A Transitivity Analysis of Kafka’s A Report to an Academy

Abstract

Literature, in whatever form it is, elicits textual studies from different approaches. The paper acknowledges this textual significance of literature. It explored transitivity patterns in Franz Kafka’s ‘A Report to an Academy’. The study recognizes no much attention, at least from the linguistic standpoint, has been given to the short story since its publication. In analyzing the text, it applies Systemic Functional Linguistics by MAK Halliday as a theoretical basis to examine 20 clauses with particular attention to system networks in general and the transitive system in particular. The study first identified the independent clauses in the text. Subsequently, it randomly chose 20 clauses for the analysis of transitivity patterns. The analysis focuses on participants, process and circumstances in the clauses. The research found that the material process is more frequent than other process types in Kafka’s ‘A Report to an Academy', though not by far, This choice helped the author in presenting actions of the characters rather than giving a mere narration about what they like or hate.