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Specification of the Text
One of public service
advertisements
’
major
contributions to the public is
that
it
raises
the
public
’
s
awareness
about
the
serious
social
problems,
which
have
an
influence
on
their
attitude
towards
these
issues.
As
a
consequence,
social
issues
can
be
dealt
with
by
changing
people
’
s
behavior.
Text
one
is
taken
from
children
charity
Action
for
Children
Webpage,
which
services
most
neglected,
disabled
and
pitiful
children.
Text two is public
service advertisement of children charity
Canines for
Disabled Kids,
which supplies assistance dogs to disabled
children under
the age of 12. Text
three is collected from children charity Big
Brothers
Big
Sisters,
which
gives
aid
to
children
so
as
to
change
the
lives
of
children for the better, forever. Text
four is public service advertisement
of
“
Just Say
No
”
campaign against drug
use. Relying on the
non-profit
public
propaganda,
children
charity
arouses
the
public
’
s
concerns
about
social
problems.
Owning
to
the
distinctive
features
of
public
service
advertisement, the selected texts are
representative. This essay focuses on
public
service
advertisement
texts,
which
highly
connect
with
the
research of transitivity analysis.
Approach to Analysis
The
approach
I
intend
to
analyze
is
transitivity
analysis
in
Systemic
Functional Grammar. Halliday provided
the theoretical basis for Systemic
functional
grammar,
which
illustrated
“
how
simultaneous
strands
of
word
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meanings
(the
ideational,
interpersonal
and
textual
metafunctions)
are
expressed
in
clause
structures
(Eggins,
2004:2)
”
.
There
were
three
primary functions within Hallidayan
transitivity: Process, Participant and
Circumstance
(Halliday,
1994).
On
account
of
the
lack
of
space,
transitivity features, three primary
functions within Hallidayan transitivity,
main process types and functions are
aimed to be explored specifically in
this paper.
Analysis
Halliday
(1994)
stressed
that
there
are
six
different
process
types
in
systemic functional grammar: material
process, relational process, mental
process,
verbal
process,
behavioural
process
and
existential
process.
Participant refers to what or who is
involved. According to the transitivity
analyses in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3
and Table 4, the key participants are
the
reader
and
children
charity
and
only
relational,
mental,
verbal
and
material
process
types
are
frequently
used
in
the
four
pieces
of
public
service advertisement texts.
In text one, sentence (1),
(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (11) are all
material
processes, which account for
around 64% while relational processes and
mental processes make up
both 18%. Sentence (1) and (3) are the
only
mental processes. The three main
participants are
‘
Ryan
’
(18%),
‘
Ryan
’
s
mum
’
(27%) and
‘
children charity
Action for Children
’
(27%),
which are
the action executors carried
out by the process. In terms of circumstance,
word
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it refers to how, when and where things
are happening. Unlike text one,
mental
processes
don
’
t
exist
in
text
two.
Material
processes
consist
of
75% and the rest 25% is
taken up by relational processes. In the aspect of
main
participants,
both
‘
Canines
for
Disabled
Kids
’
and
‘
this
organization
’
,
namely,
are
all
‘
CDK
’
,
which
accounts
for
50%
of
the
whole text.
‘
You
’
,
‘
your involvement with
CDK
’
,
‘
your
support
’
and
‘
your
help
’
all can be
regarded as the reader, which takes up nearly 41%.
The
left is
‘
these assistance
dogs
’
, which simply
constitutes 9%. In text three,
there
are three process types, the same as text one,
which are composed
by material process
(73%), mental process (18%), and relational
process
(9%).
As
for
participant,
‘
Big
Brothers
Big
Sisters
’
accounts
for
the
largest proportion (approximately 64%),
which is regarded as
‘
we
’
in text
three. By contrast, verbal
process (25%) is utilized solely in text four. The
percentage of material process,
relational process and mental process are
38%,
12%
and
25%.
One
of
the
manifest
characteristics
in
text
four
is
that major participants are
“
I
”
and
“
You
”
,
namely, the junior high student
and the
reader.
