Sysfling
Grammatical Analyses Of (Types Of) Instances Discussed On SFL Email Lists
Friday 18 October 2024
Sunday 8 September 2024
'Mere' As Post-Deictic
Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 373, 374):
The post-Deictic identifies a subset of the class of ‘thing’ by referring to its fame or familiarity, its status in the text, or its similarity/dissimilarity to some other designated subset. …
The words occurring as post-Deictic are adjectives, and may also occur in the function of Epithet but with a different sense; …
In an incongruent nominal group, the post-Deictic may correspond to an interpersonal Adjunct in the related congruent clause.
For example:
In the first two instances, the word 'mere' identifies a subset of the Thing in terms of its dissimilarity to some other designated subset. In each case it corresponds to 'merely', an interpersonal Adjunct of counter-expectancy: limiting.
In the third instance, the word 'merest' has a different sense, indicating a quality of the subset of the Thing, like 'slightest', and so functions as Epithet.
Friday 30 August 2024
"Feelings" vs "Faux Feelings"
See Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 260, 272-3).
Tuesday 6 August 2024
The Speech Function Of Silence
Monday 1 July 2024
Performative Verbal Processes
Tuesday 30 April 2024
The Reification Of 'Please'
Monday 29 April 2024
Por Favor
Sunday 28 April 2024
Please
Saturday 20 April 2024
Modified 'Ago'
Saturday 13 April 2024
Nominal Group Qualifiers?
Beatriz Quiroz asked on Sysfling on 12 Apr at 5:24:
How would you analyse the underlined element in the following English nominal groups:The year 1920Would they all be Qualifiers?
My friend John
captain Ahab
his wife Sarah
The city of Rome
Saturday 23 March 2024
Saturday 24 February 2024
Thursday 22 February 2024
The Days Of Auld Lang Syne
Both units of the Qualifier realise the meaning 'in the past', with the second elaborating the first, and the relation is paratactic, because neither depends on the other:
The days of auld (old)
The days lang syne (long since/long ago)
However, on the model of Halliday (1994: 193):
the logical structure is:
Monday 5 February 2024
From A Vast Cloud Of Gas And Dust
Monday 16 October 2023
Tilting Towards Grammatical Metaphor
Friday 25 August 2023
The Butter Betty Bought
Thursday 27 July 2023
Wednesday 5 July 2023
Breathing Light
First he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man;It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and see the ships tossed upon the sea;
Wednesday 10 May 2023
Decoding vs Encoding Equations And Their Reversals
Friday 31 March 2023
Dimension Of Measurement As Qualifier
Saturday 18 March 2023
Protection From Other People With Guns
Monday 6 February 2023
Predicated Theme vs Postposed Subject
Saturday 14 January 2023
Giving A False Impression
Wednesday 26 October 2022
Probability Realised By Both Finite Modal Operator And Noun Of Modalisation
- the probability of complications or adverse effects (➘ noun of modalisation);
- the probability of increasing that probability (➘ Finite).
Friday 15 July 2022
'Dare' As Finite vs Event
See Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 574): 'risk doing', 'venture to do'.
Saturday 28 May 2022
The Materiality Of Birth
Sunday 6 March 2022
Making A Good Wife
Thursday 3 March 2022
Identifying A Happy Baby With A Happy Mother
In the first clause, the lexical choice of thrive adds a quality 'well' or 'vigorously' to the Process, and the circumstance on Glaxo answers the Manner: means interrogative 'what with?' (Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 318).
The second (reversible) clause identifies a happy baby with a happy mother; it does not construe a happy baby as member of the class a happy mother.*
The third clause assigns the membership of you to the class a happy mother.
* Cf. an attributive agnate which construes a mother as a member of the class happy:
Saturday 27 November 2021
Theme Identification vs Theme Predication
See Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 94, 124, 198).
Sunday 21 November 2021
Thematic Equative In Complex With Nested Dependent Clause
This identity encodes the Value what we can notice by reference to the Token a clear evolutionary tendency towards centralisation.
Saturday 20 November 2021
Thematic Equatives
Thursday 23 September 2021
'Forget' As Material Process
It is the secondary group, or last secondary group if there is more than one, that realises the process type of the clause…