MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

ĐỖ THỊ THANH THỦY

A STUDY ON FEATURES OF INTENSIVE
RELATIONAL PROCESS IN ENGLISH
AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM CỦA QUÁ TRÌNH
QUAN HỆ THÂM NHẬP TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ
NHỮNG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A. THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoàng Tuyết Minh

Hanoi, 2015


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled A study on features of intensive relational process in English and
their Vietnamese equivalents submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where
the reference is indicated, no other person's work has been used without due
acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

Hanoi, 2015

ABSTRACT
This study is intended to investigate the features of intensive relational
process in English and their Vietnamese equivalents. Based on terms of
functional grammar, the features of this process in English are
characterized. After analysis on these features, their comparison between
English and Vietnamese are discussed in the study. Based on the syntactic semantic structures, the similarities and differences on attributive and
identifying intensive relational process between English and Vietnamese are
found. From the result of this study, the implication in teaching and learning
English are suggested.
The descriptive and comparative method was chosen to carry out the study.
Nearly 200 examples in English and Vietnamese are used in the study to
illustrate and analyze the features of intensive relational process, then make
comparison between two languages. The data are collected from the books,
stories, novels and dictionaries and analyzed by combination of descriptive
and comparative methods to clarify the issue of the study.
Besides, understanding of this field helps peoples in the process of teaching
and learning English. The study including comparison between English and
Vietnamese contributes to improving English usage for learners.
Based on the findings of the study, some discussion and implications are
made along with suggestions for further studies.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A:

Adverbial

AIRP:

LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Three subtypes of relational process in English

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2.2 Syntactic - semantic structure of attributive intensive
relational process (AIRP) in English

21

2.3 Participants of AIRP in English

23

2.4 Relational process of intensive identification with Value as
Subject in English

23

2.5 Relational process of intensive identification with Token as
Subject in English

24

2.6 Participants of identifying intensive relational process (IIRP)
in English

24

4.1 Example of syntactic - semantic structure of AIRP in English


66

4.10 Example of Adjective as Predicator of neutral AIRP in 66
Vietnamese
4.11 Example of Noun as Predicator of neutral AIRP in
Vietnamese

66

4.12 Syntactic - semantic structure of resulting attribute phased
process in Vietnamese

69

4.13 Example of syntactic - semantic structure with complement of 74
IIRP in Vietnamese
4.14 Example of syntactic - semantic structure without
complement of IIRP in Vietnamese

74
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4.15 Syntactic - semantic structure of current participant phased
IIRP in Vietnamese

76

4.16 Syntactic - semantic structure of resulting participant phased

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Review of previous studies
2.2 Review of theoretical background
2.2.1 Theoretical framework
2.2.2 Theoretical background
2.2.2.1 What is process?
2.2.2.2 The relational process
2.2.2.3 The intensive relational process
a. Relational process of intensive attribution
b. Relational process of intensive identification
2.3 Summary
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research-governing orientations
3.1.1 Research questions
3.1.2 Research setting
3.1.3 Research approach
3.1.4 Principles for intended data collection and data analysis
3.2 Research methods
3.2.1 Major methods vs. supporting methods
3.2.2 Data collection techniques
3.2.3 Data analysis techniques
3.3 Summary
Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 The features of intensive relational process in English
4.1.1 Attributive intensive relational process in English

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4.1.1.1 Expression of process
4.1.1.2 Realization of process
4.1.1.3 The core verb of attributive intensive relational process
a. Neutral process
b. Phased process
4.1.1.4 The participants in attributive intensive relational process
4.1.2 Identifying intensive relational process in English
4.1.2.1 Expression of process
4.1.2.2 Realization of process
4.1.2.3 The core verb of identifying intensive relational process
a. Neutral process
b. Phased process
4.1.2.4 The participants in identifying intensive relational process
4.2 Similarities and differences on intensive relational process in
terms of syntactics and semantics between English and
Vietnamese
4.2.1 Attributive intensive relational process in English and their
Vietnamese equivalents
4.2.1.1 The features of process
4.2.1.2 The core of process
4.2.1.3 The participants of process
4.2.2 Identifying intensive relational process in English and their
Vietnamese equivalents
4.2.2.1 The features of process

