The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics offers a groundbreaking exploration of how M.A.K. Halliday's influential work extends beyond traditional linguistic boundaries to address today's most complex problems.
A key barrier to transdisciplinary research is language, whether due to differing terminology or the lack of a shared research vocabulary. This challenge reflects deeper epistemological divides, as language shapes how knowledge is constructed and communicated across disciplines. This collection shows how Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) provides effective tools for addressing complex cross-disciplinary issues. Beginning with Halliday’s foundational work, it traces the development of SFL and its applications. The first section highlights how SFL supports meaning-making in areas such as child development and healthcare, emphasizing language’s role in identity. Later sections explore its use in political, cultural, and environmental contexts, as well as in technology and AI. The volume concludes by outlining how language theory can help address critical societal challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration.
This book a valuable resource for students and scholars in applied linguistics, systemic functional linguistics, forensic linguistics, computational linguistics, and language and communication.
The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics offers a groundbreaking exploration of how M.A.K. Halliday's influential work extends beyond traditional linguistic boundaries to address today's most complex problems.
Part 0: A View to Transdisciplinarity 1: On the Nature of Linguistics
and its Transdisciplinary Potential, Rebekah Wegener, Lise Fontaine, Anne
McCabe; 2: SFL and Functional Models of Language: Multidisciplinarity or
Transdisciplinarity?, Jacques François and Akila Sellami Baklouti. Part I:
The Individual in a Transdisciplinary Perspective 3: Child Language
Development, Clare Painter & Susan Feez; 4: Working Transdisciplinarily in
Content and Language Integrated Learning Programs, Ana Llinares, Rachel
Whittaker, Tom Morton; 5: Transdisciplinary SFL Praxis with Multilingual
Youth and Educators, Ruth Harman, Xiaodong Zhang, Dan Jin; 6: Bilingual
Strata: Neurocognitive Insights for Systemic Functional Linguistics, Matías
Morales, Edinson Muñoz, Adolfo M. García; 7: Conceptual Metaphor Between
Universality and Variation: An SFL Perspective on Context, Fatma Benelhadj;
8: Clinical Linguistics: A Focus on Interactions and an Interpersonal
Perspective, Elizabeth Armstrong, Rimke Groenewold, Deborah Hersh, Christa
Akers, Mary-Pat OMalley, Nicole Muller; 9: Language in Affective Disorders:
The Opportunities of a Functional Approach, Jamie Williams. Part II: Social
Processes in a Transdisciplinary Perspective 10: Thematic and
Methodological Transdisciplinarity in SFL-related Studies of Ideology, Erich
Steiner; 11: Ecolinguistics and the Rethinking of Society: From Grammar to
Narrative, Arran Stibbe; 12: A Transdisciplinary Study of Language Reports
Across Registerial Variation, Nesrine Triki; 13: Transdisciplinary Approaches
in Translation Studies Empowered by Systemic Functional Linguistics, Bo Wang,
Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen, Yuanyi Ma; 14: When Language Becomes the
Evidence: An Analysis of the TRANSITIVITY Patterns in Two High-profile
Criminal Trials of the 1990s, Leanne Bartley; 15: Functional(ist) Approaches
to Promotional Discourse, Hartmut Stöckl; 16: Towards a Transdisciplinary
Approach to the Analysis of the Digital Text of Software Installation, Dorra
Moalla; 17: Hallidays Transdisciplinarity Meets Hasans Systemic
Socio-Semantic Stylistics (SSS): Exploratory Reflections, Donna R. Miller.
Part III: Tools and Technology in a Transdisciplinary Perspective 18:
Transdisciplinary Research on Language Behaviour in Situational Context,
Stella Neumann; 19: Register Revisited: Information Theory as a Bridge
Between Functional Description and Cognitive Explanation, Stefania
Degaetano-Ortlieb, Elke Teich; 20: Systemic Transdisciplinary Theory of
Cross-disciplinary Social Research Method Appropriation: Face-to-face
Interviewing, Rodney J. Clarke; 21: The Future of Morphology: A
Transdisciplinary Approach, Kateryna Krykoniuk; 22: Knowledge Graphs for
Digital Humanities and Linguistics, Krzysztof Kutt, Luiz do Valle Miranda,
Jakub Gomuka, Ricardo Alonso-Maturana, Susana López-Sola, José Palma,
Grzegorz J. Nalepa; 23: Form and Function: Automatic Methods for Prediction
of Functions, Serge Sharoff; 24: Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence A
Match Made in Heaven for Solving Real Business Problems, August Stapput,
Anders Kofod-Petersen; 25: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Human-Computer
Interaction and Artificial Intelligence, Jörg Cassens. Part IV: Reflections
on Transdisciplinarity 26: Reflections on Transdisciplinarity Within
Systemic Functional Linguistics, Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen; 27: Epilogue:
Reflections on Transdisciplinary Linguistics, Rebekah Wegener, Anne McCabe,
Akila Sellami Baklouti, Lisa Fontaine.
Rebekah Wegener is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Drawing on functional approaches to language, her research connects theoretical frameworks with applications through multimodal interaction across contexts, computer mediated communication and human computer interaction. Bridging linguistics and practical applications, she explores human-centered and explainable AI in medical and educational domains.
Akila Sellami Baklouti is a Professor of English language and linguistics at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Sfax (Tunisia). She mainly lectures on systemic functional grammar, academic writing and research methodology. Her research interests and PhD supervision areas include systemic functional linguistics, genre analysis and genre-based contrastive and translation studies.
Anne McCabe holds a joint appointment in the Departments of English and Communication at Saint Louis Universitys Madrid Campus, where she has taught courses in rhetoric, academic writing, linguistics, public speaking, and English as an additional language
Lise Fontaine is a Professor in the Department of Lettres et Communication Sociale at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), and also serves as Director of the undergraduate program committee. Her academic work is centred on linguistic theory, with specific interests in functional grammar, lexico-grammar, semantics, and referring expressions. Fontaine applies linguistic approaches in interdisciplinary contexts as well.
