Halliday's Register Theory
Mode
Field
Ideational Metafunction
Subject Matter/Topic
Levels of Language
Everyday: Shared by all
Highly Technical and Abstract: Shared by few experts
Specialized: Shared by some
The organization of context
Text Structure
How the text is communicated and the parts fit together
Textual Metafunction
Levels of Language
Recounting and Reporting: Spoken texts written out or written text spoken out
Most Written: Precise, planned, edited, organized, formal and coherent, lexically dense
Most Spoken: Spontaneous, informal and concrete communication of shared information
The What
The How
Tenor
Roles and Relationships
The organization of language
Interpersonal Metafunction
Levels of Language
The Who
Increasing Formality Relationship: between Speaker and Listener or Reader and Writer
Formal and Informed Relationship: between Speaker and Listener or Reader and Writer
Informal and Familiar Relationship: between Speaker and Listener or Reader and Writer