This document provides an overview of transitivity and theme/rheme analysis in systemic functional grammar. It defines transitivity as how meaning is represented in clauses and how speakers encode their view of reality. It describes the key components of transitivity processes - processes, participants, and circumstances. It outlines six major process types: material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, and existential. For each process type, it defines the participants and provides examples. The document also analyzes the participants and process types used in different parts of the short story "Heroic Mother".

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TRANSITIVITY & THEME AND RHEME
AHMED QADOURY ABED
In SFG, language is seen as being organized around three complementary metafunctions:
ideational, interpersonal and textual. The idea of „metafunctional diversity‟ (or
metafunctional complementarity) is a hypothesis about the organization of language on two
levels:
(1) on a macro level, it is a hypothesis about the way in which language, as a semiotic
system, plays a role in human life in general;
(2) on a more specific, linguistic level, it is a hypothesis about the way in which linguistic
structure is organized.
DEFINITION
Transitivity is concerned with the transmission of world-view.
Transitivity generally refers to how meaning is represented in the clause
It plays a role in showing how speakers encode in language their mental picture of
reality and how they account for their experience of the world around them
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERM
Transitivity was developed as the concept of transitive or intransitive verb
(Halliday,1976:159) whether the verb takes an object or not, but in SFL it functions to link
grammar to the meta functions; however, in Halliday‟s terms, transitivity as a major
component in experiential function of the clause deals with the “transmission of ideas
“representing „processes‟ or „experiences‟: actions, events, processes of consciousness and
relations” (1985:53)
In Halliday‟s concept of transitivity there are three components of what he calls a transitivity
process:
(i) the process itself
(ii) participants in the process
(iii) circumstances associated with the process
The process is realized by a verbal group,
the participant(s) by (a) nominal group(s) (although there may be exceptions here), and
the circumstance(s) by (an) adverbial group(s) or prepositional phrase(s)
(Halliday,1985:101)
TYPES OF PROCESSES
Halliday proposes three major (and other three minor) types of processes that exist in the
transitivity system of English, and the different types of the semantic roles which are
associated with each process.
1- Material Processes
2- Mental Processes
3- Relational Processes
4- Behavioural Processes
5- Verbal Processes

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6- Existential Processes
MATERIAL PROCESSES
These are the processes of DOING. They convey the image that some entity DOES
something that may be done to some other entity ( Halliday,1985:103). These processes
involve two inherent participants roles: the obligatory ACTOR which is assigned to the
doer of the process expressed by the clause ; and the optional GOAL which is assigned to
the entity affected by the process. Material processes can be:
1- Action process (where the processes are performed by animate actors)
i- intention processes (the actor performs the act voluntarily)
ii- supervension process (the act happens by its own)
2- Event process (where the processes are performed by inanimate actors)
John kicked the ball.
Actor Process Goal
(material)
John hit the man very hard. in the bay
Actor Process Goal Circumstance
material Manner Place
MENTAL PROCESSES
These processes encompass senses of feelings, thinking and perceiving. They include two
participants: the first one is the SENSOR who is the conscious being ,and the
PHENOMENON which is the sensed, felt or thought. Mental processes can be subdivided
into (Halliday,1985:106-111):
1- Perception processes as seeing, hearing, etc.
2-Affection processes as liking, fearing, etc.
3- Cognition processes as in thinking, knowing ,etc.
Cognition : I don‟t understand his theory.
Senser mental Phenomenon
Affection : I fear the coming war.
Senser mental Phenomenon
Perception : I heard the music
Senser mental Phenomenon
.

