Systemic functional linguistics

1. Umm-e-Rooman Yaqoob
Roll no. 3
B.S (English) 6th semester
Systemic Functional Linguistics
Introduction:
Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M.A.K. Halliday) (born 13 April 1925) is a British-born
Australian linguistwho developed the internationally influential systemic functional linguistic model of language.
His grammatical descriptionsgo by the name of systemic functional grammar (SFG). Halliday describes languageas
a semiotic system, "not in the sense of a system of signs,buta systemic resourcefor meaning". For Halliday,
languageis a "meaning potential"; by extension, he defines linguisticsas thestudy of "how people exchange
meanings by 'languaging'".
Systemic Functional Linguistics:
Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is an approach to linguistics thatconsiderslanguageas a social
semiotic system. It was developed by Michael Halliday,who took the notion of system from his teacher, J. R. Firth.
Whereas Firth considered systems to refer to possibilities subordinated to structure, Halliday in a certain sense
"liberated" the dimension of choicefrom structure and made it the central organizing dimension of this theory. In
other words, whereas many approaches to linguisticdescription placestructureand the syntagmatic axis in the
foreground, Hallidean systemic functional theory adopts the paradigmatic axisas itspointof departure. The
term systemic accordingly foregrounds Saussure's "paradigmatic axis"in understandinghowlanguageworks. For
Halliday,a central theoretical principleisthen that any act of communication involves choices.Languageis
a system, and the choices availablein any languagevariety aremapped usingthe representation tool of the
"system network".
Systemic functional linguisticsisalso "functional"becauseitconsiders languageto have evolved under the
pressureof the particular functionsthatthe languagesystem has to serve. Functions aretherefore taken to have
left their mark on the structure and organization of languageat all levels,which is said to be achieved
via metafunctions. The term metafunction is particular to systemic functional linguistics.The organization of the
functional framework around systems,i.e., choices,is a significantdifferencefrom other "functional"approaches,
such as,for example, Dik's functional grammar (FG, or as now often termed, functional discoursegrammar)
and lexical functional grammar.Thus,it is importantto use the full designation—systemic functional linguistics—
rather than justfunctional grammar or functional linguistics.
For Halliday,all languages involvethree generalized functions,or metafunctions: one construes experience
(meanings about the outer and inner worlds); one enacts social relations(meanings concerned with interpersonal
relations),and one weaves together of these two functions to create text (the wording). Because these functions
are considered to come into being simultaneously—viz.,onecannot mean about the world without havingeither a
real or virtual audience—languagemustalso beable to bringthese meanings together: this is the role of structural
organization,be that grammatical,semantic or contextual. These three generalized functions aretermed
"metafunctions".
Multidimensional semiotic system
Halliday has tried,then, to develop a linguistic theory and description thatis applicableto any context of human
language.His theory and descriptions arebased on these principles,on the basis thatthey arerequired to explain
the complexity of human language.There arefive principles:

2. 1. Paradigmatic dimension: Meaning is choice,i.e. users select from "options that arisein the environment
of other options",and that "the power of languageresides in its organization asa huge network of
interrelated choices"
2. Stratification dimension: In the evolution of languagefrom primary to higher-order semiotic,"a space
was created in which meanings could be organized in their own terms, as a purely abstractnetwork of
interrelations". Between the content of form-pairingof simplesemiotic systems emerged the
"organizational space"referred to as lexicogrammar.This development put languageon the road to
becoming an apparently infinitemeaning-makingsystem.
3. Metafunctional dimension: Language displays "functional complementarity".In other words, ithas
evolved under the human need to make meanings about the world around and insideus, atthe same
time that it is the means for creatingand maintainingour interpersonal relations.Thesemotifs are two
modes of meaning in discourse—whatHalliday terms the "ideational"and the
"interpersonal" metafunctions. They areorganized via a third mode of meaning, the
textual metafunction, which acts on the other two modes to create a coherent flow of discourse.
4. Syntagmatic dimension: Language unfolds syntagmatically,as structurelaid down in time (spoken) or
space(written). This structure involves units on different ranks within each stratumof the language
system. Within the lexicogrammar,for example, the largestis the clause,and the smallestthe
morpheme; intermediate between these ranks arethe ranks of group/phraseand of word.
5. Instantiation dimension: All of these resources are, in turn, "predicated on the vector of instantiation",
defined as "the relation between an instanceand the system that lies behind it". Instantiation isa formal
relationship between potential and actual.Systemic functional theory assumes a very intimate
relationship of continual feedback between instanceand system: thus usingthe system may change that
system.
Semantics System:
Systemic semantics includes whatis usually called 'pragmatics'.Semantics is divided into three components:
 Ideational Semantics (the propositional content);
 Interpersonal Semantics (concerned with speech-function, exchange structure, expression of
attitude, etc.);
 Textual Semantics (how the text is structured as a message, e.g., theme-structure, given/new,
rhetorical structureetc.
Lexico-Grammar:
The Lexico-Grammar concerns the syntactic organization of words into utterances. Even here, a functional
approach is taken,involvinganalysisof the utterance in terms of roles such as Actor, Agent/Medium, Theme,
Mood, etc. It performs two functions:
 It allowto say what one wants to say meaningfully
 It allowto make more than one meanings
Formalism
Central to SFL is the use of 'system networks', an inheritancenetwork used to represent the choices present in
makingan utterance. The 'choices' in this network arecalled 'features'. e.g., a simplified lexico-grammatical
network.
The choices on each stratum are constrained by those on others. Thus the decision to use a nominal -group (=
noun-phrase),rather than a clause,to express a semantic 'process' will bedetermined by both the textual
structure of the text as a whole, and also by the social context(e.g., nominalization is morefunctional in a science
text than in casual conversation).

3. Each feature is also associated with the structural consequences of that choice,e.g., the feature 'finite' might have
realizations:+Subject; +Finite; Subject: [nominal-group]; Finite: [finite-verb], meaning a Subject and Finite element
are required; the Subject is filled by a nominal group,and the Finiteby a finite-verb. Further selections in the
clausenetwork will more tightly constrain thefillers of these roles,and specify the presence, fillers,and ordering
of these elements. E.g.,
Initiating move:
Initiatingmoves depends upon thee four things:
Moves Supporting Response Confronting Response
Statement Acknowledgement Contradiction
Question Answer Disclaim
Command Compliance Refusal
Offer Accepted Rejected
Conclusion:
Systemic functional linguisticsisthestudy of the relationship between languageand its functions in social settings.
In systemic functional linguistics(SFL), three strata make up the linguisticsystem:meaning (semantics),sound
(phonology), and wording or lexicogrammar (syntax,morphology,and lexis).Systemic functional linguisticstreats
grammar as a meaning-makingresource and insists on the interrelation of form and meaning.