IDENTIFIKÁCIA TRANZITÍVNOSTI VO VÝROČNÝCH SPRÁVACH OBCHODNÝCH ORGANIZÁCIÍ - ANALÝZA ŽÁNRU II

Identification of transitivity in annual reports of business organisations - genre analysis II

Johanna Jakabovičová, PhDr., M.A.,

Adresa autora:

Katedra jazykov FEM, Slovenská poľnohospodárska univerzita v Nitre, tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, SR

Anotácia:

Tranzitívnosť špecifikuje rôzne typy procesov, ktoré sú v jazyku identifikovateľné ako aj štruktúry, akými sú vyjadrené. Každý z týchto porcesov sa skladá z troch zložiek, a to zo samotného procesu, účastníkov v procese a z okolností, ktoré sa spájajú s procesom. Autori výročných správ obchodných organizácií používajú tieto procesy na vyjadrenie svojho názoru na organizáciu.

Summary:

Transitivity specifies the different types of process that are recognized in the language, and the structures by which they are expressed. Each of these processes consists of three components - the process itself, participants in the process, circumstances associated with the process. The writer of Annual business reports is able to manipulate any of these processes in order to put over his view of the company.

Kľúčové slová:

analýza písomného prejavu, výročné správy, obchodné organizácie, lingvistická organizácia výročných správ, tranzitívnosť, proces, účastníci procesu, okolnosti spojené s procesom, materiálny proces

Key words:

written discourse analysis, annual reports, business organisations, linguistic organisation of annual reports, transitivity, process, participants in the process, circumstances associated with the process, material processes

Introduction

The aim of this paper was an attempt to identify specific features of Chairmens statements in Annual Reports of business organisations. Business is the human activity related to material things and it is found in all societies. Business companies usually report on results and achievements throughout the year and inform the audience in the form of annual business reports. The Reports with which this study is concerned come under the following definition: “A report is a formal statement of the results of an investigation, or of any matter on which definite information is required, made by some person or body instructed or required to do so”. Reports of this sort are an accepted mode of communication in any complex industrial, commercial or administrative organisation. Reports are “ told from the point of view of an uninvolved obsever” and they are differentiated from “observation/comment” genres in that they lack description and the kind of evaluation of events that comes with personal involvement (Martin quoted in Carter, 1990).

Research into the linguistic organisation of reports has taken place within different traditions of writing research. These traditions differ in the kinds of linguistic analysis under taken. In some cases the orientation is broadly “rhetorical”. Research into reports within the “rhetorical” tradition underlines some important features of linguistic patterning in reports. Another typical pattern of organisation besides the problem - solution structure (Hoey, 1983) which was analysed in my last years paper, delivered at the conference “Agrarní perspektivy” following Halliday (1990) is the analysis of Transitivity within and across sentences. Chairmens statements in Annual Reports are analysed with reference to Transitivity. These features of written discourse indicate that in the text analysis the method of transitivty adapted from Halliday could be applied.

Data collection and method of analysis

For the purpose of this paper I chose a sample Annual Report from different business companies: The Mersey Docks & Harbour Company 1990 and 1991, Girobank plc 1990 and 1991, Manweb 1990, The Post Office 1990, Royal Insurance 1990, Lloyds Bank plc 1991. According to Halliday “transitivity specifies the different types of process that are recognized in the language, and the structures by which they are expressed” (Halliday, 190, p. 101). Each of these processes consists of three components:

· the process itself;

· participants in the process;

· circumstances associated with the process

There are essentially three basic processes in Hallidays transitivity system with several subsidiary categories. The first group, identified as material processes, are concerned with actions and events and express, by means of an “Actor” and a “Goal”, the “notion that some entity does something which may be done to some other entity” (Halliday, 1990, p, 103). The second category, that of mental processes, is subdivided into perception, cognition and affection and is realized by the verbs of thinking, feeling and the perceptual senses. Mental processes have two inherent roles; that of Senser and that which is sensed, the Phenomenon. With both of these first two categories, the active participant (Actor or Senser) is usually human or at least animate. The third main group are relational processes which describe the relationships between things, either as equals in an identifying Process; or as characteristic of each other, as in an attributive process.

The writer of Chairmens statements in Annual business reports is able to manipulate any of these processes in order to put over his view of the company. The fundamental aim of a Chairmans statement is to provide information, criticism and to make positive recommendations. In order to promote the company in a positive light to the readership. Surprisingly, there is more positive Evaluation distributed throughout the reports than was predicted. The analysis of four Chairmens Statements in terms of transitivity system shows some similarities and some subtle differencies within the structural moves in the texts as presented in the following tables.

Table 1

Royal Insurance

Total number of processes: 78

Table 2

Manweb

Total number of processes: 61

Processes Situation Problem Response Evaluation

Material 3 3 18 8

Relational 7 1 8 2

Mental 1 2 2 3

Verbal 1 0 1 1

Table 3

The Mersey Docks & Harbour Company

Total number of processes: 48

Processes Situation Problem Response Evaluation

Material 11 5 9 5

Relational 2 1 2 4

Mental 1 0 2 5

Verbal 0 0 0 0

Table 4

The Post Office

Total number of processes: 124

Processes Situation Problem Response Evaluation

Material 5 12 39 31

Relational 2 2 12 12

Mental 1 1 0 6

Verbal 0 0 1 0

Apparently, in all four statements the most common processes are material most frequently occuring in the Situation and the Response patterns.

