These researchers have proved the utility of SFG in speech analysis and make great contributions to the extension of Halliday’s theory。 Nonetheless, as is introduced above, most of the domestic ones grasp merely a small aspect of SFG such as register analysis and interpersonal function。 Literature that views a speech from the perspective of SFG as a whole is quite lacking。 So a comprehensive study of a certain speech is of much value。来自优Y尔L论W文Q网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ7520~18766

Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework

This chapter will provide an overview of the three meta-functions。 Meta-functional thought is one of the most essential ideas of Systemic-Functional Grammar。 The function of language has multiple ways of classification and categorization according to different linguists。 What Halliday calls “meta-functions” are those abstract and basic ones of language which are inherent (Thompson, 2000)。 Meta-functions can be further pided into ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function。 They will be introduced respectively in the following part。

3。1 Ideational Function

When we use language to communicate with other people, we are actually talking about the world。 The world here can either refer to the external world (substances, events, qualities, etc。) or the internal world (emotions, feelings, thoughts, etc。) (Thompson, 2000:76)。 So, if we look at language in terms of the content it carries, it is performing the ideational function。 In other words, ideational function suggests human being’s expression of the experience of the physical world and inner world。 According to Halliday, similarly, there are two aspects of this meta-function: the experiential and the logical。 Sometimes known as informative function, ideational function makes it possible for one speaker to convey new information to another。

The manifestation of ideational function mainly takes two forms, which are transitivity and voice。 The term transitivity is familiar to English learners as a way of distinguishing between verbs with object and those ones without。 Nevertheless, here it is used in a broader sense because the whole clause is taken into consideration instead of only the verb (Thompson, 2000:78)。 Transitivity can be defined as a system that pides human action or behavior into six different kinds of process, namely material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioral, and existential。

1) Material process is a process of making an action, and is usually composed of an actor, a verb and a goal。 It should be noted that both specific and abstract behavior can be represented by material process。 E。g。:

         My father                    built                     a new house。

It                    could damage                our relationship。

Actor Process(dynamic verb) Goal

Table 3-1

2) Mental process is a process of thinking, so usually sensual and emotional verbs are used to indicate perception or cognition。 E。g。:

Tom                       likes                    dogs and cats。

I                         saw                     many people。论文网

Sensor Process Phenomenon

Table 3-2

3)