37.1173, Books: A Practical Guide to System Networks: Martin and Wang (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1173. Mon Mar 23 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1173, Books: A Practical Guide to System Networks: Martin and Wang (2026)

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Date: 20-Mar-2026
From: Lucy Trotter [lucytrotter at bloomsbury.com]
Subject: A Practical Guide to System Networks: Martin and Wang (2026)


Title: A Practical Guide to System Networks
Subtitle: Modelling Paradigmatic Relations for Language Description in
Systemic Functional Linguistics
Series Title: Bloomsbury Studies in Systemic Functional Linguistics
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
           http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
Book URL:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/practical-guide-to-system-networks-9781350523579/

Author(s): J. R. Martin & Pin Wang

Paperback, ISBN: 9781350523579, Price: £27.99
Hardback, ISBN: 9781350523586, Price: £85.00

Abstract:

In Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), paradigmatic relations are
formalised in system networks. This book provides a practical,
step-by-step guide to designing system networks for language
description, one of the key aspects of SFL theory and analysis.
Including examples from English, Chinese, Korean and Spanish, and
exercises with answer keys for each of the main chapters, this book
offers a broad coverage and guides learners through the process of
designing system networks for the purpose of grammatical description
in an accessible way.
Beginning with simple systems, the authors show how grammars involve a
complex of relations, with some systems dependent on others and some
working in parallel with simultaneous options. They introduce the
reasoning involved in designing system networks, explaining how
choices in grammatical systems are motivated in terms of their
realisation in structure and how this relationship between the
paradigmatic axis and the syntagmatic axis is formalised in SFL
descriptions. In addition, the book helps readers to understand the
theoretical architecture of SFL – including the dimensions of rank,
metafunction and stratification.
With an introduction by Michael Alexander Kirkwood (M. A. K.)
Halliday, who reviews the history of the development of his approach
to system and structure and the use of system networks to formalise
paradigmatic relations, this book is essential reading for all
scholars of functional grammar and SFL. It will also appeal to
researchers interested in theoretical linguistics from the perspective
of the history of linguistics and different schools of linguistics.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     General Linguistics
                     Morphology
                     Syntax




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