Functional Grammar - Linguistica Inglese 1

Examples of Embedded Clauses and PP

A room with a view -> a:deictic, room:thing, with a view: classifier (PP + deictic + thing)

People [[who have been involved in the accident]] will be refunded -> embedded clause

That dog [with the black tail] belongs to my uncle -> PP which is embedded because it specifies which dog

There was a snake [in my boot] -> PP, but it doesn’t modify the NG. We can also move that PP and put it at the beginning of the sentence -> NOT-EMBEDDED PP

Remember: people not intending to pay people who don’t intend to pay embedded clause

Defining relative clause -> function as embedded

Non-defining relative clause is a real clause, not embedded

If the relative comes after a comma -> non-defining

TRANSITIVITY

Field - Ideational (experiential) meaning – Clause as representation

Ideational meaning can be distinguished in:

Experiential meaning transitivity

Logical meaning clauses in combination

Transitivity includes:

1. The process is the most

important element in transitivity→It's realized by VG: verbs are used to represent activities

one or more participants in the process typically realized by NG

often, one or more circumstances (complementi) give information about the event, they're optional. They can be realized by PP (e.g. in winter), AG (e.g. later), NG

Transitivity has to do with clauses

There are 6 main areas of experience (3 + 3 smaller areas between)

1. material processes: material actions, physical activities that take place in the material world - being created, doing/acting, creating/changing

2. mental experiences: mental processes that take place in the inner world - thinking, feeling, seeing (the brain works during this action)

3. relational processes: about relations that we construct (e.g. "the LILEC department is in via cartoleria")

4. behavioral processes: represent an activity which is partly material and mental - cry (it's not the same as "touch" or

“think”: tears are a physical component, but the reason why you cry is mental.

5. Verbal processes: processes of saying; between mental and relational processes: we communicate something that comes from our mind.

6. Existential processes: processes that tell us that something exists/there is/there are.

MATERIAL PROCESSES - physical processes of doing and happening; it’s default transitivity category. I first look at the VG depending on the process we have different kinds of participants.

Participants: the actor (the active participant) + goal (the passive participant).

PP “in front of their houses”: circumstance of place.

Remember: “of their houses” is an embedded PP.

“Rubbish is left by people in front..”: participant can be realized by a PP (like “by people”: it still remains the actor, but it’s not a NG).

Remember: we can decide not to explicitly state the doer of the action by simply turning the phrase into

passive - it's a range not really affected by the action as the goal is, it completes the meaning of the process

Sub-category: goals

creative material process: bring into existence

goalstransformative material process: are done to existing

intentional material process

actor goal

involuntary material process: the often seems like a (in fact there is NO goal)

Remember: actor may not be explicit (like in the passive clauses); even the goal may also be understood but not expressed (es. He's smoking)

The most natural present tense is the continuous form

A material process clause may include an attribute express the state in which the Actor/Goal ends up as a result of the process.

MENTAL PROCESSES - express thoughts or feeling

Typically they have only animate participants as doers; when the doer is unanimated we have a personification, a metaphorical representation of the object as a human being

The senser the one who feels

The phenomenon the element that is perceived;

it may be a fact, a clause treated like a thing

Sub-category: perceptive mental process (seeing, hearing etc.)

o emotive mental process (feeling, like/hate etc.): the thing you like is usually a

o Phenomenon, even if it’s expressed as a clause (a fact clause)

cognitive mental process (deciding, knowing, understanding etc.) most common to project clauses

desiderative mental process (wanting)

o Some mental processes are reversible it’s equally possible to have the subject role filled either by the senser or by the phenomenon

o Projective clause projected by the mental process; mental and verbal processes can project other clauses

The most natural present tense id the simple form

VERBAL PROCESSES - express what is said

o The sayer the doer of the action

o The receiver to whom the saying is addressed; it often appears in PPEs. "Simon tells Craig his story" -> the receiver (Craig) is a NG

"You cannot talk to a strangers" -> receiver (to a stranger) is

They're both typically humans - Target when the verbal process is directed at another participant, called target. It doesn't have to be human and it can be different from the receiver. Only with verbal processes to do with saying good/bad things about somebody/something - the Verbiage topic/object/content of what is said, the message itself - Matter category of Circumstance, used to label a summary of the message when it's given in a PP. For example, "He thanked her for the tea" - Remember: verbal processes can project other clauses projected clauses; the process and the participant of those clauses are analyzed separately.

