cryptotype

is among the major contributions of twentieth century linguistics.

British linguist Michael Halliday argued that Whorf's notion of the "cryptotype" and his conception of "how grammar models reality" will "eventually turn out to be among the major contributions of twentieth century linguistics". Halliday described the concept in the following way: "Whorf (1956) distinguished between overt and covert categories and pointed out that covert categories were often also “cryptotypes” — categories whose meanings were complex and difficult to access. Many aspects of clause grammar, and of the grammar of clause complexes, are essentially cryptotypic." Through the use of Halliday, the term has become important in Systemic functional linguistics.

Michael HallidayThinkers

Michael Halliday