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RELATIONAL PROCESSES
These are the processes of BEING. The fundamental meaning of clauses expressing such
processes is that something is. These indicate that some relationship connects between two
participants without implying that one participant affects the other in any way. These
processes can be subdivided into:
1- Intensive processes (expressing an „X is a‟ relatiuonship)
2- Possessive processes (expressing an „X has a‟ relationship)
3- Circumstantial processes (expressing an „X is at/on a „ relationship)
John is talented
Carrier attributing attribute
John is the leader.
identified identifying identifier
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
This type of processes is concerned with physical and psychological behaviours like
breathing, dreaming , smiling ,etc. This type lies between material and mental processes.
The BEHAVER is a conscious sensor ,but the process expresses a meaning of doing. Most
of the clauses of behavioural processes have just one participant.
John is crying.
Behaver Process : behavioral
Some other examples of behavioral processes are sit, dance, sing,
near material processes, think, watch, look, listen
near mental processes, talk, gossip, grumble, chatter
VERBAL PROCESSES
Verbal processes are those of saying. But saying here implies a rather broad sense; it
includes any type of symbolic exchange of meaning. This type involves two participants:
the first one is the SAYER who is speaking, and the second is of three kinds:
1- The Verbiage (which means the verbalization itself).
2- The Receiver (the one to whom the verbalization is addressed)
3- The Target (the direct participant on whom the sayer acts verbally with such verbs as
insult ,praise,etc.)
EXISTENTIAL PROCESSES

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Existential processes represent that something exists or occurs as in „There seems to be a
problem‟. The word „there‟ in this example is semantically empty and has no
representational functions, but it is required just to occupy the subject position in the
clause.These clauses must contain the verb BE or some other verb of existence followed by
a noun phrase taking the role of the existent, The existent may be a phenomenon as in
„There followed an angry debate‟ ,or an event as in „There was a war‟. Existential clauses
often contain a circumstantial element as in „There was a war in 2004‟.
The committee announced that the new bill will be passed.
Sayer verbal Verbiage
I told her how to play the piano.
Sayer verbal Target Verbiage
There was a little house on the big prairie.
existential Existent Circumstance Place
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
Behavioural and existential processes have only one participant each, whereas the other
processes may have two. Second participants of material and relational processes may or
may not be present.Two further points:firstly, the participants are usually represented by
nominal groups, and secondly, processes with single participants make use of intransitive
verbs, whilst those with two participants make use of transitive verbs (except for relational
processes which make use of intensive verbs).
ANALYSIS OF HOA PLAM‟ “HEROIC MOTHER”
Hoa Pham‟s “Heroic Mother” is a short story which was published in 2008. Hoa Pham is
an Australian Vietnamese author and playwright. I am taking this biographical
information from her website, so I hope it is correct. She was awarded the 2001 Sydney
Morning Herald‟s Young Writer of the Year for her novel Vixen.Currently, she is the editor
of Peril, an online journal of arts and culture for Asian Australians. She has already
published two novels, namely Quicksilver and Vixen, several children‟s books including No-
one Like Me and 49 Ghosts, short stories “Reality”, “Yolk”, and “Heroic Mother”, and
more recently, two plays Silence and I could be you.
1a My family think
1b I‟m a little crazy.
2a They say it,
2b then ^ they zoom off on their nice new mopeds,
2c or their kids turn on the TV

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2d and ^ they watch their cartoon American movies.
3a I smile at them
3b and ^ I make
3c as if I do not understand
3d when they speak in English
3e when I‟m around.
4 Hanoi has changed so much.
5a In the early morning I do my exercises near Hoan Kiem Lake with the group of
Heroic Mothers,
5b and we follow the instructions of our leader, Vuong.
6a It‟s funny
6b how we all still defer to her,
6d she is high up in rank in the Women‟s Union.
7a We all have families of our own,
7b but we still call her Bac, elder aunt for her leadership and care.
8a The green of the lake is often shrouded by mist in the morning,
8b and the traffic is thin.
9a Few tourists are up at this time
9b and it‟s just the locals,
9c ^ the locals are doing star jumps
9d and ^the locals are playing badminton on the pavements.
Part 2.
10a We don‟t talk about the war
10b and what we‟ve seen amongst the Heroic Mothers.
11a Instead we talk about the good and the future,
11b what our sons and daughters are doing-
11c and often how affluent and modern they are.
12 My granddaughter is a little upstart.
13a She calls me Ba
13b and ^ she was the sweetest thing
13c when she was younger.
14a She‟s now hit her teenage years
14b and ^ she wants to go study in Saigon.
15a Hanoi is boring
15b she says
15c - even though we keep telling her
15d the best schools and university is in Hanoi.
16a She takes for granted
16b what we had struggled for all along, through the war and doi moi.
17a She even leaves food on her plate
17b and ^ she doesn‟t finish her meals.
18a When I watch American movies with my grandchildren
18b it is like fantasy.
19a When they shoot
19b the guns don‟t recoil,

