An investigation into nominalization and grammatical metaphor in “happy teachers change the wor

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

GIÃ THỊ TUYẾT NHUNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO NOMINALIZATION
AND GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN
―HAPPY TEACHERS CHANGE THE WORLD‖ BY
THICH NHAT HANH AND KATHERINE WEARE

MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES
OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Da Nang, 2020


THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAG
LANGUAGE
E STUDIES

GIÃ TH
THỊỊ TUYẾT NHUNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO NOMINALIZATION
AND GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN
“HAPPY TEACHERS CHANGE THE WORLD” BY
THICH NHAT HANH AND KATHERINE WEARE

Major
Code

: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
:
822.02.01
822.02.01

MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES
OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. PHAN VĂN HÒA
HÒA

Da Nang,
Nang 2020


i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no
material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which
I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgements in the
thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in
any other tertiary institution.
Da Nang, July 2020

Giã Thị Tuyết Nhung


ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My special thanks, first of all, are extended to the University of Foreign
Language Studies – Danang University, especially my lecturers for teaching me so
enthusiastically, dedicatedly and preparing me for the completion of the research.
Secondly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my research
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Van Hoa for his selecting the research topic,
providing me with a lot of valuable documents. From the bottom of my heart, I
would like to say that without his constant encouragement, timely feedback and
constructive comments I can not finish my thesis.
Thirdly, I would like to send my sincere thanks to great Zen Master Thich
Nhat Hanh and Professor Katherine Weare, coauthors of „Happy Teachers Change
the World‟- a masterpiece from which I am honoured to „collect‟ not only the
treasure of data but also the endless inspiration and energy for my research.
Last but not least, I would like to give my great love to the Education Board
of Truong Chinh High School, Kontum,where I have been teaching for 10 years and
my family for their endless spritual and material support in the process of my
learning and doing the research.


iii

ABSTRACT
The study aims at analysing and clarifying the processes of nominalizing
word classes and nominal functions. From doing so will discover the ways of

expressing the types of Grammatical Metaphor including Ideational Grammatical
Metaphor, Interpersonal Grammatical Metaphor, and Textual Grammatical
Metaphor. The analysis and explanations of the study are based on the new points of
view of Functional Grammar introduced by Halliday (1985, 2004, 2014). The book
“Happy Teachers Change The World” by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh and
Educator Dr. Katherine Weare (2017), is used as the source of data collected and
the evidences for the existence and the functions of Nominalization in NonGrammatical Metaphor and Nominalization in Grammatical Metaphor cases to
affirm again that Nominalization has it own properties that are different from
Grammatical Metaphor. However, Nominalization is also a part of Grammatical
Metaphor.The investigation reveals that Nominalization and Grammatical Metaphor
occupies a large number: 507 samples in which Nominalization accounts for 262
samples, and Grammatical Metaphor occupies 245 samples including Ideational
Grammatical Metaphor, Interpersonal Grammatical Metaphor, and Textual
Grammatical Metaphor.Based on Halliday's Functional Grammar framework, the
thesis suggests some applications of the research results to English learning,
especially in enriching vocabulary and improving writing skills including academic
writing.


iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ iv
ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. vi
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ ix
Chapter One. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1

1.1. RATIONALE .......................................................................................................1
1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................4
1.2.1. Aims of the study ........................................................................................4
1.2.2. Objectives ...................................................................................................5
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................................5
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ....................................................................................5
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .....................................................................6
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY ..................................................................6
Chapter

Two.

