Presented by

Ramya Myakala(17IHML14)

CONTEXT AND COHESION

 Systemic Functional Grammar
 Systemic functional grammar (SFG) is a
form of grammatical description originated
by  Halliday
 It is part of a social semiotic approach to
language called systemic functional
linguistics
 Context
 In SFL terms, context “is that which helps determine
meaning. This includes the surrounding text and the
surrounding circumstances whatever they may be”
(Wegener, 2011:4–5)
 The concept of meaning within SFL stems from Firth (1957),
who saw meaning as function in context
 The context is the extra-linguistic environment in which
language operates, as spoken or written discourse
 The “context of situation” is the environment of the text
 The “immediate” context is distinguished into
the “”material situational setting” and
“relevant” context
 The ”context of culture” is the environment of
the linguistic system
 In the perspective of “system” end, we can
recognize the institutional and domains of action
of the culture
 Cohesion

 Cohesion is the semantic force which hold a

text together beyond the reach of
grammatical structure
 The resources which create cohesion are
partly grammatical and partly lexical
 Each instance of cohesion in a text is called a
“cohesive tie”
Grammatical Cohesion
 Grammatical resources are reference, ellipsis,
substitution and conjunction
 Reference is the replacement of words and
expressions with pro-forms
 Personal, Demonstrative and Comparative
 Halliday and Hasan call cohesive ties within text as
endophoric and references outside the text as
exophoric
 Substitution is a replacement of one item by another
 Nominal, Verbal and Clausal
 Reference is a relation between meanings, whereas
substitution is a grammatical relationship
 Ellipsis is deletion of words, expressions or phrases
 Nominal, Verbal and Clausal
 Conjunction is a word or group of words used to
connect words, phrases, or clauses
 Additive, Adversative, Clausal and Temporal
 Coordinating conjunctions and Subordinating
conjunctions
 Lexical Cohesion
 The lexical resources are the taxonomic relations
and collocation
 Achieved by the selection of vocabulary
 Reiteration and Collocation
 Cohesive harmony is the deployment of
cohesive resources in a text to create patterns of
ideational or interpersonal continuity
 Cohesive Harmony gives “texture” to a text
Thank you!