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19c you cannot smell the hot iron, the blood, the burning flesh.
20a People just drop dead,
20b they do not continue surviving against the odds, writhing in pain.
21 And the prisons are so clean.
22a Not like the rat boxes they kept us in
22b when they caught us spying for the other side.
23a I hope
23b that my granddaughter does not see
23c what I and her parents have seen.
Part 3.
24a I remember
24b how relieved my son in law was
24c when he married into our family
24d and ^he discovered
24e I wasn‟t as mad as
24f people said
24g I was.
25a I acted crazy during the entire war,
25b ^ I was wearing the same shirt and indigo pants no matter what the weather,
25c ^ I was standing outside in the rain and the sweltering heat
25d ^ I was enacting out the great epics of the Trung sisters and King Le Loi.
26a I would go around the American soldiers
26b ^ I was begging for money
26c and ^ I was singing to them off key and off tempo.
27a Everyone thought
27b I was crazy except my comrades at the National Liberation Front.
28a They knew
28b I was carrying documents for them, in my pockets close to my skin.
29a I did not bathe,
29b I stank
29c so no one would want to go near me.
30 Sometimes it was fun acting crazy.
31a Sometimes I thought
31b I would go crazy
31c when I saw the bodies of my sisters,
31d ^ the sisters were raped and tortured by the Imperial puppet forces.
32a Sometimes I was so scared
32b acting crazy was my only escape.
33a Nowadays I am a kindly grandmother
33b and I can be myself, silver haired and slightly senile.
34a I choose
34b what I hear and say.
35a I chop meat with a cleaver ignoring the thunks in my head
35b when I sometimes flashback to seeing the bodies of corpses splayed open, blood and

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bone.
36 We are all blood and bone in the end.
37a Sometimes at night I wake up
37b and ^ I find myself downstairs.
38 My daughter would be holding my hand telling me to shut up.
39 “You are acting crazy again.
40 ^ You are Remembering the war again.
41 It‟s over.”
42a She would tell me off impatiently
42b when it happened too often.
43a Then I see the TV news
43b and ^ I try
43c and ^ I look away.
44 More wars.
45a The Americans are installing more puppet forces.
45b ^who are invading Iraq
46a They say
46b I‟ve acted crazy all my life.
47a At least I don‟t start wars,
47b the only war I had
47c ^ which was in my heart
47d when killings would occur
47e and ^ I disguised as a crazy woman
47f all I could do
47g ^ all was sing louder.
48 I could never drown out the sounds of screaming and the firing of weapons.
49 Even the beat of the bass sounds of my children‟s music sometimes reminds me of
the thumping of artillery.
50 But at least I have islands of sanity amongst my craziness.
51a That‟s more than
51b what I can say about the world.
Participants and process types in part 1 of “Heroic Mother”
Clause No Participants Process
1a My family think Mental process
1b I am Relational process
2a They say Verbal process
2b they zoom off Material process
2c their kids turn on Material process
2d they watch Behavioural process
3a I smile Behavioural process
3b I make Behavioural process
3c I do not understand Mental process
3d they speak Behavioural process
3e I am Relational process

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4 Hanoi has changed Material process
5a I do Material process
5b we follow Material process
6a It is Relational process
6b we defer Material process
6d she is Relational process
7a We have Relational process
7b we call Relational process
8a The green of the lake is shrouded Material process
8b the traffic is Relational process
9a Few tourists are Relational process
9b it is Relational process
9c the locals are doing Material process
9d the locals are playing Material process
Participants and process types in part 2 of “Heroic Mother”
Clause No Participants Process
10a We don‟t talk Verbal process
10b we have seen Mental process
11a we talk Verbal process
11b our sons and daughters are doing Material process
11c they are Relational process
12 My grand daughter is Relational process
13a She calls Relational process
13b she was Relational process
13c she was Relational process
14a She is Relational process
14b she wants to go Material process
15a Hanoi is Relational process
15b she says Verbal process
15c we keep telling Verbal process
15d the best schools and university is Relational process
16a She takes for granted Material process
16b we had struggled Material process
17a She leaves Material process
17b she doesn‟t finish Material process
18a I watch Behavioural process
18b it is Relational process
19a they shoot Material process
19b the guns don‟t recoil Material process
19c you cannot smell Mental process
20a People drop Relational process
20b they do not continue Material process
21 the prisons are Relational process
22a they kept Material process
22b they caught Material process

