Systemic Functioning Grammar

 https://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgtrans.html 

Material process

The participants are:

• Actor -- the one performing the action
• Goal -- that which is affected by the action
• Scope -- that which remains unaffected by the action
• Attribute -- a quality ascribed or attributed to an entity
• Client -- for whom/which the action occurs
• Recipient -- the receiver of goods or services

A material process is a process of doing or happening, and the Actor is the key participant. You can probe a material process with "what did the Actor do?" or "what happened?"

	Alvin	played	ping pong	yesterday
	Pt: Actor	Pr: Material	Pt: Scope	Circ: Time

	Alvin	swallowed	the ping pong ball	by mistake
	Pt: Actor	Pr: Material	Pt: Goal	Circ: Manner

	The doctor	gave	Alvin	some laxative
	Pt: Actor	Pr: Material	Pt: Recipient	Pt: Goal

	He	also	made	Alvin	a tablet
	Pt: Actor		Pr: Material	Pt: Client	Pt: Goal
	and	painted	it	green
		Pr: Material	Pt: Goal	Pt: Attribute

Because the material process involves dynamic verbs, the progressive is permitted -- "Alvin was playing ping pong yesterday". This is a useful test to tell apart a material process from another that is inherently stative.

Please note that Goal is that which is affected by something being done to it (that is, it either changes its position or its status). If it remains unaffected (or unimpacted), it is not Goal, but Scope.

Another useful point to note is that whereas Recipient takes the preposition "to", Client takes "for". Compare:

• The doctor gave some laxative to Alvin. (Recipient)
• He also made a bitter-tasting tablet for Alvin. (Client)

Mental process

The participants are:

• Senser -- the one who feels (emotionally), thinks, and perceives
• Phenomenon -- that which is felt (emotionally), thought about, or perceived

The mental process has to do with affection, cognition, perception, or desideration (a fancy term for "desiring"):

	I	hate	curly underarm hair
	Pt: Senser	Pr: Mental	Pt: Phenomenon	[Affection]

	His curly underarm hair	amazed	me
	Pt: Phenomenon	Pr: Mental	Pt: Senser	[Cognition]

	I	saw	her curly underarm hair
	Pt: Senser	Pr: Mental	Pt: Phenomenon	[Perception]

The mental process is usually in simple present/past tense, but not usually in the progressive aspect.

Please note that the Senser need not always come first. In "His curly underarm hair amazed me", the underlined portion is not Senser but Phenomenon.

Verbal process

The participants are:

• Sayer -- the addresser
• Receiver -- the addressee, or the entity targetted by the saying
• Verbiage -- the content of what is said or indicated

Verbal processes include all modes of expressing and indicating, even if they need not be verbal, such as "showing". The content of what is said or indicated can be realised as a full projected clause, a participant (verbiage), or a circumstance (matter). See examples below.

	The x-ray	shows	a small lump	in Alvin's throat
	Pt: Sayer	Pr: Verbal	Pt: Verbiage	Circ: Location

	The doctor	expressed	some concern
	Pt: Sayer	Pr: Verbal	Pt: Verbiage

	Alvin	complained	about the discomfort
	Pt: Sayer	Pr: Verbal	Circ: Matter

	He	mumbled	that the ball ruined his appearance
	Pt: Sayer	Pr: Verbal	[Separate ranking clause]

Existential process

This is the easiest of the lot. It involves existential constructions which are introduced by an empty there in subject position (this is sometimes called an expletive there, but don't ask me why). The typical verb that is used is the "be" verb. So everytime you see an existential construction, you have an existential process. Simple, right?

Another simple diagnostic is that the progressive is forbidden in the existential process. Whereas the mental and, as we shall see in a while, relational processes resist the progressive, the existential process absolutely forbids it.

There is also only one participant in an existential process -- the Existent. The Existent is simply that which is construed existentially.

Note, however, that in cases such as "On the wall is a handprint", we also have an existential process, although there is no empty there anywhere. But you know that this construction can be expanded to "On the wall there is a handprint", no?

	Once upon a time	there	was	a weird grammarian
	Circ: Time		Pr: Existential	Pt: Existent

Relational process

Relational processes obligatorily require two participants. In a finite clause, you cannot and do not have a relational process with only one participant. Relational processes are concerned with being, possessing, or becoming.

The progressive is resisted in the relational process.

The relational process is either identifying or attributive. The difference is this:

Identifying: "a" is the identity of "X"
Attributive: "a" is an attribute of "X"

An identifying process permits the participants to be reversed, together with a corresponding change in grammatical function. The participants can be reversed in one of two ways -- by the mere swapping of positions, or through passivisation:

That man is my father ~ My father is that man
[Notice the change in grammatical function of the participants -- in the first clause, "that man" is the subject, but in the second clause, it is the complement. Similarly, "my father" is the complement in the first clause, but the subject in the second.]

