Duong Thi Thao Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE
AN ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF A GEOGRAPHY TEXT BASING ON SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
Duong Thi Thai College ofSciences- T\
S U M M A R Y
This study is aimed at analyzing a geography lexl in terms of transitivily. mood, iheme, and cohesion to see how it is organized lexically, grammatically and semantically using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework.
To fulfill tins objective, the author analyzed the ESP text "Acid Precipitation - A Human Impact on the Earth Syslem'\ After a thorough study, it can be concluded Ihat material and relational processes are the two main processes in this geography text. They are account for 50 and 37 percent irrespectively of the total clauses in the text Besides, inos! of the mood paUerns in the text are declarative, which is the typicality of a description. Furthermore, most of the thematic paUerns in the clauses are unmarked themes. In the text, some cohesive devices are also used. They include conjunctives, references, repetitions, synonyms, hyponyms and meronyms
The findings of the analysis can partly contribute to the understanding of scientific lexis, especially geography ones.
Key words: Iransiliviiy, mood, theme-rheme, process, cohesion, sysiemic functional grammar, geography I e.\ I
INTRODUCTION
Linguists have approached the study o f English from difTerenl points o f view. Some have tried to account for formal aspects o f the grammar o f language largely divorced from meanings. Others have started out by looking al words and sentences and then asking how Ihe forms o f the language,
for M.A.K Halliday. language is a "system o f meanings". That means when people use language, their language acts express meanings From this point o f view, the grammar becomes a study on how meanings are built up Ihrough the use o f words and other linguistic forms such as tone and emphasis. This may seem fairly obvious to mosl people since it accords with a cominonsense view o f language, but not all linguists have been concerned with meaning in such a direct way as Halliday.
Based on Halliday's systemic funclitinal theory, in this article I w i l l analyze the geography lexl "Acid Precipitation i Human Impact tm Ihe Earth System' lo explore its meaning and structure.
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The reason for the choice o f this geography text is that scientific texts, especially geography ones, are quite stable in the use o f language and lexicon. They arc not much affected by political issues
The analysis will try to encompass as many aspects o f text analysis as possible in order lo arrive at a valid and accurate understanding o f the structure o f geography texts. "Ibis text IS taken from a textbook for students learning ESP
RESEARCH M E T H O D S
This study attempts to analyze the meaning and structure o f a geography text. An analysis based on the framework of Halliday's Sysiemic Functional Grammar (1994) will be employed.
THE A N A L Y S I S OF T H L T E X T IN TERMS OF TR \ N S I T I V I T Y . M O O D A N D Tl I L M L T r a n s i l i y i t y Pattern
This IS a descriptive geography lexl aboul the acid precipitation 'fhe "What is going o n " is well presented in the experiential eomponenl o f meaning hroni the point o f view o f transiliv UV. il can be seen from the analysis above thai ihere ""^S clauses. 19 o f which are
Duon^ Thi Thao Tap chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 1 14(14)- 155- 159 of material process (cause in 2. modify in 3 .
cause in 4. hcn-e .succumbed in 8. cJissolves in
\\. are relea.sed n\ \A. are converted'm 1 6 . / 5 deposited in 17. converted in 18. have experienced in 19. originates in 2 2 . are approaching in 2 9 . /j/m' reduce in 3 2 . impair in 3 3 . banns in 34, damages in 3 5 . leaclies in 36. promotes m 3 7 and contributes in 38) There are 2 clauses of mental process {expect in clause 7 and a r e thought in 25). which reveals h u m a n ' s little a w a r e n e s s of acid rain and Its destruction. T h e r e are 14 clauses of relational process (are in 1. is in 5, are in 6, ;.v 111 9, is in 10. is in 12. refers to in 13. include 111 15, have shcnvn in 20. remain in 24, /.v in 26. have been in 2 7 . a r e in 2 8 , are chctraclerized in 30) T w o clauses of existential process (occurs in 21 and 23) can be found. T h e r e ' s only one clause of verbal process {indicates in 31).
