The suppression and backgrounding representations can be realized in the same configuration for they exclude the actors who do the activity, but include the
traces of their involvement in the clause. For instance, ―
To maintain this policy
is hard van Leeuwen,
2008.‖ The non-finite clause
to maintain this policy
is considered as an act of suppression because the writer does not state implicitly who is
responsible for the policy maintenance both in the clause and in the text. However, it can also be realized as a backgrounding attempt if the social actor is mentioned
elsewhere in the text. Hence, it can be noticed that, through the suppression, the trace of the actor becomes less accessible rather than the backgrounding strategy. The
possible implication behind the suppression can be caused by the shared knowledge the writer and the readers are assumed to have related to the statement leading to
comprehensible deletion agreement. Another implication maybe caused by the hidden intention of the writer to prevent possible objection on the excluded actor regarding
the action.
2.7.2 ActivationPassivation
In this category, the social actors are deemed to have a significant role in the grammatical realization. They can be represented as ―agent‖ or ―patient‖ with respect
to a given action van Leeuwen, 2008. In other words, the social actors bear either active or passive roles in the realization of the social activity.
Activation happens when they are addressed as the primary contributor in performing an activity. The grammatical participants of this representation can be
manifested in the Actor in material process, the Behaver in behavioural process, the Senser in mental process, the Sayer in verbal process, and the Assigner in relational
process van Leeuwen, 2008. Furthermore, van Leeuwen 2008 presents and exemplifies alternative grammatical configurations in the process of activation which
are ‗circumstantialization’ with
by
or
from
e.g., ―...a cold shoulder
from neighbours
and co-workers
‖, premodification e.g., ―
public
support‖ or postmodification e.g., ―the influx
of Asians
‖ of nominalization, and ‗possessivation’ e.g., ―
our
intake‖. Passivation occurs when they are represented as the ones who are
―undergoing‖ the activity. Contrasted with the activation, it is often realized as the Goal in material process, the Phenomenon in mental process, and the Carrier in
relational process. Despite the contrastive grammatical participants, van Leeuwen
2008 includes similar additional manners and examples of passivation which consist of ‗circumstantialization’ e.g., ―A racist backlash
against ethnic Asians
... and ‗possessivation’ e.g., ―my
teacher
‖. This strategy of role allocation is important to reallocate roles or rearrange the social relations between the participants which can
be different from the actual reality. A further distinction is necessary in the passivated role allocation. The social
actors can passivated into two roles: subjected or beneficialized. When they are treated as objects in the representation, they are being subjected. When there is a third
party which gains benefit from the action, either positively or negatively, they are treated as beneficiary.
2.7.3 PersonalizationImpersonalization
