ABSTRACT
Formal theories of language treat language as being basically form; that is, they are structures which can be reorganized, moved around and built up in different ways. Cognitive and functional approaches tend to converge on language from opposing directions, as if they were travelling in different directions along the same road, and thus might meet somewhere in the middle. Most theories of language distinguish between the grammar of the language, and the list of words that are available in that language. To a large extent, language depends on the context in which it comes into existence; it could not exist without that context, and in a different context the language would be different. Systemic Functional Linguistics is said to be functional because it is concerned with the internal functioning of the parts of the language and the way it functions externally in society.