Mosl of the finile in the clauses are in present tense The fniites of the clauses 8, 19, 20 and 28 are in present perfect
The circumstantial c o m p o n e n t s in the clauses of llie text are of m a n n e r (by going aboul our normal routine, through a series of complex ctieiniceit reactions, in dissolved aluminum tectclied from the soil bv the acidic water, wtiich IS loxtc to fish, in dry form, at many levels of organization J. cause las a consequence of burning large quantities of fossil fuels like coal ami petroleum producls, consequently), a c c o m p a n i m e n t fin ciddilicm lo the many takes that can no longer .support fish, hi uetchticm lo toccd pollution .sources/.
location (tn uiaiiy cities, in many other regions, tnctiiding western Norlh America.
,htpan. China. Russia, and Semlh America, in die United Slates in the hydrosphere, hiosptiere. and solid Earth, tn some areas, in lUhers. in tnehi,slriedized regions, in the annosjitterc, in thinisands of lakes in Sceuuliniivia and eiisleni .North .America, in water i temporal (after coining in cimtact Willi prectpilalion dew or fog. each year) dircclion linio die almosptiere. lo the .south l.S 6
and southwest, from stnl. to all the other parts of the system, in turn ) . extent - temporal (for some time, as long as five days, during which lime.) extent - spatial (hundreds of kilometers away,)
Table I. TransilivitypcUlernofthetext Process
Material process Relational process Mental process Existential process Verbal process
N u m b e r ofclauses (38) 19(50%) 14(37%) 2 (5%) 2 (5%) 3(%) T h e M o o d P a t t e r n
It can be seen that the subjects in the clauses of the text are personal and impersonal representing the one of the effects of human activities on the e n v i r o n m e n t , acid precipitation.
There is one clause with a modal element (clause 32 - may reduce) expressing the possibility that d u r i n g five days many pollutants are transported great distances and that acid precipitation reduces agricultural crop yields All c l a u s e s are in declarative mood T h i s is the typical feature of a description.
Table 2. Mood pattern of Ihe lexl
Declarative Modality Finite
Number of clauses ; (38) 1 38(100%)
1 (2.6%) 1 35 (95%) 1 T h e T h e m a t i c P a t t e r n
It can be seen thai most of the t h e m e s in the lexl b e l o n g to topical t h e m e s T w e n t y - t w o of the t h e m e s in the text b e l o n g to textual theme.
O f the 33 c l a u s e s and clause complexes containing a t h e m e . 2 have marked t h e m e and 31 have u n m a r k e d I h e m e , 'fhcre is no interpersonal t h e m e , which is a typical feature of a description.
Tabic 3. Themcutcpattern oJ the lexl _ N u m b e r ofclauses
Tl ~
Theme Textual them Topical Iheme
Duong Thi Thao Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE
Cohesion Analysis o f the Text
.A number o f cohesive devices have been employed in order to make the clauses o f the lexl slick together. The devices here fall into two sub-types, grammatical and lexical ones.
These cohesive devices can be shown below, Gritniinalictil Cohesion
According lo Halliday and Hasan (1997).
there are four main types o f grammatical cohesion: reference, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunction. In the text, no substitutional device is employed here, but conjunction, ellipsis and reference are effectively used here For conjunctives, il can be seen that additives, adversaiives. causal and temporal conjunctives are used a lot here. The details are presented below.
Conjunctive devices.
A lot o f cohesive devices are used m the lexl These include additives ((///(/ in clause 18. 29.
33, 36. 38: 'MI actdilion lo in clause 22: not only but also in clause 34. 35). adversative (allhinigh in clause 7; however in clause I 3).
causal (as such in clause 2, av a consequence of ill clause 14. because in clause 24) and temporal {wtieit in clause 1 1)
liltipsts
Ihere is a nominal ellipsis in the text, fhc phrase as sttch(m clause 2) can be used as part of the ctimplex inlcracliiig whole Reference
It can be seen that comparatne.
demonslialiyc. personal. e\t)plionc. anaphoric and calaphonc lefcrences arc commonly used 111 this geography lexl.
