5.

5 Other Process types: Summary of Process Types

In the last three sections we have been discussing the three principal types
of process in the English clause: 'material', 'mental', 'relational'. They are the
principal types in that they are the cornerstones of the grammar in its guise as a
theory of experience, they present three distinct kinds of structural configuration,
and they account for the majority of all clauses in a text (the three of them seem to
be roughly balanced in frequency over the language as a whole, although the
pattern varies considerably among different registers). We can then go on to
recognize three subsidiary process types, located at each of the boundaries:
behavioural at the boundary between material and mental, verbal at the boundary
between mental and relational, and existential at the boundary between relational
and material.

5.5.1 Behavioural Clauses

These are processes of physiological and psychological behaviour, like
breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming and staring. A common variant of these is
that where the behaviour is dressed up as if it was a participant. The participant is
analogous to the Scope of a 'material' clause both being manifestations of the
general function of Range, we shall call it Behaviour. Some of those in groups -
Note finally that, while 'behavioural' clauses do not 'project' indirect speech or
thought, they often appear in fictional narrative introducing direct speech, as a
means of attaching a behavioural feature to the verbal process of ' saying'.

5.5.3 Existential Clause

After the Placement stage, existential clauses are also used to introduce
phenomena into the material stream of narration; and in guide book texts, they
serve to introduce places or features of interest that may be encountered on
walking and driving tours. The entity or event which is being said to exist is
labelled, simply, Existent. In principle, there can 'exist' any kind of phenomenon
that can be construed as a 'thing': person, object, institution, abstraction; but also
any action or event. On this borderline between the 'existential' and the 'material'
there is a special category of processes to do with the weather: meteorological
processes. On the other hand the tense is clearly that of a 'material' process.

5.6 Circumstantial Elements

5.6.1 General Characteristics
We now come to the circumstantial elements, which lie at the other end of
the continuum, typically, they occur freely in all types of process, and with
essentially the same significance wherever they occur. Thirdly, looked at from
below, they are typically expressed not as nominal groups but as either adverbial
groups or prepositional phrases - mostly the latter, since adverbial groups are
largely confined to one type, those of Manner. The elements we are treating as
'circumstantial' are those in which the participant typically - and in many cases
obligatorily - is indirect, being linked into the process via some preposition or
other. We are able to do this because a circumstantial element is itself, from this
point of view, a process that has become parasitic on another process.

5.6.2 Types of Circumstance

5.6.2.1 Expansion: Enchancing
The circumstantials of Extent and Location construe the unfolding of the
process in space and time. Extent construes the extent of the unfolding of the
process in space-time: the distance in space over which the process unfolds or the
duration in time during which the process unfolds. The typical structure is a
nominal group with quantifier, either definite, e.g. five days, or indefinite, e.g.
many miles, a long way; this occurs either with or without preposition. Similarly,
time includes not only static location in time, but also the temporal analogues of
source, path and destination. Note adverbial group/prepositional phrase complexes
expressing spatial and temporal paths. This reflects the fact that semantically,
whereas the instrument is not usually an inherent element in the process, the agent
typically is - although less clearly so when the process is expressed in the passive.
Degree is typically expressed by an adverbial group with a general indication of
degree such as much, a good deal, a lot, or with a collocationally more restricted
adverb of degree such as deeply, profoundly, completely, heavily. They are
typically expressed by a prepositional phrase with for or with a complex
preposition such as in the hope of, for the purpose of, for the sake of.

5.6.2.2 Expansion: Extending

Accompaniment is a form of joint participation in the process and
represents the meanings 'and', 'or', 'not' as circumstantials; it corresponds to the
interrogatives and who/what else?, but not who/what? It is expressed by
prepositional phrases with prepositions such as with, without, besides, instead of
we can distinguish two subcategories, comitative and additive; each has a positive
and a negative aspect. The comitative represents the process as a single instance
of a process, although one in which two entities are involved. It ranges from some
cases where the two entities could be conjoined as a single element.
5.6.2.3 Expansion: Elaborating
This category construes the meanings 'be' and 'become' circumstantially;
the Role corresponds to the Attribute or Value of an 'intensive relational' clause. A
circumstance of Role usually relates to a participant in the clause - more
specifically, to the Medium; but we also find circumstances of Role that do not.
There is a related pattern in the clause which could be regarded as a circumstance
of Role, except that it does not involve a prepositional phrase.

