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1925-2018
Three strata make up the linguistic system in SFL:
1. meaning (semantics),
2. sound (phonology),
3. wording or lexicogrammar (syntax, morphology, and lexis).
Systemic functional linguistics treats grammar as a meaning-making resource and insists on the interrelation of form and meaning.
Language functions
In contrast with Fillmore, Halliday studies language from the outside, asking “Why is language structured in the way it is and not in another?”
He introduces to us the Micro and Macro functions of language.
It refers to those functional, true, constant and underlying functions present in every language, whichever the cultural context may be. These are:
For him the area that reflects the ideational function of language has to do with one of the major grammatical systems: TRANSITIVITY (the grammatical feature which indicates if a verb takes a direct object.)
In Halliday’s conception whether a verb takes or does not take a Direct Object is not the prime consideration. There are 3 components of what Halliday calls a “transitivity process”, namely:
a) The process itself, (realized by verbal groups)
b) Participants in the process; (realized by nominal groups be them subject or object)
c) Circumstances associated with the process (realized by the prepositional phrases or adverbials)
The concept of transitivity depends on how these components interact in the sentence.
FILLMORE CASES HALLIDAY ROLES
Agentive Actor
Objective Goal
Instrumental Instrument
Dative Recipient
Factitive Resultant
Benefactive Beneficiary
Source Force
Locative Place
So, for instance, in the sentence:
Mia bought Sebastian some curry at the market
Halliday Actor Beneficiary Goal circumstance
Participant process participant participant circumstance
Nom. group Verbal grp. Nom. Grp. Nom. Grp. Adverbial grp
Fillmore Agentive Benefactive Objective Locative
These functions are related to Child Language Acquisition. In an attempt to understand how humans develop language, M.A.K spent several months studying early childhood language development. He worked as a participant and observer, using paper and pencil to document Nigel’s utterances at six-week intervals from age 9 months to 2-1/2 years-old, with two points of focus in mind: the instance and the system.
He aimed to document Nigel’s progression as an individual, across each stage of his linguistic development; at the same time, he proposed a systemic theory of language that unites our earliest meaningful utterances with those we enact as adults. Through his three-part stage-model, Halliday argued that humans develop language because we are creatures who need to mean, and language, above all else, is our primary source of meaning.
THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Halliday identifies seven functions that language has for children in their early years. Children are motivated to acquire language because it serves certain purposes or functions for them. The first four functions or protolanguage stages: children pre-verbally convey intentions and desires. They are using protolanguage to construct meaning from their experiences.
• Instrumental: This is when the child uses language to express their needs (e.g.'Want juice')
• Regulatory: This is where language is used to tell others what to do (e.g. 'Go away')
• Interactional: Here language is used to make contact with others and form relationships (e.g 'Want play? /Love you, Mummy')
• Personal: This is the use of language to express feelings, opinions and individual identity (e.g 'Me good girl')
The next three functions help the child to come to terms with his or her environment:
• Heuristic: This is when language is used to gain knowledge about the environment (e.g. 'What the tractor doing?')
• Imaginative: Here language is used to tell stories and jokes, and to create an imaginary environment. (e.g. ‘Let’s play space’)
• Representational: The use of language to convey facts and information. (e.g. ‘I’ll tell you how the game works’)
18-24 MONTHS
Transitional stage. Functions are combined. Grammar and structure are developed.
From the age of 24 months onwards
The adult system begins. There are two basic functions:
SFL has been used as a basis in computational linguistics,
especially in natural language generation (NLG). NLG is a software
process that automatically transforms data into written narrative.
Numerous other systems have been built using Systemic grammar,
either in whole or in part.
The pollen Forecast for Scotland system is a simple example of an
NLG system. This system takes as input six numbers, which give
predicted pollen levels in different parts of Scotland.
Other common implementations include:
• Written analysis for business intelligence dashboards
• Reporting on business data/data analysis
• Personalized customer communications via email and in-app messaging
During the 1940s, the first modern computers were created. They were extremely large, sometimes the size of small buildings. The first computers were programmed by setting switches on a panel. Gradually the computers became smaller, less expensive and easier to program. Time on these computers became available for a wider range of uses. Some considered that the raw power of these computers could be turned to machine translation (MT) between languages. During the 1950s in Britain, two projects in this direction were started, one involving Firth’s group in University College London, the other involving a group in Cambridge which included Halliday.
Term created by M.A.K Halliday.
Anti-Language is a minority language or method of communicating
within a minority speech community that excludes members of the
speech community. This is the language of a social group which is
developed as a means of preventing people from outside the group
understanding it. The same vocabulary and grammar may be used,
but in an orthodox fashion, excluding outsiders.
These were originally used by criminals and people on the fringes of
society, who do not want to be understood by everybody.
A well-known example may be Nadsat which is a fictional register or
argot used by the teenagers in Anthony Burgess’s novel
A Clockwork Orange.
• Argot
• Black Slang
• Internet Slang
• Rhyming Slang
• Social Dialect
Anti-languages may be understood as extreme versions of social dialects. They tend to arise among subcultures/substandard use of the language, and groups that occupy a marginal or precarious position in society. These are created by a process of relexicalization, the grammar of the parent language may be preserved, but a distinctive vocabulary develops.
The concept was studied by Halliday who used the term for the lingua franca of an anti-society which is set up within another society, as conscious alternative to it, and which indicates linguistic accomplishments of the users in action. He compiled a list of criteria for an anti-language.