iii
ABSTRACT
In this thesis I will study the meaning and structure of a chosen English fairy-tale as seen
from the systemic functional perspective. Systemic functional grammar is a very
powerful analytical tool for analyzing a text with the transitivity system, the mood, the
thematic pattern and the cohesion. Also, a fairytale may be very familiar with a lot of
people because they are told so many fairytales for many times when they are just little
boys and girls and until they are mature already; therefore the analysis of the meaning
and structure of a fairytale is useful in some ways iv

2.3.3. Features of English fairy tales 21

CHAPTER 3. THE MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE FAIRY-TALE
“CINDERELLA” 24

3.1. Introduction 27
3.2. The chosen text 29
3.3. Contextual configuration of the text 29
3.4. Clause and clause complex analysis 30
3.5. The transitivity pattern of the text 37
3.6. The mood pattern of the text 38
3.7. The thematic pattern of the text 39
3.8. The cohesion of the text 39
3.9. The structure of the fairy tale text 41

CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION 43
4.1. Recapitulation 43
4.2. Implications for the study 43
4.3. Suggestions for further study 44

REFERENCES 45

APPENDIXES
1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION


systemic functional analysis, u
theoretical framework.
1.2. Aims of the study
This thesis attempts to study the meaning and the structure of an English fairy
tale as seen from the systemic functional perspective.
1.3. Scope of the study
This study does not mention all aspects of meaning and structure of the fairy tale
but only some precious features are discussed. They are the transitivity, the mood, the
theme pattern and the cohesion of the text.
1.4. Methods of the study
The methods used in the study are descriptive and analytic.
Descriptive method is concerned with the description of main areas of functional
grammar and analytic method is concerned with the analysis of the text.
1.5. Design of the study
This thesis is divided into 4 chapters:
- Chapter 1: Introduction  presents the rationale of the study, the aims, the scope,
the methods and the design of the study.
- Chapter 2: Literature Review provides the theoretical background of the study.
Its focus is on introducing important concepts in systemic functional linguistics
relevant to the topic of the study and knowledge surrounding the kind of fairy
tales.
- Chapter 3: The meaning and structure of an English fairy tale Cinderella 
analyzes the fairy tale as seen from the systemic functional point of view
- Chapter 4: Conclusion  summarizes the results of the study, suggests some
implications for discourse analysts, students and teachers of discourse analysis
and then presents some suggestions for further research.

3

CHAPTER 2


components or parameters: field, tenor, and mode. His model can be represented as
follows:
 Field: refers to what it is happening, to the nature of the social action that
is taking place: what is it that the participants are engaged in, in which the
language features as some essential components?
 Tenor: refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the participants, their statuses
and roles: what kind of role relationships of one kind or another, both of the
types of speech role that they are taking on in the dialogue and the whole cluster
of socially significant relationships in which they are involved?
 Mode: refers to what part the language is playing, what it is that the participants
are expecting the language to do for them in that situation: the symbolic
organization of the text, the status that it has, and its function in the context,
including the channel (is it spoken or written or some combination of the two?)
and also the rhetorical mode, what is being achieved by the text in terms of such
categories as persuasive, expository, didactic and the like.
(Halliday in Halliday and Hasan 1989: 12)

2.2.2. Clause and clause complex
2.2.2.1. Clause complex
In Hallntence can be interpreted as a
clause complex: a Head clause together with other clauses that modifying it. There is
the same kind of relationship between sentence and clause as there is between group and
word: the sentence has evolved by expansion outwards from the clause. However, we
can not account for all of sentence structure simply in terms of Head + Modifier because
there are a lot of kinds of modifying and also other similar relationships.
With the notion of clause complex, we are able to account in full for the
functional organization of sentences. A sentence can be defined as a clause complex.
The clause complex will be the only grammatical unit which we shall recognized above
the clause. Therefore, there i           

of a clause nexus and it is possible to group these into a small number of general types,
based on the two fundamental relationships of Expansion and Projection.
6

Expansion: the secondary clause expands the primary clause, by elaborating it,
extending it, or enhancing it.
Projection: the secondary clause is projected through the primary clause, which
instates it as a locution or an idea.
Within the general categories of expansion and projection, we recognized first of
all a small number of subtypes: three of expansion, and two of projection. The names
these, with suggested notation, are as follows:
(1) Expansion:
- elaborating = (equal)
- extending + (is added to)
- enhancing x ( is multiplied by)
(2) Projection:
- locution 
- idea 
These symbols combine with those for parataxis and hypotaxis:
=2  +2  x2     
Elaborating: one clause expands another by elaborating on it (or some portion of
it): restating in other words, specifying in greater detail, commenting, or exemplifying.
Extending: one clause expands another by extending beyond it: adding some
new element, giving an exception to it, or offering an alternative.
Enhancing: one clause expands another by embellishing around it, qualifying it
with some circumstantial feature of time, place, cause, or condition.
Locution: one clause is projected through another, which presents it as a
locution, a construction of wording.
Idea: one clause is projected through another, which presents it as an idea, a
construction of meaning.

