Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar - Convergence and Divergence - Gordon Tucker

Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar - Convergence and Divergence - Gordon Tucker

5. ‘United but not the Same’: Exploring Ways of Talking across Divergence within SFL

Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar - Convergence and Divergence - Gordon Tucker

Edward McDonald [+-]
Independent Researcher
Edward McDonald gained his BA(Hons) from the University of Sydney in 1988, his MA from Peking University in 1992, and his PhD from Macquarie University in 1999, with theses on the clause and verbal group grammar of modern Chinese. He has taught linguistics, Chinese language, translation, semiotics, and music at universities in Australia, China, Singapore, and New Zealand. His recent research interests include the application of systemic functional theory to a range of languages including modern Chinese and Scottish Gaelic (Meaningful Arrangement: exploring the syntactic description of texts, Equinox 2008); Chinese language teaching and the hybrid concept of "sinophone" (Learning Chinese, Turning Chinese: challenges to becoming sinophone in a globalised world, Routledge 2011); and the comparative history of European and Chinese traditions of language scholarship (Grammar West to East: The investigation of linguistic meaning in European and Chinese traditions, Springer forthcoming).

Description

McDonald’s chapter explores the important role played by Fawcett in intratheoretical engagement within SFL. Drawing on Fawcett’s own linguistic-historical reflections on the evolution of SFL theory, and his arguments for his ‘Cardiff’ version of SFL in contrast to the ‘Sydney’ version, it discusses whether the metaphor of ‘dialect’ or ‘register’ more appropriately characterizes variants of SFL, and the nature of evidence commonly adduced to support differing positions on, for example, the verbal group. It concludes that different varieties of SFL, while drawing on a common theoretical tradition, nevertheless have different aims and applications and cannot be evaluated by identical criteria.

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Citation

McDonald, Edward. 5. ‘United but not the Same’: Exploring Ways of Talking across Divergence within SFL. Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar - Convergence and Divergence. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 96-113 Jun 2020. ISBN 9781781796870. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=34272. Date accessed: 19 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.34272. Jun 2020

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