Transitivity Analysis

1. Transitivity Analysis

2. Transitivity Analysis
• Given by M.A.K Halliday (SFG).
• Language is communicative tool.
• Represent through the ideation function.
• ideational meta function is used to explore the content or the
experiential meaning in a text.
• it generally refers to how meaning is represented in clause. It
encodes how speaker reveals the language with the help of
mental picture and experiences.
• Concerned with the transmission of ideas.
• Representation of the same event by different ways.
In transitivity clauses can be classified in three constituent.
1) participants 2) process 3) circumstances.

3. Participants; that can be identified through the noun
group.
Process and its type; the process is identified through the
verb and verb group.
Circumstances; it is usually identified by the adverb group
and prepositional phrases.
Types of process,
1) Material process 2) behavioral process
3) mental process 4)Verbal process
5) existential process 6) relational process

4. 1. Material process.
The material process is used to encode the experiences which
occur outside the world. Doing and happening come under
the material processes and it has four basic participant.
participants of material process.
• Actor
• Goal
• Range
• Beneficiary.
2. Behavioral process.
The behavioral process is a process which involves
psychological and physiological behavior, like treating,
smiling, laughing and coughing.

5. Participants;
• Behaver
• Behavior
3. Mental process
The process of feeling , thinking, perceiving.
According to locks, mental process is realized through
perception, affection, volition and cognition.
participants;
• Sensor
• Phenomenon
4. Verbal process
The process of saying, asking and requesting. Such as say,
ask, acquire, suggest, insult, praise.

6. Halliday claims that it can be identified through the stating
(report, claims, imitation), Questioning ( ask, inquire), offering
(offer, suggestion) and commanding.
Participants;
• Sayer
• Verbiage
• Receiver
• Target
5. Existential process
shows existent of something.
Participant;
• Existent

7. 6. Relational Process
Relational processes involve state of being and having. They
can be classified according to whether they are being used to
identify something or to assign a quality to something.
Process which establishes an identity is called Identifying
process and process which assigns a quality is called
Attributing process.
Participants of relational identifying process;
• Identifier
• Identified
• The attributive process has two function with the respect
of participants.

8.  1st function
• Carrier
• Attribute
 2nd function
• Token
• Value
 Difference between relational attributive process and
identifying process.

9. 1. Transitivity Analysis of Newspapers’ News-Headlines
Depicting Crime Committed Against Women in
Pakistan;
Muhammad Amir Abbas1 & Dr. Mubina Talaat
Department of English, Bahauddin Zakariya University
Multan, Pakistan.
• Article is representing the news headlines which are
depicting crime against women in Pakistan.
• Selected;
• The Dawn
• The Nation
• The News

10. He applies Halliday’s transitivity as research tool. The
analysis focuses on investigating how men and women are
represented in the headlines,
Some headlines;
News 1:
H-A1. Poverty drives mechanic to kill wife, 3 daughters
Agent Pr: Material Actor Pr: Material Goal
H-A2. Man strangles wife, three daughters
Actor Pr: Material Goal
H-A3. Father kills 3 daughters, wife
Actor Pr: Material Goal

11. H-B1. Four girls slain by father in Burewala
Goal Pr:Material Actor Cir: Location
H-B2 Man arrested for slaying four daughters
Goal Pr: Material Cir: Cause
H-B3
Man slays four daughters in honour killings
Actor Pr:Material Goal Cir: Cause
H-G1
16-year-old girl set on fire as ‘punishment’ by Abbotabad Jirga
Goal Pr:Material Cir: Manner Cir:Cause Actor

12. H-G2. Jirga kills girl for ‘helping friend elope’
Actor Pr: Material Goal Cir: Cause.
H-G3. 16-year girl burnt alive in Abbotabad
for helping classmate elope
Goal Pr: Material Cir: Cir:
Cir: Cause

13. The analysis shows that in the seven events under study
twenty-five clauses have been used by the three
newspapers. Twenty-four of them carry material process, and
one carries verbal process.
Dawn carries nine material processes,
The News carries nine material processes
The Nation carries six material and one verbal process.
Active and passive has been practiced to accentuate these
process.
 Researcher concludes that material processes are used
often in newspapers to represent the negative or criminal
news.

14. 2. CHARACTER CONSTRUCTION IN TRIBUTIVE SONGS:
TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF THE SONG “I AM MALALA”
Mehwish Zahoor and Fauzia Janjua
International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• The study aimed at analyzing the transitivity patterns
used in the popular song “I am Malala”.
• Sung to pay tribute Mala Yousifzai.
• Research question.
• How transitivity analysis helps in interpreting the
character construction in a “tributive song” portraying a
public figure?

15. Found 71 process;
Relational = 24, Material = 23 and Mental = 11. While the
other three processes: Verbal = 9, Behavioral = 3 and
Existential = 1 , had relatively nominal appearance in the text.
Process Type in the Song;
Relational 24 processes, Material 23, Mental 11, Verbal 8,
Behavioural 4, Existential 1.
• Being “broken inside” Malala needs support and strength
from others. She is only a voice, a vision, a dream, a hope and
an inspiration for others to stand up for their rights. To
compensate for their tender age and feminine fragility, she
believes and advocates that all girls like her need to be
“smarter” (24), “clever” (29) and vocal.

16. • The analysis suggests that the main character embodying
Malala has been portrayed as an inspirational figure and has a
positive character.
3. Transitivity Analysis on "Maria" in "Clay" by James
Joyce.
In the proposed study, the researchers seek to examine that
how a writer construct the personality through Transitivity
analysis. Researcher's main objective is to explain the main
character's personality named as "MARIA" from a short story
"The Clay" by James Joyce.
• Divided the story into chunks .

17. • Had given, had got. Met. Laughed, smiled, beloved.
felt, hoped.
• Through the transitivity analysis of the text of short story the
researchers find that Maria who is the main characters of the
short story "Clay” is actually a well natured and kind women
who is supposed to be a peace maker

18. 4. Transitivity Analysis of Newspaper Headlines on
Terrorism Attack in Kenya: A Case Study of Westgate
Mall, Nairobi.
• The paper aims to identify and explain how the Al-
Shabaab are portrayed and represented through language
used in the headlines of newspapers by the reporters.
• The paper investigates the application of Halliday’s theory
of transitivity in the representation of AlShabaab attacks
at Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya
Research Question:
The main question of this paper is how do reporters in Kenya
construct the image of Al-Shabaab in a newspaper?
• The analysis reveals the linguistic features that contribute
to the construction of negative image of the Al-Shabaab

19. • Research design
The writer uses the descriptive method to study the Problem.
Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a
population or phenomenon being studied.
Conclusion:
The transitivity analysis highlights the negative image associated
with the Al-Shabaab. In the headlines where the Al-Shabaab is
the Actor, it has been found that Al-Shabaab is always the doer
of violent and chaotic acts and causes insecurity and challenges
to state authority (material processes).

20. • The analysis of transitivity patterns in the data of Westgate
Mall attack in Kenya revealed the predominance of material
processes as shown by 9 headlines out of 21that were
collected. The material processes associated with the
AlShabaab belong to the semantic field of violence and chaos:
attack, shatters, kill, massacre, claim, break, turn, injure and
rears.
• shows that all the material processes are related to violence,
destruction, and damage.
• The data has shown predominance of the material process
which signifies the negative representation of the terrorist and
the positive representations of Kenyans as peaceful people.
This paper concludes that those neutral and positive verbal
subtypes were always associated with the Kenyans while the
Al-Shabaab was always associated with the negative subtype.