LITERATURE

REVIEW

AND

THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................7
2.1. A REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE TOPIC ...............7
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ...................................................................10
2.2.1. Functional Grammar .................................................................................10
2.2.2. Nominalization .........................................................................................11
2.2.3. Grammatical Metaphor .............................................................................19
2.3. INTRODUCTION TO AUTHORS AND BOOK “HAPPY TEACHERS
CHANGE THE WORLD” ........................................................................................36
2.3.1. Thich Nhat Hanh ......................................................................................36
2.3.2. Katherine Weare .......................................................................................36

2.3.3. The book “Happy Teachers Change The World”.....................................37
2.4. SUMMARY .......................................................................................................37


v

Chapter Three. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ....................39
3.1. RESEARCH .......................................................................................................39
3.2. SAMPLING .......................................................................................................39
3.3. DATA COLLECTION.......................................................................................39
3.4. DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................40
3.5. PROCEDURES ..................................................................................................41
3.6. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY .....................................................................41
Chapter Four. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................42
4.1. NOMINALIZATION TYPES USED IN “HAPPY TEACHERS CHANGE
THE WORLD”..........................................................................................................42
4.1.1. Simple Nominalization .............................................................................43
4.1.2. Complex Nominalization..........................................................................52
4.1.3. Summary ...................................................................................................58
4.2.

GRAMMATICAL

METAPHOR

EXPRESSED

THROUGH

NOMINALIZATION IN” HAPPY TEACHERS CHANGE THE WORLD” .........60

4.2.1. Ideational Grammatical Metaphor ............................................................62
4.2.2. Interpersonal Grammatical Metaphor.......................................................79
4.2.3. Textual Grammatical Metaphor ...............................................................93
4.2.4. Summary ...................................................................................................97
Chapter Five. CONCLUSION .............................................................................100
5.1. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................100
5.2. IMPLICATIONS..............................................................................................103
5.2.1. Implication for teachers ..........................................................................105
5.2.2. Implication for learners ..........................................................................106
5.3. LIMITATIONS OF THE THESIS AND FURTHER STUDY .......................106
5.3.1. Limitations of the thesis .........................................................................106
5.3.2. Suggestions for Further Researches .......................................................107
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................4
QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN (Bản sao)


vi

ABBREVIATIONS
Adj

Adjective

ESL

English as a Second Language

GM

Grammatical Metaphor

N
NML
S

Noun
Nominalization
Subject

SFL

Systemic Functional Linguistics

SFG

Systemic Functional Grammar

V

Verb


vii

LIST OF TABLES

Number

Name of Table

of Tables
2.1.
2.2.

Five types of nominalizations
Congruent Mode of a Figure (Halliday and Matthiessen
1999)

Page
12
16

2.3.

Metaphorical Mode of a Figure (element)

16

2.4.

Ideational Grammatical Metahor Types (Ravelli,1988)

26

2.5.

Shift to „thing‟ (Derewianka 2008)

28

2.6.

Major categories of metaphor of modality (Halliday 1994:
354-363)

31

2.7.

Four types of textual metaphor provided by Martin (1992)

35

4.1.

Nominalization by using suffix- derivation (a)

44

4.2.

Nominalization by using suffix- derivation (b)

45

4.3.

Nominalization by using conversion (a)

46

4.4.

Nominalization by using conversion (b)

46

4.5.

Nominalization by using final syllable shift

47

4.6.

Nominalization by using Adjectives

48

4.7.

Nominalization by using Adverbs

49

4.8.

Nominalization by using both Nouns and Adjectives

49

4.9.

Nominalization by using both Verbs and Adjectives

50

4.10.

Nominalization: Transformation, number and probability

51

4.11.

Nominal with Wh-

56

4.12.

Types of Complex Nominalization

57

4.13.

Types of Nominalization

58

4.14.

The transference from congruent to metaphorical mode –

61


viii

Number

Name of Table

of Tables

Page

(Halliday1994)
4.15.

Nominalization of the Process (1)

63

4.16.

Nominal of the Process (2)

65

4.17.

Nominalization of the Process (3)

65

4.18.

Nominalization of the Process (4)

66

4.19.

Nominalization of the Circumstance

69

4.20.

Nominalization of the Attribute (1)

70

4.21.

Nominalization of the Attribute (2)

71

4.22.

Nominalization of the Attribute (3)

72

4.23.

Three types of Nominalization in the clause: Number,
Probability

73

4.24.

Nominalization of the Epithet (1)

74

4.25.

Nominalization of the Epithet (2)

74

4.26.

