ABSTRACT

The principal function of phonology is to provide each discrete unit in the lexicogrammar of a language with distinctive acoustic forms. Each lexicogrammatical unit has to have its own form to distinguish it from all other units in a system. Phonology provides those forms. Phonology is not simply an inventory of phonemes that operates in a given language, but a set of systems that functions at all levels of the lexicogrammar. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has achieved a high degree of sophistication in specifying the phonological systems that operate with clauses and sentences (that is, intonation), but has largely neglected the description of systems that operate at other, lower, ranks in the lexicogrammatical hierarchy. This chapter seeks to contribute to redressing that imbalance by looking specifically at those systems that operate at the level of words.