Associate Professor Rosemary Huisman
Discipline of English and Writing
Rosemary Huisman is Honorary Associate Professor in English at the University of Sydney. She was, before retirement, Head of Semiotics at that university. She has published widely on poetry and poetics, from Beowulf to contemporary poetry (as in The Written Poem, Semiotic Conventions from Old to Modern English, 1999 & 2000) and herself publishes poetry. Her research interests include the theory of language as social semiotic, and in particular its application to the study of English literary and legal discourse. Earlier work on narrative focused on its use in different media (as in six chapters in the co-authored book, Narrative and Media, Cambridge U.P. 2005). Her most recent publication, the book Narrative Worlds and the Texture of Time, A Social-Semiotic Perspective (Routledge, 2022), brings together a modelling of time with a modelling of language to produce a new model of narrative, which is then used to compare English texts from manuscript, print and digital cultures. Her studies of legal discourse include papers on statutory interpretation (“Linguistic perspectives on legal ‘construction’: the advantages of a social-semiotic approach”, 2021) and on the language of legal rights and obligation (“Modality and the Law”, 2014), and a book chapter on judicial reasoning ("The trace of time in judicial reasoning: a case of conflicting argument in the High Court of Australia (Al Kateb v. Godwin, 2004)”, Brill 2016).
• Poetry, from Old English to contemporary Australian
• Narrative theory
• Legal discourse (statutory interpretation)
• Theories of time and temporalities
• Postmodern prose fiction (Thomas Pynchon, Paul Auster)
Not at the University of Sydney:
Linguistics for Literacy
Academic literacies
• Narrative temporalities in English literary texts from Old to Modern English
• Statutory interpretation
• Graphology - the expression level of written language (especially in relation to contemporary poetry and advertising)
- Life member of ASFLA (Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association)
- Member ISST (International Society for the Study of Time)
- Member AULLA (Australasian Universities Language & Literature Association)
- Member ISSEME (International Society for the Study of Medieval England)
- Member PALA (Poetics and Linguistics Association)
- Member ISSN (International Society for the Study of Narrative)
Selected publications
(Routledge, 2022)
(Interactive Press Australia, 2006)
(Cambridge University Press, 2005)
Publications
Books
- Huisman, R. (2022). Narrative Worlds and the Texture of Time: A Social-Semiotic Perspective. New York: Routledge. [More Information]
- Fulton, H., Huisman, R., Murphet, J., Dunn, A. (2005). Narrative and Media. New York (USA): Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (1998). The written poem: semiotic conventions from old to modern English. London: Cassell. [More Information]
Book Chapters
- Huisman, R. (2016). The Trace of Time in Judicial Reasoning: A Case of Conflicting Argument in the High Court of Australia (Al-Kateb v. Godwin, 2004). In Sabine Gross, Steve Ostovich (Eds.), Time and Trace: Multidisciplinary Investigations of Temporality, (pp. 256-275). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2015). How Do You Write about What Is Not There? How Do You Record What Is Absent? Scraping the Temporal Palimpsest in Auster's Fiction. In Arkadiusz Misztal (Eds.), Time, Narrative and Imagination: Essays on Paul Auster, (pp. 271-291). Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Uniwesytetu Gdanskiego.
- Huisman, R. (2014). Modality and the Law. In Huang Guowen (Eds.), Annual Review of Functional Linguistics, Volume 5, (pp. 7-21). Beijing: Higher Education Press.
Journals
- Huisman, R. (2023). J. T. Fraser and the Temporal Texture of Narrative, an Intersection of Disciplines. KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time, 23(1), 73-85. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2021). Linguistic Perspectives on Legal "Construction": The Advantages of a Social Semiotic Approach. Nalsar Student Law Review, XV, 51-76. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2019). The discipline of English Literature from the perspective of SFL register. Language, Context and Text, 1(1), 102-120. [More Information]
Conferences
- Huisman, R. (2018). Poetry and Time: temporalities of the moment in Antigone Kefala's 'Fragments'. PALA 2017 (Poetics and Linguistics Association), West Chester, PA, USA: Poetics and Linguistics Association. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2010). The narrative worlds of Thomas Pynchon - ideational meaning and postmodern fiction. 35th International Systemic Functional Congress ISFC 2008, Australia: Macquarie University.
- Huisman, R. (2008). Narrative theory and the dimensions of systemic modelling. 2007 Annual Congress of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association: Bridging Discourses, Wollongong: Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association.
