Theoretical Interpretation of Ontogenesis in SFL: Connotation, Origins and Implications

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.008

Abstract

Abstract:

The systemic-functional school innovatively employed the biological term ontogenesis, with a view to revealing the characteristics and patterns of language development. Most of the previous research has been undertaken in the form of case study, while few attempts have been made to interpret the theory itself. From the semogenetic perspective, the connotation of ontogeny has been greatly enriched. The systemic-functional school has absorbed ideas from linguistic anthropology, evolutionary biology and constructivist psychology to build a solid foundation for the ontogenesis theory. Ontogenesis in SFL is not merely a theory about language, but also a metatheory concerning the interrelation between human, language and society. It is argued that ontogenesis has positive implications for accounting for the nature of grammar and its function of construing experience.

Key words: systemic-functional school, ontogenesis, theoretical interpretation

CLC Number:

H0-0

ZHOU Haiming. Theoretical Interpretation of Ontogenesis in SFL: Connotation, Origins and Implications[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2022, 22(5): 70-79.

References 34

[1]	Chomsky, N. 2000. New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind[M]. Cambridge: CUP.
[2]	Chomsky, N. 2006. Language and Mind (3rd edn.)[M]. Cambridge: CUP.
[3]	Chomsky, N. 2007. Approaching UG from below[A]. In In U. Sauerland & H. M. Gartner (eds.). Interfaces+Recursion=Language?: Chomsky’s Minimalism and the View from Syntax-Semantics[C]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1-29.
[4]	Croft, W. 2000. Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach[M]. London: Longman.
[5]	Darwin, C. 1871/1981. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex[M]. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
[6]	Darwin, C. 1877. A biographical sketch of an infant[J]. Mind 2 (7):285-294.
[7]	Derewianka, B. 2003. Grammatical metaphor in the transition to adolescence[A]. In In M. T. A-M. Simon-Vandenbergen & L. Ravelli (eds.). Grammatical Metaphor: Views from Systemic Functional Linguistics[C]. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 185-219.
[8]	Edelman, G. 1992. Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind[M]. New York: Basic Books.
[9]	Edelman, G. 2004. Wider Than the Sky[M]. New Haven: Yale University Press.
[10]	Haeckel, E. 1866. Generelle Orphologie der Organismen[M]. Berlin: G. Reimer.
[11]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1975. Learning How to Mean: Explorations in Language Development[M]. London: Arnold.
[12]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1978. Language as a Social Semiotic: Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning[M]. London: Arnold.
[13]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1978/2003. Meaning and the construction of reality in early childhood[A]. In J. J. Webster (ed.). Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday. Vol.4, The Language of Early Childhood[C]. London & New York: Continnum. 113-143.
[14]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1984. Language as code and language as behaviour: A systemic-functional interpretation of the nature and ontogenesis of dialogue[A]. In R. P. Fawcett, M. A. K. Halliday, S. Lamb & A. Makkai (eds.). The Semiotics of Culture and Language. Vol.1.[C]. London: Frances Pinter. 3-35.
[15]	Halliday, M. A. K. 2003. Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday. Vol. 3, On Language and Linguistics[C]. Webster. London & New York: Continnum.
[16]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1996/2002. On grammar and grammatics[A]. In J. J. Webster (ed.). Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, Vol.1, On Grammar[C]. London & New York: Continnum. 384-418.
[17]	Halliday, M. A. K. 1998/2004. Language and knowledge:The “unpacking” of text[A]. In J. J. Webster (ed.). Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday. Vol.5, The Language of Science [C]. London & New York: Continuum. 24-48.
[18]	Halliday, M. A. K. 2004/2013. On grammar as the driving force from primary to higher-order consciousness[A]. In In J. J. Webster (ed.). Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday, Vol. 11, Halliday in the 21st Century[C]. London & New York: Continnum. 159-184.
[19]	Halliday, M. A. K. & C. M. I. M. Matthiessen. 1999. Construing Experience Through Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition[M]. London & New York: Continnum.
[20]	Martin, J. R. 2013. Interviews with M. A. K. Halliday: Language Turned Back on Himself[M]. London & New York: Bloomsbury.
[21]	Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. 2007. The ‘architecture’ of language according to systemic functional theory:Developments since the 1970s[A]. In In R. Hasan, C. M. I. M. Matthiessen & J. Webster (eds.). Continuing Discourse on Language, Vol. 2[C]. London: Equinox. 505-561.
[22]	Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., K. Teruya & M. Lam. 2010. Key Terms in Systemic Functional Linguistics[M]. London: Continuum.
[23]	Mivart, G. 1871/2005. On the Genesis of Species[M]. Michigan: Scholarly Publishing Office.
[24]	Painter, C. 1984. Into the Mother Tongue: A Case Study in the Early Language Development[M]. London: Frances Pinter.
[25]	Painter, C. 2003. Developing attitude: An ontogenetic perspective on appraisal[J]. Text 23 (2):183-209.
[26]	Torr, J. 1998. The development of modality in the pre-school years[J]. Functions of Language 5 (2):157-178. doi: 10.1075/fol.5.2.03tor URL
[27]	Whorf, B. L. 1956. Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf[C]. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
[28]	Vygotsky, L. S. 1981. The genesis of higher mental functions[A]. In J. Wertsch (ed.). The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology[C]. Armonk: Sharpe. 144-188.
[29]	Vygotsky, L. S. 1986. Thought and Language[M]. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
[30]	丁建新. 2009. 功能语言学的进化论思想[J]. 外国语(上海外国语大学学报)(4):71-76.
[31]	谢翠平. 2015. 儿童早期语言发展的个体发生个案研究[D]. 重庆: 西南大学.
[32]	朱永生. 2017. 中国儿童早期母语子系统发育的个案研究[J]. 西安外国语大学学报(1):55-60.
[33]	朱永生、朱莉莉. 2016. 儿童成长早期评价意义的个案研究[J]. 山东外语教学(1):22-27.
[34]	朱永生. 2015. 试论儿童进入成人语言阶段的判断标准[J]. 当代外语研究(7):4-7.