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In:Expanding Horizons in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Interdisciplinary applications, multimodality, and theoretical advances
Edited by Claudia E. Stoian and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 80] 2027
► pp. 168–192

Chapter 8
Sprachbund, Standard Average European, and Systemic Functional Linguistic typology

Towards a metafunctional reappraisal

ORCiD logo with link | West University of Timișoara
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Abstract
The concept of Sprachbund, first articulated by Trubetzkoy (1930, p. 17), has played a pivotal role in areal linguistics by foregrounding the possibility that languages converge structurally through prolonged contact rather than shared descent. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), in turn, offers a typological perspective centred on meaning: the systemic resources through which languages construe experiential, interpersonal, and textual meaning. This chapter proposes a reappraisal of Sprachbund by bringing it into dialogue with systemic functional typology and its metafunctional orientation. Using the construct of Standard Average European (SAE), leconceptualized by Haspelmath (1998a and 1998b) as a prototype-defined areal phenomenon, this study argues that SAE can be fruitfully reinterpreted as a metafunctional Sprachbund.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Methodological framework
      • 1.1.1Research questions
      • 1.1.2Case selection and scope
      • 1.1.3Criteria for feature selection
      • 1.1.4Analytical procedure
      • 1.1.5Limitations
  • 2.The concept of sprachbund in typological research
  • 3.Whorf’s standard average european and its reception
  • 4.Haspelmath’s (1998) reappraisal of SAE
  • 5.Systemic functional linguistic typology
  • 6.SAE through the lens of SFL (Group A: English, French, German, and Dutch)
    • 6.1Experiential metafunction
    • 6.2Interpersonal metafunction
    • 6.3Textual metafunction
    • 6.4Metafunctional convergence
      • Metafunctional map: English, French, German, Dutch (after Caffarel, Martin, Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 54–60)
      • 6.4.1Cross-language metafunctional mapping (after Caffarel, Martin, Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 54–58)
        • Clause structures and clausal patterns
        • Thematic structures and Theme — Rheme diagrammes
          (after Caffarel, Martin and Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 635–651)
        • Theme: Rheme overview
        • Diagrammes: (after Caffarel, Martin and Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 635–651)
        • Interpersonal metafunctions
      • 6.4.2Further comparison across languages (after Caffarel, Martin and Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 54–60)
        • Textual metafunctions and cohesion
        • Cohesion examples (after Caffarel, Martin and Matthiessen, 2004, pp. 635–651)
        • Further cohesion examples
  • 7.Towards a reshaped definition of SAE for SFL typology
    • 7.1Metafunctional reinterpretation of SAE features
      • 7.1.1Definite and indefinite articles
      • 7.1.2Have perfect
      • 7.1.3Participial passive
      • 7.1.4Anticausative prominence
      • 7.1.5Nominative experiencers
      • 7.1.6Dative external possessors
      • 7.1.7Negation and negative pronouns
      • 7.1.8Particle comparatives
      • 7.1.9A-and-B conjunction
      • 7.1.10Relative clauses
      • 7.1.11Verb fronting in polar questions
    • 7.2Consolidated metafunctional profile of SAE
    • 7.3SAE as a metafunctional zone
  • 8.Conclusion
  • References
References (19)
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