(e1)
He
is running
Actor
Material Process

(e2)
The lion
caught
the tourist
Actor
Material Process
Goal
8

(e3)
Mary
gave
her brother
a book
Actor
Process: material
Goal
Receiver

The representation of a material process can come either the active form or the
passive form. The examples above are in active form and the following example is in
active form.

(e4).

               
about, along, etc)

Each of these comes in two modes: attributive and identifying.
Attribu

When a relational process is in the attributive mode, it has one participant
referred to Carrier and the quality or the thing showing that the Carrier belongs to a
class of things, which is usually realized by an adjective or an indefinite nominal group,
is usually referred to as Attribute. The participants in identifying process are called
Token and Value or sometimes they are called Identified and Identifier.

For example,
(e6)
Sarah
is
wise
Carrier
Process: relational
Attribute

(e7)
The piano
is

Token
Process: relational
Value

2.2.3.4. Behavioural process

(e10)
Peter
sniffed
the soup
Behaver
Process: behavioural
Phenomenon

2.2.3.5. Verbal process
Verbal process is the process of saying such as saying, telling, talking, speaking.
The typical participants in this process are Sayer (the one who does the verbalization),
Receiver (the one to whom the saying is addressed, Target (the one that the
verbalization is directed to), and the Verbiage (the message itself).
For example,
(e11)
He
told
me
a ghost story
Sayer
Verbal Process
Receiver
Target

As with all processes, Circumstance can occur in verbal process, mostly is manner.
(e12)

11

They



Actor, Goal, Recipient
Behavioural

Behaver,
Mental
perception
affection
cognition




Sensor, Phenomenon
Verbal

Sayer, Target, Verbiage, Recipient
Relational
Attributive
Identification



Carrier, Attribute
Identified/ token
Identifier/ Value
Existential

Existent

given
that teapot away
Subject
Finite
Predicator
Complement
Mood
Residue

As we know all the roles of speech are traced back to a form of either giving or
demanding and these roles are simultaneously related to the two general things of
commodity negotiated between people goods-&-services, or information, for example
13

giving information is a statement and demanding goods-&-service makes up a
command, etc. Giving information is typically realized by a declarative clause;
demanding goods-&-services is typically realized by an imperative clause and
demanding information is typically realized by an interrogative clause. Therefore, we
have different types of Mood which are represented in the figure below:

Mood indicative interrogative
declarative
imperative inclusive
exclusive
Figure 1. A fragment of the Mood system in English
Also we have different types of Modality such as ability (e.g., I can swim),
possibility (e.g., Can I have an English book, please?), supposition (e.g., He must be the
thief), permission (e.g., May I go out?), etc.
2.2.5. The thematic structure
As mentioned above, textual metafunction is about the verbal world and it is


(Source: Halliday 1994: 55)
My mother usually gets up early.
Unmarked Theme
On Monday we have three lessons
Marked theme
Another perspective on the clause as a message is concerned with the
information structure or the Given New structure. Given information is the information
which has already introduced into the text and the New is the information which is
introduced into the text for the first time.
Well
but
then
Ann
surely

the best idea
be to join
the group
continuative
structural
conjunctive
vocative
modal
finite
topical
Rheme
Textual
Interpersonal
experiential

Exophoric reference 

16 E.g.: The spaceship flew around the new planet several times
Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation,
through the category of person.
E.g. The two astronauts put on their space suits.
Demonstrative reference is reference by means of location, on a scale of
proximity. It is expressed through determiner: this, that, these, those and adverbs here,
there.
Comparative reference is expressed through adjectives and adverbs and serves
to compare items within a text in terms of identity or similarity. Any expression such as
the same, another, similar, different, as small, smaller, less small, and related adverbs
such as likewise, differently, equally, presumes some standard of reference in the
preceding textation of

