This document discusses the work of Australian linguist Michael Halliday and his theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). [Halliday identified seven language functions that children acquire: instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative, and representational.] Halliday's approach analyzes language in terms of context (field, tenor, mode), semantics, and lexico-grammar. Central to SFL is the use of "system networks" to represent linguistic choices. According to Halliday, language is a functional system organized to express three primary meanings: ideational, interpersonal, and textual.

1. Students: Maria D. Guarecuco
Franklin Perez
Dexis Adam
Professor: Aida Morillo

2.  Australian linguist
 Halliday (1975) identifies
seven functions
 Children are motivated to
acquire language

3. * The first Instrumental: This is
Regulatory: This is
when the child uses
four functions language to express
where language is
Halliday calls used to tell others
their needs (e.g.'Want
what to do
them: juice')
Interactional: to Personal: use to * The next
make contact with express feelings,
others and form opinions and three functions
relationships individual identity are:
Heuristic: is used Imaginative: to tell Representational:
to gain knowledge stories and jokes,
about the and to create an to convey facts
environment imaginary. and information.

4. MICHAEL HALLIDAY
Some of Michael’s Halliday early work involved the study of child
language development.
What is language? How should be described?
Language is a systematic In linguistics description,
resource for expressing meaning language is a system rather than
in context. structure.
What is the role of What is the relevant
linguistic structure? unit of analysis?
How is Linguistic
-When Linguistic For SFL is the text, variation explained?
because the functional
Structure occurred in
meaning potential of
text, are considered language is realized in
“natural” because… units no smaller than texts
What about language acquisition?
Is learning how to express meanings acquiring the
functions one can perform with human language.

5. • - Is an approach to linguistics that
considers language as a system.
SFL:
• -The label "Systemic" is related to the
System Networks used in the description of
the Lexico- grammar of human languages.

6. Context of the
Is the study of functions situation:
and semantics -Social envioronment –
-Oriented linguists Functional organization
begin with the analysis of language.
Halliday’s approach:

7. (what language does, and how it does it)
 language is analyzed in terms of four strata:
-Context, concerns the Field (what is going
on)
Mode: the
Field: What is Tenor: who is
symbolic
happening. taking part;
organization
The Nature of the social
of the text,
the social roles and
rhetorical
interaction relationships
modes
taking place. of participant

8. -Semantics, divided into Ideational Semantics,
Interpersonal Semantics and Textual Semantics.
-Lexico-Grammar concerns the syntactic organization
of words into utterances.

9. FORMALISM
Central to SFL is the use of 'system networks', an inheritance
network used to represent the choices present in making an
utterance. The 'choices' in this network are called 'features'.
e.g., a simplified lexico-grammatical network.
- finite...
- clause -|
| - nonfinite...
|
| -nominal-group...
| |
-|- group -|-adjectival-adverbial-group...
| |
| -prep-phrase...
|
- word...

10. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
 Halliday proposes a linguistic theory:
 Semantics: The speaker does not choose between forms
but between meanings.
 Functionalisms: The language is organized by
functions, It is functional because the organization of
the system becomes on the base of the functions of the
language.
 The language in use: Those options become in context.

11. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
The speaker has a meaning potential that it updates when it chooses
by some of them when producing a text in a specific situational
context.
Every time we produce a text, we are choosing from the set of options
that provides the linguistic system. Each user of the language makes
his elections within the grammar, in contexts of types of situation.
 What is the registry?
Registry is called to the adjustment of the text to the context. It is the
variety of language determined by the communicative situation.
The users consider the variables of field, tenor and way to carry out
their elections from the system.

12. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
 Which are the primary functions of the language?
 Ideational: The language organizes our experience and
aid to conform our vision of the world.
 Interpersonal: The language serves to establish and to
maintain relations social, to determine communicative
rolls, social groups and to consolidate the identity of the
speakers.
 Textual: The language offers to the users appropriate
means to create coherent messages or texts.