Network & the ASFLA newsletter

2.1 From the ISFLA Chair

From the Chair, ISFLA

Warm thanks to Annabelle and Christian for putting together another very informative Newsletter.

At the Liverpool Congress annual general meeting we were struck by the development of interest in SFL in different regions -the formation of new SFL associations in France, India, Nigeria and North America, and extensive interest in many other regions, as indicated in Brazilian colleagues' offer to convene the 2006 ISFC and, similarly, our Danish colleagues for the 2007 congress in Odense. There's quite a lot of information about these activities in the minutes of the Liverpool meeting, available at: http://www.isfla.org/ISFLA-minutes02.html

Financially, too, the Association is in good shape, with useful working balances in the European, North American and Australian accounts.

Planning for the Lucknow Congress is proceeding apace. Prakasam and his colleagues have issued a First Circular for each of the three events, the Institute, Congress and the Symposium on Language, Law and Life. Again, this is information, together with details about a good range of five star and student accommodation, is available at:

http://www.wagsoft.com/Systemics/Conferences/ISFC03.html

If you haven't yet thought of participating in the Lucknow Congress, do consider it. Apart from the vigorous linguistic discussions, it will be fairly easy to include visits to, for example, New Delhi, Agra and Varanasi to see some extraordinary cultural sites.

Looking to ISFLA's future, I think we might now reaching a point where we can begin to think about co-ordinating strategies internationally to support colleagues with interests in SFL in the developing world. How best to maximise our efforts might be a major topic for discussion in Lucknow? I'd certainly appreciate hearing from anyone with specific suggestions for the Association's work in this regard.

Best wishes to all colleagues for research and writing in 2003!

Geoff Williams

2.2 Minutes from International Systemic Functional Association AGM, 2002

ISFC 2002 Minutes of AGM, July 16, 2002, Liverpool, England

2.3 Report from Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association

President: Kristina Love, University of Melbourne (newly elected)

ASFLA President's report

Since the last newsletter, ASFLA has been involved in much stimulating activity. The 2002 conference was held between July 5-7 at Macquarie University, convened in collaboration with the Centre for Language in Social Life and the Department of Linguistics. The theme of the conference, `Exploring Semantics' focused on issues concerning modelling language at the stratum of semantics. Keynote papers examined this theme from exciting multi-disciplinary perspectives, with Michael Arbib offering an evolutionary neurobiological perspective, David Butt offering a transdisciplinary and historical perspective, Jim Martin a linguistic perspective and Karl Maton a `social science of knowledge' perspective. These keynotes set the basis for many lively discussions that continued throughout the three days, in the many social conversations and more formally in workshops. The themes of the 2001 conference (`Language, Brain Culture'), were extended even further in a one day pre-conference workshop dedicated to `Conversations on Language, Brain Culture' in which further opportunities were provided to examine the relationship between the disciplines of neuroscience and linguistics of the systemic functional variety. Although attendee numbers were down on previous years, the engagement with the issues was high, with lively social and cultural activity. Ernest Akerejola (our visiting scholar from Nigeria and president of the Nigerian SFLA) provided a particularly engaging musical accompaniment to both his workshop and the conference dinner.

A number of changes to the executive were made at the AGM which was held during the conference. David Butt replaces Len Unsworth as Vice-President, Seong Woo Lee replaces Maria Couchman as Membership Secretary and Susan Hoadley replaces Maria Couchman as treasurer. Annabelle Lukin remains as newsletter editor, and Maria Couchman is the secretary. We thank Len for his work with the association and welcome Susan, Seong-Woo and David to their new roles. Thanks were extended yet again to John Polias and Carl Nilsson-Polias for their continuing volunteer roles as Web masters for the Association's web site. The AGM also approved a small increase in fees (from $30 to $40 for full members), with student membership remaining at $20. Members will soon be receiving reminders to renew their subscriptions for the new year.

The ASFLA conference for 2003 will be held in Adelaide from July 17- 19. It will be preceded by a series of workshops from 14-16 July for those interested in developing familiarity with the grammar and its associated issues. Please put these dates in your diary and consider submitting a paper (see the entry elsewhere in the newsletter). The Adelaide conference will be organised jointly between Lexis Ed (John Polias and Brian Dare's consultancy company) and the University of Adelaide.

In keeping with our commitment to provide support for the establishment of SFL in developing countries, Jim Martin's recent visit to South Africa was partially subsidised by ASFLA. The rand there is very low, travel funding extremely limited, making it harder and harder for South African academics to visit Australia and according to Jim, the needs of black students are certainly of third world proportions. Jim worked very hard at three centres during his short stay: at the University of Western Cape, at Rhodes and at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. He built on work done by John Polias, who had generated considerable active interest in SFL from a literacy perspective in his visit in 2000. A more detailed report of Jim's visit is available in this newsletter.

While the association will continue to support such international initiatives, its own local networks and activities must also be fostered. I would like to take this opportunity to remind members yet again that the association may be able to fund local initiatives. Following are the names and emails of state members working on the ASFL executive who could be approached in the first instance for advice regarding such support.

Western Australia - a.thwaite@cowan.edu.au,

New South Wales - c.Painter@unsw.edu.au,

Queensland - lenore.ferguson@qed.qld.gov.au,

Victoria - k.love@edfac.unimelb.edu.au,

South Australia - jpolias@lexised.com,

ACT - mmacken@comedu.canberra.edu.au,

NT - peter.wignell@ntu.edu.au

Please continue to check the ASFLA web site for details about further initiatives (http://www.lexised.com/asfla/) and have a relaxing break over the summer period,

Kristina Love.

2.4 North American Systemic Functional Linguistics Association

For forthcoming NA-SFLA events, see below.

PAST MEETINGS

The meeting at World Englishes [IAWE] in October went VERY well. All the papers were well done and we had a good crowd. The meeting at NCTE in November with Jay Lemke also went VERY well. Jay talked on "New Media, New Voices: Language in the New Critical Literacy". He did an excellent job and there was a good crowd.

Peter H. Fries, Professor of English and Linguistics

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant MI 48859

2.5 Report from the Systemic Functional Linguistics Association of Nigeria (SYSFLAN)

Gbenge Ibeleye (President)

REPORT OF SYSFLAN NATIONAL WORKSHOP HELD ON 12TH AND 13TH SEPT. 2002 AT THE AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA NIGERIA

BACKGROUND: The Systemic Functional Linguistic Association of Nigeria SYSFLANS was formed in 1998 in Ahmadu Bello Univerisy, Zaria Nigeria. It draws membership from Nigerian Univerisities, colleges of education and polytechnics.

As a young association, much of the preoccupation of the association is with providing a ground for members, who generally do not have a deep understanding of SFL, to learn the basic orientation of the school of thought. In this regard, a workshop was held in 2000 where scholars from three universities taught participants.

The 2002 workshop was initially slated for may 2002, but it had to be rescheduled because two! members - the president (Dr. Gbenga Ibileye) and Dr. T.Y. Surakat - were billed to attend the 29th ISFC in Liverpool in July. It was thought best that on their return their experience would boost the workshop.

ATTENDANCE: At least 250 partiicipants drawn from different institutions attended the two day workshop whose theme was "Systemic Functional Linguistic and the Analysis of Discourse"

FACILITATORS

Dr. A. Daramola University of Lagos

Dr. K.N. Nwogu Fed. University of Technology, Yola

Dr. A. Rasheed Bayero University, Kano

Prof. F. Akere University of Lagos

Dr.T.Y. Surakat Ahmadu Bello University ,Zaria

Ms Sade Frank, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

(NB as a result of the rescheduling of the date of the workshop some of the presenters could not come )

THE SESSIONS

Papers were generally meant to provide teaching on the basic orientation of Systemic Functional Linguistics and its application to different spheres of intellectual endeavour.

Dr T.Y Surakat facilitated a teaching "SFL: Develoment and Applications". His paper presented particiants with a general survey of the emergence of SFL, its major proponents and how it contrasts or compares with other schools of thought in Linguistics. The major thrust of his paper lies in the attractions of SFL as a model that is sensitive to use and users-its functional dimensions.

Sade Frank's paper "Systemic Linguistics and The Analysis of Discourse" which was chaired by Prof. Isaac Olaofe is basically an examination of the use of SFL for the analysis of conversational interaction - institutional or otherwise.

The Lead paper "Systemic Analysis of Text ! (Literary and Non-Literary)" was facilitated by Dr. Abubakar Rasheed of the Bayero University, Kano. His paper did not only teach participants about the application of SFL, it ended up being an induction of the participants who generally lacked much knowledge of SFL.

The other facilitators, who had earlier given a commitment to attend could not come obviously because of the changes in the earlier announced dates. The association later agreed to have these papers sometimes next year.

