10.2 The Three Metafunctions of Language
SFG proposes that language simultaneously performs three primary functions, or "metafunctions," in any act of communication. These metafunctions represent the different kinds of meanings that language is organized to express. They are:
2.1. The Ideational Metafunction (Representing Experience)
The Ideational Metafunction is concerned with how language construes our experience of the world, both the external world around us and the internal world of our thoughts and feelings. It's about representing "what is going on." This metafunction is realized primarily through the Transitivity system, which analyzes clauses in terms of:
Process: The type of action, event, state, or mental experience being described (e.g., run, think, be, give).
Participants: The entities involved in the process (e.g., the doer, the receiver, the senser).
Circumstances: The surrounding conditions or context of the process (e.g., when, where, how, why).
2.2. The Interpersonal Metafunction (Enacting Social Relations)
The Interpersonal Metafunction is about how language is used to enact our social relationships. It's concerned with expressing attitudes, opinions, and engaging with others. This metafunction is realized through the Mood system and Modality:
Mood: Deals with the grammatical resources for enacting different speech roles (e.g., giving information, demanding goods-and-services, offering goods-and-services). This involves the Subject and Finite elements of a clause.
Modality: Expresses degrees of certainty, obligation, or usuality (e.g., might, must, usually).
2.3. The Textual Metafunction (Organizing Text)
The Textual Metafunction is concerned with how language creates coherent and cohesive texts. It's about organizing the flow of information in a way that makes sense to the listener or reader. This metafunction is primarily realized through the Theme-Rheme structure and Cohesion:
Theme: The starting point of a message, indicating what the clause is about.
Rheme: The rest of the message, providing new information about the Theme.
Cohesion: The linguistic features that create links within a text (e.g., repetition, reference, conjunctions).
These three metafunctions operate simultaneously in every utterance, demonstrating the rich and multi-layered nature of human language.