Paralysed: A Systemic Functional Analysis of James Joyce’s “Eveline”

Abstract

In homage to the work of Uroš Mozetič, the paper takes as its starting point previously developed suggestions about how the language of “Eveline” conveys a picture of the heroine as a passive, paralysed character. Using Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics as a model of stylistic analysis, it investigates the contribution of both the ideational and the interpersonal metafunctions to the meaning of the text. The results extend and amend some ideas from the literature, such as the supposed prevalence of stative verbs, and suggest that while the short story as a whole predominantly uses material processes, their potential for change is mitigated by Joyce’s aspect, tense, and usuality choices. Eveline as the main character crucially has the role of a Senser, observing and internally reacting to the world around her, and even the processes in which she acts upon things and people are modalised and shown to be either hypothetical or instigated by others.

What is Curriculum? Building a Broader Understanding of the Term

“…Eggins (2004) defined SFL as a "functional-semantic approach to language" (p. 20), and, for her, this approach is concerned with examining how people employ language in different contexts and how language is structured for use. That said, any piece of language says something about the world in which we live and the world that exists in us, and that piece of language should be structured in a way that carries a message (Kavalir, 2016). Eggins (2004) pointed out that language, as a semiotic system, has three strata or levels (meanings or semantics, wordings or lexico-grammar, and sounds/letters or phonology/ graphology); there are three meta-functional meanings of language in SFL (ideational, interpersonal, and textual); and these meanings are realized through wordings (words and structures) and in turn through sounds and letters.…”

Linguistic Manifestations of Climate Change in the Qur’an: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Analysis

“…He also stated that language "functions as a resource for making meaning and is available to the learner as a wide set of possibilities and choices". Kavalir (2016) argued about the multifunctionality of language in that he viewed language as "a multi-faceted phenomenon in which any piece of language says something about the world around us as part of communication between fellow human beings, and must be necessarily structured in some way in order to convey a message". To et al (2013) claimed that SFL "sees language first and foremost as a system of communication, allowing speakers and writers to interact with their audience by making and exchanging meanings which refer to meaning potential based on a system of choices rather than what they can and can not say".…”