Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

Professor, Linguistics          

Educational Background

•  Doctor of Philosophy, Department of linguistics, UCLA. Dissertation title: Text-generation as a Linguistic Research Task. 1989.
•  Master of Arts, in linguistics, Department of Linguistics, UCLA. Dissertation title: Choosing Tense in English. 1984.
•  Candidate of Philosophy, in English and linguistics, University of Lund, Sweden. 1980.
   

Experience

• Professor, 2002 -, Department of Linguistics, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Macquarie University.
• Associate Professor, 1994 - 2002, Department of Linguistics, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Macquarie University.
• Senior Lecturer, 1992 - 1994, Department of Linguistics, Sydney University. I have designed and taught courses in computational linguistics, functional grammar, functional semantics, discourse analysis, systemic functional theory. I have carried out and directed research in multilanguage generation, computational discourse analysis, dialogue & speech generation, English grammar, semantics and discourse, systemic functional theory & metatheory.
• Lecturer, 1988 - 1992, Department of Linguistics, Sydney University. I designed and taught courses in computational linguistics, functional grammar, functional semantics, discourse analysis, systemic functional theory. I carried out and directed research in multilanguage generation, speech generation, English grammar, semantics and discourse, systemic functional theory.
• Research Linguist, 1983 - 1988, University of Southern California / Information Sciences Institute. Application and development of systemic theory and descriptions for text generation. Maintenance and expansion of a systemic grammar of English for text generation; work on a semantics for it. Joint development of a theory of text organization (in particular, Rhetorical Structure Theory).
• Research Assistant, 1980 - 1983, University of Southern California / Information Sciences Institute. Research as above and preparation and teaching of a course on text linguistics and discourse analysis.
• Teaching Assistant, 1981, University of California at Los Angeles. Teaching of review sessions and tutoring in general linguistics and in syntax.
• University teacher, 1979, University of Lund, Sweden. Teaching of a  course in contrastive analysis and language typology designed for students of linguistics and language teachers.

Teaching in 1999 — Semester 1

• Ling 318 — Grammar and Meaning in a Multilingual, Typological Perspective
• Ling 900 — Grammar, meaning and discourse

Research Areas

My research areas include

(i) Systemic-functional theory and metatheory in general; the complementarity between theoretical, representational and computational specifications of models; computational support in theoretical and descriptive models.

(ii) Development of theoretical and computational models of systems capable of taking part in spoken dialogue.

(iii) Modelling of the ideation base, interaction base and the text base of a text processing system.

(iv) Modelling of multilinguality and multimodality in text processing systems; multilingual text-generation; text-based and 'target language' oriented translation.

(v) Exploration of the integration of text generation and speech synthesis technology.

(vi) Revision and extension of a systemic functional grammar of English (documented as Matthiessen, English systems: Lexicogrammatical cartography, which is a primary resource in various research projects).

(vii) Development of comparable accounts of grammars of languages other than English, currently with Japanese as a major focus; comprehensive and functionally-oriented typology.

(viii) Application of functional theory and description in discourse interpretation, language testing, etc..
 

Research Projects

From 1980 to 1988 —

research on text-generation and related issues at the Information Sciences Institute/ University of Southern California — as research linguist responsible for the development of the linguistic modelling in the Penman text-generation system.

From 1988 onwards  —

Australian Research Council (ARC)

• ARC project on multilanguage generation — as project leader (1990, 1991, 1992; large grant);
• ARC project on multilingual resources and processes — as project leader (1993, 1994, 1995; large grant);
• ARC project on generating multilingual and multimodal presentations — as project leader (1996, 1997, 1998; large grant);
• ARC project on computational reference grammar — as project leader (1998; small grant).
• ARC project on modelling multilingual and multimodal resources — as project leader (1999; small grant).

Internally funded

• Development of corpus resources — as project leader jointly with A/Prof. Pam PETERS (1997).

Maquarie University Research Grant (MURG)

• MURG for translation between grammatical specifications in the KPML and Multex generation systems — as project leader, jointly with Dr. ZENG Licheng (1998);
• MURG to support Dr. Elke TEICH as visiting scholar (1998).

Commercial

• Telecom project, joint with Electrical Engineering on dialogue description (Dialogue project) — as associate project leader;
• Fujitsu-based project on electronic discourse analysis (EDA project) — as principal investigator (1990-1992);
• UTS-based project on spoken language in the workplace — as consultant;
• DSTO project, joint with DSTO, Canberra, on development of multimodal meaning base and generation capability for health reports — as project leader for the Macquarie team (1996-8).  

  Publications

Books
 
Matthiessen, C. & J. Bateman. 1991. Systemic Linguistics and Text Generation: Experiences from Japanese and English. London: Frances Pinter. xxii + 348 pp.

Matthiessen, C. 1995. Lexicogrammatical Cartography: English Systems. xviii + 978 pp. Tokyo, Taipei & Dallas: International Language Sciences Publishers.

Martin, J.R., C. Matthiessen & C. Painter. 1997. Working with Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold. viii + 306 pp.
 
