Object, Thing And Nominal Group

Fawcett (2010: 297):

As we have seen in the main text, a thing is a semantic unit that is typically expresses an object in the belief system and that is realised at the level of form by a nominal group. While the source grammar for "things" has over 150 systems that are realised grammatically (and many thousands more that are realised lexically), the present grammar has just four systems that are realised in grammar and two that are realised in lexis.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, in SFL Theory, semantically, it is 'participant' that is realised in lexicogrammar as a nominal group (Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 177), and 'thing' is a type of participant (op. cit.: 182):

[2] To be clear, in SFL Theory, there is no 'belief system' above the system of semantics, and 'object' is a type of 'simple thing' and distinguished as either material or semiotic; Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 190):

[3] To be clear, in SFL Theory, grammar and lexis are united as lexicogrammar, and lexical items are the synthetic realisations of the most delicate lexicogrammatical features, just as the phoneme /b/ is the synthetic realisation of the phonological features [voiced, bilabial, stop].