Confusing Systems Across Ranks

Martin (2013: 68-9):

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, these "inter-function dependencies" are inter-system relations at ranks below the clause. That is, this confuses clause rank functions, Subject, Finite, Complement, with the realisation of features of systems at lower rank, NUMBER, GENDER, CASE.

[2] To be clear, 'prosodic' is a type of structure, and a structure is the relationships that obtain between functions (elements) at given rank. It does not refer to a syntagm of forms, such as words or morphemes.

[3] To be clear, 'to follow Halliday's lead' is the default procedure, unless there are valid reasons for doing otherwise, because SFL Theory is his brainchild, and no-one else's. But the system of PERSON in the MOOD network is not concerned with the lower rank realisations that Martin confuses with clause rank here. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 162):

Misunderstanding Redundancy And Structure

Martin (2013: 40):

Technically speaking, as noted above, a sequence of classes redounding with one another is referred to as a syntagm. Redounding functions are referred to as structures. … By 'redound' we mean that the classes of functions are redundant with respect to one another — in other words they are mutually expectant (given one class or function the co-appearance of another is not random). This is simply a more technical way to say that the classes form a syntagm or that the functions form a structure and so make a meaning beyond the sum of their parts.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This misunderstands the notion of redundancy. To be clear, 'redundancy' refers to the skewing of probabilities away from equiprobability. Halliday (2003 [1987]: 122):

In an ideal system, one having two states that are equiprobable, there is no redundancy. Once we depart from equiprobability, redundancy sets in. In all open systems the probabilities are skewed, so that the system carries redundancy.

In SFL Theory, 'redundancy' is used to refer to realisation relations between strata. Halliday (2002 [1992]: 356):

Consider a minimal semiotic system, such as a protolanguage – a system that is made up of simple signs. This is based on the principle of redundancy. When we say that contents p, q, r are “realised” respectively by expressions a, b, c, what this means is that there is a redundancy relation between them: given meaning p, we can predict sound or gesture a, and given sound or gesture a we can predict meaning p. This relationship is symmetrical; “redounds with” is equivalent both to “realises” and to “is realised by”.

with these probabilities variably skewed along the cline of instantiation. Halliday (2002 [1992]: 359):

The [language] system is permeable because each instance redounds with the context of situation, and so perturbs the system in interaction with the environment.

Halliday (2003 [1997]: 260):

If we consider register variation first: viewing from the "instance" end, we can recognise a text type as a collection of similar instances. But when we shift perspective and see it as systemic variation, each of these text types appears as a register, a kind of subsystem which redounds with the properties of the context in terms of field, tenor and mode.

Martin, however, misunderstands the skewed probabilities of redundancy as just any mutual expectancy, and applies this to the sequencing of items on the syntagmatic axis.

[2] As demonstrated above, redundancy is not a more technical way of saying that syntagms and structures "make a meaning beyond the sum of their parts". The crucial point that Martin omits is that, just as a system is the relationships among its features, a structure is the relationships among its functions. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 451):

Note that, although it is the functions that are labelled, the structure actually consists of the relationships among them.

Mistaking A Lower Rank Syntagm For A Higher Rank Function Structure

Martin (2013: 8-9):

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, this mistakes a syntagm of classes of form at phoneme rank (consonant^vowel^consonant) for a function structure at syllable rank (Onset^Nucleus^Coda). This is analogous to mistaking a syntagm of classes of form at group rank (nominal^verbal) for a function structure at clause rank (Senser^Process).