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2. The Prague School
Contemporary Approaches to Linguistic
Functional Linguistics
By Zahra Jaffri
Department of English
Numl University Faisalabad

3. INTRODUCTION
• MEANING ISTHE PRIMARYDRIVER OF FORM IN LANGUAGE..
• FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS ISFOCUSEDON DERIVING GRAMMATICAL
SYNTACTICALAND TEXTUAL STRUCTURESFROM THE WAYSIN WHICH
LANGUAGE IS USED.
• SYSTEMICFUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS ISAN APPROACH TO LINGUISTICS
THAT CONSIDERSLANGUAGEASASYSTEM.
• THE LABEL“SYSTEMIC” ISRELATED TO THE SYSTEMNETWORKSUSEDIN
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LEXICO-GRAMMAR OF HUMAN LANGUAGES.

4. COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION OF
LANGUAGE
 HALLIDAY STATESTHAT LANGUAGE ISTHE STUDYOFHOW PEOPLE
EXCHANGEMEANINGS THROUGH THE USEOFLANGUAGE.
oEXAMPLE:
THE BOYATE THE BREADIN THE KITCHEN.
STATEMENTS…. THE BOY IS EATING THE BREAD.
COMMANDS… EAT THE BREAD!
QUESTIONS… ISTHE BOY EATING THE BREAD???

5. THEORETICAL CLAIMS…..
• FOUR MAIN THEORETICAL CLAIMS ABOUT LANGUAGEARE THERE….
1. THE LANGUAGE USEISFUNCTIONAL.
2. ITS FUNCTION ISTO MAKEMEANINGS.
3. THESE MEANINGSARE INFLUENCEDBY THE SOCIALAND
CULTURAL CONTEXT IN WHICH THEYARE EXCHANGED.
4. THE PROCESSOFUSING LANGUAGE ISA SEMIOTIC PROCESS,A
PROCESSOFMAKING MEANING BYCHOOSING..

6. DEVELOPMENT OF LINGUISTIC THEORY IN
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
 MANY LINGUISTS HOLD THE FACT THAT LANGUAGE ISUSED FOR
COMMUNICATION IS LARGELY IRRELEVANT TOITS ANALYSIS. “HOW DID SUCHA
VIEW ARISE??”
 THREEMAIN THEORISTSWERETHERE…..
 SAUSSUREDREWA FUNDAMENTAL CONTRAST BETWEENLANGUAGE (LANGUE) AND
SPEAKING (PAROLE).
 BLOOMFIELD (1933) PROPOSEDA SIMILAR DISTINCTION: GRAMMAR(THE LINGUISTIC
SYSTEM)VS. MEANING (THE USEOF THE SYSTEMON PARTICULAR OCCASIONS)
 CHOMSKY (1965) PROPOSEDA DISTINCTION ANALOGOUS BUT NOT IDENTICAL
TO SAUSSURE’SAND BLOOMFIELD’S, NAMELY COMPETENCE VS.PERFORMANCE.

7. RELATION OF THEIR DISTINCTION WITH
COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION OF
LANGUAGE…
•
Langue
Grammar
Parole
Meaning
competence performance
 HOW CAN THE VARIOUS COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS OFLANGUAGE BE
INCORPORATED INTO THE STUDYOFLANGUAGE STRUCTURE??
 THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSDEFINING A STRUCTURALSYSTEMARE CO-
OCCURRENCE(SYNTAGMATIC) AND SUBSTITUTION(PARADIGMATIC) (SAUSSURE)
 SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONSDEFINETHE FRAMEIN WHICH PARADIGMATIC
RELATION EXIST.
 PHONEMES MORPHEMES WORDS SENTENCES DISCOURSE /SPEECH
EVENTS.