As we can see from Table 5,
material process takes up the largest average
proportion of 62.5% whilst relational
process, mental process and verbal
process are solely 18.3%, 13% and 6.2%,
respectively. There is no doubt
that
verbal process accounts for the minimum average
proportion of the
texts.
word
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Functions of material process
Text
serves
to
indicate
“
a
basic
premise
of
systemic
linguistics:
that
language use is
purposeful behavior (Eggins, op.
cit.)
”
. Bloor (2004) put
forward that most of the material
processes could be defined as
“
< br>doing
”
process
which
is
achieved
by
a
verbal
group.
Material
process
plays
a
vital role in helping the writer
achieve the goal. To be more specific, the
children charity Canines for Disabled
Kids use material processes in text
two
like,
‘
Members
of
CDK
staff
and
volunteers
travel
all
over
the
country
for
these
opportunities
’
,
‘
This
organization
provides
assistance
dogs
to
children
under
age
12
who
are
autistic
or
have
hearing
or
physical
disabilities
’
and
‘
Unlike other organizations
where a portion of
your
support
goes
toward
its
goal,
here
at
CDK
you
truly
help
an
individual
’
to
illustrate who can CDK help, what can volunteers
benefit
from,
the
differences
between
CDK
and
other
charity
organizations.
Therefore, these material processes may
arouse the potential
volunteers
’
interests and finally, readers are
willing to take part in CDK after reading,
which is the purpose of these material
processes.
Considering the role of
Actor and Goal is essential in the material
process,
it is necessary to explore it
deeply. Actor is the
“
performer of an action
implemented by the
Process
”
and Goal is defined
as
“
the point of
impact
”
(Bloor,
op.
cit.).
In
text1,
take
‘
Action
for
Children
staff
supported
the
family every step of the
way
’
as an example,
‘
Action for Children
staff
’
is
word
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regarded as Actor, which performs the
material process
‘
supported<
/p>
’
and
‘
the
family
’
is Goal that
undergoes the material process
‘
supported
’
. In text
three,
for
example,
‘
We
operate
in
communities
all
across
the
United
States
-
urban
and
rural
…
Big
and
Little.
’
‘
We
’
is
the
Actor
which
connects the
relationship between children charity and
potential volunteers
in order to
realize communication. The public service
advertisement lets
the
reader
know
the
details
of
the
programs
as
well
as
impacts.
Take
another example,
‘
Whether you get involved
with Big Brothers Big Sisters
as
a
donor,
potential
Big
Brother
or
Big
Sister,
partner,
advocate,
or
family member, you have the power to
Start Something for a child
today.
’
‘
You
’
is
the
Actor
which
is
used
to
attract
reader
’
s
attention
on
participating
in
programs.
This
advertisement
focuses
on
the
potential
volunteers as their target audience.
Thus the process emphasizes the role of
‘
You
’
,
which reaches the real purpose of propaganda.
Functions of relational process
Relational process can be defined as
“
being
”
or
“
having
”
process, which
is completed by
the verb
be
or by some verbs
such as has, become.
“
The
semantics
of
relational
process
is
perplexed
and
the
types
of
relational
process are
closely linked with the participant
functions
”
(Bloor, op.
cit.).
The main purpose of advertising
is to pass the information to the reader.
Children charity attempts to guess
reader
’
s thoughts and
convince reader
word
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to
accept
propaganda.
Therefore,
it
is
necessary
to
identify
the
relationship between children charity
and reader.
In text 3,
‘
you have the
power to Start Something for a child
today
’
. The Attribute in
this sentence
is
‘
the
power
’
,
the
relational
process
is
‘
have
’
and
the
Carrier
is
‘
you
’
.
The
relational
process
is
attributed
to
the
reader,
in
other
words,
the
potential volunteers. Considering most
of the readers are adults who have
their
own
judgment,
this
advertisement
uses
the
similar
means
of
communication to persuade
them to accept propaganda. By using
‘
you
’
,
it
makes readers feel intimate. It lets
reader realize that they have the right
to change
children
’
lives and they can
make a positive impact on children.
