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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.