Approach that considers language as a social semiotic system
Michael Halliday at his 90th-birthday symposium, 17 February 2015
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Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is an approach to linguistics, among functional linguistics,[1] that considers language as a social semiotic system.
It was devised by Michael Halliday, who took the notion of system from J. R. Firth, his teacher (Halliday, 1961). Firth proposed that systems refer to possibilities subordinated to structure; Halliday "liberated" choice from structure and made it the central organising dimension of SFL. In more technical terms, while many approaches to linguistic description place structure and the syntagmatic axis foremost, SFL adopts the paradigmatic axis as its point of departure. Systemic foregrounds Saussure's "paradigmatic axis" in understanding how language works.[2] For Halliday, a central theoretical principle is then that any act of communication involves choices. Language is above all a system; SFL maps the choices available in any language variety using its representation tool of a "system network".
Functional signifies the proposition that language evolved under pressure of the functions that the language system must serve. Functions are taken to have left their mark on the structure and organisation of language at all levels, which is achieved via metafunctions. Metafunction is uniquely defined in SFL as the "organisation of the functional framework around systems", i.e., choices. This is a significant difference from other "functional" approaches, such as Dik's functional grammar (FG, or as now often termed, functional discourse grammar) and role and reference grammar. To avoid confusion, the full designation—systemic functional linguistics—is typically used, rather than functional grammar or functional linguistics.
For Halliday, all languages involve three simultaneously generated metafunctions: one construes experience of our outer and inner reality as well as logical relations between phenomena (ideational); another enacts social relations (interpersonal relations); and a third weaves together these two functions to create text (textual—the wording).
^Alice Caffarel, J. R. Martin, Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen (2004) Language Typology: A Functional Perspective, p.2
^Halliday, M.A.K. 2004. Introduction: How Big is a Language? On the Power of Language. In The Language of Science: Volume 5 in the Collected Works of M.A.K. Edited by J.J.Webster. London and New York: Continuum. p. xi.
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social semiotic approach to language called systemicfunctionallinguistics. In these two terms, systemic refers to the view of language as "a network...
to usage-based and cognitive linguistics; while neither André Martinet, Systemicfunctionallinguistics nor Functional discourse grammar properly represents...
influential systemicfunctionallinguistics (SFL) model of language. His grammatical descriptions go by the name of systemicfunctional grammar. Halliday...
originates in systemicfunctionallinguistics and is considered to be a property of all languages. Systemicfunctionallinguistics is functional and semantic...
models of functional–structural grammar such as Danish Functional Grammar, Functional Discourse Grammar and SystemicFunctionalLinguistics. Hjelmslev's...
his systemicfunctionallinguistics model for English. Focus (linguistics) Predicate (grammar) Textual function (systemicfunctionallinguistics) Thematic...
dimension of meaning” “System” is used in two related ways in systemicfunctionallinguistics (SFL). SFL uses the idea of system to refer to language as...
An Introduction to SystemicFunctionalLinguistics London: Pinter Medina, Beatriz López (2002–2003). "The role of text linguistics in the foreign language...
Linguistic genre studies can be roughly divided into two schools, SystemicFunctionalLinguistics or "SFL", and English for Specific Purposes or "ESP." SFL scholars...
Care. Eggins is the author of a best selling introduction to systemicfunctionallinguistics and she is known for her extensive work on critical linguistic...
consolidated in consequent models of structural–functionallinguistics including SystemicFunctionalLinguistics. Despite this success, American advocates of...
invented examples. Text linguistics is a closely related field. The essential difference between discourse analysis and text linguistics is that discourse analysis...
schools in linguistics. Columbia School of Linguistics Copenhagen School Formal linguisticsFunctionallinguisticsSystemicfunctionallinguistics Sydney...
outcomes Systemicfunctional grammar, a model of grammar that considers language as a system Systemicfunctionallinguistics, an approach to linguistics that...
of Sydney.[citation needed] She specialises in the field of systemicfunctionallinguistics (SFL) and has completed research in language and literacy education...
frameworks of functional grammar including Functional Discourse Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar, and SystemicFunctionalLinguistics. During the early...
Jacques (2018). "The stance of SystemicFunctionalLinguistics amongst functional(ist) theories of language and its 'systemic' purpose". In Sellami-Baklouti;...
Lexicogrammar is a term directly related to systemicfunctionallinguistics. Systemicfunctionallinguistics is a specific approach to adding as much detail...
such as systemicfunctionallinguistics and functional discourse grammar. Computational methods have been developed by the framework functional generative...
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