A Transitivity Analysis Of Oscar Speech Discourse

Halliday, the founder of systemic-functional grammar, assumes that language is a product of human social activities. As a tool for human communication, language serves a variety of functions and typically there are three meta-functions: ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. Ideational function is mainly embodied by experiential function which is referred to the function for expressing our own experience of the world, including the worlds in our own minds, to describe events and states and the entities involved in them. Transitivity system is an important semantic system in ideational function. Being a major discourse analysis model, it has been widely used in the analysis of literature and news texts.Taking the transitivity system as a theoretical framework, this thesis employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the realization of ideational function of Oscar speech discourse and to prove that transitivity system could be realized through the quantitative analysis of spoken discourse at the same time. Oscar speech discourse belongs to spoken discourse and mainly consists of three speech events: host's opening remarks, presenter's presentation speeches and winner's acceptance speeches. Through the analysis of data, the following conclusions are made:Material processes are primarily attributed to celebrities including actors, actresses, directors and crew involved, which is employed to describe what the celebrities have done in their field. Material processes are mostly used in the opening remarks and presentation speeches.Relational processes are frequently employed by the host and presenter to show the compliments which mean the affirmation of the glamour and achievements of the celebrities and also to enliven the atmosphere of the ceremony. Relational processes are also attributed to the Oscar as participant in the winner's acceptance speeches, indicating the significance of Oscar to the winner.Mental processes are mainly attributed to the host and the winner to express their inner thoughts. Specifically the host shows his or her passion and fondness for the celebrities and movies, the winners express their appreciation and excitement toward winning the Oscar.Of all the processes in the Oscar speech discourse, material and relational processes are the most frequently employed, then followed by mental and verbal processes, while the other two processes of behavioral and existential are less applied.