The experiential metafunction: Clause as

representation
Metafunctions:
Ideational (construes human experience) – Transitivity
Interpersonal (enacts human relationships) – Mood
Textual (creates discourse) – Theme/Rheme

Logical (links between components rather than unit–whole)

Ideational function
Experiential (modelling a domain of "knowledge" – construing organic
‘wholes’)

Processes, participants, circumstances

BABY
PRAM
FATHER
PUSH
WALK
HAIR
AWAKE

– setting up taxonomies of events, things and qualities

semantic (role) process participant(s) circumstance

lexicogrammatical verbal group nominal group adverbial group / prepositional
(realization) phrase
substantival/adjectival

Processes
Michael looked at her for a moment. Then he began to laugh. 'I'm so sorry,' said
Michael, 'but it did sound comic, the way you said it! Cheer up, there's no tragedy. I
have to go to the village this evening, and I'll fetch your suitcase then. It'll be quite
safe at the White Lion. Did you have any lunch by the way? We were wondering
about you.

Thompson, p 79:
Three questions that can be asked about any process and the clause of which it forms
a nucleus:

1. What kind of process is it?

2. How many participants can/must be involved in the process?
3. What roles can/must those participants play?
 material (‘doing’, ‘causing')
behavioural (‘acting’)
major clause mental (‘thinking’, ‘sensing’, 'evaluating')
(process) types verbal (‘saying’)
relational (‘being’, ‘having’)
existential (‘existing’, ‘appearing’)

Material processes

Associated participants: Actor & Goal

Actor. the participant always inherent in a material clause. The Actor can be animate
(‘action’) or inanimate (‘event’). The process it participates in may or may not extend
to affect another participant, the Goal.

Actor Process Goal

They were making supper.
Actor Process Circumstance
The car crashed into a tree

Goal Process Circumstance

Rome was not built in a day.
Actor Process Goal
Circumstance
Ambulance crews, firefighters and police helped to rescue passengers
from the water.

Goal Process Actor

The passengers were rescued by ambulance crews, firefighters and
police

Mental processes

Associated participants: Senser & Phenomenon

Phenomenon. Participant role in the transitivity structure of a mental clause: the
phenomenon sensed by the Senser. (Senser in bold; Phenomenon in italics.)

She saw them. She saw them leaving the house.

These people don’t understand functional grammar.
She recognized the dilemma she and every teenager around her found themselves in.
One professor felt we should get our feet dirty.
Sarah fears nothing. Nothing frightens her.
His behaviour disgusted many people. / Many people condemned his behaviour.

Relational processes

 attributive: Associated participants: Carrier & Attribute

  identifying: Associated participants: Token & Value (Identified & Identifier)

A Carrier is construed as being ascribed or attributed to an Attribute: the relation

can be interpreted as one of class-membership – the Carrier is construed as a member
of the class described by the Attribute.

Carrier Process Attribute Circumstance

His clothes are very expensive.
You are a fool.
The barracks has become an art gallery now.
Some granite has large crystals.
The teacher wasn't in her office.
The names of some structures appear in boxes.
This city park comes alive on Sundays.

In identifying clauses a general relationship of symbolization is construed between

two participants, the Identified and the Identifier. The relationship can also be
characterized as one between Token and Value:

Identified Identifier
Token Value
This sentence is an example of an identifying clause.

Identified Identifier
Token Process Value
Each structure expresses one kind of semantic organization.

Identified Identifier
Token Process Value
The course comprises two years of full-time study.

Verbal processes
Associated participants: Sayer and Verbiage (+ Receiver)

 She told me the story of her life.

 He couldn't say a word.

Existential processes
Associated participant: Existent (+Circumstance)

1. There is a fly in my soup.

Behavioural processes
Associated participant: Behaver (+Range)
 1. He was laughing.
2. They hummed a little tune.
3. We were watching the news.

Grammatical characteristics of process types:

Material: typically occur with the progressive in the present tense
Mental: typically occur in the simple present tense
Relational: typically occur in the simple present tense

Halliday 138:
behavioural sharing characteristics of material and mental
verbal sharing characteristics of mental and relational
existential sharing characteristics of relational and material

The Range Participant

 "the element that specifies the range or scope of the process"

 "elaborates or enhances the process" (Martin et al 118)
 a ‘complement’ which
o forms a semantic relationship with the verb (cognate, or close in
meaning)
o specifies part of the process
o is not affected by the process

I gave a description of the person I saw. (verbal process)

They speak English. (verbal process)
We played tennis the whole afternoon. (material process)
They were singing folksongs. (behavioural)
He played the guitar. (material)
We visited the church. (material)

‘Circumstantial-like’:
They have walked several miles. (material)
I climbed that mountain because it was there. (material)
They reached the North Pole. (material)
We spent the whole morning in town. (material)

The Beneficiary (material and verbal processes)

The duke gave my aunt a teapot. (Recipient – 'to whom?')

