luận văn thạc sĩ a comparative study of transitivity system in english and vietnamese weather forecasts

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NGUYỄN LÊ MỸ NỮ

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE WEATHER FORECASTS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

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I hereby declare that I am the sole author of the MA thesis entitled “A comparative study of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts” The thesis contains no material published elsewhere or written by other people except where reference is made in the text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Binh Dinh, 2021

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ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my research supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn, for his careful guidance and professional, academic advice on my thesis I am really lucky to receive his great encouragement, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge to finish my thesis in such a limited time

I am also grateful to all the lecturers of my MA course at the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University, for their useful guidance and support and all the staff of the Post - graduate Department at Quy Nhon University for their sympathy and administrative assistance

I would also like to send my special thanks to my friends and colleagues to support me in completing the research and sharing helpful materials and experiences during my study

Next, my sincere thanks to my school management board and colleagues at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School, whose assistance made it feasible for me to participate in this MA course and fully concentrate on completing my thesis

Finally, I owe my all family a debt of gratitude, especially my parents, who always stand by me and provide me with emotional support and great care while my thesis was in process and have helped me overcome many unexpected difficulties during the course and the thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them

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iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 RATIONALE 1

1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 3

1.2.1 Aim of the Study 3

1.2.2 Objectives 3

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 4

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 5

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CHAPTER 3 BACKGROUND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36 3.1 Research design 36 3.2 Research methods 37 3.3 Criteria for collecting data 37 3.4 Data collection 38 3.5 Data analysis 38

3.6 Reliability and validity 40

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41

4.1 The transitivity systems in English weather forecasts 41

4.1.1 Process types 41

4.1.2 Participants 46

4.1.3 Circumstances 50

4.1.4 The most dominant process types 55

4.2 The transitivity systems in Vietnamese weather forecasts 56

4.2.1 Process types 56

4.2.2 Participants 62

4.2.3 Circumstances 67

4.2.4 The most dominant process types 72

4.3 Similarities and differences in transitivity between English and Vietnamese weather forecasts 73

4.3.1 Six processes types in EWFs and VWFs 73

4.3.2 Participants in EWFs and VWFs 75

4.3.3 Circumstances in EWFs and VWFs 76

4.3.4 Most dominant types in EWFs and VWFs 78

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5.1 Conclusions 80

5.2 Implications 83

5.3 Limitations of the study 84

5.4 Suggestions for further researches 84

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ABBREVIATIONS ABB Full words/ phrases FG Functional Grammar Circ Circumstance Pro Process

EWFs The English weather forecasts

VWFs The Vietnamese weather forecasts

SFG Systemic Functional Grammar

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Three lines of meaning in the clause 12

Table 2.2 Types of sensing, examples and examples of verbs serving as Process in mental clauses 18

Table 2.3 The principal categories of the ‘relational’ clause 20

Table 2.4 Example of verbs as Process in behavioural clauses 22

Table 2.5 Process types, their meanings, and characteristic participants 23

Table 2.6 Examples of Manner circumstantials 27

Table 2.7 Examples of Cause circumstantials 28

Table 2.8 Examples of Accompaniment circumstantials 29

Table 2.9 Types of circumstantial element 30

Table 3.1 Names and Official Websites for data collection 38

Table 3.2 Framework for data analysis 39

Table 4.1 Participants used in EWFs 46

Table 4.2 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process 49

Table 4.3 Circumstances involved in the Processes in EWFs 50

Table 4.4 Material Processes,Verbal Processes and other Processes in EWFs 55

Table 4.5 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process in VWFs 59

Table 4.6 Participant Functions used in VWFs 63

Table 4.7 The percentage of Participants in Relational Process in VWFs 65

Table 4.8 Circumstances involved in the Process in VWFs 67

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 The grammar of experience: Types of processes in English 15

