论语篇功能思想的元理论意义

The Meta-theoretical Implications of Textual Function

韩礼德首创语篇功能概念之后的数十年间,他本人及许多其他系统功能语言学家如Hasan,Matthiessen等不断地发展和完善这一概念;本文旨在梳理语篇功能思想的渊源并厘清其含义。作者指出,该概念从它诞生之日起便富含元理论意义,而系统功能语言学家所强调的语篇功能的非本源属性不仅与逻辑相对主义思潮遥相呼应而且有助于揭示语言构建现实的机制。近年来,随着语法隐喻理论的逐步成熟,语篇功能概念被系统功能语言学家赋予了更为深刻的哲学含义,而许多中国学者将这一概念限制在语篇分析领域的做法可能会造成对此概念的曲解。

This paper aims at interpreting the term ＂textual function＂ as initially proposed by M.A.K.Halliday and later developed by Halliday himself and other systemic linguists like Hasan, Matthiessen, etc, It is argued that the term has been imbued with meta-theoretical implications ever since its birth, while the second order nature of the textual function emphasized by systemic linguists does not only reverberate with the fundamental notion of logical relativism but also sheds light on the mechanism by which language constructs reality, It is concluded, therefore, that the common belief among the Chinese scholars that views textual function as a mere term restrained to discourse analyses is entirely misleading and that the term has come to form an important basis for the philosophical stand of the systemic linguistics, especially after the introduction and development of the grammatical metaphor theory in the systemic linguistic circle.