What is the relevant unit of analysis?
The unit of analysis for SF linguists is the text because the functional meaning potential of language is realized in units no smaller than texts. Of course, the study of texts is typically performed by examining elements of the lexicogrammar and phonology, but these smaller units must be viewed from the perspective of their contribution to the meanings expressed by the total text in context. “For a linguist, to describe language without accounting for text is sterile; to describe text without without relating it to language is vacuous” Halliday, 1985a, p. 10). How is linguistic variation explained? The primary construct for explaining linguistic variation is a familiar one “register.” Register is important in systemic linguistics because it is seen as the linguistic consequence of interacting aspects of context, which Haliday calls “field, tenor, and mode.” Field refers to the topics and actions which language is used to express. Tenor denotes the language users, their relationships t
