Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G.

Brown”
Grammar II

THE IDEATIONAL / REPRESENTATIONAL / EXPERIENTIAL

METAFUNCTION

In this unit we will examine the grammatical resources which expresses or realise the
experiential/ideational meaning in a text.

Experiential meanings are those which relate to what is going on in the world – the field.

The part of the grammar which realises experiential meaning is the transitivity system.
The term transitivity will probably be familiar as a way of distinguishing between verbs
according to whether they have an Object or not. Here, however, it is being used in a much
broader sense. In particular, it refers to a system for describing the whole clause, rather than just
the verb and its Object. It shares with the traditional use a focus on the verbal group, since it is
the type of process that determines how the participants are labelled: the ‘doer’ of a physical
process such as kicking is given a different label from the ‘doer’ of a mental process such as
wishing.

From the experiential perspective, language comprises a set of resources for referring to
entities in the world and the ways in which those entities act on or relate to each other. At the
simplest level, language reflects our view of the world as consisting of ‘goings-on’ (verbs)
involving things (nouns) that may have attributes (adjectives) and which go on against
background details of place, time, manner, etc. (adverbials).

If we use functional labels (i.e. labels that indicate the role played by each element of the
representation), we can express what we have said about the ‘content’ of clauses in terms of
processes involving participants in certain circumstances.

1) What do we use language for?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2) Before exploring the transitivity system, read through the following text and answer
the questions about its possible context

Landuse in the forest areas of the Pacific North-West

Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

By the beginning of the 1900s settlers had cleared the forests of the coast. During the first
part of the century they used the timber for housing and later large areas were cut for industrial
use. Gradually people began to consider the future of forests and in recent times they have
replanted large areas of land.

a) What is the text about? (FIELD)

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

b) How would you describe the purpose of the text?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

c) Where might you find a text like this?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

d) Who might have written the text?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

As language-users, we are interested in events and especially in the human participants

involved and the qualities we ascribe to them, what they do, say and feel, their possessions and
the circumstances in which the event takes place. The semantic schema for a situation,
therefore, consists potentially of the following components:
• the process (a technical term for the action (e.g. hit, run), state (e.g. have) or change of
state (e.g. melt, freeze) involved.
• the participant(s) involved in the process (basically, who or what is doing what to
whom);
• the attributes ascribed to participants; and
• the circumstances attendant on the process, in terms of time, place, manner, and so on.
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

Process & Participants

The process is the part which is typically realised by the verb and which can be an action, a
state, meteorological phenomenon, a process of sensing, saying or simply existing.
It centres on that part of the clause that is realized by the verbal group. It can also be
regarded as what `goings-on` are represented in the whole clause.

The participant is the entity involved in the process. While human participants occupy a
prime place among the semantic roles, the term does not refer exclusively to persons or animals,
but includes things and abstractions. A participant can be the one who carries out the action or
the one who is affected by it; it can be the one who experiences something by seeing or feeling;
it can be a person or thing that simply exists.

Process types

MATERIAL PROCESS

They involve: _____________/_____________ words.

CENTRAL PARTICIPANTS:

 ACTOR: ______________________________________________

 GOAL: ______________________________________________

 BENEFICIARY: ______________________________________________
- Active voice: ___________________________________________
- Passive voice: __________________________________________

 RANGE: ______________________________________________

The choice between ACTIVE/PASSIVE voices is significant for SFPCA functions, since
the item which is complement in the active is subject in the corresponding passive, but the items
retain the same roles of ACTOR / GOAL regardless the voice.
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

MENTAL PROCESS

They involve: _____________/_____________ events.

Common verbs:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

 The clause could not serve as an answer to the question “What did he do?”

CENTRAL PARTICIPANTS:

 SENSER:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

 PHENOMENON:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

RELATIONALPROCESS

They are typically realized by ____________________________________________.

 ATTRIBUTIVE RELATIONAL PROCESS: ascribes an attribute to some entity.

* Participants: _______________________________
_______________________________

Other copular verbs which appear in A.R.P:

________________________________________________________________

 IDENTIFYING RELATIONAL PROCESS: an additional function for relational

process is identifying.
* Participants: _______________________________
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

VERBAL PROCESS

Verbal processes are processes of ‘saying’ or ‘communicating’ and are encoded by such
verbs as say, tell, repeat, ask, answer and report.

CENTRAL PARTICIPANTS:

 SAYER:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

 QUOTED:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

 RECEIVER:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

 VERBIAGE:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

EXISTENTIAL PROCESS

 Processes of existing or happening.