Therefore, readers are easier to accept
propaganda. In text 1,
‘
he
is now a
happy, healthy little
boy
’
. Relational process
‘
is
’
attributed to the Carrier
‘
he
’
,
which illustrates the current living situation of
Ryan after he reaches
the donation from
children charity Action for Children.
Functions of mental process
Mental
process
is
process
of
“
thinking
”
or
“
feeling
”
.
Mental
process
is
realized by the verb like
“<
/p>
know
”
,
“
believe
”
,
“
want
”
,
“
feel
”
,
“
think
”
and
so on. In text one,
‘
Mum felt ashamed about
asking for help
’
. The mental
process
‘
felt
’
is not an action, in other words, feeling is not
doing. Senser
is
‘
Mum
’
and
Phenomenon
is
‘
ashamed
about
asking
for
help
’
.
Another
instance
of
mental
process
is
‘
didn't
know
’
in
this
sentence
word
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‘
When five-year-old Ryan's
dad lost his job, the family didn't know where
to turn
’
. The
order is showed clearly in the sentence: Senser
(
the family
),
mental
process
(
didn't
know
),
Phenomenon
(
where
to
turn
).
By
using
mental
process,
it
shortens
the
distance
between
reader
and
children
charity. Thus it
allows the reader to generate a kind of sense that
making
efforts to help disabled
children.
Functions of verbal process
Verbal process is process of
“
saying
”
or
“
communicating
”
and the most
frequently applied
verbs in verbal process are
“
say
”
,
“
tell
”
and
“
ask
”
.
“
In
some degree,
verbal process could be regarded as material
process, in the
meantime,
verbal
process
has
some
characteristics
of
mental
process
”
(Bloor,
op.
cit.).
In
text
four,
‘
Grown-ups
tell
us,
say
no.
’
The
verbal process
(
tell
) is realized by Sayer
(
Grown-ups
) who conducts the
utterance
and
‘
us
’
refers
to
the
peers.
‘
At
parties,
at
school,
kids
are
saying to try this or do
that
’
. The verbal process
(
saying
) is realized by
Sayer
(
kids
).
This
public
service
advertisement
demonstrates
the
necessity
against
drug
use
from
the
peer
perspective
of
a
junior
high
student. Considering
teenagers
’
personal
characters, verbal processes (
tell,
say
)
make
it
easier
to
persuade
teenagers
because
the
content
of
this
advertisement is what they are doing
now. As a consequence, readers feel
that they are cared about and they are
closer in emotion.
word
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Conclusion
Public
service advertisements
aim
to
raise
the
public
’
s
awareness
about
the
serious
social
problems,
which
have
an
influence
on
their
attitude
towards
these
issues.
This
paper
mainly
focuses
on
researching
transitivity
analysis; therefore, material process, relational
process, verbal
process and mental
process which are the main process types in
systemic
functional grammar dominate
the article. In fact, one of the most striking
aspects of the paper is that these four
pieces of advertisement texts seek
to
serve both to draw the potential
volunteers
’
attention and to
persuade
readers
to
participate
the
children
charity
programs.
What
is
more,
the
transitivity
analysis
in
systemic
functional
grammar
enhances
the
significance
of
emphasizing
the
power
of
process
in
achieving
its
communicative function in text.
Limitations
On account of
the lack of space and material, this paper only
deals with
the
major
processes
(Material,
Mental,
Verbal
and
Relational)
while
minor
processes
(Behavioral
and
Existential)
are
not
represented
in
the
text.
To
understand
deeply
how
processes
achieve
communicative
function,
one
may
further
explore
the
realms
of
transitivity
features
in
systemic
functional
grammar.
Hopefully,
these
future
studies
will
shed
more
light
on
how
powerful
process
is
in
communication,
and
how
children charity use
language to achieve expectations.
word
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