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【Abstract】This paper applies transitivity system in the SFG to analyze The Little Match Seller.It investigates the distribution of process verbs in the text，and makes case analysis of the main processes’ function，which will help us understand the theme of the story better.
【Key Words】The Little Match Seller； transitivity system； Systemic-Functional Grammar
1.Introduction
The Little Match Seller is a short story written by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen，about a dying child’s dream and hope，first published in 1845.The paper attempts to analyze this story from the perspective of linguistics，using the transitivity system of SFG，tries to find out how the processes of transitivity system realize the functions of language and the theme of the story.
2.Transitivity System
The system of transitivity is an important component of experiential metafunction in Functional Grammar.The transitivity system turns the world of experience into a manageable set of process types — material，mental，relational，verbal，behavioral and existential.
In literature works，the writer needs to make continuous selections of processes to express the characters’ experiences of the external world and their inner world，and this kind of selection will be affected by the theme and type of the text.Therefore，we are able to explore the theme，idea，style or feature of a text according to transitivity analysis，which will help us understand the works better.
3.Results and Discussion
3.1 Results of Distribution
There are 133 process verbs in The Little Match Seller in total.And all the six process types are used.The following table shows the distribution of the process types：
3.2 Discussion
Due to limited space，we only discuss the three most frequent processes in this story — material process，relational process and mental process.
3.2.1 Material processes
Material process focuses on doing and happening，which appears most frequently in the text with an average percentage of 60.45%.There are 81 material process verbs，including 70 finite and 11 non-finite.The material process reflects that the actor is able to affect and change the external world.It means that the more the material processes are used in the text，the more capability the heroine has to affect and change the external world.Although this is a story named “A Little Match Seller”，there are just 26 clauses use the little match seller （she，the little poor girl，the child…）as Actor or Goal，meanwhile，the 26 clauses mostly describe the little match seller’s actions of striking the match or warming herself.For example： 3.2.3 Mental processes
The third most frequent process in the text is the mental process.Contrary to material process focusing on what happens in the outer world，the mental process is a kind of process focuses on the feeling and thinking of human beings’ inner mind.There are two participants in the mental process：one is the Senser and the other is the Phenomenon.The Senser is the conscious being that is feeling，thinking，or seeing.The Phenomenon is that which is sensed.
Generally speaking，behavioral process and verbal process are more often used than mental process in fairy tales.Because the readers of fairy tales are usually kids，and kids are easier to be attracted by vivid descriptions.And behavioral process and verbal process can better achieve this kind of “vivid”.However，mental process is used more frequently than behavioral process and verbal process in this story.The reason is because of the content and theme of this tale.This is a story about a poor little girl who is going to being frozen to death.She is hungry，frozen，and weak.She is not equal to more conversations.Furthermore，in the mental process，subject doesn’t directly act on Phenomenon，which can’t reflect the subject’s action of affecting and changing the external world.So higher frequency of mental processes in the text indicates that the little match seller is entirely subservient and helpless to the dark society.
4.Conclusion
Transitivity system is primarily realized by the process types.Based on the above analysis，we know that the results of transitivity analysis conform to the theme of the story.Andersen largely uses material processes，relational processes and mental processes to present the society’s unfairness and the little match seller’s hopelessness and helplessness.The transitivity analysis of this story also proves one main points of the Systemic- Functional Grammar theory：meaning and form can not be separated.
Reference：
[1]Geoff Thompson.Introducing Functional Grammar （2 nd ed.）[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2008.8.
[2]阚哲华.文本深层经验意义的语言学透视：及物性与作格分析法[J].求索，2006，（4）.
[3]李美霞.功能语法教程[M].北京：外文出版社，2005.
[4]薛云涛.An Analysis of English Fairy Tales from the Perspective of Systemic-Functional Grammar[D].吉林大学，2008.
[5]王全根.中国安徒生研究一百年[M].北京：中国和平出版社， 2005.
