the analysis of function, category and role in english...

Asih Prihandini. The Analysis of Function, Category and Role in English Headlines

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THE ANALYSIS OF FUNCTION, CATEGORY AND ROLE IN ENGLISH HEADLINES

Written by Asih Prihandini,S.S.,M.Hum.

Lecturer of English Department

Abstract

A headline probably contains some simple, compound or complex sentences. It will be very effective when it’s constructed as its function, category and role. The analysis that will give much contribution for understanding the context of construction is started by using tree diagram. I. Introduction Language cannot be separated from people who use it. In learning language, someone must understand how sentences are built. It could be done by gathering words into a phrase, then a phrase into a clause or a sentence. Chomsky stated that knowing a language also means being able to put words together to form phrases and sentences that express our thought (1975: 155). The first part deals with the definition of sentences and clauses. Meanwhile, the second part deals with the general definition of function, category and role. II. Theoretical Review A. Sentences, Clauses and Phrases

Discussing about learning language, we cannot separate it from learning the form of sentence, clause or phrase. 1. Sentences

Frank (1972 : 220) stated that sentence is a full predication containing a subject plus a predicate with a finite verb. Its arrangement may be symbolized by such as SVO (subject + verb + object), NIVN2 (noun + verb + noun), or NP + VP (noun phrase + verb phrase).

a. Characteristic of Sentence

Jurnal Ilmu Sastra Vol. 6 No.1, Mei 2011. Hal 1- 21

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To break the sentence into their morpheme, it needs a rule called as “Phrase Structural Rules”. These are the phrase structural rules: Sentence Noun phrase + Verb phrase VP Verb + noun Phrase NP Determiner + Noun Verb Auxiliaries + Main verb Determiner { the, a, an, my, some, …} Noun { box, book, shoes, …} Auxiliaries { can, may, should, …} Main verb { read, eat, sleep, …}

b. Classification of Sentence There are many ways used to classify sentences, that is, classified sentences by typing and numbering of prediction: a. Classification of Sentences by typing

1) Declarative sentence (statement) In a declarative sentence the subject and predicate have normal word order (Frank, 1972 : 220). For example: The girl read her book.

2) Interrogative sentence (question) In this sentence the subject and auxiliaries are often reversed. It ends with a question mark in writing (1972 : 221). For example: Did the girl read her book?

3) Imperative Sentence (command, request) In this sentence, only the predicate is expressed and the simple form of the verb is used, regardless of a person or tense (Frank, 1972 : 221). For example: Read your book.

4) Exclamatory sentence (exclamation) Such sentences begin with an exclamatory phrase consisting of what or how plus a part of the predicate (frank, 1972 : 221). For example: What a wonderful tonight!

b. Classification of sentences by Numbering of Prediction


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1) Simple Sentence Such sentence has only one full prediction in the form of independent clause (Frank, 1972 : 222). E.g.: The boy opened the door.

2) Compound Sentence Such sentence has two or more full prediction in the form of independent clause (Frank, 1972 : 223). For example: The boy opened the door and walked into his room.

3) Complex Sentence Such sentence also has two or more full prediction, one of these is an independent clause (or, main, clause) that is similar to form of the simple sentence, and one more of these are dependent clause (or, subordinate clauses) (Frank, 1972 : 222) E.g.: The boy who opened the door walked into his room.

4) Compound-complex Sentence This sentence contain two or more independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (Frank, 1972 : 223). E.g.: The boy who opened the door and walked into his room and took a rest.

2. Clauses

A clause is usually defined as any group of words containing a subject and a verb. Frank (1972 : 223) said that the balance of this term would be concerned with the independent and dependent clauses resulting from the two or more full predications into a single sentence. a. Independent Clauses

Independent clause is a clause, which can become free sentences potentially (Kridalaksana, 1993 : 111) i. Independent Clauses Joined by Punctuation Alone


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Usually, no more than two independent clauses joined with a semicolon unless the clauses are parallel (Frank, 1972 : 224)

For example: Linda was sick; she did not come to the party.

ii. Independent Clauses Joined by Coordinate Conjunctions (and, or, not, but, yet, so, for)

A semicolon may appear before a coordinate conjunction joining clauses if there is already internal punctuation within one and more of the clauses (Frank, 1972 : 224). E.g.: Linda was sick, so she did not come to the party.

iii. Independent Clauses Joined by Conjunction Adverbs The conjunction adverbs, which join independent

clauses, behave both as conjunctions and as adverbs (Frank, 1972 : 226). E.g.: Linda was sick; therefore, she did not come to the party.

b. Dependent clauses Dependent clause is a clause, which cannot stand independently as a complete sentence but it can be a minor sentence with final intonation (Kridalaksana, 1993 : 112). In a dependent clause, the full predication is altered in such a way that the clause must be attached to another clause, an independent clause. The alteration may be an added introductory word or a change in the form of the subject or object (Frank, 1972 : 228). There are three types of dependent clauses, named according to their function in the sentence: i. Adverbial clause

E.g.: The examination was finished because the bell rang. (Because the bell rang modifies the verb finished).

ii. Adjective clause E.g.: The man who wins the game will go to Bali.

