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The Educational Applications ofChomskyan Transformational Grammar
andHallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar
By Lea Rash
May 2012
1
The broad question of what human language is can best be answered by considering it as
a complex signaling system, which inspired the prominent linguistic theories of Noam
Chomsky and Michael Halliday, among others. In turn, their theories motivated them to
view second language teaching and learning in divergent and controversial ways. This
essay will first reveal the way some earlier theories of language affected Chomsky’s
innateness perspective. How these points of view spearheaded the system of
transformational grammar characterized by universal grammar will then be illustratively
discussed in order to demonstrate his rule-motivated approach. Likewise, the way prior
theories influenced Halliday’s in-context perspective leading to the conception of
systemic functional grammar will then be explained and pertinent examples offered. A
discussion of how each theory can successfully or unsuccessfully be applied to education
will close the essay.
Definitions and descriptions of human language have been philosophically debated and
re-defined throughout the ages (Bloor & Bloor, 2005). Language can be a general
reference to human and animal communication, or to the human ability to communicate
verbally, or to precise structures of language (Graddol, Cheshire & Swann, 2001).
During the twentieth century, structuralists and anthropologists contrived their own
unique definitions of the word. Ferdinand de Saussure, the “father of modern linguistics”
(Culler, 1976, p. 80), believed that language could never be entirely clarified (Bloor &
Bloor, 2005) and moreover that “language is not complete in any speaker” (Saussure,
1974, p. 14). A person’s inherited set of “signs”, or concepts and their representations,
was Saussure’s nascent structuralist realization of the language system, which he called
“langue”; a person’s use of that system was termed “parole” (Bloor & Bloor, 2005, p.
241).
Impressed with Saussure’s distinctions of langue and parole, Noam Chomsky (1965)
devised comparable dualities of “competence” and “performance”, which will be
discussed below. More importantly, he confronted the structuralist view of what
language is (whereby their only linguistic reality is a surface sentence structure) and he
posed a serious question for which structuralists had no answer: Why does language
2
possess endless possibilities for conveying innovative ideas and thoughts? Chomsky felt
that the only valid way to determine a language’s unseen principles was by looking for
clues beneath the surface (Campbell, 1982) to what CAN be said rather than what IS said.
Thus, if the gist of a sentence is not clear at one level, it will be at another level.
Chomsky saw that with a narrow grammar system and a finite set of terms, human beings
are quite capable of creating unlimited numbers of sentences, as well as those never
before uttered (Campbell, 1982), as part of the “creative aspect” of language (Fromkin,
Rodman & Hyams, 2003, p. 9). He somewhat paradoxically answered his question to
structuralists by basing it on a theory of structurally-dependent transformational grammar
that explains the ingeniousness and creativity of language in a mathematically precise
way (Campbell, 1982) while explicitly ignoring pragmatics and semantics (Bloor &
Bloor, 2005; Fromkin et al., 2003).
Transformational grammar contains three rule-governed elements, described below:
Morphophonemic rules tell us how to articulate morphemes, which is especially helpful
when there are multiple pronunciations since these hinge on a noun’s end-phoneme, for
example, pronunciations of end-phonemes in English plural morphemes: caps (/s/), cabs
(/z/), badges (/ əz/) (Fromkin et al., 2003, p. 277).
Phrase structure rules are doctrines of grammar that specifically and succinctly detail
grammatical units of syntactic properties. A phrase structure tree is the mechanism used
for depicting a speaker’s understanding of sentence structure in his language (Fromkin et
al., 2003).
For example:
English language: The man took the canoe = NP → Det N V NP (i.e. in English a Noun
Phrase can contain a Determiner + Noun + Verb + Noun Phrase).
Hixkaryana language: Canoe took person = NP → N V N
(adapted from Baker, 2001, p. 75).
