Publisher's Synopsis
This work comprises a collection of the writings of Ruqaiya Hasan, an influential figure in the systemic functional linguistic learning school. The text is divided into three parts. The first of these discusses the relation between text and context and the realization of context in language. The second part deals with one specific aspect of the systemic functional model, the "network", which is outlined as the analytic tool which can be applied at two strata of language, the lexico-grammatical and the semantic. The third section examines aspects of the social structure that are implicated in the way cultures and subcultures express themselves.