Applying Halliday’s Transitivity Theory to the Novel Foe by John Maxwell Coetzee

Abstract

This research handles the process types of transitivity used by John Maxwell Coetzee in the novel Foe. The aim of this study is mainly to identify the process types and their functions. The study also tries to see how far Halliday’s theory of transitivity is applicable to narrative style as represented by the novel Foe by Coetzee. The findings show that the six types of transitivity system are found in novel. They are material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioural, and existential process respectively in descending order. There are 226 processes found in the data of study. The occurrences of material process is 70 i.e. 30.9 %, mental process is 46 i.e. 20.3%, relational process is 39 i.e. 17.2 %, verbal process is 39 i.e. 17.2%, behavioural process is 28 i.e. 12.3%, and existential process is 4 i.e. 1.7%. The dominant process is the material process with 70 i.e. 30.9 % occurrences. This implies that the use of material process in the novel is significant about expressing the experiential function of language, specially of people’s physical action, about the outside world, entities, events, characteristics, and its concern about the enquiry of what characters did and what took place in the world. Therefore, the use of the six process types of transitivity has different and various meanings and implications when used in English. Transitivity analysis is important in finding out which processes are used most and for what purposes. This study can help researchers to know that material process is mostly found in texts when trying to convince readers to act and react (doing).