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale
Under the light of functional grammar, language is used more
effectively in daily life of people. People always want to understand
the nature of language, and this is also what linguists and grammarians
aim

at. According to Th. Bloor and M. Bloor (1995), linguists “have

struggled to understand more about how human language is structured and
to explain how communication takes place”. Functional grammar deals with

1


function of the Predicator is to signal the existence of the relationship. But
the expression of relational process is not clear in his research.
M.A.K. Halliday (1994) defines that ideal meaning of sentences is the
expression of experience and expression of processes, of which the
relational process is determined as the process of existence. He was
successful in systemizing and classifying the processes in English, but he
does not mention the core of the relational process and rarely made
comparison between English and other languages.
Cao Xuân Hạo (2004), Diệp Quang Ban (2008), Hoàng Văn Vân (2012)…,
pay attention on relational sentence and clause in Vietnamese. However, in
their studies there is not the comparison between Vietnamese and English.
Therefore, it is necessary to do research on the topic A study on features of
intensive relational

process

in

English

and

their

Vietnamese

equivalents. It is recognized the analysis on intensive relational process in

intensive relational process in English and their Vietnamese equivalents.
1.5 Significance of the study
On the theoretical significance, the study helps to raise learners' awareness
of functional grammar, especially the features of intensive relational process
in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, as well as the important role of
this issue in the process of teaching and learning English.
On the practical significance, the study is expected to be used as a good
reference for learning and teaching language. The result of study through
analysis and comparison between two languages may be of great benefits for
teachers and learners of English, as well as helpful in using the language
effectively in life.

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1.6 Design of the study
This study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction, deals with the rationale to choose the thesis, the
aims, the objectives, the scope, the significance and the structure of the
thesis.
Chapter 2, Literature Review, summarizes the results of the previous
studies in Vietnam and overseas and theoretical background of functional
grammar, importance and opinions on functional grammar, definition and
description of intensive relational process in English.
Chapter 3, Methodology, points out the research orientations, describes the
methods and materials used in doing the research including data collection
and analyzing techniques.
Chapter 4, Findings and discussion, gives the presentation, analyses of the
data, discussion of the results and implication.
Chapter 5, Conclusion, gives the recapitulation of the study, concluding

exaggeration that functional grammar is an effective tool of analysis, which
solves the issues left out by traditional grammar. Functional grammar is
natural grammar with the meaning that all linguistic phenomena can be
explained. Functional grammar explains all units of language - clause,
phrase, …. In another words, every component is explained as the functional
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component in the relationship with whole system. Intensive relational
process in the light of functional grammar has so far been studied by many
researchers all over the world. In fact, this field has been dealt with by many
famous linguists in both English and Vietnamese. In the world there are
many researchers who used to conduct the study on the issue of functional
grammar. The deepest study in the field is M.A.K. Halliday's work which is
the base for many other linguists in their developing researches on
functional grammar. With the appearance of systematic functional grammar,
a grammar model developed by M.A.K. Halliday, the study of language is
seen from a new perspective. For M.A.K. Halliday, language is a network of
systems, or interrelated sets of options for making meaning (M.A.K.
Halliday 1994: 15), thus language is systematic. The term functional is used
to indicate that the approach is concerned with meaning. Therefore, the
grammar is “the study of how meanings are built up through the use of
words and other linguistic forms such as tone and emphasis” (Th. Bloor,
1995: 1). It enables us to see and understand more about language in
context, provides us with “a tool for understanding why a text is the way it
is” (J.R. Martin, 1997: 3). In short, functional approaches to grammar can be
differentiated from formal or generative approaches to grammar by their
focus on the communicative, as opposed to cognitive, aspect of language.
According to grammarians, those who study the grammar of language from
functional approach like M.A.K. Halliday (1994), Th. Bloor (1995), G.