(Who wins the games modifies the noun man).


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iii. Noun clause E.g.: I didn’t see whether the car’s color is black or white. (Whether the car’s color is black or white functions as the object of see).

3. Phrases Phrase is a group of words, which has a unit of

definition, but it cannot be a complete sentence (Murdibjo & Murdibjo, 1991: 22). In English, there are several kinds of phrase: a. Noun phrase

Noun phrase is a group of words, which has a unit of definition, and totally functioned as noun (Murdibjo & Murdibjo, 1991: 22). Noun phrase can be function as subject, object, complement or prepositional phrase in a sentence. For example : The beautiful girl in the corner is Fransisca Molley.

S b. Verb phrase

Verb phrase is a group of words, which forms a verb (Kamil, 1997: 21). For example : Rudy will come tonight.

c. Adjective phrase Adjective phrase is a group of words, which forms an adjective (Kamil, 1997: 22). For example : My teacher is very beautiful.

B. Function, category and role According to Chaer (1997: 207), the first terms (S, V, O,

Adjunct) are related to syntactic function. The second one (N, V, Adj., Nm) is related to syntactic category. While the third one (Agent, Patient, Receiver) are related to syntactic role. 1. Function

Function means a simply formal constituents-unbound on a certain semantic element, also unbound on a certain categorical element (Verhaar, 2001: 167). As explained above, function is related to the term subject, predicate, and object. Considering


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the statement, the writer tries to give a description of the terms as follows: a. Subject Subyek adalah apa yang berada dalam keadaan yang

diartikan oleh verba di tempat predikat, atau apa yang mengalami kejadian yang diartikan oleh verba (bervalensi satu, atau bervalensi lebih dari tapi dalam bentuk pasif), atau apa yang melakukan hal-hal yang diartikan oleh verba [Subject is something exist in a condition, which is meant by verb in the place of predicate; or something that get process meant by verb (has one or more than one valence in passive voice); or something, which does the thing meant by verb] (Verhaar, 2001: 166).

It means that subject is part of a sentence expresses someone or something which being the main discussion or topics. According to Fromkin (1990: 185), there are two kinds of subject. They are logical and structural subject.

i. Logical subject is the subject that always comes in the beginning of the sentence.

ii. Structural subject is the subject that does not always come in the beginning of the sentence but it comes before the predicate.

Their distinctions are illustrated in: a.1. The cat bit the boy. a.2. The boy was bitten by the cat. In both a.1. and a.2. the logical subject- the doer of the action

is the cat. Only in a.1. is the cat the structural subject. b. Predicate

Predicate is a part of sentence, which expresses information about subject of the sentence (Nuryanto, 1990: 1). In English, every predicate has to use verb. There are several types of verb, they are:

i. Predicating or Linking Verbs A predicating verb is the chief word in the predicate that says something about the subject (Frank, 1972: 48). For example: I see him.


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A linking verb (copulative verb) is a verb of incomplete predication; it merely announces that real predicate follows (Frank, 1972: 48).

For example: It is a big dog. The more common linking verbs are : appear, be,

become, get (in the sense of become), look, remain, seem. ii. Transitive or Intransitive Verb

A transitive verb takes a direct object, while an intransitive verb does not require an object (Frank, 1972: 49). All linking verbs are intransitive. For example:

He is watching a television. Transitive S P O She is walking in the beach. Intransitive S P adv

iii. Reflexive verb A reflexive verb requires one of the compounds with –

self (reflexive pronoun) as its object –express oneself, wash oneself, pride oneself, avail oneself (Frank, 1972: 50). For example: Fanny swept the floor and then cleaned it clearly. iv. Auxiliary or Lexical Verbs Two or more words may be joined together into a

single verb phrase that functions as the full verb the predicate. The first part of the verb phrase is the auxiliary (or auxiliaries), and the second part is the lexical verb (will be, arriving). The lexical verb is often called the main verb, but in order to avoid confusion, we are reserving the term main verb for the verb in the main clause. Some verbs used as auxiliaries may also occur independently, such as be, have, and do. Other verbs function chiefly as auxiliaries and must be used with a lexical verb, such as shall, will, can, must, may, should, could, and might.

v. Finites or Non-Finites Verbs A finites verb is a lexical verb with or without

auxiliaries that act as the full verb may have – person, number, tense, voice, etc (frank, 1972: 51). For example:


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Sissy goes to the office. (The finite verb of the sentence is “does”, and the verbal is go).

