Introduction to the SFL potential
Dr Elaine Espindola (Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil;
CCHLA/DLEM; PolySystemic Research Group)
The present workshop will be conducted with views to exploring the potential of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL, henceforth) as an approach to language that is concerned with language in its entirety, that is, it takes into account the whole socio-cultural context where meanings are construed. Language and its context of use are considered to be inseparable, so that whatever is said about one aspect of language is understood with reference to the total picture (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). This is to say that context of use determines the choice the speaker/writer makes when construing a text. Accordingly, SFL looks at language as a system of choices, which is used in specific social contexts where individuals realize social functions. It is, then, a system used in order to model reality.
The concepts of Context of Culture and Context of Situation are of central importance to any analysis of language phenomena, as linguistic choices are socially determined by the integration of these two strata. On discussing the terms register and genre, Halliday (1978) and Martin (1984) provide distinct, yet, complementary views. While Halliday advocates that the register variables “taken together, determine the range within which meanings are selected and the forms which are used for their expression” (Halliday, 1978: 133), Martin claims that every genre can vary in terms of the register it employs. These two perspectives are complementary in the sense that for one, register variables are realized by genre, whereas for the other genre is instantiated by register choices. So, register and genre choices are interrelated since one depends on the other for meaning construction.
Halliday (1994, p. 95) claims that “language is organized around a small number of ‘functional components’ which correspond to the metafunctions (or the purposes which underlie all language use)” which belong essentially to one of the strata of the linguistic system, the other ones being semantics and the phonology stratum. As the basic organizing principle of language is ‘functional’, he puts forward three metafunctions to account for its organization: ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions. Of particular interest for this workshop is the potential of demonstrating how and when linguistic notions and concepts may be set to work as descriptive categories in the study of texts.