E.g. He then bought a smaller house
2.2.6.3. Substitution
According to Halliday and Hasan (1997), s    

one item by another at a particular place in discourse. There are three types of
substitution: nominal substitution, verbal substitution, and clausal substitution.
Nominal substitution is the use of a substitute word to replace the Head of a
corresponding nominal group. The noun which is functioned as the Head is always a
countable noun. In English, nominal substitution is often realized by items such as one,
ones and same.
For example,
I like the blue hat. I do not like the red one

Conjunction is different from reference, substitution and ellipsis in that it is not a
device for reminding the reader or listener of previously mentioned entities, actions, and
states of affairs. Conjunction is a type of cohesion t  
18

between two clauses (Halliday 1994: 180). In English, four types of conjunction are
recognized: adversative, additive, temporal, and causal. Each of them will be discussed
as follows.
Adversative
Adversative sense is expressed by a number of words, such as although, though,
however, yet, but, in spite of, in contrast, contrary to, adversely, nevertheless, despite.
            
expectation may be derived from the content of what is being said, or from the
communication process, the speakerhearer situation.
Additive
The additive relation is often expressed by and at the beginning of new sentence
is somewhat different from coordination proper, although it is no doubt derivable from
it. The coordination holds the structural relations within a sentence and additive relation
holds the relation within or between sentences. However, when we are considering
cohesive relations, we can group both of the two types that appears structurally in the
or
The distinction between these two is not of primary significance for purposes of textual
cohesion; and in any case, it is not the same distinction as that which is found between
them in coordination. The position of the two related items are interchangeable in most
cases.
Temporal
There are three types of temporal relation: simple temporal relation, complex
temporal relation, and conclusive temporal relation.
Simple temporal relation refers to the relation between two events, one of which
may be an earlier event and the other the later event (sequential relation), or the second

more than one in the same discourse/text. For example: Yesterday, I met a boy. The boy
is at the same age with my son.
Synonymy refers to the choice of a lexical item that in some sense bears the same
meaning or nearby the same meaning with a preceding one. For example, Last night I
was woken up by a loud sound. It is the noise of trotting horses.
Antonymy refers to the lexical items which are opposite in meaning.
E.g. I often get up late in the morning but my parents often get up early.
Superordinate can be understood to be synonyms of some higher level of
generality. In this type of cohesion, there are two other items which are particular
20

variants of synonymy: hyponymy and meronymy. Hyponymy present a specific/general
relationship. The relation between the two lower terms is that of co-hyponym. For
example:
Vehicle: car, bus, motorbike, coach.
Tree: oak, pine,
Meronymy presents a part/whole relationship. The relation between two parts is
that of co-meronym. For example:
Tree: trunk, branch, leaf, root.
General word
According to Halliday and Hasan (1997), a general noun a small set of noun
          n 

The boy is climbing the old oak. This old thing is not safe for such a boy to
climb.
Collocation          
lexical items that regularly co- There are three
kinds of collocation: resultative, modificational, and contextual. Resultative collocation
refers to the relation of one item leading to the outcome of another item such as kill-die,
dark-night. Modificational collocation refers to the relation holding between an item

fairy tales. The fairy tale emerged as an unquestioned genre in the works of the Brothers
Grimm, who recorded various tales from different cultures and revised many of
Perrault's. The first edition (1812- 1815) of Brother Grimm remains a treasure for
folklorists to rewrite the tales in later editions to make them more acceptable, which
ensured their sales and the later popularity of their work.
Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children.
Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th
centuries the fairy tale became associated with children's literature. In the modern era,
fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. Sexual references were
eliminated violence in later fairy tale revisions were cut out.
2.3.3. Features of English fairy tales
In general, most fairy tales have the same features of characters and motif.
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/
/   Once there was  
ons that often appear at the beginning of an English fairy tale.
The setting and details about when events took place are nearly always vague.
Time and place in fairy tales are undefined. You know that it took place no where near
here and now.
At the end  
 
adversaries and girls marry the prince of their dreams, for examples.
There are often two groups of characters in a fairy tale which is opposite to each
other: good and bad. The good are usually poor, kind and beautiful but unhappy or
unlucky in their life or they are treated badly or had problems. The evil characters are
often the rich, the mean, witches/ wizards, stepmothers or stepsisters. Fairy tales always
ends with the ending that the good would have a happy life and the evil would be
defeated. Moreover, in fairy tales, characters have no need to develop. For example,
Cinderella has one good night, but you never find out how it ends, except that they live