Text Linguistics

The How and Why of Meaning


M.A.K. Halliday †

University of Sydney (Emeritus)


Jonathan J. Webster

City University of Hong Kong

Whether prose or poetry, how does a text come to mean what it does? A functional-semantic approach to text analysis, such as is illustrated in this book, offers a revealing look at the resources of language at work in the creation of meaning, and a unique perspective on the text as object of study. Believing the best way to learn about text linguistics is through the analysis of full texts, the authors include analyses of texts, both spoken and written, drawn from a variety of genres, including examples of religious and political discourse. In the first section, the authors provide an overview suitable to those who are new to the theory and methodology of Systemic Functional Grammar and Rhetorical Structure Theory. Building on this foundation, section two presents the findings from several case studies in text analysis, demonstrating how to conduct indepth functional-semantic analysis of selected texts. This second section will benefit both beginners and those who have already had some background in the study of linguistics. Text Linguistics is the ideal choice for those who are learning about text linguistics, and functional approaches to language study.

Series: Equinox Textbooks and Surveys in Linguistics Quoted from Equinox

Table of Contents


Preliminaries

Acknowledgments vii
M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
Preface viii
M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
Part One: A functional approach
  1. Functions and components of language 1-23, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  2. Experiential systems 24-51, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  3. Material, mental and verbal processes 52-77, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  4. Relational processes 78-109, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  5. Participants and circumstances 110-138, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  6. Things and ‘meta-things’ 139-169, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  7. Modality in English: modals and pseudo-modals 170-179, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
Part Two: Text and texture
  1. Textual meaning 181-197, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  2. Rhetorical structure of texts 198-216, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster

Part Three: Case studies in text linguistics
  1. Stepping into meaning: A case study of Billy Graham’s address at the National Prayer and Memorial Service at the Episcopal National Cathedral on 14 September 2001 217-271, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  2. Visualizing the architeXture of the text: Analyzing Obama’s first inaugural address and Nixon’s second inaugural address 272-366, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
  3. Arriving at a theory of the text: A case study of the commencement addresses delivered by Steve Jobs and Susan Rice 367-425, M.A.K. Halliday, Jonathan J. Webster
End Matter
Index 426-427