scholarly journals Thematic Structure in Barack Obama’s Press Conference: A Systemic Functional Grammar Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Press Conference ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

scholarly journals Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five : a functional grammar perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Monika Kavalir
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

The paper tries to analyse the style of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five with the tool of Hallidayan systemic-functional grammar. Its aim is to explore in what way the syntactic and thematic structure helps construct the sentiment of fatalism  and simplicity, and how it reinforces the novel's concept of time.

ANALYZING THEMATIC STRUCTURE IN INDONESIAN FOLKTALES IN ENGLISH VERSION: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR (SFG)

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Efransyah Efransyah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Nominal Group ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
English Version ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

This research is entitled “Analyzing Thematic Structure in Indonesian Folktales in English Version: A Systemic Functional Grammar Study (SFG)”.  The objectives of this study are analyzing and describing the themes, their elements and thematic progressions of Indonesian Folktales in English Version. The collected data, in this research, were taken from the book entitled “Indonesian Folktales” published in 1981 by Pustaka Media Publisher. One data, Princess Sumur Bandung which consists of 50 paragraphs and 221 clauses was chosen to be analyzed based on the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) of Gerot and Wignell (1994). The method and technique used in this study are a descriptive qualitative method. The results of this research reveal that (1) there are two kinds of theme-rheme patterns are found; they are simple theme-rheme patterns and multiple theme-rheme patterns. In details, the simple theme-rheme patterns contain constant theme-rheme pattern, linear theme-theme rheme pattern, and derived theme-rheme pattern, while multiple ones contain a combination of constant and linear theme, a combination of linear and derived theme, and a combination of constant, linear and derived theme-rheme pattern. Besides, the combination of constant and linear theme-rheme pattern are the most frequently distributed.  While the elements of themes which found are textual, interpersonal and ideational elements. Textual elements cover continuative, structural conjunction, wh-relative and conjunctive adjunct. Interpersonal elements cover modal adjunct, vocative, wh-interrogative and finite verbal operator. Ideational elements cover nominal group, noun, adverbial group, prepositional phrase, process, complement, group complex and adverb.

scholarly journals The Analysis of the Thematic Structure of the Standard Arabic Clause: A Special Focus on Verb-initial Structures

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Maha El Biadi
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Detailed Presentation ◽  
Nominal Clauses

The objective of the present paper is to give a detailed presentation of how the thematic structure is expressed in Standard Arabic (SA) and how different it is from that of English language. SA is a language which displays different linguistic properties in comparison to English, the language around which the Systemic Functional Grammar theory (SFG) was first developed (Halliday, 1994). Very few studies have been carried out to study the thematic structure of SA and none of them deals with all types of sentence structures in this language. Abdul-Raof’s study is a case in point (Abdul-Raof, 1998); he is mainly concerned with studying the thematic structure of nominal clauses i.e. clauses starting with nouns, despite the fact that Arabic is a language where VSO structures are frequently used. It is precisely at the level of VSO structures that the analysis of thematic structure in Arabic becomes problematic.  Contrary to what previous studies in this area of enquiry say, I will mainly argue that the verb cannot be considered Theme in SA. It is also worth noting that the present work is part of a general endeavour to develop a Systemic Functional Grammar of SA.

Thematic choice in English and Norwegian

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Hasselgård
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Frequent Pattern ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Source Language

Using material from a parallel corpus with originals and translations in both English and Norwegian, the present study sets out to explore the lexicogrammatical properties of Theme and thematic choice in the two languages. Theme is defined according to systemic-functional grammar as the first element that has a function in transitivity, plus any preceding element(s). The extent to which Themes are preserved or altered in the translation process is also studied. There are more similarities than differences between the two languages as regards thematic structure. Some differences are due to the verb-second constraint that applies to Norwegian, but most are due to differences in frequency. Norwegian allows non-subject participants to be thematic more often than English does, while multiple Themes are more frequent in English. Within multiple Themes, the logical relations expressed by textual Themes differ between the languages. Translators tend to preserve the topical Theme of the original in the great majority of cases. When changes are made this may be due to lexicogrammatical differences between the languages or they may represent ‘normalization’ to a more frequent pattern in the target language. Translations are found to differ from original text in the same language as they borrow features from the source language.

