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Functionalism

Functionalism in linguistics focuses on the purpose of language and its contextual relationships, asserting that language use is functional and meaning-making is its primary role. Key figures include Roman Jakobson, who identified six communication functions, and Michael Halliday, who emphasized language as a social phenomenon and outlined seven functions for children's language acquisition. The approach also considers the impact of social and cultural contexts on language use and distinguishes between different schools of thought, such as the Prague and Copenhagen schools.

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13 views

Functionalism

Functionalism in linguistics focuses on the purpose of language and its contextual relationships, asserting that language use is functional and meaning-making is its primary role. Key figures include Roman Jakobson, who identified six communication functions, and Michael Halliday, who emphasized language as a social phenomenon and outlined seven functions for children's language acquisition. The approach also considers the impact of social and cultural contexts on language use and distinguishes between different schools of thought, such as the Prague and Copenhagen schools.

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Sundas Zia
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Functionalism

Functionalism in linguistics can be defined as the approach which study the purpose of language and
its relation to context in which a language transpires.

Functional Linguists have four claims:

1. Use of language is functional.

2. Making meaning is the major function of language.

3. The social and cultural context has great influence over meanings of

language.

4. The process of making meaning in a language is by choice.

For Example: • The conative function is manifested directly in "Go answer the door" and indirectly in
"The doorbell rang" (which is equivalent to "Go answer the door").

Language use in context:

Exactly what dimensions of context have an impact on language use. • Since clearly not every aspect
of context makes a difference to language use (e.g. the hair color of the interactants is usually
irrelevant), just what bits of the context do get “into” the text.

Which aspects of language use appear to be effected by particular dimensions of

the context. For example, if we contrast texts in which the interactants are friends

with texts where the interactants are strangers, we specify where in the language

they use this contextual difference will be expressed.

There are two schools of thought:

1. Prague School of thought (Jacobson)

2. Copenhagen School of thought (Halliday)

Roman Jackbson:
Language functions:

1. Referential function

2. Expressive function

3. Conative function

4. Poetic function

5. Phatic function

6. Metalingual function

Thus Jakobson distinguishes six communication functions, each associated with a

dimension of the communication process.

Functions :

1. Referential (= contextual information-to be operative message requires a

context)

2. Aesthetic/poetic (= primarily serving to establish, to prolong, or to

discontinue communication)

3. Emotive (= self-expression)

4. Conative (= engages the Addressee (receiver) directly e.g. Tom! Come

inside the house)

5. Phatic (=physical channel and psychological connection between the

addresser and the addressee-enter or stay in conversation e.g. hello, ok?,

Hmmm)

6. Metalingual (= checking code working- language common to the addresser

and the addressee)

Michael Halliday:

Halliday (1975), like Saussure, sees language as a social and cultural


phenomenon as opposed to a biological one, like Chomsky.

Some of Halliday's early work involved the study of his son's developing

language abilities.

Halliday identifies seven functions that language has for children in their

early years.

Children are motivated to acquire language because it serves certain

purposes for them.

The first four functions help the child to satisfy physical, emotional and

social needs.

A central notion of SFL is stratification: language is analysed in terms of four

strata:

1. Context,

2. Semantics,

3. Lexico-Grammar and

4. Phonology-Graphology.

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