Language and Social Identity in John 6:25-71: A Hallidayan Discourse Analysis
Author
Summary, in English
Michael Halliday has written extensively on the nature and functionality of language, and one of his favoured approaches to language is that it is social. He describes language as “the creature and creator of human society”. One of the functions of language is to express and form social identity.
This paper seeks to adopt Halliday’s systemic functional linguistic theory on the bread-of-life discourse and the dialogue that follows directly upon it in John’s gospel. Halliday’s approach is applied to the Greek text of John 6:25-71 to explore how the language is used to provoke a reaction on those listening to the words of Jesus and being faced with his claims. In the linguistic interaction that takes place between Jesus and the people he forces them to search their motives and to make a choice with regard to how to relate to him — whether to be with him or to leave him.
It is the thesis of this paper that a close study of the linguistic form and structure of the oral interaction between Jesus and the people clarifies how the language specifically is used to create social identities.
This paper seeks to adopt Halliday’s systemic functional linguistic theory on the bread-of-life discourse and the dialogue that follows directly upon it in John’s gospel. Halliday’s approach is applied to the Greek text of John 6:25-71 to explore how the language is used to provoke a reaction on those listening to the words of Jesus and being faced with his claims. In the linguistic interaction that takes place between Jesus and the people he forces them to search their motives and to make a choice with regard to how to relate to him — whether to be with him or to leave him.
It is the thesis of this paper that a close study of the linguistic form and structure of the oral interaction between Jesus and the people clarifies how the language specifically is used to create social identities.
Department/s
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper
Topic
- Religious Studies
Keywords
- Co-text
- context
- discourse analysis
- SFL
- systemic
- functional
- linguistics
- Halliday
- metafunction
- functionl
- system
- grammar
- word
- sentence
- phrase
- pericope
- clause
- predicator
- complement
- intra-linguistic
- extra-linguistic
- top-down
- bottom-up
- lexico-grammar
- texture
- micro-structure
- macro-structure
Conference name
Memory, Orality, and Identity - Socio-Cognitive Perspectives on Early Judaism and Early Christianity
Conference date
2013-11-15
Status
Unpublished