We never live; we are always in the expectation of living

Voltaire
Systemic Functional Linguistics and
Register: Halliday
Systemic: A conception of language as a network
.of systems, or choices for expressing meaning
Functional : A concern for what language does
and how it does it, in contrast to more structural
.approaches
 Functional aspect

• people negotiate texts in order to

make meanings with each other. In
other words, the general function of
language is semantic one.
• If you are asked to write down the recipe text in a
form publishable in a popular cook book, you could
do that with confidence.
• You would not, for example, give your recipe a title
such as Mowing Lawns, nor would you use words
such as telephone, picture, jeans, swim in your text.
• You will not use sentences such as If it is possible, you
are strongly advised to take six eggs or Perhaps you
may mix the eggs and milk for about two minutes or so.
• Or Hi guys! Cop this for a recipe! Since the relationship
between the writer and reader of the recipe is generally
more formal.
• Finally, you are unlikely to have written Take six of
these, Break them, and put them in there. Then add
this.Why?
• since there are a number of words which your
reader, distant from you in time and space, would be
unable to interpret.
 Example
• I suggest we attack the reds.
• Taken out of context, this sentence is ambiguous in a
number of respects. Reds could mean:
• Playing a game: time to move out the red soldiers.
• Choosing from a box of sweets: take the ones with red
wrappers
Suggest is also ambiguous:
If your boss suggests something to you it usually means Do
this! It is not a suggestion at all because you cannot refuse it.
If a subordinate suggests, it is usually a plea.
If your friend suggests, it may be a real suggestion. You can
refuse.
'we' is also ambiguous. Does it mean 'we' (as it
would among friends) or you (as it might when
a superior is talking to a subordinate)?
Given some contextual information, such as the response
made by the addressee (Yea, I brought some French reds), it
becomes possible to understand what aspect of reality is being
talked about (wine), and what the relationship between the
interactants is (friends). In this case, the initiating sentence
can be glossed as meaning 'let's both of us start drinking the
red wines'.
A Functional Perspective on Child Language
Acquisition
Halliday’s theory was based on his diary
study of his child, Nigel.
The child development was seen as taking
place in a social context through interaction.
• Protolanguage step: When Nigel developed a
small set of words to express certain functions.
• These proto-words were not learned from the
social environment but came from Nigel himself.
• Words such as da, na, a and yi
The functions of Proto-words

1. Instrumental: to obtain goods and services- the ‘I

want’ function
2. Regulatory: to control the behavior of others- the
‘do as I tell you’ function.
3. Interactional: to interact with others – the ‘me and
you’ function.
4. Personal: to express the personality of the child- the
‘here I come’ function.
5. Heuristic: to explore and learn about the
environment – the ‘tell me why’ function
6. Imaginary: to create the child’s own environment-
the ‘let’s pretend’ function.
• He added ‘informative function’ (I’ve
got sth to tell you function) later to
the list.
•
Three broad metafunctions

The The TextuaL

The Ideational Interpersonal
 Ideational

• Actions, events and states,e.g. run, occur, be.

• Participants in those processes, e.g. he, she,
man, car, weather.
• Circumstances in which those processes occur,
i.e. how, when and where.
Circumstances

Experiential component( to do with experiences and

understanding of the world)

Logical component: (to do with logical relations)

The interpersonal metafunction: Relationships
between participants in both written and spoken
texts.

The textual metafunction: The construction of text,

how it is held together and what gives it texture.
Certain linguistic features are more typically
expressive of one of the functions:
Modals Interpersonal function
Conjunctions Textual function
• Ideational meanings realize the field of discourse
(the purpose of the communication, and what it is
about)

• Interpersonal meanings realize the tenor (the

relations between the participants in the text)
Textual Function: How the language is
organized and functions in the interaction (e.g.
whether it is written or spoken or some
combination of the two (various electronic
modalities) expository, didactic or persuasive
 Register

• A set of linguistic choices associated with a particular

situation.
• Situations related to professional activity (the lg of
teachers, doctors, students,--) or interests (bridge-
playing, bird-watching, music-making)
• Church services, school lessons, sports commentaries
Crying Baby (1)
• A baby who won't stop crying can drive any one to despair. You feed him, you change him,
you nurse him, you try to settle him, but the minute you put him down, he starts to howl.
Why?
• The most common reason baby cries is hunger. Even if he was just recently fed he might
still be adapting to the pattern of sucking until his tummy is full and feeling satisfied until it
empties again. When he was in the womb nourishment came automatically and constantly.
Offer food first; if he turns away, you can assume it's something else. It happens that babies
go through grumpy, miserable stages. When they just want to tell everyone how unhappy they
feel. Perhaps his digestion feels uncomfortable or his limbs are twitching.
•  
Crying Baby (2)
• The compelling sound of an infant's cry makes it an effective distress
signal and appropriate to the human infant's prolonged dependence on a
care giver. However, cries are discomforting and may be alarming to
parents many of whom find it very difficult to listen to their infant's
crying for even short periods of time. Many reasons for crying are
obvious, like hunger and discomfort due to heat, cold, illness, and lying
position. These reasons, however, account for a relatively small
percentage of infant crying and are usually recognized quickly and
alleviated.
Crying Baby (3)
• S Did your kids used to cry a lot? When they were little?
• C Yea
• S Well, what did you do?
• C Still do
• S Yea? [laughs]
• C Oh pretty tedious at times yea. There were all sorts of techniques.
•  
• Text 1: sounds chatty because it is using every day vocabulary (baby,
howl, grumpy, miserable)
• Text 2. uses 'formal' or 'heavy' vocabulary (e.g. compelling, prolonged
dependence) and sounds more academic than Text 1.1., it's unlikely to be
speech (no interaction).
• Text 3. seems to be a casual dialogue because the speakers take turns, use
every day vocabulary, even slang (e.g. kids, guy).
 Examples

Let us pray (Church) •

Open your books (school lesson) •
Three players are on yellow cards (soccer •
commentary)
 Appraisal Theory: Martin and White

An attempt to develop the minutiae of the •

interpersonal function
The ways we express our views and react to the •
.views of others
.It can be identified at the level of the word or group •
 systems in appraisal 3

Graduation •
Attitude •
Engagement •
 Graduation

Grading and scaling of the interpersonal force •

.attaching to utterances
There are two subsystems: force, which is to do with •
intensity of interpersonal force (slightly, somewhat,
very, completely)
Focus, which concerns the precision of our •
interpersonal focus (kind of, like this, this is the
.genuine article)
 Attitude

• How speakers and writers express their

attitude towards people and phenomena
• .
 3subsystems of attitude

• Affect: emotional attitude (I love/hate you)

• Judgement: Evaluation of behavior (She played
very well/badly).
• Appreciations: evaluation in terms of aesthetic
value or other values. He played a beautiful shot.
Engagement

• How we express our commitment to what is stated in

what we say or write.
• Disclaiming: We distance ourselves from what has
been said (I deny that)
• Proclamation: We assert that sth is true (It is true
that, I must say that)
 **

• Acknowledgement: We acknowledge a range of

possibilities (it is possible that, it seems that)
• Attribution: We report sth that has been said or
written (Scientists had discovered that, According to
Smith (2010).