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A Linguistic Analysis of Halliday's Systemic- Functional Theory in Political

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 A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF HALLIDAY’S SYSTEMIC-FUNCTIONAL
THEORY IN POLITICAL TEXTS

Assist Prof. Bushra Ni'ma Rashid (Ph. D)

College of Education/ Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences/ English Department/ The
University of Baghdad

[email protected]

Abstract
This paper investigates the linguistic analysis of Halliday’s Systemic-Functional
Grammar Theory in political texts in 2012. M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic-Functional
Grammar has been adopted for analyzing the speeches of the president Barack Obama on
election campaign in 2012, and David Cameron's Conservative Party Conference
speech, so as to identify the appealing processes of the transitivity system obtained from
the analysis of these two texts.
The study aims at identifying the linguistic choices made in the speech of Obama
according and David Cameron to Halliday's model. It tries to answer the following
questions: What are the linguistic choices of the transitivity system which occur in both
Barack Obama speech on election campaign in 2012 and David Cameron's Conservative
Party Conference speech in 2012? What are the frequent processes found in Barack
Obama and David Cameron speeches? The objective of this study is to characterize and
describe the six process types and identify the more frequent processes that Barack
Obama and David Cameron used in their speeches.

The study concludes that the analysis of the process types in Barack Obama and David
Cameron speeches in 2012 shows that the most frequent types are material processes for
both speeches. The analysis shows that this theory is applicable to all cultures, all
situations, and to any time.
Key words: Transitivity, Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar, the linguistic
choices

1. Introduction
When people need to express their opinions or thoughts to others, they use
language whether written or spoken as a tool to accomplish most of these things.
Language is considered as a main means of communication, because, through
language one can share ideas and express thoughts. It plays a crucial role in one's
participation with other human beings. Halliday (1978:14) points out that through
language, individual human beings becomes a part of a group. It is impossible for
people to communicate without language. Additionally, people need to arrange or
order their speech in order to attract other's attention and to transfer their speech in
a clear and simple way. For this reason, they need to use functions of language to
express meaning. According to Halliday (1985, 1994), there are three functions or
meta functions of language, they are 1. ideational function 2. interpersonal function
and 3. textual function. These functions represent the main topics in Halliday’s
1
theory of systemic functional Grammar who considers language as a basic resource
of making meaning. In this study, the main objective is to conduct a linguistic
analysis on Barack Obama and David Cameron speeches, in particular. The
purpose of this is to reveal how the different process types are utilized by the two
speeches by using Halliday’s systemic functional grammar.

2. Meta-functions of Language

According to Halliday (1978), there are three Meta-functions of language. These

functions are used in different senses in the literature of linguistics. they are:
A. Ideational Function
This function is concerned with the relationship between the external world and the
internal world of our experience of the world. It reflects the speaker's experience of
both the inner and the outer world through language use. It is the content function
of language through which language encodes the cultural experience, and the
individual's experience as a member of the culture (Halliday, 1978: 112).
The experiential function and the logical function are two sub functions of the
ideational function. The experiential function is concerned with thoughts in general
while the logical function is concerned with the relationship between these
thoughts. The ideational function is reflected and realized through the transitivity
system of language. Halliday (1994) states that "transitivity translates the world of
experience into a manageable set of process types"(p.107). According to
Richardson (2007) "the essence of representation is in the relationship of 'who is
doing, what to whom"(p. 54). Halliday (1978) says that "transitivity is the key to
understand the ideational meaning of texts"(p. 132). According to Halliday's
theory, there are six process types in the transitivity system of English: 1-Material;
2- Mental; 3- Relational; 4- Behavioural; 5-Verbal; and 6-Existential.
He also distinguishes the process into three types
1. The process
2. The participants
3. The circumstances associated with the process.

B. Interpersonal Function
The interpersonal function is concerned with the relationship between the speaker
and the hearer. It represents the component through which the speaker intrudes
himself into the context of the situation, "both expressing his own attitudes and
judgments and looking for to influence the attitudes and behavior of others"
(Halliday, 1978: 112). This function is concerned mainly with clauses as
exchanges. In analyzing a clause as an exchange of event, Halliday specifies two
components in a clause: the mood and the residue. The mood is carrying the
syntactic burden of the exchange and carries the argument forward (Halliday,
1994:71).

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 C. Textual Function
This function deals with the text forming and the flow of information in a text
through which language relates to the verbal world and the context of situation. It
is concerned with clause as a message. Halliday (1994:97) describes it as
'relevance'. According to him, a clause consists of a theme accompanied by a
Rhyme. Eggins (1994) mentions that "the theme is typically contains familiar, or
given information which has been given somewhere in the text, or is familiar from
the context" (p. 275). In Halliday's words, "the 'speaker's text-forming potential; it
is that which makes language relevant" (Halliday ,1978: 112).
It expresses the relationship between the language and its environment including
both the verbal environment and the non-verbal. It is worth mentioning that the
researcher will confine herself with one function only that is 'Ideational Function'.
3. Halliday's Theory: Six Process Types

Six process types are recognized via mental, material, behavioural, relational,
verbal and existential. At first, Halliday recognizes the process of material, mental
and relational as the three main process types in the English transitivity system and
then finds the other three processes, which are located at the borderlines of the first
three (Halliday: 2004).

