A child's model for social interaction: The transition to the adult linguistic system

Abstract

This is an on-going longitudinal case study of how two young children
built a model for social interaction, thus making the transition into the
adult linguistic system. Systemic Functional Linguistic theory is adopted
to explicate the bilingual resources of English and Bahasa Melayu/
Indonesia of the young children (Halliday 1994 and Halliday &
Matthiessen 2004). The concepts of semantic potential and metafunctional
hypothesis, central to this model are explored through the emerging
patterns of these children: language elicited in natural day-to-day
contexts. The study shows how English and Bahasa Melayu/Indonesia
are simultaneously learnt as a system of meanings in functional contexts.
The study also illustrates how the child gradually increases his scope
of meanings in the development of two more broadly conceived
functions: mathetic and pragmatic functions. The study provides samples
of language representing the child's individual strategy for contextualising
speech as mathetic, for observing and reflecting, and as pragmatic, for
acting in the speech situation. The study substantiates the systemic
view that pragmatic and mathetic meaning distinctions correspond to
ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings and that these meanings
are achieved largely through grammatical complexity and the
diversification of speech roles. In terms of descriptive significance, the
study adds to M.A.K. Halliday's seminal work on the ontogenesis of
language (e.g. Halliday 19753 & 1975b) and Painter's study on early
language in childhood (e.g. Painter 1990 & 1999) by validating the
applicability of a systemic model of the study of bilingual children. In
terms of theoretical significance, the study lends credence to the
argument that the emergence of a new level of linguistic form and dialogue
is a significant stage for the transition into the adult linguistic system.