Non-finite (or infinite) verbs are incomplete verb form that function as other parts of speech than verbs (Frank, 1972: 51). They consist of the infinitive forms and the participial –ing or –ed forms. The non-finite forms, which are also called verbal, are not limited by person or number, but they have voice and some tense. For example: The man standing behind my mother is Mr. Andy. Standing in the sentence above is a participle used as an adjective to modify man.

vi. Infinitive with To (to+V1) Infinitive with to is a base of verb with to. In a sentence, infinitive with to is used to: As subject

E.g.: To read is good for developing our knowledge. To read to + infinitive subject As Noun Modifier (explaining the previous noun). E.g.: I don’t have much time to sleep. As Modifier of Adjective (Fulfilling the previous meaning of adjective). E.g.: The lesson are easy to understand. Shows an objective / a purpose. E.g.: She goes to school in order to get study. After ‘wh-‘ word (when, where, how, etc). E.g.: I don’t know what time to go. To + infinitive with its subject. E.g.: It is good for you to take a rest. Other forms of ‘to + infinitive’ a) Shows future action or state E.g.: If we are to win the game, we must do our

best. b) Can change future tense E.g.: We are to come into the party tonight. c) Stating order in relation with future


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E.g.: You are to sit here. d) Stating prohibition order in future E.g.: You are not to sit here. e) Stating fate E.g.: Rani doesn’t know what is to happen to her. f) After verbs seem, appear, happen. E.g.: She seems to be happy.

g) Passive infinitive E.g.: You are to be congratulated.

c. Object Object is a person or a thing to which an action, feeling, etc, is directed (Verhaar, 2001: 166). Similar to subject, Fromkin (1990: 185), divided it into two kinds, they are: i. Direct object is an object, which is logically directed by

subject and always comes after predicate. E.g.: Megawati says no to war.

ii. Indirect object. E.g.: Residents brave floods to protect belonging.

2. Category

Category is often called “word classed” or “parts of speech”, such a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, ad position (preposition and post position), etc (Verhaar, 2001: 170)

a. Noun If a word gives a name to an individual person or a thing or to some kinds of person or things, the word is noun (Nesfield, 1950: 15). Noun are divided into 5 different kinds, they are: i. Proper Noun A proper noun is a name given to one particular

person or thing and it is not intended to denote more than one person or thing at a time (Nesfield, 1950: 15). They always begin with a capital letter.

For example: Albert Einstein, Canada, Titanic, and so on.


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ii. Common Noun A noun, which denotes to one person or thing in

particular, but is common to all persons or things of the same kind, the noun is common (Nesfield, 1950: 16). For example: “woman” (The word “woman” here does not be used for any and every woman).

iii. Collective Noun I is a noun, which denotes a group, collection or multitude, considered as one complete whole (Nesfield, 1950: 17). For instance: team, crew, orchestra, and jury.

iv. Material Noun It is a noun, which denotes the matter or substance

of which certain things are made (Nesfield, 1950: 17). As the following examples: water, grass, air, etc.

v. Abstract Noun It denotes some quality, state, or action apart from

any object or objects (Nesfield, 1950: 18). For example: theory, virtue, hope, sorrow, etc.

b. Pronoun Pronoun are words that take the place of noun. They also refer to noun (Young & symonik. 1958:15). There are several groups of pronoun: i. Personal pronoun: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it,

we, us, they, them. ii. Relative pronoun: who, whom, which, that,

whose, what. E.g. The man who (subject) stands behind me is

my uncle. iii. Interrogative pronoun (used in question): who,

whom, which, whose, what. E.g.: Whose car is it?

iv. Demonstrative pronoun (pointing out): this, that, these, those.

E.g.: Of all artist I have cased, these are the best.


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v. Indefinite pronoun: one, each, anyone, no one, someone, anybody, everybody, none, any, both, neither, either, nothing, anything, all.

E.g.: Which of these books have you read? None. vi. Reflexive pronoun: myself, yourself, himself,

herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.

E.g.: I wrote that theme myself vii. Reciprocal pronoun: each other, one another. E.g.: They love each other.

c. Verb Verbs are word that indicate action, state or condition, existence, or what is perceived by the sense-touch, taste, hearing, seeing, and smelling (Young & Symonik, 1958: 29). In the following sentences, the italicized words are verbs :

- Billy studies French - Patty is beautiful.