1. Material process clause is the process of doing and happening. According to

Halliday (2004), a "‘material’ clause construes a quantum of change in the flow of
events as taking place through some input of energy"(p.179). He adds "Material
clauses construe figures of ‘doing-&-happening’(ibid). They express, according to
Halliday (1985), "the notion that some entity ‘does’ something which may be 'to’
some other entity" (p.103). Halliday (2004) sees that ‘material’ clauses are
concerned with our experience of the material world. Material clauses do not
represent concrete, physical events only. They may represent abstract doings and
happenings.
2. Mental process clause, i.e. the process of sensing. According to Halliday
(2004)," mental clauses are concerned with our experience of the world of our own
consciousness"(p.197). He (ibid) claims that these processes may represent abstract
doings and happenings. Verbs like (feel, want, like, hate, know, think, fear, see,
etc.) recognize these processes. This kind of process construes either flowing from
a person’s consciousness or impinging on it.
3. Relational process clauses are processes of being and having. The relational
clause is the third type of process. Halliday (2004) states that "Relational clauses
serve to characterize and to identify"(p.210). The relational clause is realized by
the verb 'Be' in the simple present or past. There are three main types of relational
clauses which are intensive’, ‘possessive’ and ‘circumstantial. These types come in
two modes: of being, attributive and identifying. The attributive clauses construe
class-membership by ascribing an attribute to some entity (the Carrier and the

3
attribute). The identifying clauses convey some attribute to an identity. (for more
information see Halliday, 1994; Halliday, 2004; Eggins, 2004)
4. Behavioural process clauses. According to Halliday (1994), behavioural
clauses are "processes of (typically human) physiological and psychological
behaviour, like breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming and staring" (p. 139). He
(2004) adds "they are partly like the material and partly like the mental" (p.250).
These clauses have two participant roles. They are' Behaver’ and the ‘Behaviour’.

5. Verbal processes, i.e. processes of saying. These process clauses are an

important resource in various kinds of discourse. They contribute to the creation of
narrative by making it possible to set up dialogic passages. Halliday (2004) states
that "Verbal clauses, in news reporting, allow reporter to impute or assign
information to sources, including officials, experts and eye witnesses” (p.252), as
in the following extract from a report of a Ferry disaster:

1- Several of the 18 survivors said the vessel, which appeared to be overloaded,

lacked life vests and other safety equipment.

2- 'In less than one minute, everything was gone,’ survivor Somsak Thongtraipop
told Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.

3- He had heard the captain on the radio being warned by a crew member from
another boat that there were big waves ahead and he should turn back.

6. Existential clauses, the process of exists or happens. Existential clauses are not
regular in discourse, but they provide an important contribution to different types
of texts. In narrative, for instance, these clauses are used to introduce different
participants. 'There' when used in existential clauses enables the addressee to
prepare for something which represents new information that is about to be
introduced. Notice the following example.
4- There was a historical city near the sea.

This is why "existential clauses have been interpreted as 'presentative'

constructions (Halliday, 2004:257).

There in such clauses has no representational function in the transitivity structure

of the clause. It is neither a participant nor a circumstance, but it is used to indicate
the feature of existence. Below is a table which is adopted from Halliday (2004:
171).

Table (1) Six Processes of Halliday's Theory

Example (Process + participants underlined; process in bold;

Process type circumstances in italics)

4
 Material During the European scramble for Africa, Nigeria fell to the British
and the British ruled it until 1960

Behavioural People are laughing

Mental The Ibos did not approve of kings

So we say that every fourth African is a Nigerian

Verbal Can you tell us about the political and cultural
make-up of Nigeria?

Relational That every fourth African is a Nigerian

Existential So today there’s Christianity in the south

In the current study, the researcher believes that it is necessary to apply all six
processes of Halliday's Theory to this study i.e. to analyze the two political
speeches by applying Halliday's Theory. This will help to specify which linguistic
choices is used more than the other.
4. Participants
According to Halliday (2004) "participants are inherent in the process: every
experiential type of clause has at least one participant and certain types have up to
three participants"(p.175). As shown previously, a process is realized by the verbal
group. Participant is realized by nominal group. The table below is adopted from
(Halliday,2004:177).
Table (2) The Process Clauses of Halliday's Theory

Type of element Typically realized by

Process (Verbal group)

Participant (Nominal group)

5
 Circumstance (Adverbial group or prepositional phrase)

There is more than one type of participants in process clauses. To begin with
material process, there are many types of participants. The first one is what
Halliday called 'Actor'. He (2004) states that "The Actor is an inherent participant
in both intransitive and transitive material clauses" (p.190).

There is one 'Actor' in material clause. The actor "brings about the unfolding of the
process through time, leading to an outcome that is different from the initial phase
of the unfolding"(ibid). The outcome may be restricted to the actor itself; in this
case there is only one participant inherent in the process. In such case a 'material’
clause represents a happening and it is called intransitive material clause. When the
process is extended to another participant, it is called 'Goal', the outcome impacts
on it rather than on 'Actor'. Such a ‘material’ clause represents a doing and it is
called transitive. For example

5- The lion sprang

6- The lion caught the tourist
The first one 'the lion' is the Actor, 'sprang' is a material process. It is called
happening represented by an intransitive material clause. The second, the lion is
the Actor', 'caught ' is a material process. 'The tourist' is the 'Goal'. It is called
doing represented by a 'transitive' material clause. According to Eggins (2004),
"the goal is that participant at whom the process is directed, to whom the action is
extended"(p.216).