8. DEVELOPMENT OF LINGUISTIC THEORY IN
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
• THEIDEAOFEXTENDINGLINGUISTIC ANALYSISTO INCLUDE
COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION WASFIRSTPROPOSEDBYCZECHLINGUIST
METHESIUS(PARTOFPRAGUESCHOOL)
• HEAND HISSUCCESSORSDEVELOPEDTHETHEORYOFFUNCTIONAL
SENTENCE PERSPECTIVE.
• THIS THEORYWASFIRSTBROUGHTTO THEATTENTION OFENGLISH-
SPEAKINGLINGUISTS IN HALLIDAY (1967); KUNO (1972A, 1972B) AND
CHAFE(1972) APPLIEDTHEM TO ISSUESTHAT WEREOFCONCERNTO
THEORETICALLINGUISTS IN THEUSAT THAT TIME. BYTHEENDOFTHE
1970S, A NUMBEROFFUNCTIONAL APPROACHESWEREEMERGINGIN BOTH
THEUSAND WESTERNEUROPE.

9. FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES
 THEREARETHREE APPROACHES…
 FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR BY( DIK 1978,1989)
 ROLEAND REFERENCEGRAMMAR BYFOLEYAND VAN VALIN
 SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR BY HALLIDAY
 FG AND RRGARE MODERATE FUNCTIONAL THEORIES.THESETHEORIES REJECTTHE
CONCEPTIONS OF GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, BUT EACH PROPOSESDIFFERENT
REPLACEMENT VIEW OF STRUCTURE.
 FG VIEW OF LANGUAGE: THE LANGUAGE SYSTEMISNOT CONSIDEREDASAN
AUTONOMOUS SETOF RULESRATHER IT ISASSUMED THAT THE RULESCAN ONLY BE
UNDERSTOOD WHEN THEYAREANALYZED IN TERMS OF CONDITIONS OF USE.
 RRG IS CONCERNED NOT ONLY WITH RELATIONS OF CO-OCCURRENCE AND
COMBINATION IN STRICTLY FORMAL TERMS BUT ALSO WITH SEMANTIC AND
PRAGMATIC CO-OCCURRENCE AND COMBINATION RELATIONS.

10. FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES
• SFGTAKESA STRONGLYDISCOURSE-ORIENTEDVIEWOF LANGUAGE.
• HALLIDAY MAINTAINS THAT THE ULTIMATE EXPLANATIONS OF LINGUISTIC
PHENOMENAARETO BEFOUND IN LANGUAGE USE.
• LANGUAGE HAS EVOLVEDTO SATISFYHUMAN NEEDS;AND THE WAY IT ISORGANIZED
ISFUNCTIONAL WITH RESPECTTO THESENEEDS–IT ISNOT ARBITRARY.A FUNCTIONAL
GRAMMAR ISESSENTIALLYA
“NATURAL” GRAMMAR, IN THE SENSETHAT EVERYTHING IN IT CAN BE
EXPLAINED, ULTIMATELY, BY REFERENCE TO HOW LANGUAGE IS USED.
• ACCORDING TO HALLIDAY THEREARETHREEMETAFUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE;
• IDEATIONAL(Field) , INTERPERSONAL,(Tenor)TEXTUALMETAFUNCTIONS.(mode)

11. Three language functions
 In any context, people use language to do three main
functions:
 Ideational (to tell about subject matter, FIELD)
 Interpersonal (to interact with other people, TENOR)
 Textual (to structure the text, MODE)

12. Context and Text
CULTURE
Genre
(Purpose)
SITUATION
Who is involved?
(Tenor)
Channel
(Mode)
Subject
matter
(Field)
REGISTER
TEXT

13. CONCLUSION
 ALL FUNCTIONALISTS AGREETHAT LANGUAGE ISA
SYSTEMOF FORMS FOR CONVEYING MEANING IN
COMMUNICATION AND THEREFORETHAT IN ORDER TO
UNDERSTAND IT, IT ISNECESSARYTO INVESTIGATE THE
INTERACTION OF STRUCTURE, MEANING AND
COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION.