A Study of Three Days to See from the Respective of Transitivity

【Abstract】Through the analysis of the systems of transitivity， it forcibly shows the conceptual functions of language， and also shows how language is employed to describe characters and theme. This paper， using Helen Kellers Three Days to See as a sample， explores the application value of transitivity in the literature.

【Key words】experiential metafunction； transitivity

1. Introduction

Three Days to See is Helen Kellers most important and famous literature. Transitivity is an important part of the functional grammar. According to Geoff Thompson， he divided metafunctions into experiential， interpersonal and textual. In this paper， I analyze the starting part of Helens Three Days to See from Thompsons experiential metafunction. The purpose is not only to make readers better understand how the authors attitudes and desires in this literature， but also shows how important and necessary to apply the functional grammar into analyzing the literary works.

2. Transitivity

Transitivity is an important part of experiential matafunction. “We use language to talk about our experience of the world， including the worlds in our own minds， to describe events and states and the entities involved in them”（Thompson，2008：30）. Transitivity consists of five processes： material process， mental process， relational process， verbal process and behavioral process. Transitivity in this extract（Paragraph3， P2） is the following：

2.1 Mental Process

In this extract， the primary process is mental. These mental processes reflect the authors perception， cognition and reaction of the real world. The large number using of mental process not only reveals the genre of the text， which is prose made to show the authors motions， but also describe her inner world. The mental process is mainly realized by some sensory word， revealing how the author know the beautiful world and react to the nature.

2.2 Relational process

The relational process in this passage is realized by using “verb be-is” showing the relationship between the author herself and the real world. For example， in clause “How was it possible to......of note？” The relational process is realized be verb “was”. The author herself “I” is the carrier. Through the relational process， the author tells us how she interprets the world and nature without sound and light.

2.3 Material Process

One of the most salient types of processes is those involving physical actions. In this extract， clause （4） and （7） are material process， which are realized by two “doing” words “pass and place.” These words reveal that the author wants to objectively present what she felt about the world， making the reader deeply understand how the world is like to the disabled people like her. Whats more， the author chooses herself as the “Actor” to further objectively emphasize her attitudes to the world when there is only three days left.

2.4 Verbal process

There is only one verbal process which is reflected in the clause “I asked myself”， it just means that the author have a talking to herself and her own inner world by using the word “ask” and sayer “I”. It also means this paragraph chiefly stating the feeling of her own.

Through the analysis ， it is found that the most processes used in the chosen text is mental process， followed by relational and material processes， and there is no behavioral process and only one verbal process， which depicts the authors perception of the world without sound and light and can infer that the authors desire to the light of the outside world.

Conclusion

The above analysis shows that language how to express the experiential meaning， through transitivity. It shows the importance and values of functional grammar in analyzing the literary works， making us better understand and appreciate the literature and accelerating the development of the literature.

References：

[1]Geoff Thompson.Introduction Functional Grammar[M].北京：外語教學與研究出版社，2008.

[2]Halliday，M.A.K.An Introduction to Functional Grammar[M].北京：外語教學與研究出版社，2000.

[3][美]海倫·凱勒.假如給我三天光明[M].夏志強，譯.北京：中國華僑出版社，2012：382-421.

作者簡介：孟麗麗（1990.6-），女，河南開封人，貴州師范大學，碩士，研究方向：語言學。