Misrepresenting 'Rankshift' And 'Linker'

 Martin (2013: 65):

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this misunderstands 'embedded' as a later renaming of 'rankshifted', whereas both terms are current, and present different views of the same phenomenon. For example, a nominal group that is embedded in a nominal group has shifted from group rank to word rank — words being the constituents of groups.

[2] To be clear, the structural analysis misrepresents of as a linker, despite the fact that a linker is a marker of a paratactic relation, and no paratactic relation obtains between the embedded nominal group and what follows. As Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 333) point out, the 'word of is the generalised marker of a structural relationship between nominals'. In such instances, of is a constituent of the prepositional phrase serving as Postmodifier. Halliday (1994: 196):

Note that in Matthiessen's editions of IFG, the term 'Facet' has been shifted from the embedded Thing to the embedded nominal group as a whole, and from a Pre-Deictic to a Numerative function. Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 335):

Note also that 'Qualifier' here should read 'Postmodifier'.

Mistaking Thing For "Focus"

Martin (2013: 65):

Some examples [of Martin's Focus function] are given below.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, analyses of these structures after Halliday (1985, 1994) have been inconsistent and even self-contradictory. For example, Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 333, 2014: 394) write that the Thing

… is the entity that is functioning as participant in the transitivity structure of the clause …

If this principle is applied to the examples above, then six of the seven do not include a "Focus" function, as demonstrated by:

the front of the stage is wider than the back.
 an album is a collection of songs.
a chapter of the book was removed by censors.
the length of the stage is 9 metres
a Nobel Laureate is typically a genius of a writer
ragtime is a kind of jazz 

On the other hand, the coverage in Halliday (1985, 1994) is restricted to 'measure' expressions and 'facet' expressions, the latter being an optional alternative approach to Head/Thing conflation. The 'measure' expressions are analysed as complex Numeratives or Pre-Numeratives, and the 'facet' expressions as Pre-Deictics. Halliday (1994: 195-6):

Using the Halliday (1985, 1994) analysis:

the front of the stage is Pre-Deictic

a collection of songs is complex Numerative: collective

a chapter of the book is Pre-Numerative: partitive

three of the songs is Pre-Numerative: quantitive

the length of the stage is Thing

a genius of a writer is Thing

a kind of jazz is Thing

However, using the Halliday & Matthiessen (2004, 2014) analysis (see previous post):

the front of the stage is extended Numerative: partitive: facet

a collection of songs is extended Numerative: collective: aggregate

a chapter of the book is extended Numerative: partitive: portion

three of the songs is embedded Numerative

the length of the stage is Thing

a genius of a writer is Thing

a kind of jazz is extended Numerative: collective: variety

Rebranding Hallidays 'Facet' As Martin's 'Focus'

Martin (2013: 65):

Blogger Comments:

[1] Although Martin correctly understands such expressions as involving embedding, he nevertheless misunderstands embedding as expansion. To be clear, expansion relates units of the same rank, such as two nominal groups in a nominal group complex.

[2] To be clear, Halliday & Matthiessen (2004: 333) call these Extended Numeratives, with Facet as just one of its six subtypes:

[3] To be clear, Martin's unnecessary rebranding of Halliday's functions as Martin's Focus is particularly poor, firstly, because it assigns a textual highlighting term to an experiential function, and secondly, because the term 'Focus' is already in use as the Focus of New information.

[4] For problems with the 'extended coverage as a Focus function' in Martin et al (2010), see:

Needlessly Rebranding Halliday's 'Numerative' As The Authors' 'Focus'

Problems With The 'Perspective' Subtype Of Focus

Rebranding Halliday's 'Complex' Numeratives As The Authors' 'Re-counting' & 'Partitive' Subtypes Of Focus

The 'Selecting' Subtype Of Focus As A Confusion Of Numeratives And Epithets

A Serious Problem That Invalidates The 'Dimensional' Subtype Of Focus

The 'Evaluative' Subtype Of Focus Reconsidered

Serious Problems That Invalidate The 'Classifying' Subtype Of Focus

A Problem With A Further Proposed 'Classifying' Type Of Focus

Needlessly Rebranding Halliday's 'Pre-Deictic' As The Authors' 'Focus'

The Problem With Exercise 5: Recognising Pre-Elements

Problems With Exercise 4: Analysing Groups With Focus

Rebranding Pre-Deictic And Pre-Numerative As Focus