Title: Transitivity Analysis of Korean News

Abstract: The functional grammar proposed by Halliday put forward the concept of metafunction which is categorized into ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. Transitivity, as a semantic system, divides human experience into different processes which proves the experiential function of the language. This paper, which adopts the functional grammar as theoretical basis with relevant studies on Korean transitivity system, focuses on the transitivity analysis of news texts from Korean mainstream media like the Chosun IIbo, the Donga IIbo, the Joong-Ang IIbo and the Kyunhyang Shinmun. The purpose of the study is to sort out the distributive patterns and language features, to test the feasibility of analyzing Korean news texts through transitivity system; to propose methods of dealing with complete ellipsis of predicates and compound process clauses, and therefore provides references for the construction and perfection of Korean transitivity systematic study network; to further deepen readers’ understanding of Korean news, and enhance the purposefulness of news reading.

Keywords: news, functional grammar, experiential function, transitivity analysis, processes

Author: Guanqiao Wang, Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan, China; Qianbo Li, Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan, China.