5.6.2.4 Projection
Although circumstances of expansion relate to 'relational' clauses,
circumstances of projection relate to projecting 'mental' and 'verbal' clauses -
either to the Senser or Sayer of that clause or to the Verbiage. Angle is related
either to the Sayer of a 'verbal' clause. We can call type 'viewpoint' since it is used
to represent the information given by the clause from somebody's viewpoint. This
type of Angle occurs in 'relational' clauses that are agnate with 'mental' ones.

5.6.3 The Status of Circumstance

Most circumstances are prepositional phrases. We have referred above to a
prepositional phrase as something that expresses a 'minor process', interpreting the
preposition as a kind of mini-verb. This similarity between verb and preposition
can also be seen in cases where there is a close relationship between a
prepositional phrase and a non-finite dependent clause. At the same time, there are
many instances where a nominal group seems to have more or less the same
function whether it is brought into the clause directly, or indirectly via a
prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrase as participant. As discussed in the last
sub-section, some prepositional phrases realize participant functions, which can be
grouped under a few general headings as shown. Wherever there is systematic
alternation between a prepositional phrase and a nominal group, as in all the
instances in Participant functions realized by prepositional phrases, the element in
question is interpreted as a participant.

5.7 Transivity and Sound: Interpretation

These two perspectives complement one another, giving us a balance in
the account of transitivity between similarity and difference among the process
types. The two perspectives constitute two different modes of modelling
transitivity. We shall call these the transitive model and the ergative model of
transitivity. Note that 'transitivity' is the name for the whole system, including
both the 'transitive' model and the 'ergative' one. 'Ergatlvity' is thus not the name
of a system, but of a property of the system of transitivity. English and in many
other languages, it is the transitive model that differentiates the different process
types and it is the ergative model that generalizes across these different process
types.

5.7.1 The Transitive Model

As we have seen in this chapter, the transitive model is based on the
configuration of Actor + Process. The Actor is construed as bringing about the
unfolding of the Process through time; and this unfolding is either confined in its
outcome to the Actor or extended to another participant, the Goal. The Goal is
construed as being impacted by the Actor's performance of the Process.

5.7.2 The Ergative Model

The account of lexical ergativity has sometimes been supported by
reference to pronominal case marking in English. As we noted above, if we
examine the lexis of modern English, and look up large samples of verbs in a
good dictionary, we find that many of them, including the majority of those which
are in common use, carry the label 'both transitive and intransitive'. English - its
transitivity system - is particularly unstable in the contemporary language, having
been put under great pressure by the need for the language continually to adapt
itself to a rapidly changing environment, and by the increasing functional
demands that have been made on it ever since Chaucer's time. Let us try and give
a brief sketch of the clause in its experiential function as it now appears in the
contemporary language, looking at it as a way of making generalizations about
processes in the real world. By using the ergative standpoint to complement the
transitive one in our interpretation of English, we can match up the functions in
the various process types.

5.7.3 Ergative and Transitive Participant Roles

The Beneficiary is the one to whom or for whom the process is said to take
place. It appears in 'material' and 'verbal' clauses, and occasionally in 'relational'
ones. We shall just refer to this as Beneficiary, without introducing a more
specific term, since these hardly constitute a recognizably distinct role in the
clause.

5.7.3.2 Ranged Clauses: Range

The Range is the element that specifies the range or domain of the
process. A Range may occur in 'material', 'behavioural', 'mental', 'verbal' and
'relational' clauses - but not in 'existential' ones. In a 'mental' clause, the concept of
Range helps to understand the structure we have already identified, that of Senser
and Phenomenon. It is not an additional element, but an interpretation of the
Phenomenon in one of its structural configurations.

5.7.4 The Complementarity of the Transitive and Ergative Models

Probably all transitivity systems, in all languages, are some blend of these
two semantic models of processes, the transitive and the ergative. The same
tendency away from a purely transitive type of semantic organization can be seen
in the system of voice. A clause with no feature of 'agency' is neither active nor
passive but middle. One with agency is non-middle, or effective, in agency. An
effective clause is then either operative or receptive in voice. If the clause is
effective, since either participant can then become Subject there is a choice
between operative and receptive. From the transitive point of view, in these
initiating structures there is a feature of' cause' added. As we have seen, this is
also possible with relational processes, where for the transitive analysis we have
to recognize the additional functions of Attributor and Assigner. From the ergative
point of view, these clauses simply add a feature of agency.