MAKING MEANING USING SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS AND VISUAL GRAMMAR ANALYSIS: COMPARISON OF SOURCE TEXT AND TARGET TEXT REFLECTED IN THE MAIN CHARACTER OF GRAPHIC NOVEL V FOR VENDETTA

Abstract

This research presents a project designed to investigate a systemic way of analyzing metafunctions’ shifts between source texts and target texts using systemic functional linguistic (SFL) collaborated with visual grammar (VS; systemic functional approach for images). The study tries to examine the correlation between verbal and visual systems and how it affects the making of meaning in graphic novel. The research is descriptive qualitative with embedded case study. The data is acquired from monologue and dialogue uttered by main character of the first graphic novel book V for Vendetta. Content analysis, questionnaire and focus group discussion are conducted to obtain necessity data. The results shows there are shifts in transitivity structure, lexical items, and clauses' interdependency undergo ideational metafunction, modality system and discourse marker shifts undergo interpersonal metafunction, thematic structures, cohesion devices, physical presentation shifts undergo textual metafunction. Also shifts in target text caused by context of visual structure in representational metafunction and compositional metafunction. Those shifts demonstrate meaning changed in target text and can be identified in each metafunctions. The metafunction representational and ideational deal with interpreting content, form, context and symbolized expression in graphic novel. The shifts in transitivity structure and lexical items are caused by intertextuality and the theatricality in the content, form, context and symbolized expression of V for vendetta graphic novel. Interpersonal metafunction relates with enacting social relation. Whereas textual and compositional metafunction deal with organizing text/images, contextualizing the narrative scope and build reading order.