Invitation to Systemic Functional Linguistics through the Cardiff Grammar: An Extension and Simplification of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar

✍ Scribed by Robin P. Fawcett

• Publisher: Equinox
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 284
• Series: Equinox Textbooks and Surveys in Linguistics
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This short book is intended for two groups of readers, and so is two books in one. First, it is a genuinely introductory introduction to Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) for the 21st century. Drawing on recent research, it focusses on the structure of the clause in English, bringing out clearly the ‘multifunctional’ nature of language, and the way in which structures are the result of ‘choices between meanings’. It is both an ‘extension’ of Halliday’s SFG (as in his Introduction to Functional Grammar), e.g. in describing elements of growing importance in the grammar of English, and a ‘simplification’ of it, e.g. in showing how the various ‘strands of meaning’ in a clause come to be expressed in a single structure.

But this is also a book for experienced linguists who are interested in a scholarly comparison of the two main current versions of SFG – the Sydney Grammar and the Cardiff Grammar (e.g. teachers of the first group of readers). For each difference between the two grammars, the book describes the Sydney analysis and then explains the reasons for preferring the analysis given here. This ‘book within a book’ is achieved through the use of extended footnotes.

Halliday has described developments in the Sydney Grammar since the 1970s as being mainly ‘expansions’ into new areas beyond the grammar itself, rather than ‘reworkings’ of the grammar. In the Cardiff Grammar, however, eight major advances in describing language over this period have led to significant improvements in the description of English (and other languages). Yet the current Cardiff Grammar is still as firmly based in the core principles of SFG as the Sydney Grammar – a powerful tribute to Halliday’s original insights of the 1970s.

Three major strengths of this book are:

– the clear way in which the key concepts are presented
– the explicit guidelines to help in the task of analyzing sentences
– the clear explanations of the reasons for using the analyses given here

Versions of this book are being published concurrently in Chinese (by Peking University Press) and Spanish (by University of Plata del Mar Press).

✦ Table of Contents

Prelims
Preface to the Third Edition 1 – 2
Preface to the Second Edition (updated) 3 – 5

1
Who this book is for, where it comes from, and how to read it [+] 6 – 35

2
The place of syntax in an overall model of language [+] 36 – 43

3
Introducing the syntax of TRANSITIVITY and MOOD: a simple example [+] 44 – 59

4
Developing reliable analysis skills: towards an adequate set of Guidelines [+] 60 – 71

5
A minimal theory of syntax: keeping things simple [+] 72 – 82

6
The special case of ‘being’ as a Main Verb – and some related concepts [+] 83 – 92

7
Interlude: a systemic functional grammar for the structures introduced so far [+] 93 – 103

8
Three types of Auxiliary Verb, one type of ‘Theme’ and one type of ‘Newness’ [+] 104 – 124

9
POLARITY, ‘Contrastive Newness’ and Preliminary Guidelines with an improved Mood Test [+] 125 – 135

10
An overview of the syntax of TRANSITIVITY: Participants as Subjects and Complements [+] 136 – 149

11
An overview of the syntax of MOOD [+] 150 – 165

12
The syntax of Circumstances and other types of Adjunct [+] 166 – 182

13
The syntax of TRANSITIVITY: five more concepts [+] 183 – 197

14
Three new elements: Infinitive, Auxiliary Extension and Vocative [+] 198 – 207

15
Full Guidelines for clause analysis [+] 208 – 231

16
A final analysis task [+] 232 – 236

17
Beyond the simple clause: two further dimensions [+] 237 – 247

Appendix
Appendix 1 [+] 248 – 252
Appendix 2 [+] 253 – 258

References
References 259 – 266

Index
Index [+] 267 – 272

✦ Subjects

systemic functional linguistics; Cardiff Grammar; linguistic theory; syntax; English grammar; linguistics