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11 - Models of Discourse in Systemic Functional Linguistics

from Part II - Discourse Analysis within SFL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2019

By
Tom Bartlett
Edited by
Geoff Thompson ,
Wendy L. Bowcher ,
Lise Fontaine  and
David Schönthal
Geoff Thompson
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
Wendy L. Bowcher
Affiliation:
Sun Yat-Sen University, China
Lise Fontaine
Affiliation:
Cardiff University
David Schönthal
Affiliation:
Cardiff University
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Summary

Hasan says of SFL that 'for a theory that introduces itself as a semiotic one it is woefully neglectful of specifically sociolinguistic issues; its only substantial contribution is in the field of discourse analysis, where it offers a framework for the analysis of social context as well as for that of discourse'. This chapter sets out SFL’s general approach to text analysis and the relation of text to context and illustrates this analysis in practice with reference to several of the most influential models in SFL (Hasan’s Register Analysis; Gregory’s Phase; Martin’s Discourse Semantics; Mann, Thompson, and Matthiessen’s Rhetorical Structure Theory; and Matthiessen’s Appliable Discourse Analysis). Following from the description and illustration of the various approaches, the chapter then considers Hasan’s claim, above, in light of criticisms of the 'textualist' orientation in SFL from prominent discourse analysts in other disciplines (Blommaert, van Dijk, Widdowson). The chapter concludes by evaluating the extent to which the various SFL approaches presented interface with or integrate the social features of context in their descriptive and analytical capacity and by suggesting some ways in which these connections can be enhanced.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics , pp. 285 - 310
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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