘creative’ clauses have the sense of ‘come into existence’ and shade into clauses of the ‘existential’ process type (see Section 5.5.3, p. 256). One difference is the unmarked present tense: it is present-in-present in material clauses (as in the spiritual life . . . is developing), but the simple present in existential ones. Another difference is the potential for a construction with thereas Subject in existential clauses, but not in creative material ones. Thus in the case of the following example:

A similar patternemergesfor the country’s 1.7 million prisoners. (Text 1)

there is an agnate variant with there:there emerges a similar pattern.

(ii) In a ‘transformative’ clause, the outcome is the change of some aspect of an already existing Actor (‘intransitive’) or Goal (‘transitive’). Thus while she painted a portrait of the artistis ‘creative’ since the outcome is the creation of the portrait,she painted the house red

M a t e r i a l c l a u s e s : p r o c e s s e s o f d o i n g - a n d - h a p p e n i n g

* Compare the discussion in Section 8.5, p. 497, of phased processes in hypotactic verbal group complexes.

In hypotactic verbal group complexes, the phase (starting, continuing; trying, succeeding; and so on) is an expansion of the process itself; but in the examples discussed here, the phase is construed as a process in its own right. Such examples are in fact often metaphorical variants of clauses with phased verbal group complexes.

is ‘transformative’ since the outcome is the transformation of the colour of the house. In the limiting case, the outcome of the final phase is to maintain the conditions of the initial phase, as in hold it vertically in your hand— that is, so that it does not fall or change position (cf. a four-year-old’s definition of balance, discussed in Painter, 1999: 108:balance means you hold it on your fingers and it doesn’t go).

Unlike ‘creative’ clauses, ‘transformative’ ones can often have a separate element representing the outcome (see further below), as in she painted the house red, where red serves as an Attribute specifying the resultant state of the Goal. Even where the sense of outcome is inherent in the process, the outcome may be indicated by the ‘particle’ of a phrasal verb, as in shut down,turn on,start up, tie up, cut off, rub out,throw away,use up, fill up. The Goal of a ‘transitive’ ‘transformative’ clause exists before the process begins to unfold and is transformed in the course of the unfolding. It can be probed by means of do to, do with in a special ‘manipulative’ construction, as in the following narrative passage:

Father McCarthy told him that he should not have more than one wife. ‘What then should hedo withthe second wife?’ he asked. Shouldhejustturnheroutto starve? If hesentherbackto her parents, they would certainly not return the bride-price with which he had bought her. Oh, no, said Father McCarthy, heshould keepher, but he should not useher as a wife. (LOB_G)

Turning out, sending back, keeping and using are all examples of processes of transformation. The Actor of an intransitive transformative clause can be probed by happen to, as inYou know what could have happened to them? — They could have fallen through the hole on the deck. Neither happen tonordo to/withcan be used with creative clauses: see Table 5(4). Thus we cannot say what he did to a cubby house was make it because the do to

‘manipulative’ construction presupposes the prior existence of the ‘done-to’.

The ‘transformative’ type of ‘material’ clause covers a much wider range than the

‘creative’ type. As always, it is difficult to find an appropriate term for the grammatical category. We have to understand it in the context of the relevant systemic contrast. Thus

‘transformative’ means that the Actor (‘intransitive’) or Goal (‘transitive’) exists prior to the onset of the unfolding of the process. The outcome of the transformation is an (1) elaboration, (2) extension or (3) enhancement of the Actor (‘intransitive’) or Goal (‘transitive’), as represented in Figure 5-9 and illustrated in Table 5(5). Examples of verbs serving as Process in these different material clause types are given in Table 5(6). Any of the rows of examples could be explored further to reveal patterns intermediate between grammar and lexis (cf. Chapter 2, Figure 2-6); many of them have been discussed in the linguistic literature — see Hasan (1985, 1987) on certain processes of extension. In such exploration, the corpus is an invaluable source of evidence. (As we shall see in Section 5.4, p. 210 these three types of outcome correspond to the three types of relation in relational clauses.)

In many cases, the process is a true transformation where the participant being affected has changed in some fundamental way; but the process may also be one that is more uniform through time, as in the following examples:

Iservedin World War II. (Text 7) Theyworktogether well. (Text 7)

M a t e r i a l c l a u s e s : p r o c e s s e s o f d o i n g - a n d - h a p p e n i n g

Table 5(5)Examples of verbs serving as Process in different material clause types

intransitive transitive

creative general appear, emerge; occur, happen,

take place

develop, form, grow, produce

create, make, prepare

specific assemble, build, construct;

compose, design, draft, draw, forge, paint, sketch, write; bake, brew, cook; knit, sew, weave; dig, drill;

found, establish; open, set up transformative elaborating state burn, singe, boil, fry, bake, dissolve, cool, freeze, warm, heat, melt, liquefy,

pulverize, vaporize, harden, soften

make-up blow up, break, burst, chip, collapse, crack, crash, explode, shatter, tear;

mend, heal

erupt crush, demolish, destroy, damage,

mash, smash, squash, wreck chop, cut, mow, prune, slice, trim [intransitive: ‘easily’]

axe, hack, harpoon, knife, pierce, prick, spear, skewer, stab, sting surface polish, rub, dust, scratch, wipe [intransitive: ‘easily’]

brush, lick, rake, scrape, shave, sweep

size compress, decompress, enlarge, extend, expand, grow, stretch, reduce, shrink, shrivel

shape form, shape; arch, bend, coil, contort, curl, uncurl, curve, deform, distort, fashion, flatten, fold, unfold, stretch, squash, twist

age age, ripen, mature, modernize amount increase, reduce; strengthen, weaken

colour colour; blacken, whiten; darken, brighten, fade; solarize blush, redden, yellow, pale

light twinkle; glimmer, glisten, glitter, gleam, glow, flash, flicker, sparkle, shimmer

shine

light, illuminate

Table 5(5)(Continued)

intransitive transitive

sound boom, rumble, rustle, roar, thunder, peal

chime, toll, sound, ring

exterior peel, skin, peel [intransitive: ‘easily’]

(cover)

bark, husk, pare, scalp, shuck cover, strip, uncover, remove, drape, paper, plate, roof, unroof, wall-paper, shroud, wrap, unwrap

clothe, attire, dress, strip, undress, robe, disrobe

coat; butter, enamel, gild, grease, lacquer, paint, pave, plaster, stucco, tar, varnish, veneer, whitewash

interior gut, disembowel, dress, pit

contact hit, strike; bump; knock, tap; punch,

slap, spank; elbow; kick; belt, cane, shoot, stone, whip

aperture open, close, shut

operation run, operate, work; ride, drive, fly, sail [but also as motion]

captain, command, rule, govern;

bring up, nurse, mother

extending possession give; offer; tip; advance; bequeath,

will, leave, donate, grant, award;

cable, fax, post, mail, e-mail, hand;

deliver, send; lend, lease, loan; deny (sb sth; sth to sb)

hire, rent, sell

feed, serve, supply, provide, present, furnish (sb with sth; sth to sb) deprive, dispossess, divest, rob, strip, cheat (sb of sth);

acquire, get, take, grab, steal, pilfer, buy, borrow, hire, rent (sth from sb) accompaniment join, meet; assemble, accumulate, collect, cluster, crowd, flock, herd;

separate; disassemble, disband, disperse, scatter, spread