A Brief Talk on Systemic—Functional Grammar and Case Grammar

Wangjun

Abstract： this writing first makes a short introduction of the origins of Systemic-Functional Grammar and Case Grammar before the main contents of the two grammars are described in detail. Then， a comparison of the two grammars is briefly made. And at last， the respective influences their emergency may bring about in language learning and teaching are simply and clearly talked about.

Key words： Systemic-functional Grammar； Case Gramma

1. A brief comparison of Systemic-Functional Grammar and Case Grammar

1.1 Similarities of the two grammars

Systemic-functional grammar and case grammar both study language from the semantic relationships of a sentence， namely the deep structures of the sentence and they both are a system of meanings. Moreover， they are mutually manifested in each other. For instance， one can find some similarities between “transitivity system” in systemic-functional grammar and “case” in case grammar.

1.2 Differences between the two grammars

Modality

Modality， as one of the two main ways to realize interpersonal function， is somewhat a kind of the intermediate degrees between positive and negative poles in systemic-functional grammar； while Fillmore only made a brief introduction of modality in case grammar and he put forward that the deep structure of a sentence is made of a modality （which consists of tense， formula， aspect， or a negative part and primarily explains the link between the modality and the remainder of the sentence） and a proposition （which is usually composed of a verb and one or more case roles）.

Study object

Systemic-functional grammar tries to explain language from a view of the social function of language and the role of language in human activities when studying such major subjects as the formation and development of language， the structure of language， the universality of language， and the acquisition of language； in other words， it mainly studies the external mechanisms of language； whereas case grammar attempts to provide an accurate explanation of some semantic questions by studying the semantic relationship and the deep case relations between a verb and various noun phrases on a basis of functional relationship； in other words， it primarily examines the internal mechanisms of language.

2.the respective influences of Systemic-Functional Grammar and Case Grammar

On language learning

Every basic meaning component of a language can be explained by its functions in that language because the forms of language reflects the meanings of a language and formalizes it. Compare Sentence one The train destroyed the crops with Sentence two The crops were destroyed by the train. One can find a better answer of what voice to choose only with the help of the context. Lets Read a dialogue between A and B. A. What happened to the crops？ B. The train destroyed them. It can be clearly seen that Bs answer apparently violates the coherent principle of a context because the new message appears at the very beginning of a sentence with the old message behind. And it would be appropriate to replace with a passive sentence here.endprint

Many of us must have come across a lot of sentences with an inanimate noun as the subject of a verb. Lets look at the following examples first. 1） Lock the door after you. The door will not lock. 2） The branches shook in the gust of wind. 3） The bridge rests on stone arches. 4） The girls head rested on her hands. At first glance， we may be confused about why the latter part of the first sentence and the second， third and forth sentence are all active clauses. However， we can make full use of deep case frame and scene theory to solve our puzzle. First， lets see the deep case frame of the verb LOCK in the latter part of the first sentence： the door （Object） will not lock （Verb）. As we all know， there are always an Object and sometimes an Agent and an Instrument in every deep structure of a sentence no matter what the subject is in its surface structure.

On language teaching

Another use of systemic-functional grammar one should not neglect is to help teachers instruct language knowledge and skills， especially in improving students reading comprehension during their middle- or high-school years. This means students can try to read and understand a passage by analyzing its context， rather than looking for the literal meaning of every word. A large number of students may be in a dilemma where they nearly understand every word and structural sentence in it， but just can not understand the meaning or tenor of a passage when reading a passage. And it really helps matters if the teachers could explain the interrelationships between context， discourse and language and the function of context when analyzing a passage for students.

Case grammar also benefits our teachers in their hard teaching， of a cloze test in particular. For example “ … And the need for existence_costs and creates …”A. produces. B. generates. C. manufactures. D. Grows. Fillmore pointed out in 1977 that different verbs describing the same social practice activities can choose different manners to indicate the participants involved. To put it simply， different verbs need different reflections to express visually different social activities. As a general rule， the subject of the verb GENERATE should be the instigator of the action and the object of the verb should be a production of the action. Whereas the subject of the verb GROW is usually an entity affected by the growing action. Therefore， it can be concluded that B is the best answer of the item in the cloze test.endprint

3. Conclusion

From the above analysis， one can find easily that systemic-functional grammar is mainly concerned with the the social attributes of language， while case grammar often deals with the natural qualities of language. Our teachers can apply the former to the teaching of reading comprehension and oral language， and the latter to the instruction of cloze test and the usages of various verbs. It is really necessary for us to take the essence of them and pay attention to their respective roles in language learning and teaching.

Bibliography

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