Lexical Cohesion
From Halliday's (1994) and Halliday and Hasan's (1997) view, there arc Iwo mam types o\ lexical cohesion: reiteralum 'including repetition, antonym, syniutym, nieronym, livpoinmi and collocation The following analysis is bascti on Ihe procedure giyen by l l a l l i d a y N ( 1994) and Halliday and Hasan's ( I W " )
Lexical Cohesive Devices
Human are pan o f the complex mleracting whole we call the Earth system As such, our actions cause changes to all the other parts o f the svstem (Rep.) For example, by going about our normal routine, we humans modify the composition o f the atmosphere (Collo ) These atmospheric (Rep.) modifications in turn cause unintended and unwanted changes to occur in the !iydrpsiiii_ere (Collo ).
biosphere (Collo ). and solid Eajth (Rep ) Decomposed stone monumenls and slruelurc^
are common sights in many cities.
Although wc expect rtick (Svn,) to gradually decompose, many o f these nionuments (Rep ) have succumbed pernianeiillv An iniporlanl cause for this aecelerated chemical weathering is acid precipitation.
Ram IS naturally somewhal acidic (Rep ) When carbfin dioxide fr^m the almpsphcre (Rep ) tlissolvcs 111 water, llie prt'diiel is weak carbonic acid (Rep ) llowevei. ihe lerin acid jirecipilalitin (Rep I refers In precipilalii>ii (Rep ) thai is much mtne acidic (Syii )ili;iii naliiral. unpolluled nijii (Rep I and snow As a ctinsequcnce o f biiriung large quanlilies o f fossil fuels, like coal (Hyp ) and peU-olcuni (Hyp.) products, about 10 million ions of sulfur and nilrogen oxides are released iiilo llie atmosphere (Rep ) each year in the United Stales I lie ma]or sources of iliesc einjssions (Sy 11.) include power-generating plants, industrial puiccsscs such as ore smelling aiitl pelroleum (Rep ) refining, and yclucles ol all kinds Through i series o f complex chemical leaclions, some o f llicse pollutanls are converted inio acids (Rep ) that then fall lo Eariji (Rep ) surface as ram (Rep ) ni snow (Rep,I
Another pt>rIioii is tlcposilcd in dry Itirm and subscquenlly converted into acid (Kep ) aller etiming m conl.icl with pixxipil.Uion ( R e p ) , dew Ol loiZ
157
Duong Thi Thao Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE 114(14): 1 5 5 - 159 Norrhern Europe and eastern North .America
have experienced widespread acid ram (Rep.) for s o m e time. Studies have also shown that acid rain ( R e p ) occurs in m a n y other regions (Hyp.), including western North A m e r i c a . Japan, China. Russia, and South A m e r i c a In addition to local pollution (Syn ) sources, a portion of the acidity (Syn,) found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada originates h u n d r e d s of kilometers away in industrialized regions to the south and southwest This situation occurs because many pollutants (Rep.) remain in the atmosphere ( R e p ) as long as five days ( C o l l o ) , during which t u n e they may be transported great distances.
The d a m a g i n g environmental (Collo ) effects of acid rain ( R e p ) are thought to be considerable in s o m e areas and imminent in others The best-known effect is an increased acidity ( R e p ) iii thousands of lakes in Scandinavia and eastern North America, A c c o m p a n y i n g this have been substantial increases in dissolved a l u m i n u m leached from Ihe soil by the acidic water (Rep,), which is loxic lo fish C o n s e q u e n t l y , s o m e lakes are virtually devoid of fish ( R e p . ) , and others are approaching this condition (Syn j Ecosystems are characterized by many mieraclions at many levels of organization, which means that evaluating the effects of aeid precipitation (Rep ) on these c o m p l e x systems is difficult and expensive and far from complete
In addition to the m a n y lakes (Rep.) that can no longer support fish ( R e p ) . research indicates that acid precipitation (Rep.) may also reduce agricultural crop yields and impair the productiy ity of forests AcJd rain (Rep.) not only h a r m s the foliage (Mer.) but also d a m a g e s roots and leaches nutrient minerals from soH ( R e p ) Finally acid precipitation ( R e p ) p r o m o t e s the corrosion of metals and contributes to the destruction of stone (Rep ) structures
158
Notes: R e p Repetition Syn S y n o n y m M e r M e r o n y m H y p H y p o n y m Collo Collocation C O N T E X T U A L C O N F I G U R A T I O N OF T H E T E X T
The three p a r a m e t e r s of context, ftetcl tenor and mode, can be s u m m a r i z e d as below:
Field:
A scientific g e o g r a p h y text written for students s t u d y i n g E S P .
