An Introduction to Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics

Abstract

Numerous theories have been successful in accounting for aspects of language. One of the most substantial theories is Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (often SFL), which has been employed in the literature on linguistics and applied linguistics. This paper aims to introduce Halliday's SFL with a focus on an overview of SFL as a linguistic tradition largely developed by Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M.A.K. Halliday). Furthermore, this introduction compares SFL to other linguistic traditions, such as the transformational generative linguistics represented by Noam Chomsky and Bloomfield's structural tradition. This research also explains the key elements of SFL, SFL as an applicable tradition, examples of the value of applying SFL in detail, and finally, presents the benefits associated with working with SFL as a communicative motivation in learning a language.