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
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