Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a theory that views language not just as a set of grammatical rules, but as a tool for creating meaning within specific social and cultural contexts. It emphasizes how language is used to achieve purposes, influenced by the situation and broader cultural norms.
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hi everyone
i'm jennifer and in this video i'd like
to present a brief introduction on
systemic functional linguistics or the sfl
sfl
which was a theory mainly developed by
michael halliday in the 1960s
before we start i would like to give a
little disclaimer that this video is
intended for educational purposes and i
created especially for my students
at the university so perhaps some of the
explanation will be
a little bit simplified and the terms
used in this video
may be translated into my native
language indonesian at times so but
hopefully still you will find this video
informative enough
okay so
when we talk about the systemic functional
functional
grammar those who aren't familiar with
the development of the field of
linguistics may find
this term systemic function linguistics
or yes some people actually call it
systemic functional grammar or
functional grammar
uh they may sound a little bit heavy on
the ears right and it is actually a
mouthful to say too and that is why i
always say asf rsfl instead of just
saying systematic functional linguistics but
but
actually the theory itself is not as
daunting it's not as difficult as
as
as i suggested by its name
or yeah hopefully i can make it as
simple as possible now
now
of course when we talk about systemic
functional grammar
we need to see um
um first
first
about the term grammar itself
the term grammar that we already know
the traditional one
when we talk about grammar when we hear
the word grammar i believe we would all
think about various structures and
especially in english grammar and
several other languages with
with
time marker you will think about tenses
and that's actually not wrong
you know traditional grammar as we know
it it is
it it is concerned about the internal
structure of text where the subject
should be put in a sentence what is
considered grammatical and what is not
basically all the technical stuff so
when we talk about grammar basically
we're concerned about what is in a blah
blah blah and there are elements in it
and how do each element relate to one another
another
like this so in a sentence element one
will be connected to element two or
sometimes a descriptive sentence perhaps
element one first element two comes second
second
and yeah you know
the the rest of
the connection
so here in traditional grammar we are not
not
really concerned we don't really care
about the meaning of the sentences
itself as long as they are grammatically
correct as long as they are structurally correct
correct then
then
your grammar teacher will consider it correct
correct
so for example i can create um
let's say this is not
illogical but perhaps it is um not
really correct when
when we talk about the sense of it in
the real life situation
this is
grammatically correct
this is a descriptive sentence so in english
english
uh a descriptive sentence
always starts with a subject in this
case this is the soup
and then
followed by a verb
the soup stared
usually and then followed by either adverbs
adverbs or
an object in this case the soup is the
subject staired at is the
verb and then me is the object and then
there's a
several adverbs here viciously adverb of
manners and adverse
adverse
so yeah grammatically speaking it is really
really correct
correct
but the meaning itself when we talk
about the meaning
in real life situation not in cartoonish
or narrative writing
this is somewhat illogical because the
soup is a non-living entity so it is
it cannot really stare at you
or it cannot really do what human can do right
right
but yeah again grammatically speaking
this is correct
and so when you type this into your word processor
processor
or your grammar checker
there will be no marking
marking or
or
they will sense this as a correct
sentence they will not pick up what's
wrong with the sentence
and so here is where the sfl uh comes
comes comes
comes to
to
not for our rescue i think but comes to
give a new perspective
so as of all concerns with how meaning
is created and communicated
of course by saying this i don't mean to
say that as a file has nothing to do
with structure it does well the name
itself systemic functional linguistic
systemic functional grammar it suggests
something about structure
but the main focus is describing the
language we use in the context we use it
that is
by the context of culture and situations
and yeah we are going to discuss that uh shortly
shortly
all the context things but well
basically and simply
sfl deals with the meaning we create
when using language
based on
um the purpose of our communication
based on the target audience of our communication
communication
based on the topic and the methods of
communication so
not really talking about the structure
but we talk about purpose the meaning we
want to create
and now we are going to talk about the
big thing
like i said
earlier sfl deals with the context of
culture and here we come the context of
culture or the
so yeah
realistically uh speaking everything
that we do is influenced by a lot of factors
factors
how our parents brought us up for instance
instance
or what's socially permissible in the
area we live in [Music]
[Music] maybe
maybe
those factors are called culture
so yeah no matter how small or big the
scope is
the things that shape your mind
the thing the things that shape your
understanding about the world around you
and how you should make meanings
they are the culture
and that is what happens with language
the way you create meaning through
communication depends on your understanding
understanding
uh on our understanding
on our environment
our culture okay
okay
to make it simpler let's take our friend john
john
for example
so john
is a
and he comes from an upper socioeconomic
class so it means that he is yeah rich
and of course coming from an upper-class family
family
rich family a british male
perhaps he also comes from a
family who honors very
very um
um
traditional values so he comes from an
uptight an uptight traditional family
and he has a
very conservative political view
and yeah as he is rich he is apparently
also smart so he has a phd in something
i'm not going to say what he
has a doctorate degrees in
you guess on your own so
so
in this example our john here will think
and say things differently
differently
uh from another john perhaps
who is a farmer
living in uh rural rural england in the
they will have a different view they
will have a different priorities they
will have a different understanding
about money for example so
so
when john
talks about money
okay our john here talks about money in
terms of
priorities perhaps he thinks that okay buying
buying
a car
is my priority and
and
buying a house is my priority
and perhaps spending
two three quids
uh for
getting a latte at the famous cafe is
fine but for
the other john who is a farmer in the
victorian era
they don't have cafes back then so
it is irrelevant to spend a few
pound pounds or pennies to buy coffee
coffee
but perhaps he has a very different
understanding about money
perhaps his priority
money is utmost important it is not for
leisure it is not for pleasure but it is for
for
him to be able to live further
further so
so
basically the way
we use language the way we think
is influenced by
the things that surround us and
when it keeps on happening around us it
becomes normalized and when something is
become normalized
it becomes a culture whether you like it
or not
so let's take another example before we
move on to
the fact that a lot of memes a lot of
pop cultures
that are that have gone viral these days
they are actually
actually
a one thing situation
situation
which then um
um becoming
becoming
viral and a lot of people watch it and a
lot of people repeat it so it becomes a
meme it becomes a culture so
so
here when we talk about
a culture we it is not
not
aside from the situation
so the context of situation eventually
when it is repeated over time
will become the context of culture
so that is how actually culture is created
created
and to talk more about how
culture is created we need to talk about
another type of context which i
mentioned before a smaller context the
context of situation
and to understand this we need to look at
at
the registers and its variable okay
okay
register variable
so register
itself in sfl is defined as a
configuration of meaning
a variety of language
corresponding to a variety of situation
these meanings are seen through three
different variables
the field
the tenant and
and mode
the field variable
discusses the
ideational meaning the topics of the
communication and the nature of social activity
activity
it is a technical topic
like using jargons and such
um technical terms or just plain
everyday topic like us commoners
discussing the weather when there's
nothing else to talk about so that is field
field and
and
tanner looks at the relations between participants