[6]吴晓春.从系统功能语法的视角分析语篇概念连贯性[J].语文学刊（外语教育与教学），2009.
【Key Words】The Little Match Seller； transitivity system； Systemic-Functional Grammar
1.Introduction
The Little Match Seller is a short story written by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen，about a dying child’s dream and hope，first published in 1845.The paper attempts to analyze this story from the perspective of linguistics，using the transitivity system of SFG，tries to find out how the processes of transitivity system realize the functions of language and the theme of the story.
2.Transitivity System
The system of transitivity is an important component of experiential metafunction in Functional Grammar.The transitivity system turns the world of experience into a manageable set of process types — material，mental，relational，verbal，behavioral and existential.
In literature works，the writer needs to make continuous selections of processes to express the characters’ experiences of the external world and their inner world，and this kind of selection will be affected by the theme and type of the text.Therefore，we are able to explore the theme，idea，style or feature of a text according to transitivity analysis，which will help us understand the works better.
3.Results and Discussion
3.1 Results of Distribution
There are 133 process verbs in The Little Match Seller in total.And all the six process types are used.The following table shows the distribution of the process types：
3.2 Discussion
Due to limited space，we only discuss the three most frequent processes in this story — material process，relational process and mental process.
3.2.1 Material processes
Material process focuses on doing and happening，which appears most frequently in the text with an average percentage of 60.45%.There are 81 material process verbs，including 70 finite and 11 non-finite.The material process reflects that the actor is able to affect and change the external world.It means that the more the material processes are used in the text，the more capability the heroine has to affect and change the external world.Although this is a story named “A Little Match Seller”，there are just 26 clauses use the little match seller （she，the little poor girl，the child…）as Actor or Goal，meanwhile，the 26 clauses mostly describe the little match seller’s actions of striking the match or warming herself.For example： 3.2.3 Mental processes
The third most frequent process in the text is the mental process.Contrary to material process focusing on what happens in the outer world，the mental process is a kind of process focuses on the feeling and thinking of human beings’ inner mind.There are two participants in the mental process：one is the Senser and the other is the Phenomenon.The Senser is the conscious being that is feeling，thinking，or seeing.The Phenomenon is that which is sensed.
Generally speaking，behavioral process and verbal process are more often used than mental process in fairy tales.Because the readers of fairy tales are usually kids，and kids are easier to be attracted by vivid descriptions.And behavioral process and verbal process can better achieve this kind of “vivid”.However，mental process is used more frequently than behavioral process and verbal process in this story.The reason is because of the content and theme of this tale.This is a story about a poor little girl who is going to being frozen to death.She is hungry，frozen，and weak.She is not equal to more conversations.Furthermore，in the mental process，subject doesn’t directly act on Phenomenon，which can’t reflect the subject’s action of affecting and changing the external world.So higher frequency of mental processes in the text indicates that the little match seller is entirely subservient and helpless to the dark society.
4.Conclusion
Transitivity system is primarily realized by the process types.Based on the above analysis，we know that the results of transitivity analysis conform to the theme of the story.Andersen largely uses material processes，relational processes and mental processes to present the society’s unfairness and the little match seller’s hopelessness and helplessness.The transitivity analysis of this story also proves one main points of the Systemic- Functional Grammar theory：meaning and form can not be separated.
Reference：
[1]Geoff Thompson.Introducing Functional Grammar （2 nd ed.）[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2008.8.
[2]阚哲华.文本深层经验意义的语言学透视：及物性与作格分析法[J].求索，2006，（4）.
[3]李美霞.功能语法教程[M].北京：外文出版社，2005.
[4]薛云涛.An Analysis of English Fairy Tales from the Perspective of Systemic-Functional Grammar[D].吉林大学，2008.
[5]王全根.中国安徒生研究一百年[M].北京：中国和平出版社， 2005.
[6]吴晓春.从系统功能语法的视角分析语篇概念连贯性[J].语文学刊（外语教育与教学），2009.