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.
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 |