Textual Creative Works
- Huisman, R. (2006). The Possibility of Winds, (pp. 1 - 63). Brisbane, Australia: Interactive Press Australia. [More Information]
2023
- Huisman, R. (2023). J. T. Fraser and the Temporal Texture of Narrative, an Intersection of Disciplines. KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time, 23(1), 73-85. [More Information]
2022
- Huisman, R. (2022). Narrative Worlds and the Texture of Time: A Social-Semiotic Perspective. New York: Routledge. [More Information]
2021
- Huisman, R. (2021). Linguistic Perspectives on Legal "Construction": The Advantages of a Social Semiotic Approach. Nalsar Student Law Review, XV, 51-76. [More Information]
2019
- Huisman, R. (2019). The discipline of English Literature from the perspective of SFL register. Language, Context and Text, 1(1), 102-120. [More Information]
2018
- Huisman, R. (2018). Poetry and Time: temporalities of the moment in Antigone Kefala's 'Fragments'. PALA 2017 (Poetics and Linguistics Association), West Chester, PA, USA: Poetics and Linguistics Association. [More Information]
2017
- Huisman, R. (2017). Facing the eternal desert: Sociotemporal values in old English poetry. KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time, 17(2), 231-253. [More Information]
2016
- Blackshield, T., Huisman, R. (2016). Exemption and exegesis: Judicial interpretation of exemption clauses in England, Australia, and India. Semiotica, 2016 (209), 77-97. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2016). Talking about poetry - Using the model of language in systemic functional linguistics to talk about poetic texts. Australian Journal of English Education, 51(2), 7-19. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2016). The Trace of Time in Judicial Reasoning: A Case of Conflicting Argument in the High Court of Australia (Al-Kateb v. Godwin, 2004). In Sabine Gross, Steve Ostovich (Eds.), Time and Trace: Multidisciplinary Investigations of Temporality, (pp. 256-275). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
2015
- Huisman, R. (2015). How Do You Write about What Is Not There? How Do You Record What Is Absent? Scraping the Temporal Palimpsest in Auster's Fiction. In Arkadiusz Misztal (Eds.), Time, Narrative and Imagination: Essays on Paul Auster, (pp. 271-291). Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Uniwesytetu Gdanskiego.
2014
- Huisman, R. (2014). Modality and the Law. In Huang Guowen (Eds.), Annual Review of Functional Linguistics, Volume 5, (pp. 7-21). Beijing: Higher Education Press.
- Huisman, R., Blackshield, T. (2014). Tenor in Judicial Reasoning: Modality in majority and dissenting judgements in the High Court of Australia (Al-Katab v. Godwin, 2004). Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 9(3), 229-248. [More Information]
2013
- Huisman, R. (2013). Paul Auster's Storytelling in Invisible: The Pleasures of Postmodernity. In Jan Shaw, Philippa Kelly, L E Semler (Eds.), Storytelling: Critical and Creative Approaches, (pp. 261-276). Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2013). Paul Auster's storytelling in invisible: The pleasures of postmodernity. In Jan Shaw, Philippa Kelly, L E Semler (Eds.), Storytelling: Critical and Creative Approaches, (pp. 261-276). Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2013). The Origins of Language and Narrative Temporalities. In Raji C. Steineck, Claudia Clausius (Eds.), Origins and Futures: Time Inflected and Reflected, (pp. 49-76). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. [More Information]
2010
- Huisman, R. (2010). Stress and rhythm in English poetry. Five Bells, 17(1 & 2), 138-148.
- Huisman, R. (2010). Telling The Time: The Temporalities of Thomas Pynchon's Postmodern Narrative. In K. Haworth, J. Hogue and L. G. Sbrocchi (Eds.), Semiotics 2009: The Semiotics of Time, (pp. 243-252). New York: Legas Publishing.
- Huisman, R. (2010). Temporalities and ideational meaning: the construal of experience through narrative. In Elizabeth Swain (Eds.), Thresholds and Potentialities of Systemic Functional Linguistics: Multilingual, Multimodal and Other Specialised Discourses, (pp. 318-333). Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste (EUT).
2009
- Huisman, R. (2009). Reading with the Eye. Five Bells, 16(2 & 3), 64-71.
2008
- Huisman, R. (2008). Living in different worlds - the possibilities of English literary narratives. JNTU Journal of English Studies, 2(2), 55-137.
- Huisman, R. (2008). Narrative sociotemporality and complementary gender roles in Anglo-Saxon society: the relevance of wifmann and waepnedmann to a plot summary of the Old English poem "Beowulf". Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, 4, 125-137.
- Huisman, R. (2008). Narrative theory and the dimensions of systemic modelling. 2007 Annual Congress of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association: Bridging Discourses, Wollongong: Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association.
2006
- Huisman, R. (2006). The Possibility of Winds, (pp. 1 - 63). Brisbane, Australia: Interactive Press Australia. [More Information]
2005
- Huisman, R. (2005). Advertising narratives. In Helen Fulton (Eds.), Narrative and Media, (pp. 285-299). New York (USA): Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2005). Aspects of narrative in series and serials. In Helen Fulton (Eds.), Narrative and Media, (pp. 153-171). New York (USA): Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Huisman, R. (2005). From structuralism to post-structuralism. In Helen Fulton (Eds.), Narrative and Media, (pp. 28-44). New York (USA): Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
1998
- Huisman, R. (1998). The written poem: semiotic conventions from old to modern English. London: Cassell. [More Information]
1993
- Huisman, R. (1993). Subjectivity? Member's Resources? Habitus? - placing the individual in systemic functional theory. Social Semiotics, 3(1), 57-69. [More Information]
1990
- Huisman, R. (1990). Who speaks and for whom? The search for subjectivity in browning's poetry. AUMLA, 71(1), 64-87. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2000
- Transformation in Australian poetry, 1967-1979, Huisman R, DVC Research/Research and Development Scheme: Research and Development (R&D)
1999
- Transformation in Australian poetry, 1930-1967., Huisman R, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Small Grants
Invited member of YoungStreet Poets, since 1978 a poetry workshop meeting monthly. Its Youngstreet Anthology 9 (This Strange World, ed Michael Sharkey, 2013) contains three poems by me: "Scaffolding," "The Chinese Laundry," "The Mathematics of Tillac."