SENTENCE
FUNCTIONS
7 Functions of Language expressed at the sentence level by Michael Halliday
Instrumental: I
want a banana
Regulatory:
“First I … you need a rake and you have to build over the rake.”
Interactional:
“Do you like cricket too Henry?”
Personal:
“I know that song ‘cause we sang it at Kindergarten.”
Heuristic:
“We could make a water thing to tell how much rain we got.”
Imaginative:
“Alice the camel has one hump, one hump, one hump.”
Representational:
“It is raining really heavy and heavy all day.”
From: Michael
Halliday’s chapter in Language Development:
A Reader for Teachers edited by Brenda Miller Power and Ruth S. Hubbard,
Merrill Prentice Hall, 2002
The chapter
begins with a question asked by a teacher of English: “What is language?”, to
which Halliday responds: “Why do you
want to know?” Halliday’s point is that it matters why you want/need to
define language. He takes the perspective
of the child learning language: that is, the child’s “Model” of language
internalized as a result of his experience. “The child knows what language is
because he knows what language does.” [That is, the function(s) of language].
Halliday goes on to write:
“….The
determining elements of the young child’s experience are the successful demands
on language that he himself has made, the particular needs that have been
satisfied by language for him….”
“…We shall try
to identify the models of language with which the normal child is endowed by
the time he comes to school at the age of 5….”
Halliday then
goes on to describe “models” of language function the child brings to school:
Instrumental, Regulatory, Interactional, Personal, Heuristic, Imaginative, and
Representational. See the chart above for the categories, the functions they
are designed to achieve, and examples.
Language Use
and Learning
In the same
text on Language Development: A Reader for Teachers, Gay Su Pinnell describes
“Ways to Look at the Functions” of Children’s Language”* in which she offers
examples based on classroom observations, a process for doing those
observations, and ways to enhance children’s 7 functional uses of language.
*Taken from
Observing the Language Learner” (pp. 57-72), A. Jaggar and M. T. Smith-Burke
(Eds., Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1985
There are many
texts and example that address the relationship between oral language and
school success, some of which we will refer to as to move to our next level of
oral language—discourse. Many of these are from the 1970’s beginning with a
seminal work by Cazden and Hymes in 1972 (Functions of Language in the
Classroom). The date is mentioned not to suggest that these sources, ideas, and
concerns are outdated; but, rather, to suggest that language use and school
success is an old and ongoing topic of interest and importance. More recent
texts include:
******
The Functions
of Language (at the sentence level): Some examples and excerpts from Halliday.
So, when a
child uses a sentence we need to pay attention to its function, not just its
form.. Note that these examples are at the sentence level, but they only
take on meaning as they function as part of a discourse/conversation….both oral
and written.
Instrumental: Language is used as a means of
getting things done.
I want… a car, boat, treat…. I want to…go home, find a book…
“Success in
this use of language does not in any way depend on the production of
well-formed adult sentences; a carefully contextualized yell may have
substantially the same effect…”
Regulatory: Language is used to regulate the
behavior of others.
You
shouldn’t….tear the paper,
go there; use that pencil, take that book..
While this function of language, in the
child’s experience, may initially be used by adults, the child learns to use
it, too.
Interactional: Language is used to address social
interactions—both personal and group interactions.
Let’s work on this together.
We can do this.
You don’t belong here.
Personal: Language is used reflect self,
his/her personality, uniqueness
I’m good at math.
I like to play dominoes.
I think school is fun.
Heuristic. Language used to explore one’s
environment—language as a means of investigating reality, a way of learning about
things.
I have a question?
Do that mean…?
Oh, look, there’s a frog.
“Imaginative.
Language used to create his/her own “environment” as he/she can image it to be.
Hi, Mr. Pepperoni Pants.
This is a zigo.
The request of the buggy coming right up. Humming…
Once there was a big tree house…
Representational: Language
used to communicate about something, for expressing propositions.
Mars is a
million miles away.
The zoo has many wild animals.
Molly is sick.
* * * *
More example as
we move to the next section on oral language development: The Discourse or
Conversation Level.
