DSpace at VNU: The meaning structure of a science fiction story: a sysyemic functional analysis tài liệu, giáo án, bài g...
TAP CHÍ KHOA HỌC ĐHQGHN, NGOẠI NGỮ T.XXI sỏ' 2, 2005 T H E M E A N IN G A N D S T R U C T U R E O F A S C I E N C E F IC T IO N S T O R Y : A S Y S Y E M IC F U N C T IO N A L A N A L Y S IS H o a n g Van V an 1*' gram m ar and m eaning of a science fiction story as a text The procedures and conventions used in the analysis are based on the fram ew ork of H alliday’s (1994) An Introduction to F unctional G ram m ar; Halliday and H a s a n ’s (1985) Language, Text and Context: Aspect o f Language in Social-Sem iotic Perspective: Hasan's (1984) Coherence a n d Cohesive: and B utt’s (1984) The Theme a n d Lexieo-G ram m ar in the Poetry o f Wallace The analysis will proceed from th e c onte xt of the chosen text; clauses and clause complexes analysis; the transitivity pattern , the mood pattern, the th em e-rhem e pattern, the grammatical and lexical cohesion analyses for the cohesive harm ony of the text; to a summary of the context of situation of the text in term s of the th ree contextual Introd u ction What is a text? To a layman, a text may be just a text or it may be “I’ve got no idea” To the people in the linguistics circle who are not concerned with language as social semiotic, a text may be a rath er fuzzy and abstract term, or it may mean “a body of printed or w ritten work” as defined by the Collins English Dictionary (1990) To the etymologist, a text may carry a general meaning of texture, because, as they may explain, “text” is derived from the Latin word “textus” m eaning “texture” But w hat is linguistic texture is still another problem It may be inappropriate to ask second or foreign language teachers such a big question If the question is given to them, I am sure, the polite answ er will be “Sorry, we are language users, we are not concerned with language theory What we’re supposed to is to use and teach language correctly and appropriately, and nothing else.” Fortunately, the “correctly” and the “appropriately” in their answer have a lot to CỈO with text, and to understand w hat a text is will certainly help them a great deal in their teaching (for detail of this point, see Hallidav, McIntosh and Strevens 1964, Halliday and Hasan 1985, and Burns 1990) p a r a m e t e r s : f ie ld , t e n o r a n d m o d e The C o n tex t o f th e C h o s e n Text This text is tak en from an English textbook S trea m lin e E nglish: Connection published bv Cam bridge University Press in 1983 The t i t l e of the t e x t is A Science Fiction Story indicating its genre Above the text t h e r e is a picture in which there are a man and a woman sitting in a forest of a new planet Behind them there is a spaceship There are two astronauts’ helmets, one in front of them and the other at their With these difficulties in mind, in this paper, an attem p t is made to explore the back T h e y a r e h o ld in g a fruit 111 their hands The woman is looking at the man n Assoc Prof Dr , School of G raduate Studies - VNU 28 The m e aning and structure o f a science fiction storv: A sysyemic 29 Clauses and Clause Complexes Analysis The analysis of the text into clauses and clause complexes and their logico-semantic relations can be done as follows: (I) I I The spaceship flew a ro u n d the new p la n et several tim es (2) I IThe planet was blue a n d green (3) I I I They co uldn't see the surface o f the p la n et (4) I I because there were too m any w h ite clouds (5) I I I The spaceship descended slow ly through the clouds (6) I I a n d la n d ed in the m id d le o f a green forest (7) I I I The two a stronauts p u t on th eir spacesuits, (8) I I opened the door, (9) I I clim bed carefully down the la d d er, (10) a n d stepped on to the p lanet I I I II (II) II The w om an looked at a sm all control unit on her arm (12) I I I “It's all right (13) I I she said to the man (14) I I I “We can breathe the air (15) I I it's a m ixture o f oxygen and nitrogen.” (16) I I I Both o f them took o ff the helmets (17) II and breathed deeply I I I (18) I I They looked at everything carefully (19) II All the plants and animals looked new and strange (20) I I They couldn't fin d any intelligent life (21) I I After several hours, they returned to their spaceship (22) I I Everything looked normal (23) I I I The man switched on the controls, (24) I I but nothing happened (25) I I I “Something's wrong” (26) I I he said, (27) I I ‘7 don't understand (28) I I the engines aren't working." (29) III He switched on the computer, (30) I I but that didn't work either (31) I I I “Eve", he said, (32) I I “we are stuck here (33) I I we cant take o ffr I I I (34) I I I “Don't worry, Adam ” (35) I I she replied (36) I I 'They'll rescue us soon." I I I text XVI which read as “It's all rig h t" she said consists of 36 clauses which make up 18 to the man “We can breathe the air it's a clause complexes Most of the clauses in m ixture o f oxygen and the clause complexes are in paratactic “S o m ething's relation showing th eir interdependence understand the engines aren't w orking Their semantic relatio ns are mainly of It is the conventional full stop in writing elaboration and expansion Four clause t h a t causes arg um en t The full stop in complexes (VII, XV, XVII, XVII) are of w riting here suggests th a t th ere may be quoting and quoted relation characterising two clause complexes in each In this the dialogic portion of the text There is pa per , all th e four c la u s e s a r e combined only one clause complex (III) which has into one clause complex, rep resentin g hypotactic relation One more thing that one should be commented upon here concerns own thinking This is shown in