Language Typology: A Functional Perspective

This book is intended as a systemic functional contribution to language typology both for those who would like to understand and describe particular languages against the background of generalizations about a wide range of languages and also for those who would like to develop typological accounts that are based on and embody descriptions of the systems of particular languages (rather than isolated constructions). The book is a unique contribution in at least two respects. On the one hand, it is the first book based on systemic functional theory that is specifically concerned with language typology. On the other hand, the book combines the particular with the general in the description of languages: it presents comparable sketches of particular languages while at the same time identifying generalizations based on the languages described here as well as on other languages.

The volume explores eight languages, covering seven language families: French, German, Pitjantjatjara, Tagalog, Telugu, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese.

 

Table of contents

 

List of contributors	ix
Foreword	xi
1. Introduction: Systemic functional typology Alice Caffarel, J.R. Martin and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen	1–76
2. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of French Alice Caffarel	77–137
3. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of German Erich Steiner and Elke Teich	139–184
4. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Japanese Kazuhiro Teruya	185–254
5. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Tagalog J.R. Martin	255–304
6. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Chinese M.A.K. Halliday and Edward McDonald	305–396
7. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Vietnamese Minh Duc Thai	397–431
8. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Telugu V. Prakasam	433–478
9. Metafunctional profile of the grammar of Pitjantjatjara David Rose	479–536
10. Descriptive motifs and generalizations Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen	537–673
Index	675–700