AGM: The AGM of the association was held on 13th September 2002. At the meeting, Strategies were deviced to movethe association forward especially through networking. A comprehensive list of systemicists in the country was advocated. The association also resolved to host a national conference atleast once annually. Members express gratitude to ISFC for granting two of us major bursaries to attend 29th ISFC Liverpool 2002. Similar gratitudes were expressed to ASFLA for its untiring efforts at uplifting SYSFLAN especially through the Book Project.

EXHIBITION : There was an exhibition of books in the association's library and books in personal libraries which are related to SFL. Participants were urged to take advantage of books in SYSFLAN's library.

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT : The management of the Ahmadu Bello University (the host) represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof Y.A. Nasidi and the Head Department of English, Dr S.A. Aliyu, Head Department of French, Dr B.F. Alisah and Head of History, Dr Kabir Chafe were in attendance at all the sessions which also had in attendance inder graduate and postgraduate students of the faculty.

The email contact for SYSFLAN is Sysflan@abu.edu.ng

See 5.0 Past events for a personal account of the SYSFLAN conference by Mr D.O.Fiki George, including a link to Mick O'Donnell's photo gallery with snaps from the SYSFLAN conference.

2.6 Report from the French Systemic Functional Linguistics Association

From Simon Eason, Secretary

In this short report, I would like to outline the situation of Systemic-Functional Linguistics in France.

The Association Française de la Linguistique Systémique Fonctionnelle was inaugurated in July 2001 following the Euro-International SFL workshop in Brest. There are currently 18 members, most of whom are based in France, although few are native speakers of French. The minutes of the latest AGM (in French) can be found at www.univ-brest.fr/erla/aflsf/minutes2.html .

The centre of SFL activity in France is undoubtedly the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO, Brest) within the Equipe de Recherche en Linguistique Appliquée headed by Prof. David Banks. David Banks became director of this research group in 1999, and since that year he has organised (in addition to EISFW 2001) conferences on the following themes:

*The nominal group in the scientific text

*Linguistic markers of the author's presence

*Linguistic aspects of propaganda

This latest conference was followed by the AGM of AFLSF and the Association's annual informal workshop (transitivity this year).

All three conferences drew speakers from outside France, many of whom used SFL for their analyses. The proceedings of these conferences are being published by the Parisian publisher L'Harmattan.

At UBO, SFL-based approaches are employed in teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At master's level, SFL is used on two programmes, one of which is a new programme in translation and technical writing.

The number of postgradute students currently undertaking research in SFL and related fields at UBO has reached double figures. It should be noted that, although ERLA is an inter-departmental research body, SFL research is carried out by students who are specialists of English. This is a consequence of the fact that D. Banks is a professor of English and, as such, is only "qualified" (in the French university system) to supervise work on English (although all theses must be written in French). There are, however, some comparative projects underway, involving co-supervision on either a formal or informal basis.

Guest lecturers at UBO since 1999 include Chris Gledhill (formerly St. Andrews, now Strasbourg), Anne-Marie Simon-Vanderbergen (Ghent), Rob Spence (Saarland), Gordon Tucker (Cardiff), Jessica DeVilliers (Toronto). Chris, Rob and Gordon will all be teaching on our master's courses again in 2003, as will Erich Steiner (Saarland).

In France, cognitive approaches dominate (particularly work inspired by Culioli's Theorie de l'énonciation) but constructive dialogues have been established. We look forward to the continued growth of SFL-related work in France.

Simon Eason, AFLSF secretary, www.univ-brest.fr/erla/aflsf

2.7 Minutes from European Network Planning Meeting, Lisbon, July 2002

Friday 26th July 2002, 6.00 p.m., Lisbon

Convened by Geoff Thompson (Liverpool, Chair of E-ISFW Steering Committee).

1 The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss whether the E-ISFW Steering Committee should be reconstituted as a formal committee.

At present, the Steering Committee oversees the organisation of the Euro-International Workshops, and has the remit of:

* identifying possible locations for future Workshops and contacting local academics to invite them to organise a Workshop

* offering advice and guidance for local Organisers, particularly through ensuring contact with Organisers of previous Workshops

* in its guise as the `International Committee', lending gravitas to the process of organising Workshops, particularly in the eyes of host institutions

This is done on an informal basis: the Committee has no formal status, and therefore cannot, for example, hold funds.

The discussion was prompted particularly by the fact that no location had been found for the 2003 Workshop until just before the Lisbon meeting; and it was felt that the informal nature of the procedures made it more difficult to ensure effective forward planning. In addition, the lack of funding as a safety net if a Workshop made a loss was potentially problematic.

After extensive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of formal vs. informal constitution, it was unanimously agreed that the present arrangement should continue for a further three years, and that the position should then be reconsidered.

Robin Fawcett (Cardiff), as European Treasurer, undertook to check with the International Systemic Functional Linguistics Association the possibility of using Association European funds as a safety net if necessary.

2 It was confirmed that Bethan Davies (Leeds) has agreed to host the 2003 Workshop. The 2004 Workshop will be held in either Valencia (Antonia Sánchez) or Madrid (Rachel Whittaker) - the two representatives of the institutions will agree on the site between them. Jennifer Herriman (Göteborg) and Brian Donovan (Dublin) have both undertaken to investigate the possibility of hosting a later Workshop.

3 It was agreed that the Steering Committee should consist of a core of 5 members to serve for three years, together with the organiser of the most recent and the forthcoming Workshop. It was further agreed that the Committee should choose 3 of their members to share particular responsibility for ensuring that institutions willing to host a Workshop are identified at least two years ahead. The following representatives were proposed and agreed unanimously:

• David Banks (Brest)
• Antonia Sánchez Macarro (Valencia)
• Erich Steiner (Saarbrücken)
• Geoff Thompson (Liverpool)
• Eija Ventola (Salzburg)

The following Workshop organisers are also ex officio members of the Committee:

• Bethan Davies (Leeds)
• Carlos Gouveia (Lisbon)
• Geoff Thompson agreed to continue as Chair.
• 4 The meeting closed at 7.00 p.m.

3.1 Frances Christie's retirement.

Many within the ASFLA community will be aware of the retirement of Frances Christie from her position at the University of Melbourne, where she will be sorely missed. There, as in Sydney, Deakin, Darwin and the many other academic communities in which she has worked, she leaves a striking legacy. Her energy, integrity, and generosity of spirit have galvanised all those who have worked with her on a daily basis and provided a valued model of collegiality. Her commitment to literacy education and to SFL has profoundly influenced the shape of literacy education throughout Australia, and overseas.

Frances has had an illustrious history. She commenced her career in NSW secondary schools in the 1960s as a teacher of English and history. By January 1994, she was Foundation Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, having been appointed to the first Chair in that Department. Previously, she had been Foundation Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Studies of Language in Education at the Northern Territory University, Darwin. Her appointment as the Onwell Visiting Scholar for 1999-2002 to the Bachelor of Education in Language Education at the University of Hong Kong is testimony to her international, as well as national, reputation. On her retirement, the University of Melbourne has appointed here Professor Emeritus.

Frances' research output has been prolific. She has been instrumental in the development of an educational linguistics, with particular interests in writing development, the relationship of talk and writing, critical social literacy and teaching about language. In 1990-91 she led a research team which reported to the Minister of Employment Education and Training on teacher preparation for teaching English literacy. The resulting report `Teaching English Literacy: a Project of National Significance on the Preservice Preparation of Teachers to Teach English Literacy' (1991) has directly influenced the design of many preservice programs throughout Australia. She has also researched in the areas of adult literacy (see for example `Adult Literacy in Urban Situations in the Northern Territory', published in 1993 by the Centre for Studies of Language in Education, Northern Territory University). She has been awarded a series of grants from the Australian Research Council, with which she has developed accounts of pedagogic discourse in both the primary and the secondary school. Numerous publications have resulted from these grants.

Through her mentoring of numerous local and international research students, Frances' contribution to the development of educational linguistics will continue to be significant. She demands high standards of her research students, but offers matching support, and scaffolds her students into their roles as accomplished researchers. She has provided many of us with an effective model as we mentor our own research students.

Knowing Frances as we do, we know that official retirement simply means a different form of productivity for her, hopefully under more relaxing circumstances. She will continue as a research associate within the Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney, as an active member of the ASFLA executive, and as a visiting scholar to many of the institutions and countries keen to draw on her expertise. We wish you a fulfilling retirement Frances and look forward to continuing our association with you in whatever form that takes.

3.2 The SFL New Researchers Network

Lise Fontaine

The SFL New Researchers Network has now been in place since last May and we have 63 members from around the world. The group has been rather quiet this fall, no doubt due to work load constraints and the start of a new academic year. In August, we held our first online data session, where the topic was dealing with textual issues in conversational data. The data sessions are intended to provide an opportunity for presenting interesting or challenging data for discussion and analysis. The data was first presented online in a web page fo advance viewing and a separate forum was set up for discussing the data. We hope to get another data session started early in the new year.

One of the main goals of this network is to reduce feelings of isolation. While the email discussion list itself has remained relatively quiet, the member pages available on the web site have helped connect researchers working on similar topics. So, a good amount of one-to-one contact is taking place in the background.