Additionally, there are other types of participant roles which are involved in the
clauses of material process. These are: Scope, Recipient, Client and Attribute. As
denoted earlier, the Goal is affected by the process of material, but the Scope of a
‘material’ clause is not in any case affected by the process's performance. the
Scope is restricted to ‘intransitive’ clauses (Halliday, 2004:192).
[

According to Halliday (2004), there are two types of Scope

1. The Scope may construe an entity which exists independently of the process. It
indicates the domain over which the process takes place. For instance

7 - You will be crossing some lonely mountains, so make sure you have enough
petrol.

In the example above, 'mountains' exist as an entity whether anyone crosses them
or not.

2. The Scope may not be an entity at all but rather another name for the process;
for example

8- I play tennis.

6
In this example, it is noticed that 'tennis' is the Scope of the process, and it is clear
that 'tennis' is not an entity which exists alone. It represents a name of one kind of
game. For that "this structure enables us to specify further the number or kind of
processes that take place” (Halliday, 2004:193). The main types of ‘process Scope’
are as follows
General: they played games
Specific: quantity they played five games
Specific: class they played tennis
Specific: quality they played a good game
The above types may be combined to one sentence as in:
9- They played five good games of tennis.

The other two participants are 'Recipient' and 'Client'. They both have a
benefactive role and they represent a participant that is benefiting from the
performance of the process. The Recipient is one that goods are given to; the Client
is one that services are done for (ibid:191). These two participants are either come
with preposition or without. The preposition (to) is with 'Recipient' and (for) with
'Client'. For example

10- She sent her best wishes to John. {to John is Recipient}.

11- Fred bought a present for his wife. {for his wife is Client}.

All of the Goal, Recipient and Client are affected by the process of the clause, but
while the Goal represents the participant that is affected by the process, the Client
or Recipient is the one that benefits from it. At last, the nominal group denoting to
a human being (especially personal pronoun) is the domain which Recipient' and
Client are realized typically (Halliday, 2004:192).

Finally, the last function of the participant which accompanies the material process
clause is the 'Attribute'. Although this function belongs to the 'relational' process
clauses, it also enters into the 'material' process clause. Halliday (2004) states that
"the Attribute may be used to construe the resultant qualitative state of the Actor or
Goal after the process has been completed" (p,195). For instance

12- They stripped her clean of every bit of jewelers she ever had.

where clean is an 'Attribute' participant describing the resultant state of the Goal
her. The 'Attribute' participant in material clause is always an optional added
specification, while it is an inherent part of a relational clause.
As it is said previously, mental clauses represent the inner world of experience.
There are two types of participants related or accompanied with mental process.
They are called 'Senser' and 'Phenomenon'. For example:
13- Mary liked the gift
14- The gift pleased Mary.

7
Senser represents the one that ‘senses’, i.e., thinks, feels, wants or perceives
(Halliday, 2004: 201); as in the example above 'Mary'. Senser is the one which is
interacting, thinking, etc. In grammatical terms, Halliday (2004) refers to, 'Senser'
as "the participant that is engaged in the mental process is one that is referred to
pronominally as he or she, not as it” (ibid). The participant in a mental clause
should be human, while this feature is not required in material clause. According to
Eggins (2004), one "participant in the mental process clause must be a conscious
human participant" (p. 227).
The other main element in the mental process clause is called the ' Phenomenon'.
The phenomenon is that which is thought, felt, wanted or perceived by the 'Senser'.
The set of things that can take on this role in the clause is in fact wider than the set
of possible participants in a ‘material’ clause. It is not only a thing, but also an
actor is a fact. In a material clause, every participant is a thing; it is a phenomenon
of our experience. It includes our inner experience or imagination — some entity
like (person, creature, institution, object, substance or abstraction). These ‘things’
may be the object of consciousness in a mental clause (Halliday, 2004: 203) for
example:

15- You recognize her?

16- I learned that lesson a long time ago.

17 - she believed his cases.

In relational clauses, there are two inherent participants, attributive and identifying
clauses. In attributive clauses, the attribute is assigned to a participant who is called
Carrier, e.g.

18 - She is atrocious.

In this example, (she) is considered as a (Carrier) which means that she carries the
attribute (atrocious). In identifying clauses, they define a participant, they do not
classify or ascribe participant to attribute. For example:

19- The one in the back row must be you.

In this identifying clause, the one in the back row is identified while you is the
identifier.

20- Tom is the treasurer.

21- Tom is the tall man.

In the first identifying clause, Tom is assigned by Treasurer a 'Value', while in the
second one Tom is identified by assigning a 'Token' to him. 'Token' is the
participant (that which is being defined). 'Value' is the participant (that which
defines). So, in the first sentence Tom is 'Identified/Token' and the treasure is
'Identifier/Value'. In the second one, Tom represents as 'Identified/Value' and the
8
tall man is 'Identifier/Token'. In other words, "the identity either decodes the
Token by reference to the Value or it encodes the Value by reference to the
Token"(Halliday, 2004:230).

The behavioural process clauses locate on the borderline between material and
mental process and as we mentioned before, "they are partly like the mental and
partly like the material"(ibid: 250), which means their meanings are in mid may
between material on the one hand and mental on the other. There are two
participants associated with behavioural process (Behaver and Behavior). Halliday
(ibid) says that "The participant who is ‘behaving’, labeled Behaver, is typically a
conscious being, like the Senser". e.g.

22- She is laughing.

In this example she is 'Behaver' and is laughing is behavioral process. while the
behaviour is dressed up as if it was a participant, is called 'Behavior' (Halliday,
ibid:251). For example:

23- She sang a song

24- He gave a great yawn

In the verbal clause, there are four types of participants. The first one is the 'Sayer';
the person who is speaking, which means that 'Sayer' is restricted or limited to the
speaker or writer, e.g.

25- John said 'I am hungry'

In functional grammar, the example above consists of two clauses: primary clause
'john said' and secondary clause 'I am hungry'. It functions as a secondary clause
being either directly quoted, as in ‘I am hungry’, or indirectly reported, as in 'he
was hungry' in the following example.

26- He said 'he was hungry'.

The primary clause represents the verbal one while the other may represent a
process type of any kind. The other participant function is 'Receiver'. It represents
the person to whom the process is directed. Halliday (2004) says that "The
Receiver is the one to whom the saying is directed” (p. 255). For example:
27- Tell me the whole truth?
28- Did you repeat that to your parents?
29- Describe to the court the scene of the accident?

The 'Verbiage' is the participant that matches to what is said, representing it as a

class of thing rather than as a report or quote. Verbiage could be either the content
of what is said. For example:
30- Can you explain the plan for me

9
Or it may be the name of the saying, e.g.
31 - Let me ask you a question

Finally, the 'Target' is the fourth participant; this function occurs only in a sub-type
of ‘verbal’ clause. This type construes the entity that is targeted by the process of
saying. For example:
32- He also accused Krishan Kant.
33- She always blamed him.

The last type of process which is called existential process has just only one
participant. Halliday (2004) claims that "The entity or event which is being said to
exist is labeled, simply, Existent"(p. 258). For example
34 - There was an old person of Dover.
35- There was a storm.

It is necessary to explain the units that realize the process, participant, and
circumstance elements of the clause which make distinct contributions to the
modeling of a quantum of change. The process and the participants involved in it
explain complementary facets of the change. These two facts are transience and
permanence.
it has been suggested that 'transience' is the experience of unfolding through time.
'permanence’ is the experience of lasting through time and being located in
(concrete or abstract) space. Thus, participants are relatively stable through time
(Halliday, 2004:177). The following example is adopted from Halliday to clarify
the information that participants can take place in many processes.

36- During the first part of the nineteenth century, there was a lighthouse keeper
who was in charge of the lighthouse. His name was Felipe. He was a brave young
man, very dedicated to his work. He lived very happily in the lighthouse with his
wife, Catalina, and his little daughter Teresa. He loved them both very much.

In this example, there are many types of processes as in {there was ….} is a
process of existence. But there was one participant in all the clauses.

Accordingly, 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 concepts of process, participant and circumstance are
semantic categories. Generally speaking, these illustrate how phenomena of our
experience of the world are construed as linguistic structure. (See table 3).

10
 Table (3) A Summary of all the Types of Process and Their General Category
Meaning.

Process type Meaning Direct participants Oblique participants

Material: Action Doing Actor, Goal Recipient, Client,

Event Attribute
Doing happening

Behavioural Behaving Behaver Behaviour

Mental: perception Sensing, seeing Senser, Phenomenon

cognition desideration thinking, wanting
emotion feeling

Verbal Saying Sayer, Target Receiver, Verbiage

Relational: Attribution Being attributing Carrier, Attribute Attributor

Identification identifying Identified, Identifier, Assigner
Token, Value

Existential Existing Existent

(Halliday, 2004: 260)

5. Data Analysis
1. Barack Obama's Speech in Election Campaign in 2012

1.Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony (Actor) won (Material) the right
(Goal) to determine (Material) its own destiny(Goal), the task (Actor) of perfecting our
union moves (Material) forward. (Cheers, applause.)

2. It (Actor) moves (Material) forward because of you. It (Actor) moves (Material)

forward because you (Senser) reaffirmed (Mental) the spirit (Phenomenon) that has
triumphed(Material) over war and depression(Goal), the spirit (Actor) that has lifted
(Material) this country(Goal) from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the
belief that while each of us (Senser)will pursue (Mental) our own individual dreams
(phenomenon), we are (Relational) an American family, and we (Actor) rise(Material)
or fall (Material) together as one nation and as one people. (Cheers, applause.)

3. Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded (Verbal) us that while
our road has been (Relational) hard, while our journey has been (Relational) long, we

11
(Actor) have picked (Material) ourselves (Goal) up, we (Actor) have fought (Material)
our way back( Goal), and we (Senser) know (Mental) in our hearts that for the United
States of America, the best is yet to come.

4. (Cheers, applause.) I (Senser) want (Mental)to thank (Mental) every American

(Actor) who participated (Material) in this election. (Cheers, applause.) Whether you
(Actor) voted (Material) for the very first time (cheers) or waited (Material) in line for a
very long time (cheers) – by the way, we have to fix that – (cheers, applause) – whether
you (Actor) pounded (Material) the pavement (Goal) or picked up (Material)the phone
(Goal) (cheers, applause), whether you (Actor) held (Material) an Obama sign or a
Romney sign(Goal) , you (Actor) made (Material)your voice heard (Goal)and you
(Actor) made (Material)a difference. (Cheers, applause.).

5. I just spoke (Verbal) with Governor Romney and I congratulated (Verbal) him and
Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. (Cheers, applause.) We (Actor) may have battled
(Material) fiercely, but it's only because we (Senser) love (Mental)this country
(phenomenon) deeply and we (Senser) care (Mental) so strongly about its future
(phenomenon). From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family (Actor) has
chosen (Material) to give back to America through public service. And that is a legacy
that we honour (Mental) and applaud (Behavioural) tonight. (Cheers, applause.) In the
weeks ahead, I (Senser) also look (Mental) forward to sitting down with Governor
Romney to talk (Verbal) about where we (Actor) can work (Material)together to
move(Material) this country(Goal) forward. (Cheers, applause.)

6. I (Senser) want (Mental) to thank(Mental) my friend and partner of the last four
years, America's happy warrior, the best vice-president anybody (Senser)could ever
hope(Mental) for, Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.)

7. And I wouldn't be (Relational)the man I am (Relational) today without the woman

(Senser)who agreed (Mental)to marry (Material)me (Goal) 20 years ago. (Cheers,
applause.) Let me say (Verbal) this publicly. Michelle, I (Senser)have never loved
(Mental) you more. (Cheers, applause.) I (Senser) have never been prouder(Mental) to
watch(Mental) the rest of America(Senser) fall in love (Mental) with you too as our
nation's first lady. (Cheers, applause.)

8. Sasha and Malia – (cheers, applause) – before our very eyes, you'(Actor)re growing up
(Material) to become (Relational) two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like
your mom. (Cheers, applause.) And I am (Relational) so proud of you guys. But I will
say(Verbal) that, for now, one dog's probably enough. (Laughter.)

9. To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics – (cheers, applause)
– the best – the best ever – (cheers, applause) – some of you were (Relational) new this
time around, and some of you have been (Relational)at my side since the very beginning.

10. (Cheers, applause.) But all of you are(Relational) family. No matter what you do or
where you go from here, you (Senser) will carry (Mental) the memory (phenomenon) of
the history we (Actor) made (Material) together. (Cheers, applause.) And you (Senser)
will have (Material) the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for
believing all the way – (cheers, applause) – to every hill, to every valley. (Cheers,
applause.) You (Actor) lifted (Material) me (Goal) up the whole day, and I will always

12
be (Relational) grateful for everything that you (Actor) have done (Material) and all the
incredible work that you(Actor) have put (Material) in. (Cheers, applause.)

11. I (Senser) know (Mental)that political campaigns can sometimes seem

(Mental)small, even silly. And that provides (Material)plenty of fodder for the cynics
who tell (Verbal) us that politics is(Relational) nothing more than a contest of egos or
the domain of special interests. But if you ever get the chance to talk (Verbal)to folks
who turned out(Material) at our rallies and crowded(Behavioural) along a rope line in a
high school gym or – or saw folks working late at a campaign office in some tiny county
far away from home, you (Senser) will discover(Mental) something else.

12. You will hear (Behavioural)the determination in the voice of a young field organiser
(Actor) who's working(Material) his way (Goal) through college and wants (Mental)to
make sure (Mental) every child has (Relational) that same opportunity. (Cheers,
applause.) You'll hear (Behavioural) the pride in the voice of a volunteer (Actor) who's
going(Material) door to door because her brother was finally hired(Material) when the
local auto plant (Actor) added(Material) another shift. (Cheers, applause.)

13.You'll hear(Behavioural) the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse (Actor)
who's working (Material) the phones (Goal)late at night to make sure (Mental)that no
one (Actor) who fights (Material) for this country ever has to fight(Material) for a job
or a roof over their head when they (Actor) come (Material) home (Goal). (Cheers,
applause.)

14. That's why we (Actor) do(Material) this. That's what politics can be. That's why
elections matter. It's (Relational) not small, it's (Relational) big. It's (Relational)
important. Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be(Relational) noisy and messy
and complicated. We (Senser) have(Mental) our own opinions. Each of us (Senser) has
deeply held (Mental )beliefs. And when we (Actor) go (Material) through tough times,
when we (Actor) make (Material) big decisions (Goal) as a country, it (Actor)
necessarily stirs (Material))passions (Goal), stirs up(Material) controversy. That won't
change(Material) after tonight. And it shouldn't. These arguments we have are
(Relational)a mark of our liberty, and we( Senser) can never forget (Mental)that as we
(Sayer) speak (Verbal), people (Actor) in distant nations are risking(Material) their
lives (Goal) right now just for a chance to argue(Mental) about the issues that matter –
(cheers, applause) – the chance to cast (Material) their ballots like we did today.

