not focus on the meaning of the sentences. Gerrot and Wignell also state, “Traditional grammar focuses on rules for producing correct sentences.
2 Formal Grammar
Formal grammars are also structures of making sentences but these are concerned to individual sentences. This kind of grammar is a set of rule
which allow or disallow particular sentence structures. 3
Functional Grammar Functional grammars are not only used to structure correct sentences but also
the way to construct meaning. Gerot and Wignell 1994:6 state, “Functional grammars view languag
e as a resource for making meaning.” This study focuses on functional grammar, so I explain more deeply about this.
2.2.3 Systemic Functional Grammar
Systemic Functional Grammar is developed by M.A.K Halliday. He 1994:31 states, “Being a „functional grammar‟ means that priority is given to the view
„from above‟; that is, grammar is seen as a resource for making meaning.” This kind of grammar is functioned for making meaning. By having meaning,
sentences can be used effectively for interacting and communicating with other people also negotiating things and ideas. Based on functional grammar, wordings
and meanings are inseparable. This grammar encodes three types of meaning, ideational, textual, and interpersonal.
1 Ideational meanings
Ideational meanings are the functions of language that represent our experience of the world. These consists of participants, processes, and circumstances.
Participants are people, ideas, or things which include in sentences. Processes are the activities represented in sentences. Circumstances are the conditions or
environment in which the processes happen. Ideational meanings are meanings about phenomena
– about things living and non-living, abstract, and concrete, about goings on what
the things are or do, and the circumstances surrounding these happenings and doings Gerot and Wignell 1994:12.
2 Textual meanings
Textual meanings are language functions that is enable people to form coherent and cohesive text. These differentiate between written and spoken texts. In
creating texts, people must concern in the system language such as written or spoken. Gerot and Wignell 1994:14 state, “Textual meanings express the
relation of language to its environment.” The way of structuring written sentences and spoken sentences are sometimes different. The examples can be
seen below. This is yer phone bill and you hafta go to the Post Office to pay it
– uh, by next Monday
– that‟s what this box tells ya – or they‟ll cut yer phone off
All phone bills must be paid by the date shown or service will be discontinued.
Gerot and Wignell 1994:14
Based on the examples above, the way of delivering information using spoken and written are different although both of those texts have the same
purpose and meaning. 3
Interpersonal meanings Interpersonal meanings are language systems which allow people to give and
demand information, ideas, and things. Gerot and Wignell 1994:13 state, “Interpersonal meanings are meanings which express a speaker‟s attitude and
judgments.” They 1994:13 add, “Meanings are realized in wordings through what is called Mood and Modality.”
Gerot and Wignell 1994:22 state that interpersonal meanings are realized in the lexicogrammar through selections from the system of Mood.
2.2.4 Speech RoleSpeech Function
