Wednesday 21 October 2015

Misconstruing Elaboration As Extension

Martin (1992: 315):
Similarly, whereas Classifiers elaborate the Thing, Epithets add qualities.  These may be of an experiential or attitudinal kind:

Table 5.12. Extension in the nominal group
NominalGroup
epithet
+
thing
epithet
+
thing



(attitudinal)
red

car
ugly

car
big

lunch
chauvinist

pig
round

ball
pleasant

spot
speeding

bullet
beautiful

shot
hungry

puppy
greedy

kitten



 Blogger Comments:

[1] In every case, the expansion relation between the Epithet and Thing is elaboration, not extension.  This is demonstrated by the agnate relational clauses, all of which are intensive (elaborating), not possessive (extending): the car is red/ugly, the lunch is big, the ball is round etc.

[2] This is a Classifier, not an Epithet, as shown by the fact that, unlike Epithets, it can't be intensified as a very speeding bullet.