Useful questions for analysis of the
representational metafunction
1. Who are the represented participants (RPs) in the
image? Include both human and non-human objects.
2. Are there are any vectors in the image that indicate
action? If so, what kind of story does this action tell?
3. Are the human RPs looking at each other, creating
eyeline vectors? If so, what does this tell me about
the history of these people?
4. If there are no vectors, what is the image trying
to tell me in terms of social/cultural concepts? What
types of conventional thinking do different objects evoke
in me?
5. Is the image a complex one with more than one
process embedded within it? If so, how do these embedded
processes add to my overall understanding of the
image?
6. In terms of the overall document/Web site, does
the choice of image RPs best enhance its intent and that
of the text?