Thursday, 13 August 2015

Misconstruing Substitution As Continuity

Martin (1992: 233):
Where the Mood changes, but the Residue is constant, the realisation so ^ Finite ^ Subject is possible:
NEW MOOD
[4:178] Ben won the race,
            but later so did Carl.

Blogger Comments:

[1] Contrary to the claim, part of the Residue (the substitution) and part of the Mood (the Finite) are constant across clauses here.

[2] In SFL theory, so marks an instance of substitution, a resource of textual cohesion, as shown by the variant ordering of elements; see Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 564-5). Here it is misconstrued as continuity, which in turn is misconstrued as logical instead of textual.

Ben
won
the race
Subject
Finite
Predicator
Complement
Mood
Residue

but
later
so
did
Carl

circumstantial Adjunct
Predicator
Complement
Finite
Subject

Residue
Mood