3
A transformational rule pertains to the core phrase structure of a sentence. It acquires a
fresh structure when it positions or introduces elements (Fromkin et al., 2003), as seen in
the following example of a modified “inverted” phrase structure tree diagram (Baker,
2001, p. 76) showing the transformational insertion of elements into what could
conceivably turn into an indefinite phrase. It illustrates Chomsky’s analysis of the
“unbounded, stimulus-free” (Baker, 2001, p. 223) and “limitless” feature of language
(Fromkin et al., 2003, pp. 136, 137):
NP
Det N PP
P NP
The girl Det N PP
with P NP
the bee Det N PP
in P NP
the bonnet Det N PP
with P NP
the honey Det N
on
the crumpet
(Source: My own example, adapted and modified from Fromkin et al., 2003, p. 137).
Chomsky’s incongruous fondness for both mathematics and the creative aspect of
language shows up in his “algorithmic syntax” (Campbell, 1982, p. 186) in the form of a
phrase structure rule string for the ‘girl with the bee’ sentence above. The sentence
demonstrates the expandability of language, for example that a Noun Phrase can contain
a Determiner followed by a Noun and a Prepositional Phrase, ad infinitum:
NP → Det N PP, PP → P NP, NP → Det N PP, PP → P NP, NP → Det N PP, PP → P
NP, NP → Det N PP, PP → P NP, NP → Det N
(adapted and modified from Fromkin et al., 2003, p. 137).
4
Chomsky’s theory has proved to be part of an English user’s competency because it is
intimately associated with the communicative role of language (Traugott & Platt, 1980).
His dichotomy of competence and performance (Fromkin et al., 2003; Graddol, et al.,
2001) came out of the hypothesis based on generative grammars that view language as
belonging to the mind (Graddol, et al., 2001) and affecting the process of how we think
(Traugott & Platt, 1980). Thus, an “ideal” native speaker-listener’s linguistic
competence is not a matter of experience (Campbell, 1982, p. 161) but involves
rationalist-inspired innate knowledge, referred to as “universal grammar” (Fromkin et al.,
2003, p. 20), which includes intuitive decisions about the suitability of grammatical
structures (Graddol, et al., 2001).
Grammar from Chomsky’s perspective is a constrained “anti-chance” device with no
built-in allowance for “freedom of choice” concerning the origin of the message
(Campbell, 1982, p. 165), making it as predictable as a mathematical calculation can be.
Universal grammar establishes an additional type of anti-chance mechanism on this
restriction in order for language to be learned naturally and effortlessly. In turn,
Chomsky’s competence depends on that individual being completely accurate, never
erring, and knowing his language flawlessly, while being removed from any situational
context. The person’s performance is what s/he actually does when s/he speaks or listens
(Traugott & Platt, 1980).
Up to this point, this essay has discussed Chomsky’s approach to language analysis and
the definitions involved. In the next segment the essay presents the perspective of
Hallidayan grammar and how, unlike Chomsky, Michael Halliday’s ideas about language
are based completely on in-context notions of meaning production (Graddol, et al., 2001).
These ideas can be traced back to the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1935) who
believed that language is an avenue for negotiating and maintaining social relationships
within an “actual context” (p. 9). In turn, Malinowski’s thinking played a large part in
J.R. Firth’s founding work (Bloor & Bloor, 2005) at the London School of Linguistics
(Graddol, et al., 2001). Firth (1957) argued that language is polysystemic and part of a
social process where one weaves nurture into nature. Halliday detailed his mentor Firth’s
5
ideas about system into complex networks (Bloor & Bloor, 2005) that strive to be all-
inclusive with an “extravagant” (Graddol, et al., 2001, p. 89) “labeling system” (Martin,
2004, p. 64).
The goal of Hallidayan lexicogrammar is semantic: to reveal how people utilize
(Halliday, 1985, xvii) “real” spoken or written (Graddol, et al., p. 90) language for
creating meaning (Halliday, 1985, xvii). Describing language as a “social-semiotic”,
Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFG) is “systemic” because language elements
are presented from “a set” of options inside a “system of meanings” (Feez, 1995, p. 5;
Bloor & Bloor, 2005, p. 1). It is “functional” because it shows us why and how people
employ language (Feez, 1995, p. 7).
With SFG, “text” (spoken or written language) is analyzed according to structural ranks:
the “word”, the “group” (comparable to “phrase”), and the “clause” (not “sentence”)
(Graddol, et al., p. 90). Halliday explains that “…it is the larger units that function more
directly in the realization of higher-level patterns…. [If] we want to explore how
semantic features are represented in the grammar, we look primarily at the structure of
the clause” (Halliday, 1985, p. 21). To convey ideas and social relationships between
people, labels are used. The “ideational” (a.k.a. “experiential”) function of meaning has
an accompanying contextual aspect called “field”, and both refer to the subject matter or
activity type. The “interpersonal” function has a contextual aspect called “tenor”, and
both refer to those involved in the spoken or written exchange. The “textual” function
and its contextual aspect “mode” take care of the cohesiveness of a text as well as the
ideational and interpersonal functions of meaning (Graddol, et al., p. 90), which are
“meshed” within the clause to signal that communication has taken place (Bloor & Bloor,
2005, p. 10). One can evaluate the textual element of meaning once the “theme” and
“rheme” have been recognized (Graddol, et al., 2001, p. 91).
Usually the first constituent in Halliday’s clause in English is the theme (Graddol, et al.,
2001, p. 91), which stretches from a point up to and embracing the first ideational
component (i.e. the “participant” (subject), “process” (verb) or “circumstance”
6
(prepositional phrase) (Halliday, 1994, p. 144). The clause’s remaining part is the rheme
(Graddol, et al., 2001, p. 91).
My improvised example, below, shows how SFG analyzes the context of text:
Thomas James read newspapers slowly while at the Chedi Club. But he had learned to
read people quickly.
Thomas James (actor participant) read (material process) newspapers (goal
participant) slowly (circumstance) while at (adjunct) the Chedi Club (actor
participant). But (adjunct) he (actor participant) had learned (material process) to
read (mental process) people (goal participant) quickly (circumstance). [Note the
difference of processes for the word ‘read’.]
Interpersonal Theme: Thomas James Rheme: read newspapers slowly while at the
Chedi Club. Textual Theme: But Interpersonal Theme: he Rheme: had learned to
read people quickly.
Field (subject matter): newspapers, the Chedi Club
Field (activity type/transitivity): read, had learned, to read
Tenor (social roles and relationships): Thomas James, he, people
Mode (cohesiveness of text): slowly, while at, but, quickly
(Terms: Graddol et al., 2001, pp. 90, 92; Mangubhai, 1991, pp. 16-21. Example: My
own, 2010).
So far this essay has discussed the Chomskyan and Hallidayan descriptions of what
language is and how to best analyze it from their perspectives. The next part of the essay
will consider the feasibility of using Chomsky’s approach in the teaching and learning of
English as a second language.
7
While Chomsky’s principles of transformational grammar are directly attuned with the
thinking of modern psychology, it is Chomsky’s universal grammar that has helped
educators recognize how children acquire language, what language ability is, and how the
mind seems to discern more than it is taught (Campbell, 1982). Because a child
possesses an innate language “template” and because the phases of language growth are
consistent for all languages, a youngster learns his native language with little effort and
understands features of his language’s grammar that he has no knowledge of (Fromkin et
al., 2003, pp. 348-349, 390). Chomsky thus contends in his “poverty of the stimulus”
theory that there is a chasm between the “impoverished” linguistic stimuli a child
receives and the abundant linguistic knowledge that he acquires (Fromkin et al., 2003, p.
348; Campbell, 1982, p. 168), with universal grammar being the hidden link connecting
them.
Based on this, Chomsky believes that knowledge eclipses experience (Campbell, 1982).
He may talk of the need for language learning to occur in a suitably nourishing and
motivating environment (Chomsky, 1988), but this falls short of specifically stating that
there is a need for “practice” and the nourishing “experience” of talking. By
downgrading experience, Chomsky underrates the intricacy of language, and, in turn,
underrates the intricacy of the mind (Campbell, 1982, pp. 173, 184).
