Text&Talk 2013; 33(45): 421423

DOI 10.1515/text-2013-0019

Srikant Sarangi

Editorial: The Halliday potential

This special issue In honor of Michael Halliday is the fourth to appear in Text &
Talk, following the ones on Aaron Cicourel (Briggs 2007), Dell Hymes (Blommaert
2009) and John Gumperz (Auer and Roberts 2011) as a way of recognizing the
contributions of key scholars who also have been associated integrally with the
development of the journal Text & Talk. These special issues are intended as a
platform not so much to eulogize these distinguished scholars but to occasion a
deeper engagement with some of the key ideas espoused by them, accompanied
by critical and evaluative judgments in terms of current and future research trajectories (Sarangi 2007, 2009, 2011).
The guest editor for this special issue, Geoff Thompson, as well as the contributors (comprising first- and second-generation Hallidayans) provide excellent
illustrations and extensions of Michael Hallidays pioneering work under the
umbrella of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). Over the years, Text & Talk
(formerly Text) has remained an active outlet for disseminating SFL research (see,
in particular, Martin and Horarik 2003). A key feature of this special issue is the
extension of SFL to different domains of language use and language users. This is
supplemented by integration of approaches, consolidation of studies, reanalysis
of datasets and, above all, theorypractice interface concerning uses and users of
language.
Language as a functional system endowed with meaning potential is at the
core of the SFL enterprise, but as can be seen from the wide-ranging contributions to this special issue, the functional approach to language also extends to
other modalities, i.e., different meaning-making systems. Multimodality thus
comes to the fore. According to Halliday:
What we have to use is the word that Clifford Geertz (1973) uses, to thicken our understanding, thick description. This means we have to introduce further dimensions to our
understanding. I think the notion of multimodality [...] enables us to put the concept of
meaning into the centre of attention because what all the modalities share is that they are
semiotic modes. (Halliday 2006: 122)

The applied/appliable dimension of language study is a definitional pillar of

Hallidays SFL architecture. As he (2006: 114) puts it: I never have seen a very
clear distinction between Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. Hallidays theory
of language is a way of getting things done in everyday lives. Theorizing does

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422

not happen in a void, outside of practice. In a similar vein, because he views

language as a social phenomenon, the division between linguistics and sociolinguistics (and by extension, applied linguistics) seems artificial, and even empty.
To put it bluntly, language is not the object of, but the instrument for, (applied)
linguistic study. As he confesses:
Mainstream linguists dont regard me as a linguist because I dont ask linguists questions. I
tend to ask other peoples questions about language, and everyone has questions about
language. (Halliday 2006: 116)

These other-initiated questions about language find a robust expression in Hallidays comprehensive model of language encompassing three (meta)functions
ideational, interpersonal and textual all of which are integrally tied to the contexts of situation as well as culture. From my personal connection with Michael
Halliday, I can only attest how he himself is an embodiment of these three (meta)
functions when engaged in a conversation.
Hallidays rich intellectual life seems to have been shaped by influential
scholars such as J. R. Firth, Wang Li and Basil Bernstein on the one hand and his
extensive exposure to different language systems and their realizations at various
levels. In talking about Michael Halliday, one intuitively makes a contrast to
Noam Chomsky in terms of their strikingly oppositional conceptualizations of linguistic inquiry as functional study of language systems versus formal study of
language structures, respectively. There is, however, an implicit synergy among
the two: both Halliday and Chomsky have strong political and ideological leanings, although the embedding of such leanings in language study is manifest
differentially, within or outside of their day-to-day linguistic jobs.
True to his character, Halliday labels himself a grammarian rather than a
linguist:
I do think of myself as a grammarian primarily. Its a useful label, by the way, because when
people ask you what you do for a living, you say youre a linguist, then they say, Oh how
many languages do you speak? (Halliday 2006: 121)

In interactional terms, perhaps a topic shift or even topic closure is intended, as

it is unlikely for the interlocutor to continue asking how many grammars do you
do?.
At the time of writing this editorial, I was in Hong Kong sharing a few days
with one of Michael Hallidays close collaborators Christian Matthiessen. Ironically, on this very occasion Michael was visiting my parent institution, Cardiff
University, and I missed him by thousands of miles.

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Editorial: The Halliday potential

References
Auer, P. & C. Roberts (eds.). 2011. In honour of John Gumperz. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 31(4).
Blommaert, J. (ed.). 2009. On Hymes. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 29(3).
Briggs, C. L. (ed.). 2007. Four decades of epistemological revolution: Work inspired by Aaron V.
Cicourel. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 27(5/6).
Halliday, M. A. K. 2006. Applied linguistics: Thematic pursuits or disciplinary moorings? A
conversation between Michael Halliday and Anne Burns. Journal of Applied Linguistics
3(1). 113128.
Martin, J. & M. Horarik. 2003. Negotiating heteroglossia: Social perspectives on evaluation.
[Special issue]. Text 23(2).
Sarangi, S. 2007. Editorial: The anatomy of interpretation: Coming to terms with the analysts
paradox in professional discourse studies. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 27(5/6). 567584.
Sarangi, S. 2009. Editorial: Hymes, text and talk. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 29(3). 239240.
Sarangi, S. 2011. Editorial: Contextualising Gumperz. [Special issue]. Text & Talk 31(4).
375380.

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