Misrepresenting Halliday (1993)

Fawcett (2010: 12):

Is it necessary, you may ask, to read all of Part 1, in order to understand the presentation of the theory in Part 2? The answer is that, strictly speaking, it is not. However, it is in Part 1 — and in particular in Chapter 7 — that I explain why the theory presented in Part 2 is needed.

But there is a further reason to read Part 1. It is that Halliday describes Systemic Functional Linguistics as a theory of language that has remained essentially unchanged in its lexicogrammatical 'core' over the last forty years, with the developments in the theory coming through "expansion" rather than change (e.g., 1993:4507). However, Chapters 3 to 7 of Part 1 demonstrate clearly that he has in fact introduced a whole series of changes between the sixties and today. Thus the fact that I am proposing certain further changes to the theory in Part 2 is not so revolutionary as it might at first appear. This further stage in the evolution of the theory is necessary, I believe, in order to enable it to meet the demands that will be made on Systemic Functional Linguistics in the 2000s.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading.  What Halliday (1993: 275*) actually wrote, after describing the origins, basic concepts and the development of SFL theory, is as follows:

A feature of systemic work is that it has tended to expand by moving into new spheres of activity, rather than by reworking earlier positions.

That is, Halliday contrasts developments in the theory with the expansion of its applications to new fields.  The reason this trivial point is worth clarifying is that Fawcett's claim constitutes another strategic misrepresentation, rather than an accidental misunderstanding.

[2] It will be seen that creating theoretical consistencies — which, as previously demonstrated, Fawcett's proposals would do —will not improve the functionality of any theory.

* Halliday (1993) can be viewed online here.