Misunderstanding 'Instantiate'

Martin (1992: 319):

It remains to consider relational clauses, which function to instantiate (Hasan 1985: 82) the relationships of elaboration, extension and enhancement just considered; with relational clauses the grammar works to positively construct the relationships involved rather than simply realising them.  Halliday (1985: 307) treats intensive relationals as elaborating, possessives as extending and circumstantials as enhancing:

	attributive	identifying
=	Ben is a champion	Ben is the champion
+	Ben has the gold medal	Ben’s is the gold medal
x	Ben is in the starting blocks	Ben occupies the starting blocks

Blogger Comments:

[1] The sense in which relational clauses "instantiate" the three types of expansion is as instances of that potential. The theoretical relation between the meanings (elaboration, extension and enhancement) and the wordings (intensive, possessive and circumstantial relational clauses) is the stratal relation of realisation.

[2] The citation does not relate to the proposition.  Hasan (1985: 81) distinguishes general lexical cohesive devices from those that are 'specific to a single text', and terms the latter 'instantial'.

[3] This is a false opposition.  "Working positively to construct the relationships involved" is a metaphorical gloss of logogenesis, whereas "realising them" is stratification.  Both dimensions are relevant.  See previous posts on the confusion of semogenesis and stratification (e.g. here, here, and here).  Given the opposition with realisation, it appears that "working positively to construct the relationships involved" is an attempt to gloss 'instantiate'.

[4] To be clear, although this is a possessive identifying clause, the Process is intensive, and thus realises the expansion relation of elaboration, not extension.  The possessive relation is realised by the possessive nominal group.  See Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 245-7).

[5] To be clear, although this is a circumstantial attributive clause, the Process is intensive, and thus realises the expansion relation of elaboration, not enhancement.  The circumstantial relation is realised by the preposition.  See Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 240-1).