Lecture #5 19/11/2024

Revision:

The interpersonal function of language is realized by the relationship

between the subject and the finite and by interchanging their places we
can have different moods. Interrogative or declarative.

We can differentiate between imperative mood by deleting the subject

therefore the subject is imperative.

Sentences can be imperative (if we have an implicit subject and non-

imperative, we have the subject by reversing the places between the
subject and finite we can have an interrogative sentence or declarative
sentence.

The structure of the clause mood and residue what determines the
interpersonal function, the commitment of the speaker and the
relationship between the speaker and the hearer is also the subject and
the finite because they constitute the mood.

The function of conjunctive adjunct is to show the texture of the text,

to show how the information is structured within a paragraph or a text.

Modal adjuncts reflect some information about the mood of the

sentence.

The mood can be subject and finite, they determine the mood.

Mood adjunct reflects to what extent the speaker is committed to that

they’re talking about.

Is there any relationship between modal adjuncts and the mood of the
sentenced? Yes, the adjuncts reflect the mood of the sentence.

Discourse grammar

How information is structured within the clause.

It talks about the construction of the clause of the text and how the
information that is structured in the text.

It doesn’t matter if it follows the rules of the language, we just need to

know what you are talking about.

Discourse refers to the structured and meaningful use of language

beyond individual sentences, focusing on how sequences of sentences,
conversations, or written texts are organized to convey information,
ideas and social meaning.

Not on with one sentence but sequences of sentences.

Pragmatic is part of discourse.

What is the difference between pragmatics and discourse?

Pragmatics is the function of a particular utterance in a particular
situation and that specific time and place because the utterance itself
varies in meaning if any element of context is changed. Pragmatics is a
snapshot of meaning. What is the function of this particular
utterance in this particular place?

Discourse we talk about of a series of snapshots because we don’t talk

only about a particular place or time rather about context of discourse
and how sentences are related to each other how conversation is
related and the participants intertextually.

Discourse is a wider umbrella that includes pragmatics.

Register

A variety of language, a constellation of 3 variables:

the field: which field you’re talking about there are certain lexical items
that are related to certain fields.

Example: Gingive this will be found in dentistry

Legal English is a register

Scientific English is a register

Mathematics English is register

We talk about the variety related to a particular field or mood (whether

it is written or spoken)

Teller relationship between the participants.

Variety of language that is a constellation of field mood and teller.

Grammar from a discourse perspective

Grammar the rules in formal grammar are related to the form of the
sentences

But grammar in SFL is what constituents that are used to produce

texture.

Texture how sentences and utterances are related or structured

arranged to produce a meaningful text in a particular meaningful
context

The unity of texture includes cohesion and coherence

Cohesion

Coherence about how sentences are related to each other in meaning.

One unified idea.

Sometimes constituents are used to relate outside the text. Social and
cultural context.

For example: wedding invitation, there are citations from the bible or
Quran. It is derived from it.
 The main function of the wedding invitation is to inform the participants
of the time and place of the wedding. The citations are related to the
cultural context.

These constituents are related to the cultural context. We refer these

implements to the social context to the text itself. These entities are not
in the text itself but when we construct the text, we refer to social and
cultural contexts.

Cohesion and discourse

Cohesion devices

How a text, essay story paragraph how is it organized

It is referred to the words or phrases that are used to link sentences

together.

The main patterns of cohesion: references, lexical cohesion,

conjunction, substitution and ellipses.

They are used to link sentences.

Types of cohesion:

1. Reference

We can tie sentences together by the use of reference items. We can

use sentences together by the use of expressions (we I you them) to
link sentences. And this reference can be anaphoric, cataphoric,
exophoric and homophoric.

Here we talk about reference in terms of pointing.

Example: I saw Ali. He was shopping.

He is a reference word that is used to link sentences together. It points

back so it’s anaphoric.

Anaphoric reference, refers back to an entity preceding it

Cataphoric reference, we mention the reference then we point

to the referent

Exophoric refers to something outside the text

Homophonic refers to one constituent in the real world.

Cohesion is the relationship between sentences. Cohesion doesn’t work

on the same sentence within a single sentence.

Example. Sara heard herself.

herself refers back to Sara but it is not an anaphoric reference. It’s not a
cohesion device.

Haliday considers the clause as the basic unit of analysis. In formal

grammar the sentences is the main unit of structure but here the clause
is the starting point of the text so according to Halliday in this sentence:
 When he entered the room, John greeted everyone warmly.

He and John could be considered coherent devices because we are

dealing with two different clauses.

But what is relevant is that we consider the sentence as the

meaningful unit. When you analyze text to analyze sentences and if
you analyze utterances, you analyze the utterance.

