Transitivity Analysis of Lockerbie bombing suspect is now in US custody

Salsabila Hanaputri
State University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract – Transitivity has been widely used by linguists and scholars to analyze linguistic
phenomena for many years. This article use transitivity analysis to study the text Lockerbie
bombing suspect is now in US custody and analyze some processes in it.

Index Terms – Lockerbie bombing suspect is now in US custody, transitivity, processes, analysis

I. TRANSITIVITY

According to Halliday, the concept of transitivity is a grammatical system that is described as

a powerful tool for analyzing the meanings expressed in clauses. In transitivity, the clause is also
used as the grammatical unit that can show what happens in a text. According to Wang (2010),
clause is a meaningful grammatical unit since it expresses what is happening, what is being done,
what is felt, and what is stated, and so on. There are three components of the Transitivity
Process. (Halliday, 1994: 107) The first is the Process itself, Participants in the process, and
Circumstances related to the process. The system of transitivity has various types that are
essential to realizing these processes. There are six types of processes, Material Process, Mental
Process, Relational Process, Behavioral Process, Verbal Process, and Existential Process.

Material Process is the process of doing and happening which involves a participant and
goal. The participant means the one who does the act, and the goal means the direct act. Mental
Processes are processes of sense, like seeing, thinking, and feeling, and also what is sensed, felt,
thought, and seen. Relational processes are processes of being that can be divided into three
types, 1) intensive “x is a”, 2) circumstantial “x is at a” and possessive “x has a”, with the
purpose to show the two kinds of relationship between a and x: “a is an attribute of x” and “a is
the identity of x”. (Zijiao Song, 2013) Behavioral Processes are psychological and physiological
behavior like breathing, dreaming, crying, smiling, etc. This process is the doing version of
mental and verbal processes. Verbal processes are processes of saying that consist of three
participants, the sayer, the receiver, and the verbiage. The Sayer is the addresser, the Receiver is
the addressee and the Verbiage is the content of the message. (Zijiao Song, 2013) Existential
processes mean that something exists or happens. It is usually realized through there-
construction (Hu & Jiang, 2002 in Zijiao Song, 2013).

II. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO LOCKERBIE BOMBING SUSPECT IS NOW IN US

CUSTODY

The news text is written by CNN in London about further information on the Lockerbie
bombing incident. The Lockerbie bombing suspect was in US custody at that time. The news
article explained that according to US and Scottish authorities on Sunday, a Libyan man had
been accused of being involved in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over the
town of Lockerbie in December 1998. The US charged Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-
Marimi for his actions who were allegedly involved in the bombings two years ago according to
a spokesperson for the British Royal Office and the Attorney's Fiscal Service who informed
CNN. The bomb attack killed around 270 people, 259 people on board and 11 people on the
ground, in Scotland while flying from London to New York.

The US Department of Justice issued a statement early Sunday confirming that the US has
arrested suspected Pan Am flight bomb maker 103, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-
Marimi, and his spokesman said he was expected to make his initial appearance in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia. The statement did not specify a specific date for his
appearance in court. Al-Marimi has been detained in Libya for crimes he did not commit when
he was indicted by the US Department of Justice two years ago. According to the UK official on
CNN that the families of the victims who died in the Lockerbie bombing incident have been
informed of the truth that the suspect Mas'ud is in US custody. “Scottish prosecutors and police,
working with UK Government and US colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation,
with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with Al Megrahi to justice.” Abdelbaset Ali
Mohmed al Megrahi is accused along with Khalifah Fhimah Al Amin of placing explosives in a
portable cassette and radio player that was in a suitcase on the plane. Megrahi was sentenced to
27 years in prison in 2001, but was released from prison after being diagnosed with cancer and
died in 2012. Fhimah was acquitted. The Lockerbie bombing remains the deadliest terrorist
attack ever in Great Britain.

III. TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF LOCKERBIE BOMBING SUSPECT IS NOW IN

US CUSTODY
 This paper will focus on the transitivity processes in the text “Lockerbie bombing suspect is
now in US custody”.

