Functional Grammar

[Thomas Bloor]

Dear Juno
Are you trying to get me shot? None of the titles I mentioned was meant to
represent 'the main proponents' of the models in question except for
Halliday 1994, which is a major work by the major figure in SFL. The
references I gave were meant to be useful introductions, a somewhat random
sample out of many possibilities and somewhat off the top of my head;
naturally, I thought of my own co-publication but there are many more
significant and innovative works (see Halliday's 1994 'Further reading'
section: pp 404-412).

Yes, I guess SFL is currently more popular in Britain and possibly  Europe
generally, certainly in Australia and Canada, than in USA though there are
a number of major scholars working in this field in the US too. Arnold is
the name of a publishing house. SFL is not the only kind of functional
linguistics.

I do not think that this type of exchange is suitable for general
consumption, but since you put your query on the list, I am answering it
publicly. You really should have addressed it to me personally.

Good luck with your continuing studies.

Tom Bloor


>Dear Professor. Bloor,
>
>Thank you very much for your lengthy and detailed answer to my question.
>I will be studying X-bar theory next year, so hopefully things will become
>clearer to me after that.
>
>I have some further questions, though. Are the main proponents in
>functional grammar known to be Halliday, Arnold, and Bloor? I am guessing
>that there might be more people or groups of people who support it. And
>like some areas of linguistics, is it the case that it is more popular in
>UK or Europe than in the United States currently (year 2000)? Please do
>forgive me my ignorance, since I just joined the list.
>
>Best,
>Juno Nakamura
>Junior, Linguistics
>Stanford University
>(650)497-6877


Thomas Bloor
Language Studies Unit
Aston University
Birmingham, UK
B4 7ET

Phone:0121 359 3611 xt 4212/4236
Fax:0121 359 2725