Textual meaning

Critical Linguistics

• “Linguistic codes do not reflect reality neutrally; they

interpret, organise, and classify the subjects of discourse.
They embody theories of how the world is arranged: world-
views or ideologies” (Fowler 1986: 27).
 Halliday’s functional theory

• To Halliday, there are 3 main functions of language

i. Ideational function
ii. Interpersonal function
iii. Textual function
 Halliday’s functional theory
• Ideational function: expresses content or ideas about the
world (people and events) – it has a representational function
and is realised by lexical and transitivity structures.

• Interpersonal function: expression of comments, attitudes

and the relationship that is set up between speaker and
listener

• Textual function: serves to create or hold a text together

 Example of the use of lexis to represent
Vocabulary and the depiction of gender

• There are more words for a woman in her sexual aspect than
there are for a sexually active man
• Women: chick, tart, skirt, piece, bitch, slag, pick-up
• Men: stud, dirty old man, randy , Casanova, lecher

Pairings
• bachelor-spinster
• Master-mistress
Consider the following examples:

• Screaming Winnie
• “Winnie in AIDS jibe at police”
• “Burst pipe kills wife…An elderly woman…Mrs
Lilian Arnell, 62” – Sun
• Dallas bombshell Audrey

How are women depicted in texts?

• irrationality
• familial dependence
• powerlessness
• sexual and physical excess

The above are some of the attributes predicated

on women
 Transitivity structures

It is not just lexical categorisation that can promote certain

ideology but transitivity (the structured arrangement of lexical
items into utterances) as well. First principle of a transitivity
analysis:

Who does what to whom and what?

 Transitivity structures

Material Process (active verbs: “kicked”, “punched”, “killed”)

• Poachers (Agent) killed (material verb) the elephant (affected)

Mental verbs (verbs of perception and cognition: “noticed”,

“saw”, “heard”)
• Rangers (Senser) noticed (mental verb) the vultures
(Phenomenon)
 Transitivity structures

• Verbal Process (verbs of speech such as “said”, “told”,

“shouted”)
• The marksman (Sayer) told (speech verb) the poacher (Target)
to freeze

• Relational process (verbs of being: “is”, “are”)

• The elephant (Agent) is (verb of being) a huge (Attribute)
animal
 Transitivity

Questions to ask:

• Who is the agent, Senser, Sayer, Carrier?

• Who is the Affected, Phenomenon, Target and what are their
attributes?
• Is the action performed by the subject on her/himself?

– Compare: John hit Mary vs John hit himself.

 Transitivity
Passivisation
1. Allows you to leave out the Agent in Material processes and
Sayer in Verbal processes.
2. It also allows the affected participant, a non-agent, to be
placed in subject position.
3. Also, passivised objects may seem to be agents, despite their
real function as affected.
 Passivisation

Examples
Material process
• Poachers (Agent) killed (material verb) the elephant (Affected).
• The elephant was killed (passivised)—by whom (Agent deleted)

Mental Process
• Rangers (Senser) noticed (mental verb) the vultures (Phenomenon).
• The vultures were noticed (passivised) – by whom – Senser deleted.
 Passivisation

Verbal Process
• The marksman (Sayer) told (verb of saying) the poacher
(Target) to freeze.
• The poacher was told to freeze – by whom (passivised) –
Sayer deleted.
 Transitivity

Nominalisation
1. It is the turning of a verb or an adjective into a noun.
2. It is brought about most obviously by adding a suffix (e.g.
rough – roughness; imply – implication) and less obviously
by using a noun which has the same form as a verb e.g. “a
catch”.
3. Nominalisation allows you to go further than passivisation
and omit both things in a clause (e.g. “Actor” and “Affected
participant” in Material processes)
 Nominalisation
Examples

• Hutus (Agent) killed (material verb) one million Tutsis

(Affected) in the Rwandan civil war
• There were one million killings in the Rwandan civil war
– both Agent and Affected are omitted
– who killed and who was killed?
 Interpersonal Elements: Modality
• Mediation of personal roles and social relationships.
• Modality can be regarded as “comment” or “attitude” or the
stance taken by a speaker/writer
• 4 types of comment: they have to do with “truth”,
“obligation”, “permission” and “desirability”.
 Interpersonal Elements: Modality

Truth modality varies in strength along a scale from absolute

confidence. For instance:
• You are right (strongest degree of speaker commitment)
• The aggressors will not make a pledge to stop the killing of
innocent lives.

Down through various degrees of lesser certainty. For instance:

• The senseless killing could be stopped if UN endorses trade
sanctions
 Interpersonal Elements: Modality

Obligation modality: in this case, the speaker/writer stipulates

that the participants ought to perform the actions in the
proposition. For instance:
• The campaign against terrorism and its sponsors must be
continuous.
• Other modal auxiliaries used to convey this meaning are
“should” and “ought to”.
 Interpersonal Elements: Modality
Permission modality: Here the participant bestows permission to
do something on the participant(s). For instance:
 The war on Gaza can be stopped if communities around the
world protest against Israel.
Desirability modality: The speaker/writer indicates approval or
disapproval of the state of affairs communicated by the
proposition. This modality is explicit in a range of evaluative
adjectives and adverbs. For instance:
The world condemns the horrific slayings of women and
children in Gaza.
 Interpersonal Elements: Speech Acts

• Language is also a practice, a mode of action

• As we are saying something, we are also doing
something (a speech act).
• A speech act is a form of words which, if
spoken or written in appropriate conditions,
and under appropriate conventions, actually
constitutes the performance of an action
(performatives).