THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL: A COMPARATIVE TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF AGENCY IN POPULAR MONSTER AND THE VOICES IN MY HEAD BY FALLING IN REVERSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEPC.1164061Keywords:
Agency, Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Transitivity AnalysisAbstract
This study investigates the grammatical construction of agency in modern rock lyric discourse through M.A.K Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) Transitivity framework. Specifically, this study offers a comparative quantitative analysis of agency patterns in the song lyric of Popular Monster and The Voices in My Head by Falling in Reverse. This paper focuses strictly on the linguistic mechanisms through which agency, participant roles and process types are foregrounded at the clause level. The research addresses two primary objectives, to quantify and compare the frequency and percentage distribution of high versus low agency subject roles across both lyrics and, to determine and compare the numerical distribution of Hallidayan process types associated with low agency subject roles. Using a quantitative clause by clause transitivity coding methodology, 83 clauses were analysed in total the findings revealed Popular Monster exhibits 56% of low agency and 44% of high agency while The Voices in My Head exhibits 58% low agency and 42% high agency. Low agency in both lyrics is heavily realised through Relational and Mental processes, making the speaker mainly as a passive Carrier or Sayer, whereas high agency is predominantly externalised to non-speaker entities or restricted to destructive Material processes. This study highlights how SFL transitivity modelling provides an empirical methodology for decoding narrative voice, power dynamics, and agency distribution in musical texts.
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