Halliday’s model of register revisited and explored
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v4i2.187Keywords:
register, context, systemic functional linguistics, medical discourse, probabilistic modellingAbstract
Halliday’s description of register as ‘a variety of language, corresponding to a variety of situation’, with situation interpreted ‘by means of a conceptual framework using the terms “field”, “tenor” and “mode”’ (Halliday, 1985/89: 29, 38) is revisited to reflect on the theoretical work the term ‘register’ does within the SFL paradigm. In doing so, we recognise that the concepts of a linguistic theory are ‘ineffable’ (Halliday 2002[1988]); i.e. that ‘providing definitions of a theoretical term... requires that it be positioned vis-à-vis other concepts in the theory’ (Hasan, 2004: 16). It follows that changing the position of ‘register’ in the theory changes the nature of the concept. So while alternative uses of the term ‘register’ – such as in Martin’s genre model (e.g. 1992) and Halliday’s model – may advance a shared program for language description and explanation as a route to social change, they must be seen as more than terminological variants. One consequence of the productivity of Martin’s approach has been that the Hallidayan line of register theory has not had sufficient critical explication. This paper therefore begins with a brief review of the register concept. It then exemplifies the term, as postulated by Halliday, with a registerial analysis of surgical interaction, drawing on Hasan’s context modelling (e.g. Hasan 1995, 2004, 2009a), and adopting what Matthiessen (1993) calls a ‘metafunctional slice’ with ‘multistratal coverage’. By accounting for choice at different strata, we seek to ‘relate wording to context via meaning which acts as the interface between the two’ (Hasan 2009a: 182).
References
Bateman, J. (2008) Multimodality and Genre: A Foundation for the Systematic Analysis of Multimodal Documents. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bernstein, B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. London and Washington DC: Taylor and Francis.
Biber, D. (1995) Dimensions of Register Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511519871
Bowcher, W. (forthcoming) The history and theoretical development of context of situation in Systemic Functional Linguistics. In C. Chang (ed.) Functional Studies of Context. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Butt, D. G. (2003) Parameters of Context: On Establishing the Similarities and Differences Between Contexts. Unpublished monograph, Macquarie University.
Cartmill, J. A., Moore, A. R., Butt, D. G. and Squire, L. (2007) Surgical teamwork: Systemic Functional Linguistics and the analysis of verbal and non-verbal meaning in surgery. ANZ Journal of Surgery 77 (S1): A103?A108. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04129_10.x
Christie, F. (2000) The language of classroom interaction and learning. In L. Unsworth (ed.) Researching Language in Schools and Communities, 184?203. London: Cassell.
Cloran, C. (1994) Rhetorical Units and Decontextualisation: An Enquiry into some Relations of Context, Meaning and Grammar. Monographs in Systemic Linguistics, No. 6. Nottingham: School of English Studies, Nottingham University.
Firth, J. R. (1950) Personality and language in society. Reprinted in J. R. Firth Papers in Linguistics 1934?1951. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Gregory, M. (2002) Phasal analysis within communication linguistics: two contrastive discourses. In P. Fries, M. Cummings, D. Lockwood and W. Sprueill (eds) Relations and Functions within and around Language, 316?345. London: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978) Language as a Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/89) Part A. In M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan, Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford/Geelong: OUP/ Deakin University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2002 [1977]) Text as semantic choice in social contexts. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse. Volume 2 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 23?81. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2002 [1988]) On the ineffability of grammatical categories. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Grammar. Volume 1 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 291?322. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. ([2002] 1992) How do you mean? In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Grammar. Volume 1 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 352?368. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2003[1992]) Systemic grammar and the concept of a ‘science of language’. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Language and Linguistics. Volume 3 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 199?212. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2003) Introduction: On the ‘architecture’ of human language. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Linguistics and Language. Volume 3 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 1?29. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2005 [1995]) Computing meanings: Some reflections on past experience and present prospects. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Computational and Quantitative Studies. Volume 6 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 239?267. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2005 [2002]) The spoken language corpus: A foundation for grammatical theory. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Computational and Quantitative Studies. Volume 6 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 157?189. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2007 [1975]) Language as social semiotic. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Language and Society. Volume 10 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 169?201. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2009) Methods ? techniques ? problems. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 59?86. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (1999) Construing Experience through Meaning: A Language Based Approach to Cognition. London, New York: Cassell.