We have added several essays written by our members dealing with doctoral studies. For example, "Why do a doctorate?" by Anne McCabe and "Racing Towards Epistemophily: Defining the Role of the PhD Candidate within the School of Education and the Wider University Community" by Brian Donovan. In addition to our links to systemic resources, we have gathered an impressive list of resources for doctoral students (or those considering whether or not to become one!): "a Ph.D. is NOT a useless degree", non-academic careers, etc.

In the near future, we hope to be able to invite more experienced researchers in systemic linguistics who would be willing to contribute advice, lectures, or workshops to our members through the Internet. If you might be interested, please contact: Lise Fontaine at lfontaine@teaser.fr, Cassily Charles at cassilycharles@hotmail.com, or any other member of the SFL New Researchers Network.

4.1 SFL and its relevance for EFL teachers and researchers. Mendoza, Argentina, March 2003

The Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, ARGENTINA will present a series of Modules on SFL at postgraduate level early in the school year 2003.

Title of the series of modules: "SFL and its relevance for EFL teachers and researchers".

First Module: "Introducing SFL. From Theory to Actual Pedagogical Applications"

Target audience: EFL teachers who want to keep updated but know little or nothing about SFL and its potential.

Place: Our premises

Date: March, 2003

Duration: All Friday and Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 12:30 AM.

Team of scholars in charge:

• Cristina Boccia, MA
• Ana Hansen, MA
• Samiah Hassan, MA
• Liliana Poj, MA
• Ana Maria Miret, MA (Responsible for Module I)

For further information please contact:

anamiret@speedy.com.ar

4.2 NA-SFLA meetings, March, 2003.

NA-SFLA will hold Three meetings/get-togethers at AAAL [American Association of Applied Linguistics] March 22-25, 2003. Sheraton National Hotel Arlington [Virginia] AAAL.org

A. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE SESSION, Monday, March 24; Room: East 1; Time:

5:15-7:30; Bernard Mohan, Chair

Title: North American Systemic Functional Linguistic Association Cracker

Barrel

Everyone welcome to join an informal information session on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics. Discussions and bibliographies will include: Multimedia, Discourse Analysis, Ape Language, Language Education/Reading, Phonology, Child Language, Social Semiotics, Artificial Intelligence and Computational Lingusitics

B. TENTH annual Systemic Functional dinner at AAAL. 8:00 following the Cracker Barrel. Please reserve with Nan Fries asap. Fries1ph@cmich edu.

C. COLLOQUIUM: A Social Semiotic view of Multimodal communication.

COLLOQUIUM ABSTRACT: Halliday (Halliday 1978) views language as a social semiotic within a sociocultural context, and interprets culture in semiotic terms, as both an edifice of meanings and an exchange of meanings in which the construal of reality is inseparable from the semantic system in which reality is encoded. Thus the semiotic study of signs and messages is situated within the context of social relations and processes. This colloquium will provide a brief overview of the social semiotic view, and will then debate this view through four case studies of multimodal communication. Scollon and Van Leeuwen, co-editors of the journal 'Visual Communication', will explore this view through a study of municipal regulatory signs in a range of cities (Scollon) and a study of Multimodality in sign-writing and typography (Van Leeuwen). They will examine questions raised by the visual semiotic of Kress and Van Leeuwen. Royce and Mohan will explore this view through a study of intertextuality in the Economist magazine (Royce) and a study of the cross-cultural and cross-lingual interpretation of scientific graphics (Mohan). They will examine questions related to the semantic realisations of semiotic relations. Finally, comparisons between the four studies will be discussed, and implications and future directions noted.

D. The place of grammar in academic language development: Learning history

Mary Schleppegrell and Mariana Achugarwill be presenting their researchon the language of history education, using SFL perspectives.

Abstract: English language learners need to develop academic language in order tohave access to grade-level content and for full participation in society.Examples from research on "learning the language of history" demonstrate how a functional analysis of academic texts contributes to the development of students' academic language and critical thinking.

DAY: Monday, March 24, 2003

TIME: 3:55-4:25 p.m.

ROOM: East 3

4.3 ASFLA03 National Conference and Institute, July 14-19, 2003, University of Adelaide and Lexis Ed

Convenor: John Polias

The ASFLA conference for 2003 will be held in Adelaide from July 17- 19. It will be preceded by a series of workshops from 14-16 July for those interested in developing familiarity with the grammar and its associated issues. The Adelaide conference will be organised jointly between Lexis Ed (John Polias and Brian Dare's consultancy company) and the University of Adelaide. Adelaide is a lovely city to visit for food, wine, museums, galleries, and more!

4.4 15th Euro-International Systemic Functional Linguistics Workshop, Leeds, July 20-23rd, 2003

The 15th Euro-International Systemic Functional Linguistics Workshop

School of Modern Language and Cultures, University of Leeds, UK

The theme for the next systemic workshop will be contrast. Systemic linguistics posits language as a series of choices, and different choices imply contrasting texts. Contrast could be investigated from many distinct perspectives: from differences in code (language), to differences in modalities, genres/text-types, or in parts of the system network.

4.5 The 30th International Systemic Functional Congress and Institute, followed by the International Symposium on Language, Law and Life, Decmber, 2003, Lucknow, India

Sponsored by: Systemic Functional Linguistics Association, Hyderabad, India

Co-sponsored by: CIEFL Regional Centre, Lucknow, India.

4.6 International Systemic Functional Linguistics Institute, December 1-6, 2003

Dates: December 1-6, 2003

Registrations close by September 1, 2003

Fees: US$ 200.00

(i) Introductory (30 hours)

Content: Assumptions, Semantics, Phonology and Lexicogrammar.

(ii) Advanced (30 hours)

Content: Phonology, Lexicogrammar and Compugrammar.

Fees include morning/afternoon tea/coffee during session breaks Monday to Friday and lunch on all days. Part registration fee waivers may be available to a few Delegates from countries with foreign exchange problems.

Mode of payment details will be given in the next circular.

The Faculty

The following Faculty have agreed to teach on the Introductory and the Advanced courses: Christian Matthiessen, Gordon Tucker, Jonathan Webster, Rhondda Fahey, Geoff Thompson, Annabelle Lukin, Maria Couchman, Pattama Patpong, Paul Tench

4.7 The 30th International Systemic Functional Congress, December 8-13, 2002

Sponsored by Systemic Functional Linguistics Association, Hyderabad, India

Co-sponsored by CIEFL Regional Centre, Lucknow, India.

Proposals for paper presentations (with a 150-word abstract) and Workshops may be sent before 15th June, 2003.

Registrations close by October 1, 2003

Fees:

• Early Bird registration: Up to July 31, 2003: US$ 200.00
• Normal Registration: from August 1, 2003: US$ 225.00
• Full-time Student: Upto July 31, 2003: US$ 125.00 (Evidence of student enrollment required).
• Full-time Student: from August 1, 2003: US$ 150.00 (Evidence of student enrollment required).

Fees include morning/afternoon tea/coffee during session breaks Monday to Friday and lunch on all days. Part registration fee waivers may be available to a few Delegates from countries with foreign exchange problems. Mode of payment details will be given in the next circular.

4.8 International Symposium on Language, Law and Life, December 15-17, 2003

Coordinators: V. Prakasam, John Gibbons

Email: prakasam_venn@hotmail.com

jgibbons@hkbu.edu.hk

Telephones: 91-522-216073 / 285771

Fax: 91-522-285771

4.9 NASFLA miniconference

NASFLA MINI CONFERENCE at the 2003 LSA [Linguistic Society of America] Summer Institute [Language, Mind and Culture]

NASFLA three day mini conference

July 25-27, 2003

Michigan State University

http://lsa2003.lin.msu.edu/

Asp, Benson and Greaves, Cummings, Fries, Hartnett, Lemke, Macauley, Mohan, Williamson, Young, L, Young, R, Woodward-Kron, Colombi and Schleppegrell have volunteered to lecture at the NASFLA mini conference [three days] at the LSA summer institute.

4.10 JASFL events

JASFL Spring workshop, June Niigata University, Japan.

JASFL 11th Autumn Conference, October 4-5, 2003, Tamagawa University, Japan.

for further information on these events, go to

http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~yamanobo/jasflx.html

4.11 Chinese Systemic Workshop, July 2003

The 8th Chinese Systemic Workshop will be held in July 2003, at Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, Hebei provide. International scholars are welcome. We have no further information as yet, but please check Mick O'Donnell's systemic webpage (see below) for updates.

