Second Graded Assignment: Tumblr - 500 days of Art

The purpose of this study is to analyze the data according to Halliday’s functional grammar specifically experiential metafunction. Under this metafunction there are six processes, material, mental, behavioral, verbal, relational and existential. After we have finished analyzing our corpus, we only found four processes which are material, mental, behavioral and relational process.

Our corpus is being taken from Tumblr, it is a poem entitled “500 Days of Art” which is 3 pages in length. We took 29 days to find, analyze and study the data. The tables below are our findings.

1) Material Process

Actor	Process	Goal
We are	Born out	Of candyland and cookies.
Our mothers	Become determined	That this batch will be better.
We	Siphon	The darkness from the beginning,  often hiding from the light.
We	Grow up	on lunch sack poetry,
We	Turn into	an unknown constellation
We	Start	to feel the unsaid unknowns  within our pores.
We	Watch	the skies turn red
Colors	Explode	Into dusk
We	Keep count
We	Sit	Outside of our windows
We	Lead	Life encoded
We	Find	The creaks and cracks
We	Discover	we’re no longer muselessness
We	Pack	Our suitcase
We(ellipsis)	Begin	To wander
We’ve	Become	boy wanderings
We	Meet	meandering lions,
We	Tattoo	Our skin
We	Carry	Bottles of velixir
We(ellipsis)	mumble	under our tongues violet words
We(ellipsis)	Carrying	seasoning: parsley, sage, rosemary,
We	write	about memories of performers
We	Hold	in our heart’s chambers
You	Soothe	My soul
We	Beg	Fall through me
We’re	searching	for the movement
We’re	bitten	by an eternally coiling serpent
We	Begin	with titles “Of Mice and Misanthropes”
We	Find	table tops covered in beauty  and the duplicity of youth
….	stuttering	words with original
….	Dancing	With words
….	Soaking	In literature
….	Expand	Our knowledge
We’re	Awaiting	The break of the sun
….	watching	whispering dreams decay
The clouds	carried	by the wind
Actor	Process	Goal
We	Jump off	Roof tops
We	Capture	poems from cursed lips

     2) Mental Process

Sensor	Mental Process	Phenomenon
We	turn	into an unknown constellation
We	start to feel	the unsaid unknowns within our pores.
We	fall in love	with the American Icarcus.
We	and remember	“onward, upward, ever forward”  is the way we lead life encoded
we	only know	just an inkling
We	redefining	reality
We	discover	we’re no longer muselessness,
We	are searching	for the movement
We	compare	them to lions and birds
We	are learning	a little about you and them.
We	capture	poems from cursed lips
We	are tired	-

3) Behavioral Process

Behavor	behavioral process
We	siphon the darkness from the beginning,
We	watch the skies turn red.
We	sit outside our windows
We	listening to cascading raindrops and reversed  rainstorms, rambling memoirs,
We	find the creaks and cracks
We	pack our suitcase and begin to wander
We	meet meandering lions, figures in the mist,  and women with tempest filled eyes
We	tattoo our skin “vivere mori” defining  our existence
We	carry bottles of velixir and mumble under  our tongues violet words,
We	write about memories of performers, and  who we hold in our heart’s chambers
We	beg fall through me
We	find table tops covered in beauty and t he duplicity of youth
we	are awaiting the break of the sun,
We	watching whispering dreams decay in the  clouds carried by the wind
We	jump off roof tops,
We	capture poems from cursed lips,

4. Relational Process - Attributive

	CARRIER	PROCESS	ATTRIBUTE  ( quality , class, circumstances)
1	You	are	not just a writer who writes (class)
2	Our titles	not found	stripping savage writing finding promises in the binding of used books at the corner bookstore (quality)
3	This	is	the era of American masters, of writers placing our fingers on triggers and submarine dreams. (class)
4	These fragments	are	ascension dreams and slurred sounds (class)

5) Relational Process - Possessive

POSSESOR	PROCESS	POSSESSED
We	are	born out of candy land and cookies
You and me	are	changing
we	are	no longer muselessness
We	are	a quiet joy
We	have	become boy
she	is	an Argonauts
This	is	the era of the American Masters
These fragments	are	ascension dreams and slurred sounds
We	are	searching for the movement
We	are	bitten by an eternally coiling serpent
We	have	pocketed a thousand clever words

POSSESOR	PROCESS	POCESSED
We	are	seeing the horizon again
We	are	always the poet inside
It	is	ordinary life until the siren of the east
We	are	only part gravity
We	have	bags of dead books, authors, poets, soaking in literature to expand our knowledge
You	are	not just a writer who writes
You	are	wounded soul battles
You	are	greatness that lies within
We	are	girls broken down
Our pen	is	our pistola
we	are	tired

 Findings

Processes		Total
Material		38
Mental		12
Behavioral		16
Relational	Attributive	4
	Possessive	23

            From the analysis, we found that not all processes are present in the data. Like in this corpus that we have chosen, the author used only four processes. This is probably because the author wished to convey her feelings about how she perceived the world. Due to that, the author uses a lot of material process in her poem.

Material process is a process where it expresses the notion that some participant (called actor) does something (may be to some other entity, called goal). The total of material process that we have found is 38. The next process that the author uses is possessive process which is 23. Possessive process is where it includes relationships of part to whole and of ownership.

The author also described about human, circumstances and situations as having different qualities and characteristics. This is where it shows that what she mentions belongs to her, meaning to say, it is her own opinion and view.

While for the other two processes, verbal (process of saying) and existential that is not used by the author probably because of the fact that, she did not quote anyone or say anything using first person pronoun “I”. Another than that, she did not use any report and dialogue. While for existential, she did not refer to anything as being exist.

In conclusion, the existential metafunction plays an important part in expressing feelings and action. The correct use of it can help in conveying the exact meaning. However not all processes are used in the data. In depends on the author to use whichever processes in order to convey the message, feelings, suggestions, views, etc.