Three metafunctions of the language

The ideational metafunction is the one that helps us understand, organize and express perceptions of the world and our consciousness. It relates to the field aspects of a text, or its subject matter and context of use. The ideational metafunction can be classified into two subtypes: the experiential and the logical. Experiential metafunction, which is the function of understanding ideas, is distinguished from logical metafunction, which is that of organizing and correct expressing of ideas.

The experiential metafunction organises our experience and understanding of the world. It is the potential of the language to construe figures with elements and its potential to differentiate these elements into processes, the participants in these processes, and the circumstances in

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which the processes occur. The experiential metafunction is realized through the system of transitivity. According to Halliday, there are six types of process in the transitivity system of English, namely, material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioral and existential.

The logical metafunction works above the experiential. It organises our reasoning on the basis of our experience. It is the potential of the language to construe logical links between figures;

for example, "this happened after that happened" or, with more experience, "this happens every time that happens".

Experiential meanings are associated with the constituency structures whereas logical meanings are related to the interdependency ones, particularly, the coordination ( or parataxis) or subordination ( or hypotaxis) between clauses.

The following example illustrates the analysis of a clause with respect to its ideational metafunction.

Frank worked hard and he became an architect

Actor Process:

material

Circumstance Carrier Process:

relational

Attribute

||| Frank work hard || and he became an architect. |||

1 +2

(Alexander, 1988,11) 1.3.2. Interpersonal metafunction

“ We also use language to interact with other people to establish and maintain relationships with them, to influence their behaviour, to express our own viewpoint on things in the world, and to elicit or change theirs” (Thompson, 2004:30). Hu Zhuanglin (1988:313) points out: “ The interpersonal functions embodies all uses of language to express social and personal relations. This includes the various ways the speaker enters a speech situation and performs a speech act.”. The interpersonal metafunction represents the text‟s aspects of tenor or interactivity. Tenor comprises three component areas: the speaker/writer persona (variation), social distance and relative social status.The speaker/writer persona concerns the stance, personalisation and standing of the speaker or writer. This involves looking at whether the

writer or speaker has a neutral attitude, which can be seen through the use of positive or negative language. Social distance means how close the speakers are, e.g. how the use of nicknames shows the degree to which they are intimate. Relative social status asks whether they are equal in terms of power and knowledge on a subject, for example, the relationship between a mother and a child would be considered unequal.

Concerning interpersonal metafunction of the clause, Halliday points out two components: the Mood and the Residue. The Mood consists of two parts: (1) the Subject, which is a norminal group and (2) the Finite operator, which is part of a verbal group. In other words, it shows the relationship between the grammatical subject of the clause and the finite element of the verbal group.The Residue, according to Halliday, consists of functional elements of three kinds:

Predicator, Complement, and Adjunct.

The following example is analyzed on the basis of interpersonal metafunction:

Sarah 's cooking dinner for her classmates

Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjunct

Mood Residue

1.3.3. Textual metafunction

„In using language, we organize our messages in ways that indicate how they fit in with other messages around them and with the wider context in which we are talking or writing‟

(Thompson, 2004: 30). Halliday describes, “Language makes links between itself and the situation; and discourse becomes possible because the speaker or writer can produce a text and the listener or reader can recognize one” (Halliday, 1971:334). In other words, the Textual metafunction accounts for the ways in which clauses are organized to comprise a message.

Depending on the type of message one desires to express, the way in which the text flows will change. Clauses can be divided into two main functional parts: Theme and Rheme.

The Theme consists of the first functional element of the clause up to and including the first experiential element. The Theme is a resource for organizing the interpersonal and ideational meanings of each clause in the form of a message. Each clause will occur at some particular

point in the unfolding of the text; this is its textual environment. The system of THEME sets up a local environment, providing a point of departure by reference to which the listener interprets the message. With this system the speaker specifies the place in the listener's network of meanings where the message is to be incorporated as relevant. The local environment, serving as point of departure, is the Theme; what is presented in this local environment is the Rheme. The clause as a message is thus a configuration of two thematic statuses, Theme + Rheme. The Theme is what the clause is about while the remainder of the clause (the Rheme) provides the actual content. Identifying the Themes of a text helps us see the development of the text.

In English, thematic status is expressed by position in sequence. The Theme is realized by initial position and the Rheme is realized by non-initial position.

In 1983 Jack arrived in Sydney

Theme Rheme

As mentioned above, three kinds of metafunction are of equal importance and closely related.

“They all contribute to the overall meaning of the structure of the text” (Morley, 2000:16).

The following example will illustrate their simultaneous operation in the expression of meaning.

Metafunction system In the garden the Prince danced with his girlfriend

Textual THEME Theme Rheme

Interpersonal MOOD Adjunct Subject Finite/

Predicator

Adjunct

Residue(1) Mood Residue (2)

Ideational TRASITIVITY Location Actor Material Process

Accompaniment

Field, Tenor and Mode of the text