An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic-functional linguistics is becoming an increasingly popular approach to language, given the range and thoroughness of the analytical techniques it offers, and the variety of applications it has been demonstrated to have. This text draws on the seminal work of Halliday, Martin and others, to give students from a variety of backgrounds an accessible introduction to the theory and techniques of the systemic approach. This includes language as a semiotic system, levels of context (register and genre) discourse-semantics, and the analysis of cohesion, and the meaning of systemic choice. The volume arises from the author's extensive experience of lecturing on systemic linguistics at the introductory level to a variety of audiences. The materials currently available and used as set texts for such courses, include Halliday's "Introduction for Functional Grammar" or Martin's "English Text: System and Structure". However, these texts assume some familiarity either with the systemic approach, or with basic linguistic concepts, and prove extremely difficult for students to penetrate. "Language as Content" is an introduction for all students of systemic linguistics, English, linguistics and communications, at both undergraduate and masters level.