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23a I hope Mental process
23b my grand daughter does not see Mental process
23c I and her parents have seen. Mental process
Participants and process types in part 3 of “Heroic Mother”
Clause No Participants Process
24a I remember Mental process
24b my son was Relational process
24c he married Material process
24d he discovered Material process
24e I wasn‟t Relational process
24f people said Verbal process
24g I was Relational process
25a I acted Relational process
25b I was wearing Material process
25c I was standing Material process
25d I was enacting Material process
26a I would go Material process
26b I was begging Behavioural process
26c I was singing Behavioural process
27a Everyone thought Mental process
27b I was Relational process
28a They knew Mental process
28b I was carrying Material process
29a I did not bathe Material process
29b I stank Material process
29c no one would want to go Material process
30 it was Relational process
31a I thought Mental process
31b I would go Material process
31c I saw Mental process
31d the sisters were raped and tortured Material process
32a I was Relational process
32b acting crazy was Relational process
33a I am Relational process
33b I can be Relational process
34a I choose Material process
34b I hear Mental process
35a I chop Material process
35b I flashback Mental process
36 We are Relational process
37a I wake up Material process
37b I find Mental process
38 My daughter would be holding Material process
39 You are acting Relational process
40 You are remembering Mental process

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41 It is Relational process
42a She would tell… off Verbal process
42b it happened Material process
43a I see Mental process
43b I try Material process
43c ^I look away Behavioural process
44 More wars ///
45a The Americans are installing Material process
45b ^The Americans are invading Material process
46a They say Verbal process
46b I have acted Relational process
47a I don‟t start Material process
47b I had Relational process
47c which (the only war) was Relational process
47d killings would occur Material process
47e ^ I disguised Relational process
47f I could do Material process
47g all was Relational process
48 I could never drown Material process
49 the beat of the bass sounds of my children‟s music reminds…of Mental process
50 I have Relational process
51a That is Relational process
51b I can say Verbal process
THEME AND RHEME
This concept goes back to the founder of the Linguistic Circle of Prague school, Vilém
Mathesius who developed and applied the concept of “Functional Sentence Perspective”
(FSP). According to Mathesius, every utterance has two different structures: one is
grammatical, and the other is informational termed: “the information-bearing structure of
the utterance”. The basic elements of the formal structure of the sentence are the
grammatical subject and the grammatical predicate, the basic elements of the information-
bearing structure are the foundation of the utterance- whatever in a given situation is
known or at least obvious and thus forms a point of departure for the speaker- and the
core of the utterance, that is, whatever the speaker affirms about the foundation of the
utterance or in terms of it.The terms “foundation” and “core” are usually replaced,
respectively, by “theme ”and “rheme” .Unless special effects are aimed at, theme usually
precedes rheme (i.e. theme is unmarked). In marked utterances, rheme is promoted to the
first position followed by the theme
a. The man is coming.
b. His hair I can‟t stand.
c. Smith her name was.

