Editing Michael Halliday (section)

==Biography==
Halliday was born and raised in England. His parents nurtured his fascination for language: his mother, Winifred, had studied French, and his father, Wilfred, was a [[dialectologist]], a dialect poet, and an English teacher with a love for grammar and Elizabethan drama.<ref>Webster, J.J. 2005. "M.A.K.: the early years, 1925–1970". In R. Hasan, C. Matthiessen, and J.J. Webster. ''Continuing Discourse on Language''. London: Equinox, p. 3.</ref> In 1942, Halliday volunteered for the National Services' foreign language training course. He was selected to study Chinese on the strength of his success in being able to differentiate tones. After 18 months' training, he spent a year in India working with the Chinese Intelligence Unit doing counter-intelligence work. In 1945 he was brought back to London to teach Chinese.<ref>Webster, 2005. "M.A.K.: the early years, 1925–1970". In Hasan, Matthiessen, and Webster, ''Continuing Discourse on Language'', p. 4.</ref> He took a BA honours degree in modern Chinese language and literature (Mandarin) through the [[University of London]]—an external degree for which he studied in China. He then lived for three years in China, where he studied under [[Luo Changpei]] at [[Peking University]] and under [[Wang Li (linguist)|Wang Li]] at [[Lingnan University (Guangzhou)|Lingnan University]],<ref>Halliday, 1985. "Systemic Background". In ''Systemic Perspectives on Discourse'', Vol. 1: Selected Theoretical Papers from the Ninth International Systemic Workshop, Benson and Greaves (eds). Vol. 3 in ''The Collected Works'', p. 188.</ref> before returning to take a PhD in Chinese linguistics at [[Cambridge]] under the supervision of Gustav Hallam and then [[J.R. Firth]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sfs.scnu.edu.cn/halliday/show.aspx?id=67&cid=101|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106130953/http://sfs.scnu.edu.cn/Halliday/show.aspx?id=67&cid=101|url-status=dead|title=Interview – M.A.K. Halliday, May 1986, by G. Kress, R. Hasan, and J.R. Martin|archivedate=6 January 2009}}</ref> Having taught languages for 13 years, he changed his field of specialisation to linguistics,<ref>Halliday, 2002. "A Personal Perspective". Vol. 1 in ''The Collected Works'', p. 2.</ref> and developed [[systemic functional linguistics]], including [[systemic functional grammar]], elaborating on the foundations laid by his British teacher [[J.R. Firth]] and a group of European linguists of the early 20th century, the [[:Prague school]]. His seminal paper on this model was published in 1961.<ref name="Halliday, M.A.K 1961. pp. 241">Halliday, M.A.K. 1961. "Categories of the theory of grammar". ''Word'', 17 (3), pp. 241–92.</ref>

Halliday's first academic position was as an assistant lecturer in Chinese, at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], from 1954 to 1958. In 1958 he moved to [[University of Edinburgh|the University of Edinburgh]], where he was a lecturer in general linguistics until 1960, and [[Reader (academic rank)|a reader]] from 1960 to 1963. From 1963 to 1965 he was the director of the Communication Research Centre at [[University College London|University College, London]]. During 1964, he was also a Linguistic Society of America Professor, at [[Indiana University]]. From 1965 to 1971 he was a professor of linguistics at UCL. In 1972–73 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, [[Stanford University|Stanford]], and in 1973–74 professor of linguistics at the [[University of Illinois system|University of Illinois]]. In 1974 he briefly moved back to Britain to be a professor of language and linguistics at [[University of Essex|Essex University]]. In 1976 he moved to Australia as a foundation professor of linguistics at the [[University of Sydney]], where he remained until he retired in 1987.<ref>Details of Halliday's career history from "M.A.K. Halliday" in Keith Brown and Vivien Law (eds). 2007. ''Linguistics in Britain: Personal Histories'' (Philological Society), 36, p. 117.</ref>

Halliday worked in multiple areas of linguistics, both theoretical and applied and was especially concerned with applying the understanding of the basic principles of language to the theory and practices of education.<ref>For example, Halliday, M.A.K. 2007. ''Language and Education'', Vol. 9 in ''The Collected Works''.</ref> In 1987 he was awarded the status of Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney and [[Macquarie University]], Sydney. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Birmingham (1987), York University (1988), the University of Athens (1995), Macquarie University (1996), Lingnan University (1999) and Beijing Normal University(2011).<ref>"M.A.K. Halliday", in Brown and Law (2007), ''Linguistics in Britain'', 36, p. 117.</ref>

He died in Sydney of natural causes on 15 April 2018 at the age of 93.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vale Emeritus Professor Michael Halliday |url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/04/19/vale-emeritus-professor-michael-halliday.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The University of Sydney |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Yorkshire Post |date=17 April 2018 |title=Michael Halliday, linguist |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/michael-halliday-linguist-1762468}}</ref>