Halliday, M. A. K., McIntosh, A. and Stevens, P. (2007 [1964]) The users and uses of language. In Webster, J. J. (ed.) Language and Society. Volume 10 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 5?37. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (1979) On the notion of text. In J. Petöfi (ed.) Text Versus Sentence: Basic Questions of Text Linguistics. Papers in Text Linguistics 20. Hamburg: Buske. Cited in Hasan (1999).
Hasan, R. (1985/89) Part B. Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Socialsemiotic Perspective. Oxford/Geelong: OUP/Deakin University Press.
Hasan, R. (1995) The conception of context in text. In P. H. Fries and M. J. Gregory (eds) Discourse in Society: Systemic Functional Perspectives. Meaning and Choice in Language: Studies for Michael Halliday, 183?283. Advances in Discourse Processes Vol. L. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Hasan, R. (1996) Semantic networks: a tool for the analysis of meaning. In C. Cloran, D. Butt and G. Williams (eds) Ways of Saying, Ways of Meaning: Selected Papers of Ruqaiya Hasan, 104?130. London: Cassell.
Hasan, R. (1999) Speaking with reference to context. In M. Ghadessy (ed.) Text and Context in Functional Linguistics: Systemic Perspectives, 219?328. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hasan, R. (2000) The uses of talk. In S. Sarangi and M. Coulthard (eds) Discourse and Social Life. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Educational.
Hasan, R. (2004) Analysing discursive variation. In L. Young and C. Harrison (eds) Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis: Studies in Social Change, 15?52. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (2006) Introduction: a working model of language. In R. Hasan, C. M. I. M. Matthiessen and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective Vol. 1, 37?52. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2009 [1992]) Meaning in Sociolinguistic Theory. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Semantic Variation: Meaning in Society and in Sociolinguistics. Volume 2 in the Collected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2009a) The place of context in a Systemic Functional Model. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 166?189. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (2009b) Semantic Variation: Meaning in Society and in Sociolinguistics. The Collected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan Vol. 2. Edited by J. J. Webster. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2010) The meaning of ‘not’ is not in ‘not’. In A. Mahboob and N. Knight (eds) Appliable Linguistics, 267?306. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R., Cloran, C., Williams, G. and Lukin, A. (2007) Semantic networks: The description of linguistic meaning in SFL. In R. Hasan, C. M. I. M. Matthiessen and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective Vol. 2, 297?738. London: Equinox.
Hymes, D. H. (1969) Linguistic theory and the functions of speech. In International Days of Sociolinguistics (no editor). Rome: Luigi Sturzo Institute.
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (1999) Modelling context: a crooked path of progress in contextual linguistics. In Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Text and Context in Functional Linguistics, 25?61. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (2009) Discourse Studies. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 154?165. London and New York: Continuum.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (1993) Register in the round: diversity in a unified theory of register analysis. In Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Register Analysis: Theory and Practice. London: Pinter.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004) The Semantic System of RELATIONAL EXPANSION: Rhetorical Structure Theory Revised. Unpublished manuscript. Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., Teruya, K. and Wu, C. (2008) Multilingual studies as a multidimensional space of interconnected language studies. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Meaning in Context: Implementing Intelligent Applications of Language Studies, 146?220. London and New York: Continuum.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., Lukin, A., Butt, D., Clereigh, C. and Nesbitt, C. (2005) A case study of multistratal analysis. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Series S (19): 123?150.
Moore, A. (in press) Surgical teams in action: a contextually sensitive approach to modelling body alignment and interpersonal engagement. In A. Baldry and E. Montagna (eds) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Multimodality: Theory and Practice. Campobasso, Italy: Palladino.
Moore, A., Butt, D. G., Cartmill, J. and Ellis-Clarke, J. (2010) Linguistic analysis of verbal and non-verbal communication in the operating room. ANZ Journal of Surgery. Online version 21 Oct. 2010 doi: 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2010.05531.x
Nerliche, B. (1990) Change in Language: Whitney, Bréal, Wegener. London: Routledge.
Reid, T. B. W. (1956) Linguistics, structuralism, philology. Archivum Linguisticum 8.
Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. (1975) Towards an Analysis of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, B. A. (2008) Intonational Systems and Register: A Multidimensional Exploration. Unpublished PhD thesis. Macquarie University.
Spencer, J. and Gregory, M. (1964) An approach to the study of style. In N. Enkvist, Spencer, J. and Gregory, M. Linguistics and Style. London: Oxford University Press.
