Amie Thomasson discusses the use of Systemic Functional Linguistics in order to understand linguistic functions. For the author, the application of this approach allows analysis to uniquely consider each part of linguistics as it pertains to the overall function of each language medium. For the purposes of this discussion, the SFL approach to linguistics will be applied to parables. In order to understand the use of parables according to this framework, it is first necessary to think about the social function of parables. By definition, this type of story is meant to communicate some moral, lesson, or truism. Using both prose and verse as its style, a parable utilizes human characters as examples for the audience. Because of that, the identified social purpose of a parable is to teach, inform and instruct, affecting the behavior or individuals.
After establishing the purpose of this type of work, it is also necessary to understand its form, tenor and mode. Form dictates the subject matter of a piece, as it pertains to the contents of the writing. For parables this includes writing about individuals in order to display their experiences as lessons for the audience. Many of the values highlighted are common sense, and form the foundation of how subjects of social interaction, morality and goodness are understood. Tenor, then, is the subject who exists on the receiving side of the language form, and their relationship to the author of a piece. Parables are type of writing designed to educate and enlighten, seeing their audience as equally or less knowledgeable than the author. The relationship between the two is impersonal and formal, while the writing is usually done in third or second person.
Lastly, the mode of a parable must be established. Mode relates to how a piece is presented. A parable is a writer story, one that is planned in advanced and presented in the form of a book, in most cases. By examining all three of these aspects build a specific type of meaning. Being presented as impersonal, but also capable of teaching others lessons, parables fit most closely with the Ideational function of language. The specific intent of instructing, instead of communicating a theory or creating a written conversation, is what separates parables from traditional philosophical narratives. This makes parables more suitable in contexts such as discussing baseline principles of morality in an easy-to-understand environment, or examining how specific philosophical ideas are represented in common narratives.