Language, power and ideology: Hallidayan perspective

Annabelle Lukin

Department of Linguistics

Macquarie University

 

“the most important steps in theoretical inquiry are the initial ones “ (Ellis 1993, 15)
Over recent decades linguists have turned their attention to the analysis of power and ideology in discourse, evidenced in the rise of Critical Linguistics, followed by the emergence of Critical Discourse Analysis. CL and CDA scholars brought issues of power and ideology to the forefront of linguistics and discourse analysis, seeking to combine micro-linguistic analysis and description with theories of macro-social and sociological phenomena, drawing on the work of scholars such as Foucault, Gramsci, Althusser, Giddens, Bourdieu, Habermas, and Marx. In this process, Halliday’s work has been central, and yet marginalised. It has played a service role, with elements of his descriptive framework recruited to undertake text analysis. However, the defining principles of his model of language – realization, instantiation, and metafunction – have been ignored, or to some degree distorted, or used rhetorically to help create an identity for CDA.
This workshop will explore how Halliday’s understanding of the key dynamics of language can reconcile the essential micro-linguistic and macro-sociological perspectives necessary for linguistics to contribute to the grand social problems of our times. The format of the workshop will be as an advanced reading group. Basic knowledge of Halliday’s theory will be assumed. A selection of papers from Halliday and Hasan, as well as a selection of sociological writings will be distributed prior to the workshop with reading notes and discussion questions. The workshops will combine some presentations on key ideas, and, depending on the group size, a combination of smaller and whole group discussions.
The language of presentation will be English. I have a working knowledge of Spanish, which means discussion can be in English or Spanish.

An example of selected readings

Ávila, T. P. 2020. Gender Violence Law Reform and Feminist Criminology in Brazil. In S. Walklate, Fitz-Gibbon, K, McCulloch, J, & J. Maher (eds.), The Emerald Handbook of Feminism, Criminology and Social Change, 1001-1107. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Halliday, M. A. K. 2003. On the architecture of human language. In J. J. Webster (ed.), On Language and Linguistics. Volume 3 in the Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday, 1-29. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. 2003. The history of a sentence. In J. J. Webster (ed.), On Language and Linguistics. Volume 3 in the Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday, 355-374. London and New York: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. 2003. New ways of meaning: A challenge to applied linguistics. In J. J. Webster (ed.), On Language and Linguistics: Volume 3 in the Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday, 139-174. London and New York: Continuum. Wherefore Context? 2001
Hasan, R. 2016. Wherefore context?: The ontogenesis of meaning exchange. In J. J. Webster (ed.), Context in the System and Process of Language. Volume 4 in the Collected Works of Ruqaiya Hasan, 95-126. London: Equinox.
Lukin, A. 2019. Ideology in a Socio-Semiotic Linguistic Theory. In War and its Ideologies: A Social-Semiotic Theory and Description. Singapore: Springer. 55-80
Mills, C. W. 2000. The sociological imagination. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/31144533/Mills_Intell_Craft.pdf (see chapter 1)
Weber, M. 2004. The Vocation Lectures (Politics as a Vocation). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.