The exam takes up the whole day ~ The whole day is taken up by the exam
[Again, note the change in grammatical function. In the first clause, "the exam" is the subject, but in the second clause, it is the prepositional complement. Similarly, "the whole day" is the complement in the first clause, but the subject in the second.]

An attributive process generally does not allow the participants to be reversed. Unfortunately, it sometimes does. The crucial difference, however, is this -- the grammatical functions of the participants will always remain unchanged, whether or not they can be reversed. Also, it might be helpful for you to note that an attributive process can never undergo passivisation:

He is blessed ~ Blessed is he
[Notice that there is no change in the grammatical function of the participants -- "he" remains the subject in both clauses, and "blessed" remains the complement in both as well.]

If the process is identifying, the participants are Token and Value. But which is which? You need to note two things here. First, if the identifying process is able to undergo passivisation, then in the active form, the subject is always the Token (the Value, of course, is the complement). Second, if the process cannot undergo passivisation, you will then need the "represent" test to find out which label to use. What you need to do is to first replace the verb with "represent" to form an acceptable alternative construction. By this test, you will get "Token represents Value".

Here are some examples:

	Today	is	World Belching Day
	Pt: Token	Pr: Rel-Ident	Pt: Value
	["World Belching Day" serves to identify what today is. Also, we can have "Today represents World Belching Day", but not *"World Belching Day represents today".]

	The champion belcher	is	Alvin
	Pt: Value	Pr: Rel-Ident	Pt: Token
	[Alvin is identified by his status as a champion belcher. Also, we can have "Alvin represents the champion belcher", but not *"The champion belcher represents Alvin".]

If the process is attributive, the participants are Carrier and Attribute. Umm ... which is which? Well, "a" is the attribute, and "X" is the Carrier. Clauses with attributive processes are non-passivisable. That means that the grammatical subject is always the Carrier. Here are some examples:

	Alvin	was	fantastic	during World Belching Day
	Pt: Carrier	Pr: Rel-Attr	Pt: Attribute	Circ: Time

	Alvin	has	a shapely rib cage
	Pt: Carrier	Pr: Rel-Attr	Pt: Attribute

It is important to run through the various diagnostics listed here to separate identifying from attributive processes. For instance, by the reversibility test, a clause such as "The exam lasts the whole day" is attributive, but "The exam takes up the whole day" is identifying. (This is either really cool or utterly confusing, depending on your current state of mind.)

Relational processes usually involve the be verb, and are manifested in three ways (use the reversibility test to find out whether each is attributive or identifying):

• "X is Y" (intensive)
• "X is at/in/under ... Y" (circumstantial)
• "X has Y" (possessive)

Especially for the "X is at/in/under ... Y" type, please take care to label the circumstantial element as participant, rather than as circumstance. Why? That's because relational processes must have two participants, remember? So, the PP "in the drain" is functionally ambiguous, depending on the process type. In "The best hiding place is in the drain", it is a participant (Attribute); in "Alvin dropped his wallet in the drain", it is circumstance (Location).

Behavioural process

The main participant is Behaver, but may sometimes involve a Behaviour. Behavioural processes are typically intransitive, involving only the Behaver as participant. If there are two participants, the second participant is Behaviour.

The behavioural process is a hybrid process -- a material+mental process. Because it is part mental, the behavioural process involves verbs that are clearly psychological. And because it is part material, the behavioural process permits the progressive, and the clause can be probed with "What did the Behaver do?" (which a true mental process forbids).

	The sore losers	glared	at the champion belcher
	Pt: Behaver	Pr: Behavioural	Pt: Behaviour
	[What did the sore losers do?] In summary

At the risk of sounding long-winded, the important characteristics to note are the following (which serve as useful probes):

• Two processes -- existential and behavioural -- typically have only one participant.
• Mental processes are usually in the simple present/past tense.
• The relational process must always have two participants. You can't do without one or the other -- it wouldn't be called relational in that case.
• The participants in a relational-attributive clause are generally not reversible. The participants in a relational-identifying clause are. Even if the participants are reversible in a relational-attributive process, their grammatical functions do not change. This is unlike the case in a relational-identifying process where the participants change their grammatical functions as they are reversed. Reversibility involves not just the mere swapping of positions, but also passivisation.
• Whenever be is used as the main verb, the process can only be either relational or existential.
• Please note that non-literal language use is very common. So, in a clause like "The road runs along the river", we do not have a material process, but a relational process (cf. "The road is along the river").
• When in doubt, do the following:

• Replace the problematic verb with another more congruent one, without radically altering the clausal meaning. This is helpful since the relational process, for instance, can be expressed by verbs other than be.
• How many participants are crucially involved? (Some processes need obligatorily two, others take only one, etc.)
• How is the VG expressed? In simple present/past, progressive aspect, etc?
• If all things fail, pray hard, and make your best guess.