It is by studying language separately from its use in context that enables predictions about
language structure to emerge easily and illuminatingly (Campbell, 1982). Nevertheless,
it is doubtful that Chomsky’s universal grammar (Bourke, 2005), based on the innateness
principles of grammars in all languages (Fromkin et al., 2003) could ever be commonly
employed as a teaching method (Bourke, 2005) because competence cannot be generated
by analyzing sentences removed from their communicative context (Graddol, et al.,
2001). It is exactly because “language does not wear meaning on its sleeve” that
situational context is so important. It is not enough to simply “throw in the dictionary”
when interpreting language as Campbell suggests we do in his support of Chomsky.
Even the communicative “noise” Chomsky disparages, particularly in the ideal native
speaker (e.g. “slips of the tongue”, “ers”, “uhs” and “ahs”, etc.), conveys individual
8
messages of importance. Chomsky, however, is more concerned with the message in its
entirety (Campbell, 1982, pp. 96, 161, 162, 169, 185).
An account of language that entails using the native speaker’s “intuition” as information
may be questionable to linguists (Lyons, 1981, p. 44), such as Michael Halliday.
Halliday affirms that a principle using intuition as its premise cannot come to grips with
the grammatical complexity of spoken language. This manifests itself when compiling
data, as Halliday himself realized when he witnessed an unplanned classroom discussion
among some fairly fluent foreign students, which he describes here:
…I was struck by a curious fact. Not only were people unconscious of what they
themselves were saying; they would often deny, not just that they HAD said
something I had observed them to say, but also that they ever COULD say it. For
example, I noticed the utterance ‘it’ll’ve been going to’ve being tested every day
for the past fortnight soon’ where the verbal group ‘will have been going to have
been being tested’ makes 5 serial tense choices: present in past in future in past in
future, and is also passive (Halliday, 2002, p. 325).
Ultimately, it is Chomsky’s own disclosures that speak loudest “…it is quite apparent that
a speaker’s self-reports and viewpoints about his behavior and his competence may be in
error” (Chomsky, 1965, p. 8). Years later, he also refuted that his generative
transformational grammar was applicable to schools teaching the English language
(Christie, 1994; Bourke, 2005). Despite this, some linguists still implement Chomsky’s
phrase structure rules and tree diagrams even though the metalanguage is considered
uncommon (Bourke, 2005).
If Chomsky’s transformational grammar is ever widely implemented, it could make what
is already complicated even more so (Bourke, 2005), although it does lend itself well to
demonstrating language systems (Hudson, 2004). Its tasks aimed at students tend to be
so “rule-driven” (Christie, 1994, pp. 105, 110) and focused on written sentence structure
that they exclude authentic language, the meaning, the overall text, and any distinctions
9
between written and spoken language. This is particularly significant for lagging students
who struggle with written language skills, especially the academically-esteemed narrative
genre (Feez, 1995).
Up to now, this part of the essay has discussed the practicability of using Chomsky’s
approach in the teaching and learning of English as a second language. The essay will
turn now to the viability of using Halliday’s approach, which recognizes the human
“social” reality (Christie, 1994, p. 109) involved in language use, and also helps learners
perceive how characteristics of their day-to-day grammar shape their thinking (Halliday,
2002). Sustained by advancements in psychological doctrine (Christie, 1994), an
exceptionally vital feature of SFG is the way communicative information is enhanced
(Bloor & Bloor, 2005). It thus not only offers a frame of reference for the scholastic
examination of language and potential construction and deconstruction of text and
meaning, but it can also supply paradigms of learning and needed skills while unifying
the approach to curriculum design and pedagogy. SFG facilitates clear and precise
information about language for an instructor (e.g. with its “curriculum genre” or
teaching-learning cycle methodology (Feez, 1995, p. 9; Christie, 1994, p. 118)), while
assisting the guidance of students and the direction of a student’s literary performance
(Christie, 1994) in putting together experience and meaning. A learner can dynamically
demonstrate his or her language ability not only through the language but also in relation
to it (Feez, 1995), thereby establishing an individual’s cognition of the world (Halliday,
1981).