Halliday, M.A.K. & C. Matthiessen. 1999. Construing experience through meaning: a language-based approach to cognition.London: Cassell. xiii + 657 pp. To appear in May 1999.
 
Matthiessen, C. & M.A.K. Halliday. in prep. Outline of systemic-functional linguistics. 2 volumes.

Matthiessen, C. in prep. The grammar of groups/ phrases and words. MS, 1997.

Matthiessen, C. in prep. The Status of Constituency in a Comprehensive Theory of Language. MS, 1997.

Matthiessen, C. in prep. Exploring transitivity: case studies. MS, 1998.

Matthiessen, C. in prep. A functional map of the grammar of English. MS, 1998.

Book chapters and articles 1995-9

Matthiessen, C. 1995. Fuzziness construed in language: a linguistic perspective. In Proceedings of FUZZ/IEEE, Yokohama, March 1995.

Matthiessen, C. 1995. THEME as a resource in ideational 'knowledge' construction. In M. Ghadessy (ed.), Thematic developments in English texts. London: Pinter.

Matthiessen, C. 1996. Tense in English seen through systemic-functional theory. In M. Berry, C.S. Butler, R.P. Fawcett & G. Huang (eds.), Meaning and form: systemic functional interpretations. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. pp. 431-99.

Matthiessen, C. & C. Nesbitt. 1996. On the idea of theory-neutral descriptions. R. Hasan, C. Cloran & D. Butt (eds.), Functional descriptions: theory in practice. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Matthiessen, C. & M.A.K. Halliday. 1997. Systemic functional grammar: a first step into the theory. Macquarie University.

Matthiessen, C., M. Cross, I. Kobayashi & L. Zeng. 1997. Generating Multimodal Presentations: Resources and Processes. In Proceedings of the Artificial Intelligence in Defence Workshop AI ‘95, ed. by S. Goss, Eighth Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Canberra 14 November 1995. pp. 91-109.

Cross, M. & C. Matthiessen. 1997. Integrating and managing multimodal information sources: a problem for defence. In Proceedings of the Artificial Intelligence in Defence Workshop AI ‘95, ed. by S. Goss, Eighth Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Canberra 14 November 1995. pp. 83-91.

Matthiessen, C. 1998. Construing processes of consciousness: from the commonsense model to the uncommonsense model of cognitive science. In Martin, J.R. & R. Veel (eds.), Reading science: research, popular culture, industry and schooling. London: Routledge. pp. 327-57.

Cross M. and C. Matthiessen. 1998. Semantics for Multimedia Systems. Proceedings of International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Multimedia Applications. Churchill, Australia, February 9-11, 1998.

Matthiessen, C., L. Zeng, M. Cross, I. Kobayashi, K. Teruya & C. Wu. 1998. The Multex generator and its environment: application and development. Proceedings of the International Generation Workshop ‘98, August ‘98, Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Matthiessen, C. 1999. The system of TRANSITIVITY: an exploratory study of text-based profiles. Functions of Language  6.1.

Matthiessen, C. in press. Lexicogrammar and collocation: a systemic functional exploration. In Issues in English Grammar. Volume II. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages.

Matthiessen, C. forthc. The environments of translation. In C. Yallop & E. Steiner (eds.), Berlin: de Gruyter.
 

Book chapters and articles 1981-1994

See e.g. Systemic Functional Bibliography.

Conference presentations 1996-1998

Matthiessen, C. 1996. Systemic functional lexicogrammmar for all seasons. UTS, Sydney, Australia, July 1996.

Matthiessen, C. 1996. Multilingual work: Description, comparison and typology. Plenary at workshop on Multilinguality, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, December 1996.

Caffarel A., Cross M., Matthiessen C., Teich E., Wu C. and Zeng L 1997. Systemic functional computational work: an invitation to descriptive and educational systemic functional linguists. ASFLA, Wollongong University, Wollongong, Australia, October 1997.

Matthiessen, C. 1997. Language, thought and the brain in a stratified model: a systemic perspective. ASW [Australian Systemc Functional Workshop], Wollongong University, Wollongong, Australia, October 1997.

Matthiessen, C. 1997. The relationship between grammar and discourse: an exploration based on computational tools. Plenary at conference on Discourse Analysis, Macau University, Macau, October 1997.

Matthiessen, C. 1997. Multimodality in Computational Modelling and Social Semiotics: From Diagrams and Maps to Paintings. Workhop on Multimodality, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 17-19 December 1997.

Matthiessen, C. 1998. The environments of translation. Translation workshop, International Systemic Functional Congress, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, July 1998.

Matthiessen, C. 1998. Locating variation along the cline of instantiation. Workshop on variation, University of Sydney, December 1998.
 

Contact Information

Professor Christian Matthiessen

Department of Linguistics, C5A
Macquarie University
North Ryde, NSW 2109
Australia

Phone: +61 2 9850 7756
Fax: +61 2 9977 3735
Email: cmatthie@ling.mq.edu.au  
 

Web Gallery: Paintings

Last updated: Monday, February 10, 2003