Sunday 8 November 2015

No Identifiable Discourse Semantic Unit Realised By Clause Complexes

Martin (1992: 324-5):
the grammatical functions (based on Halliday 1985) which correspond most closely to the field categories just reviewed are outlined in Table 5.17.

Table 5.17. Ideational labelling across levels
field
discourse-semantics
experiential grammar
activity sequence
(unnamed)
clause complex (temporal)
activity
message
Process (& transitivity roles)
activity
message part
Event
people & things
message part
Thing
place
message part
Circumstance
quality
message part
Epithet; Manner adverb




Blogger Comments:

[1] Obviously, clause complexes and adverbs are not functions.  They are forms.

[2] The labels listed under 'field' are semantic categories (that realise context), not context.

[3] Activity sequences in 'field' have no identified realisation in discourse semantics, and all sequences other than those related temporally are ignored in the model.

[4] Activity in 'field' is realised by 
  • a logical unit in discourse semantics, the message, which, in turn is realised in lexicogrammar by the experiential functions of the clause, and also
  • an experiential unit in discourse semantics, the message part, which in turn is realised in lexicogrammar by just one of the experiential functions of the verbal group.
Activity in 'field' is thus realised in discourse semantics by both a whole and a part of that whole. The relation between the logical and experiential metafunctions is thus misconstrued as one of composition.

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