Martin (1992: 531):
Poynton's realisation principle for contact needs to be considered from the point of view of both system and process. From the perspective of system, the relevant principle is proliferation; the degree of contact determines the predictability of meanings at risk — the less contact, the fewer the choices available and conversely, the more contact, the more options available to be taken up. Alongside this is the process oriented principle of contraction; less contact means that the realisation of meanings selected has to be more explicit, whereas more contact means that more can be left unsaid.
Blogger Comments:
[1] In SFL theory, the term 'system' is shorthand for 'system-&-process'. Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 507):
As we conceive of it, … the term “system” is a shortened form of “system–&–process”, there being no single word that encapsulates both the synoptic and dynamic perspectives … .
Previously, as demonstrated here, with regard to 'process', Martin has confused the instantiation process, both with the realisation relation between system and structure, and with structure itself.
[2] This is asserted without supporting evidence. Such matters are decided by empirical research.
[3] The exact nature of the risk that meanings face is never actually specified. To be clear, risk is the potential of gaining or losing something of value.
[4] This confuses realisation with instantiation. The axial realisation of meaning is as semantic structure; the stratal realisation of meaning is as wording. The selection of meaning is the instantiation process, at the level of semantics, during logogenesis (the unfolding of the text).