Nominalization with the Relator of Cause/ Effect

76

4.27.

Types of Ideational Grammatical Metaphor

77

4.28.

Metaphor of Modality (1)

87

4.29.

Types of Interpersonal GM

92

4.30.

Types of Textual GM

96

4.31.

Types of Grammatical Metaphor

98


ix

LIST OF FIGURES
Number of

Name of Figure

Figure
2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

3.1.

Page

Congruent realization [Variation A] (Liart (2016,
page17)
Incongruent realizations mapped onto the LexicoGrammar
Incongruent realizations mapped onto the lexicogrammar
Grammatical

metaphor

interpreted

as

semantic

compound (According to Ravelli, 1985)

22

23

23

40

4.1.

Occurrence of Simple Nominalization

51

4.2.

Occurrence of Complex Nominalization

58

4.3.

Occurrence of Nominalization

59

4.4.

Occurrence of Ideational Metaphor

78

4.5.

Occurrence of Interpersonal GM

92

4.6.

Occurrence of Textual GM

97

4.7.

Occurrence of Ideational GM, Interpersonal GM and
Textual GM

99


1

Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
1.1. RATIONALE
According to David Crystal (2007), “Language as an instrument of thought
and people feel the need to speak their thoughts aloud”. It is true when we say
language is a universal key to help people decipher the mysteries of the universe.
Moreover, the language of the benevolent people becomes more and more valuable
and the book "Happy Teachers Change The World" written by Thich Nhat Hanh
and Katherine Weare (2017) is a clear and convincing evidence for above messages.
"Happy Teachers Change The World" is really an effective method of using
language “to speak their thoughts” as, a path that leads us to happiness and peace.
This book reminds us that the best way to cultivate happiness and mindfulness in
children is to cultivate happiness and mindfulness among the adults around them.
From the pure and monotonous language, the writers with the mindfulness in heart
reconstructed language to form new, beautiful language and profound philosophies.
However, to have a deep comprehension and full understanding of the book,
the readers have some inevitable difficulties. What makes this book become concise
and offers book its own functional meaning? With a glimpse at every page of the
book, we can recognize the two main impressing ways in usage of language:
Nominalization (NML) and Grammatical Metaphor (GM).
NML as we know “the process by which non-nominal structural elements are
made to functional as nominal elements” (Liesbet Heyvaert, GM, 2000. p. 69).
NML is a part of GM. It is true but in fact NML has it own properties that are
different from GM. In many types of text, especially scientific texts, NML can
“present densely packed information” (Cassi L. Liardet, 2016). In addition to NML,
Metaphor in general and GM in particular are usually considered whenever the
meaning of words and sentences in communication is mentioned.
Metaphor, according to Halliday, is a verbal transference; a variation in the
expression of meanings which involves a non-literal use of a word. In particular,

2

metaphor is an irregularity of content that consists on the use of a word in a sense
different from its proper one and related to it in terms of similarity. There are two
notions of metaphor: Lexical Metaphor and GM. It is said that the more GM a book
has, the more meaning is shown in the book.
GM, a term coined by Halliday (1985), is treated as “transcategorization”
phenomena, the replacement of one grammatical class or structure for another,
making the expression more compressed in form and effective in meaning. In his
“Introduction to Functional Grammar” Halliday (1985, 2004, 2014) divided GM
into two main types: Metaphors of Mood (including Modality), and Metaphors of
Transitivity. In the term of semantics functions, these are Ideational GM and
Interpersonal GM. Halliday proved that GM plays a key role in creating images.
Thanks to these phenomena, the text of the book becomes more valuable, various
and colorful in form and in content.
Let us take some examples from the book “Happy Teachers Change The
World” by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare in the two following parts of the
research: Nominalization and Grammatical Metaphor:
Nominalization: Types of word formation
(1) Awareness (mindfulness) is a natural human faculty that is probably not
as appreciated within educational circles to the degree that thinking is appreciated.
[p. XIV]
Awareness [NML: Adjective -> Noun]
Mindfulness [NML: Noun -> Adjective -> Noun]
Thinking

