Language, Context and Text - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2024

Abstract

While Halliday’s work has been a source of inspiration to the fields of Critical Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, Halliday has never been embraced by either school. This paper reviews the engagement of CL and CDA with Halliday, examining what ideas were borrowed, and what was either rejected or modified beyond recognition. It then examines how and why the key working assumptions in Halliday’s framework — in particular, metafunction, realisation and instantiation — are essential to understanding the empiric, ideological power of language. As humanity heads deeper into its greatest crisis and challenge, a clear-sighted understanding of the power of language is more important than ever. Halliday’s attention to understanding language as a sociological phenomenon makes his theory ideal for linguistic projects trying to deconstruct and understand the force of the most consequential ideologies in human societies.

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to outline the system of theme in Spanish starting from its realisation in texts (Martin 2013). In order to do this, Halliday’s definition of Theme is revised and the distinction he proposes between the definition of a function and its means of realisation is followed (Halliday 1985, 1994). Then, a brief corpus of text instantiating different genres is analysed, considering different options of mood in the clause. The perspective assumed is language typology in systemic functional linguistics (Martin 1983; Caffarel et al. 2004a; Quiroz 2013; Martin et al. 2023), which highlights the peculiar characteristics of the language at stake based on patterns found in actual discourse and observes the phenomenon under study from above, from around and from below (Matthiessen and Halliday 2009).

Abstract

This paper describes and compares the realisations, functions and interrelations of Theme as point of departure (POD), i.e. Theme stripped of any reference to “what the clause is about”, in two languages — English and Spanish — and two genres — academic writing and casual conversation. The ultimate goal is to find out which POD characteristics are (a) generalisable across both genres and both languages; (b) generalisable across both genres (but language-dependent); (c) generalisable across both languages (but genre-specific); and (d) genre-specific and language-specific. Among other things, the contrastive analysis reveals that POD is highly determined by metafunctional interplay, PODs in casual conversation reflecting the interpersonally-driven nature of this genre and cross-linguistic contrasts reflecting different pressures of interpersonal meaning on textual organisation.

Abstract

When we use language, we normally do not engage in verbal interactions in isolation. So, when studying verbal exchange, one should expect other activities to be manifested in some ways in the lexicogrammar either at clause simplex or clause complex level. This article is a link in a chain of articles that set out to investigate different aspects of projection across a variety of languages. It studies the verbal environment in which verbal projection occurs. It mainly explores explicit and implicit quoting and reporting strategies and the activities that accompany quoting. It compares some characteristics identified by Matthiessen and Teruya (2014a) in their investigation of quoting strategies in English to those that appear in the environment of quoting in Arabic, in addition to exploring some other traits that are proper to the quoting environment in Arabic.

Abstract

Teaching and family communities usually have an active role in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity-Impulsivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis in childhood. Examining the construal of hyperactivity-impulsivity in teaching guidelines and online parental exchanges can elucidate common lay understandings of the trait. The study considers transitivity, with a focus on Relational and Behavioural clauses, lexical metaphors and appraisals. The linguistic descriptions have a potential to assist medical specialists in interpreting evidence presented by teaching and family communities in the complex task of diagnosing ADHD, facilitating communication and explaining the strategies used to avoid potentially stigmatising descriptions. The analysis supports the suitability of distinguishing Behavioural processes in transitivity and traces a parallelism between the metaphorical descriptions of extreme behaviour and those traditionally reported for strong emotions.

Abstract

This article investigates how an important aspect of translators’ registerial expertise — domain-specific (medical) training and experience — may have consequences for the texture of a specialised translation, i.e. the translations of the Chinese medicine classic Huang Di Nei Jing. Through a fine-grained analysis of cohesion and coherence, this study demonstrates that a translator with a higher level of domain-specific expertise tends to produce a translation (i) that is more lexically explicit and cohesively harmonious, (ii) with a richer semantic variety, more extended cohesive chains and cross-chain interactions and (iii) having a higher degree of definitiveness. The findings suggest that a translator’s domain-specific expertise could have measurable consequences for the texture of the target text.

Abstract

The Bayeux Tapestry, which strictly speaking is not a tapestry at all but a piece of embroidery, was produced in the late 11th century, probably commissioned by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William the Conqueror’s half-brother. Its objective is to support William’s invasion and conquest of England. It can thus be seen as a piece of 11th century propaganda. It tells the story of Harold’s oath to support William’s claims to the English crown, his subsequent acceptance of the crown himself, followed by William’s invasion of England and Harold’s death at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The images in the Tapestry are accompanied by a text in Latin. This paper analyses the transitivity of those clauses in this text where Harold and William occur. This shows how both of these protagonists are represented through the transitivity selections of the text. While both occur as Actor to the same extent, Harold functions as Affected much more frequently than William (including ultimately, getting killed!). In addition, William functions as Sayer more frequently than Harold, and usually with verbs that indicate his authority. Thus William is painted as an effective, authoritative ruler. Thus the text of the tapestry underlines the power of William following his conquest and enhances the empowerment which success in battle bestowed on him.

This article reviews In pursuit of a multilingual equity agenda: SFL teacher action research

This article reviews Theorizing and applying systemic functional linguistics: Developments by Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen