Systemic Functional Linguistics and Copy Writing

Thomas Hestbæk ANDERSEN
(University of Southern Denmark)

ABSTRACT: This article describes the process of an ongoing work in Denmark to use systemic functional linguistics as a background for copy writing – i.e. for text production in an organizational context. The article examines and walks the developmental path from the theory itself to a method for doing copy writing. Since 2000, a fair number of different registers – or genres – used in organizational contexts in Denmark have been analyzed using the systemic functional model; this work is now being ‘distilled’ into a text book/educational material for doing copy writing. In the distillation process, various findings are cut away, and others are organized into clusters from their meaning. The article will describe how this is done. With its aim, the article discusses how systemic functional linguistics can be a powerful tool in education and in business.

KEY-WORDS: copy writing, business communication, register analysis, Danish.