Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics

Rate this book
New edition of a best-selling introduction to systemic functional linguistics explores the social semiotic approach to language most closely associated with the work of Michael Halliday and his colleagues. An approach which views language as a strategic, meaning-making resource, systemic linguistics focuses on the analysis of authentic, everyday texts, and asks both how people use language to make meanings, and how language itself is organised to enable those meanings to be made.

The book offers both an overview of systemic theory and illustrations of how systemic techniques can be applied in the analysis of everyday texts. Written for students who may have little or no formal knowledge of linguistics, it covers most of the major concepts in systemic linguistics. In addition, it introduces readers to Halliday's functional grammatical analysis of English clauses, and presents the essentials of the systemic analysis of cohesive patterns in text.

With its systemic theory of the relationship between language and context, systemic linguistics has applications in many fields where an understanding of how language functions to transmit social structure is important, in , for example, language education, cultural studies, stylistics, and women's studies. The book provides an accessible first step into systemics for those who wish to equip themselves with the conceptual and practical tools to analyse and explain how people make meanings with each other in everyday contexts.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

11 people are currently reading
206 people want to read

About the author

Suzanne Eggins

6 books2 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
25 (43%)
4 stars
21 (36%)
3 stars
10 (17%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
3 reviews
July 31, 2017
I actually like this one better than the second edition. This first version clearly separates discourse-semantics and lexico-grammar as two different layers of meaning making through language.
Profile Image for Tú.
156 reviews
April 1, 2013
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), initially developed by the social semiotic linguist Michael Halliday, is recognized as a “useful descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic, meaning-making resource”.

As a semiotic approach which shares similar views with Aristotle’s classical rhetoric in terms of logos, ethos, and pathos, SFL views language as being structured according to three main kinds of meaning: textual, ideational, and interpersonal meanings.

With the most common explanation of terms, textual meanings are meanings about how “what we are saying hangs together and relates to what was said before and to the context around us”; ideational meanings are meanings about “how we represent experience in language”; and interpersonal meanings are meanings about “our role relationships with other people and our attitudes to each other”.

This can therefore be called classic for things concerning Text Analysis or Modern Rhetoric.
Profile Image for Alma Wahdie.
13 reviews3 followers
January 12, 2015
This book help me much when I enrolled the SFG course. I learn a lot from here.
I just wonder why the layout is not interesting enough.
I mean, no doubt, of course, to the material in it. Eggins is the expert of it. It is grateful to learn from her.
I'll give 5 stars when they publish the next edition with great layout, the one which have clear subtitle symbol in it.
Profile Image for Guilherme Nunes.
26 reviews135 followers
October 1, 2015
Esse livro simplesmente é espetacular. Didático ao extremo. Abriu e simplificou várias coisas na área de linguística. Esse livro me fez admirar a inda mais a linguagem.
Profile Image for Midday Rachmawati.
1 review
May 17, 2016
So much information I needed in here. this book is very useful for both English teacher and EFL/ESL students
Profile Image for Nura.m.
75 reviews
January 4, 2017
This is like the best book when it comes to explaining SFL. Very thorough, informative, clear explanation.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.