This book applies linguistic analysis to the poetry of Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo, a Singaporean poet and leading figure in Commonwealth literature. The work explores how the poet combines grammar and metaphor to make meaning, making the reader aware of the linguistic resources developed by Thumboo as the basis for his unique technique. The author approaches the poems from a functional linguistic perspective, investigating the multiple layers of meaning and metaphor which go into producing these highly textured, grammatically intricate works of verbal art. The approach is based on Systematic Functional Theory, which assists with investigating how the poet uses language (grammar) to craft his text, in a playful way that reflects a love of the language. The multilingual and multicultural experiences of the poet are seen to have contributed to his uniquely creative use of language. This work demonstrates how Systematic Functional Theory, with its emphasis on exploring the semogenic (meaning-making) power of language, provides the handle we need to better understand poetic works as intentional acts of meaning. The verbal art of Edwin Thumboo illustrate Barthes' point that "Bits of code, formulae, rhythmic models, fragments of social languages, etc. pass into the text and are redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around the text." With a focus on meaning, this functional analysis of poetry offers an insightful look at the linguistic basis of Edwin Thumboo's poetic technique. The work will appeal to scholars with an interest in linguistic analysis and poetry from the Commonwealth and new literatures, and it is also well suited to support courses on literary stylistics or text linguistics.

The two volume set Continuing Discourse on Language offers the reader a selective account of the evolution of important aspects of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics over the last couple of decades. The range of topics covered includes not only certain fundamental concepts at the level of theory but also an account of the wide range of applications enabled by the descriptive framework that the theory has generated. Given its acclaimed perspective on language as social semiotic, SFL has always located semiotic activity in relation to human life: in the chapters of these two volumes internationally recognised authors attempt to show the ways in which SFL relates to recent research on cognition, on socio-cultural contexts, and in computational linguistics. A theory is only as good as the description and application it enables: conceptualising the relations of theory and practice as a dialectic, SFL has created a framework for the analysis of language from the level of cultural context to that of the media for semiotic expressions. Continuing Discourse on Language gives the reader an insight into the continuing evolution of the impressive range of frames of description and their applications: from typology to multi-modality, from models of discourse analysis to translation and stylistics, from the role of language in knowledge construal to language education, genre based pedagogy and web based learning, the two volumes together provide a rich resource for students and researchers in language study for understanding, practicing and applying a linguistics keenly aware of the role of language in social life.

This book applies linguistic analysis to the poetry of Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo, a Singaporean poet and leading figure in Commonwealth literature. The work explores how the poet combines grammar and metaphor to make meaning, making the reader aware of the linguistic resources developed by Thumboo as the basis for his unique technique. The author approaches the poems from a functional linguistic perspective, investigating the multiple layers of meaning and metaphor which go into producing these highly textured, grammatically intricate works of verbal art. The approach is based on Systematic Functional Theory, which assists with investigating how the poet uses language (grammar) to craft his text, in a playful way that reflects a love of the language. The multilingual and multicultural experiences of the poet are seen to have contributed to his uniquely creative use of language. This work demonstrates how Systematic Functional Theory, with its emphasis on exploring the semogenic (meaning-making) power of language, provides the handle we need to better understand poetic works as intentional acts of meaning. The verbal art of Edwin Thumboo illustrate Barthes' point that "Bits of code, formulae, rhythmic models, fragments of social languages, etc. pass into the text and are redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around the text." With a focus on meaning, this functional analysis of poetry offers an insightful look at the linguistic basis of Edwin Thumboo's poetic technique. The work will appeal to scholars with an interest in linguistic analysis and poetry from the Commonwealth and new literatures, and it is also well suited to support courses on literary stylistics or text linguistics.

Whether prose or poetry, how does a text come to mean what it does? A functional-semantic approach to text analysis, such as is illustrated in this book, offers a revealing look at the resources of language at work in the creation of meaning, and a unique perspective on the text as object of study. This collaborative work between M.A.K. Halliday, the founder of Systemic Functional Linguistics, and Jonathan Webster, the editor of Halliday's eleven volume collected works, draws on a considerable body of Halliday's previously unpublished work, including lectures on fundamental concepts in Systemic-Functional Theory, to present a foundational overview suitable to those who are new to the theory and methodology of Systemic Functional Grammar and Rhetorical Structure Theory. Building on this foundation, section two presents the findings from several case studies in text analysis, demonstrating how to conduct detailed functional-semantic analysis of the speeches of Billy Graham, Barack Obama, Richard Nixon, Steve Jobs and Susan Rice. This second section will benefit both beginners and those who have already had some background in the study of linguistics.

