This module introduces students to Functional Linguistics (FL) which is the framework of language pioneered by the internationally-renowned linguist M.A.K. Halliday. Used by linguists the world over, the Hallidayan paradigm has found much favour as a method of inquiry among grammarians, discourse analysists, critical linguists and applied linguists – scholars who are united by their common interest in the functional manifestation of language as a ‘social semiotic’. Halliday’s own conceptualisation of how language works is simple; namely, that the system that is language takes its shape from the function it serves. The module takes students through this systemic-functional module and explores its three key functions: the experiential function, which expresses the meaning of the clause, the interpersonal function, which shows how a clause is organised as an interactive event, and the textual function, which explains the information-building and text-building properties of a text. The module also covers Appraisal Theory which is a development within FL that explains how we express our attitude to texts and other interactants, whether intensely, positively, negatively, uncertainly, and so on. By studying in-depth the core concepts and categories of FL, students will acquire a coherent and serviceable analytic model for language analysis. This model can be applied to a range of styles, registers, genres and discourse types.