[NML: Verb -> Noun]

In example (1), three words „awareness„, „mindfulness‟ and „thinking‟ are
nominalizations at the level of the word (or Simple NML). „Awareness‟ and
„mindfulness‟

are

nominalizations which

are

the

transformation

of adjectives into nouns. It is a tranference a Quality into a Thing.
Nominalizations in this case are formed by adding suffixes to adjectives in
order to use them as subjects of a verb. The affixes of nouns with ending -ness that


3

refer to the state such as “awareness”, “mindfulness” are nominalizations of two
adjectives “aware” and “ mindful”. Especially, NML appearing with the word
“mindfulness” is the transformation of Noun into Adjectives and then into Nouns.
It is a transference a Thing into a Quality and then into a new Thing which is
different from the initial Thing.
However, NML in the case of “thinking‖ is different. It is a tranference of a
Process into a Thing. The noun is in the way of nominalizing verb. “Thinking‖ is a
NML of “think” to refer an Action (actually, a 'mental' action).
Nominalization: Grammatical Metaphor

NML is considered as a main procedure to create GM. This is one of the two
main parts of the thesis. The examples How GM is constructed through NML and
what types of GM are will be illustrated as follows:
Types of Grammatical metaphor
Besides Lexical Metaphor like “The bell is an ambassador of peace and
happiness in our home or classroom. [p.21]”, GM including Ideational GM,
Interpersonal GM and even Textual GM appear in the book:
- Ideational GM
(2) It is a wonder that we are alive and that we are making steps on this
beautiful planet. [p.4]
In (2), we have the congruent form of that clause: It is wonderful that we are
alive and that we are making steps on this beautiful planet. In this case, the
Nominalization of the Attribute, one of three types in Nominalization in clause of
Ideational GM, happens because the adjective wonderful is turned into the noun a
wonder.
- Interpersonal GM
(3) Would you like me to tell you what I did in Plum Village? [p.41]
In example (3) the speaker wanted to tell what he/she did in Plum Villageby
creating the interrogative mood instead of the imperative; therefore, it is called the
Interpersonal Metaphor of Mood because there is the transference from this mood


4

into another.
-Textual GM
(4) It is not because you have a lot of electronic devices that you improve
the quality of communication. [p. XX]
It is not because in (4) is text reference, one of four types of Textual GM,
according to Martin (1992: 416), because it is not participant, not entity in real

world. It has function to identify facts.
There have been many excellent studies on NML and GM but there are not
any studies in the combination of the two phenomena in the same book. In this
research, with the tittle “An Investigation Into Nominalization and Grammatical
Metaphor in ‟Happy Teachers Change The World‟ by Thich Nhat Hanh and
Katherine Weare”, the writer choses the two phenomena for research: NML and GM
including Ideational GM, Interpersonal GM and Textual GM as the official tools to
the analysis for the research from the Functional Grammar Perspective by Halliday
(1985, 2004, 2014). Besides, the book is really of a scientific writing. It is a type of
text that uses language clearly, simply and accurately in terms of syntactic and
semantic domains. The book avoids ambiguous terms so that the meaning of the
words is easy to understand. Moreover, this book was updated and published on June
6th, 2017.It is the first official, authoritative manual of the co-authors‟ approach to
mindfulness in education. It helps teachers understand how to mindfully plant the
seeds of love, peace and happiness in themselves and in their students in everyday
school life. Last but not least, “Happy Teachers Change The World” is one of my
most favorite books with the aim to send readers a fresh, insightful look into an
educational and scientific discourse with styles of using language that attracts readers
effectively in transferring the educational message to people.

1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1.2.1. Aims of the study
This study aims to:
- Investigate the types and the functions of NML in the book“Happy


5

Teachers Change The World” by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare.
- Investigate GM including Ideational, Interpersonal and Textual ones used

in” Happy Teachers Change The World” by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare.
- Find out the evidences to solve the research questions related below.