A. Material Processes

Material processes become the most dominant process that appears in the text Lockerbie
bombing suspect is now in US custody. There are some verbs which showed in the text, such as
accused, charged, killed, etc. Most of the verbs use the past form. It indicates that the text or the
news article is written to inform the past incident.

A Libyan man accused of being involved in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103
over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988 is now in US custody, authorities in the United
States and Scotland said Sunday.

This sentence consists two of clauses, the first clause is a material process. In the first clause,
the Actor is A Libyan man which means the participant in this clause, followed by the verb
accused to show the material processes. This clause tells the reader what is the main idea of the
text. The word accused is used frequently in this text's sentences.

Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was accused along with Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah of
placing explosives in a portable cassette and radio player that was inside a suitcase on the
plane.

The Actor in this sentence is Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. The use of the full name
here serves to show clear and precise information about the identity of the perpetrator. Almost all
names of people reported in this text are written with their full names to clarify information
about the person concerned.

The US charged Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi for his alleged involvement in
the bombing two years ago, …..

The Actor of this clause is The US which refers to the person or the participant who charged
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi for his deeds. The goal is Abu Agila
Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi as the object of the verb charged and answer the question
“who was indicted by the US?”
the US had “taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker” Abu Agila Mohammad
Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, saying he is expected to make his “initial appearance in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia,” according to a spokesperson.

The use of quotation marks above is to show the highlight of the text. The US has detained
the bombing suspect and he is expected to make his initial appearance in court. The second
clause of this sentence has the Actor he refers to Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-
Marimi as he is suspected in this incident.

Al-Marimi had been in custody in Libya for unrelated crimes when charged by the US Justice
Department two years ago.

The verb had been followed by the Circumstance of place in custody in Libya to show the
condition of Al-Marimi before as he is already charged for unrelated crimes two years ago before
he is in US custody.

“Scottish prosecutors and police, working with UK Government and US colleagues, will
continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with
Al Megrahi to justice.”

The quotation mark in this sentence was used to show the sentence that the writer quoted
from a spoken or written source from the person who said it or an original statement and the
previous clause has the Actor The UK official as the source of the written words.

Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 to 27 years in prison, but was released from prison after being
diagnosed with cancer. He died in 2012. Fhimah was acquitted.

The use of the word but here is used to show the situation that will follow and then followed
by the verb was released explained that Megrahi here was already in prison in 2001 but released
because of his cancer.

It killed 259 people on board the airliner, along with 11 on the ground.

These sentences are the material processes.

B. Mental Processes

The mental process is found in just one sentence in this text.

The statement did not identify a specific date for his court appearance, but said more details
would be forthcoming.

The word did not is used to show the negative form of the sentence and it is followed by the
verb identify as the main verb that explains what happen in the sentence. Identify here is used to
explain that the associate information hasn’t been given for further information.

C. Verbal Process

Since the text is a news article, many of the clauses are verbal processes to show the evidence
of the written information as the purpose of the text is to inform the reader.

a spokesman for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service told CNN.

The Sayer is a spokesman and the receiver is CNN. The Verbiage is the clause written before
since the content of the speech is written before to show the quotation structure.

The UK official told CNN that….

The Sayer is The UK official and the receiver is CNN. To show the quotation structure, the
verbiage is put after the clause divided with the conjunction that.

IV. CONCLUSION

This article analyzes several examples of six processes but only three types existed in the text
Lockerbie bombing suspect is now in US custody. Mas’ud the suspected Lockerbie bombing
incident was being held in US custody and will be tried in US courts. According to the UK
official, the UK government and the US government together with the Scottish prosecutors and
police will continue to pursue the investigation with the sole aim of justice. In the text, quotation
marks are frequently found since the text is a news article which requires the right and trusted
evidence to support the claim.

V. SUGGESTION

Further analysis of the clauses in this text may be found in more quantities and in more
detail, than is stated in this article, due to the lack of understanding of the author, there are
obstacles in the process of writing articles which lead to a lack of information listed.

REFERENCES
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Truth and Meaning. Sanata Dharma University. Research Gate.
[4] Suryatini, Kadek Lilis. Analysis of English Transitivity Process with Reference to The
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