Computational And Quantitative Studies: The Collected Works

For nearly half a century, Professor M.A.K Halliday has been enriching the discipline of linguistics with his keen insight into this social semiotic phenomenon we call language. His scholarship has advanced our understanding of language as an activity which is both rational and relational, systemic and semantic, dynamic and diverse. Building on the legacy of his mentor, Professor J.R. Firth, Halliday approaches language from the vantage point of meaning and purpose, and provides a sound theoretical framework for dealing with questions about how and why we come to use language as we do for being and becoming who we are.

Halliday approaches language from above, from below and from roundabout, but not from a distance. His collected works, as presented in these ten volumes, reflect his characteristic balance between formulating an applying linguistic theory. The depth of his insight into language is highlighted in such volumes as the present one On Grammar and the third volume On Language and Linguistics. The strength of his commitment to the study of language as it is actually used is demonstrated in the subsequet volumes dealing with Lingusitics Studies of Text and Discourse, The Language of Early Childhood and The Language of Science. The breadth of Halliday's interest in all things Language is glimpsed in the volumes Studies in English Language and Studies in Chinese Language. The application of his knowledge and experience as linguist and social scientist is visited in volumes Computational and Quantitative Studies, Language and Education and Language and Society.