A systemic functional study of modal verbs in the Chinese clause

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Yang
Keyword(s):  
Probability Function ◽  
Nominal Group ◽  
Functional Study ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Information Focus

Abstract Previous studies of Chinese modal verbs in the traditional framework (e.g. Lu 2004; Peng 2007; Tang 2000; Tiee 1985; Tsang 1981; Xie 2002; Xu 2007) have mainly focused on the description of semantic and syntactic features of modals that occur in the middle of the clause and attached little significance to the functions that modal verbs serve when they appear at different positions in the clause. Similarly, in a systemic functional framework, modal verbs in the middle of the clause receive the most attention. Their interpersonal functions are thoroughly explored; however, their textual functions are seldom discussed as they are believed to mainly appear in the middle of the clause buried in the Rheme rather than at the beginning or at the end of the clause. This paper examines the functions that modal verbs serve when they occur in different places in the clause from the perspective of systemic functional grammar. It argues that modal verbs are functionally motivated and the position of the modal verbs in the clause expresses particular meanings. When situated medially in the clause, modal verbs function as the Modality in the interpersonal structure of the clause, and as part of the Rheme in the thematic structure of the clause, marking the transition between Theme and Rheme. When occurring at the beginning or in the middle of the clause before a nominal group, some modal verbs of obligation serve as focus markers and identify the subsequent nominal group as the marked information focus of the clause. In the thematic structure of the clause, clause-initial modal verbs of obligation and probability function as interpersonal Themes to foreground the speaker’s modal assessment. Finally, when placed at the end of the clause, modal verbs serve either as the Predicator or Modality in the interpersonal structure of the clause and as the unmarked information focus of the clause.

scholarly journals Rouhani’s and Obama’s Persian New Year messages: A systemic functional grammar perspective

ExELL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Amin Karimnia ◽  
Shidak Rahbarian
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar

Abstract This study investigated Nowruz (Persian New Year) messages by Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Barack Obama in March 2016. The study critically analyzed the discourse of these two presidential messages and uncovered the hidden aspects of their ideologies, policies, and background worldviews. In doing so, an integrated version of Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFG) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used. The analysis of data included various linguistic dimensions (e.g. processes, modality, transitivity) of the messages and their statistics. Although results suggested that Obama intended to build a more intimate situation, both presidents tried to inspire a spirit of action, development and effort in their respective governments. The messages did not reveal considerable thematic differences, except some discoursal religious features expressed in Rouhani’s message.

scholarly journals The Study on the Interpersonal Meanings of Modality in Micro-blogging English News Discourse by the case of “Donald Trump’s Muslim Entry Ban”

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhai Rui ◽  
Liu Jingxia
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
News Discourse ◽  
Systemic Analysis ◽  
Language Analysis

News is a kind of writing style, which is so valuable that many linguists choose it to study. This thesis aims to conduct a systemic analysis of modality type, value and orientation under the framework of Halliday’s Systemic-functional Grammar in order to explore the interpersonal meanings of modality in English news discourse. The research data is drawn from micro-blogging official platforms, among which 20 pieces of news discourse in all are selected to establish a small type of corpus. All the 20 pieces of news discourse are taken from the micro-blogging in 1.20 to 2.20 of 2017. All the news is about “Donald Trump’s Muslim Entry Ban” (A ban made by Donald Trump, which claimed that Muslim can’t enter America). Meanwhile, both qualitative and quantitative research methods are adopted to discover the distribution of modality in micro-blogging news discourse and its interpersonal meanings, and hence to deepen people’s cognition and understanding on micro-blogging news discourse. Through a detailed analysis, the study has a lot of findings. We found that modality language is widely used in micro-blogging news. From the perspective of modality type, reporters prefer to use finite modal adjunct such as will in the type of modulation to show their emotional attitude of the target thing. From the perspective of modality value, we can see that median value is the most popular among three values for reporters, and “will” and “would” are the most popular expressions that express the speaker’s expectations, willingness and determination or the reporter’s views, attitudes on the possibility of a certain event. Meanwhile, from the perspective of modality orientation, the speaker or writer tends to use implicit objective orientation in order to show objectiveness of the news discourse and get rid of writers’ responsibilities. This paper attempts to analyze modality in micro-blogging English news discourse from the perspective of interpersonal functions which aims to provide a new method for discourse analysis and acts as a beneficial complementary to modality language analysis.

scholarly journals Appraising Katherine Mansfield’s Father Figures in “The Little Girl”: A Transitivity Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Md. Saiful Alam ◽  
Adelina Binti Asmawi ◽  
Mohib Ullah ◽  
Shafinur Nahar ◽  
Sayeeda Fatema
Keyword(s):  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Father Figures ◽  
New Type ◽  
Males And Females

This article explores the patterns of father figures, the father -child relationships and power imbalance depicted in Katherine Mansfield's “The Little Girl”, using one tool of analysis from Systemic Functional Grammar, which is Transitivity. Examined are the ways Mansfield, as a Modernist and feminist writer, thematizes and engages herself to the theme of the fathering model and the father - child relationships typical of her time in her story. The study concentrates on The Little Girl, by Mansfield, which contains father figures and children as one of the central issues. The study concludes that there is a remote father syndrome in Mansfield's “The Little Girl”, and that the fathering style and practice of the Old Father type makes the impossibility of healthy father-child relationships, and that the Old Father's conventional fatherhood creates a power imbalance between males and females, and finally there is an aspiration for the New type of father in the child’s life.

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