Misrepresenting The Potential Of Ellipsis To Negotiate Attitude [New]

Martin (1992: 45):

Significantly, attitude is not realised through the Mood function in English, unlike MODALISATION and MODULATION which can be expressed through modal verbs and adjuncts. For this reason ellipsis in English does not facilitate the negotiation of attitude — the attitude to be graded is commonly realised in the Residue itself. 

It thus follows from the grammar that how a speaker feels is less commonly negotiated through pair parts in dialogue than is inclination, obligation, probability and usuality and that where it is negotiated, MODALISATION and MODULATION are typically being negotiated as well since the Mood element is normally present (cf. Yes he is rather above).

Blogger Comments:

[1] The argument here is:

Premiss: attitude is realised in the Residue not the Mood element
Conclusion: ellipsis does not facilitate the negotiation of attitude

To be clear, this is a false conclusion invalidly argued from a false premiss. The premiss is false because attitude can be realised in the Mood element as well as the Residue, as demonstrated by:

The conclusion is false because ellipsis can "facilitate the negotiation of attitude", as demonstrated by exchanges like:

Is he scrupulously honest?

— No, he isn't scrupulously honest.

— Yes, he is scrupulously honest

The argument is invalid because the location of attitude in the clause, has no bearing on whether or not ellipsis can "facilitate the negotiation of attitude".

[2] To be clear, this does not follow from the grammar, see [1] above. Moreover, it is bare assertion, unsupported by evidence from corpora.

[3] The argument here is:

Premiss: the Mood element is normally present.
Conclusion: MODALISATION and MODULATION are typically being negotiated.

To be clear, this argument is invalidated by clauses that normally feature a mood element, but don't typically negotiate modality, such as:

The reason why Martin thinks that all negotiation is the negotiation of modality is that he (p39) misunderstands modality as including positive and negative polarity, rather than just the space between them.