Systemic Functional Grammar Theory Research Articles

Membanding Teori Transformasi Generatif dan Systemic Functional Grammar; Telaah Kritis-Dialogis Antar Madzab Linguistik

This paper describes the great tradition of thought that influence the development of linguistic discourse. Between the two of linguistic madzab described in this article is the theory of generative transformation fronted by Noam Chomsky and systemic functional grammar theory initiated by MAK Halliday tradition of thought. The study, conducted a literature study, by using qualitative descriptive study. The data in this paper is a literacy data set obtained from books, articles and journals, as a secondary source to obtain an adequate explanation of the study. This study aims to find a dialogical relationship between the two great streams of linguistics, which although mutual criticism

What Constitutes "Complement" in Systemic Functional Grammar: Its Theoretical Problems and Implications

<p>Despite the wide-range application of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) for various kinds of text analyses, SFG theory poses significant syntactic problems which have not been touched much. These syntactic problems are basically the result of its fundamental theoretical construct, i.e. the semantic perspective in approaching grammar. In fact, this theoretical construct seems to mix up the syntactic function and the semantic role analysis, two out three levels in syntactic analysis. It results in a serious inconsistency in labeling the syntactic unit of analysis in a clause and in defining many terms as well. This paper roughly explores both syntactic and semantic problems which appear in Mood system, particularly the label ‘Complement’. This paper does not discuss each problem in detail and in a systematic way; rather it will only show us that there are still many works to do in the theory of SFG itself. Thus, there should be more scholars and advocates of this school of grammar focusing their investigations on the theoretical level of grammatical/syntactic issues.</p>

Interpersonal Meaning in Netanyahu’s Speech

This study investigates how the interpersonal meaning is realized in the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This study aimed to uncover (1) the mood structure which realized in Netanyahu‘s speech of Iran and Palestine and (2) To what extent the difference in field determine the interpersonal metafunction of the speaker. This study is largely qualitative but in order to answer those research questions, this study will be assisted by some descriptive quantification to observe the trend in the interpersonal meaning of the speaker. It applies Hallidayan theory of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in analyzing the research data. The data were taken from the websites which are readily accessible to the public. Two different transcribed speeches are discovered to extract the data which are needed to investigate the interpersonal meaning. Subject, Finite and Modality are the main tools to realize the interpersonal meaning of Netanyahu in his speech. It can be realized by discovering the use of those parts in his speech in different issue and occasion. It is found that Netanyahu‘s interpersonal meaning is realized through the placement of Subject and the utilization of Finite, Modality and Mood Adjuncts. It is also found that the differences of the field influence the interpersonal meaning of the speaker through the comparison of subject and finite. The findings in this present study are expected to be useful for some purposes in the future.Keywords: Interpersonal meaning, mood, modality.

Exploring Persian Commercials Based on the Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar

Advertisement has long been used as a tool for informing and attracting audiences in different ways. This study aims at investigating the linguistic tools of advertisement in Persian on the basis of Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar theory. The data of this study were gathered from written and verbal commercial advertisements which were recorded and rewritten in order to investigate verbal groups in the sentences in terms of process and function types and subsequently compare the two bodies. The results showed that material and relational processes had highest frequency in Persian language in terms of ideational metafunction. From the interpersonal metafunction perspective, information function was frequent in most cases. Regarding these factors, there was no significant difference between verbal and written bodies.

Snip-Snap: An Analysis of Interpersonal Meanings in a Political TV Interview

This paper mainly employs Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar theory, concerning the interpersonal metafunction, to make a theoretically founded analysis on an episode in Feng Yun Dui Hua, a famous television program from Phoenix TV. The specific data is from an interview between the TV host Ruan Cishan and the contemporary US Secretary of State Colin Luther Powell. Through analysis of interpersonal meanings in the interview discourse, it is revealed that Mood, modality, person pronouns and Appraisal system are all important devices to reveal the features of the political TV interview.

Interpreting the Construction of the Multimodality of E. E Cummings’ "Eccentric Typographical" Poem "l(a"

Kress and Van Leeuwen, who introduced the meta-function into visual circumstances and established the Grammar of Visual Design which is developed from the theoretical framework of Halliday's systemic functional grammar and provides a theoretical foundation for researches on multimodality, holds that not only verbal semiotics but also visual semiotics can express meaning. Therefore, based upon the theory of systemic functional grammar and the theory of multimodal discourse analysis, this paper takes E. E cummings' poem l(a as an example and attempts to propose a model of multimodal approach to visual poems. The particular focuses of the study are laid on interpreting the construction of its verbal modality which includes the ideational metafunction, interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction, and the construction of its visual modality (typographical aspects) which includes the establishment of visual grammar systems and the ways the grammatical structures of visual modality realize representational metafunction, interactive metafunction and compositional metafunction so as to explore different possibilities of interpreting the poem. It is proved by the study that multimodality approach proves a systemic and more through way in interpreting such poems. Meanwhile, it further verifies the fact that multimodal analytic approach to discourse integrates language and language-related resources, with the result of making the discourse interpretation more comprehensive and approximative. Hopefully, the provoking result of this study will inspire further studies on multimodal approach to visual poetry.