4.12 CDA workshop, March 2003

WORKSHOP: NEW RESEARCH AGENDA in CDA: Theory and Interdisciplinarity

Thursday, March 6, 2003

9.30 a.m. Opening: Dean Prof. Dr. Franz RÖmer, Faculty of the Humanities, University of Vienna

Prof. Dr. Ruth Wodak University of Vienna and Research Center Discourse, Politics, Identity

10.00 a.m. Chair: Ruth Wodak

Norman Fairclough (Lancaster University): Transdisciplinarity in CDA

Theo Van Leeuwen (Cardiff University): Three models of Interdisciplinarity

Marcelo Dascal (University of Tel Aviv and University Leipzig ): Interdisciplinarity without Transparency

11.30 a.m. Discussion

12.15 Lunch

02.00 p.m. Chair: Anton Pelinka

Irene Bellier (CNRS Paris): Discourse analysis and observation of practices : 2 modes for constructing a scientific object : any effect on policy making ?

Ruth Wodak (University of Vienna) and Gilbert Weiss (Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald): Analyzing European Union Discourses: Theories and Applications

03.00 p.m. Discussion

03.40 p.m. Coffee Break

04.00 p.m. Teun Van Dijk (University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona): Elite Discourse and Racism in Spain

András Kovács (Central European University, Budapest): Prejudice and Latency

05.00 p.m. Discussion

Friday, March 7, 2003

11.00 a.m. Presse Konferenz: Forschungsschwerpunkt Diskurs, Politik, Identität - 6 Jahre Forschung mit Wittgenstein

Press Conference: Research Center Discourse, Politics, Identity 6 Years of Research with Wittgenstein . Moderator: Dr. Peter Huemer

Opening: Prof. Dr. Arnold Schmidt, FWF (angefragt), Rektor Prof. Dr. Georg Winckler

Buffet

01.30 p.m. Chair: Irene Bellier

Tom Burns (University of Uppsala): Social Tranformation and Equilibrium: Institutional, Socio-cognitive and discursive Dimensions an interdisciplinary approach

Florian Oberhuber and Michal Krzyzanowski (Research Center Discourse, Politics, Identity , Vienna): Institutions and Identities: Interpreting the European Convention.

02.40 p.m. Discussion

03.20 p.m. Coffee Break

03.45 p.m. Christoph Bärenreuter (Research Center Discourse, Politics, Identity, Vienna): Swedish Discourses on Europe: European identity construction in the media discourse on the political situation in Austria in the year 2000

Konrad Ehlich (University of Munich): Analyzing discourse, analyzing Society

Peter Muntigl (University of Salzburg and Research Center Discourse, Politics, Identity , Vienna): to be announced

05.15 p.m. Discussion

Saturday, March 8, 2003

9.30 a.m. Chair: Norman Fairclough

Paul Chilton (University of East Anglia, Norwich): Is there an innate module of the mind for the critical analysis of discourse?

Angelika Redder (University of Munich): Language, Thought, and Action

10.30 a.m. Discussion

11.15 a.m. Coffee Break

11.45. Anton Pelinka (University of Innsbruck): Language Politics: The case of India an example for the EU?

Ron Scollon und Suzanne Scollon (Georgetown University): Lighting the stove: Why habitus isn't enough for CDA

12.45 . Discussion

13.30. Snacks

Conference Venue: Hochholzerhof, BAWAG, 1010 Vienna, Seitzergasse 2-4

Registration: andrea.zwoelfer@oeaw.ac.at (Please register even if you do not attend the whole conference)

Workshop:

"New Research Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis: Theory and Interdisciplinarity"

March 6th - 8th, 2003, Vienna

4.13 LACUS, July 29th to August 2, 2003

The annual Forum of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States (LACUS) is always very hospitable to presentations within SFL. The 30th Forum is indeed being organized by our colleague Gordon Fulton at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., where the Systemic Congress has itself met under Gordon's organization. Herewith the LACUS Call for Papers. Best wishes to all, Michael (Cummings)

Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States

Association de Linguistique du Canada et des Etats-Unis

THE THIRTIETH LACUS FORUM

University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C.

July 29 - August 2, 2003

Conference Theme: LANGUAGE, THOUGHT, AND REALITY

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Penny Lee, University of Western Australia

Gary Libben, University of Alberta

Keren Rice, University of Toronto

Angela Della Volpe, California State University,

Fullerton, Presidential Address

CALL FOR PAPERS

While papers relating to the conference theme are especially invited, abstracts are welcomed on all subjects in linguistics and interdisciplinary areas involving language. The following list of topics relating to the theme is intended as suggestive rather than comprehensive:

LANGUAGE, THOUGHT, AND REALITY

1. Linguistic Relativity, including responses to recent work on linguistic relativity (for example, Penny Lee, The Whorf Theory Complex (Benjamins 1996), Gumperz and Levinson, Rethinking Linguistic Relativity (Cambridge, 1996), Puetz and Verspoor, Explorations in Linguistic Relativity (Benjamins, 2000)

2. Language and thought in indigenous societies

3. Neurocognitive perspectives on thought

Cognitive styles

Left-brain and right-brain thinking

The neurological basis of thinking

Thinking with and without language

4. Metaphor

5. Language and Culture

6. Translation

7. Semantic change

8. The real-world use of language

9. Real-world evidence in linguistics, including

Experimental phonetics, Psychoacoustics, Psycholinguistics

GUIDELINES FOR ABSTRACTS: Papers accepted for the program will be scheduled for either 15 minutes or 25 minutes, with 5 minutes allowed for discussion.

Due Date for Abstracts: 15 January 2003

Maximum length: 400 words (not including references). References should be limited to two or three (additional references may be included on a separate page, but in that case they will not appear in the meeting handbook.) Please do not include tables or figures in the abstract.

Anonymity: The abstract should not identify the author(s).

What to Submit: Please submit abstracts only by e-mail. Preferably, send the abstract as an e-mail attachment, in rich text format (.rtf) or the equivalent.

Accompanying Information: In the body of your e-mail (not part of the attachment) send the following information:

1. Author's name(s) and affiliation(s).

2. Title of paper.

3. Presentation time desired -- 15 or 25 minutes.

4. Audio-visual equipment required (beyond overheadprojector).

5. Eligibility for prize (if applicable -- see below).

6. Name a topic (or two topics) to identify the area(s) in which your paper lies. Choose a topic name from the list above, or feel free to name another topic if you are submitting an abstract that does not fit the conference theme.

Where to Submit: David C. Bennett <db@soas.ac.uk>

Those without access to e-mail should send the abstract and accompanying information via snail mail to:

David C. Bennett, Department of Linguistics

SOAS, University of London, Russell Square

London, WC1H 0XG, England

DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF ABSTRACTS: Evaluators of abstracts will appreciate your attention to these desiderata:

Informative but brief title; Clear statement of the problem or questions addressed; Clear statement of the main point(s) or argument(s); Informative examples; Clear indication of relevance to related work; Avoidance of jargon and polemic; References to literature.

ELIGIBILITY: You do not have to be a member of LACUS to submit an abstract. If your abstract is accepted, you must be a member to present your paper at the meeting. Members will automatically receive the publication resulting from the conference.

SYMPOSIA, WORKSHOPS, TUTORIALS: Proposals for panels or special sessions or workshops or tutorials are also welcome. Please contact David Bennett <db@soas.ac.uk> or Syd Lamb (lamb@rice.edu) right away with your ideas.

PRESIDENTS' PRIZES: Continuing a tradition started by the late Kenneth Pike, a committee consisting of the President, the President-Elect, and former Presidents of LACUS will select the winner of the annual Presidents' Prize, with an award of $500, for 'the best paper' by a junior scholar. For purposes of this prize, 'junior scholar' is defined as one who has had a doctoral degree or its equivalent for less than five years. The Presidents' Predoctoral prize, with an award of $100, will be given for 'the best paper' by a student who has not yet received a doctor's degree. For purposes of these prizes, 'best paper' is defined as that which in the judgement of the committee makes the most important contribution to knowledge. Organization and presentation and the quality of the abstract may also be considered. The prizes will be awarded at the annual banquet, to be held at the end of the meeting, Saturday, August 3rd. Only single-authored presentations will be considered for prizes. A person who has won the same prize twice will no longer be eligible. Junior scholars and predoctoral scholars should identify their status in the e-mail message sent in with the abstracts, to indicate their eligibility for one of the prizes.

FINANCIAL AID: Thanks to the Ruth Brend Memorial Fund, limited assistance for scholars coming from countries with weak currencies may be available. For information contact the Conference Committee Chair, David Bennett.

PUBLICATION: A panel of referees will select certain papers presented at the meeting for publication, with appropriate revisions, in LACUS Forum XXX.

VENUE: The University of Victoria is located in a picturesque setting at the southern end of scenic Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The URL for the University of Victoria is http://www.uvic.ca

ACCOMMODATIONS: Low-cost housing will be available on campus, and accommodations will also be available in nearby motels. Watch the lacus web site (www.lacus.org) for further information.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Updated conference information will be posted to the LACUS website at approximately the beginning of every month from now until July next. See http://www.lacus.org or http://www.glendon.yorku.ca/lacus (mirror site) Detailed information will be sent to all LACUS members and to nonmember authors of accepted abstracts in March.

ADDRESS QUESTIONS about the conference program to David C. Bennett <db@soas.ac.uk>

ADDRESS QUESTIONS about the University of Victoria to Gordon Fulton <gdfulton@uvic.ca>

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:

David Bennett, SOAS, London, Chair

Lilly Chen, Rice University

Angela Della Volpe, California State University, Fullerton

Gordon Fulton, University of Victoria

Sydney Lamb, Rice University

Lois Stanford, University of Alberta

William Sullivan, Univ. of Florida and Univ. of Krakow

4.14 Third International Contrastive Linguistics Conference, Compostela, 23-26th September, 2003

The Third International Contrastive Linguistics Conference

Santiago de Compostela ( ICLC - 3 )

5.1 Highlights from Sysflan Nigeria: A Personal Account from Mr D.O. Fiki George

The systemic functional Linguistic Association of Nigeria held its conference on the 12th and 13th September 2002 in the Conference Hall of the Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. The Workshop was billed to have taken place in July but had to be postponed as a result of the participation of the local president and another member in ISFC in Liverpool.

Dr. Nwogu, Dr. Daramola of university of Lagos and Dr. Rashid of Bayero University Kano, Prof. Akere were to give lead papers at the workshop. Unfortunately due to the change of date only Dr. Rachidi was able to make it from outside the hosting university.

Registrations started at 8:00 a.m on the 12th of September at the end of the workshop about 250 participants within and in the sister institutions around Zaria attended the workshop.

OPENING CEREMONY: There was a short opening ceremony. The workshop was declared open by Dr. S.A. Aliyu the Head of Department of English and a consistent friend of the Association.

In his opening address Dr. S. Aliyu lauded the efforts of the members and encouraged them to create more awareness within the university and other institutions in the country. The president of sysflan Dr. Ibileya also welcomed members an participants to the workshop.

The first paper titled Systemic Analysis of Text (Literary and Non Literary) was delivered by Dr. A. Rasheed of Bayero University Kano. The paper ended up being a very stimulating introductory lecture on systemic Analysis. The paper was particularly educative for 'beginners' in systematic linguistics.

DAY TWO. Systematic functional Grammar and the Teaching/Learning of Language was the title of the paper presented by Dr. T. Y. Surakat. The paper traced the linguistic evolution and highlighted the functional attributes of systemic linguistic in relation to other linguistic schools. This was immediately followed by Systemic linguistics and the Analysis of Discourse being a paper presented by Ms. F.A. Frank.

Day two ended with an Annual General Meeting which was presided over by the President of the Association Dr. G. Ibileye. At the General Meeting Best wishes messages from Australian Chapter were read.

The President gave a report of the Liverpool Conference and encouraged members to wake up and animate the Association through regular meetings and presentation of papers.

Check Mick O'Donnell's photo gallery to see some photos of the SYSFLAN conference:

http://www.wagsoft.com/Systemics/Photos/index.html

5.2 The Liverpool Experience ...as a newcomer to SFL

Fiona Rossette sent in this report on the Liverpool ISFC

What do you take away with you after your first ISFC ? Of course, you learn a lot. You come back with a brain in overload, needing time to take stock and reassess your own work in view of all that you've just heard. But you also take away the faces behind the names recurring in the books and the journals, plus many other faces besides. And, from these same people, a general friendliness and enthusiasm that encourages you to persevere down your chosen path.

I was particularly interested to learn of applications of SFL in very diverse fields, ranging from teaching and computer generation of language, to consultation in areas such as medicine, and associations with primatologists. SFL goes beyond the theory - it is not theory for theory's sake, and that is what I personally find refreshing. The topic of the conference - "Systemic Linguistics and the Corpus" - made for an interesting soul-searching interrogation about methods and aims of contemporary linguistics. The debate was always thought-provoking, as the ensuing discussions on the Systudy list have attested.

And the atmosphere was markedly warm.

Certainly the venue of the conference had a lot to do with it. The people of Liverpool lived up to their reputation of infectious friendliness. The tune of "In my Liverpool home", sung by the Carnatic and Dale Hall staff during the conference dinner, still echoes in our minds. (Which, by the way, more than made up for the interesting challenge of washing one's hair in the dorm bathrooms, where shower nozzles were conspicuously lacking - but there was even a solution to that, in the form of portable "hoses" obtained at the reception by a privileged few ladies.)

I won't make this a really personal piece by embellishing on the pleasure of meeting other Australians, some expats like myself, and in a city from whose docks many of our ancestors would have set sail. But, in SFL terms, the Sydney/Australia link is an interesting one : simply on account of that accent of mine, people took me for a real pro. I was assumed to know more than I actually did - which I admit can have its advantages - and I spent the week explaining that I was in fact a bit of an outsider still feeling my way through the theory. I wonder if this sort of scenario had occurred to Michael Halliday when he first set out for Sydney several decades ago.

I wasn't the only one running into difficulties. First introductions are rarely short and sweet in the SFL community -- an eclectic bunch, bursting with misplaced persons for whom it is not possible to give a one-word answer to the question "Where are you from ?", a point made during the course of the week by Beverly Lewin. (And this before tackling an answer to the question 'What are you working on ?') Polysemic from regularly produced two-part answers (a new micro-genre?): I'm American and live in Italy ; I'm French but live in Australia ; I'm English and I work in Singapore... More than in other disciplines, are linguists inborn globe-trotters ?

What characterises a linguist? And one of the SFL ilk ? The multitude of Michaels, Mikes, Micks, together with the several Susans, bring to mind the age-old question of what's in a name. Seriously, everyone was very friendly and genuine. Geoff Thompson had asked the 'older generation' (the diplomatic way he put it now escapes me) to make newcomers feel welcome. He needn't have. Everyone was very approachable, generous with their time and showed genuine interest and encouragement. I for one feel this was the most determining factor in making the conference so worthwhile and enjoyable.

Of course, to go up to some well-known names in the first place still required plucking up a considerable amount of courage. It took me the entire week to go up to Michael Halliday. (It would seem that I am not an isolated case). I wondered afterwards why it had taken me so long. Still, listening to the speeches at the book launch on the last night of the conference was something of an historic moment.

Interestingly enough, during the closing panel, Susan Eggins expressed her regret at the little attention given in the week's discussions to the social component of language. She reminded us that unearthing the social implications should be our ultimate aim in the study of language. This is certainly reflected in SFL's prominent interpersonal metafunction. Language is about people. Linguists are people-persons. In fact, it stands to reason that SFL linguists are a friendly, communicative bunch. The image of the intellectual in the ivory tower simply would not stick.

I came back from Liverpool a little dazed, but also very motivated, and buckled down to a productive summer of PhD work. As opposed to the corpus, stripped of its capital letter by Susan Hunston during the closing panel (why indeed talk about "the Corpus" ? - the corpus is not an end in itself, but a means to an end), the SFL Experience is, I would venture to say, more deserving of capital-letter status.

5.3 Visit to South Africa by Professor Ruqaiya Hasan (retired. Macquarie Univesity and Professor Jim Martin (University of Sydney)

Report for ASFLA newsletter, Dec 2002, from Di Kilpert and Margie Probyn

Here in South Africa for the third year in succession we have been fortunate to receive visits from distinguished members of the systemics community. Once again their enthusiasm and fresh ideas have been much appreciated by all.

Following on from visits by John Polias in 2000, and John Polias and Geoff Thompson in 2001, this year we hosted Professor Ruqaiya Hasan and Professor Jim Martin.

From 4-19 July 2002, Ruqaiya visited the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg; Rhodes University, Grahamstown; and the University of Cape Town. Her trip was organised by Di Kilpert, as a project of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA), Rhodes, and funded by the South African National Research Foundation.

From 3-17 November 2002, Jim visited the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town; Rhodes University, Grahamstown; the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg; and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His trip was organised by Dr Christine Anthonissen of the University of the Western Cape and funded by ASFLA.

We would all like to emphasize how grateful we are to ASFLA for kindly paying for Jim's local and international flights. The National Research Foundation expressed their willingness to fund Jim's visit, but had unfortunately used up their Visiting Scholar budget for the year. ASFLA also paid the airfare for both of John Polias's visits. We would like to assure ASFLA members that their money has been well spent. There is growing enthusiasm here for learning about SFL, particularly from educationalists, who are beginning to understand its value for language education in South Africa. It's also beginning to be understood that the SFL model of discourse analysis is invaluable methodology for any language-related thesis. Di Kilpert has used it extensively in her recently submitted PhD thesis, and Margie Probyn is using it in hers, to analyse classroom discourse. The visits from John, Geoff, Ruqaiya and Jim have meant a lot to us.

Details of Ruqaiya's and Jim's visits follow.

6.1 Flemming Smedegaard. "Verden i sproget". (On the system of TRANSITIVITY in Danish).

Ph.D.-thesis. 528 pages. Odense: University of Southern Denmark. (Written in Danish). Submitted in October. The defence of the thesis will take place during one of the first months of 2003.