systematically from the functional grammar aspect. M.A.K. Halliday's
research approach is detailed and systematically, brings the deep realization
on functional grammar (FG), implications and applications of this field.
G. Thompson (1996:76-77) describes the theoretical and practical aspects
of functional grammar model in an accessible way and makes clear the
reasons why the model is as it is. He points out a model with three main
types of process: mental process, material process and relational process,
and three basic questions that can be asked about any process: What kind of

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process is it? How many participants can/must be involved in the process?
What roles can/must those participants play? According to his opinion, from
the experiential perspective, language comprises a set of resources for
referring to entities in the world and the ways in which those entities act on
or relate to each other. At the simplest level, language reflects people's view
of world as consisting of goings-on (verbs) involving things (nouns) which
may have attributes (adjectives) and which go on against background details
of place, time, manner, etc. (adverbials). If functional labels (i.e. labels
which indicate the role played by each element of the representation) are
used, people can express what they have said about the content of clauses in
terms of processes involving participants in certain circumstances. It is
shown that G. Thomson summarizes the three kinds of meanings of using
language: to talk about experience of the world, to interact with other
people, to organize the messages. In his research there is discussion on
functional grammar under alternative approach. He presents, sums up
analysis and classification according to different grammarians and finds out
implications and applications of FG.
In Vietnamese, FG has been paid considerable attention and studied by

Matthiessen (1995: 203) and the experiential model and process's types of
M.A.K Halliday (1994: 108). Then he chooses the suitable model for
suggestion on process's types in Vietnamese. After test and analysis on some
approaches to experiential world in language, based on the experiential
model and process's types of M.A.K Halliday, Hoàng Văn Vân suggests the
systematic model of process's types in Vietnamese.
Diệp Quang Ban (2008) presents the different aspects of Vietnamese
grammar, the combination of

viewpoints of traditional grammar and

functional grammar. This is inheritance of the achievements in traditional
grammar and the approach to functional grammar. It is considered that his
study on Vietnamese grammar in the light of functional grammar is based on

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the theoretical orientation of systematic functional grammar of M.A.K
Halliday, applied in Vietnamese. He analyzes the functions of sentence:
expression (to express the experience of the world), word exchange (to
interact with other people, so called interpersonal relation), and message ( to
organize the messages), as well as classifies the types of process in
Vietnamese including the main processes: material, mental, relational.
Besides, there are also many other postgraduates at Vietnam institutes with
valuable studies on different topics in this new trend of grammar. In fact,
they all have contributed a lot to the study of this field and inspired
the writer to choose functional grammar as the theoretical framework for
this M.A. thesis.
There is no research which makes comparison on intensive relational

the outer experience is that of actions and events: things happen, and people
or other actors do things, or make them happen. The inner experience is
harder to sort out; but it is partly a kind of replay of the outer, recording it,
reacting to it, reflecting on it, and partly a separate awareness of our states of
being. The grammar sets up a discontinuity between these two: it
distinguishes rather clearly between outer experience, the processes of the
external world, and inner experience, the processes of consciousness
(M.A.K. Halliday and M.I.M. Matthienssen, 2004:170). There are a number
of experiential domains, such as emotion, that are given such a multifaceted
interpretation by the grammar of transitivity. Such domains are
experientially difficult to come to terms with, and the grammar solves the
problem by offering complementary models for construing them. The world
of our experience is highly indeterminate; and this is precisely how the
grammar construes it in the system of process type.
Clause of different process types thus make distinctive contributions to the
construal of experience in text. The mixture of process types characteristic

