Systemic Functional Linguistics

1. Subject Systemic Functional Linguistics
Presented By:
Sarmad Shakoor
13131502-058
Waqas Shoukat
13131502-74
Usama Shoukat
13131502-065
Sami Ullah
13131502-103

2. Structural Groups and Functional Slots

3. How can we label a clause
• Clause:
A clause is any stretch of language centered around a
verbal group.
• In easy words we can say “ the basic unit of Language is
Clause, that contains at least one verb. Verb may be finite
or Non-finite.

4. Finite
• Tells us about time or tense.
• Love: She loves animals.
• Send: He Sent a letter.
• Bring: She brought a glass of water.

5. Group
• In functional linguistics the basic constituent is Group.
• Group:
Group may be a single word or more than one words which perform
only one function. It will be dependent upon one word, and if you
remove that word than that group becomes meaningless.
• For example:
The purpose of Presentation is to improve the skill of the students.

6. Types of structural group
• Nominal Group
• Verbal group
• Adjectival group
• Adverbial group
• Prepositional Phrase

7. Types of Group
• Nominal Group: It may be a word or a group of words having the
head word as a noun or pronoun.
• So group depended upon noun or pronoun is called Nominal group.
• For example:
Donald Trump is the 45Th president of America.
The expectation of Pakistan from Donald Trump is useless.
Pakistan is an Islamic country.

8. Verbal group
• A word or group of words that depends upon a verb is called verbal
group.
• It perform the main function of a verb.
• For example:
• She is cooking the meal.
• Donald trump was taking an oath.
• I am interested in SFL.
• America is the killer of the word.

9. Adjectival Group
• A word or a group of words which depends upon an adjective is called
adjectival group.
• For example:
• He is an expert Doctor.
• Donald Trump is the 45th president of America.
• I heard a car door slim.
• There are beautiful flowers

10. Adverbial group
• A word or group of words which depends upon an adverb is called
adverbial group.
• For example:
• He is running slowly.
• He is running very slowly.
• he finished his homework very quickly.
• He played the ball very beautifully.

11. Prepositional Phrase
• In SFL we can define a phrase “ it is a contraction to a clause, it must
consist at least two different parts, the preposition and the nominal
group depended on it”.
• He is living in Karachi.
• Donald Trump is shifting to Whitehouse.
• Pakistan is at the developing stage.
• Pakistan is considered the most powerful country among the Muslim
countries.

12. Functional slots
• It is related with the function of the group. As in previous slides we
talk about their structures, now we are going to talk about the
function. We must remember that each group has a specific function
in a sentence. So each group perform only one function.
• There are five main functions that are performed by structural
groups.
• So different roles are there to be performed by different groups.
• Subject, Object, Predicator, Adjunct, Complement

13. Subject
• Subject is the doer of an action.
• Their subsequent affair:
From its structure we can observe that it is a nominal group, but we
cannot decide its function tell the usage of it in the clause.
oTheir subsequent affair climaxes in a showdown across the House
divided.
oSo we can easily know from the above clause that the function of the
nominal group is Subject.

14. Object
• Object is the receiver of an action.
• Object is the entity that the Subject ‘does’ the Predicator to.
• Their subsequent affair:
• She got divorce because of their subsequent affairs. Object
• The president
• Mamnoon Hussain is the president of Pakistan. Object
• The president of Pakistan visited America.

15. Predicator
• Verbal groups are performing the function of predicators.
• Predicator is a performative verb.
• It can be define as a word performing or showing an action in a clause.
• He had paid his bill very Causley.
• He eats the meal.
• She is cooking the meal.
• He is preferring to coffee.
• he had paid his bill by credit card.
• She released her hand from his grasp

16. Adjunct
• This function is performed either by Adverbial group or Prepositional
phrase.
• An Adjunct is typically an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase giving
some kind of background information about the event or state expressed
by the Predicator
• Adjunct gives us the extra information about something. So it the extra
information in the clause.
• I forgot your words completely.
• He is running slowly.
• He is running very slowly.
• She released her hand from his grasp

17. Complement
• The function of complement is performed by nominal groups or adjectival groups.
• By removing that group the clause becomes meaningless.
• We can say by removing that group the meaning is effected.
• He is a Doctor.
• He is a Teacher.
• Charity is business.
• She is beautiful.

18. Main Points in Labeling
• Recognizing of Clauses
• Recognizing constituents.
• Labeling.

19. STRUCTURAL GROUPS FUNCTIONAL SLOTS
Nominal group Subject
Verbal group Object
Adjectival group Predicator
Adverbial group Adjunct
Prepositional phrase Complement

20. Functions of Nominal groups:
It performs one of the three functions
Subject Charity is business
Here the word Charity is a nominal group but its function is like
a Subject.
Object He eats a banana daily.
Banana is a nominal group and its function is an object.
I have sold my property
Complement. He is a professor in the university of Gujrat.
Professor is a nominal group and its function is complement.
The old farmhouse is my property

21. Verbal Group and its function.
Predicator He is watching the movie.
verbal group and function like a predicator.
Adjectival Group.
Only one functions is performed by an adjectival group in a
clause.
Complement Whales are beautiful.
She is the star.
The food smells delicious
That should keep them happy.

22. Adverbial Group.
This group can perform two types of function in a clause.
Subject Now is the time.
Easy does it"
Adjunct Younis khan scored runs very quickly.
Prepositional phrase
It performs the function of an adjunct.
Adjunct Their subsequent affair climaxes in a showdown across the
House divide.

23. 1-clause Charity is business
Structural group N1 verbal N2
Functional slots Subject predicator complement
2-clauss
The boy going along the
road
is My brother
Structural group N1 Adjectival group. verb N2
Functional slots P C
1-Clause She released Her hand From his grasp
N1 Verb N2 Prepositional
phrase
Subject
Subject Predicator object Adjunct