TRANSITIVITY AND MOOD RESOURCES REALISING EXPERIENTIAL AND INTERPERSONAL MEANINGS IN “A TALE OF TWO CITIES”: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper examines in depth how transitivity and mood resources are employed to construct experiential and interpersonal meanings in a literary text – a topic that has received limited attention in English literature teaching, learning and research, particularly at tertiary EFL (English as a Foreign Language) departments or faculties. The data for analysis is “Chapter 1 – “The Period” of “Book the First” of the three-book novel “A Tale of Two Cities” by the eminent British novelist Charles Dickens. The theoretical framework adopted for analysis is SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics). The units of analysis are major clause simplexes. Findings of the study exhibit a number of noticeable transitivity and mood features employed in the text. In terms of transitivity resources, the writer represents experiential meanings in “The Period” by employing a very high frequency of material and relational processes, no behavioural process, all represented participants, a relatively small number of Circumstances, and a very high proportion of the past simple tense. As regards mood resources, the writer constructs interpersonal meanings in “The Period” by employing one hundred per cent of declarative mood, a predominant proportion of explicit Subjects, all non-interactive Subjects, and a predominant proportion of first participant Subjects. The study ends with a summary of the salient findings found in the text, a recommendation affirming the relevance of SFL as a theoretical framework for analysing and interpreting experiential and interpersonal meanings of texts in general and literary texts in particular for literature teaching, learning and research, and some suggestions for further study.