Two Problems in the Classification of English Relational Processes

Starting from Halliday’s analysis, this paper attempts to clear out two problems arising in the classification of English relational processes. It is argued that the classification of English relational processes has to be conducted in terms of the two types of relationships between the participants in a relational clause, i.e. logical and semantic relationships. According to the logical relationship between the participants, relational processes can be divided into two modes: “attributive” and “identifying”, while according to the semantic relationship, they can be divided into three types: “intensive”, “circumstantial” and “possessive”. Furthermore, this paper claims that a semantic relationship of “feature or property” exists between the participants in an intensive relational process, which is very different from that of “circumstance” or “possession” in a circumstantial or possessive relational process, respectively. The two modes of relational processes interact with the three types, thus forming six subtypes of relational processes in English.