2。2 Studies on SFG

 The SFG created by Halliday is actually based on several former linguists。 There are mainly three sources that Halliday had inherited。 They are respectively Malinowski’s anthropological achievements, Whorf’s theory of linguistic relativity, and Firth’s linguistic theories (Jiang Shujuan et al。, 2006)。 As the name suggests, Systemic-Functional Grammar is composed of two parts, namely system and function。 Based on Halliday’s early grammatical theory “Scale and Category Grammar”, he developed the “Systemic Grammar” in Journal of Linguistics (1966)。 Systemic Grammar believes that human language consists of many systems, and in order to develop correct linguistic forms, it is necessary to choose and combine the items under these systems (Hu Zhuanglin, 2011)。 Functional Grammar was originated later in several articles of Halliday, including Language Structure and Language Function (1970) and An Introduction to Functional Grammar (1985)。 In the former one, Halliday first proposed the three meta-functions of language and elaborated on the three aspects respectively。 Although they can be explained respectively, systemic grammar and functional grammar are inextricably bound with each other。

In China, the studies of SFG have experienced a long time。 Since 1970s, a large number of articles, research theses, and books have been published。 The first book in China to introduce SFG from a relatively integrated perspective is Professor Hu Zhuanglin’s A Survey of Systemic-Functional Grammar (1989)。 Other notable works include Zhu Yongsheng and Yan Shiqing’s Reflections of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (2001) and its extension work New Reflections on Systemic-Functional Linguistics (2011)。 Besides, professor Hu, together with many other scholars, has translated major works concerning SFG into Chinese。 These works to a large extent make it possible for the domestic researchers to access the popular linguistic theory, and hence greatly contribute to the development of SFG in China。

2。3 Studies of Speech by Applying SFG

As a matter of fact, the application of SFG to the analysis of speech has developed only recently。 Many pertinent articles and papers can be found in journals and degree dissertations。

The foreign researches concerning the application of SFG to the analysis of speech has been developing rapidly recently。 Some of the researches focus on a certain aspect of SFG, such as “the relation of meaning to wording in Mandela’s speech” (Martínez, 2012) and “the positive self-representation of Barrack Obama in His Speech” (Obed, 2015)。 The former paper provides analysis of Mandela’s speech from the perspective of rhetorical devices, marked syntax and appraisal, and the latter focuses on textual function of Obama’s speeches。 In addition, other researchers adopt a comprehensive perspective。 Works like “A study on the structure of "I have a dream": a systemic functional grammar analysis” (Nguyễn, 2011) and “Critical discourse analysis of Barack Obama's 2012 Speeches: Views from Systemic Functional Linguistics and Rhetoric” (Kazemian et al。, 2014) belong to this type。 Both of the two kinds connect speech analysis with SFG and they can be used to prove and enhance the practicality of this theory。

The domestic researches about the application of SFG to the analysis of speech mostly focus on one aspect of SFG。 For example, the researchers may just view their target speeches from the perspective of interpersonal functions, thematic structure, register etc。 The interpersonal function of Michelle Obama’s Speech at Peking University has been studied (Xu Zhaorong, 2015)。 Besides, Professor Hu attempts to investigate the thematic structure of David Cameron’s speech (Hu Xiaoying, 2011)。 For sure, the analysis of speech as a general kind of discourse from the perspective of SFG as a whole has been discussed as well, but this type of paper is way too few。 Based on the observation of the author, the interpersonal function is mentioned the most by Chinese researchers。