A Systemic Functional Grammar of French: A Simple Introduction by David Banks (review)

Whereas some monographs in linguistics require a strong cup of coffee, scheduled breaks and multiple rereadings for successful navigation, this book represents a clear exception. Of particular interest to linguists unfamiliar with functional approaches or literary scholars seeking a concrete approach to analyzing text, this short introductory text presents M.A.K. Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) as applied to French. It begins (ch. 1) with a straightforward contextualization of SFG within the linguistic landscape. Functional linguistics, as contrasted with formal linguistics and cognitive linguistics, is interested in language use. The heart of the book describes the lexicogrammatical functions to encode meaning (ch. 2) and the metafunctions, or types of meaning, central to the framework: ideational (ch. 3), interpersonal (ch. 4), and textual (ch. 5). The remaining chapters succinctly address the role of context (ch. 6), the use and effect of grammatical metaphor (ch. 7), which contrasts with traditional metaphor, and a description of an extension of the interpersonal function, known as Appraisal Theory (ch. 8). The readability and accessibility of these content chapters are enhanced by the consistent layout of examples and analysis followed by practical bullet-point summaries at the conclusion of chapters 2 through 8. Throughout the book, examples from twenty-first-century, authentic, written texts including magazines such as Elle and Femme Actuelle, newspapers including Le Monde and Le Télégramme, but also tourist leaflets and academic prose, are followed by detailed demonstrations of the application of the analytical approach. The 111 examples range from clear-cut to potentially problematic for analysis and serve to nicely illustrate both differences between French and English and how a theory originally elaborated in and about English applies more universally. Furthermore, they offer a template that could be readily applied to other texts and genres. The brief conclusion (ch. 9) serves as a segue to further study, application, and the carefully constructed back matter, which begins with annotated suggestions for further reading. Another notably useful resource, even to those who do not read the book in its entirety, is the extensive English-French glossary of linguistic jargon relevant to (functional) linguistic analysis. In short, this book is an exemplar of distilling a complex theoretical approach to language and supporting further exploration.