Figure 4.1 Type of Processes in EWFs 42

Figure 4.2 The percentage of Participants in the Material Process 47

Figure 4.3 The Percentage of Circumstance Types in EWFs 51

Figure 4.4 The Percentage of the most dominant types in VWFs 55

Figure 4.5 Types of Processes in VWFs 56

Figure 4.6 The percentage of Participants in Material Process in VWFs 57

Figure 4.7 The Percentage of Circumstance Types in VWFs 68

Figure 4.8 The Percentage of the most dominant types in VWFs 73

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The researcher presents an overview of the study in this chapter, as well as the rationale for selecting the research area This chapter aims to discuss the aim and objectives of the study, and in detail, it also presents the research questions Besides, the scope of the study, the significance of the research and the structure thesis are all presented in this chapter

1.1 RATIONALE

Weather forecasting uses science and technology to forecast atmospheric conditions for a specific location and time People have sought to predict the weather systematically since the nineteenth century Weather predictions are based on the collection of quantitative data about the current condition of the atmosphere at a specific location and the use of meteorology to project how the atmosphere will evolve in the future

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All kinds of mass media like newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the net, etc., recommend weather forecasts that are usually given within the type of text Text is going to be analyzed, which attempts to explain the language in actual use and its contexts, either culture or situation, to assist readers in grasping them more profoundly and clearly from the linguistic perspective in light of Functional Grammar (FG) In FG, a transitivity system could be a system that deals with the content expressed in language: all doing, sensing, being, saying activities that happen within the world The Transitivity system provides the lexicogrammatical resources for constructing a quantum of change as a figure - a configuration of elements centred on a process within the flow of occurrences Consistent with the theory of Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), there are six different types of processes: Material, Mental, Verbal, Relational, Behavioral, and Existential; and three components have consisted in each process as the Process itself; the Participant; and Circumstances The process is the basic type of the clause as representation and is employed as a tool to explain the sector of the situation- what is being talked about

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1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.2.1 Aim of the Study

The study is aimed to analyse the type of processes of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts The study aims to spot the similarities and differences of the transitivity system in both languages through these analyses

1.2.2 Objectives

The following subsequent objectives are fulfilled to realize the aim: 1 To explore the varieties of processes of the transitivity system used in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

2 To search out the foremost dominant types of process used in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

3 To compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

From the aim and objectives raised above, the core research questions that guided this study can be stated as follows:

1 What are the varieties of processes of the transitivity system used in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts?

2 What are the primary dominant types used in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts?

3 What are the similarities and differences of the transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts?

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

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includes three elements, namely the Process itself, the Participants, and Circumstances

A clause is the mainspring of grammatical energy, and it has meaning as a presentation of the analysis of the clause A verb realizes each process since a clause incorporates a verb, so every clause incorporates a process Thus the data is analyzed in aspects of the clause Besides, the study has mainly focused on the experiential metafunction of clauses, concentrated in some processes in the ongoing human experience but pay attention to neither the interpersonal metafunction nor the textual metafunction

The official websites of weather forecasts in the English-speaking countries, namely the United States and Vietnam, are chosen to record data for analysis in English and Vietnamese

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Finding and analyzing the transitivity system in weather forecasts create some contributions:

Firstly, the study helps anyone interested in weather forecasts know how to create weather forecasts effectively and helps hearers and readers understand them clearly

Second, based on Halliday & Matthiessen's theory, this study provides learners with information on how to use the Transitivity System in weather forecasts, particularly six process categories (Material process, Mental process, Relational process, Verbal process, Existential process, and Behavioral process) Thus, the learners know many sorts of Transitivity systems and how to deal with transitivity system elements for their purposes

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1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

In the scope of this paper, the study consists of five chapters as follow: Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter shows an overview of the study, including the rationale for choosing the area for studying, the aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance, and the organization of the research

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Background

This chapter provides a review of the theoretical background for the study, including Functional Grammar, three meta-functions, and six process types of transitivity systems based on the theory of Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) with reference to Hoàng VănVân (2005)

Chapter 3: Methods and Procedures

This chapter shows the research methods, data collection and analysis, and research procedures The researcher supplies some examples to show how data are analyzed in data analysis The reliability and validity of data collection are also mentioned

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

This chapter includes two sections The first shows the results of the data analysis in which six process types and the most dominant types of the transitivity system are mentioned The second is that the similarities and differences of Transitivity systems in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts are also found in this chapter