When used in complete sentences, verbs must agree with their subjects. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural, for example:

- He reads. We read d. Adjective

An adjective is a word that tells us something about noun or pronoun. Adjective are said to modify or limit nouns or pronouns (Young & Symonik, 1958: 49). Adjectives do not always stand before the nouns or pronouns they modified. For example: The candy is sweet.

e. Adverb Adverb are words that tell us something about modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs (Young & Symonik, 1958: 50). They usually answer such question as “when?” “where?” “how?” “To what extent?” In order words, adverbs indicate time, place, manner, and degree. For instance:


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- Come early! (Time) - Sit here! (Place)

Adverbs may be formed from many adjectives by adding the suffix –ly: great greatly; rapid rapidly; serious seriously; beautiful beautifully (but full fully);

f. Preposition A preposition is a word; sometimes a group of two or three words, used to join nouns or pronouns to other words or part of sentence and to show their relationship (Young & Symonik, 1958: 63). Words used with prepositions usually follow them and are object of the preposition. Preposition are said to govern ‘the’ that follow. For example: She puts the glasses on the table.

g. Conjunction Words that serve to connect or to join words, phrase, or part of sentences are called conjunction or connectives (Young & Symonik, 1958: 69). i. Coordinate conjunctions (and, or, but, neither,

nor) are conjunctions, which join words or phrase or parts of sentences that are equal value or independent.

For example: My father is watching TV and I am doing my homework.

ii. Subordinating conjunctions are conjunctions, which connect or join the part of a sentence that is dependent to another part called independent.

For example: When a battery is weak, it must be recharged.

3. Role

Verhaar defined role as the meaning of verb’s argument, so that it is rooted on verb (2001: 167). Meanwhile, according


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to Gerot & Wignell (1994: 52), role is related to circumstances, processes and participants. a. Circumstances

Circumstances is the answer such question as when, where, why, how, how many, and as what (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 52).

i. Time (temporal): usually tells about when and is probed when ? How often? How long? e.g. My father goes to the office everyday. ii. Place (spatial): tells about where and how far. e.g. My father goes to the office everyday. iii. Manner: tells about how e.g. My father goes to the office everyday by his car. iv. Cause: tells about why e.g. She goes to school to get study v. Accompaniment e.g. He goes out of the room with a smiling face. vi. Matter e.g. This article is talking about daily activities. vii. Role e.g. My mother cooks well as a chef.

b. Processes Processes are central to transitivity (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 54). There are several kinds of processes:

i. Material Material processes are processes of material doing, which usually express the notion that some entity physically does something (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 55). e.g. I write a letter.

ii. Behavioral Behavioral processes are processes of physiological and physiological behavior, like breathing, dreaming, snoring, smiling, hiccupping, looking, watching, listening, and pondering (Gerot


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& Wignell, 1994: 60). For example: Billy is watching television now.

iii. Mental Mental processes are ones of sensing: feeling, thinking, perceiving (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 58). For example: I want to buy a book.

iv. Verbal Verbal processes are processes of saying, or more accurately, of symbolically signaling (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 62). For example: JSC announces truce violations.

v. Relational Relational processes are processes of being and having (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 67). For example: Wednesday was the deadline.

vi. Existential Existential processes are processes of existence (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 72). E.g.: There are your books on the table.

vii. Mateorological Mateorological processes are processes of weathering (Gerot & Wignell, 1994: 73). For example: It is cool.

c. Participant Participants are people who involve in the event (Gerot & Wignell, 1994:52). They are identified according to the process :

Process Type

Category meaning

Participants


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Material Behavioral Mental Verbal Relational Existential

Doing, happening Behaving Sensing Saying, signaling Being existing

Actor, goal Behaver, Range Senser, Phenomenon Sayer, target, Recevier Carier, attribute, token, value Existent

III. Discussion

The structural description on function, category, and role are used in analyzing the data.

Data 1 : Imlek blessed, but equality still elusive

Imlek

(was ) blessed

Function Structural subject

Predicate

Category Proper noun VP (was) blassed F V3

Role Goal

Process Mental


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but equality (is) still elusive

Function -

Logical subject

Predicate complement

Category Co. conj

Abstract noun

F Adjective Phrase Still elusive Adv adj

Role -

Carrier Attributive attribute

The headline is a compound sentence that consists of two finite verbs “was” and “is” in the form of independent clauses. There is a coordinate conjunction ‘but’, which connects the clauses. Based on the category analysis above, the sentence should be: “Imlek is blessed, but equality is still elusive”.

