SFL Power Point 1

8/7/2019 SFL Power Point 1

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SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

LINGUISTICS (SFL)

also known as Systematic

Functional Grammar (SFG) or

Systematic Linguistic (SL) a model of grammar developed by

Michael Halliday in the 1960s

a theory of language centered aroundthe notion of language function

deeply concerned with the purpose of

language use


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SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS (SFL)

The study of the relationshipbetween language and its functions in social

settings.

Systemic functional linguisticstreats grammaras a meaning-making resource

and insists on the interrelation of form and

meaningIt attempts to combine purely structural

information with overly social factors in a

single integrated description


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Observations:"While individual scholars naturally have

different research emphases or application

contexts, common to all systemic linguists is

an interest in languageassocial

semiotic(Halliday 1978)--how people use

language with each other in accomplishing

everyday social life. This interest leads

systemic linguists to advance four main

theoretical claims about language:


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1. that language use is functional

2. that its function is to make

meanings (semantic)

3. that these meanings are influenced

by the social and cultural context in

which they are exchanged (contextual)

4. that the process of using languageis a semioticprocess, a process of

making meaning by choosing.


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These four points, that language

use is functional, semantic,contextual and semiotic, can be

summarized by describing thesystemic approach as a functional-

semantic approach to language.

(Suzanne Eggins, An Introduction to Systemic

FunctionalLinguistics, 2nd ed. Continuum, 2005)


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SYSTEMIC

derives from the word

SYSTEM

refers to the view of language

as a network of systems, or

interrelated sets of options formaking meaning


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FUNCTIONAL

It indicates that the

approach is concerned withthe contextualized, practical

uses to which language isput.


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It places the function of

language as central what language does

how it does it

FUNCTIONAL


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FUNCTIONAL

It is functional and semantic ratherthan formal and synthetic in

orientation. (It takes the text rather

than the sentence as its object.

It defines the scope of the text byreference to usage rather than

grammatically.


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"Accordingto Halliday(1975), language has

developedinresponseto

three kindsofsocial-

functional'needs.'


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to be able to construe experience in

terms of what is going on around us and

inside us.

to interact with the social world by

negotiating social roles and attitudes.

to be able to create messages with

which we can package our meanings in

terms of what isNew orGiven, and interms of what the starting point for our

message is, commonly referred to as

the Theme.


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Halliday (1978) callstheselanguage

functions metafunctions, andrefersto

themas ideational, interpersonal andtextual respectively.

"Halliday's point is thatany piece oflanguage calls into play all three

metafunctions simultaneously.

(Peter Muntigl and Eija Ventola, "Grammar: A Neglected Resource in

Interaction Analysis?"New Adventuresin LanguageandInteraction,

ed. by Jrgen Streeck. John Benjamins, 2010)


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1. Ideational (or experiential) Function The conveying of semantic

content representing informationabout our experience of the external

world (including our own minds)

Three Functions of Language

/Metafunctions


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2. Interpersonal Function

The establishment andmaintenance of social relations,

including persuading other people to

do things or to believe things.

Concerned with the

speech-function, exchange structure,expression of attitude


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3. Textual Function

The linking of linguisticelements to other linguistic elements so

that the various parts of a text can be

integrated into coherent and cohesivewhole and related to the wider content

of our speech or writing.

How the text are analysed in

terms of roles such as actor,

agent/medium, theme, mood


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Questions frequently asked by

SystemicistsWhat is the writer(or speaker)

trying to do? What linguistic devices are

available to help her(or him) to do

it.

On what basis does she make

her/his choices?


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A key concept in SFL is the

CONTEXT OF SITUATIONwhich obtains through a

systematic relationship between

the social environment on one

hand and the functional

organization of language on theother


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The ANALYSIS OFCONTEXT is broken

down into FIELD, TENORand MODE (These

constitute the register of atext.)


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Field:

What is happening?(the nature of social

interaction taking place)What it is that the

participants are engaged in?(in which language figures as

an essential component)


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Tenor:Who is taking part

The social roles andrelationships of

participants, the status androles of participants.


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Mode:

The symbolic organization of a text,

rhetorical modes (persuasive,

expository, dialogic, etc.)

The channel of communication

(spoken/written monologic/dialogic,

computer-mediated

communication/telephone


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SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

LINGUISTICS (SFL)

In systemic functional linguistics

(SFL), three strata make up the

linguistic system:1. meaning (semantics),

2. sound (phonology), and

3. wording orlexicogrammar

(syntax, morphology, and lexis).


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Lexico-grammar

Concerns the syntactic organization of

words into utterances

Utterances are analyzed in terms of

roles such as actor, agent/medium,

theme, mood.

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SFL Power Point 1