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications

This chapter is the conclusion of the study and its implications It offers

an overview of the study, summarizes the significant findings, draws conclusions, suggests implications and limitations, and offers forward

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter presents most theoretical aspects of Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) and Hoàng Văn Vân (2005), on which this thesis relies Moreover, this chapter also supplies readers with a theoretical background for analysing the data in the study Therefore, theories of Functional Grammar,

three metafunctions, and six processes are mentioned

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Language is employed to express meanings and perform various functions in different contexts and situations of our daily lives Suppose grammar is “the way within which a language is organized” (Butt et al., 2000) In that case, Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), which Halliday developed, attempts to elucidate and describe the organization of the “meaning-making resources” we use to achieve such goals (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) SFG is a study of meaning construction through a system of lexico-grammatical choices that serve functions within social and cultural contexts SFG has two components, namely Systemic Grammar and Functional Grammar Systemic Grammar aims to explain the internal elation in language as a system network of meaning potential This network consists of a sub-system from which language users make choices Meanwhile, Functional Grammar aims at revealing language as a means of social interaction

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British teacher Firth and the Prague school's group of European linguists of the early 20th century Halliday described his grammar based on and affected the work of many linguists Halliday's grammar differs markedly from traditional accounts that emphasize the classification of individual words (e.g noun, verb, pronoun, preposition) or informal, written sentences in a restricted number of "valued" forms of English In Halliday's concept, grammar is expressly defined as the process of coding meanings into wordings in both spoken and written modes across all kinds and registers of a language

According to Thompson (2013), Functional Grammar stated in numerous contexts how language was constructed as a semiotic system and conceived of it as a meaning-making device closely tied to the social context around it in a variety of circumstances Consequently, Functional Grammar was a linguistic description technique that investigated both the possible structure and how speakers arranged the relevant linguistics options in each context (Thompson, 2013, pp 8–9)

The third and fourth editions of "An Introduction Functional Grammar" were released in 2004 and 2014 These editions were evaluated by Halliday and Matthiessen There are six types of Processes, according to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), and the Process is the most central element within the clause; Participants are close to the centre and directed involved in the Process or influenced by the Process while the Circumstance components, on the other hand, are peripheral to the Process and not coordinated with it

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through numerous lexico-grammatical options influenced by diverse thinking styles or authorial ideology

Bloor and Bloor (1995) presented “The Functional Analysis of English”, an introduction to the analysis and description of English for those starting with Functional Grammar based on systemic functional linguistics concepts It explains Halliday's grammar devices and analytic procedures and illustrates them with examples from various texts, including science, travel, history, and literature It sets out the devices and analytic techniques Christie and Martin (2006) also attempted to use and work with FG, a workbook designed to teach and practice a variety of grammatical analyses presented by Halliday in “Introduction to Functional Grammar”

Until now, various researchers from all around the world have conducted practical investigations in this field Gwilliams and Fontaine (2015) published a journal article entitled "Indeterminacy in Process Type Classification" They attempted to identify some indeterminacy in process type classification and focused their examination on 20 clauses Faherini (1999) published a summary entitled "An Analysis of Transitivity Clause Types in The Jakarta Post's Headlines-A Systemic Functional Approach." This thesis was based on a Functional Approach to evaluate the April 2003 Jakarta Post headlines to explore the Transitivity clause, and Faherini tracked down that the most common process in Jakarta Post headlines was the verbal process

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known in Vietnam for applying systemic functional theory to the description of Vietnamese and demonstrating the transitivity system and process grammar Another scholar worth mentioning is Diệp Quang Ban, who studied the Vietnamese clause using functional grammar He made an effort to learn more Vietnamese by exploring and understanding it In addition, Hoàng Văn Vân (2012) used Halliday's Functional Grammar framework to depict the experiential clause grammar of Vietnamese in his book "An Experiential Grammar of the Vietnamese Clause" In Vietnamese, he discovered six process types: Material, Behavioural, Mental, Verbal, Relational, and Existential