Data 2. Powel puts case to UN, others not convinced

Powel puts case to UN

Function Logical subject

predicate Direct object

complement

Category Proper noun

V (T) Does put F verbal

N NP To UN Prep NP United Nation

Role Actor Process: Material

Goal recipient


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others (are) not convinced

Function Structural Subject

predicate

Category N VP (are) not convinced F V3

Role Phenomenon Process: Mental

The headline above is a complex sentence, which consists of an independent clause “Powel puts case to UN and a dependent clause “others (were) not convinced”. It’s found that there are two finite verbs “does” ; and “are”, which should come together with V3 (past participle)

Data 3. Tens of thousands say no to war in Iraq

Tens of thousands say no to war in Iraq

Function logical subject predicate direct object

adjunct

Category NP Tens of thousands N NP of thousands Prep N

V (T) Do say F verbal

NP no NP

to war Prep N

Adverb Phrase in Iraq Prep proper noun

Role Sayers Process: verbal

Process: Material

Circ: place


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The headline above is a simple sentence that has a finite verb “do” in the verbal “say”. The functions of the headline appear in a good order and are well sequenced.

Data 4. NATO vetoes frustrate US as UN debates Iraq proposal

NATO vetoes Frustrate US

Function Logical object predicate Direct object

Category NP NATO vetoes N North Atlantic Treaty Organization

V (T) do frustrate F Verbal

NP United State N N


Goal

as UN debates Iraq proposal

Function - Logical subject Predicate Direct object

Category conj NP United Nation N N

V (T) Does debate F Verbal

NP Iraq proposal Proper Noun Noun

Role - Actor Process: Material

Goal

The above data is a complex sentence. It has “NATO vetoes frustrate US” as an independent clause and “as UN debates Iraq proposal” as a dependent clause. Observing the English grammar, the first clause (independent clause) has a finite verb “do”, while the second clause (dependent clause) has a finite verb “does”.


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Data 5. Key suspect details how bombings were staged.

Key suspect details

Function Logical subject Predicate

Category NP Key suspect N N

V (T) does detail F verbal


How Bombings Were staged

Function - Structural subject

predicate

Category Interrogative pronoun

N VP Were staged F V3

Role - Goal Process: Material

The headline above is a complex sentence, which consists of an independent clause “key suspect details” and a dependent clause “how bombings were staged”. It’s found the finite verb “ does” and “were” in it.

IV. Conclusion

The analysis which used structural description of function, category and role found that not all of the function, category and role must appear in a string sentence such as the object or adjunct. Most of the headlines have a good sequence, even in a complete form SPOA. The elimination of elements or part of elements also happens


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in the analysis of the headline. They are, such as the elimination of modifier and the elimination of elements; including the elimination of verb, “be” in present continuous tense, and the elimination of “to be” in passive voice. It can cause misinterpreting in understanding the meaning. V. References

Abdul chaer. 1994. Linguistik Umum. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta Chomsky, N. 1957. Syntactic Structure. Moulton: The Hague Frank, Marcella. 1972. Modern English, A Practical Reference Guide.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc Fromkin, Victoria. Et. Al. 1990. An Introduction to Language.

Australia: Harcourt&company Gerot, Linda&Peter Wignell.1994. Making sense of Functional

Grammar: An Introductory Work book. Australia: Gerd Stabler Antipdean Educational Enterprise (AEE)

Hornby, AS. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of current

English, Fifth Edition. Oxford : Oxford Univ. Pres _______. 1995. Oxford Ensiklopedi Pelajar: Jilid I. Oxford: Oxford

Univ. Press Kamil, RAG. 1977. Mengenal Struktur Kalimat Bahasa Inggris &

Latihannya. Bandung: Tarsito Kridalaksana, Harimukti. 1993. Kamus Linguistik : Edisi Ketiga,

Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama Murdibjo& Arwijati Murdibjo. 1991. Suplemen Bahasa Inggris.

Malang: IKIP Malang


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Nesfield, JC. 1950. Outline of English Grammar (revised edition). London: Maximillan and Co., Limited

Nuryanto, F. 1990. Essentials of English Sentence Structure.

Yogyakarta: Yayasan I.K.K Verhaar, J.W.M. 1977. Pengantar Linguistik I. Jakarta: Indonesia Univ.

Press ______. 1996. Asas-Asas Linguistik Umum. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada

Univ. Press Webster, Merriam. 1981. Webster’s Third International Dictionary

ogf The English Language. Vol. II USA: Merriam Webster, Inc Young, Charles E. and Emil F. Symonik. 1958. Practical English, An

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