The Chinese Origin of Halliday’s Academic Thoughts and Its Return

This book is a progressive exposition on Halliday’s academic thought and its origins by the renowned linguist Hu Zhuanglin, based on 30 years of research. The first part, ＂Chinese Origin,＂ introduces readers to the author’s gradual understanding that Halliday’s academic thought mainly came from Chinese scholars such as Wang Li, Luo Changpei, and Gao Mingkai. In 1980s, Halliday and his students introduced the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics into the foreign language and linguistics circles in China; thus, Halliday’s academic thought returned to where it originated. The second part, ＂A Discussion of Theories,＂ mainly addresses the author’s experience and further discussions after learning Halliday’s theory. The theme of the third part is ＂Discourse Analysis＂ and focuses on the greatest difference between Systemic Functional Linguistics and traditional grammar--sentence grammar. Halliday emphasizes the study of ＂discourse,＂ and sentences are only the embodiment of discourse atthe next level. The fourth part, ＂The Study of Chinese,＂ applies Halliday’s linguistic theory to the evolution of the research of the Chinese language in China, which can better explain the theme of ＂return＂ and is of great significance for Chinese scholars’ understanding and application of Halliday’s academic thought.

Hu Zhuanglin, China’s famous linguist, is Senior Professor at Peking University, former Dean of the English Language and Literature department at Peking University, Professor at the Foreign Language department of Tsinghua University, and part-time Professor at Beijing Normal University, Sun Yat-sen University, Nanjing Normal University, and 35 other universities. He is former Vice President of the China English Language Education Association, honorary President of the Chinese Society of Language and Semiotics, honorary President of the Chinese Society of Functional Grammar Teaching, and honorary President of the Chinese Society of Stylistics. His research fields include foreign linguistics, functional linguistics, pragmatics, stylistics, discourse analysis, English teaching methods, etc. He has published more than 200 academic papers and more than 40 academic monographs and has won many national, Ministry of Education and university-level awards for his papers, teaching materials, and teaching.