Introducing functional grammar (review)

Introducing functional grammaris intended for a reader who has no or very little knowledge of functional grammar. It was developed as a result of a lecture series and is thus well suited as course literature, with exercises closing each chapter and a key at the end of the book. Moreover, Geoffrey Thompson has thoughtfully provided further reading chapter by chapter for the interested reader.

This book guides the reader into the world of the multistratal framework of language (e.g. M. A. K. Halliday, An introduction to functional grammar, London: Arnold, 1985). The key concept behind the functional approach is the meaning of elements and the function they fill in the discourse. The author equates functional grammar explanation with the language user’s intuitive knowledge and thus creates a link between the outlined theory and empirical language use.

The topics covered overlap with those in Halliday 1985, and the changes in the second edition relate to the third edition of An Introduction to functional grammar(by Halliday and Christian M. I. M. Matthiesen, London: Arnold, 2004) and the changes therein. The topics discussed are outlined chapter by chapter below.

In Ch. 1 the reader is presented with a brief account of transformational analysis, which is based on the form of linguistic entities. Following that, T offers a functional grammar approach that regards meaning as the primary starting point for language analysis. The author argues that a meaning-based account is a more accurate way of explaining a language if one is interested in the actual use of the language.

Ch. 2 first defines the terminology used in the book, and then deals with ways of identifying units of meaning in sentences. Since the focus of the book is clauses and their constituents, this chapter lays a foundation for the discussion that follows. Ch. 3 gives a general overview of functional grammar. The reader is reminded that in functional approaches the meaning of linguistic entities is equated with their function. The three broad functions—experiential, interpersonal, and textual—that each accommodate several specific ones are introduced.

The focus of Ch. 4 is on interaction, the interpersonal metafunction. The chapter includes sections on participant roles, mood (defined as a combination of the subject and the finite verb), modality, and interaction in spoken and written discourse. Ch. 5 turns to transitivity, which falls under the label of experiential metafunction. T introduces concepts behind various processes, such as material, mental, relational, and verbal, and presents a classification of participants in the above processes. In addition, transitivity patterns in text are discussed. Finally, ergativity is presented as a counter perspective to transitivity.

Ch. 6 moves to textual metafunction and deals with discourse organization from the functional perspective. Ch. 7 discusses cohesion in discourse and contrasts it with coherence (which is a mental phenomenon.) Ch. 8 concentrates on discourse patterns, that is, ways of combining clauses and the relations between them. Ch. 9 introduces grammatical metaphors, that is, cases where the connection between the word and the meaning is not so transparent. Finally, Ch. 10 brings together the main points of the previous chapters and outlines the domains of application of functional grammar (for example, in discourse analysis and educational linguistics).