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Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic Functional Linguistics

Exploring Choice
Lise Fontaine, Cardiff University
Tom Bartlett, Cardiff University
Gerard O'Grady, Cardiff University
December 2013
Available
Hardback
9781107036963
£78.00
GBP
Hardback
GBP
Paperback

    This stimulating volume provides fresh perspectives on choice, a key notion in systemic functional linguistics. Bringing together a global team of well-established and up-and-coming systemic functional linguists, it shows how the different senses of choice as process and as product are interdependent, and how they operate at all levels of language. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it covers a range of linguistic viewpoints, informed by evolutionary theory, psychology, sociology and neuroscience, to produce a complex but unifying account of the issues. This book offers a critical examination of choice and is ideal for students and researchers working in all areas of functional linguistics as well as cognitive linguistics, second-language acquisition, neurolinguistics and sociolinguistics.

    • Brings together a team of established names in the field of systemic functional linguistics as well as a new generation of scholars, which will benefit readers by offering new perspectives on the topic
    • This volume links systemic functional linguistic theory to a number of allied disciplines and will appeal to students and researchers in a variety of subject areas as well as those interested in a more interdisciplinary work
    • Offers a critical examination of choice in systemic functional theory and will appeal to those who have been uncomfortable with the lack of debate on this central concept

    Reviews & endorsements

    '[Systemic Functional Linguistics: Exploring Choice] demonstrates that systemic functional linguistics' multi-layered and metafunctionally diverse model of language in context is well-situated to develop the interdisciplinary work that is vital for linguistics in the twenty-first century, and will inspire younger scholars to prioritize interdisciplinary collaborations.' James D. Benson, Professor Emeritus, York University, Toronto

    'There are multiple reasons why the book can be recommended to a range of readers. Not only can it serve as a course and reference book for students and researchers working in all areas of functional linguistics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition, neurolinguistics and sociolinguistics because of its use of strong theoretical perspectives, but it also sets the scene for further studies on the theoretical concept of choice.' Mingfang Chen, Discourse Studies

    See more reviews

    Product details

    December 2013
    Hardback
    9781107036963
    552 pages
    229 × 30 × 152 mm
    0.9kg
    124 b/w illus. 1 colour illus. 54 tables
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction: choice in contemporary systemic functional theory Lise Fontaine
    • Part I. Choice: Theory and Debate:
    • 1. Meaning as choice M. A. K. Halliday
    • 2. The teleological illusion in linguistic 'drift': choice and purpose in semantic evolution David G. Butt, Alison Moore and Kathryn Tuckwell
    • 3. Choice and language variation: some theoretical reflections Maria Freddi
    • 4. Grammatical choice and communicative motivation: a radical systemic approach Carl Bache
    • 5. Semantic options and complex functions: a recursive view of choice Lise Fontaine
    • 6. Choice and choosing in systemic functional grammar: what is it and how is it done? Robin P. Fawcet
    • Part II. Cognitive and Neurolinguistic Views on Choice:
    • 7. Systemic networks, relational networks, and choice Sydney Lamb
    • 8. The twin paradoxes of unconscious choices and unintentional agents: what neurosciences say about choice and agency in action and language Elissa Asp
    • 9. A neurocognitive interpretation of systemic functional choice José María Gil
    • Part III. Linguistic Constraints on Choice:
    • 10. There-constructions as a choice for coherence in the recent history of English Ana Elina Martínez-Insua
    • 11. Picking an argument: politicians' choice of persuasive strategies Geoff Thompson
    • 12. A dynamic view of choice in writing: composition as text evolution Michael O'Donnell
    • Part IV. Cultural and Contextual Constraints on Choice:
    • 13. Choice, system, realization: describing language as meaning potential Ruqaiya Hasan
    • 14. 'Choice' in relation to context: a diachronic perspective on cultural valeur Claire Urbach
    • 15. Material action as choice in field Wendy L. Bowcher
    • 16. 'I'll manage the context': context, environment and the potential for institutional change Tom Bartlett
    • 17. Towards a study of the differences between formal written English and informal spoken English Margaret Berry
    • 18. Genre-driven constraints on semantic choice Víctor M. Castel
    • Part V. Interpreting Choice:
    • 19. Choices in analyzing choice: methods and techniques for register analysis Elke Teich
    • 20. 'Register-idiosyncratic' evaluative choice in congressional debate: a corpus-assisted comparative study Donna Miller and Jane Johnson
    • 21. Not exactly black letter law: emergent choices and textual symbolic design in Athenian legal-political oratory Astika Kappagoda
    • 22. Interlanguage lexicogrammatical fossilization or not? That's an SFL-related question from the viewpoint of choice Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho.
      Contributors
    • Lise Fontaine, M. A. K. Halliday, David G. Butt, Alison Moore, Kathryn Tuckwell, Maria Freddi, Carl Bache, Robin P. Fawcet, Sydney Lamb, Elissa Asp, José María Gil, Ana Elina Martínez-Insua, Geoff Thompson, Michael O'Donnell, Ruqaiya Hasan, Claire Urbach, Wendy L. Bowcher, Tom Bartlett, Margaret Berry, Víctor M. Castel, Elke Teich, Donna Miller, Jane Johnson, Astika Kappagoda, Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho

    • Editors
    • Lise Fontaine , Cardiff University

      Lise Fontaine is a Lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University.

    • Tom Bartlett , Cardiff University

      Tom Bartlett is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University.

    • Gerard O'Grady , Cardiff University

      Gerard O'Grady is a Lecturer in Language and Communication at the Centre for Language and Communication Research in Cardiff University.