TRANSITIVITY PROCESS AND IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF DONALD TRUMP’S SPEECHES
INTRODUCTION
The important concepts for conducting research of Transitivity
Process and Ideological Construction of Donald Trump‟s Speeches are provided in
this chapter. Those are background of the study, research problems, research objectives,
significance of the study, scope and limitations, and definition of key terms.
1.1. Background of the Study
In recent years, the discussions of grammar have moved from
sentence-based perspective to more of a discourse-based perspective. Hudges and
McCarty, for example, have argued that traditional explanations of grammar do not
adequately capture grammatical selection in longer, real-world texts. They
formulate that a number of linguistic items will show quite different pattern
of use when looked at from discourse perspective rather than a sentence perspective.
A discourse-based grammar has a strong connection between form, function, and
context. Hence, linguists such as Halliday and Hasan have done their work in
the area of discourse grammar. Their interest has been in patterns of grammar and
vocabulary that combine to tie meanings in the text together as well as connect
the text to the social context in which it occurs (Paltridge, 2006: 127-129).
The discussion of grammar from discourse-based perspective
goes along with the theory of Michael Alexander Kirkwood (often M.A.K. Halliday).
Halliday is an Australian linguist who develops an internationally influential
grammar model, the Systemic Functional Grammar which is also called as Systemic
Functional Linguistics (Wang, 2010: 254). In this theory, Halliday has been able
to maintain a perspective on language that is grounded in how we actually use language
to construe reality and enact social relationship (Halliday&Webster, 2009:
1).
Considering Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory is the
new perspective in grammar, it has attracted many researchers to conduct the
research in this field of study. Number of researchers have explored SFLT in
various data sources such as news (Zhang, 2013; Viscido, 2014), advertisement (Patpong,
2008), movie script (Fikmawati, 2012; Viana, 2013; Setiawan, 2015), student‟s
writing (Kurdali, 2012; Nurohmah, 2013; Oliveira, 2015) and essay (Rollins,
2012). In another case, there are many researchers who used SFLT as an approach
to be combined with other subjects. Istiqomah (2011) and Mardhia (2017) used
SFLT in stylistics analysis. Then, the studies of Ma & Wang (2011) and Riani
(2014) had generated new insight into translation by applying systemic
functional linguistics.
Going to further explanation, Systemic Functional Linguistics
theory (SFLT) claims that language is functional. Here, functional grammar views
language as a resource for making meaning. Based on SFLT, language has three
functions which are also known as metafunctions of language, they are: (1)
Ideational function. In this function, language is used to understand the
environment. Ideational function is divided into two sub-functions, logical and
experiential. Logical function views language as natural logic and it is
realized by the clause complexity system, while experiential function views language
as representation of human experiences and it is realized by the transitivity system;
(2) Interpersonal function. This function is used to maintain human
relationship; and (3) Textual function. It is used to organize message or text (Halliday,
1985: xiii).
In this present study, the writer takes transitivity
system as concern of the research. Transitivity system belongs to the experiential
metafunctions, it means that language is used to represent human experiences.
Halliday & Webster (2009: 3) gives the following example to illustrate how
we use language to construe our experience: “Glass cracks more quickly the
harder you press on it.” There are two processes – cracks and press – along with
their associated participants and circumstances. The elements of this sentence are
as follows: glass - participant; cracks - process; more quickly - circumstance;
the harder - circumstance; you - participant; press - process; on it - circumstance
(it = participant). Here the processes have been stated as verbs and participant(s)
as nouns, it may be re-worded in the language of science as: “The rate of glass
crack growth depends on the magnitude of stress”.
From the example above, we can realize that there are three
important elements in transitivity system, they are, participant, process, and circumstance.
The process itself can be classified into material process (process of doing),
mental process (process of sensing), relational process (process of being), verbal
process (process of saying), behavioral process (process of behaving), and
existential process (process of existing). The concepts of process,
participant, and circumstance include semantic categories which explain in the
most general way how phenomena of the real world are represented as linguistics
structure (Halliday, 1985: 102). Transitivity system refers to a system for describing
the whole clause, rather than just the verb and its object. The outer world of reality
that is brought into the inner world of reality in one„s consciousness, which
is encoded in the transitivity systems of language, is interpreted as a
what-is-going-on process, which is related to material actions, events, states and
relations (Halliday, 1978: 60).
Related to transitivity system, many researchers have focused
on investigating transitivity system in several genres. Opara (2012) and Gumanti
(2014) succeed to use transitivity analysis in narrative text; Winarno (2012) in
movie script; Fillah (2016) in newspaper; and Rohmah (2015) and Limp (2016) in
novel. Other researchers have yielded the research of transitivity in some
settings with different forms of analysis, for instance: in academic, it
includes student‟s text book (Salsabil, 2014; Anggun, 2016; and Oriza, 2017);
politic which includes speech (Rahmadania, 2012; Afif, 2013; and Dhanianti, 2014),
news (Sidabutar, 2014; Ong‟onda, 2016), and debate (Zhang, 2017). Meanwhile, these
previous studies had captured all aspects in transitivity system. Moreover the research
of Rahmadania (2012) which attempted to analyze the transitivity process of
inauguration speeches of two Australian prime ministers had done her research
very well. It is because she did not only give us a clear understanding about the
kinds of transitivity process but also its reason why certain process appeared
more often than the others. Therefore, to create new finding the writer not
only presents the analysis of transitivity process but also connects it with
another subject that is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). This interesting
combination is considered as an appropriate collaboration since these two
fields of study are interrelated. By concerning on the relationship of SFLT and
CDA, Oktifati and Damanhuri (2014: 22) state that Systemic Functional Grammar is
profoundly concerned with the relationship between language and other elements
and aspects of social life, and its approach to the linguistic analysis of
texts is always oriented to the social character of texts. Moreover, in Systemic
Functional Grammar, it will be gained two terms that are Systemic Grammar and Functional
Grammar. Here Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language
as a system while Functional grammar considers language as a means of social
interaction. Considering SFG can be an approach to the analysis of social
practice, it has relation with CDA which aims to portray a discourse as part of
a social process and practice (Fairclough. 1989: 162). Therefore, the
transitivity process as a part of SFG is usually considered the main foundation
of text analysis in critical discourse studies. It is strengthened by Wodak
& Meyer (2001: 8) who asserts that 'an understanding of the basic claims of
Halliday's grammar [i.e. systemic functional grammar] and his approach to linguistic
analysis is essential for a proper understanding of CDA'. So the relationship between
transitivity process and CDA is that transitivity process is a good tool in doing
CDA (Locke, 2004: 48).
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