Misrepresenting The Directions Of Coding And Mistaking A Verbal Projection Nexus For An Identifying Clause

Martin (1992: 282):

The discussion will now be limited to the semiotic options subclassifying the feature [realise].  These can be divided into a general set which do not specify which strata or ranks are being related and a set which is specific to either the semantics/grammar interface or the grammar/phonology (including grammar/graphology) one…

Both interfaces make a distinction between encoding and decoding, depending on whether the Token is treated as closer or further away from the expression substance than the Value.

GRAMMAR/PHONOLOGY:ENCODING

[5:17]  N-G spells ng. 

GRAMMAR/PHONOLOGY:DECODING

[5:18]  But it actually reads the big dog must be able to see the dog at all times. 

SEMANTICS/GRAMMAR…ENCODING

[5:19]  Spell means 'to represent graphically as' 

SEMANTICS/GRAMMAR…DECODING

[5:20]  'To represent graphically as' defines spell.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This seriously misrepresents decoding and encoding.  The directions of coding are not semiotic options "subclassifying the feature [realise]", and have nothing whatsoever to do with "whether the Token is treated as closer or further away from the expression substance than the Value".

The direction of coding pertains to all identifying processes and simply depends on whether the Value is used to identify the Token (decoding) or the Token is used to identify the Value (encoding), as Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 230) make clear.

Of the three genuine identifying clauses provided, each can be construed as either decoding or encoding, as demonstrated below:

decoding: what word do the letters ‘N-G’ spell?

N-G	spells	ng
Token/Identified	Process: identifying	Value/Identifier
Given		New

encoding: what letters spell the word ‘ng’?

N-G	spells	ng
Token/Identifier	Process: identifying	Value/Identified
New		Given

decoding: what does the word ‘spell’ mean?

spell	means	to represent graphically as
Token/Identified	Process: identifying	Value/Identifier
Given		New

encoding: what word means ‘to represent graphically as’?

spell	means	to represent graphically as
Token/Identifier	Process: identifying	Value/Identified
New		Given

decoding: what meaning defines the word ‘spell’?

to represent graphically as	defines	spell
Value/Identifier	Process: identifying	Token/Identified
New		Given

encoding: what word is defined by the meaning ‘to represent graphically as’?

to represent graphically as	defines	spell
Value/Identified	Process: identifying	Token/Identifier
Given		New

This last  clause is extremely marked, not least because, in the vast majority of instances of identifying processes, it is the Token, not the Value that conflates with Subject in clauses of operative voice.

[2] This is not an identifying relational clause; it is a nexus of verbal clause projecting a quoted locution clause (despite the omitted quotation marks).

but	it	actually	reads (‘says’)	the big dog	must be able to see	the dog	at all times
1				“ 2
	Sayer		Process: verbal	Senser	Process: mental	Phenomenon	Location: time

This instance, therefore, does not construe the 'grammar/graphology interface'.  The logical relation it construes is projection, not elaboration, and the domains that are related are the material order of experience (a sayer saying) and the semiotic order of experience (a wording; i.e. lexicogrammar).