Exophoric reference

The referent is not in the text itself.

Example: look at that. That is visible to the speaker and the hearer in
the context, but it doesn’t exist in the text.

Homophoric reference

Referencing one entity.

Further types of reference

Comparative: example, I like this book. The other one is better.

Better is comparative reference.

The book assumed all men are confident. The opposite is true.

The opposite comparison in contrast to what has been mentioned.

When you talk about two things that can be compared to one other.

You said something important. What I say is more important.

More important is comparative referent to what has been said.

Bridging reference.

The reference implicitly refers back to the referent.

Example: I went to a wedding. The bride was beautiful.

The bride is a referent to the wedding because the bride is part of the
context of the wedding. It can be considered as a kind of exophoric
referent. It’s bridging reference you have to presuppose that there’s no
wedding without a bride. The context itself includes a referent to which
we include the bride as a referring expression to refer the this referent.

Lexical cohesion:

The relationship in meaning. How the first sentence is related to the

second one in meaning? Not In pronouns.

1. Repetition

What is the difference between lexical cohesion and reference?

Example. She loves art. Art is her passion.

In lexical cohesion we repeat the same lexical item.

Sometimes you repeat part of it. Or you repeat any form of the verb.

And also, in lexical we use synonymy. The word and sentences can be
related to words that are similar in meaning.

Similar but not identical in meaning.

Words that precede a similar meaning in the first sentence.

Ex Ali left for London yesterday. He departed this country forever.

Anatomy, relating to words opposite in meaning. How can we consider

two words that are antonymous as a cohesion device?

I have two children. The eldest is Ali. The youngest is Faris.

Hyponymy: the relationship between items. Either the relationship is

general or specific. Or in class member. Superordinate subordinate
relationship. Not a part of but a kind of a hierarchal type of relationship

I like fruit. I eat an apple daily. Fruit superordinate category. Banana and
apple is one example of fruit.

Meronymy, a kind of part of a whole relationship.

My body hurts. My hand and arms ache. Hand and arm is part of the
body.

Collocation.

In what sense does collocation contribute to cohesion? We find in the

text words that are related in meaning.

When they talked about lexical cohesion they divided it into : retaliation
you repeat which includes repetition synonymy and the second
category is collocation.

In collocation we expect in certain context we talk about the words that

re expected to occur in a particular type of text.

Example a text of a computer. We expect certain occur or cooccur that

exist in this text screen data output input etc…

The text itself determines the type of words that occur or cooccur in
that text together. Which is extracted from a particular context.

Collocation as a cohesion device words that collocate in one context

may not collocate in another context. So its nota good cohesion device.
In collocation we deal with content words such as verbs adjectives
adverbs nouns the number of these are not limited because they are
not functional words. It’s difficult to determine collocation in discourse
analysis as a cohesion device.
Lexical bundles: we have a combination that includes more than one
word as a result on the other hand, these words tend to come together
and in a specific order.

Lexical bundles have functions to see the attitude of the speaker. They
reflect their knowledge or belonging to a particular discourse or
community.

Conjunctions

According to Halliday conjunctives not conjunction is a word class

conjunctives however finally moreover these are conjunctives because
they have function within the sentence. Conjunctives two sentences
conjunctions two clauses of the same sentences.

Additive conjunctions and or moreover

Comparative on the other hand likewise equally

Temporal while when after meanwhile relating to time

Consequential therefore in conclusion in this way

Conjunctions don’t refer to anything, they just join two sentences.

Substitution

As a cohesion tool

Replace a word instead of repeating the word in the first sentence.

Replacing a word instead of another in order to avoid repetition

Nominal substitution we replace the noun with the one

Example: try reading this book. That one is not very good.

I don’t like this apple, give me the other one.

Verbal substitution with do does done

Has he eaten dinner yet? He must have done.

We we have met in Brazil. Yes we must have done.

Eat some banana. I did.

Clausal substitution

We delete the whole clause and put instead so.

Example: are you coming tomorrow? I don’t think so

Sometimes we replace the whole clause with not.

Ellipsis it involves deletion

E.g.: I have four children. The eldest (child) is Ali.

Delete the noun not to repeat it. If its substitution I would say the eldest
one. Replaced child with one but in ellipses complete deletion.

Nominal ellipsis

Verbal ellipsis

Clausal ellipsis

Lecture #6 23/11/2024

On the other hand, conjunctive

Some conjunctives are phrases not like words. They can be classified as
lexical bundles and conjunctives as well. Like: on the other hand, as a
result of, etc.

Cohesion devices are words or phrases used to connect sentences.