 The basic structure consists of unstressed there + be + a NG (There’s a man at the

door). There is not a participant as it has no semantic content, although it fulfils a syntactic
function as Subject .
CENTRAL PARTICIPANT:

 EXISTENT:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

The process in existential clauses is expressed by the following verbs:

• most typically by be;
• certain intransitive verbs expressing positional states (stand, lie, stretch, hang and
remain);
• a few intransitive dynamic verbs of ‘occurring’, ‘coming into view’ or ‘arrival on the
Scene’ (occur, follow, appear, emerge, loom)

Examples:

There remain many problems.

There followed a long interval.
There emerged from the cave a huge brown bear.

BEHAVIOURAL PROCESS

A borderline area between mental processes and material processes is represented by

behavioural processes such as cough, sneeze, yawn, blink, laugh and sigh, which are usually
one-participant. They are considered as typically involuntary.

CENTRAL PARTICIPANTS:

 BEHAVER:
_____________________________________________________________________

Activities

A) Analyse Process and Participants in the following clauses.

1. “Get out of here!” she screamed.

2. “The x-ray shows a small lump in Alvin's throat” the doctor said.
3. Ambulance crews, firefighters and police helped to rescue the passengers form water.
4. Carrie bought Paul some curry yesterday.
5. Cow and sheep are livestock.
6. Danielle thought Ann was the culprit.
7. Diana’s special pancake is made of flour, egg, honey, milk, raspberry syrup and butter.
8. He drives his mother to work.
9. He owns a Mercedes.
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

10. He plays the drums.

11. He told me a story.
12. Her 20-year-old son, Daniel, died mysteriously in his mother’s hospital room in the
Bahamas.
13. I believe you.
14. I broke the glass.
15. I can recognize the King.
16. I gave the kids some money.
17. I thought that she was coming.
18. Janice has my coat.
19. John said that he was tired.
20. Lightning struck the oak tree.
21. Mary liked the gift.
22. Mice are timid creatures.
23. Milliana’s backyard turns spooky at night.
24. More recently she had her own reality television series, The Anna Nicole Show.
25. Mr Garrick played Hamlet.
26. On the wall there hangs a picture.
27. Once upon a time there was a weird grammarian.
28. Patrick is very sick.
29. Peter Baelish gave Sansa Stark a bouquet of roses.
30. Rome was not built in a day.
31. She said “I know what it’s like to be dead”
32. She likes her new goal of life.
33. That book is mine.
34. The avalanche buried the climbers.
35. The boy kicked the post.
36. The doctor expressed some concern.
37. The glass broke.
38. The mayor resigned.
39. The thief thought the police was coming.
40. The Siberian Husky Dog chased a rabbit
41. The Wolf was killed by a hunter last night.
42. There seems to be a problem.
43. There was a storm.
44. They asked him a lot of questions.
45. They were making supper.
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

46. Thousands of political prisoners were released in the 1970s.

47. To keep your room clean is a good thing.
48. We played tennis the whole afternoon.
49. You said you will love me until the end of time.
50. Your story sounds complete nonsense.

B) Read through the texts below and make a preliminary observation about their
purpose and context. Then, complete the transitivity analysis of each text.

TEXT 1:

The tallest living tree is the Californian coastal redwood. It is a coniferous tree and it is
over 110 metres. Australian trees are also very tall. The tallest hardwood tree in the world is the
mountain ash which grows in the Styx Valley of Tasmania. It is almost 100 metres tall.

TEXT 2: Trees uprooted as wild storm hits coast

Almost 100 trees were uprooted by fierce storms, which swept across the coast yesterday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said wild winds swept in from the Central West at about 3pm.
Police reported that trees and powerpoles were uprooted along an area of five kilometres and
witnesses in Folkstone saw a tree in mid-air.

TEXT 3

Rainforest are a valuable resource and they should be protected. Rainforests provide a
habitat for many rare and endangered plants and animals, and logging. Removal of the canopy
of trees results in erosion to large areas of soils. Therefore, rainforest logging needs to be phased
out.

TEXT 4

I remember the time your grandfather fell out of that old tree. I think he must have been
twelve or thirteen at the time. He quickly climbed up to the highest branch and then came down
even faster. I wonder how he survived.
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

Further Reading:

 Chapter 6: Process and Participants.

Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II

Chapter 6: Process and Participants.

Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II
Instituto Superior Nº 8 “Alte. G. Brown”
Grammar II