Phan Văn Hòa and Phan Thị Thủy Tiên (2010) worked to develop a suggested model for experiential analysis in written texts, and they gathered data from electronic newspapers to interpret clause structure in English and Vietnamese news In addition, Nguyen Hoài Nhi (2018) also conducted a study titled "An Investigation into Processes in English Texts on Makeup in Light of Functional Grammar," which focused on Ideational Metafunction into Processes in English Texts on Makeup Instructions Furthermore, they all examined and covered all six categories of Processes

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In English and Vietnamese, Bùi Thị Quỳnh Hoa (2015), Đinh Thị Diệp Thảo (2002), and Huỳnh Thị Diễm Trinh (2009) attempted to investigate Relational Attribute Processes, Material and Mental Processes, Existential Processes, Verbal Processes and Mental Processes, and participants of Mental Processes Phạm Đoàn Thanh Dung (2020) conducted the thesis about the weather forecasts Võ Ngọc Bình (2018) investigated Circumstances in airport announcements Their analysis was collected data from novels, short stories, magazines, websites and announcements in those theses

However, there has been no research into Weather Forecast Processes in English and Vietnamese texts of weather forecasts to see how and why Transitivity is used As a result, I conducted a comparative study of transitivity system in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts for my MA thesis with the desire to make a minor contribution to this specific field

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Overview of Functional Grammar

Linguistics in the early twentieth century has witnessed a considerable variety of theories, and each one has its distinct orientations, trends, and research subjects However, in most of these theories, like Halliday and Chomsky's traditions, the square measure is initiated by many followers or severally Besides, every theory has been successful in accounting for aspects of language from a particular perspective Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is one of the most substantial theories that has attracted the most attention and has often been utilised in linguistics and applied linguistics Halliday’s grammatical descriptions pass the name of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) later SFL is an approach to language developed primarily by

Halliday (1978, 1985a, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2014) and his followers throughout

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Malinowski was a polish anthropologist who did most of his works primarily in

England Firth, the second linguist, established linguistics as a discipline in the United Kingdom He developed Malinowski's theory concerning the spatial relation of the content of the situation and applied it through his linguistic model From Firth’s theory, Halliday (1985) has developed an approach of Systemic Linguistics The systemic theory focuses on the link between language and context Halliday (1994, p 55) mentions that applying Systemic

Linguistics is “to understand the quality of texts: why a text means what it does, and why it is valued as it is” Halliday’s SFG could be a linguistic theory

supported on the principle that language is a social semiotic system, and every person has the proper to make meanings unlimitedly In other words, Halliday’s functional systemic linguistics is concerned with nature grammar within the sense that everything in it can be explained by the relevancy of how language is used to form meanings At the beginning of Halliday’s functional systemic linguistics speculation, three metafunctions will be presented shortly Halliday distinguishes three layers – called metafunctions - of meaning in

language: the ideational, the textual, and the interpersonal metafunctions Ideational (experiential) metafunction mentions the linguistic resources that

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Textual which is concerned with a message and is mainly recognized by the Theme system Table 2.1 summarizes three lines of meaning in the clause

Table 2.1 Three lines of meaning in the clause

Metafunction Clause as System Structure

Textual Message THEME Theme ^ Rheme

Interpersonal Exchange MOOD Mood [Subject + Finite] +Residue [Predicator (+ Compliment) (+ Adjunct)] Experiential Representation TRANSITIVITY Process + participants (+ circumstances),

e.g Process + Actor + Goal (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p 83)

2.2.2 Ideational metafunction

According to Thompson (1996, p 28), “ideational meaning is the using of language to talk about the experience in the world, including the worlds in the minds, to describe events and states and entities involved in them”

Moreover, Gerot and Wignell (1995, p 14) state that “ideational meaning are meanings about phenomena-about things (living and not living, abstract and concrete), about goings-on (what the things are or do) and the circumstances surrounding these happenings.”

The ideational meta-function organises the speakers or writer’s experience of the real or the imaginary world and is recognized by the transitivity system The Ideational function relates to reality's inward and

external world; it is “language about something” The ideational meaning is

further divided into the logical sense and the experiential meaning

The logical meaning