For nearly half a century, Professor M. A. K. Halliday has been enriching the discipline of linguistics with his keen insights into the social semiotic phenomenon we call language. This ten-volume series presents the seminal works of Professor Halliday. Linguistic studies of text and discourse is the second in a series of volumes presenting the collected works of Professor M.A.K. Halliday. The papers in this volume focus on the application of systemic functional grammar to the analysis of texts, both highly-valued and everyday, both written and spoken. Presenting detailed linguistic analyses of specific texts, ranging from the highly-valued by such authors as William Golding, J.B. Priestly, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Charles Darwin, to the more everyday variety, such as a fund-raising letter and part of a doctoral defense, Halliday explores the power of grammar at work to create meaning, to change our lives for better or worse. Each text is studied as one would any kind of language, in terms of the linguistic resources that contribute to the realization of its 'meaning potential'.
Not only are the analyses interesting for what they reveal about the texts under investigation, but also instructive in the practice and methods of systemic grammar analysis.