I sent a letter to everyone who lived in the neighbourhood. (Recipient)
She did me a favour. (Client – 'for whom?')
She posted a letter for me. (Client)
They asked me a lot of questions. (Receiver – 'to whom?')
The general shouted at them. (Receiver)
"Stay with her!" he had said to Mrs. Allen. (Receiver)

Target (verbal processes)

Can you describe the person you saw?
He read and criticized her novel.

Circumstances

Location: Temporal (when?) – She’ll arrive on Thursday.

Spatial (where?) – She lives in Birmingham.
Extent: Temporal (for how long?) – She has lived there for eight years.
Spatial (how far?) – It slid halfway over the floor.
Manner (means/quality/comparison) (how?) – Daddy went off quite happily
at 7.40. He answered with a smile.
Cause: Reason (why?) – We have to be there early as it’s Friday.
Purpose (what for?) – He popped over for a chat.
Behalf (who for?) – He’s doing the shopping for me.
Contingency (concession) – Despite his eagerness he’s unlikely to succeed.
Accompaniment (who/what with?) – She returned with(out) her gun / with
her friend.
Role: Guise (what as?) – He returned and remained at the hotel as an
inoffensive tourist.
Product (what into?) – The constable's features broadened into a grin.
Matter (what about?) – I'll wager he learns more about you than you about
him.
Angle (from what point of view?) – To a great mind, nothing is little.
.

CIRCUMSTANTIATION
(clipped from http://minerva.ling.mq.edu.au/Resources/VirtualClassroom/classroom.htm)
Each type of circumstance is realized by a particular set of prepositional phrases and/
or adverbial groups; prepositions include:

Location: at, by, on, in, to, towards, from, onto, into, out of, through; above, below, in
front of, behind, over, under; after, before, since, ago ['post-position': ten years ago]
Extent: for, along, across, throughout
Manner: by, with; like, unlike, as; in [a ... way/manner/fashion] (Note that certain
prepositional phrases which appear to be locative serve as Manner: how did he walk?
– he walked on all fours. How did he leave? – He left in a huff.)
Cause: for, for the sake of, on behalf of; through, of, because of, as a result of, thanks
to, for want of
Matter: about, on, of, regarding, concerning
Accompaniment: with, without; as well as, besides, instead of, except [for]
Role: as, by way of, in the role/ shape/ guise/ form of

Spatial Temporal
Extent Distance Duration
(including interval) stay (for) two hours
walk (for) seven miles pause every ten minutes
stop every ten yards
Frequency
 knock three times
Location Place Rest Time Rest
work in the kitchen lecture at noon
eat out in Sydney leave on Tuesday
Motion Motion
get out of the kitchen wait until Tuesday
go to Sydney have worked since Tuesday

(based on Halliday pp 152-153)

1. They must have gone a good two miles before they met another car.
2. After a couple of miles he turned right into a network of lanes.
3. Passengers are regularly forced to stand for up to 70 miles.

On the edge of a jutting pinnacle, three or four hundred feet above him, there
stood a creature somewhat resembling a sheep in appearance, but armed with a
pair of gigantic horns. The big-horn – for so it is called – was acting, probably,
as a guardian over a flock which were invisible to the hunter; but fortunately it
was heading in the opposite direction, and had not perceived him. Lying on his
face, he rested his rifle upon a rock, and took a long and steady aim before
drawing the trigger. The animal sprang into the air, tottered for a moment
upon the edge of the precipice, and then came crashing down into the valley
beneath.

Other functions of prepositional phrases

Participant:

4. The painting was stolen by one of the guards. (Actor)

5. Miss Schwarzkopf is letting herself be tempted by the classic sin of
artistic pride. (Phenomenon)
6. I said hello to them. (Receiver)
7. I forgot to send a Christmas card to old aunt Jemina. (Recipient)
8. I spoke to him in fluent Russian. (Verbiage)
9. He plays well on all these instruments. (Range)
10. He looks like Kermit the frog. (Attribute)

Part of noun group:

11. Nine out of ten students love functional grammar.

Modal or conjunctive adjunct:

 12. So in fact you didn’t see anything at all.
13. These people are by definition realists.

Verb + preposition + noun = Predicator + Complement

14. I’m looking for my glasses. (Behavioural process + Range)

15. He switched on the computer. (Material process + Goal)

Projecting – verbal processes

William said, "How can it be new when it’s old?"

He said that he was a detective.
He asked me if I would stand by the bargain
Projecting Projected

"To a great mind, nothing is little," remarked Holmes, sententiously .

