THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNCTIONAL EXTERNAL RELATIONS IN EVALUATING A TEXT
THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNCTIONAL EXTERNAL RELATIONS IN EVALUATING A TEXT

Summary/Abstract: Systemic Functional Framework focuses on the communicative function of language, paying a special attention to internal and external relations within a text. All branches of linguistics are first and foremost descriptive, but functional framework is more concerned of the evaluation of a text rather than its analysis. The starting point of this evaluation is represented by the external relations within a text that form the communication process between the writer and the reader. The evaluation process is a mental process, but its linguistic expression forms an important component of the discourse. To evaluate a text refers to express an opinion about how good or bad that particular text is. The terms of reference for the judgement may be personal or they may occur within a framework. Texts are produced through paratactic and hypotactic relationships within clause complexes and through cohesive conjunctions relating these clause complexes to each other. Texts produced in this way foreground realizations of conjunction as logico-semantic relations between processes. The logico-semantic relations are difficult to classify because of their diversified realizations. A large number of classifications have been proposed but regardless of the used classifications, a good evaluation of a text implies both a personal judgement as well as an appeal to norms.

• Details
• Contents