Teich, E. (2003) Cross-Linguistic Variation in System and Text. A Methodology for the Investigation of Translations and Comparable Texts. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ure, J. (1969) Practical Registers (Parts I and 2). English. Language Teaching, Volume XXIII, Number 2. Oxford University Press.
Ure, J. and Ellis, J. (1972) Register in descriptive linguistics and linguistic sociology. In Oscare Uribe Villegas (ed.) Las concepciones y problemas actuales do la sociolingüística. Mexico: University of Mexico Press.
Wilson, R. M., Harrison, B. T., Gibberd, R. W. and Hamilton, J. D. (1999) An analysis of the causes of adverse events from the Quality in Australian Health Care Study. Medical Journal of Australia 170: 411?415.
Bernstein, B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. London and Washington DC: Taylor and Francis.
Biber, D. (1995) Dimensions of Register Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511519871
Bowcher, W. (forthcoming) The history and theoretical development of context of situation in Systemic Functional Linguistics. In C. Chang (ed.) Functional Studies of Context. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Butt, D. G. (2003) Parameters of Context: On Establishing the Similarities and Differences Between Contexts. Unpublished monograph, Macquarie University.
Cartmill, J. A., Moore, A. R., Butt, D. G. and Squire, L. (2007) Surgical teamwork: Systemic Functional Linguistics and the analysis of verbal and non-verbal meaning in surgery. ANZ Journal of Surgery 77 (S1): A103?A108. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04129_10.x
Christie, F. (2000) The language of classroom interaction and learning. In L. Unsworth (ed.) Researching Language in Schools and Communities, 184?203. London: Cassell.
Cloran, C. (1994) Rhetorical Units and Decontextualisation: An Enquiry into some Relations of Context, Meaning and Grammar. Monographs in Systemic Linguistics, No. 6. Nottingham: School of English Studies, Nottingham University.
Firth, J. R. (1950) Personality and language in society. Reprinted in J. R. Firth Papers in Linguistics 1934?1951. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Gregory, M. (2002) Phasal analysis within communication linguistics: two contrastive discourses. In P. Fries, M. Cummings, D. Lockwood and W. Sprueill (eds) Relations and Functions within and around Language, 316?345. London: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978) Language as a Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/89) Part A. In M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan, Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford/Geelong: OUP/ Deakin University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2002 [1977]) Text as semantic choice in social contexts. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse. Volume 2 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 23?81. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2002 [1988]) On the ineffability of grammatical categories. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Grammar. Volume 1 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 291?322. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. ([2002] 1992) How do you mean? In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Grammar. Volume 1 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 352?368. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2003[1992]) Systemic grammar and the concept of a ‘science of language’. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Language and Linguistics. Volume 3 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 199?212. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2003) Introduction: On the ‘architecture’ of human language. In J. J. Webster (ed.) On Linguistics and Language. Volume 3 in Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 1?29. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2005 [1995]) Computing meanings: Some reflections on past experience and present prospects. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Computational and Quantitative Studies. Volume 6 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 239?267. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2005 [2002]) The spoken language corpus: A foundation for grammatical theory. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Computational and Quantitative Studies. Volume 6 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 157?189. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2007 [1975]) Language as social semiotic. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Language and Society. Volume 10 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 169?201. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2009) Methods ? techniques ? problems. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 59?86. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (1999) Construing Experience through Meaning: A Language Based Approach to Cognition. London, New York: Cassell.
Halliday, M. A. K., McIntosh, A. and Stevens, P. (2007 [1964]) The users and uses of language. In Webster, J. J. (ed.) Language and Society. Volume 10 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, 5?37. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (1979) On the notion of text. In J. Petöfi (ed.) Text Versus Sentence: Basic Questions of Text Linguistics. Papers in Text Linguistics 20. Hamburg: Buske. Cited in Hasan (1999).
Hasan, R. (1985/89) Part B. Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Socialsemiotic Perspective. Oxford/Geelong: OUP/Deakin University Press.
Hasan, R. (1995) The conception of context in text. In P. H. Fries and M. J. Gregory (eds) Discourse in Society: Systemic Functional Perspectives. Meaning and Choice in Language: Studies for Michael Halliday, 183?283. Advances in Discourse Processes Vol. L. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Hasan, R. (1996) Semantic networks: a tool for the analysis of meaning. In C. Cloran, D. Butt and G. Williams (eds) Ways of Saying, Ways of Meaning: Selected Papers of Ruqaiya Hasan, 104?130. London: Cassell.
