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2006 results in Discourse analysis

Page 57 of 101

  • 16 - SFL and Diachronic Studies

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 410-432

  • Summary

    Diachronic linguistics is the study of the development of language over time. Such studies are relatively rare in SFL; this chapter outlines those that exist, and comments briefly on some compatible studies. Cummings has studied Old English, in comparison with present-day English. For example, Old English modal operators still had lexical content, and the fused finite was common in polar questions. Halliday has made an important contribution in the diachronic study of scientific text. He has studied Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe, and in a range of texts from Newton to Darwin, he shows how nominalization is used in thematic progression to carry forward the argument. In my own work I have studied the scientific research article, notably in the Philosophical Transactions, 1700-1980, and in the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions, 1665-1700, including consideration of thematic structure, process type, modality, and grammatical metaphor. Other work includes that of Martinez-Insua, Starc, O’Halloran, and Urbach. Work that is not SFL, but compatible with it, includes that of Traugott, Salager-Meyer, Valle, and Biber and Gray. Halliday and Webster have recently taken up one of Halliday’s older ideas that English is moving from a transitive to an ergative situation.

  • 1 - Firth and the Origins of Systemic Functional Linguistics

  • from Part I - SFL: The Model
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 11-34

  • Summary

    This chapter outlines the important role of J. R. Firth and the underlying intellectual background to the development of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory. It sets out Firth’s approach to the role of linguistics in the human sciences, particularly his emphasis on meaning and context of situation, and outlines some of the fundamental differences between his view of language and other key views such as those held by Bloomfield and Chomsky. The chapter explains what Firth means when he argues that linguistics is about producing 'statements of meaning', and discusses three key terms that guide Firth’s approach to the study of language: patterns, pragma, and polysystem.

  • 20 - Applying SFL for Understanding and Fostering Instructed Second Language Development

  • from Part III - SFL in Application
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 512-536

  • Summary

    The chapter explores the contributions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to the phenomenon of instructed second language (L2) development. It proposes three perspectives for understanding development. First, development can be seen as learners’ growing capacity to ‘make more meaning’, a way of foregrounding the inter-individual social-semiotic nature of language, language use, and language learning. Second, it suggests probing the suitability of the constructs and analyses that a theory makes available for enabling researchers and educators to trace a developmental trajectory over longer time periods. Finally, a theory should provide a principled, explicit, and comprehensive approach to linking the social context of language use to formal features across the entire language system. The chapter argues that SFL can make substantive contributions in each area and supports that contention by positioning SFL in the larger SLA discussion on development, by presenting core constructs and processes in SFL, and by explicating how they have guided research and L2 educational practice with a developmental trajectory. It concludes with a projection of potential expansions, both within SFL and in mainstream SLA research, if fruitful dialogic exchange is pursued by theorists and researchers across the entire field.

  • 26 - Language and Literature

  • from Part III - SFL in Application
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 690-714

  • Summary

    This chapter begins with the SFL take on language in literature, putting forward Hasan’s definition of ‘verbal art’ and her ‘double-articulation’ descriptive and analytical model (1989; 2007). Immediately emphasized is that, in contrast to mainstream stylistics (e.g. Simpson 2014), Hasan’s Systemic Socio-Semantic Stylistics (SSS) upholds literature as a ‘special’ text type, one requiring an equally ‘special’ theoretical-analytical framework. In Section 2 central inspirations of the model are mapped out. SSS “[…] predates the 1960s’ structural stylistics” (Hasan 2007:21), indeed going back to the Russian Formalists and Prague Circle scholars. Especially vital for its modelling is Mukařovský’s notion of ‘foregrounding’ (1977, 1978), but the case for slotting Jakobson into the framework (e.g., Miller 2016a) is also argued. Among remarks on other stylisticians, particular attention is fittingly drawn to Halliday’s crucial, and complementary, role in SSS ‘history’. A sample illustration of verbal art analysis with D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Lonely, Lonesome, Loney – O!’ follows in Section 3, while Section 4 briefly notes select recent research within SFL, and points to some possible future directions, also pondering the supporting role played by CL methods in exploring the language in literature texts (e.g., Miller and Luporini 2015, 2018).