Examples of material processes in analysed companies are as follows:

The Post Office

”they were restored”,

”links with customers have been strengthened”, ”local editions improved and retitled Post Guide”, ”higher standards of accuracy are being achieved”, ”these improvements have not appeared”

The Royal Insurance

”it was based entirely on financial prudence”,

”the severity was underrated”,

”your Board has decided”,

”decision was taken”

The Mersey Docks and Harbour

”the profit before taxation in 1990 has exceeded”, ”Government continues to keep all its shareholdings under review”,

”the Company withdrew from”,

”this project has won”

Manweb

”sales showed”,

”a major review led to reductions”,

”the distribution business has performed well”,

”we have continued to drive the core business hard”

As far as relational processes are concerned the frequency of their occurance in the same companies appears to be lower. This type of process is commonly used to express facts or opinions, usually linked with the verb ”to be” and ”to have”.

Examples:

The Post Office

”the improvement of the first class letters service was the highest ever recorded”,

”they are the tangible, overt benefits of total quality management”,

”the Post Office is a single-minded commitment to putting the customer first”,

”Post Office Counters business plan is decentralised internal business”

Royal Insurance

”our first ever trading loss was the result”,

”it is a recession which is still with us”, ”it is important to relate …”,

”it is a precautionary measure”

The Mersey Docks and Harbour

”it is significant that”

”it also has a positive involvement”, ”turnover in 1990 was…”,

”the time is now appropriate”

Manweb

”last year was successful”

”professionalism and commitment were exemplary”,

”this was due to good control of costs”, ”this has had little effect on

The next category of analysis is that of mental processes which reveals similarities in all four Chairmens statements. All texts achieve balance of participants, with ”I”, ”we”, ”your” which appear mostly in the Response and in the Evaluation. In The Post Office Chairmans statement mental processes appear 8 times, in the Royal Insurance Chairmans statement 12 times, in The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Chairmans statement 8 times and in the Manweb Company Chairmans statement 8 times.

Examples:

The Post Office

”customers of Post Office Counters are seeing continuing improvement”,

”I am proud of the Post Office”,

”we were delighted to welcome”,

”I am convinced that”

Royal Insurance

”I regret that”,

”we hope to be with a more comfortable solvency margin”,

”I have been grateful”,

”I believe our Joint European Partnership”

The Mersey Docks & Harbour Company

“your Board is pleased”,

“your Board looks to the future”, “this, I believe to be a prudent step”

Manweb

“we are delighted to repost”, “we were saddened”,

“we view the future”,

I should like to thank”

The final category of analysis represents verbal processes which occur 3 times in Manweb Company Chairmans statement, 1 time in The Post Office Chairmans statement, 1 time in the Royal Insurance Chairmans statement and 0 time in The Mersey Docks & Harbour Company mainly in the Response and in the Evaluation parts of the texts.

Examples:

Manweb

“our Managing Director announced his intention”,

“the Board has also approved”

The Post Office

“where others missed out, said the paper”

Royal Insurance

“I must emphasise”

The Mersey Docks & Harbour Company

“progress to which I have referred is”

In terms of transitivity processes, the four texts have demonstrated varying balance of types. In all of them the emphasis is on material processes whereas the frequency of processes throughout the texts is even less significant.

Conclusions

In terms of the transitivity some problems apeared in my analysis particularly in distinguishing between material and mental or verbal processes where it was difficult to predict which process the verbs are exactly related to. There is an extensive use of modals that serve to express a commitment to action, sometimes couched in places in a frame of speculative hesitnacy (Carter, 1990), e.g. (could continue to affect us, should be viewed, would be appropirate, would only become ivolved).

Bibliography

Davies, F.: “Reading Between the Lines: Thematic Choice as a Device for Presenting Writer Viewpoint in Academic Discourse”. In The ESPecialist, 1988, Vol.9, pp 173-202.

Davies,F.: Writing Across Text-Types and Genres. The Potential of Marked Theme as a Device for Structuring Text. ELU Paper, 1992.

Hoey, M. “Overlapping Patterns of Discourse Organisation and Their Implications for Clause Relational Analysis of Problem-Solution Texts”. In Cooper, Ch. R. & Greenbaum, S. (eds.) Studying Writing. SAGE Publications, 1986.

Jakabovičová, J.: Identification of specific Linguistic Features in Annual Reports of Business Organisations - Genre Analysis, In: Agrární perspektivy VI., ČZU Praha, 1997, pp 495-497.

McCarthy, M.: Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Oxford English Dictionary, 1973, Oxford University Press.

Sidney, E.: Business Report Writing, London, Business Publications, 1965.

Smithson, S. - Whitehead, J.: Business Communication, Financial Training, 1987.