System in Systemic Functional Linguistics - A System-based Theory of Language - Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

System in Systemic Functional Linguistics - A System-based Theory of Language - Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

The System as a Fractal Principle: The System in Relation to Other Dimensions of Organization

System in Systemic Functional Linguistics - A System-based Theory of Language - Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen [+-]
University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Beijing
Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen is a Swedish-born linguist and a leading figure in the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) school, having authored or co-authored more than 160 books, refereed journal articles, and papers in refereed conference proceedings, with contributions to three television programs. He is currently Distinguished Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, in the School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Guest Professor at Beijing Science and Technology University, and Honorary Professor at the Australian National University. Before this, he was Chair Professor, Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Professor in the Linguistics Department of Macquarie University. Professor Matthiessen has worked in areas as diverse as language typology, linguistics and computing, grammatical descriptions of various languages, grammar and discourse, healthcare communication studies, functional grammar for English-language teachers, text analysis and translation, multisemiotic studies, and the evolution of language. He has supervised over 40 research students.

Description

In the previous chapter, I traced ‘system’ in the ontogenesis of language – its emergence as young children learn how to mean as they construct protolanguages in interaction with members of their immediate meaning group, and then make the transition to  the mother tongue (or tongues) spoken by these members. In this chapter, I examine the system as a principle of organization in relation to the other dimensions that make up the organization of language in context, starting with the hierarchy of stratification. While the hierarchies of axiality and stratification are fused in protolanguage, they are separated in the transition to the mother tongue, so the question arises if the axial organization is the same within all strata. I suggest that it is: all strata can be interpreted, represented and described by means system networks although they have not yet been explored to the same extent as the best-described stratum, lexicogrammar, in any language. I illustrate the description of content plane systems within language, semantics and lexicogrammar, and of expression plane systems, phonology and phonetics. The language used for illustration is English, but also Akan and Chinese. Along the way, I touch on central systemic topics: double agnation, systemic fractals, metaphor, the lexicogrammatical continuum, semantic composition. After the sweep through linguistic system networks, I turn to system networks “outside” languages, starting with contextual system networks.

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Citation

Matthiessen, Christian. The System as a Fractal Principle: The System in Relation to Other Dimensions of Organization. System in Systemic Functional Linguistics - A System-based Theory of Language. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 31-142 Dec 2023. ISBN 9781781799024. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=38383. Date accessed: 07 Oct 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.38383. Dec 2023

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