Difference between substitution, ellipses and reference.

Substitution replacing a word in a sentence with another word.

Some discourse analysts consider ellipses as substitution

replaced by a zero.

When we omit something. We ellipised the noun phrase and replaced it

by zero so we can show that there is zero that can be traced back to the
referent in the preceding sentence. The zero guides us to the
proceeding to the previous nominal that was elipsed.

Ellipses and substitution guide us to the element substituted or elipsed

in the immediate preceding clause or sentence.

The only cohesion tool that can do a referent for six seven sentences
back or forward is reference.

One major reference can reach a long way back in the text or a long
way back forward while ellipses and substitution are limited to the
immediately preceding clause therefore, they can’t refer long back.

With reference there is a typical meaning of coreference that

both items typically refer to the same thing.

Example he ate an apple. It is green. It is a referent to an apple. They

have typical meaning we don’t refer to anything else.

Example: I ate two green apples. But I like red ones.

Here the substitution doesn’t refer back to the same topic or referent.
Green apples =/ red ones

Here ones it replaces to the idea of apples but not the same apples.
Theres no typical meaning or co-referent between them. In substitution
 and ellipses there’s always some difference. If I want to refer back to
the same thing I use reference.

Theme and Rheme

Theme is the starting point of a clause

Rheme: the remainder of the clause.

It is a type of textual cohesion. We continue talking about how the

textual function is realized through thematic information structure. How
the cause is organized in terms of theme and rheme. Which constituent
do we start our clause, what is the point of departure of the clause.

Textual function is realized by three ways

Cohesion device, Thematic structure and information structure.

Types of themes:

a. Topical theme: it is the main topic of the clause, derived from topic
because it gives us info about the starting point whether it’s a person,
place, time, etc. it talks about the specific starting point. It carries
information about time place person the verb itself.
Example. Ali left to Amman
To London, Ali left
Yesterday Ali left.
b. Textual theme: it includes conjunctions such as as and or but that
connect one clause to another
Example: it is often vaguely defined, but several uses of the term is
identified.

c. Interpersonal theme you express your own point of view. It refers to

the relationship between participants in the text. And it also shows
certainty and uncertainty.

Multiple themes is an umbrella which contains topical themes, textual

theme and interpersonal theme.

Example: However, it seems unlikely that Descartes would delibertly

challenge the church.

Textual theme interpersonal theme topical

theme rheme.

Types of interpersonal theme.

Probability (Perhaps) Usuality(sometimes)

Typically (generally or typically) Obviousness(surely)

Opinion (to my mind) admission(frankly)

 Persuasion (believe me) Entreats(kindly)

Presumption (no doubt)

Desirability(hopefully)

Prediction (Expected)

The sense that is the result of combining theme and rheme

together is :

Thematic development: How can we develop clauses and structure

them. What are the constituents of clauses.

First of all we develop clauses themselves which are made of theme and
rheme as well as other clauses who are also made up of theme and
rheme.

How can we develop and structure this paragraph? By thematic

progression.

How do theme and rheme develop and progress through the passage?
How can we organize them within the passage? How can we organize
the passage based on the theme and rheme.

It refers to the way in which a theme of a clause may pick up or

repeat a meaning of a preceding them or rheme.

Constant theme pattern, developing a paragraph by repeating the same

theme.

Example: The lion lives in the jungle. The lion eats meat. (theme
reiteration)

Theme zigzag or linear: is where the theme of one clause is picked up in

the rheme of the next clause.

Example: the climate is changing rapidly. This change can affect the
animals.

Split Rheme: rheme of a sentence is split into multiple pieces of

information. Each information is picked up and turned into the theme of
a new clause.

Table6.8 as an example.

Attitude and Grammar

Appraisal Theory Attitude: it is divided into 3 categories:

1. Affect: Deals with feelings

 Example: I feel bad.
2. Judgment: related to behavior
Example: She was good.
3. Appreciation: about an object
Example: It is ugly.

It focuses on the way language is used to build relationships between

speaker and listener.
It may be expressed either:
a. Explicitly: through the use of individual lexical items.
Example: She is very kind.
b. Implicitly: it doesn’t come out directly.
Example: The movie is ugly  it was hard to keep watching it.

People can interpret the same item or message in different ways, and
sometimes these interpretations can overlap.
Example:
A. Different interpretations: People can see the same item or message
in different ways based on factors like their culture, age, or gender.
Example: The way someone reads or understands a piece of writing can
change depending on who they are.