Table the division of clause complexes VII and below The analysis shows th a t the Tạp ( h i Khoa học D U Q G H N N g o i Iiiỉữ, T XXI So 2005 sem a n tic n itro g en ” and w rong,” he said stru ctu re in th e ‘7 don't w r i t e r ’s _ H oang Van Van Table Clauses and Clause Complexes (I) II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV (2) (3) (5) (7) (11) (12) (16) (IS) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) m e 1«Q IIX O lO iii II C l O II+C ll> III < jD iC l I =G O III O i r d D 11C Ã D II = in d m > u C i Q 1C Ã II II lu O iid D i udO n Tap (In Khoa hoc Đ H Ọ G H N N goại HỊỊử T XXJ, Sô': 2005 The m e an in g and structure of a science fiction story: A sysyemic (25) (29) (31) (34) XV XVI XVII XVIII C m ) II 'GD Boundary Markers used for the analysis: I I I : Clause complex boundary I I : Clause boundary • Type of dependence (^ /P ) ° (j T ( ^ p ) ) Paratactic relation Hypotactic relation • Logico-semantic relations = : Elaboration + : Extension X : Enhancem ent ” : Projection / locution (wording) • O th e r s : I II, III Num ber of clause complex in the whole text (1), (2), (3)N um ber of clause in the whole text 1, 2, 31 Num ber of clause within a clause complex Tup d ll K hoa hoc Đ H Q G H N N goại ngữ, T XXJ, So 2005 H o an g V an Van 32 T r a n s itiv ity P a ttern The text is a narrative about the two a stro n au ts landing in a new planet for the first time The “w hat is going on?” of the text is well represented in the experiential component of meaning From the point, of view of transitivity, of the 36 clauses 17 are m aterial process (flew in 1, descended in 5, landed in 6, p u t on in 7, opened in 8, clim bed in 9, stepped in 10, took o ff in 16, returned in 21, switched on in 23, happened in 24, aren't w orking in 28, switched on in 29, didn't work in 30, are stuck in 32, and take o ff in 33) These are used to describe the motion of the spaceship (1, 5, and 6) and the physical actions of the actors; are mental process (couldn't see in 3, looked at in 11, looked at in 18, couldn't fin d in 20, don't understand in , a n d d o n 't worry in 34) c h a r a c t e r i s i n g the perception and feeling of the c h a r a c t e r s w h e n they land in the new planet; and are relational and existential processes (was in 2, were in 4, in 12, ’.s in 15, looked in 19, looked in 22, and '.s in 25) positing that things are in existent and describing the sta te of being of the things under the observation of the a s tro n a u ts in the new planet Most of the processes are in the simple past tense (25/36) They are used in the narrative portion The present simple (9/36), the present continuous (1/36) and the simple future (1/36) are used in the dialogic portion, characterising the actions which occurred, is occurring and will occur at the moment of the ch aracters’ speaking The circum stantial components in the clauses of the text are of m ann er (slow ly carefully, deeply), location (around the p la n et, here, in the m iddle o f the green forest), and direction (through the cloud) The transitivity p a tte rn of the text is represented in Table T able Transitivity P attern of the Text C la u se P a rtic ip a P rocess P a r tic ip a n t C irc u m sta n c es (n tl) I Actor material flew II Carrier relational was III S en ser m ental see Existent relational were Actor IV V VI VII VIII Location Frequency material descended M a n n er Direction Actor material landed Location Actor m aterial put on Goal Actor m aterial opened Goal Actor material climbed 10 Actor m aterial stepped 11 S en ser mental looked at Phenomenon 12 Carrier relational s Attribute 13 Saver verbal said Target 14 B ehaver behavioural breath Range 15 Carrier r e la t io n a l 's (is) Attribute 16 Actor material took off Goal Phenomenon Location M an n er Location Location Tup ( III Khoa hoc D H Q G H N , N goại I XXJ, So 2, 2005 33 The m eanin g and structure o f a science fiction story: A sysyemic IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII 17 18 19 20 21 99 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Behaver Se riser Carrier Senser Actor Carrier Actor Actor Carrier Saver Senser Actor Actor Actor Sayer Goal Actor Saver Actor behavioural breathed mental looked at relational looked mental find material returned relational looked material switched on material happened relational's (is) verbal said mental understand material working material switched on material work verbal said material are stuck material take off mental worry' verbal replied material rescue Ì Manner Manner Phenomenon Attribute Phenomenon Direction Attribute Goal Attribute Location Goal simple past tense, while in the dialogic The Mood P a tte r n The “Who is tak ing part?” of the text is presented in its mood p atterns In terms of speech function, one can see the two role relationships, one is between the writer portion, they are combined with a variety of tenses such as the simple present (is, are), the present continuous (aren't w orking), and the future simple (will) and the reader(s), and the other between There are very few modal elem ents the characters them selves The analysis used in the text Only clauses contain shows th a t most of th e Subjects in the modality Two of them express the w riter’s clauses of th e text are personal Apart judgem ent about the ch aracters’ inability from the fictional features presented by to perform the actions (they couldn't in borrowing the two im aginary characters and from the Bible (Eve and Adam), the science express fiction features worded in the nominal inability to perform the actions (ca n t in 14 groups w hich a re placed in th e subject and carit in 33) Of 36 clauses, 35 are in position terms the declarative mood, which is one of the (