  • 3 - Semantics

  • from Part I - SFL: The Model
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 55-91

  • Summary

    This chapter explores SFL views on what (a) semantics can be and how those views of semantics can be understood. First, four basic conceptions of meaning/semantics are specified (what), corresponding to places of ‘meaning’ in the SFL model (where): valeur, stratum, content side, language as a whole as meaning-making. Then, it is argued that semantics can be modelled in three ways (how), viz. as topological, discourse-structural, or higher-level systemic meaning. In order to understand why a level of semantics is recognized in Hallidayan SFL, it is necessary to explore the variability between meaning and lexicogrammar, semantics as an interface stratum, and how this is exploited in grammatical metaphor. For a deeper understanding of semantics as a stratum, then, a wider view must be taken, in two ways: on the one hand, by opening up the time perspective: language is flexible but meta-stable through time ('metaredundancy'); on the other hand, by recognizing specific design features of SFL as an ‘extravagant’ model, i.e. a model which honours multiperspectivism and fractality. Finally, three recent semantic ‘endeavours’ in SFL are explored and explained against the theoretical backdrop sketched in this chapter: Martin’s discourse semantics, Halliday & Matthiessen’s ideation base, and Appraisal theory.

  • 27 - Language and Social Media

  • from Part III - SFL in Application
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 715-738

  • Summary

    This chapter explores how to use SFL to analyze the discourse of social media, from microblogging to vlogs. It reviews how to formulate selection criteria for gathering social media texts in a principled way from different kinds of social media platforms and how to collect this data into a corpus. It also considers the kinds of social semiotic questions that might be used to approach this data, from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, and the various analytical techniques made available by SFL theory that can be used to answer these questions. The focus will be on recent research into how to explore the performance of identity (individuation) and community (affiliation) (Martin 2010). In particular the notion of ambient affiliation (Zappavigna 2012), that is, how social media users forge alignments in relation to ambient social media audiences will be explored. An important dimension of social media texts that will be covered in relation to this idea is that of social tagging, for instance, in the form of hashtags used in tweets and Instagram images. SFL research into social media is an emergent area, thus the chapter concludes by suggesting a range of directions for future work across the different domains and channels of social media discourse.

  • 11 - Models of Discourse in Systemic Functional Linguistics

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 285-310

  • Summary

    Hasan says of SFL that 'for a theory that introduces itself as a semiotic one it is woefully neglectful of specifically sociolinguistic issues; its only substantial contribution is in the field of discourse analysis, where it offers a framework for the analysis of social context as well as for that of discourse'. This chapter sets out SFL’s general approach to text analysis and the relation of text to context and illustrates this analysis in practice with reference to several of the most influential models in SFL (Hasan’s Register Analysis; Gregory’s Phase; Martin’s Discourse Semantics; Mann, Thompson, and Matthiessen’s Rhetorical Structure Theory; and Matthiessen’s Appliable Discourse Analysis). Following from the description and illustration of the various approaches, the chapter then considers Hasan’s claim, above, in light of criticisms of the 'textualist' orientation in SFL from prominent discourse analysts in other disciplines (Blommaert, van Dijk, Widdowson). The chapter concludes by evaluating the extent to which the various SFL approaches presented interface with or integrate the social features of context in their descriptive and analytical capacity and by suggesting some ways in which these connections can be enhanced.

  • 12 - Cohesion and Conjunction

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 311-332

  • Summary

    Cohesion and conjunction constitute the two fundamental aspects of discourse texture that account for its coherence. The textile metaphor captured in the word texture refers to the weaving of discourse components in the form of reference to entities (cohesion) and combination of propositional meaning (conjunction). In Hallidayan linguistics, cohesion encompasses semantic relations such as reference, synonymy, or meronymy, whereas conjunction refers to the types of relations among propositions that can be signalled by conjunctions (because, if). Research in cohesion and conjunction has consistently demonstrated that the two are crucial to the perception of coherence in discourse, that their distribution varies across genres, and that a good command of the language (by first or second language learners) involves sophisticated use of cohesion and conjunction devices. This chapter illustrates the main types of cohesion and conjunction devices with examples of naturally occurring discourse, and expands on the texture-creating nature of cohesion and conjunction by examining how lexical chains, those that are made up of different cohesive devices, are interspersed in discourse, and work together with transitivity structure. Crucial to the relation between cohesion and transitivity structure is the concept of cohesive harmony, the amount of lexical chain interaction present in a text.

