FG is the study of how the clauses combine meaning wise and not structure wise FG is different and less theoretical than structural model grammar SMG has a hierarchy, syntactic way of expression, is prescriptive (it tells what you must say, what is correct to say  the rule), analysis by part of speech or logical analysis (subject, object, verb) Syntax (is a branch of grammar)  means how it gets together, how it combines SFG prioritise language in use (meaning) over structure Definition of Functional Grammar  model of grammar that aims and explain how language is used, not prescriptive, but is a descriptive grammar: in FG you want to explain what is being said, try to make sense of it and explain why, what the social meaning behind certain word and expression is, does not work hierarchically (there is not any grammatical tree, no hierarchical view), but there is a systemic view of grammar Has layers that has no hierarchy, but one contributes the other, starts from the function of the individual sound:  Phonetics: individual sounds  Phonology: combinations of sounds (phonological phenomenon: assimilation, liaison, intonation) question tag  It’s three o’clock, isn’t it? Rising intonations  requires an answer Falling intonation  doesn’t require an answer Intonation is vital because it can determine the meaning  Lexicogrammar: Phonetics and Phonology conditions Lexicogrammar meaning  Semantics  Context: from POV of situation and culture Green ideas sleep furiously  a sentence can be perfect grammatical without any meaning Semantically from the point of view of the sense/meaning

FG is both vocabulary and grammar at the same time, without vocabulary you can’t analyze grammar and without grammar you can’t analyze vocabulary. In FG, context from the POV of culture is vital to make sense to lots of meaning and idiomatic meaning, but context from the POV of situation works more than culture Homophoric reference is culture specific references  in theory of FG, CSR are part of the system of Cohesion

CONTEXT OF SITUATION

Overarching/full function of language is to communicate  that can be broken down to these metafunctions Foundation of all FG is based on this triplet: FIELD TENOR MODE They are also called variables of register (the use of language, formal or informal) The foundation in grammar has a basis and it is called metafunction of language According to FG, these are the 3 subfunction of language, these metafunction of meaning always work together at the same time. So, from the POV of FG, we can analyse the meaning and the grammar in terms of Field, in terms of Tenor and in terms of Mode In structural grammar the subject is:

Is the doer of the action
The element that is in agreement with the verb/in the nominative
The focus of the message The subject does all these 3 things at the same time In FG there is one subject for each metafunction of language:
In Field, the subject is the one that does the action called, Logical Subject
In Tenor, the subject is the element that is in agreement with the verb, called Interpersonal Subject
In Mode, the subject is the focus of the message, called Textual Subject  in English it is the element that come first Each clause has 3 possible analyses that co-exist FIELD  The kind of meaning that metafunction Field makes is: Ideational meaning  means what is going on, what info is being communicated  that it is analyzed in a specific grammatical system called: Transitivity  is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take objects and how many such objects a verb can take A Transitivity/Experiential analysis starts from the: Process (verb group)  is the centre of Transitivity analysis of every clause (price = Material process) Participants (nominal group)  are the elements that are either doing the action or undergoing the action (nouns together with its pre- and post-modifiers)  Goal, Actor (Logical Subject) Circumstances  it adds additional info called Peripheral information Prepositional phrases tend to come at beginning, at the end or at the middle of clause Adverbial groups Nominal groups TENOR  Tenor is responsible of: Interpersonal meaning  who is taking part  that it is analyzed by these systems: Mood (we will only do this)  it isn’t only a category of verb but also a category of subject  subject + verb forms the Mood Block (= we price , you will switch), foundation on which interpersonal meaning is build Is also Finite  view of the verb as having a system of person, the element that provides anchorage to the verb in tense and/or in modality Grammatical subject = Interpersonal Subject