Interpersonal meaning

Abstract This introduction comprises four main sections. Section 1 introduces the overall theoretical architecture of Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL) by way of contextualising the focus on interpersonal grammar in this special issue. Section 2 looks in more detail at the interpersonal discourse semantics underlying this work, briefly introducing the systems of negotiation and appraisal realised through interpersonal grammar. Section 3 turns to the concept of grammatical metaphor, a concept which bears critically on the realisation relationship between interpersonal discourse semantics and lexicogrammar in SFL. Section 4 comments on the challenge of intradisciplinary dialogue.