Handout Research in SFL by Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University

RESEARCH IN SYSTEMIC

FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS

Lise Fontaine

Cardiff University

Research in Systemic Functional Linguistics

Workshop

Language Academy

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A THEORY?

According to Halliday (2006:192):

The value of a theory lies in the use

that can be made of it, and I have

always considered a theory of

language to be essentially consumer

oriented“

SFL AS PROBLEM-ORIENTED THEORY

HALLIDAY, 2009; 60-61

A theory is also a semiotic system: it is a system of

interrelated meanings, mutually dependent and

mutually defining.

But whereas a language is an evolved system, and

so represents a compromise among numerous

different and potentially conflicting goals, a theory is

a designed system, and as such it is oriented

selectively towards specific and potentially explicit

goals.

Systemic functional linguistics may be characterized as a

problem- oriented theory, in the sense that it is designed to

assist towards identifying and tackling problems that

arise from outside itself -- that is, not problems that the

theory identi!es for itself.

Typically therefore the questions it sets out to answer are

questions faced by people who are not linguists but are

engaged in, or at least interested in, some activity in which

language plays a key role.


HALLIDAY, 2009; 60-61

They might be translators or psychiatrists or teachers

(of language or of anything else -- all teaching depends

on working effectively with language).

The questions that arise may be research questions

or questions of practical action; and language may

have a central or a peripheral role in what they are

engaged with; but in some way or other language is

coming under their attention.


HALLIDAY, 2009; 60-61

SFL tends to neutralize the boundary

between (theoretical) linguistics and

applied linguistics.


HALLIDAY, 2009; 60-61

It has been called an “appliable” theory, and its evolution

has tended to be driven by the ongoing experience of its use

and by its constant extension to new areas of enquiry and of

action (see especially Hasan, Matthiessen & Webster, eds,

2005, 2007). Every context of application brings with it new

demands on the theory; and the lessons gained from facing

up to these demands feed back into the theory and enrich it


HALLIDAY, 2009; 60-61

FINDING A BALANCE

Theory Applications

LANGUAGE

• building the model,

• solving theoretical

problems,

• building better

analytical tools

• using the model,

• solving ‘real’

problems,

• needing better

analytical tools

THIS CYCLE LEADS TO ...

New areas of enquiry

New applications

Interface developments

Ongoing applications

Ongoing theoretical concerns

TEXT – CLAUSE – TEXT CYCLE

“Whatever the ultimate goal that is

envisaged, the actual analysis of a

text in grammatical terms is only the

first step.” (Halliday, 1994: xvi)

THE VALIDITY OF THE (A) THEORY

should be of interest

and use to non-linguists

should give insights into

the way language works

e.g. why a text means

what it does

KEY RESEARCH THEMES

Applications

Language acquisition

Education

Translation

Health / Legal

Historical linguistics

Theory and Debate

System networks / Choice

Nominal group

Verbal semantics

Register and Context

Implications

Cognitive approaches

Corpus Linguistics

Biology

Extensions

Multimodal Discourse

Visual Communication

Critical Discourse Analysis

THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF SFL THOMPSON, BOWCHER, FONTAINE, & LIANG (2016)

The ‘model’ of SFL

Issues for the theory

Discourse Analysis within SFL

Various approaches to discourse including cohesion,

appraisal and multimodal discourse analysis

SFL in application

L1 development, L2 development, translation,

language and education, description of other

languages, language disorders

SFL CONFERENCE IN TUNISIA - 2015

Language Learning and Writing

Translation studies

Academic genres

Scientific Language

Forensic Linguistics

Multilingual Studies “Descriptive research is of

vital importance in its own right; the description of a “new” language is an essential contribution” (Matthiessen 2015)

Discourse Analysis

Building the model

Interpersonal grammatical metaphor: (Thompson, 2015)

Concepts of voice, heteroglossia and polyphony in (Bartlett, 2015)

Referring and the nominal group (Fontaine, 2015)

SOCIALLY ACCOUNTABLE LINGUISTICS MATTHIESSON 2012:436

Social accountability includes the notion of a

critical stance (as opposed to an uncritical

one), but it is much broader: importantly, it

also includes programmes for community

oriented action of the kind found in

education, healthcare, and other work places

Including topics such as the emergence and

development of national languages, the status of

linguistic minorities, functional variation

(‘register’) in language, unwritten languages and

dialects, conceptual-functional grammar, and

linguistic typology


There is an urgent need for more descriptive

projects to produce accounts of languages that

are endangered in communities that are on

the fringes of modern nation states, so that it

is possible to develop educational materials and

other community resources to improve the

chances of survival and sustainability and to

preserve the semiotic heritage embodied in such

languages


Designed human system soften involve ... some

combination of semiotic, social, biological and

physical systems, and they are becoming

increasingly complex: power plants, air traffic

control systems and other forms of mass

communication, the internet, healthcare systems,

and so on.

These systems must be robust and fault tolerant, but

they are subject to the risk of failure.

semiotic failure: designed human systems fail because

the flow of information that they rely on is

disrupted in one way or another and there is not

enough semiotic fault tolerance built into them.

FUTURE RESEARCH

If we are to deal with all the challenges (and

opportunities) we face in an increasingly

globalized world, we need to address and

overcome the problems of understanding

and respect that exist between communities

Education

Translation

Emergency departments in large

hospitals (Slade et al., 2008)

Orthographies (e.g. Paul Tench (2008)

FUTURE RESEARCH

The model itself, the ‘architecture’ , is also

an important area of research

Context

Register

Lexicogrammar

Phraseology

Cognition

REFRENCES

Halliday, M.A.K. 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.

Halliday, M.A.K. 2003. Systemic Background. In Halliday, M.A.K. & Jonathan Webster (eds.) On Language and Linguistics. Collected Works of MAK Halliday, Vol. 3. London: Continuum, 185-198.

Halliday, M.A.K. 2009. Methods – Techniques – Problems. In Halliday, M. A. K., & Webster, J. J. (Eds.). Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. 59-86.

Hasan, R., Matthiessen, C and Webster, J. (eds.) 2007 & 2009. Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective. London: Equinox.

Matthiessen, C. 2012. Systemic Functional Linguistics as Appliable Linguistics: Social accountability and critical approaches D.E.L.T.A., 28:Especial, 435-471.

Slade, D., Scheeres, H., Manidis, M. Matthiessen, C., Iedema, R., Herke, M., McGregor, J. Dunston, R. Stein-Parbury, J.2008. Emergency Communication:The discursive challenges facing emergency clinicians and patients in hospital emergency departments. Discourse & Communication 2(3):289-316.

Tench, P. (2008) Phonological competence in the design of a new orthography. http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/contactsandpeople/academic/tench/pdf/phonological_competence_in_the_design_of_a_new_orthography.pdf

Thompson, G., Bowcher, W., Fontaine, L. & Liang, J. 2016 (in preparation). The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Handout Research in SFL by Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University

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