The thesis describes and explores the system of TRANISIVITY in Danish. Both the systems of 'nuclear' TRANSITIVITY and 'circumstantial' TRANSITIVITY are being described. The description of these systems is based on the analysis of app. 25.000 Danish clauses, and the thesis is written from a quite text-based angle, working from text towards system (at the cline of instantiation). After having mapped out the system of TRANSITIVITY, Smedegaard presents 30 short analysis of 30 text representing different registers, thereby illustrating the analytical value of the system of TRANSITIVITY in general, and of his description in particular.

Danish is - as English - one of the Germanic languages, and the grammars of the two languages are in many respects similar. It is not surprising, therefore, that Smedegaard finds the same distinction in process types in Danish as the one working in English - i.e. between material, verbal, mental and relational processes. Expanding his networks in delicacy (and consequently validating the options in his networks with realization statements), he finds quite a number of differences between English and Danish, though.

The thesis is a contribution to the ongoing work in the Danish systemic functional community to refine and expand on the account of the lexicogrammar of Danish that was published last year (as the text book "Sproget som ressource" by Andersen, Petersen and Smedegaard).

6.2 Anne Conduit: The Trompenaars Model of Cultural Diversity in a Labor/Management Interaction in Japan : Meaning Orientations and Social Groups.

Awarding Institution: Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland,

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines how the meaning orientations proposed by Trompenaars (1993) in his model of cultural diversity in business are reflected in manifestations of meaning in a labor/management interaction in one particular university in Japan. Three theories provide the infrastructure for the argument of the research. The Trompenaars model of cultural diversity sets out seven clines along which meaning-making choices are made in human interaction. Systemic functional grammar Halliday (1985) is the tool through which the analyses of the texts are undertaken. Bernstein's (1964) theory of codes is used to explain the configurative rapport of meaning-making choices by participants. The study contributes to interdisciplinary research through analysis of meaning-making in a business management context using the three social theories which are each based in a different discipline - Trompenaars in business, systemics in linguistics and Bernstein in sociology.

A series of connected social events took place between 1992 and 1995 in the university. At the time, major restructuring of universities was being undertaken in Japan in response to societal changes caused by the economic recession and the decrease in youth population. The university in question had decided to make changes to contracts of certain teachers, which would have resulted in a substantial decrease in their remuneration. The teachers decided to contest the proposed changes and, in the course of the event, unionised. As a union, they eventually took their case to the Labor Commission and a compromise for both parties was agreed upon.

The data was collected during the course of the interaction between the university administration, represented entirely by Japanese functionaries, and the group of foreign teachers. Data consists of all written documents collected by participants during the event, as well as tape recordings of face-to-face meetings between the two parties. In addition, ethnographic interviews were conducted with participants, with various university functionaries, with union representatives and with the transcriber of the tapes.

The data is analysed from the macro narrative in the broadest sense to micro analysis of sections of high conflict talk within face-to-face negotiation meetings. Building on the notion of meaning by degree (Martin, 1992), conflict talk is described in this study in three degrees of low, median and high. The perceived instances of high conflict talk are initially isolated from instances of low and median conflict talk on the basis of prosodic variation, with this choice validated in the study by a comparison of micro analyses over the three degrees of conflict talk.

In describing and interpreting the data, the perceived nexus between the Trompenaars model of cultural diversity and systemic functional grammar through the interpersonal metafunction is crucial to the argument. Data in the broadest sense is studied looking at action and reaction of participants in their interventions. Face-to-face talk in meetings is analysed following the four basic speech functions described in systemic functional grammar by Halliday (1985) and Martin (1992). Tools for the micro-analysis of high conflict talk are developed from those used by Eggins and Slade (1997) in analysing casual conversation. The results reveal systematic choices by different participants along the meaning orientation clines proposed by Trompenaars, as well as characteristic patterns of conflict talk. A simple analysis for information structure shows the development of the argument for each side.

To explain the consistency in participant choices along the Trompenaars meaning orientation clines, Bernstein's theory of codes is applied to participants' meaning-making patterns. It is argued that the configurative rapport of participant choices is explained not only by the implicit/explicit cline proposed by Bernstein (1964) and Hasan (1984), but also by the accompanying notions of societies based on sameness or difference, and by the perception of the self in relation to others.

6.3 Bodil Hedeboe, Dept. of Scandinavian Languages, Stockholm University

Bodil sent in the summary of her recently submitted thesis, which will be/has been defended on 19.12.02.

6.4 Miriam Taverniers, University of Gent

Miriam sent a website with information on her recently awarded PhD:

http://bank.rug.ac.be/mt/phd.html

6.5 Annabelle Lukin, Macquarie University

Examining Poetry: A Corpus-Based Enquiry into Literary Criticism

This thesis investigates the question of why we teach and examine literature at school. The issues are not addressed through the investigation of literary theory, but instead, this thesis argues for, and adopts, a corpus based approach. A corpus of examination essays on the poetry of Bruce Dawe from the major final year examination in English in NSW, and a corpus of extracts from a book by a post-structualist critic writing on the same poet, have been analysed using systemic functional theory. In relation to the data, a number of questions about the practice of criticism are raised, including: What kinds of claims are made?; On what basis are the claims made? How is the object of study constructed by the critic? What are the principles by which critics proceed from local arguments to integrate such arguments into a wider textual and disciplinary perspective?

In Chapter 1, I set out the problem of the thesis, and explain and explore the principled motivation for a corpus based investigation. Chapter 2 presents an outline of the basic concepts in systemic functional linguistics (SFL), and describes which of the analytic tools from this model have been selected for the analysis of text in this thesis. These tools include the unit of message (Hasan, 1983), the notion of figure (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999), Hasan's GSP for `reasoning' (Hasan, 1988a), and Hasan's `cohesive harmony' analysis (1984, 1985/89b).

Chapter 3 begins the study of data, with an examination of the three extracts from a book by the critic Peter Kuch (1995), using the tools outlined in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 presents the analysis of the student corpus using the same range of analytic tools. Chapter 5 explores the implications of the findings in Chapters 3 and 4 for the development of a sense of literary criticism as a kind of social context, addressing both the similarity and variation across the data. Chapter 6 considers the wider applicability of the findings, through an analysis of two additional instances of literary criticism - an essay by Geoffrey Hartman, a deconstructionist from Yale University, and an essay by the critic Harold Bloom, also from Yale. In Chapter 7, I turn the linguistic theory adopted in this thesis onto a literary text in order to explore an alternative mode of engagement with literature. Chapter 8 concludes the thesis by examining the implications of this research for criticism as an academic endeavour, and for the teaching of literary criticism as a school based practice.

The research has considerable theoretical and practical implications. By considering instances of practice by `apprentice critics' in relation to the activity as practiced by professional, and in Hartman and Bloom's cases, highly celebrated, critics, the thesis raises fundamental questions about the function of the study of literature, and the status of the knowledge produced through the activity. In response to these questions, I argue for a mode of engagement with literary texts which involves the systematic study of a literary text as both an instance of the general system of language, and as a particular kind of linguistic practice. This approach, I argue, enables a student to explore the particular patterns of a particular text, as well as to learn about his or her most fundamental means of social regularity - verbal texture and design.

6.6 Gail Foley, Department of English Language, Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow

Aspects of Theme and Their Role in Workplace Texts

English is fast becoming the recognised language for research and business. For many in the workplace, English is seen as an important element, both at a personal and institutional level, leading to success in business. Many believe that the available pedagogic workplace material does not accurately reflect the language used in the workplace. There is a call for more research into the language of the workplace, research which can inform pedagogy. In response to this identified need, the present study investigates specific linguistic features found in written English workplace texts.

The study adopts a systemic functional linguistic perspective and focuses on an analysis of Theme in three workplace text types: memos, letters and reports. The aim of the study is to investigate the function performed by Theme in these texts. The study diverges from Halliday's identification of Theme and argues that the Subject is an obligatory part of Theme. In examining the function Theme performs, specific features such as the relationship between Theme and genre and between Theme and interpersonal meaning are explored. The study investigates the linguistic realisations in the texts which help understand the way in which the choice of Theme is related to, and perhaps constrained by, the genre. In addition, the linguistic resources used by the writer to construe interpersonal meanings through their choice of Theme are explored.

The study investigates Theme from two distinct positions. Firstly a lexico-grammatical analysis of thematic choices in the texts is undertaken. Secondly, the study draws upon informant interpretations and considers the way in which certain thematic choices construe different meanings for different types of reader. The methodology adopted is twofold: an analysis of Theme in a corpus of authentic workplace texts comprised of 30 memos, 22 letters and 10 reports; and an analysis of informant interpretations drawn from focus group interviews with 12 business people and 15 EFL teachers. In both sets of data, Theme is scrutinised with respect to textual, interpersonal, topical and marked Themes and the meanings construed through such choices.

