HALLIDAY’S LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

Michael Halliday, in full Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday, also called M.A.K. Halliday. Halliday
obtained a B.A. in Chinese language and literature from the University of London and then did postgraduate
work in linguistics, first at Peking University and later at the University of Cambridge, from which he obtained a
Ph.D. in 1955.
★ Regulatory Function. The Regulatory Function of language is language used to influence the behavior
of others. Concerned with persuading/commanding/requesting other people to do things you want. For
example: Could you like to give me some money?
★ Interactional Function. The Interactional Function of language is language used to develop social
relationships and ease the process of interaction, concerned with the phobic dimension of talk. For
example, I love you and I want to live with you forever.
★ Personal Function. The Personal Function of language is language used to express the personal
preferences, identity, feelings, emotions, personality, opinion and reaction of the speaker. Sometimes
referred to as the “Here I am” function announcing oneself to the world. For example, Toba Lake is a
good place to get refreshed.
★ Representational Function. The Representational Function of language is language used to
exchange information. Concerned with relay or requesting information. For example, Europe Island is a
place that makes us find our dream.
★ Heuristic Function. The Heuristic Function of language is used to learn and explore the environment.
Child uses language to learn, this may be question and answers, or the kind of running commentary
that frequently accompanies children’s play. For example, what is the tractor doing?
★ Imaginative Function. The Imaginative Function of language is language used to explore the
imagination or to create imaginary systems or ideas and also to tell stories, and jokes, telling fairy tales.
May also accompany play as children create imaginary worlds, or may arise from storytelling. For
example, a good player can be successful in this drama.
★ Instrumental Function. The Instrumental Function of language is language used to express what the
people need. For example, I want to buy a car to make everything easy for everything.
NON-HUMAN COMMUNICATION
Communication—when we're talking about animal behavior—can be any process where information is
passed from one animal to another causing a change or response in the receiving animal. Communication
most often happens between members of a species, though it can also take place between different species.
Some species are very social, living in groups and interacting all the time; communication is essential for
keeping these groups cohesive and organized. However, even animals that are relative loners usually have to
communicate at least a little, if only to find a mate.
What forms can communication behaviors take? Well, animal sensory systems vary quite a great deal.
For instance, a dog's sense of smell is 40 times more acute than ours. Because of this sensory diversity,
different animals communicate using a wide range of stimuli, known collectively as signals.
Below are some common types of signals:
★ Pheromones. A pheromone is a secreted chemical signal used to trigger a response in another
individual of the same species. Pheromones are especially common among social insects, such
as ants and bees. Pheromones may attract the opposite sex, raise an alarm, mark a food trail,
or trigger other, more complex behaviors.
★ Auditory cues. Auditory communication is particularly important in birds, who use sounds to
convey warnings, attract mates, defend territories, and coordinate group behaviors. Some birds
also produce birdsong, vocalizations that are relatively long and melodic and tend to be similar
among the members of a species.
★ Visual cues. Visual communication involves signals that can be seen. Examples of these
signals include gestures, facial expressions, body postures, and coloration.
 ★ Tactile cues. Tactile signals are more limited in range than the other types of signals, as two
organisms must be right next to each other in order to touch. Still, these signals are an
important part of the communication repertoire of many species.
In some cases, signals can even be electric.
ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS
Animal consciousness refers to the experiences or conscious sensation during states of wakeful
processing of sensory perception, imagery or dreaming in non-human subjects. The concept is often raised
and discussed in relation to animal welfare in bio-industrial farming, animal experimentation for biomedical
purposes, and animal rights.
There are two remaining senses of consciousness that cause more controversy when applied to
animals: phenomenal consciousness and self-consciousness.
★ Phenomenal consciousness refers to the qualitative, subjective, experiential, or phenomenological
aspects of conscious experience, sometimes identified with qualia.
★ Self-consciousness refers to a subject’s awareness of itself, but is also a notoriously ambiguous term —
there are importantly distinct senses in which a subject can be self-aware
SIX TALKING APES
★ Viki: Viki, a chimpanzee, came closest to being a real talking ape. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keith
and Catherine Hayes of the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, then located in Orange Park, Florida,
adopted Viki and raised her at home as if she were a human baby. With the Hayeses moving her lips for
her, Viki learned to utter “mama.” Eventually, with much difficulty, she managed to say three other words—
papa, cup and up—on her own. Viki’s tenure as a talking ape didn’t last long; she died at the age of seven
of viral meningitis.
★ Washoe: In the 1960s, psychologists Allen and Beatrix Gardner of the University of Nevada, Reno
recognized that chimpanzees naturally gesture a lot and thought chimps would be well suited for sign
language. In 1966, they started working with Washoe. Later, psychologists Roger and Deborah Fouts, now
retired from Central Washington University, continued the work. By the end of Washoe’s life in 2007, she
knew about 250 signs and could put different signs together to make simple combinations like “Gimmie
Sweet” and “You Me Go Out Hurry.” Washoe’s adopted son Loulis also learned to sign—by watching his
mother. He was the first ape to learn signs from other apes, not humans.
★ Nim: After the success with Washoe, psychologist Herbert Terrace of Columbia University decided to
replicate the project. At first, Nim—full name Nim Chimpsky, named after linguist Noam Chomsky who
thought language was unique to humans—was raised in a human household. (Washoe had been treated
like a person too but had her own trailer.) Later, Nim was removed from the family and his language
lessons moved to a lab on Columbia’s campus. In the end, Terrace concluded Nim never really learned
language; he had merely been trained to imitate his teachers to get rewards.
★ Chantek: Chimpanzees are not the only talking apes. In 1978, anthropologist Lyn Miles of the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga began studying an orangutan named Chantek. During eight years of study,
Chantek learned 150 signs. He also showed signs of being self-aware: he could recognize himself in a
mirror.
★ Koko: Koko the gorilla is probably best known for her love of kittens and Mr. Rogers (and maybe less well-
known for her encounter with Captain James T. Kirk). Koko’s sign-language training began in 1972 with
then-graduate student Francine (Penny) Patterson of Stanford University. According to the Gorilla
Foundation, Koko knows 1,000 signs and understands spoken English. It also claims the gorilla has an IQ
somewhere between 70 and 95 (the average human IQ is 100).
★ Kanzi: Kanzi, a bonobo, doesn’t use sign language; he uses different combinations of lexigrams, or
symbols, to communicate. In the early 1980s, psychologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, then of Georgia State
University, was trying to teach Kanzi’s mom, Matata, to use the lexigrams; instead, Kanzi was the one who
mastered the symbols. Kanzi understands spoken English and knows close to 400 symbols. When he
“speaks,” his lexigram usage follows rules of grammar and syntax, according to researchers at the Great
Ape Trust in Iowa, where Kanzi now resides. Kanzi is also an accomplished stone-tool maker.