EXISTENTIAL PROCESSES - express existence: there is/are/was/were - Existent the thing that exists, that "there is" - Remember: there has not any function in transitivity.

BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES - indicate psychological and physiological activity. They typically have only one participant - Behaver the doer of the action - Sometimes there's also another "participant".

The behaviour adds specifications to the processes. The boy laughed a high, embarrassed laugh. Usually verbs like cry, cough, sneeze, smile, etc.

RELATIONAL PROCESSES - express states of being and having. This process is usually used to describe.

1. Es. "It was an old, condemned house that..." ATTRIBUTIVE relational process. "It" is the carrier, the one who carries the quality. "An old, condemned house that..." is the attribute.
2. Es. "London is the place for you" IDENTIFYING relational process. "London" is the identifier (or token), the one who represents something. "The place for you" is the identified (or value).

Remember: this process is reversible, if you switch "London" and "the place for you" the sentence keeps its meaning.

According to the verb, the relational processes can be:

INTENSIVE X is Y

• Es. "It was an old, condemned house" - attributive
• Es. "London is the place for you" - identifying

POSSESSIVE:

“Simone had a typical London garden” – attributive

“The garden was Simon’s” – identifying

CIRCUMSTANTIAL:

“Everyone is in a rush” – attributive

“Right besides the front entrance is where the garbage gets put” – identifying

OBLIQUE PARTICIPANT:

They have an intermediate status in terms of their closeness to the central meaning of the clause (between central participants and circumstances)

The beneficiary (includes receiver) indirect object; especially with verbal and material processes (to)

In the material processes, it can be distinguished as recipient (with or client for) (with them for them)

Example: I bought computer games (=I bought computer games for them)

The scope (with material processes) objects that are NOT affected by the process (it’s not them, but them in a way)

The scope is NOT a participant

(but it has the potential to becoming subject in passive clauses) the Channel 1985”

“She first swam in -> scope entity: indicates the domain (ambito) over which the process takes place; it’s a circumstantial element in that is specified an aspect of the process birth“

“She’s given to twins” -> scope process: the “objects” are an extension of the verb; it’s a NG that works together with the verb to express the process

CIRCUMSTANCES

They’re realized by circumstantial adjunct and they encode the background against which the process takes place

There are 9 main types of circumstantial elements:

Place and time both can be seen in term of location (where or when?) and extent (how far or how long/often?)

Manner (how?) includes quality (in what way? -ly adv.), means (with what/by what means?), comparison (what...like?), degree (how much?)

Cause includes reason (why?), purpose (what for?), behalf (who for?) Contingency

includes condition (circumstances in which the process occur) and concession (expresses a circumstance that might have led to a particular outcome but did not) Accompaniment (who/what with?) Role fall into guise group (what as?) and product (what into?) Matter (what about?) according to/to) Angle (from what point of view? realized by They frequently seem to combine different meanings + frequent use in metaphorical meanings Many circumstantials can be seen as clauses that have a minor supporting role in another clause MINOR PROCESS CLAUSES IN COMBINATION Field – Ideational (logical) meaning – Clause as representation Ideational meta-function just like transitivity, but this time with logical meaning There are different ways of looking at clauses in combination an those 2 systems combine: TAXIS it refers to the dependency status of the clauses in a clause complex hypotaxis (subordinate): used to refer to a relationship in which one clause is dependent onanother clause; we CANNOT omit the subject parataxis (coordinate): clauses have equal status; it’s used when one independent • clause follows on from another; it’s possible to omit the subject (es. “He pointed his but arrow, saw nothing) It can also occur within dependent clause groupings With reported clauses: - reporting clause - quote: equal status (es. They said “here we are”) - reported clause is dependent on reporting clause (es. I