1.2.2. Objectives
Objectives required in this study are to:
- Identify the ways of expressing NML in “Happy Teachers Change The World” by
Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare” including identifying semantic and
syntactic features of NML and its functions.
- Point out Nominalizations used in different levels of word, phrase and
clause.
- Investigate and point out the ways of expressing GM in ” Happy Teachers
Change The World” including Ideational, Interpersonal and Textual ones, mainly
from the functions of NML.
- Collect NML and GM patterns used in the book and offer the suggestions to
learn and teach English.

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To achieve the aims and the objectives mentioned above, the thesis writer
attempts to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the types and the functions of Nominalization used in the
book” Happy Teachers Change The World” by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine
Weare?
2. How are Ideational GM, Interpersonal GM, and Textual GM expressed
through Nominalization in the book” Happy Teachers Change The World” written
by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare?

1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study investigates NML and GM including Ideational, Interpersonal and
Textual ones appearing in terms of words, phrases and clauses in the book “Happy
Teachers Change The World” by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare. The

6

analysis mainly follows Halliday‟s work “An Introduction to Function Grammar”
by Halliday (1985, 2004, 2014) and function-oriented others as the framework
although NML and GM from cognitive linguistics are, in the first time of
researching, used to be suggested to investigate.

1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
By analyzing NML and GM, the researcher hopes to contribute to
understanding the expressions and the functions of NML and GM in linguistic in
general. In particular, the findings of the study, to some extent, can provide more
evidence from NML and GM to understand texts more deeply and practise writing
in a better way. Besides, the thesis provides some updated information and
necessary knowledge for those who are interested in discovering and learning NML
and GM from the framework of Functional Grammar.

1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This study consisted of five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1, the introduction of the study, includes the rationale, justification,
the scope of the study, the research questions, hypothesis, and organization of the
study.
Chapter 2, the literature review, presents the previous study related to the
study, giving a strong statement of the importance of this thesis and some
theoretical backgrounds of the study.
Chapter 3 is about the methods and procedures of the study. It will mention
the aims, the objectives of the study, then the methodology, the design of the
research, data collection, and data analysis.
Chapter 4: findings and discussion, includes two sections. The first section

is clarifying and analyzing the types of NML. The second one is analyzing the
ways of expressing the types of GM through NML including Ideational GM,
Interpersonal GM, and Textual GM.
Chapter 5 includes the conclusion and the implications, the limitations, and
suggestions for further study.


7

Chapter Two
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. A REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE TOPIC
The aims of this part are to point out issues which have been solved,
unresolved or uncompleted of documents relating directly to my research‟s issues
and to give a general picture about the history and current situation of above
researches. From doing so will identify the thesis‟s research problem correctly. All
books and articles are arranged in chronological order and content to emphasize the
research‟s topic and then the types of GM are mentioned.
Since NML and GM were introduced, these language phenomena have
received a great deal of attention in linguistics. The notions of NML and GM have
been studied from a multitude of perspectives, which is shown clearly through many
following famous books and articles. Firstly, the terms NML and GM are explained
clearly through some books and articles such as in “An Introduction to Function
Grammar” introduced by Halliday (1985); he claims that GM is a type of metaphor
complementing the more commonly known lexical metaphor and has two types:
Ideational and Interpersonal GM. Martin, J.R. (1991) in “Functional and Systemic
Linguistics: Approaches and Uses” mentions to NML in science and humanities:
distilling knowledge and scaffolding text', it opens new perspectives in our
understanding of language. In” GM in Systemic Functional Linguistics: A
historiography of the introduction and initial study of the concept” Miriam

Taverniers (2003) presents the concept of GM. Liesbet Heyvaert (2003), on the
other hand, in paper “Nominalization as GM” proposes that NML is presented as a
major resource for the creation of “Metaphorical” rather than “Typical” or
congruent Lexicalgrammatical realizations of semantic categories. Romero and
Soria (2005) suggest the approach Halliday‟s notion of GM in “The Notion of GM
in Halliday”. Another paper of E. Romero (2006) is” GM and Lexical Metaphor:
Different perspectives on semantic variation”. This paper focusses on the concept of