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Thus theme in (a) is unmarked, but is marked in (b, c) owing to the thematization of the
new information .A sentence contains a point of departure and a goal of discourse. The
point of departure, called the theme, is the ground on which the speaker and the hearer
meet.The goal of discourse, called the rheme, presents the very information that is to be
imparted to the hearer.Movement from theme to rheme reveals the movement of the mind
itself.
NATURE OF THEMEAND RHEME
Theme provides the settings for the remainder of the sentence – rheme. Rheme is the
remainder of the message in a clause in which Theme is developed, that is to say, rheme
typically contains unfamiliar or new information. New information is knowledge that a
writer assumes the reader does not know, but needs to have in order to follow the
progression of the argument . The boundary between Theme and Rheme is simple: Theme
is the first element occurring in a clause; the remainder clause is Rheme.
Theme Rheme
The lion beat the unicorn all round the town.
All round the town the lion beat the unicorn.
However, the unicorn still did not want to bow to the lion.
Would the unicorn give in to the lion.
When the lion got to the battle field the unicorn was ready for the battle.
║It was the rush and roar of rain║ ║that he typified, ║ ║and it stopped him║, ║for no voice
could be heard in it║. ║A memorable storm of thunder and lightning broke with that sweep of
water, ║ ║and there was not a moment's interval in crash ,and fire, and rain, ║ ║until after
the moon rose at midnight. ║ (A Tale of Two Cities, P.104)
The flow of information in a sentence from theme to R is crucial in achieving
communicative effectiveness in a message. The exchange of information between successive
Theme and Rheme pairings in a text is called Thematic Patterning or Progression
(Eggins,2004:45ff). Thematic patterning contributes to the cohesive development of a text,
that is to say, in a cohesive text the distribution of given and new information needs to
follow certain patterns.
DANES‟S MODEL
Danes has claimed that the way in which lexical strings and reference chains interact with
theme is not random. Rather, the patterns of interaction realize what he refers to as a text's
Thematic Patterning (1974:113).Danes'(1974) proposal of four main types of Thematic
Patterning constitutes a functional explanation of the ordering of information in discourse.
He claims that the organization of information in texts is determined by the progression in
the ordering of utterance themes and their rhemes. His spelling out of the relationship

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between successive themes and their rhemes would appear to provide a more satisfactory
account of 'the method of development' of texts
1- Simple linear progression
An item from the rheme of the first clause becomes the theme of the subsequent clause, as
in:
-We are observed by our resident pair of collared doves ,perched on a convenient tree,
cable or roof-top.
- They recognize not only us by our car
- Strangers and unfamiliar cars are viewed with suspicion
The examples can be mapped as follows:
T1 (we) R1 (collared doves)
T2 (They) R2 (car)
T3 (strangers and unfamiliar cars R3
ii- Constant Progression
The item in the theme of the first clause is also selected as the theme of the following
clause, as in:
- Homer employs a particular event, the quarrel between an arrogant …
- Homer grasps that there is an internal logic to existence.
- For Homer, actions must have their consequences.
T1 (Homer) + R1
|
T2 (Homer) + R2
|
T3 (For Homer ) + R3
iii- Derived Hyperthematic Progreesion
The particular themes in subsequent clauses are derived from a hypertheme or from the
same overriding theme, as in:
In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify much national
boasting. Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital
itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town removing their
furniture to upholsterers ' warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a City
tradesman in the light, and being recognized and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom

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he stopped in his character of "the Captain," gallantly shot him through the head and rode
away; the mail was waylaid by seven robbers, and the guard shot three dead, and then got shot
dead himself by the other four,…(A Tale of Two Cities :Ch. 1:p.4f)
T1(In England, there) R1 (was an amount of order and protection )
T2(Daring burglaries)
T3 (families)
T4(the highwayman in…)
T5(the mail ) R5
T6(the guard ) R6
iv- Splitting Progression
The theme of the first clause is split into two items; each is considered a theme element
in the subsequent clause:
On this fine Sunday, Mr. Lorry walked towards Soho ,early in the afternoon, for three reasons
of habit. Firstly, because on fine Sundays, he often walked out, before dinner , with the Doctor
and Luice; secondly, because on unfavourable Sundays, he was accustomed to be with them at
the family friend ,talking, reading, looking out of windows, and generally getting through the
day; thirdly, because he happened to have his own little shrewd doubts to solve…….(A Tale of
Two Cities, Ch.6: P.92)
T1 (Mr. Lorry) R1 ( three reasons of habit) (Ri+Rii+Riii)
T2( = Ri) (Firstly…he) R2 (walked…)
T3 ( = Rii)(secondly…he) R3 (was …)
T4 ( = Riii) (thirdly…..he) R4(happened …)