An Introductory Course in SFL
This course will introduce basic concepts for understanding and analysing the relations between grammar, meaning and social context. It will enable participants to begin using systemic functional linguistic approaches to texts in a range of practical contexts. We will begin by looking at three key concepts:
- how our language choices are a function of, and at the same time create, the relevant context for meaning: the concept of realisation
- relations between what we see in a single instance of language use, and the linguistic system as a whole: the concept of instantiation
- the three main kinds of meanings we make simultaneously, namely ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings: the concept of metafunctions
These notions are abstract, but they are crucial to understanding how we make meaning with language. They will provide the framework in which we will explore the grammar of the clause (the systems of transitivity, mood and theme), in relation to texts from actual contexts of use, including texts from educational and political contexts.