8

GM as it is conceived of in the framework of systemic functional linguistics.
Moreover, in “MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in
discourse‖ by Pragglejaz Group (2007), the readers have chance to know about an
explicit method that can be reliably employed to identify metaphorically used words
in discourse. Likewise, Cassin Liardet (2016) in “NML and GM: Elaborating The
Theory” presents an elaborated framework for mapping learners‟ development of
nominalizations, one prominent realization of the linguistic resource, GM. The
writers of the paper “A study of transfer directions in GM” are Quingshun He and
Bingjun Yang (2019). The purpose of the article is to address the transfer direction
of GM within the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics and
answer the question “whether there is any possibility that bidirectional transfer
could occur in or across the three types of GMs: Ideational, Interpersonal and
Textual Metaphors.
Secondly, GM phenomenon is also emphasized through the types of GM. In
article “Interpersonal GM as double scoping and double grounding” Miriam
Taverniers (2008) focuses on the notion of interpersonal GM as understood in
Halliday‟s model of systemic functional linguisctic. In “Ideational GM in Scientific
Texts: A Hallidayan Perspective.” by Kazemmian (2013), the writer focuses on
Ideational GM, which includes process types and NML. This paper also adopts

Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar to pinpoint and analyze nominalization
and the role played by it. Besides, Yang (2018) in the article” Textual Metaphor
Revisited” has examined problems in the definition and identification of Textual
Metaphor.
Additionally, there are many prior studies to NML and G.M done by
Vietnamese researchers such as Phan Văn Hòa (2008) in‖ Ẩn dụ, ẩn dụ dụng học
và ẩn dụ ngữ pháp‖ has a deeply scientific view about GM. In this article, the
writer presents the current state of GM theory and its more relevant field for further
research, as well as the history and definitions of GM and problematic issues in the
study of Lexical-GM. Lê Thị Giao Chi (2014) in” GM in English official


9

documentation‖ provides insights into metaphorical modes of expression via
Nominalizations -as- GM in official texts. Another article of Lê Thị Giao Chi
(2015) is “Hiện tượng về ẩn dụ ngữ pháp trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt”. This
article discusses G.M in English based on the framework introduced by Halliday
(1994). In “GM used in academic writing” Phan Văn Hòa and Hồ Trịnh Quỳnh Thư
(2018) approach the theory of GM and present the types of G.M. This paper also
synthesizes and filters which categories of GM are used in academic writing,
suggesting an application to writing teaching process in school. The paper “Danh
hóa và Ẩn dụ ngữ pháp từ góc nhìn ứng dụng ngơn ngữ” by Phan Văn Hòa and Giã
Thị Tuyết Nhung (2020) analyzes and clarifies the processes of nominalizing word
classes and nominal functions. Besides, writers also discover the ways of expressing
the types of GM: Ideational GM, Interpersonal GM and Textual GM. The typical
article about the types of GM is “Ideational Metaphor in English and Vietnamese
behavioral clauses” co - written by Phan Văn Hòa and Nguyễn Thị Tú Trinh (2018).
This paper focusses on interpreting the three major types of typical patterns of
Ideational grammar of behavioral clauses in English and Vietnamese within the

framework elaborated by Halliday and Matthiessen (2000, 2004), Martin et al as
well as making their comparisons. Attention has been paid to describe a wide range
of construction and shift patterns of Ideational Metaphor (transitivity metaphor) and
the grammatical variants between congruent and incongruent form applying to
transitivity configurations in English and Vietnamese behavioral clauses.
Besides, there are a range of master‟s thesis investigating Nominalization or
GM such as” An investigation into NML in English and Vietnamese newspapers as
GM device in the Functional Grammar perspective” by Nguyễn Văn Vui (2011).
The thesis carries out a detailed exploration of the functions, the operation of NML
in The Functional Grammar perspective. Phạm Thị Mai Phương (2014) in “An
Investigation into GM in Complete Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens” presents an
investigation into GM in stories.
The above mentioned articles, although not covering all the contents of the


10

long story involved, can give us a glimpse of a colorful and lively picture about
NML and GM. They are precious sources to supply a lot of necessary and important
information for my thesis in processing research. More importantly, although there
are a lot of investigations on NML or GM, it has not been any particular studies on
the NML and GM including Ideational GM, Interpersonal GM and Textual GM in
the same book. Therefore, “Happy Teachers Change the World” by co-authors
Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Wear is the first book chosen to research in both
typical phenomena of language: NML and GM.

