6.1 Three major categories of language function
The function of language varies with context. Actually, according to Halliday (1994) most language functions can be gathered under three major categories: interaction between and among characters, expression of experience, and construction of texts. These grammatical uses Halliday summed up under three functional headings:
- the interpersonal (enacts human relationships)
- the experiential (expresses what is going on)
- the textual (orders the elements of a message to fit the immediate context)
Before examining these three functional headings, let us consider the variety of grammatical forms and patterns and their function in writing, be it interpersonal, experiential or textual:
Clause level grammar
Clause level grammar (statement, question, exclamation, command) is largely about our interaction with others (the interpersonal) and clause level grammar is available to us as a means of communicating this function.
We use:
the statement to volunteer information
the question to seek information
the command to demand something
the exclamation as a means of involuntary reaction to something that has
been said or we have seen.
We engage in telling and asking or offering or requesting or just reacting.
Questioning techniques can elicit either an open or closed statement. For example: ‘Are you going to the city?’ (A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would be the answer.) However, ‘Why are you going to the city?’ ‘When are you going to the city? ‘What are you going to do in the city?’ ‘Who’s going with you to the city?’ ‘How are you going to the city?’ All require that the respondent gives information. One needs to become sensitive to the style of questioning a person is pursuing and ask oneself what purpose lies behind it. In a given dialogue, is the quest for information one-sided or is it evenly distributed? Is the question/statement situation indicating who has the controlling position in the dialogue? Is there manipulation? What is the tone, that is, how does the writer feel about the characters and want us to view them?
Sentence level grammar
Sentence level grammar plays an important role in the expression of meaning, (simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound/complex sentences). Sentence length and shape have much to tell about the writer’s intentions in a given text. The sentence, itself, sorts out the ‘goings-on’ of reality and represents some aspect of our experience.
The simple sentence contains one clause and therefore gives a single message, for example:
The bus service was discontinued on Thursday.
Two simple sentences can be joined together by “and”, “but” and “either…or” because the writer feels the two clauses and their messages are closely connected, for example,
The bus service was discontinued on Thursday and the train service began on Friday.
So a compound sentence is created.
Complex sentences consist
of a main message and one or two subordinate messages which could be in the
form of an adjectival clause, an adverbial clause or a noun clause or one or
two of each,
for example,
The bus service which was inefficient was discontinued on Thursday after the closing ceremony was completed.
Here the sentence has been expanded and its message made more complex by the adding of an adjectival clause, ‘which was inefficient’ describing the bus service and an adverbial clause of time detailing at what point on Thursday the discontinuance of the service happened. The extra information provided by the subordinate clauses added to the main clause gives a full picture by introducing time, reason, condition, manner or purpose.
How are subordinate clauses attached to the main clause?
By conjunctions such as:
before, after, because, until. when.
If the writer wishes to give a rounder description of a noun, he/she will insert an adjectival clause qualifying or describing the noun. The clause will begin with a relative pronoun:who, which, that (meaning who or which), whose, whom.
(There are also subordinating conjunctions such as:
because, although, whereas.)
(For more information on sentence level grammar, check out the Getting Grammar (for general students) or Grammar Support courses (for Education students .)
Word level grammar covers the use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Each category has a distinct function in both the written and spoken language. The reader needs to become sensitive to the shades of meaning in a text created by the writer’s careful selection of vocabulary. For example, if there is a preponderance of action verbs over adverbs of place, then the writer is probably indicating that something dynamic is taking place, if the writer has chosen ‘trudged’ instead of ‘walked’ in a particular context, then he/she wants to tell you something about the character(s) and the situation. Always look critically at how words are being used and to what extent.
The nouns, namely, what we talk about, can be people, things, objects, places and abstract concepts. Here we are not referring to noun groups, just the single word. Then the pronouns are of many kinds and substitute for a noun in a specific context. They can be personal, demonstrative (pointing out), interrogative (asking questions), indefinite, definite, relative, reflexive, distributive, reciprocal and quantity.
(See the Getting Grammar or Grammar Support courses for further detail on both the types of nouns and pronouns.)
Then there are adjectives and adverbs. The first, adjectives can have one of seven functions. They describe nouns in terms of:
opinion, quantity, possession, facts, comparison, determination and classification.
With adjectives, it is as if the writer has taken up a paintbrush and coloured or shaped a noun, e.g., “The plain stretched for miles.’ could be transformed by the use of one or two adjectives e.g., “The windswept, treeless plain stretched for miles.”
Secondly, there are adverbs that give more information about verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. Just as adjectives give a clearer picture of the noun, so adverbs intensify the meaning of verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They can tell ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ’to what degree.’ e.g., “She spoke quickly not slowly.’(how);‘The boy was very or so embarrassed (to what degree) when he dropped the ball in the match.” “I shall be home late tonight” (when). ‘He sacrificed himself for his country’(why).
(Please refer to the Getting Grammar or Grammar Support courses as mentioned above for both the forms and functions of adverbs and adjectives.)
Lastly, there is the question of verbs. Verbs can be readily categorized into four functions: action, saying, sensing and relating. In addition, there are modal verbs which give information about the degree of obligation or certainty in a situation. There is much to be told about verbs and their functions.
(Please refer to the Getting Grammar or Grammar Support courses if you need to know more.)
The writer’s choice of tense, mood and voice are not alone in saying a great deal about meaning. The actual selection of the verb itself is most telling.
Phrase and phrasegroup
Phrase and group level grammar These consist of noun and verb groups and adjectivals and adverbials.
The noun group can be, in fact, a single noun such as: ‘the ball’ or it can be more involved and consist of adjectives as well as the noun itself, such as ‘each coloured ball’; the red and blue balls; or two nouns joined together by ‘and’, such as: ‘the balls and the streamers’. This technique allows the writer to be more specific and concise.
The adjectival like its relative, the single adjectives, perform the same kind of functions as adjectives. They are, however, groups of words (phrases) beginning with a preposition and referring to noun(s) in the given passage. For example, ‘The house with the gabled windows was painted green and cream.’ ‘The girl in the black raincoat entered the shop.’ ’The traditional dress for Scottish people is the tartan kilt.
The adverbial is, of course, related to the single adverb and like it tells ‘how, when, where, why’ an action is done. It also begins with a preposition like the adjectival but it is modifying a verb not a noun. See the difference below between the adjectival and the adverbial:
Adjectival: The girl in the shop saw the accident. (The phrase describes noun, ‘girl’.)
Adverbial: He fell in the shop. (The phrase tells where he ‘fell’.)
The verb group can be what is called ‘multiword’, for example, ‘He has gone’;
‘We were hoping.’; ‘I have eaten.’ It can also be a complex construction by the use of a combination of two verbs, for example, ‘He started to mow (or mowing) the grass.’ ‘We want to eat now.’ Verbs and verb groups tell the reader about action, saying, sensing, relating in terms of time, degree of commitment, as well as positive and negative aspects.
Examples:
He was eating his breakfast. (time
– past continuous tense and positive)
He ate his breakfast. (time – simple past tense and positive)
She will not eat her breakfast early. (future tense and negative)
I must eat my breakfast quickly. (modal – degree of commitment,
positive)
(Please refer to the Getting Grammar or Grammar Support courses if you wish to know more.)
Now let us look at examples of the three major categories of language function.