B. Dubble Coding: Some items might be understood in more than one

way by the same person at the same time.
This means that a single message or item can be interpreted through
different “lenses” or “layers” of meaning.
This could involve different aspects of how we judge or evaluate
things(like emotions, logic or social context)

C. Dominant interpretations: While there can be multiple ways to

interpret something, one interpretation might stand out more than
others in certain contexts, like in different genres of writing.
For example: in hard news stories, the emotional tone can be stronger.

D. Fuzzy Categories: The lines between these different interpretations

are not always clear.
Sometimes it’s hard to say exactly how something should be
understood because the meanings can blend.
Grammar and Engagement
There are grammatical signals or cues that we can use in order to
express our engagement.
To what extent are we engaged? Do we endorse or distance ourselves
from an item?

Engagement in writing or speaking refers to how a person positions

themselves in relation to the attitudes.
This can be done using various grammatical resources such as:
a. Endorsement
 Example: As X argues, this is a good approach.
b. Distance:
Example: Some may claim this, but it doesn’t hold up.

These choices signal how much the speaker or writer agrees or

disagrees with other people’s words or ideas.
c. Modality: it expresses the certainty (epistemic modality) or obligation/
permission (deontic modality) of a statement.
It indicates how certain or uncertain the speaker is about their claims,
or how necessary or possible something is.
d. Disclaimers and proclaimers are tools for qualifying statements by
strengthening or emphasizing the speaker’s commitment to the
statement.

Endorsement
Non endorsement
Disendorsment

Resources for Evaluating:

When you want to indicate your support for an item, what language do
you use?
1. Reporting verbs:
+: verbs like demonstrate or confirm show agreement with the source.
-: verbs like claim or suggest express disagreement or doubt.
=: neutral verbs like say or state simply report the source without
judgment.

2. Nominalization Evaluative Items:

Nominalization: turning verbs into nouns. It focuses on the idea.
 Example: statement, demonstration
Evaluative Items: words like controversial or reliable assess the quality
or credibility of the source.

3. Modality:
Expresses certainty (eg: certainly, definitely) or possibility (e.g:
possibly, likely) about the source material.
Direct Quotation: source material is quoted exactly.
Paraphrasing: the source is restated in the writer’s own words.

4. Disclaimers and Proclaimers:

Disclaimers: used to distance from or reject a source
Proclaimers: used to assert or strongly support a source.

Grammatical Differences between spoken and written

disclosures.

What are the linguistic features in written and spoken

discourse?
In general, written discourse and spoken differ in grammar.

The grammatical relation between clauses in written discourse is

different than grammatical relationship in spoken discourse. Because
written discourse is packed with information, because we have enough
time to write sentences.

But in spoken discourse we don’t have time to manage our speech while
we are talking because we are under pressure. Therefore, we make use
in shorter clauses that are chained by additive pronouns and or but … in
order to link clauses together.

In written, we find spread out clauses, you have complex and

compounds sentences.

They also differ in terms of lexical density. Which means the ratio of
content words to grammatical words.
In written language we tend to find more content words in the
discourse that is written more than spoken, adj nouns verbs and
adverbs. The frequency is high in each clause in written discourse of
content words.

In spoken we use more functional knowns that define the context, he

she it …
Face to face interaction may use the one to one interaction to figure out
the context no need for using content words.

Nominalization:

e.g. good writers reflect on what they write. Reflection is a

characteristic of good writers.

It makes the text more compact. It tends to occur in written language.

Doesn’t mean nominalization is restricted to written language. Because
the ratio of content words in written is higher than functional words. But
that doesn’t mean spoken language doesn’t have nominalization. Just
its more frequent in written.

Grammatical metaphor: refers to what a word or item is used in an

unexpected way.

We change the world class from a verb into a noun, it’s called metaphor
because we changed something real (process) to something unreal
(noun)

Longer noun groups in written discourse are often longer in spoken

discourse, for example (existential hero in spite of himself)

It’s frequently used in written language. Increasing lexical density which

increases content words. Question: why do we make use of grammatical
metaphor in written language?

Experiential and interpersonal metaphor:

Experiential metaphor: we change the verb into noun because it’s

related to giving information.

Example, change the verb finish into the finish.

Interpersonal metaphor: we change the modal into a noun.

Possibility instead of perhaps.

Continuum:

Written language can have some feature in written language depending

on the situation and genre expressed.

Is there a difference between experiential metaphor and

grammatical metaphor?

Grammatical metaphor we change the word class regardless whether

it is an adj noun verb into a noun broader term.

Experiential metaphor: only verbs into nouns.

CH1 Systemic Functional Linguistic

Finite and
Subject and relation functions

Mood risue

Adjuncts

Conjunctives

Interpersonal functions of language