Only later on in a child’s life and in the teenage years does the skill to compress
information materialize (Christie, 1994) by using techniques of nominalization or what
Halliday calls “grammatical metaphor” (Bloor & Bloor, 2005, p. 213). This skill allows
the student improved “rhetorical organization and increased lexical density” by forming
nouns from verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and conjunctions (Eggins, 2004, p. 95).
Nevertheless, a teacher may still find it difficult to identify specific dissimilarities
between coherent and poorly written texts. The result is that when a teacher leaves a
10
comment to “write more clearly”, no useful knowledge is imparted to the learner (Bloor
& Bloor, 2005, p. 227).
From this standpoint, Halliday’s aim is to broaden a child’s language and the language’s
functional possibilities (Hudson, 2004). Since it is the use of intricate clause structures
that assist the clarity of text (Bloor & Bloor, 2005), Halliday draws on “theme analysis”
to demonstrate a clause’s informational conspicuousness (Martin, 2004, p. 68). In this
way, the divergent writing abilities of learners may be spotted. For instance, a sixteen-
year-old would usually employ extended themes (Bloor & Bloor, 2005) and metaphors
(Campbell, 1982) to convey information, while a child half that age would normally be
unskilled as a writer and use short, simple themes (Bloor & Bloor, 2005) that are more
speech-like (Christie, 1994). Meanwhile, in spoken English, non-native English speakers
tend to use separate independent clause structures and less than half the number of
relative clauses that native speakers do, which makes the information they impart in their
delivery less understood (Bloor & Bloor, 2005). A yardstick for measuring improvement
in these types of students then is greatly assisted by using systemic-functional grammar
(Bloor & Bloor, 2005).
In addition, by teaching learners a new register in Standard English, they will be able to
make fresh manipulations of the language (Hudson, 2004), characterized by aspects of
the situational context: field, tenor, and mode (Feez, 1995). Even young children are
capable of differentiating between registers (Biber & Conrad, 2004) and genres (Christie,
1994). Examples of registers include conversation, academic, fiction and news (Biber &
Conrad, 2004). Examples of genres include essays, business letters, reports, stories
(Bloor & Bloor, 2005) poetry, plays, letters, diaries, etc. Halliday’s genre analysis
supports language skills instruction, especially writing (Bloor & Bloor, 2005), notably
because genres are structured in predictable ways to create particular meanings and to
help with understanding and remembrance (Graddol, et al., 2001).
Although Bourke claims that there is no apparent division involving systemic functional
grammar’s approach to speech or writing (Bourke, 2005), Christie and Feez disagree,
stating that SFG makes a clear distinction between them by supplying two very different
11
grammars and discourse structures (Christie, 1994; Feez, 1995). In fact, SFG makes
possible a meticulous examination of the two forms that can be effectively constructed
with other learners or be centered on an individuallearner.
Bourke goes on to point out that Halliday’s SFG metalanguage may be too “ambiguous”
with confusing overlaps of process meanings, and “too full and too rich” to be
successfully utilized in the classroom by instructors and students. In addition, teachers
themselves have called it “complex”, “messy” and “lacking simplicity” (Bourke, 2005,
pp. 93, 94).
Despite these various criticisms of Hallidayan lexicogrammar, Bourke feels that SFG not
only offers the required foundational basis for teaching the language but that it also
promotes a “sensitization” of processes that aids the learner in “out-performing” his
innate grammar (Bourke, 2005, p. 91). What’s more, SFG is a versatile means of
assisting language learners to read, write, hear and speak more successfully in all the
diverse registers and genres (Martin 2004) that educational systems require knowledge
of.
In the final analysis, the choice of language method is a matter of personal discretion. A
teacher’s inclination will reveal itself in the preference for either a cognitional or a
contextual approach to language. Accordingly, this means selecting the intuitional or
experiential, the mathematical or the representational, the constructural or the
communicational, the plain or prolific, the ideal or the real. This essay has argued that
the question of what human language is and how it can be better understood and applied
to education can be answered by looking critically at the debatable but relevant theories
of Noam Chomsky and Michael Halliday and carefully weighing the many pros and cons
of each system.
12
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