Linguistic features of literary theme: some halliday-type principles applied to 'surfacing' (margareth atwood 1972)
Halliday divides the functions of language into three 'macro-functions' which he calls: Ideational function, expressing content, or the propositional content of the speaker's experiences of the real and inner world; Interpersonal function, which is the means whereby we achieve com...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
1982-01-01
|
| Series: | Ilha do Desterro |
| Online Access: | https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/9397 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Halliday divides the functions of language into three
'macro-functions' which he calls: Ideational function,
expressing content, or the propositional content of the
speaker's experiences of the real and inner world; Interpersonal function, which is the means whereby we achieve communication, taking on speech roles viz-a-viz other people,00mplaining, narrating, enquiring, encouraging, etc.; and Textual function, which serves to connect discourse, weaving it together. Under this latter function comes the notion of cohesion. Phoric' elements are parts of the reference system needed for a text to be cohesive. We elucidate and refer to 'phoric' elements in more detail below. It is important to note that all these three macro-functions are present at the same time in a text.
Halliday describes the choice of (sets of different)
options the speaker makes in the language system, to express
his experiences. 'All options are embedded in the language
system: the system is a network of options, deriving from all
the various functions of language' (1973:111) Thus a certain
choice of (one set of different) options rather than another
can be said to have been motivated by what the speaker (or
writer) wanted to mean -- to convey or emphasize. Prominence of certain features in a text, then, stands out in a particular Way, suggesting or pressing the reader to take notice of it, this recognition contributing towards a more complete understanding of the writer's work. This is Halliday's intention in his study of The Inheritors (Halliday 1973:103-43). |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0101-4846 2175-8026 |