2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.2.1. Functional Grammar
According to Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (1997), Functional Grammar is
a way of looking at grammar as it is used. It focuses on the development of

grammatical systems as a means for people to interact with each other. Givón
(1968) describes that Functional Grammar as “a set of strategies that one employs in
order to produce coherent communication”. Halliday (1994), who gave the birth of
“An Introduction to Functional Grammar” and” Systemic Functional Grammar”,
explains that the term systemic refers to the view of language as a network of
systems or interrelated sets of options for making meaning and the term functional
means that language is as it is because of what it has involved doing. Functional
grammar is so-called because its conceptual framework is a functional one. It is
functional in three distinct senses: in its interpretation (1) of texts, (2) of the system,
and (3) of the elements of linguistic structures. In the first sense, Functional
Grammar is designed to account for how the language is used. In the second sense,
the fundamental components of meaning in language are functional components. “If
traditional grammar helps show each component in the clause structure, systemic
functional grammar focuses on the functions of each component in relation to the
clause functions” (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004/2014). According to Halliday
(1994a), Grammar is considered to be systems not as rules, on the basic that every
grammatical structure involves a choice from a describable set of options.


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Therefore, language is a meaning potential. Halliday claimes that language is
functionally organized. All languages have resources for construing experience
(ideational function), for enacting human‟s diverse and complex social relations
(interpersonal function) and for enabling these two kinds of meaning to come
together in coherent text (textual function), which are shown clearly in G.M. GM
tends to develop from Process toward Entity, leading to NML (Halliday 2004/2014)

2.2.2. Nominalization
NML has been noted as one of the fundamental properties of linguistics.

According to Bussmann (2000), NML refers to a creative formation process through
which words of all parts of speech could be converted into nouns. In other words,
NML is a transformation form other word-classes to nouns. Actually, in
Bussmann‟s opinion, NML is mainly transferred form verbs and adjectives, because
this transformational process is relatively easier in comparison with other parts of
speech, such as conjunctions or prepositions. Matthews holds the same opinion like
Bussmann (2000: 244) who consideres NML as any process by which either a noun
or a syntactic unit functioning as a noun phrase, or any noun which is derived from
any other kind of unit such as a verb or an adjective. Similarly, Biber (1998)
believes that NML is nouns that are transformed from other word classes, mainly
from verbs and adjectives, which means nominalized words are derived from
adding suffixes to verbs and adjectives. As a whole, from the aforementioned
definitions given by Bussmann, Matthews and Biber, it can be concluded that they
all considered NML as a kind of transformational process which involves changes
of word classes, especially transferred from verbs and adjectives (Biber et al 2000;
Crystal 2002). However, these definitions still rest on lexical level, and the
transformational process is restricted to verbs and adjectives, hence, these
definitions are somewhat limited and superficial (Banks 2005). Among all these
definitions, Halliday is the one who offered a general and systematic theory of the
phenomenon of NML. He states that “NML refers to the phenomenon that any
element or groups of element, phrase or clause can function as a nominal structure”