Participant t y p e s : actors, sensers. carriers, existenls, sayer
Process types, relational, material, mental, verbal, existential
Tenor:
Writer and reader Mood: declarative Motle:
M e d i u m : written
High lexical density and parataxis and high grammatical intricacy
C O N C L U S I O N
In this thesis, the m e a n i n g and structure of a g e o g r a p h y text have already been analyzed based on systemic functional grammar. In order to for t h e study to be carried out, some theoretical b a c k g r o u n d s have been presented T h e study starts with the introduction of Systemic Functional Theoi'y, In addition, the article provides s o m e background on cohesion and its t w o main types. One is grammatical cohesion (including reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction) and the other is lexical cohesion (including reiteration and c o l l o c a t i o n ) . T h e s e theoretical b a c k g r o u n d s are illustrated by e x a m p l e s taken from g r a m m a r b o o k s by f a m o u s grammarians like Halliday. N u n a n . H o a n g Van Van, etc.
On the basis of these theoretical backgrounds, a geography text is a n a l y z e d in terms of transitivily. m o o d , t h e m e and c o h e s i o n . For transitivity, it can be s h o w n that the main the
Duong Thi Thao Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE 114(14) 155- 159 mam process type is material process, which
appears in 19 of all the clauses in the te.xt Relational process also exists in 14 clauses in the text Most of the mood pattern in the text is declarative, which is the typicality of a description. Modality only exists in one clause. For thematic pattern, it can be shown that nio.st of the t h e m e s in the clauses are unmarked themes. In the text s o m e cohesive devices are also used. They include conjunctives, reference, repetition, synonym, hyponym and m e r o n y m .
From the analysis above, it can also be concluded that systemic funclional g r a m m a r is an effective paradigms in text analysis lo explore its structure
S U G G E S T I O N S FOR F U R T H E R S T U D I E S This article e x a m i n e s the meaning and structure of a g e o g r a p h y text in terms of transitivity, mood, t h e m e , and cohesion Further sludy should focus on other ESP texts and compare the text structure in English and Vietnamese to see how ESP texts arc oiganized sliucturaliy and semantically
R E F E R E N C E S
I Binh. Lam Thi Hoa (2009). Egeo -in advanced course for sludenls ol Geograpin - Book 2. Nha xu^t ban Dai hoc Su pham 2, Bloor. Thomas and Meriel (1995). The Funclional Ancily.sis of English. Oxford University Press 3- Halliday M A K (1994). -f/7 'introduction lo Functional Ciammar. London Edward .Arnold 4 Halliday. \1 A K and R Hasan (1997).
Cohesion in English. London Longman.
5 Lock. G iA^96). Functional English Giammar An Inlroduclicjn for Second Language Teachei s.
Richards, J C (Ld.). Cambridge Cambridge University Press
6 Nunan. D (1993). Inunducmg Discourse Analysis. London Penguin.
7 Thomson, G (1996], Introducing Funelumal Grammar. Oxfoid Universilv Press Inc 8 Van. Hoang Van (2002). \gii Phdp Kmh Sghiem cua Cii lieng I'lii .Md la Ihco quan diem chiu ndng hi thdng, Nha xual ban Khoa hoc Xa hoi 9 Van. Hoang Van (2004) Dim hum \gu phdp Chirc ndng (dich) Nha xuat ban lOai hoc Quoc gia HaNoi
10 Villi J loang Van (2006) Inirodueing Discouisc
•\nahsis Hanoi F.ducation Piihlishm-Iknisc
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De CO the dat diroc muc Ueu da dc ra tac gia dii phiin Iich bai "Luang A\ii irong nuoc mua - ,Anh hutVng cua con nguoi liri trai dai" Nghien ci'ru da chi ra rang trong van ban dia ly nay cac cu ihuoc qua ninh vai chiil va qua trinh quan he duoc su dung nliicLi nhal (50''o vii 37"u] Ben canh do ihirc Iran lliuai. mot dac trung cua cac bin niieu ta. xu;it hien voi tan xuat lan Trong van han Dia lv nav, hiiu het cac de ngii deu lii de ngu danh dau Cac yeu id hen ket van ban nhu hen ILI iham cliieu, lilp. dong nghta, Irai nghTa ciing duoc su dung nhieu Uong hiii
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