But despite all our differences, most of us (Senser) share (Mental) certain hopes
(phenomenon) for America's future.

15. We (Sayer) want (Mental) our kids to grow up in a country where they (Actor) have
access (Material) to the best schools and the best teachers – (cheers, applause) – a
country (Actor) that lives up (Material) to its legacy as the global leader in technology
and discovery and innovation – (scattered cheers, applause) – with all of the good jobs
and new businesses that follow.

16. We (Senser)want (Mental) our children (Actor) to live (Material) in an America that
isn't burdened (Mental) by debt, that isn't weakened up(Mental) by inequality, that isn't
threatened (Mental) by the destructive power of a warming planet. (Cheers, applause.)

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 17. We want (Mental)to pass on (Material) a country that's safe and respected(
Behavioural) and admired (Mental)around the world, a nation that is defended
(Material) by the strongest military on Earth and the best troops this – this world has
ever known(Mental) – (cheers, applause) – but also a country (Actor)that
moves(Material) with confidence beyond this time of war to shape (Material) a peace
that is built(Material) on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being.

18. We (Senser) believe (Mental)in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in

a tolerant America open to the dreams of an immigrant's daughter (Actor) who
studies(Material) in our schools and pledges (Mental) to our flag – (cheers, applause) –
to the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees (Behaviourl)a life beyond the
nearest street corner – (cheers, applause) – to the furniture worker's child (Senser) in
North Carolina who wants (Mental)to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an
entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president. That's the – (cheers, applause) – that's the
future we (Senser) hope Mental for.

Table (1) Transitivity Analysis of Barak Obama Speeches (2012)

President's Material Mental Relational Behavioural Verbal Existen- Total

Speeches process process process process process tial number
2012 process
Par 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 3
Par 2 6 2 1 0 0 0 9
Par 3 2 1 2 0 1 0 6
Par 4 8 2 0 0 0 0 10
Par 5 4 4 0 1 3 0 12
Par 6 0 3 0 0 0 0 3
Par 7 1 5 2 0 1 0 9
Par 8 1 0 2 0 1 0 4
Par 9 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
Par10 5 1 2 0 0 0 8
Par 11 1 3 1 1 2 0 8
Par 12 4 2 1 2 0 0 9
Par 13 4 1 0 1 0 0 6
Par 14 8 5 5 0 1 0 19
Par 15 3 1 0 0 0 0 4
Par 16 1 4 0 0 0 0 5
Par 17 5 3 0 1 0 0 9
Par 18 1 4 0 1 0 0 6
total 57 41 18 7 9 0 132

Table (2) The Percentages Processes

Process The Percentage

Material 43%

Mental 31%

Relational 13%

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 Behavioural 5%

Verbal 6.8

Existential 0%

The results of transitivity analysis about the speech of Barak Obama in 2012 show
differences in the process types. As shown, Material processes are the most
common or frequent with percentage of 43%, followed by Mental processes with
31%, then Relational processes with 13% ,Verbal processes with 6.8%, and
Behavioural processes with 5%.

2. David Cameron's Conservative Party Conference Speech: in Full

1. In May 2010, this party ( Actor) stood (Material) on the threshold of power for the
first time in more than a decade. We (Senser) knew (Mental) then that it was
(Relational) not just the ordinary duties of office that we (Senser) were assuming
(Mental). We (Actor) were entering (Material) into Government at a grave moment in
the modern history of Britain.
2. At a time when people (Senser) felt (Mental) uncertainty, even fear. Here was(
Relational) the challenge: To make (Material) an insolvent nation solvent (Goal) again.
To set (Material) our country (Goal) back on the path to prosperity that all (Actor) can
share (Material) in. To bring (Material) home our troops (Goal) from danger while
keeping our citizens safe from terror. To mend (Material) a broken society (Goal).

3. Two and a half years later of course I (Sayer)can't tell (Verbal) you that all is
(Relational)well, but I (Sayer)can say (Verbal) this: Britain is ( Relational) on the right
track.

4. As Prime Minister (Sayer) it has fallen to me to say(Verbal) some hard things and to
help (Material) our country (Actor) face (Material) some hard truths. All of my adult
life, whatever the difficulties, the British people have at least been (Mental) confident
about one thing. We(Senser) have thought (Mental) we (Actor) can pay( Material) our
way. That we (Actor)can earn (Material) our living as a major industrial country…and
we (Senser) will always remain (Mental) one.

5. It has fallen to us (Sayer) to say (Verbal) - we (Senser)cannot assume(Mental) that

any longer. Unless we (Actor) act (Material), unless we (Actor) take (Material)
difficult, painful decisions, (Goal) unless we (Senser) show (Mental) determination and
imagination, Britain may not be in the future what it has been (Relational) in the past.
Because the truth is (Relational) this. We are (Relational) in a global race today. And
that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours. Sink (Material)or
swim(Material). Do(Material) or decline(Material).
To take office (Material) at such a moment is (Relational) a duty and an honour…and
we (Senser) will rise (Mental) to the challenge.

6.Today I’m (Actor) going (Material) to set out (Material) a serious argument (Goal) to
this country about how we (Actor) do (Material) that. How we in this world…how we
(Senser) can make sure( Mental) in this century, like the ones before, Britain is

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(Relational) on the rise. Nothing matters more. Every battle we (Actor) fight (Material),
every plan (Goal) we (Actor) make( Material), every decision we (Senser) take
(Mental) is(Relational) to achieve (Material)that end…Britain on the rise.