The findings show that Theme plays an important role in organising the text, as well as in realising ideational and interpersonal meaning. In particular the findings demonstrate that marked Theme, or the term adopted in the present study `extended Theme', performs a crucial role in representing the workplace as a depersonalised, material world. In addition, the choice of Subject and extended Theme, realised by projection, are seen to play an important role in construing interpersonal meaning.

The findings from the research uncover some of the functions Theme performs in workplace memos, letters and reports. The understandings reached related to Theme and thematic choices within the workplace genres could be used to inform and improve the pedagogy of writing in the workplace.

GAIL FOREY

MAY 2002

SUPERVISED BY FLORENCE DAVIES, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW WITH LOTS OF HELP FROM: SUSAN HOOD, GUENTER PLUM, SIMA SENGUPTA & MANY MORE FRIENDS!

7.1 David Caldwell, Department of Linguistics, Deakin University

Title: Critiquing the Post-Match Interview - An appraisal analysis of the language of AFL footballers and ABC journalists

8.1 Beverly Lewin, Jonathan Fine & Lynne Young, 2001, Expository discourse: A genre-based approach to social science Texts, London: Continuum Press

This volume provides a detailed and explicit account of the genre of social science research articles. By using formal notions of moves and acts, the structuring of introductions and discussions is generated by flow charts. The lexical cohesion and the tracking of rhetorical entities are shown in detail. A separate chapter deals with the creation of boundary markers in the texts. To ensure authenticity, the entire analysis is based on the empirical study of a representative set of research articles. An important contribution of the analysis is to provide explicit realization statements that relate the abstract categories of move and act to the way these units are worded by means of lexical and grammatical choices.

The analysis of introductions and discussions is both qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative analysis shows how the different moves and acts are related to each other and how they are realised by specific rules. The quantitative analyses show how the acts and moves are related to the genre involved and how the realisations relate to the moves and acts.

The description of the social science research genre is important both for those teaching English for speakers and readers of other languages and for researchers of discourse structure. For teachers, the detailed analysis of texts and the explicit realization rules that show how discourse structure is embodied in texts and so shows what must be taught so that students can understand and produce research articles. For researchers, the qualitative and quantitative analyses show how the different levels of abstraction, from the genre itself through elements of the genre, moves, acts and wordings, are related to each other.

8.2 "Working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause"

J.R. Martin & David Rose. 2002. Working with discourse: meaning beyhond the clause. London & New York: Continuum. Hardback: ISBN: 0826455077, Pages: 296, Price: GBP65.00 Paperback: ISBN: 0826455085, Pages: 296, Price: GBP19.99

Working with Discourse is designed for researchers and students interested in exploring how speakers and writers construe meaning through discourse. It draws on tools for discourse analysis that were developed in systemic functional linguistics and register and genre theory, but it requires no prior knowledge of functional linguistics and avoids academic complexity wherever possible. Rather, the book an accessible set of analytic tools that can be used with ease in a range of disciplines. These are introduced in clear steps, through analyses of a set of stories, arguments, reviews, procedures and other texts that exemplify how meanings are constructed and contested in a culture by focusing on current issues of truth and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. Readers are guided through these text analyses from five complementary perspectives on meaning, exploring the ways in which: · people and things are introduced and tracked though a text; · messages are logically related in discourse sequences; · people, things, processes and qualities are construed and related; · people, things and processes are appreciated, judged and valued; · all these elements of meaning are synthesized and organized as waves of information in a text. These detailed analyses provide a practical resource for application in any field in which discourse analysis has a role, including educational research, critical discourse analysis, cultural studies, text linguistics, and language and literacy teaching. It is equally useful as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in these fields and as a reference guide for researchers.

8.3 "Relations and functions within and around language"

Peter H. Fries, Michael Cummings, David Lockwood & William Spruiell (eds.). 2002. Relations and Functions Within and Around Language. London & New York: Continuum. Hardback: ISBN: 0826453686, Pages: 320, Price: GBP65.00. Paperback: ISBN: 0826453694, Pages: 320, Price: GBP25.00

Abstract:

This book describes language as a network of functional relations involving a context which is also a network of functional relations. The essays in Part I present several perspectives on the theory of language as functional relations. The essays in Part II discuss an oral text using a variety of functional perspectives. All of the essays are by linguists interested in oral and written texts who have achieved international recognition in their fields. Illustrated in this book are cognitive, social construction, social praxis and anthropological approaches to the description of text. Currently in linguistics there is a movement towards careful use of corpora in linguistic and text analysis. This movement has involved the use of written corpora, spoken corpora and corpora which consist of combinations of spoken and written text. But little detailed discussion of the language of a single oral text from multiple perspectives has been published. Most text analyses address written texts -- often literary works. This book is among the first to integrate the analysis of the language of spoken and written texts.

8.4 "Linguistic studies of text and discourse"

M.A.K. Halliday. 2003. Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse (Volume 2, The Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday.) Edited by Jonathan Webster. London & New York: Continuum. Hardback: ISBN: 0826458688, Pages: 320, Price: GBP 75.00

Abstract:

`Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse' is the second in a series of volumes presenting the collected works of Professor M.A.K. Halliday. The papers in this volume focus on the application of systemic functional grammar to the analysis of texts, both highly-valued and everyday, both written and spoken. Presenting detailed linguistic analyses of specific texts, ranging from the highly-valued by such authors as William Golding, J.B. Priestly, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Charles Darwin, to the more everyday variety, such as a fund-raising letter and part of a doctoral defense, Halliday explores the power of grammar at work to create meaning, to change our lives for better or worse. Each text is studied as one would any kind of language, in terms of the linguistic resources that contribute to the realization of its 'meaning potential'. Not only are the analyses interesting for what they reveal about the texts under investigation, but also instructive in the practice and methods of systemic grammar analysis.

8.5 "Discourse and language functions"

Huang Guowen & Wang Zongyan (eds.). 2002. Discourse and language functions. Shanghai: Foreign Languaeg Teaching and Research Press. ISBN:7-5600-2668-0.

Foreword:

The papers in this volume were selected from a total of 86 presented at the International Conference on Discourse and Language Functions organized by the School of Foreign Languages, Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) University (Guangzhou), from the 10th to the 13th of August 1999. This was the first conference on linguistics ever hoseted by the School and a major event in our academic history. By the time when the conference was held, Zhongshan University was already one of the most important universities in China focusing on systemic functional linguistics both in teaching and research. The purposes of the conference were to promote academic exchange between scholars at home and abroad, to strengthen our ties with the outside world, to familiarize our friends with the developments of the School, to make the recent happenings and up-to-date information in the field accessible to our teachers and students and to provide a forum for language researchers as well as practitioners on issues related to discourse and langauge functions.

The conference's 102 participants came from more than 40 universities and colleges in America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau and other Chinese cities. At the conference seven distinguished linguists were invited to be plenary speakers (in alphabetical order): Robin FAWCETT (Cardiff), Peter FRIES (Central Michigan), M.A.K. Halliday (Sydney), Ruqaiya Hasan (Macquarie), HU Zhuanglin (Peking), Christian MATTHIESSEN (Macquarie), and WANG Zongyan (Zhongshan). Glad to have so many non-Chinese linguists here, the Program Committee made very good use of the opportunity by asking them to lead the "Special Interest Group" discussions (in their respective researche areas) and to join in the Panel Discussion, apart from giving plenary speeches.

The Conference's success depended on the efforts of both the participants and the organisers; on behalf of the Organising Committee, we would like to express out gratitude to all those who helped us.

Many people have helped in bringing this book about, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them. First and foremost are the contributors to the volume, especially HALLIDAY, FRIES and MATTHIESSEN. The Lingnan Foundation gave us very generous financial support, which made it possible to invite plenary speakers from different parts of the world and to publish the book; such help is warmly appreciated. We would like to thank the plenary speakers and the participants who played active roles at the Conference. The Guangzhou English Language Centre and the Chinese Language Centre of Zhongshan University gave the Conference financial support. Many people have helped us by reviewing the papers. Las but not least, we would like to thank the Organising Committee of the Conference. Those whose work and support which made the Conference a great success are gratefully remembered and warmly appreciated.

Huang Guowen

Wang Zongyan

Contents:

1. Introduction to Halliday's "Computing meanings: some reflections on past experience and present prospects". Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen.

2. Computing meanings: some reflections on past experience and present prospects. M.A.K. Halliday.

3. The role of process and nominalization in grammatical metaphor. Hu Zhuanglin.

4. Cleft sentences as grammatical metaphors. Huang Guowen.

5. A functional interpretation of causation. Yang Xinzhang.

6. Indeterminacy in the functional analysis of nonfinite clauses. Yang Bingjun.

7. Theme and New in written advertising. Peter H. Fries.

8. Textuality of organisation of modal options in text. Peng Xuanwei.

9. Theme in English and Chinese: a contrastive study. Chen Zhi'an & Kuang Lan.

10. Lexicogrammar in discourse development: logogenetic patterns of wording. Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen.

