APLNG 597D: Functional Linguistics

Spring 2007

Pennsylvania State University

General Information

Instructor: Xiaofei Lu

Office: 301 Sparks Building

Mailbox: 305 Sparks Building

Phone: (814) 8654692

Email: xxl13 at psu dot edu

Webpage: http://www.personal.psu.edu/xxl13/teaching/sp07/apling597d

Lectures: W 6:00-9:00pm, 002 Deike

Office hours: T 2:30-4:30pm and by appointment

Required Textbooks

1. Caroline Coffin, Ann Hewings, and Kieran O’Halloran (Eds.) (2004). Applying English Grammar: Functional and Corpus Approaches. Hodder Arnold.

2. Geoff Thompson (2004). Introducing Functional Grammar, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

Course Objectives

• To provide an accessible, systematic introduction to the theoretical and analytical framework of systemic functional grammar (SFG).
• To exemplify how functional and corpus approaches can be brought together for critical discourse analysis.
• To foster awareness of the ideological implications of linguistic choices within grammatical systems.
• To engage with and produce research using functional and corpus approaches that articulate with the participants’ research interests.

Course Outline

• In the first half of the course, we will focus on the details of the three major grammatical systems (interpersonal, experiential, and textual). At the clause level, we will investigate how each system works in the construction of clause and what kind of meaning they contribute to messages. In particular, we will examine the range of linguistic choices available within each system and the implications of making one choice instead of another. At the text level, we will discuss how the meanings of clauses contribute to the overall meaning of a text.
• Based on the systematic introduction to the theoretical and analytical framework of SFG, the second half of the course will investigate how the methodologies of functional grammar and corpus linguistics have been brought together by critical discourse analysts to uncover how grammar and lexis create and transmit ideologies.

Course Requirements

• Participation (15%). Students are expected to read all required readings before coming to class and actively contribute to in-class discussions and activities.
• Presentations (20%). Each student will be asked to give two presentations on research articles from the required readings in the second half of the course. Students will be evaluated on the effectiveness of both the organization and style of their presentations.
• Assignments (40%). There will be a series of take-home assignments designed to help students grasp the details of the theoretical and analytical framework of SFG as well as the specifics of how functional and corpus approaches can be combined for (critical) discourse analysis. While it is acceptable to discuss assignments with other students, it is NOT acceptable to show your written work to others. In other words, you should write up your work independently.
• Research project proposal OR final analytical exercise (25%). At the end of the course, each student is expected to either produce a 10-page proposal for a research project or submit a detailed analysis of a significant text of his/her own selection.

Make-up Policy

• Unless accompanied with official documentation of an acceptable reason, late submissions of assignments, research project proposals, and final analytical exercises may be subject to a 10% penalty for each day late (including Saturdays and Sundays).
• If you have to miss a scheduled presentation for an acceptable reason, please notify me immediately so your presentation may be rescheduled.

Academic Misconduct

All suspected academic dishonesty, including plagiarism and sharing ungraded take-home assignments, will be reported to the Academic Integrity Committee and, if verified, will be subject to academic and/or disciplinary sanctions.

Tentative Schedule

W	Date	Topic	Reading	What’s Due	Presenters
1	1/17	Intro	Thompson (2004): Ch1-2
2	1/24	Overview	Thompson (2004): Ch3 Coffin et al. (2004): Ch4
3	1/31	Corpus approaches	Coffin et al. (2004): Ch1-3	Assignment 1
4	2/7	Interpersonal metafunction	Thompson (2004): Ch4 Coffin et al. (2004): Ch6	Assignment 2
5	2/14	Experiential metafunction	Thompson (2004): Ch5	Assignment 3
6	2/21	Textual metafunction - Theme	Thompson (2004): Ch6	Assignment 4
7	2/28	Textual metafunction - Cohesion	Thompson (2004): Ch7 Coffin et al. (2004): Ch8	Assignment 5
8	3/7	Clauses in combination	Thompson (2004): Ch8	Assignment 6
9	Spring Break
10	3/21	Grammatical metaphor	Thompson (2004): Ch9 Coffin et al. (2004): Ch5		Mary
11	3/28	Text analysis studies	Coffin et al. (2004): Ch7&9	Assignment 7	Matt, Selim
12	4/4	Corpora and CDA	Coffin et al. (2004): Ch12&15		Tracy
13	4/11	Medical discourse	Coffin et al. (2004): Ch10&13	Assignment 8	Houxiang, Selim
14	4/18	Scientific discourse	Coffin et al. (2004): Ch11&14		Houxiang, Tracy
15	4/25	Language disorder	Armstrong (2005) Mortensen (2005)		Mary, Matt
16	5/2	Final Project Presentation		Final Project

Additional References

1. Armstrong, E. (2005). Language disorder: A functional linguistic perspective. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 19(3), 137-153.

2. Mortensen, L. (2005). Written discourse and acquired brain impairment: Evaluation of structural and semantic features of personal letters from a Systemic Functional Linguistic perspective. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 19(3), 227-247.