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of a text belonging to a particular register typically changes in the course of
unfolding of the text (M.A.K. Halliday and M.I.M. Matthienssen,
2004:173).
According to analysis of M.A.K. Halliday (2004: 175), there are three
components set up in the grammar of a clause:
- A process unfolding through time
- The participants involved in the process
- Circumstances associated with the process
These are organized in configurations that provide the models or schemata
for construing our experience of what goes on. Imagine that we are out in

by verbal group; Participant is typically realized by nominal group and
circumstance typically realized by adverbial group or prepositional phrase.
Circumstantial elements augment this centre in some way - temporally,
spatially, causally and so on; but their status in the configuration is more
peripheral and unlike participants they are not directly involved in the
process (M.A.K. Halliday and M.I.M. Matthienssen, 2004:177). Let's
consider the following example for the clause as process, participants and
circumstances.
Can you tell us about the political and cultural makeup of Nigeria?
(M.A.K. Halliday and Christian Matthienssen, 2004)
The process is realized by discontinuous verbal group can…. tell. The
source of the discontinuity is interpersonal, not experiential. Interpersonally,
the clause is yes/no interrogative in mood. As far as the experiential
structure of the clause is concerned, it makes no difference whether the
verbal group is continuous or discontinuous.
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The units that realize the process, participant, and circumstance elements of
the clause make distinct contributions to the modeling of a quantum of
change, The elements that make up the centre of the clause - the process and
the participants involved in it - construe complementary facets of change.
These two facets are transience and permanence. Transience is the
experience of unfolding through time, it is construed by a verbal group
serving as the process. Permanence is the experience of lasting through time
and being located in (concrete or abstract) space; it is construed by nominal
groups serving as participants. Change is construed as involving both
transience and permanence, and the phenomena of experience are construed
either as transient processes or as permanent participants. The border
between these two is indeterminate; the lexicogrammar of every language

forward (M.A.K Halliday, 1994). It consists of two parts: the Subject, which
is a nominal group, and the Finite operator, which is part of a verbal group.
The Residue, according to M.A.K. Halliday, consists of functional elements
of three kinds: Predicator, Complement, and Adjunct.
In this study, the analysis on the basic structure of sentence is based on the
functional grammar orientation of M.A.K Halliday, of which process,
participants and circumstance are semantic categories. It is considered that
realization of process types according to M.A.K Halliday's approach is quite
necessary for analysis of the structure of sentence.
2.2.2.2 The relational process
Relational process is a process of being. Relational process, as a process of
being, is appropriate to explain the complex relationships between some
abstract items because it sounds definite. Relational process types serve to
identify and characterize, and are further subdivided into processes of
"being" (intensive or circumstantial) and "having" (possessive) (M.A.K
Halliday and M.I.M. Matthiessen, 2004:218). Attribution specifies the class
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the Carrier belongs to, while identification narrows the class down to one.
Relational processes usually involve the verb be and are manifested in three
following subtypes: x is a (Intensive) , x is at a (Circumstantial), x has a
(Possessive).
Every language accommodates, in its grammar, some systematic
construction of relational processes. The English system operates with three
main types of relation: Intensive, possessive and circumstantial. Each of
these comes in two distinct modes of being - attributive and identifying.
These are set out as two simultaneous systems in the system network of
transitivity. These two systems intersect to define six categories of relational
clause. These different categories are further elaborated in the grammar of

Intensive

x has a
Circumstantial
x is at a

(M.A.K. Halliday and M.I.M. Matthiessen, 2004:239)
Emily has a piano can be interpreted as Emily is a member of the class of
piano-owners and the meeting is on Friday as the meeting is a member of
the class of events on Friday. Similarly, the piano is Emily's can be
interpreted as the piano is identified as the one belonging to Emily.
In the circumstantial type, the relationship between the two terms is one of
time, place, manner, cause, accompaniment, role, matter or angle. These are
also manifested as circumstantial elements in English clause. In the
possessive type, the relationship between the two terms is one of ownership;
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