7. Though the challenge before us is (Relational) daunting, I have (Mental) confidence in

our country. Why? Because Britain (Actor) can deliver (Material). We (Actor) can do
(Material) big things (Goal).We (Senser) saw (Mental) it this summer. The Jubilee, the
Olympics, the Paralympics…
…the best country in the world…and let’s say (Verbal) it: with our Queen, the finest
Head of State on earth.

8. I (Senser) was trying (Mental) to think (Mental) of my favourite moment. Was it

telling (Verbal) President Hollande that no, we (Senser) hadn’t cheated (Mental) at the
cycling, we (Senser) didn’t have (Mental) rounder wheels, it was (Relational) just that
we (Actor) peddled (Material) faster than the French? No… for me (Senser) it was
seeing (Mental) that young woman (Actor) who swam (Material) her heart (Goal) out
for years…nine training sessions a week, two hours a time.

9. My best moment was putting (Material)that gold medal (Actor) around the neck of
Ellie Simmonds. And I am (Relational)so grateful for what all those Paralympians did.
When I (Senser) used to (Mental) push (Material) my son Ivan (Goal) around in his
wheelchair, I (Senser) always thought (Mental) that some people saw (Behavioural) the
wheelchair, not the boy. Today more people would see (Behavioural) the boy and not the
wheelchair – and that’s because of what happened here this summer.

10. And the Olympics showed (Mental) us something else. Whether our athletes were
(Relational) English, Scottish, Welsh or from Northern Ireland …they ( Actor) draped
(Material) themselves in one flag. Now, there’s (Relational) one person who didn’t like
(Mental) that …and he’s called Alex Salmond. I’m (Actor) going to (Material) see
(Behavioural) him on Monday to sort (Material) that referendum on independence by
the end of 2014.

11. There are many things I (Senser) want (Mental) this coalition to achieve (Material)
but what could matter more than saving our United Kingdom …let’s (Sayer) say
(Verbal) it: we’re (Relational) better together and we ( Senser)’ll rise( Mental) together
– so let’s (Actor) fight (Material) that referendum with everything we (Senser)’ve got
(Mental) .

12. There are so many people to thank (Mental) for this summer. Those (Actor) that won
(Material) the bid, those (Actor) that built (Material) the stadia (Goal), that ran
(Material) the Games …and of course: the man (Senser) who put (Mental)a smile on our
faces…
…the zinger on the zip-wire… …the Conservative Mayor of London: our Boris Johnson.
And those Games-Makers.

13.You (Senser) know (Mental), I (Senser) have spent (Mental) three years trying to
explain (Material) the Big Society …they(Actor) did (Material) it (Goal) beautifully in
just three weeks.

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14.There is another group of people (Actor) who stepped into (Material) the breach
(Goal) this summer – and we (Senser) in this party never forget (Mental) them. Our
armed forces (Actor) have been (Material) on the ground in Afghanistan for over ten
years now. 433 men and women (Actor) have made (Material) the ultimate sacrifice. Just
last weekend there was a memorial service for one of the fallen, and the eulogy said
(Verbal) this:“All that they had they (Actor) gave (Material). All that they might have
had. All that they had ever been. All that they might ever have become.”

15. For all those (Actor) who serve( Material), and their families, I (Sayer) repeat
(Verbal)the commitment I made (Material) when this Government( Actor)
came(Material) to office. By the end of 2014, all UK combat (Actor)operations in
Afghanistan will have come (Material) to an end. Nearly all our troops (Actor) will be
(Material) home – their country proud, their duty done …and let everyone in this hall
stand (Behavioural) and show (Mental) how profoundly grateful we are (Relational) for
everything they do (Material).

16. To meet (Mental) the challenges our country(Actor) faces (Material), we (Senser)
must have (Mental)confidence in ourselves… confidence as a party. We (Actor) have
been (Material) in office two and a half years now – and we (Actor) have done
(Material) some big, life-changing things( Goal).

17. Just ask Clive Stone, who you saw ( Behavioural) in a film earlier. I (Actor) met
(Material) him (Goal) years ago, when we were (Relational) in Opposition. He had
cancer and he (Sayer) said (Verbal)to me: the drug I need – it’s out there but they
(Actor) won’t give (Material) it ( Goal) to me because it (Relational) is too expensive
…please, if you get in, do something about it. And we have. A new cancer drugs fund that
has got (Material) the latest drugs to more than 21,000 people and counting. There was a
reason we could do (Material) that. It’s because we (Actor) made (Material) a big
decision (Goal) to protect(Material) the NHS from spending cuts. No other party(
Actor) made (Material) that commitment. Not Labour. Not the Liberal Democrats. Just
us – the Conservatives.

18. To all those people (Sayer) who said (Verbal) we (Actor)’d bring (Material) the
NHS down ... I (Sayer) say(Verbal) …well, yes, you (Senser) have got(Mental) a point.
I (Sayer) will tell (Verbal) you what is down. Waiting lists – down. Mixed wards –
down. The number of managers – down. Bureaucratic targets – down. Hospital infections
– down. And what’s up? The number of doctors, the number of dentists, the number of
midwives, the number of operations carried out (Material) in our NHS. So be in no
doubt: this is the party of the NHS and that’s the way it’s going to (Material) stay
(Material).

