This book presents a unique range of interdisciplinary work on questions of language development and evolution. It makes visible the significant contribution which meaning-oriented linguistics is making to debates about the origins of language - from the perspective of language evolution in the species (viewed as the evolution of "meaning potential") to language development in the child (viewed as "learning how to mean"). As well as linguistics in the systemic functional, or Hallidayan, tradition, the book offers contributions from primatology, psychiatry, sociology and education. What the authors share is a view of language as a social semiotic system. By seeing language in this way, and drawing on actual language corpora, the authors are able to address major questions of deep social significance, including: the role of grammar in the emergence of consciousness, from protolanguage to higher order consciousness the dynamics of language variation, including semantic variation, in children's development children's learning in and about a second language the significance of different ways of talking about language for school literacy development understanding borderline personality disorder from the perspective of language development.

About the Author
Geoff Williams is Emeritus Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada, as well as Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia. Annabelle Lukin is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Language in Social Life, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Australia.

Reviews
This book's major themes are highly integrated across the various contributions, reflecting faithfully the rich complexity of such a holistic model of language as SFL. The methods of study (naturalistic and contextualized), the major concepts - system and semiosis, function as metafunction, dimensionalism, and the role of context in relation to meaning and the individual - and the applications of these notions to domains like education, primate studies and psychology, are all woven together into a satisfying and challenging whole. The book is stimulating without being over reliant on arcane terminology, and it also keeps open the possibilities for further development and modification of this approach to language.' ~ W. N. Winser, Research Fellow, University of Adelaide, Australia -- W.N. Winser



Book Information
ISBN 9780826488787
Author Geoff Williams
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 438g