11. A systemic-functional approach to research paper abstracts. Yu Hui.

12. Who is to blame: on mood, speech function, and interpersonal relationship. Fan Wenfang.

13. Language form, discourse structure and language function -- a brief survey of the plain language processing in prospectuses. Shang Yuanyuan.

14. The information unit in phonological perspective. Chen Yongpei.

15. Illocutionary and perlocutionar5y acts of the Whorfian hypothesis. Gao Yihong.

16. Different cultures, different speech act sets -- speech act theory and its implication in intercultural communication studies. Chen Jianping.

17. Features of argumentation in Chinese and English texts. Helena Y.K. Wong.

18. Display advertisements and register variation. Doreen Dongying Wu.

Appendix: M.A.K. Halliday, Computing meanings: some reflections on past experience and present prospects. In Japanese, translated by Kazuhiro Teruya.

8.6 "Critical discourse analysis: theory and interdisciplinarity"

Gilbert Weiss & Ruth Wodak (eds.). 2002. Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Interdisciplinarity. Palgrave Macmillan. Hardback: ISBN: 0333970233, Pages: 336, Price: GBP50.00.

Abstract:

Can discourse analysis techniques adequately deal with complex social phenomena? What does 'interdisciplinarity' mean for theory building and the practise of empirical research? This volume provides an innovative and original debate on critical theory and discourse analysis, focussing on the extent to which CDA can and should draw on the theory and methodology of a range of discilplines within the social sciences. The contributors to the volume are themselves international and multi-disciplinary, and the collection is organised to address in turn the development of CDA over the past two decades, the deabte on interdisciplinarity, impliactions for discourse - analytical theory and applications.

Contents:

Preface - Introduction; G. Weiss and R. Wodak - SECTION ONE:

CRITICAL - Critical Discourse Analysis and the Rhetoric of Critique;

M. Billig - Critical Discourse Analysis and the Development of New

Science; C. Gouveia - Reflexivity and the Doubles of Modern Man - The

Discursive Construction of Anthropological Subject Positions;

M.W.Jorgensen - SECTION TWO: DEBATING AND PRACTISING

INTERDISCIPLINARITY - Critical Discourse Analysis and Evaluative

Meaning; Interdisciplinarity as a Critical Turn; P. Graham - The

Discourse-Knowledge Interface; T. A.van Dijk - Texts and Discourses in

the Technologies of Social Organisation; J. Lemke - Identities in

Flux: Arabs and Jews in Israel; M. Dascal - Political and Somatic

Alignment: Habitus. Ideology and Social Practise; S. Scollon - Voicing

the 'Other': Reading and Writing Indigenous Australians; J. Martin -

SECTION THREE: FROM THEORY TO SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PRACTISE? - Activist Sociolinguistics in a Critical Discourse Analysis

Perspective; P. O'Connor - Discourse at Work: When Women Take on the

Role of Managers; L. Martin-Rojo and C. Gomes-Esteban - Cross-Cultural

Representation of 'Otherness' in Media Discourse; C. C. Coulthard -

Interaction Between Visual and Verbal Communication - Changing

Patterns in the Printed Media; C. Anthonissen

8.7 "Classroom discourse analysis: a functional perspective"

Frances Christie. 2002. Classroom Discourse Analysis: A Functional Perspective. London & New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-5373-2.

Abstract:

This is a volume which uses the SF grammar and genre theory as well as aspects of Bernstein's notions of pedagogic discourse to analyse classroom texts from early childhood to mid secondary schooling. The book examines the nature of pedagogic relationships at different stages of schooling. It argues the importance of reasserting the claims of knowledge in much contemporary schooling, at least in the English-speaking world.

8.8 "Language learning: a lifelong process"

Joseph Foley & Linda Thompson. 2003. Language Learning: A Lifelong Process. London: Arnold. pb 034076282 9 cost 14.99 pounds; hb 034076281 0 cost 45.00 pounds. pp 320.

Outlines a conceptual model of language development following SFG/Vygotsky/Bernstein. Draws on language data and research projects from multilingual settings.

Readership: undergrads, postgrads: courses in language development, bilingualism, language and society (including critical literacy), psycholinguistics and English as a world language.

8.9 "Celt Seed"-- poetry by David Banks

I hope members will allow me to advertise this new book, even though it is not a book on systemic linguistics. It is however a book of poems by a linguist working within the systemic framework.

David Banks: Celt Seed, Selected Poems, Poetry Salzburg, ISBN: 3-901993-13-4, 104 pp.

This can be obtained from the publisher: editor@poetrysalzburg.com

or through the author: David.Banks@univ-brest.fr

Price: 13 euros (+ 1 euro P&P)

The publisher would like it to be known that the author is willing to give readings of his work on an expences only basis.

8.10 "Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse: Essays in honor of Sandra A. Thompson"

Joan L. Bybee & Michael Noonan (eds.). 2002. Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse: Essays in honor of Sandra A. Thompson. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

The papers in this volume in honor of Sandra Annear Thompson deal with complex sentences, an important topic in Thompson's career. The focus of the contributions is on the ways in which the grammatical properties of complex sentences are shaped by the communicative context in which they are produced, an approach to grammatical analysis that Thompson pioneered and developed in the course of her distinguished career.

Contents:

Joan Bybee & Mickey Noonan. "Introduction."

Joan Bybee. "Main clauses are innovative, subordinate clauses are conservative: consequences for the nature of constructions."

Bernard Comrie. "Participles in Tsez: an emergent word class?"

Charles J. Fillmore. "Mini-grammars of some time-when expressions in English."

Cecilica E. Ford. "Denial an dthe construction of conversational turns."

Barbara A. Fox. "On the embodied nature of grammar: embodied being-in-the-world."

John Haiman & Tania Kuteva. "The symmetry of counterfactuals."

Pelin Hennesy & T. Givón. "Note on the grammar of Turkish nominalizations."

Paul Hopper. "Hendiadys and auxiliation in English."

Shoichi Iwasaki & Tsuyoshi Ono. "`Sentence' in spontaneous spoken Japanese discourse."

Charles N. Li. "Some issues concerning the origin of language."

Carol Lord. "Are subordinate clauses more difficult?"

Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen. "Combining clauses into clause complexes: a multi-faceted view."

Emanuel A. Schegloff. "Overwrought utterances: "complex sentences" in a different sense."

Publications fy Sandra A. Thompson.

10.1 Multistratal analysis of bonobo-human discourse

Jim Benson and Bill Greaves

jbenson@glendon.yorku.ca

greaves@glendon.yorku.ca

We have been working for more than a year now on a new project: a multistratal analysis of a dialogue between a human, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, and a bonobo, Panbanisha. The idea is to develop a methodology which can reveal much more of what is going on than analysis in domains that are sealed off from each other. We are using two pieces of computer software: Praat, which was developed to do acoustic analysis, but which we have customized to accommodate systemic functional analysis, and Mick O'Donnell's Systemic Coder, for which we have created a number of networks.

10.2 The Scamseek project --Press release

ASIC announces unique 'Scamseek' project

[Source: http://fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/03-034+ASIC+announces+unique+'Scamseek'+project?openDocument]

Monday 3 February 2003

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) today announced the largest language technology research project ever initiated in Australia.

A joint research project between ASIC, the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC), the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, the project will aid the development of an automatic internet-document-classification system called 'Scamseek'.

With a budget of over $1 million, the project will focus on using innovative language technology to identify possible breaches of the Corporations Act on internet websites.

'The internet represents enormous opportunities for scams and rip-off artists. The system we are developing through this joint project will be an eye that never sleeps, constantly seeking out sites that we can take action against', ASIC Director of Electronic Enforcement, Mr Keith Inman said.

ScamSeek will have the potential to:

• determine potential risk by scanning entities against public and private databases;
• assess and aggregate the risk associated with information on a website;
• identify people and companies mentioned on a website; and
• mark sites that are above the acceptable risk threshold for further analysis.

Professor Jon Patrick, team leader for the CMCRC and the University of Sydney, said the system would use the most up-to-date research in document classification, and new analytical methods for identifying the meaning of words.

'Scams that are run through websites tend to use certain words, in certain ways, with certain characteristics - but they can be cleverly disguised as well', Professor Patrick said.

'With our colleagues Professor Christian Matthiessen and Doctoral scholar Maria Couchman from the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University, we're using new theories on textual meanings to unravel the deep linguistic features that will enable us to detect scam proposals no matter what surface form of language they use', he said.

The project will also apply a specialist 'web spider' to search out potential websites, using technology developed by one of the CMCRC industry members SMARTS (Security Markets Automated Research Training and Surveillance).

'This project is tremendously exciting not just for us, but for the international community as well. Other countries such as the USA, Holland, Canada and the UK have already expressed interest in the work we are undertaking with this project, because successful language technologies are the next generation in the computer revolution', Professor Patrick said.

'This project puts Australia is at the forefront of research and development in the area, and we are proud to be part of such a significant step forward for research and Australian ingenuity', he said.