Table (3) Transitivity Analysis of David Cameron Speech in (2012)

[

President's Material Mental Relational Behavioural Verbal Existen- Total

Speeches process process process process process tial number
2012 process
Par 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 5
Par 2 5 1 1 0 0 0 7
Par 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 4
Par 4 4 3 0 0 1 0 8

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Par 5 7 3 4 0 1 0 15
Par 6 5 2 2 0 0 0 9
Par 7 2 2 1 0 1 0 6
Par 8 2 5 1 0 1 0 9
Par 9 2 2 1 2 0 0 7
Par10 3 2 2 1 0 0 8
Par 11 2 3 1 0 1 0 7
Par 12 4 1 0 0 1 0 6
Par 13 6 1 1 1 1 0 10
Par 14 3 2 0 0 0 0 5
Par 15 7 0 2 1 1 0 11
Par 16 4 1 0 0 3 0 8
Total 58 30 19 5 13 0 125

Table (4) The Percentages Processes

Process The Percentage

Material 46%

Mental 24%

Relational 15%

Behavioural 4%

Verbal 10

Existential 0%

The results of transitivity analysis about the speeches of David Cameron in 2012
present differences in the process types. As shown, Material processes are the most
common with percentage of 46% followed by Mental processes with 24%, then
Relational processes with 15% ,Verbal with 10% and Behavioural processes with
4%.

6. Discussion
Material processes according to Halliday's theory are processes of doing and
happening such as play, write, do, work etc. Material processes deal with the idea
that somebody or something does something to some entity. That somebody
expresses events in the outside world. That is why material processes are
frequently occurred. Material processes indicate activities which occur in real
world. That is why material process is the most frequent in Barak Obama’s speech
and David Cameron's speech. In his speech, it is found that Obama asks or invites
his people to take part and improve the economy of their country. Obama does not
give any promise in his speech. Obama tells American people to participate in
every real action. He, in most of his speech, uses the participant "we" which means
that Obama wants every American to improve and develop his\her country together

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with others. In Cameron's speech, one can note that he speaks about his party
achievement. He tries to make people share and participate in every action that
improve their life more and more.
Mental process is the process of feeling and thinking such as love, hate, hope etc. It
represents states of consciousness. The tables show that mental processes are in the
second stage for both characters. It is very clear that the percentages of both
material and mental are close in the two political speeches. They usually use the
speech that have materialistic events rather than mental one to convey the real
message of the external world. It is worth mentioning, in this regard, that the
results reveal the way Obama and Cameron think about the outer world.

In Halliday's theory, relational process deals with the relationship between entities.
It is a type of being, such as words like (resemble, become, remain, be, turn, have,
look, grew, … etc). These words are used to realize the relational process. It is
important to indicate that relational process is different from existential process.
Relational processes include the verb become, turn, and verb to be (is) and not
(There is) as in the existential process. Relational processes deal with the concept
of changing, and developing. Thus, experience, that Obama and Cameron have, is
considered a critical factor in manipulating a various process whenever required.

Behavioural processes in the Halliday's transitivity system are concerned with the
particular types of action which are known as psychological and physiological
behaviour such as, breath, cry, look at, stare, dream, smile, and listen … etc.
Behaviour pattern is used in a small percentage. This belong to the fact that Barack
Obama and David Cameron may pay remarkable consideration to what is concrete
rather than psychological and physiological action. Moreover, speeches in such
events, do not require manipulating behavioural and psychological attitudes
because of the nature of such event. They also do not use verbal process in a large
percent. The reason is that, this kind of process is used in the situation when
writers or speakers try to take advantages of others' views and opinions to set the
real scene of the event. It links between mental and relational processes by certain
actions of saying, and talking.
7. Conclusion

Based on the discussion above, there are some characteristics in Barak Obama and
David Cameron political speeches. These characteristics are identified according to
the transitivity system of Halliday's Theory of Systemic Functional Grammar.
From the results obtained, one can arrive to some conclusions. First, process types
for Obama and Cameron's speeches show that the most frequent types are material
processes. Obama in his speech, tries to make a relationship with his people
through using strong sentences which help to add more confidence from his people
towards him and to his government's achievements. In the same vein, Cameron
uses expressions and tells stories to attract his people attention and make them
have trust on him. Second, Obama Clarifies what the government will do in the
future and this is exactly what Cameron strives in his speech . Third, although

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 Obama and Cameron use simple and clear sentences but they are profound in
meaning. They succeed to build a confidence and to persuade the audience to
support them more for the sake of their country. A linguistic analysis is the
fundamental objective to connect the semantic and grammatical aspects together to
get the meaning required.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eggins, S (2004). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics.

London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Halliday, M. A. K (1978). Language as Social Semiotics. London: Edward

Arnold.
---------------------- (1985). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London:
Edward Arnold.
---------------------- (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London:
Edward Arnold.
---------------------- (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London:
Arnold Publishers.

Richardson, J. E. (2007). Analyzing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical

Discourse Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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