SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

One of the most substantial theories in the 20th century is Halliday’s

Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). SFG attracted the most attention
and has been frequently employed in the literature on linguistics and
applied linguistics. SFG is an approach to language developed by
M.A.K. Halliday and his followers during the 1960s in the United
Kingdom.

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a theory of language that is

strongly oriented to the description of how language makes meaning in
context (Halliday 1978; 1994; 1996; Halliday and Hasan 1985; Halliday
and Matthiessen 1999; 2004).
 SFG interprets language as meaning potential where all strata of the
linguistic system contribute to the making of meaning: the semantic
system semanticizes contextual meaning by providing resources to
enact and construe it as linguistic meaning; the lexico-grammatical
system grammaticalizes this meaning by providing resources to create
meaning in wording and the phonological system realizes meaning by
sounding the wordings that realize meaning (Caffarel, 2009:883).
 Halliday describes his grammar as built on the work
of Saussure, Louis Hjelmslev, B. Malinowski, J.R. Firth, and the Prague
school linguists. In addition, he drew on the work of the American
anthropological linguists Boas, Sapir and Whorf.

However, his "main inspiration" was Firth, to whom he mainly owes

the notion of language as system, and Malinowski who stressed the
centrality of the context of situation and applied it through his
linguistic model. (O’Donnell 2012: 5).
 Nowadays, the SFL approach is used world-wide, especially in
language education, and for a number of purposes like discourse
analysis. The Halliday's tradition is interested in the manner by which
language is utilised in social settings so as to attain a specific target
(O’Donnell, 2012: 2). Because of the concern of SFL with the use of
language, great importance is placed on the function of language, such
as what language is used for, rather than what language structure is all
about.
Some keywords in Systemic Functional Grammar:

Option
System
Meaning-making

Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) of M.A.K. Halliday >

‘Language is a network of systems, or interrelated set of options

for making meaning.’
Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) >

- is concerned primarily with the choices of the grammar that makes

available to speakers and writers. >

- These choices relate speakers’ and writers’ intentions to the

concrete forms of language. >

- Speakers make selections according to social circumstances.

The influence of >

- Saussure > ‘system’ > language is a system

- Prague Circle of Linguistics > Functionalism > ‘function’
a component of grammar a specific function
theme/rheme
- London School of Linguistics > Malinowski and Firth > Halliday

‘situational context’ >

Linguistic components is to be interpreted as acceptable or appropriate
in a context. >
an utterance or part of an utterance is ‘meaningful’ if and only if it can
be used appropriately in some actual context.
M.A.K. Halliday >
- successor of Firth
- uses the Firthian principles to syntax > ‘systemic grammar’

‘system’ according to Firth

is a set of mutually exclusive options

that come into play at some point in a
linguistic structure

London School ‘syntax’ >

is primarily concerned with the nature of the various choices which one
makes in deciding to utter one particular sentence out of the infinitely
numerous sentences that one’s language makes available.
‘systemic grammar’ >
- the central component is a chart of the full set of choices available
in constructing a sentence, with a specification of the relationships
between choices.
- is more interested in stating the range of options open to the
speaker.
- has no interest in asking what particular types of rules are used in
realizing various systemic options since they are not concerned
with the question of linguistic universals.
- aims rather to provide a taxonomy for sentences, a means of
descriptively classifying particular sentences.
- provides a battery of descriptive terms which enable the linguist to
give a detailed characterisation of any given sentence.
SFG >

- successor of ‘systemic grammar’

- studies the relationship between language and its functions in

social settings.

- focuses on how people use language with each other in

accomplishing everyday social life.

- treats grammar as a meaning-making resource and insists on the

interrelation of ‘form’ and ‘function’.
SFG > four main theoretical claims about language >

1) Language use is functional.

2) Its function is to make meanings.
3) These meanings are influenced by the social and cultural context in
which they are exchanged.
4) The process of using language is a semiotic process of meaning-
making by choosing.

According to SFG >

Language use is functional, semantic, contextual and semiotic.
 Context is classified as one of the central concerns in SFG, because it
is integral to the overall process of making meaning. In fact, when
language occurs in a context, it will relate to or is linked to a number of
contexts (Matthiessen & Halliday 1997). These are:

1- The Context of Culture [genres].

2- The Context of Situation [the technical term for this is Register].

 Halliday models the context of situation, where the aspects of the
context relate intimately to the language used to create text, in terms
of three important functions which are called metafunctions of
language (Matthiessen & Halliday, 1997) . These are :

A- Field: gives us an indication of the topic or what is being talked

about
B- Tenor: gives us an indication of who is/are involved in the
communication and the relationships between them.
C- Mode: gives us an indication of what part the language is
playing in the interaction and what form it takes (written or
spoken).
 These three register variables are used to explain people's intuitive
understanding that individuals use different resources, different kinds
and different parts from the system of language (Matthiessen &
Halliday 1997).

These grammatical systems play a role in the construal of meanings

of different kinds. This is the basis of Halliday's claim that language
is metafunctionally organised. He argues that meaning in social life is
the basis of all languages, and for this reason all languages have three
kinds of semantic components.
 1. Ideational function >
- reflects the contextual value of field

- functions for construing experience in terms of what is going on around us and

inside us.

- defines outer world reality and one’s own identity

- makes sense of outer and social reality

- an analysis of a text from the perspective of the ideational function involves

inquiring into the choices in the grammatical system of "transitivity": that is,
process types, participant types, circumstance types, combined with an analysis
of the resources through which clauses are combined.
• Transitivity > Examples :

• The thief has hidden.

• His family has hidden the thief

active/passive use
• The protesters were beaten (by the police).
• The police beat the protesters.

In these sentence pairs, different meanings are transmitted, different features are
foregrounded or backgrounded by selecting different options among alternatives.
For example, whereas in the second pair parts ‘his family’ and ‘the police’ are
foregrounded, in the first pairs the action is emphasized.
 2. Interpersonal function >
- the interpersonal metafunction relates to a text's aspect of tenor

- functions to interact with the social world by negotiating social roles and
attitudes.

- underlies the interaction between speaker and the addressee.

- focuses on the grammatical resources for enacting social roles in general, for
example, for establishing, changing and maintaining interpersonal
relationships.
 3. Textual function >
- relates to mode; the internal organisationand communicative nature of a text

- is used to create messages with which we can package our meanings in

terms of what is new or given.

- theme/rheme is the part in which the theme is developed

‘new information’

- is the element which serves as the point of departure of the message.

‘given/familiar information’ (has been given somewhere in the text or
familiar from context)
 Jane could not wait for Mary.

Theme Rheme (new info)

(given info)

Wild rabbits danced in the forest.

Rheme(new) Theme(given)
 Conclusion
In recent years, SFL has been useful and helpful in fields such as
linguistics, language education, child language development, media
discourse, history, educational linguistics, critical discourse analysis,
register analysis and administrative language.

Furthermore, SFL has also been applied to interpret the grammar of

other semiotic modes, such as art and visuals.
 SFL is concerned with attempting to comprehend the manner by which
language is utilised for various reasons and in various scenarios, thereby serving
as a communicative motivation in the learning of language.
In addition, by analysing texts, it offers “ a method of observing the relation
between meaning and form in the different alternatives available in the language
grammatical systems, and the methods used by schools in interpreting
knowledge” (Schleppegrell, 2004: 1).
To sum up, SFL is considered as an influential tradition to linguistic study
because it provides an innovative value from functionalism and a useful tool for
those who wish to analyze texts.
 REFERENCES
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Functional Descriptions: Theory in Practice. Amsterdam:Benjamins.
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