Functional Grammar

→

SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics that

describes the relation between grammar and meaning (closely related to the point one can’t exist

without the other)

→

systemic priority to paradigmatic relations / language as a set of systems / prioritizes choice /

• describes language as a system, realized by instantiations, that is continuously expanded by the

very instantiations that realize it and that is continuously reproduced and recreated with use

→

functional oriented towards semantics / grammar as a resource to construct meaning / what

• language achieves in context

context > content: semantics = meaning > content: lexicogrammar = wording > expression:

phonology > expression: phonetics

extra-linguistic level (culture + situation) + linguistic level (semantics + lexicogrammar +

graphology/phonology)

→

idea of choice there are potentially identifiable reasons why the writer is expressing the

message in this particular way rather than in other possible ways

language creates 3 different kinds of meaning at the same time: each component

kinds of meaning ~ →

has its own systems of choices the result of a series of choices from any system is a structure /

the choices between each group interact with each other, but there is relatively little interaction

across them

3 METAFUNCTIONS ∞ Registers (= configuration of meanings that are associated with a particular

situational configuration)

→

1. IDEATIONAL Field: what’s going on

(i) experiential meaning (ii) logical meaning

→

• deictic pre-modifier

a. a.

in NG realized by determiners /

there, this, that, these, those, the,

possessive pronouns / function: point out,

tells us which things are being referred to +

whether it’s a specific or a non-specific

thing →

• epithet functions as adjective

→

• numerative ordinal numerals, many,

several, few, lots of / how many things

→

• classifier tells us what type or class of

thing / identifies a subclass head

b.

→

thing

b. 6 possible functions, specifies the

class of the item refereed to post-modifier

c.

→

qualifier

c. prepositional phrase

(frequently with if) or a clause providing

additional defining or circumstantial info

about the Thing / cannot be moved

→

INTERPERSONAL Tenor: who is taking part

2. →

3. TEXTUAL Mode: what’s the role of language

→

CONSTITUENCY syntagmatic order / larger units are made up out of smaller units

1) there is a scale of rank in the grammar of every language / 2) each units consists of one or more

units from the rank below / 3) units can be rank-shifted, can function inside the structure of another

unit / 4) possible for one unit to be enclosed inside another unit / 5) units of every rank may form

complexes

→ possibility of splitting any meaningful unit into smaller units of a different kind at the rank

• ranks

below / units at each rank can be made up only of units from the rank below + analysis is

exhaustive, every element is accounted for at each rank

ranking clause: to distinguish non-embedded from embedded clauses / ranking close = no

depending clause attached.

view of the clause in terms of CONSTITUENTS

1. 1.

clause clause complexes: two or more clauses linked by

coordination/subordination in a larger structural unit

2. 2.

group + prepositional phrases group complexes

3. word →

4. morpheme smallest meaningful unit

→

word boundaries signaled with spaces in writing and with intonation in speech / dubious cases

are those words with ‘-‘

CONSTITUENTS

individual words: noun / verb / adjective / adverb / auxiliary verb / modal verb / pronoun /

• conjunction

types of groups:

• NG | nominal groups:

1. pre-modifier: not always present / anything that comes before the head in a nominal

a. group / includes determiners, adjectives, nouns

head

b. postmodifier: not always present / anything that follows the head in the nominal group /

c. includes prepositional phrases, embedded clauses

VG | verbal groups:

2. finite verbal group: shows tense

a. non-finite verbal group: doesn’t show tense

b.

AG | adverbial groups

3.

FUNCTIONAL SLOTS

SUBJECT may be filled by: NG / AG / embedded clause

• PREDICATOR

• OBJECT: entity the Subject does the Predicator to

• COMPLEMENT: NG / AG that refers to the same entity as the Subject or describes it (w/ verbs

• like be)

ADJUNCT: AG / prepositional phrase giving some kind of background info about the event/

• state expressed by the Predicator

→

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE 2 major roles

1. Postmodifier/Qualifier in a NG

→

2. Adjunct in a clause provides info about the Circumstance of the Process / can be moved

→

EMBEDDING allows a unit to be expanded by inclusion of another unit from a higher/same rank

/ main site is the NG, Postmodifier

Prepositional phrase + Nominal Group

→

PP normally a simple preposition

→

NOMINAL GROUP COMPLEXES sometimes 2 or more groups combine as a single constituent

to jointly fulfill a function (Subject/Complement)

[3 =/= subjects: 1) grammatical (interpersonal) / 2) logical: actor (ideational) / 3) psychological: theme

(textual)]

IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION

field: what’s going on / transitivity + logico semantic relations

logical subject: actor

→

experiential logical

• →

transitivity taxis (interdependency) / logico