  • 4 - The Clause

  • from Part I - SFL: The Model
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 92-117

  • Summary

    This chapter considers the structure of the clause from the perspective of the metafunctional choices that give rise to it. Experiential metafunction choices (Transitivity) are shown to lead to the number and nature of the basic constituents of the clause. Interpersonal metafunction choices (Mood and Modality) have realizations threaded in among the basic constituents. Textual metafunction choices (Theme and Given/New) relate to what comes at the beginning of the clause and what comes at the end. Remembering that an important concern of SFL is that it should be appliable to text analysis, the chapter includes discussion of how ‘probes’ are used in SFL to identify instances of categories in texts. An application of SFL of particular interest to the chapter’s author is that of discovering how children learn to write in different registers. Most of the exemplification of the theoretical points is from the work of an eleven-year-old girl, who provided a variety of pieces of writing from her different school courses. There is no room in the chapter for full discussion of her registers, but by implication the chapter shows how the analysis is relevant to such a study.

  • 13 - Semantic Networks

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 333-357

  • Summary

    Since the early developments of the 1980s, Hasan and her colleagues have laid a solid foundation in systemic functional semantics – both theory and description. Indeed, Hasan’s insights on message semantics and her contextually open semantic networks have extended beyond her semantic variation or integrated sociolinguistic research. One consequence of the productivity of this paradigmatic description of meanings has been the increasing applications in various discourse studies. To highlight this ‘extended’ use of semantic descriptions, we survey the use of semantic networks in discourse analysis, presenting an up-to-date retrospective review on the different uses of message semantics. By accounting for the various domains of application, we seek to exemplify in what ways message semantic networks are employed by discourse analysts to tackle various research problems, enabling discourse analysts to understand ‘the nature of the relationship between language and society’ and ‘how and why language works’ (Hasan 2005:56). This chapter thus demonstrates one claim, namely that Hasan’s message semantics network is essentially a discourse analytical tool enabling discourse analysts to study language in use in various contexts.

  • 14 - Discourse Semantics

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 358-381

  • Summary

    This chapter presents an overview of discourse semantic systems (negotiation, appraisal, conjunction, ideation, identification, and periodicity), positioning them within the overall architecture of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in terms of stratification and metafunction. It discusses their development out of earlier work on cohesion, briefly outlines each system, and discusses the kinds of structure realizing them. Their contribution to meaning beyond the clause is then illustrated through a step-by-step synthesis of a factorial explanation dealing with damage to the archaeological site of Pompeii. The synthesis makes reference to the key register and genre variables construed ideationally, enacted interpersonally, and composed textually by discourse semantic systems and structures. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the nature of discourse semantic structures as relations of indefinite extent that are abduced by readers in the interpretation of texts.

  • 15 - Appraisal

  • from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 382-409

  • Summary

    The chapter begins with a general introduction to appraisal as the theorization of evaluative meaning in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Appraisal is located metafunctionally and stratally in the architecture of SFL as one of the systems of interpersonal meaning at the stratum of discourse semantics. Appraisal is firstly explored from the perspective of realization, as system and sub-systems of interpersonal meaning choices. The sub-systems of appraisal, namely attitude, graduation, and engagement, are explained and exemplified in these terms. In each case elaborated networks of meaning choices constitute points of reference for the interpretation of patterns of linguistic choices instantiated in texts. Such studies foreground the persuasive and affiliating functions of texts. While it is impossible to provide anywhere near a comprehensive account of the existing literature, the second part of the chapter aims to survey a number of the diverse fields of research that draw on the system of appraisal, including first language development, and studies discourses of education, media, law, and literature. Current research directions exploring appraisal in studies of identity, in multimodal discourses, and in languages other than English, language typology, and translation are also discussed.

  • 9 - The Cardiff Model of Functional Syntax

  • from Part I - SFL: The Model
  • Edited by Geoff Thompson, University of Liverpool, Wendy L. Bowcher, Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University, David Schönthal, Cardiff University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics
    Published online:
    03 May 2019
    Print publication:
    09 May 2019, pp 230-258

  • Summary

    This chapter provides an overview of the Cardiff approach to syntax within the SFL framework. Detailing how the Cardiff model developed from Halliday’s early work and how it diverged from Halliday’s standard model due to different influences and concerns, we show that there are core Hallidayan concepts that have clearly been maintained. The chapter identifies the key features of the model, including system networks and probabilities, illustrating how the priority given in the Cardiff model to conflating meanings rather than structures has informed the approach it has developed. In addition to this the role of realization is made explicit in the Cardiff model through the relationship between the system networks, selection expressions, and realization rules through to the structural representation of these meanings. The relationship among these features is demonstrated through the analysis of a simple clause, which offers a good introduction to the Cardiff theory of functional syntax.

Page 57 of 101