ABSTRACT
Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday was a pupil of Firth's and with greater elaboration, has pursued similar precepts, above all that 'linguistics' should deal with meaning at all levels of analyses and should study 'texts' 'in contexts of situation'. Halliday finds 'the question "what is language?" unduly diffuse and 'disingenuous', because 'no one account of language will be appropriate for all purposes'. Halliday compares two 'depths of focus' in 'linguistics': 'the more immediate' 'intrinsic' aim to 'explain the nature of language', 'implying an "autonomous" view'; versus 'the further, extrinsic aim to explain features of the social structure' through 'language', 'implying an instrumental' view. Language is the primary means of cultural transmission' whereby 'behavioural options' are 'typically realized', 'social groups are integrated, and the individual is identified and reinforced'. Halliday also reconsiders the 'traditional linguistic' 'terms used for the levels or "strata" of a language-the stages in the coding process from meaning to expression' such as 'phonology', 'semantics', and 'grammar'.