Hasan, R. (1999) Speaking with reference to context. In M. Ghadessy (ed.) Text and Context in Functional Linguistics: Systemic Perspectives, 219?328. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hasan, R. (2000) The uses of talk. In S. Sarangi and M. Coulthard (eds) Discourse and Social Life. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Educational.
Hasan, R. (2004) Analysing discursive variation. In L. Young and C. Harrison (eds) Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis: Studies in Social Change, 15?52. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (2006) Introduction: a working model of language. In R. Hasan, C. M. I. M. Matthiessen and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective Vol. 1, 37?52. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2009 [1992]) Meaning in Sociolinguistic Theory. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Semantic Variation: Meaning in Society and in Sociolinguistics. Volume 2 in the Collected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2009a) The place of context in a Systemic Functional Model. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 166?189. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R. (2009b) Semantic Variation: Meaning in Society and in Sociolinguistics. The Collected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan Vol. 2. Edited by J. J. Webster. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2010) The meaning of ‘not’ is not in ‘not’. In A. Mahboob and N. Knight (eds) Appliable Linguistics, 267?306. London and New York: Continuum.
Hasan, R., Cloran, C., Williams, G. and Lukin, A. (2007) Semantic networks: The description of linguistic meaning in SFL. In R. Hasan, C. M. I. M. Matthiessen and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective Vol. 2, 297?738. London: Equinox.
Hymes, D. H. (1969) Linguistic theory and the functions of speech. In International Days of Sociolinguistics (no editor). Rome: Luigi Sturzo Institute.
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (1999) Modelling context: a crooked path of progress in contextual linguistics. In Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Text and Context in Functional Linguistics, 25?61. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (2009) Discourse Studies. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 154?165. London and New York: Continuum.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (1993) Register in the round: diversity in a unified theory of register analysis. In Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Register Analysis: Theory and Practice. London: Pinter.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004) The Semantic System of RELATIONAL EXPANSION: Rhetorical Structure Theory Revised. Unpublished manuscript. Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., Teruya, K. and Wu, C. (2008) Multilingual studies as a multidimensional space of interconnected language studies. In J. J. Webster (ed.) Meaning in Context: Implementing Intelligent Applications of Language Studies, 146?220. London and New York: Continuum.
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., Lukin, A., Butt, D., Clereigh, C. and Nesbitt, C. (2005) A case study of multistratal analysis. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Series S (19): 123?150.
Moore, A. (in press) Surgical teams in action: a contextually sensitive approach to modelling body alignment and interpersonal engagement. In A. Baldry and E. Montagna (eds) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Multimodality: Theory and Practice. Campobasso, Italy: Palladino.
Moore, A., Butt, D. G., Cartmill, J. and Ellis-Clarke, J. (2010) Linguistic analysis of verbal and non-verbal communication in the operating room. ANZ Journal of Surgery. Online version 21 Oct. 2010 doi: 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2010.05531.x
Nerliche, B. (1990) Change in Language: Whitney, Bréal, Wegener. London: Routledge.
Reid, T. B. W. (1956) Linguistics, structuralism, philology. Archivum Linguisticum 8.
Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. (1975) Towards an Analysis of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, B. A. (2008) Intonational Systems and Register: A Multidimensional Exploration. Unpublished PhD thesis. Macquarie University.
Spencer, J. and Gregory, M. (1964) An approach to the study of style. In N. Enkvist, Spencer, J. and Gregory, M. Linguistics and Style. London: Oxford University Press.
Teich, E. (2003) Cross-Linguistic Variation in System and Text. A Methodology for the Investigation of Translations and Comparable Texts. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ure, J. (1969) Practical Registers (Parts I and 2). English. Language Teaching, Volume XXIII, Number 2. Oxford University Press.
Ure, J. and Ellis, J. (1972) Register in descriptive linguistics and linguistic sociology. In Oscare Uribe Villegas (ed.) Las concepciones y problemas actuales do la sociolingüística. Mexico: University of Mexico Press.
Wilson, R. M., Harrison, B. T., Gibberd, R. W. and Hamilton, J. D. (1999) An analysis of the causes of adverse events from the Quality in Australian Health Care Study. Medical Journal of Australia 170: 411?415.
Published
2011-05-06
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Lukin, A., Moore, A., Herke, M., Wegener, R., & Wu, C. (2011). Halliday’s model of register revisited and explored. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 4(2), 187-213. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v4i2.187
