Misunderstanding The Notion Of A Stratified Semiotic

Martin (2013: 4-5):

Blogger Comments:

[1] This mistakes planes for strata. To be clear, in SFL terminology, content and expression are planes, not strata, as in: context, content and expression. Strata are levels of symbolic abstraction within planes, most importantly, the strata of semantics and lexicogrammar that constitute the content plane.

[2] This misunderstands the meaning of 'stratified semiotic'. To be clear, the notion of language as a stratified semiotic means that its content plane is stratified into semantics and lexicogrammar. This is what differentiates language from all other semiotic systems, all of which involve content and expression planes.

[3] The diagram depicts Martin's mistaking of planes for strata by misidentifying Hjelmslev's content plane with SFL's lexicogrammar stratum and his expression plane with SFL's phonology stratum.