LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)

Metafunction: According to Functional Grammar there are three basic FUNCTIONS that we can perform
with language:

1) Represent the World (THE EXPERIENTIAL METAFUNCTION)

Remember:

Experiential meanings are meanings about phenomena – about things (living and non-living, abstract and
concrete), about goings on (what the things are or do) and the circumstances surrounding these happenings
and doings. These meanings are realized in wordings through Participants, Processes and Circumstances.
Meanings of this kind are most centrally influenced by the FIELD of discourse.

2) Interact with others (THE INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION);

3) Organize the message (THE TEXTUAL METAFUNCTION).

We typically perform the three functions AT THE SAME TIME, but not all words have the three kinds of
meanings. Some words only have experiential meaning (an objective word like “chair”, “jump” or “Thursday”).
Some words only have interpersonal meaning (like “perhaps”, “must”, “obviously”). Some words only have
textual meaning (like “and”, “however”, “so”).

Other words and expressions might have BOTH experiential and interpersonal meaning (like “crook”, which
represents something in the world but also represents the judgment of the producer).

During this 1st part of the year we’re going to work with the first 2 metafunctions:

● The analysis of categories, functions, clauses, words, groups, processes, participants, and
circumstances belongs to the EXPERIENTIAL metafunction.

● The analysis of person, mood, modality, evaluation and other elements of subjectivity (vocatives,
interjections, mental processes, future reference, etc.) belongs to the INTERPERSONAL metafunction.

INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION: It’s the function of language through which speakers interact with
the listener and represent their subjectivity. Units of language (words, groups, clauses) might or might not
have experiential meaning (not all words or groups represent the judgment or attitude of the speaker).

The interpersonal analysis includes the analysis of

✔ MODALITY (modal verbs, modal adjuncts)

✔ EVALUATION (words or groups with positive or negative connotation),
✔ PERSON (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
 LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)

✔ MOOD (imperative, interrogative, declarative) (Exchanging information: giving and demanding

information; Exchanging goods and services: giving and demanding goods and services)
✔ and other minor elements denoting subjectivity like vocatives, interjections, the use of mental
processes, negation, reference to the future, comparisons and contrast.

1) MODALITY: It’s the analysis of units of language that represent the attitude of the speaker
towards the content of a clause. Modality can be expressed either through

⮚ MODAL VERBS, which are always finite (must, should, can, ought to, etc.)
⮚ MODAL ADJUNCTS, which don’t modify the process but the whole clause (unfortunately, obviously,
perhaps, maybe, sadly, etc.).

Modality can be classified into kinds:

✔ volition (what the speaker wants: “will”, “need to”, “luckily”, “unfortunately”)
✔ probability (what the speakers thinks is likely: “may”, “might”, “probably”, “obviously”)
✔ obligation (what the speakers thinks is necessary: “must”, “should”, “necessarily”)
✔ ability (what the speaker thinks can be done: “can”, “able”, “hardly”)
✔ frequency (how the speaker measures quantity in a subjective way: “sometimes”, “just”, “would”,
“typically”).

2) EVALUATION: It’s the analysis of units of language that express the judgment or opinion of the
speaker, particular through the expression of negative or positive connotation.
Evaluation is not expressed through one particular kind of unit, though the most common way to express
evaluation is through adjectives, which qualify and are more prone to having positive or negative
connotation. But also nouns, verbs, adverbs and whole expressions might be evaluative. Also,
evaluation depends on the context. The same word that could be objective and non-evaluative in one
linguistic context might very well be evaluative in another context.

3) PERSON: In describing interaction we are never very far away from the interactants themselves, the
speaker as I or we and the addressee as you. As speakers and addressees interact in conversation they
take up different roles - the speaker of one clause becomes the addressee of the next as, in turn, the
first addressee becomes the next speaker.
The traditional way of describing the interactants is first person (singular: J, me, my; plural: <we, us,
our) and second person (singular and plural: you, your). Third person is the persons and things spoken
about.
 LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)
In English first person plural may either include or exclude the addressee, so grammarians refer to
inclusive or exclusive we.
In an interpersonal analysis we must be concerned with the interplay of first and second person and
whether the addressee is included in first person plural pronouns. The identity of I and you, and the
expression of solidarity or distance by inclusive or exclusive first person plural pronouns, are expressions
of the relationship between speaker and addressee.

4) MOOD

Certain contexts raise strong expectations about whether information or goods and services will be given or
demanded. We can examine texts to explore the meanings realized in their mood choices.

EXCHANGING INFORMATION

✔ Speakers and writers giving information most normally make statements. In clauses giving
information, the Subject (the nominal group which interacts most closely with the Finite and usually
precedes the Finite (that part of the verbal group which encodes primary tense or the speaker's
opinion. If the verbal group contains more than one word, the Finite will be the first word in the verbal
group.) and this configuration is known as DECLARATIVE MOOD.
e.g
● They (subject) open (finite) on Friday.
● They (subject) had (finite) swum there.

