32
be classified into eight part of speech i.e. noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, preposition, and interjection.
Phrasegroup is composition of words which, in other word, it is consist of at least two words or more. Phrases and groups are different in the perspective
though those are at the same status on the rank scale. A group is an expansion of a word meanwhile a phrase is a contraction of a clause Halliday, 1994: 180.
In grammar, a clause is a word or group of words, at least, consisting of a subject and a predicate. Therefore, the subject in the clause may not appear
explicitly in some language and types of clauses. The position of a clause is higher than a word and phrase but it is below a sentence. There are two types of clause
i.e. independent and dependent clause. An independent clause can form a simple sentence while composition of two or more independent clause can form a
complex sentence. Meanwhile, a dependent clause cannot stand alone forming a sentence but it must be composited with independent clause. Halliday 1985: 159
refers to a clause and a sentence as the same unit. A clause can be a sentence if it is given the final intonation such as declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory.
According to Halliday and Hasan 1976: 2, a text is considered as a semantic unit. It is not of a form but of meaning. Besides, it does not consist of
sentences but is realized by sentences. Text is the realization of meaning which is identified as a stretch of language.
The relation between language levels and its ranks can be seen in Table 1 below.
33
Table 1. Language Levels and Ranks LANGUAGE SYSTEM
LEVEL OF REALIZATION RANK
PhonologyGraphology SoundWriting 1. PhonemeGrapheme
Lexicogrammar Wording
2. Morpheme 3. Word
4. PhraseGroup 5. ClauseSentence
Semantic Meaning
6. Text
3. Text and Context
Eggins 2004: 5 states that t he term „text‟ refers to a complete linguistic
interaction whether spoken or written preferably from beginning to end. Meanwhile, Butt et.al. 2000: 3 says that a text is a harmonious collection of
meanings appropriate to its context. Contexts are realized by texts and texts reveal context. The unity of a text cannot be separated from texture and structure. The
meaning brings coherently in the text by texture, while the structure refers to appropriate structural element of the language to reveal the context. In other
words, text and context are one unity that delivers messages. Moreover, Butt et.al. 2000: 3 say that a text always occurs in two
contexts i.e. context of culture and context of situation. The outer context of the text is the context of culture while the inner context is the context of situation. An
illustration of those two kinds of context and the relation to the text can be seen in Figure 7 as follows.
34
Figure 7. Text in Context Butt et.al. 2000: 4
Context of situation is the situation in which linguistic interaction takes place giving the participants a great deal of information about the meanings that
are being exchanged and the meanings that are likely to be exchanged. Halliday and Hasan 1985: 11 propose three features of the context of situation namely
field, tenor, and mode. These serve to interpret the social context of a text that is
the environment in which meanings are being exchanged. a.
Field It refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is
taking place. In the relation of text, meaning and realization, field can be associated
with the
experiential meaning
which is
realized lexicogrammatically in the transitivity system.
b. Tenor
It refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the participant, statuses, and roles. In the relation of text, meaning and realization, tenor can be associated
with the interpersonal meaning which is realized lexicogrammatically in the mood system.
35
c. Mode
It refers to what part the language is playing, to what it is that the participants are expecting the language to do for them in that situation. In the
relation of text, meaning and realization, mode can be associated with the textual meaning which is realized lexicogrammatically in the thematic
structure system and information structure system.
Figure 8. Text and Context Halliday and Hasan, 1985: 44
This is a brief explanation of Figure 8 above. Between the friction of a text and the context, it arises meaning since the text influences the context and the
context influences the text. Text, as a metafunctional, constructs a complex of ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings. Meanwhile, the context of
situation is constructed by configuration of field, tenor and mode features which specify the register of the text. The context of culture is constructed by the
institutional and the ideological backgrounds that give value to the text and constrain its interpretation. Inter-textual context is about relations with other text
TEXT:
Metafunctional: Ideational
Interpersonal Textual
CONTEXT:
Situational: Field
Tenor Mode
Cultural: Institutional
Ideological Intertextual:
Inter-related text Intratextual:
Coherence Cohession
MEANING
36
and assumptions that are carried the form. Intra-textual context is about coherence within the text including the linguistic cohesion that embodies the internal
semantic relationships.
4. Textual Meaning: Meaning as Message
In his book, An Introduction of Functional Grammar, Halliday 1994: xiii - xiv proposes three aspects of meaning called metafunctions. This is the three
principal functions used as the basis of grammar Finch, 2000: 1. In this perspective, language is organized around two kinds of meaning i.e. ideational
and interpersonal. Those two components are manifestations of two very general purposes in the linguistic system i.e. to understand the environment ideational
and to act on the others in it interpersonal. Combined with these is the third metafunctions component i.e. textual, which breathes relevance into the other two
Halliday, 1985: xiii. These three components of metafunctions are construed from three different strands of meaning which are embodied in the structure of a
clause Halliday, 1994: 34. They are as follows. a.
The Theme functions in the structure of the clause as message A clause has meaning as a message that is a quantum of information. The
Theme is the point of departure for the message. It is the element the speaker selects for grounding what he is going to say.
b. The Subject functions in the structure of the clause as an exchange
37
A clause has meaning as an exchange that is a transaction between the speaker and the listener. The subject is warranty of the exchange. It is the element
the speaker that makes responsible for the validity of what he is saying. c.
The Actor functions in the structure of the clause as a representation A clause has meaning as a representation that is a construal of some
processes in ongoing human experience. The actor is the active participant in that process. It is the element the speaker portrays as the one that does the deed.
In the Halliday an approach, clause as message can be analyzed in terms of two types of structure i.e. thematic structure and information structure Baker,
1992: 121. Those types of structure are based on the different orientations. Thematic structure is viewed from the point of view of the sayerwriter while
information structure is viewed from the point of view of the hearerreader. In thematic structure, there are two segments of a clause i.e. Theme and
Rheme Baker, 1992: 121. Theme is what the message is concerned with, that is the point of departure for what the speaker is going to say Halliday, 1994: 38.
Further, Halliday defines Theme as one element in a particular structural configuration which is organized as a message, which
is known as „thematic structure‟.
At the clause level, the position of Theme is in the front of a clause as the topic of the speaker message is thematized by putting it in the initial position
Baker, 1992: 122. This is what the clause is about. Theme has two functions i.e. a it acts as a point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of
discourse and thereby maintaining a coherent point of view, and b it acts as a