Projected Projecting

Summary of processes and participants:

Process type Associated Example Other

participant(s)
material Actor, Goal Stella opened the door Range
(Beneficiary)
Circumstance
behavioural Behaver She was smiling.
mental: Senser, She didn’t see anyone.
perceptive, Phenomenon She couldn’t understand it.
cognitive & She hated being tricked.
affective
verbal Sayer, Verbiage She told the truth.
(Receiver)
relational: Identifier, Her brother was the host.
intensive, Identified The silence was threatening
circumstantial Token, Value The neighbours were at
& possessive home.
Carrier, Attribute They had a big dog.

Possessor,
Possessed
 existential Existent There was a madwoman in
the attic.

Ergativity

An alternative analysis to the transitivity analysis.

See Martin et al p 113, Thompson p 112

Central concepts:
Process
Medium: Participant, typically the subject of the sentence (‘the entity through
the medium of which the process comes into existence’ – Halliday p 164)
Agent: ‘Doer of the action’ corresponding to Actor (‘the participant
functioning as an external cause’ – Halliday)
Range: covers all ‘object’ roles

I opened the door. (Agent – Process – Range)

The door was opened. (Medium – Process)
The door opened. (Medium – Process)

Oil floats on water. (Medium – Process – Location)

The sugar dissolved. (Medium – Process)

Tasks:
Supply the transitivity (experiential analysis) of these sentences
Mary has written a letter
(experiential)
Mood Residue (interpersonal)
Subject | Finite Predicator | Complement
Theme Rheme (textual)

Mary likes poetry.

Mood Residue
Subject | Finite Predicator | Complement
Theme Rheme
Mary is taller than me.

Subject Finite + Predicator Complement

Theme Rheme

Models are her most important idols.

Subject Finite + Predicator Complement

Theme Rheme

Her most important idols are models.

Subject Finite + Predicator Complement

Theme Rheme

There has been a burglary in our house.

Mood Residue
Theme Rheme

The children asked us a lot of questions.

Subject Finite + Predicator Complement Complement

Theme Rheme

I watch these models on TV.

Subject Finite + Predicator Complement Adjunct

Theme Rheme

He is on holidays at the moment

Subject Finite + Predicator Adjunct Adjunct

Theme Rheme

She has left her husband for him

Subjet Finite Predicator Complement Adjunct

Theme Rheme
Check your answers with the key.

Texts for analysis:

Identify the process types used in these two advertisements for cars.
Concentrate on the main clauses. What can the process types reveal about the
general style of the text?

What matters is what car you're in. In the new Renault Mégane, prior to impact, our
anti-lock braking system helps you maintain control. Collision sensors then fire tiny,
explosively-charged clasp pre-tensioners to tug any slack out of your safety belt –
binding you into your seat. 10 milliseconds later, a two-stage front airbag inflates,
holding your chest and had in place far more gently than conventional systems.
(Lateral airbags do the same in a side impact and are seat-mounted to be in the right
position whatever your height.) After 70 milliseconds, seatbelt tension transfers to steel
shock-absorbing belt mounts. They deform with pressure, taking the strain in place
of your chest and shoulders. Close protection head rests cradle your head and neck
against 'whiplash'. That's in the first tenth of a second. You've hardly realised you're
going to crash. Yet already everything vital for your safety has happened. So far this
year, our Systems for Restraint and Protection, or SRP, as we call it, has won the
Mégane 'Safest Car in its Class' rating at the official Euro NCAP crash tests and What
Car? magazine's coveted Safety Award. By all means invest effort and discipline
looking and feeling a young as you can. But do it thankful that our concerns have been
the opposite. We want you to get old.

Call 0800 525150or visit www.renault.co.uk

Stay beautiful

The New Mégane

Safest car in its class.

THE NEW TOYOTA YARIS.

IT DEFIES LOGIC.

Sports cars are beautiful. Small cars are practical. That's the conventional wisdom.
Here's the unconventional. The new Toyota Yaris is both. It has a stylish innovative
shape which is also the most aerodynamic in its class. Making it both easy on the eye
and on the pocket. Inside it's the same. A beautifully-designed holographic instrument
panel, angled towards the driver, makes keeping your eyes on the road and on your
instruments less of a strain. It's also very spacious (2.5 cubic metres) with a rear seat
that moves forward up to 15 cm to increase the size of the boot, or folds down
completely for when you really need more room. Available in 3 and 5 door versions,
prices range from £7,495 to £11,245 and there's a choice of payment schemes to
make ownership even easier. What could be more practical?

3 year/60,000 mile warranty. Telephone 0800 777555 www.toyota.co.uk/yaris

The car in front is a TOYOTA YARIS