✔ Speakers demanding information normally ask questions. Sometimes they ask in polar
interrogatives which expect a yes/no response. In a polar interrogative question (Yes-No questions)
the Finite comes before the Subject, and this order is the signal of the INTERROGATIVE MOOD.

e.g
● Does (finite) Penny (subject) play football?
● Can (finite) I (subject) get there tomorrow?

In information-seeking questions, if the question word is Who, Which, or What? Functioning as

Subject, then the Finite follows it.

e.g.

● Who (subject) killed (finite) Cock Robin?

● What (subject) was (finite) making that noise?

Otherwise, if the question word is not the Subject, or if any other question word is used, the sequence is
question word + Finite followed by Subject.
 LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)
e..g

● Who did (finite) you (subject) see?

● Where (finite) has my little dog (subject) gone?

EXCHANGING GOODS AND SERVICES

✔ Speakers demanding goods or services may give orders or commands. In the most
straightforward and easily recognized form of this type of exchange there is no apparent Subject or
Finite, but speakers can, if they wish, make their demands more emphatic by adding a Subject or a
Finite. These configurations are known as IMPERATIVE MOOD.
If we add a Mood tag at the end of each message, the result is will you? or won't you? Because of
this, some linguists would prefer to say that the Subject is the addressee (you) and that the Finite
must contain some idea of futurity. On the other hand, the suggestion that the Subject and/or Finite
need not be present in the imperative highlights the difference between demanding information and
demanding goods and services:

e.g.

● Play squash! (no finite, no subject)

We may also find a demand for goods and services encoded as a declarative or interrogative and
in such cases the Subject/Finite follows the normal pattern of declarative or interrogative mood.

e.g.

● I (subject) need to (finite) see your passport.

● Can (finite) I (subject) see your passport?

✔ Speakers who are offering goods and services do not have recourse to any special
configuration of the Subject-Finite relationship, so this type of exchange does not have a special
mood but is identified through the context of the message.

e.g.

● I (subject) will (finite) make the tea.

● Shall (finite) I (subject) make the tea?

The interpersonal grammar of interaction and tenor

Students can explore how the tenor of the context of situation is expressed in interactions by exploring what the
grammar reveals about;
 LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)
• the relative power of the people taking part (who does most of talking, who shares the talking, who merely
listens and acknowledges)

• the relative status of the people taking part (who does what when they talk – for example who initiates by
demanding or giving information or instructing or offering and who merely responds; who has w shift the grammar
the greatest interpersonal distance from the meaning)

• the level of personal involvement between the people taking part (For example: Do they see each other
regularly? Do they have a strong emotional bond?)

TASK # 1: Mark whether the mood of the following clauses is declarative, interrogative or imperative.
Underline the Subject and circle the Finite and comment on the way they are ordered.

a. Will you join the dance?

b. This is a fine example of Goya's early style

c. Why are you crying so?

d. Stop that nonsense immediately

e. Everybody must leave the theatre at once.

TASK #2. Choose 2 of the clauses from task 1 and change the interpersonal meanings by manipulating
the Subject and Finite.

Task #3: In the following short texts identify the main types of meaning (a,b,c) Then, comment on how
is the context of situation reflected in the meanings and language units of the texts?

a. demanding goods and services

b. giving information

c. demanding information

Text A Ingredients Equipment

200 g dates small saucepan
1 cup water wooden spoon
60 g butter round or ring pan
2 eggs baking paper
190 g white sugar
190 g SR flour
1 tsp bicarb, soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Method
Put dates and water in saucepan, and heat until jammy.
Beat in the other ingredients.
Line pan with greased baking paper.
Bake at 19 D C for 30 minutes.
Serve with caramel sauce and cream,
 LESSON #10: INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (MEANING)
TEXT B

Mother: Ben, hop down, please

No, don't do that
You'll break the plant
Now, what did you do at kindy today?
Child: (I) Played
(I) Had a drink
Mother: What did you have a drink of?
Child: (I had) A drink of water
Mother: And what did you have to eat?
Child: (I) Ate a 'nana
Mother: Don't give your sandwich to the cat
She's had her dinner

TEXT C

Medea is a strange and complex character. She is inexplicable because of the extremities of emotion
she displays. Both her love and her hate are awesomely powerful, almost too powerful to be human.
In the final scene, Euripides displays this by placing her in a blazing chariot above the stage. By this
action, she is transformed into a quasi-divine figure. But, at the same time, she remains a savage and
her barbarian qualities, her 'fierce, resentful spirit', continue to govern her actions and emotions