About Professor M.A.K. Halliday

Professor Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday served as Advisor to the Halliday Centre from 2005 to 2018. As a significant contribution to language studies, he developed a theoretical approach known as ‘systemic functional linguistics’, incorporating a comprehensive model of grammar appliable to different languages. He also emphasised on theory as a resource for solving real-world problems (he called it an ‘appliable’ theory). As a result, his work has been of interest to a wide audience of those concerned with language in both theory and practice.



A Brief Biography

1925

Born in Leeds, England

1944

India, Chinese Intelligence Unit

1945

London, Teacher of Chinese

1946

External BA (Hons.) London University (Modern Chinese)

1947

Peking University, under Luo Changpei

1949

Lingnan University, under Wang Li, doing dialect fieldwork

1950 – 1955

Cambridge University, PhD under Gustav Hallam and then J.R. Firth; title of dissertation: "The Language of the Chinese Secret History of the Mongols"

1954 – 1958

Cambridge University, Assistant Lecturer in Chinese

1958 – 1963

The University of Edinburgh, Lecturer and then reader in general linguistics

1963 – 1965

University College London, Director of the Communication Research Centre

1965 – 1971

University College London, Professor of linguistics

1972 – 1973

Stanford University, Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences

1973 – 1974

The University of Illinois, Professor of linguistics

1974 – 1975

Essex University, Professor of language and linguistics

1976 – 1987

University of Sydney, Founding Professor of Linguistics

1979

Australian Academy of the Humanities, Research Fellow

1981

David H. Russell Award for distinguished Research in the Teaching of English, National Council of Teachers of English (USA)

1986

National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor

1987

The University of Sydney and Macquarie University, Emeritus Professor

1989

The British Academy, Corresponding Member

2002

Inaugural recipient of the AILA Gold Medal Award for exemplary scholarship in the field of applied linguistics

2003

The University of Hong Kong, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Education,

2005-2018

City University of Hong Kong, Advisor, The Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies

2007

Recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia in recognition of his contribution to linguistics, including especially educational linguistics

2008

Recipient of an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Education honoris causa) from The Hong Kong Institution of Education

2012-2015

City University of Hong Kong, Honorary Professor, The Department of Linguistics and Translation

2013-2018

Sun Yat-sen University, Advisor, The Functional Linguistics Institute

2018

Deceased