REFLECTIONS ON THE MAIN SYNTACTIC PROCESSES OF THEMATIZATION IN ENGLISH IN ALAN PATON’S PLAY SPONONO

This paper will analyse the main marked syntactic structures of thematization in English in the play Sponono, written by Alan Paton in 1965. The analysis will point out that due to the use of these thematization processes in the play, i.e. cleft sentence, pseudo-cleft sentence, topicalization and passive, the author emphasizes the feelings and thoughts of the main characters in the play. The analysis will also make clear that the examples of the structures under analysis are used in situations of climax and the main reason for the author to use them is to highlight the social situation that surrounds the play: the apartheid period in South Africa. The paper will discuss how Alan Paton creates a social reality throughout the recurrent use of these processes. In the same way, these syntactic processes contribute to the vividness of the play. The social situation of this period in South Africa has very particular characteristics that the author tries to point out and reproduce with the processes of thematization he uses recurrently during the whole play. The analysis of the corpus following the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar will be helpful to understand the relationships between language and culture and language and situation.

POWERFUL WEBLOGS: DESIGN AND SEMIOTIC DESCRIPTION

Blogs are a very important tool for professionals and individuals wishing to promote products, services, thoughts, ideas, news. It is one of the most important channels of communication which brings them into contact with a very important public figure, the internet. Creating a blog is not a simple process but a complex mixture of different points and signs. In the present work we make an effort to define well-known blogs using semiotics. Our research material consists of the 20 most visited blogs, according to the list appearing in the «Technorati» blog search tool. For the analysis of the visual material we use the Grammar of Visual Design by Kress G. & Van Leeuwen T. (1996), a methodology based on the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar, which is the main subject of Halliday M. (1994). More specifically, in order to understand the power of weblogs, we are searching for: a) the mechanisms of organization and reconstruction of reality (representations), b) the production of meanings or even new ideologies by words and images (discourse) and c) the precise form and structure, signifiers and absences. It seems that web-blogs are creating a timeless space regulated by a nameless founder where the bits of information given although pointing to a specific date are part of a virtual non-time continuum.

How Contemporary History is Presented in Chilean Middle School Textbooks

This article provides a textual analysis of the pedagogical discourse of history textbooks used in the education of Chilean students. In particular, I focus on how the impact of Salvador Allende's socialist government (1970-1973) and the military coup that led to the Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990) are constructed by and displayed in these texts. As a method of analysis, I apply the Systemic Functional Grammar theory to history textbooks used in the sixth and eighth grades. Two of the metafunctions proposed by Halliday - textual and interpersonal - are particularly relevant when combined with an appraisal analysis fundamentally based on the work of Martin because they provide a useful tool for interpreting and explaining the text from an ideological standpoint. The analysis reveals that the textbooks' authors strive to sound objective, but instead offer a large number of explicit and implicit judgements throughout the text. They purport to present two antithetical political positions - that of Allende's supporters and that of the supporters of the military coup - however, the texts do not actually offer two clear positions nor do they provide clear reasons for the events. Instead, the authors obscure content through grammatical and lexical choices - such as the use of `and' as an expression of reason or cause; embedded mental and verbal projection (sixth grade only); the absence of logico-semantic relationship of elaboration; and modal adjuncts that signal judgement but not explanation. Appraisal analysis in conjunction with a more discrete grammatical analysis is useful for revealing the explicit, subjective choices made in constructing these supposedly objective texts.

In place of Halliday's ‘verbal group’

This paper argues for the abolition of one of the central grammatical units in Halliday's framework for describing English: the ‘verbal group’. The proposed changes affect many of the central aspects of the syntax and semantics of the clause, so that the effects of these proposals are potentially far-reaching. The ‘verbal group’ was present in Halliday's earliest writings, but in 1967 he promoted one of its elements—the ‘Finite’—to function as a direct element of the clause—while at the same time retaining it as an element of the ‘verbal group’. This, however, has led to many problems. This paper shows that these can be solved by carrying Halliday's promotion of the Finite through to its logical conclusion, i.e. by similarly promoting all the remaining elements of the ‘verbal group’. Part 1 therefore presents several types of syntactic evidence for dispensing with the ‘verbal group’, and introduces the new description of the relevant parts of the clause by which it is replaced here. Part 2 (Fawcett forthcoming c) presents three further important types of evidence for abolishing the ‘verbal group’, and then goes on to consider the implications of the proposed changes for both the theory and its application in various fields. The suggestion is that the changes proposed here strengthen the overall theory of systemic functional grammar, by resolving the many anomalies in Halliday (1994) and by bringing advantages of their own—both for analysis and for generation.