The chapters of this volume explore the intimate relations of society, language and mind: the development of each of these depends on the contribution of the other two. In this sense they are co-genetic: mind has recently been described by the famous neuro-scientist, Susan Greenfield, as 'personalized brain.' The development of human mind depends on what it experiences; for human beings, experience goes beyond sensation: it is made of meaning, and interpretation/meaning, in turn, is construed by the various semiotic modalities, of which language is perhaps the most flexible and most pervasive. But language has itself evolved in the course of attempts to reach an 'other.' By shaping the nature of communication, human relations shape also the nature of language; meanings exchanged in verbal interaction become a major force in shaping forms of consciousness; and our consciousness reveals itself in our cultural practices, our ways of being, doing and saying.

The two volume set Continuing Discourse on Language offers the reader a selective account of the evolution of important aspects of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics over the last couple of decades. The range of topics covered includes not only certain fundamental concepts at the level of theory but also an account of the wide range of applications enabled by the descriptive framework that the theory has generated. Given its acclaimed perspective on language as social semiotic, SFL has always located semiotic activity in relation to human life: in the chapters of these two volumes internationally recognised authors attempt to show the ways in which SFL relates to recent research on cognition, on socio-cultural contexts, and in computational linguistics. A theory is only as good as the description and application it enables: conceptualising the relations of theory and practice as a dialectic, SFL has created a framework for the analysis of language from the level of cultural context to that of the media for semiotic expressions. Continuing Discourse on Language gives the reader an insight into the continuing evolution of the impressive range of frames of description and their applications: from typology to multi-modality, from models of discourse analysis to translation and stylistics, from the role of language in knowledge construal to language education, genre based pedagogy and web based learning, the two volumes together provide a rich resource for students and researchers in language study for understanding, practicing and applying a linguistics keenly aware of the role of language in social life.

Whether prose or poetry, how does a text come to mean what it does? A functional-semantic approach to text analysis, such as is illustrated in this book, offers a revealing look at the resources of language at work in the creation of meaning, and a unique perspective on the text as object of study. This collaborative work between M.A.K. Halliday, the founder of Systemic Functional Linguistics, and Jonathan Webster, the editor of Halliday's eleven volume collected works, draws on a considerable body of Halliday's previously unpublished work, including lectures on fundamental concepts in Systemic-Functional Theory, to present a foundational overview suitable to those who are new to the theory and methodology of Systemic Functional Grammar and Rhetorical Structure Theory. Building on this foundation, section two presents the findings from several case studies in text analysis, demonstrating how to conduct detailed functional-semantic analysis of the speeches of Billy Graham, Barack Obama, Richard Nixon, Steve Jobs and Susan Rice. This second section will benefit both beginners and those who have already had some background in the study of linguistics.

The chapters of this volume explore the intimate relations of society, language and mind: the development of each of these depends on the contribution of the other two. In this sense they are co-genetic: mind has recently been described by the famous neuro-scientist, Susan Greenfield, as 'personalized brain.' The development of human mind depends on what it experiences; for human beings, experience goes beyond sensation: it is made of meaning, and interpretation/meaning, in turn, is construed by the various semiotic modalities, of which language is perhaps the most flexible and most pervasive. But language has itself evolved in the course of attempts to reach an 'other.' By shaping the nature of communication, human relations shape also the nature of language; meanings exchanged in verbal interaction become a major force in shaping forms of consciousness; and our consciousness reveals itself in our cultural practices, our ways of being, doing and saying.

Continuing Discourse on Language offers the reader a selective account of the evolution of important aspects of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics over the last couple of decades. The range of topics covered includes not only certain fundamental concepts at the level of theory but also an account of the wide range of applications enabled by the descriptive framework that the theory has generated. Given its acclaimed perspective on language as social semiotic, SFL has always located semiotic activity in relation to human life: in the chapters of this book internationally recognised authors attempt to show the ways in which SFL relates to recent research on cognition, on socio-cultural contexts, and in computational linguistics. A theory is only as good as the description and application it enables: conceptualising the relations of theory and practice as a dialectic, SFL has created a framework for the analysis of language from the level of cultural context to that of the media for semiotic expressions. Continuing Discourse on Language gives the reader an insight into the continuing evolution of the impressive range of frames of description and their applications: from typology to multi-modality, from models of discourse analysis to translation and stylistics, from the role of language in knowledge construal to language education, genre based pedagogy and web based learning, the volume provides a rich resource for students and researchers in language study for understanding, practicing and applying a linguistics keenly aware of the role of language in social life.