SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS: IDEATIONAL MEANINGS FEEL FREE TO USE IT!

1. IDEATIONAL MEANINGS
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL
LINGUSTICS (SFL)

2. • Halliday (1994, p.xiii) state, language is structured to make three
kinds of meaning (metafunctions) simultaneously, namely
ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings.

3. IDEATIONAL MEANINGS
• Derewianka (2011, p.13): "one important function of language
is to enable us to represent what is going on in the world; to
talk about our experience, to reflect on our observations, to
share knowledge and ideas."
--- Thus, the ideational meaning is a meaning that concerns with
how language functions to represent experiences, so the function
of the clause is as representation.
• Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.12): "ideational meanings are
meanings about phenomena-about things (living and non –
living, abstract and concrete), about goings-on (what the things
are or do) and the circumstances surrounding these happenings
and doings."
---- These meanings are realized in wordings through
participants, processes, and circumstances.

4. PARTICIPANT
The participants in ideational meaning
Material Actor, Goal, Scope, Attribute, Client, Recipient
Mental Senser, Phenomenon
Verbal Sayer, Receiver, Verbiage
Existential Existent
Relational Carrier/Attribute, Token/Value
Behavioural Behaver, Behaviour

5. PROCESSES
• Halliday and Matthiesen (2004, p.177): "process typically
realized by verbal group, participant realized by nominal
group, and circumstance realized by adverbial group or
prepositional phrase."
--- Processes in functional refer to verbs in the traditional point of
view.
• Halliday in Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.54) identified seven
different Process types that can be seen in the table as follows:

6. Behavioral
• Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.60): "behavioral processes are
processes of physiological and psychological behavior, like
breathing, dreaming, snoring, smiling, hiccupping, looking,
watching, listening, and pondering."
• Downing and Locke (2006): usually one – participant and
typically involuntary.
• The primary participant of this process is the Behaver, and the
other participant is the Behaviour
She lives in the fast lane.
Behaver Behavioural Circumstance: Location

7. Mental
• The mental process is the process of perceiving, thinking, and
feeling.
• The primary participant in this process is an experiencer or
sometimes called a sensor. The other participants are agentive
experiencer and recipient experiencer.
• Deterding and Poedjosoedarmo (2001, p.115), "the thing
which the experiencer feels, thinks or perceives; usually, the
direct object within the clause is called a phenomenon."
That toaster doesn‘t like me.
Participant: Senser Process: Mental Participant:
Phenomenon

8. • In the Mental process, we can't see, but we can feel.
• According to Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.58), "mental
processes are one of sensing, feeling, thinking, perceiving.“
--- There are three types: affective or reactive (feeling), cognitive
(thinking, knowing, understanding), and perceptive (perceiving
through the five senses).
Affection or reaction or feeling
Mark likes new clothe
Senser Mental : Affection Phenomenon

9. Cognition (thinking, process of deciding, knowing,
understanding, etc.)
Perception (perceiving through the five senses, seeing,
hearing, etc.)
I realize the difficulties.
Senser Cognitive Phenomenon
He couldn‘t see Anything
Senser Perceptive Phenomenon

10. • Gerot and Wignel (1994, p.62): verbal processes are processes
of saying
• The central participant is the Sayer -the participant saying,
telling, stating, and so on. It can be a human or human-like
speaker, but it can also be any other symbolic source. A verbal
clause represents the addressee of a speech interaction as the
Receiver. The Receiver is a verbal beneficiary, and can often
be marked by to. Target is one acted upon verbally (insulted,
complemented, etc.). Another participant is the Verbiage (is a
named for the verbalization itself)
--- In simply: The potential participant roles are Sayer (the doer
of the process), Receiver (addressee of the speech), Target (the
object of the talk), and Verbiage (what is said).

11. John told Jenny a rude joke
Sayer Verbal Receiver Verbiage
She keeps rubbishing Me to the other
people
in the office
Sayer Verbal Target Receiver Circ: Place
The sign says ‘No Smoking‘.
Sayer Verbal Verbiage
Isabella told the secret to her best friend
Sayer Process: Verbal Verbiage Receiver

12. Relational
• Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.67): it involves states of being
(including having). They can be classified according to
whether they are being used to identify something.
---- the relational process is the type of sentence that contains
subject Complement, which is preceded by copula or linking
verbs.
• There are two kinds of processes in the relational process; they
are Identifying Processes (a process which establishes an
identity) and Attributive Processes (a process which assigns a
quality).

13. • To distinguish between attributive and identifying is that the
identifying process is reversible while the attributive is not.
• The participants in the attributive are carrier and attribute,
while the identifying is token and value.
Bary Tuckwell is a fine horn player.
Carrier Attributive Attribute
Bary Tuckwell may be the finest living horn player.
Token Identifying Values

14. Existential
• Gerot and Wignell (1994), Downing and Locke (2006, p.153),
it is processes of existing or happening.
• It is marked by the word 'there' which has no representational
function; it is required because of the need for a subject in
English (Gerot & Wignell, 1994).
• Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.72), "existential processes are
processes of existence. It expressed by verbs of existing: 'be,
''exist, ''arise" and the Existent can be phenomena of any kind.
• It found the equivalent in Bahasa Indonesia of the word 'there.'
It is 'Ada.' In Bahasa Indonesia, the word 'Ada' is also not a
participant. It has no semantic content; it is required because of
the need for a subject in Bahasa Indonesia.

15. Meteorological
• Meteorological clauses construe a participant involved in the
earth's atmosphere and its changes, used primarily for
forecasting weather. Also, they can be used to indicate time.
• In meteorological processes, there is only one participant,
'Meteorological' and the word 'it' has no represented function,
but does provide a subject
There ‘s a unicorn in the garden.
Existential Existent Circumstance: Location

16. For example:
• In meteorological processes there is only one participant,
‘Meteorological’ and the word ‘it’ has no represential function,
but does provides a subject.
It‘s windy
Meteorological

17. CIRCUMSTANCES
According to Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.52-53), "circumstances
answer such question as to when, where, why, how, how many,
and as what."
Circumstances rely on meanings about:
• Extent: tells How long? (duration); How far (spatial distance)
• Location: tells When? (Temporal); Where? (spatial)
• Manner: tells How? With What? (means); How) How –ly?
(quality); What ... like? (comparison)
• Cause: describes Why? (cause); What for (reason); Who for
(behalf)
• Accompaniment: tells With whom?
• Matter: tells What about?
• Role: tells What as?

18. References and Recommended Readings
• Celce-Murcia, M., Dörnyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995).
Communicative competence: A pedagogically motivated
model with content specifications. Issues in Applied
linguistics, 6(2), 5-35.
• Downing, A., & Locke, P. (2006). English grammar: A
university course. Routledge.
• Eggins, S. (1994). An Introduction Systemic Functional
Linguistics. London: Pinter Publisher Ltd.
• Gerot, L., & Wignell, P. (1994). Making Sense of Functional
Grammar-Sydney: Gerd Stabler.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An Introduction to Functional
Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

19. • Halliday, M.A.K., & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2004). An
Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold
• Lock, G. (1996). Functional English Grammar: An
Introduction for Second Language Teachers.Cambridge:
Cambridge UP.
• Martin, J. R. (1992). English Text–Systems and Structure.
Philadelphia; Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Slade, D., & Eggins, S. (1997). Analysing Casual
Conversation. London: Cassell.