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(Halliday, 2004: 358). His definition is a breakthrough in the field of NML
research, emphasizing functions of language and language in use. Instead of
equating NML with only a lexical item, Halliday defines NML as a grammatical
expression which contains a complex transformational process. Hence, it can be
concluded that except from Halliday, other researchers hold the same distinction

that NML is mainly transformed from verb or adjective. However, Halliday uses
“any element or groups of element” in his definition to broaden the range of NML
from merely the lexical level, and he analyzes NML from a higher level, which is
syntactic level, because according to him, NML functions as a noun or a nominal
group in a clause (Hu, 1989). Therefore, NML is not only a static word in a clause,
and it represents a dynamic transformational process in a clause.
Since the theoretical basis of NML is GM, more specifically, ideational
metaphor, as a result, Halliday classified NML in agreement with ideational
metaphor. Halliday (1996) identified the following five types of NML which
reflected in lexicogrammatical strata, as follows:
Table 2.1. Five types of nominalizations
Semantic functions

Grammatical functions

Lexicogrammatical class

(1) quality entity

epithet thing

adjective noun

(2) process entity

i event thing

verb noun

ii auxiliary thing

(3)circumstance entity

minor process thing

preposition noun

(4) relator entity

conjunctive thing

conjunction noun

(5) entity (expansion)

head modifier

noun various

These five types all belong to NML, and they are transformed from quality,
process, circumstance, relator, zero to entity respectively. Process NML is often
realized by the transference of a verb to a noun. Quality NML refers to any
nominalized word or word group derived from an adjective. Circumstance NML is
often realized by the transference of a prepositional or a prepositional phrase to a
noun. Relator NML refers to any nominalized word or word group derived from a


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conjunctive. Zero NML is often realized by the transference of zero to a noun. As a
whole, these five types basically involve all the nominalizations under the

framework of GM.
Let‟s analyze the types of NML in both Simple NML (lexical
Nominalization) and Complex NML (syntactic Nominalization) to understand
deeply these phenomena.

2.2.2.1. Simple Nominalization (Lexical Nominalization)
In linguistics, Simple NML is the use of a verb, an adjective, or even an
adverb as the head of a noun phrase, with or without morphological transformation
(). There are many ways of forming Simple NML. One of the
effective means of Nominalization is affixing, typically suffixing. There are two
main kinds of English suffixes, de-verbal and de-adjectival nominalizers.
De-verbal nominalizers including –al (arrive-> arrival), -age (marry->
marriage),- ance (assist-> assistance),-ion(complete->completion),...
De-adjectival ones are –ance/ence (significant-> significance/different>difference), -ness(happy ->happiness), .....
Besides, there are some forms of NML such as using stress shift (e.g. con‟tent (adj)„content (n)), definite article the (poor-> the poor) and so on.
Let‟s look at the process of forming simple NML shown below
+ Action/ state Nominalization.
Most languages of the world make use of one or more devices for creating
action nouns from action verbs and state nouns from stative verbs or adjectives,
meaning the fact, the act, the quality, or occurrence of that verb or adjective.
English has a rich array of suffixes for this purpose, a few of which are illustrated
below:
(1)

create

—>

creation,

arrive

—>

arrival,

stupid

—>

stupidity,

quiet

—>

quietness


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An action/state noun can be formed from a verb phrase consisting of a verb
and its object by reversing the order of the verb and the object. In English this
strategy is very productive with –ing.
(2)

drive a truck

—>

truck-driving,

trim a tree

—>

tree-trimming,

hunt for a house

—>

house-hunting

+ Agentive Nominalization
English has a productive process whereby action verbs can be made into
nouns meaning „one which “verbs”. We will refer to this process by the traditional
label „Agentive NML‟ even though, strictly speaking, the noun need not be in an
„agent‟ relationship with the verb from which it is derived.
In English, for example, the suffix -er derives nouns meaning „one which
“verbs”‟ from both agentive and nonagentive verbs:
(3)

sing

—>

singer,

hear

—>

hearer,

However, this process is constrained in certain ways: for example, -er may
not be added to adjectives, and there are many stative verbs with which it cannot
occur:
(4)

tall

—>

*taller,
tall one,

fall

—>

*faller,
one that falls/fell

+ Instrumental Nominalization
There is a (typically morphological) process for forming from an action verb
a noun meaning „an instrument for “verbing”
English, of course, is similar: -er is used in both functions:
- Agentive:
(5)

sing

—>

singer,