Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics in China

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics: The State of the Art in China showcases new work from leading scholars in China, as well as offering perspectives on this work from leading scholars in SFL outside China including M.A.K. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Jim Martin, and Christian Matthiessen. The range of topics covers graphology/phonology, lexis, group and clause, clause complex, text, typology, semiotics, multimodality, stylistics, translation, and teaching.

Not only will this book introduce the latest research into language and multimodal discourse being undertaken by scholars in China today, but also suggest the way forward in terms of where linguistics should be going if the aim is (still) to create 'the innovative producers of social semiotic theory, description and practice the world rightfully expects from the intellectual superpower China is economically positioned to become' (Jim Martin).

As Professor Huang Guowen notes: "Halliday's linguistic influence in China is profound and vital … Systemic Functional Linguistics has become a leading approach in the study, analysis and description of English, and other languages, in The People's Republic of China." Systemic Functional Theory provides the theoretical and methodological framework for exploring the semogenic ('meaning-making') power of language. This book is essential reading for scholars involved with systemic functional linguistics and interested in its shifting dynamics.