Michael Halliday facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Halliday
|
|
|---|---|
Halliday at his 90th-birthday symposium, 2015
|
|
| Born | 13 April 1925 Leeds, England
|
| Died | 15 April 2018 (aged 93) Sydney, Australia
|
| Other names | M. A. K. Halliday |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Systemic functional linguistics |
| Spouse(s) |
Ruqaiya Hasan
(died 2015) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Linguistics |
| Institutions | |
| Influences |
|
| Influenced |
|
Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often called M. A. K. Halliday) was a famous British linguist. He was born on April 13, 1925, and passed away on April 15, 2018. Halliday created a very important way of looking at language called systemic functional linguistics (SFL).
He saw language as a way for people to make and share meanings. For him, language was a "meaning potential." This means it's a tool we use to express ourselves in many ways. Halliday described his work as exploring language from "every possible angle." He especially focused on how language connects with society. He believed language is both shaped by society and helps create it.
Halliday's ideas about grammar are different from older ways of thinking. Traditional grammar often focuses on classifying single words like nouns or verbs. It usually looks at formal, written English. Halliday's model, however, looks at how meanings are put into words. This includes both spoken and written language. It also covers all the different ways we use language.
His grammar shows that three main parts of language work at the same time. These parts help us:
- Talk and listen to each other.
- Describe the world around us and our thoughts.
- Put these meanings into clear spoken or written texts.
Halliday's important book, Introduction to Functional Grammar, started a new field of study. His ideas have been used to understand many different languages around the world.
Contents
About Michael Halliday
Halliday grew up in England. His parents loved language, which helped him develop his own interest. His mother studied French. His father was a dialectologist, someone who studies different ways people speak. He was also a poet and an English teacher.
In 1942, Halliday joined a program to learn foreign languages. He was chosen to study Chinese because he was good at hearing different tones in words. After training, he worked in India with a Chinese intelligence group. In 1945, he returned to London to teach Chinese.
He earned a degree in modern Chinese language and literature from the University of London. He then lived in China for three years. There, he studied with famous Chinese linguists. Later, he got his PhD in Chinese linguistics at Cambridge.
After teaching languages for 13 years, Halliday focused on linguistics. He developed his famous systemic functional linguistics (SFL) model. This built on the ideas of his teacher, J.R. Firth, and other European linguists. His first important paper on this model came out in 1961.
Halliday's Career Journey
Halliday held many important jobs at universities. From 1954 to 1958, he was an assistant lecturer in Chinese at Cambridge University. He then moved to the University of Edinburgh in 1958. There, he taught general linguistics.
From 1963 to 1965, he directed the Communication Research Centre at University College London. He also taught at Indiana University in 1964. From 1965 to 1971, he was a professor of linguistics at University College London.
He spent time as a fellow at Stanford University in 1972–73. Then he was a professor at the University of Illinois in 1973–74. In 1974, he briefly returned to Britain to teach at Essex University.
In 1976, Halliday moved to Australia. He became the first professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney. He stayed there until he retired in 1987.
Halliday worked in many areas of linguistics. He was very interested in using his understanding of language to help with education. He received many honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He passed away in Sydney in 2018 at the age of 93.
How Language Works: Halliday's Ideas
Halliday's ideas about grammar became widely known after his book An Introduction to Functional Grammar was published in 1985. He later updated this book several times with Christian Matthiessen.
Halliday saw grammar as part of a bigger idea: language is a social tool for making meaning. He even made up the word "lexicogrammar." This word shows that vocabulary (lexis) and grammar are deeply connected. They are not separate things.
He believed that language is always changing. It changes as we use it to solve problems in real life. Halliday's work focused on describing English and Mandarin Chinese.
Halliday disagreed with some other ideas about language. For example, he did not think language could be seen as just a set of "correct sentences." He also felt that using formal logic was not helpful for understanding language. He believed that separating things like grammar from vocabulary or language from thought created problems.
Basic Ideas About Grammar
Halliday's first big paper on grammar was in 1961. In it, he talked about four main ideas: unit, structure, class, and system. These are very abstract ideas. But he said they were needed to understand what grammar is.
He introduced the idea of a rank scale for units of grammar. This means grammar units form a hierarchy from largest to smallest. He listed them as: sentence, clause, group/phrase, word, and morpheme. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning.
Halliday described structure as how elements are arranged in a specific order. He saw structure as how different functions work together.
Grammar as a System of Choices
The idea of "system" has always been part of Halliday's theory. He explained that language works because speakers make choices. Every time we use language, we make choices. These choices happen at many different levels.
For example, when you say a sentence, you choose if it will be active ("The dog chased the cat") or passive ("The cat was chased by the dog"). Halliday's "systemic grammar" looks at these choices.
Grammar and Its Purpose
Halliday's grammar is not just "systemic," but also "systemic functional." He believed that language developed to help humans do important things. It helps us interact with our environment and each other.
He identified different "metafunctions" or purposes of language. These include:
- Experiential: How we use language to describe our experiences and the world.
- Logical: How we connect ideas logically.
- Textual: How we organize language to make sense as a text.
- Interpersonal: How we use language to interact with others.
These functions help explain why language is structured the way it is.
Language in Society
Halliday strongly believed that language and society are deeply connected. He said that language is mainly about "acts of meaning." His work shows that language doesn't just reflect how society is organized. It also helps to create and shape society.
How Children Learn Language
Halliday had special ideas about how children learn language. He didn't think of it as children simply "getting" language like a finished product. Instead, he believed children develop a "meaning potential." They learn how to mean. This was the title of his famous study on a child's language development.
Halliday identified seven functions that language has for young children. Children are motivated to learn language because it helps them achieve certain goals. The first four functions help children meet their physical, emotional, and social needs:
- Instrumental: Using language to say what they need (e.g., "Want juice").
- Regulatory: Using language to tell others what to do (e.g., "Go away").
- Interactional: Using language to connect with others and build relationships (e.g., "Love you, Mummy").
- Personal: Using language to show feelings, opinions, and who they are (e.g., "Me good girl").
The next three functions help children understand their world:
- Heuristic: Using language to learn about their environment (e.g., "What is the tractor doing?").
- Imaginative: Using language to tell stories, jokes, and create imaginary worlds.
- Representational: Using language to share facts and information.
As children grow, these early functions develop into the more general "metafunctions" of language.
Halliday's work is sometimes seen as different from the ideas of Noam Chomsky. Halliday focused on how language is actually used in real situations. Chomsky, on the other hand, often focused on the ideal structure of language.
Selected Works by Halliday
- 1964. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching (with Angus McIntosh and Peter Strevens).
- 1966. Patterns of language: papers in general, descriptive and applied linguistics (with Angus McIntosh).
- 1973. Explorations in the Functions of Language.
- 1975. Learning How to Mean.
- 2004. An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 3rd edn. (with C.M.I.M. Matthiessen). (4th edn. 2014)
- 2002. Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse, ed. Jonathan Webster.
- 2003. On Language and Linguistics, ed. Jonathan Webster.
- 2005. On Grammar, ed. Jonathan Webster.
- 2006. The Language of Science, Jonathan Webster (ed.).
- 2006. Computational and Quantitative Studies, ed. Jonathan Webster.
- 2008. Intonation in the Grammar of English (with W. S. Greaves).
