ANALYSIS OF METAFUNCTION IN ED SHEERAN'S SONG “PHOTOGRAPH”

Abstract

Language serves not only as a tool of communication but also as a medium for expressing human experience, emotion, and memory. Through the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), language can be examined to reveal how meanings are constructed, particularly through the ideational metafunction, which represents experiences using processes, participants, and circumstances. Ed Sheeran’s song “Photograph” provides a meaningful linguistic text that reflects love, memory, and emotional connection, making it suitable for analysis within this framework.This study aims to analyze how ideational metafunction is realized in the lyrics of “Photograph,” specifically by identifying the dominant process types and explaining how participants and circumstances contribute to emotional representation. The research employed a qualitative descriptive method, and the data consisted of the song’s lyrics. The analysis was conducted using Halliday’s transitivity system, which categorizes processes into material, mental, relational, and other types.The findings show that material and mental processes dominate the song. Material processes illustrate tangible actions that represent efforts to preserve love and memory, while mental processes express reflection, longing, and emotional depth. Relational processes also appear, connecting emotions to states of being and creating a sense of timelessness. These results indicate that linguistic choices in the song transform abstract emotions into structured experiential meanings.