Misconstruing Parataxis As Coordination

Fawcett (2010: 27):

A 'univariate' structure, then, is said to be a 'structure' that is composed of two or more categories that are the same.  More specifically, the 'taxis' is between two or more classes of unit — predominantly between clauses, but also between groups, words and even morphemes. As we shall see when we meet the concept of 'co-ordination' in Section 11.8.2 of Chapter 11, the Cardiff Grammar models a 'paratactic' relationship between two or more units, as in cats, dogs and horses, as three co-ordinated units that jointly fill an element of structure in a higher unit in the tree. There are a number of problems to consider in relation to co-ordination, but we shall delay the discussion of these to Section 11.8.2 of Chapter 11. We can therefore set aside the concept of 'parataxis' (as we have already done with 'multivariate' structures).

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading.  To be clear, a univariate structure is 'an iteration of the same functional relationship' and is 'unique to the logical mode of meaning' (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 451).

[2] This is untrue. Tactic relations obtain between units of the same class and rank — e.g. between nominal groups — not between different classes of unit — e.g. not between nominal and verbal groups.

[3] This confuses co-ordination — paratactic extension — with parataxis in general.  Parataxis also combines with the other logico-semantic types: elaboration, enhancement and projection.  These have not been considered at all in this discussion of parataxis.

[4] This is misleading in what it implies.  In SFL theory, not just the Cardiff Grammar, a paratactically extending group complex like cats, dogs and horses serves as an element of structure of a higher unit, the clause.  For example, in the clause they have cats, dogs and horses, the nominal group complex serves as the possessed Attribute of clause structure.

Fawcett's Argument Against Hypotaxis [1]

Fawcett (2010: 27):

It is within the category of 'univariate' structures that a new pair of concepts are to be found. The question is whether their introduction leads to better descriptions of languages, or whether they cause difficulties. I shall argue that one of them — the concept of 'hypotaxis' — is a source of problems in three ways. Firstly, it is not in fact as easy as one at first thinks to work out what it actually means in structural terms to say that one unit is hypotactically related to another. Secondly, Halliday has given it great prominence in his theory, and this prominence has been at the expense of another concept — that of 'embedding'. The concept of embedding is of course tied to the general concept of 'constituency', but it is not necessarily linked to formal grammars, and its use in SFL leads to the insightful analysis of long and complex texts. The third problem with 'hypotaxis' is related to this: in practical terms, it has often led to analyses of text-sentences that are plainly counter-intuitive (e.g. treating He said as a clause in He said that he would be there).

Blogger Comment:

[1] Fawcett's first argument here against the concept 'hypotaxis' is a version of the logical fallacy known as the argument from personal incredulity which might be termed an argument from personal incapacity: because I can't apply the concept, there must be a problem with the concept.  Applied to the field of physics, this could become: because I can't apply the notion of wave–particle duality, there must be a problem with the concept.

In IFG2, Halliday (1994: 221) clarifies "what it means in structural terms to say that one unit is hypotactically related to another" by distinguishing hypotaxis from parataxis, logically, in terms of two parameters, symmetry and transitivity:

Parataxis is the linking of elements of equal status.  Both the initiating and the continuing element are free, in the sense that each could stand as a functioning whole.

Hypotaxis is the binding of elements of unequal status.  The dominant element is free, but the dependent element is not. …

In principle, the paratactic relation is logically (i) symmetrical and (ii) transitive. This can be exemplified by the 'and' relation.

(i) 'salt and pepper' implies 'pepper and salt', so the relation is symmetrical; 

(ii) 'salt and pepper', 'pepper and mustard' together imply 'salt and mustard', so the relationship is transitive.

The hypotactic relation is logically (i) non-symmetrical and (ii) non-transitive. For example, 'when':

(i) 'I breathe when I sleep' does not imply 'I sleep when I breathe'; 

(ii) 'I fret when I have to drive slowly' and 'I have to drive slowly when it's been raining' together do not imply 'I fret when it's been raining'.

[2] Fawcett's second argument here against the concept 'hypotaxis' is an untruth.  It is simply not true that the introduction of hypotaxis has been at the expense of embedding.  In SFL theory, both concepts are used, and the explanatory advantages provided by the distinction include the ability to distinguish:

• in expansion, between non-defining (hypotaxis) and defining (embedding) relative clauses, and
• in projection, between projected reports (hypotaxis) and pre-projected facts (embedding).

[3] Fawcett's third argument here against the concept 'hypotaxis' is another instance of the logical fallacy known as the argument from personal incredulity: because I can't believe it, it can't be true.  No grammatical argument is proffered in support of the intuition.

"Setting Aside" Multivariate Structure

Fawcett (2010: 26-7):

Halliday's first distinction is in fact between two broad types of structure that he calls "univariate" and "multivariate" structures. A "multivariate" structure is simply a unit that is composed of one or more of a set of different elements of structure, such as a clause or a nominal group, essentially as distinguished in "Categories" and as recognised here. The term "multi-" is intended to mark the fact that the sister "variables" (as Halliday calls the 'elements', in what seems an unnecessarily abstract terminology) are different from each other. So for our present purposes we can set the concept of 'multivariate structure' on one side, since it does not introduce a new concept to the theory.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, a multivariate structure is defined as 'a configuration of elements each having a distinct function with respect to the whole' (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 390), whereas a univariate structure is 'an iteration of the same functional relationship' and is 'unique to the logical mode of meaning' (op. cit.: 451).

[2] To be clear, groups have both a multivariate structure and a univariate structure.  It is the latter that motivates the term 'group', rather than 'phrase'.  Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 437):

Although groups are word complexes, they cannot be fully accounted for as complexes. Groups have developed their own multivariate constituent structures with functional configurations such as the Deictic + Numerative + Epithet + Classifier + Thing of the nominal group in English. Here the elements are

• (i) distinct in function,
• (ii) realised by distinct classes, and
• (iii) more or less fixed in sequence.

A configuration of such a kind has to be represented as a multivariate structure. Treating the group simply as a ‘word complex’ does not account for all these various aspects of its meaning. It is for this reason that we recognise the group as a distinct rank in the grammar.

[3] To be clear, this is not "unnecessarily abstract terminology", merely misunderstood terminology.  The term 'element' identifies a part of a whole (structure), whereas the term 'variable' identifies the choice involved (system).

Misconstruing Parataxis As Coordination

Fawcett (2010: 26):

The first two concepts are a pair of ideas that have come to play a major role in Halliday's later model of grammar — and especially in the framework that he uses for analysing text-sentences in IFG. These are 'parataxis' and 'hypotaxis'. 

In what follows, I shall use 'scare quotes' around these terms as a sign that they — or rather one of them, i.e., 'hypotaxis' — will have no role to play in the framework presented here. However, since the two terms are so closely bound up together in Halliday's theory, it will be safer to avoid 'parataxis' too. The types of relationship between units that 'parataxis' provides for are essentially the same as those covered by co-ordination, in a broad sense of the term that includes 'asyndetic co-ordination' (as described in Quirk et al. 1985:918) as well as co-ordination with overt markers such as and. I shall therefore normally use the term "co-ordination" rather that "parataxis".

Blogger Comments:

This is misleading.  The traditional notion of coordination is not equivalent to parataxis, but to the combination of parataxis and the logico-semantic relation of extension.  Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 472):

The combination of extension with parataxis yields what is known as co-ordination between clauses.  It is typically expressed by and, nor, or, but.  We can recognise three major subtypes of paratactic extension, (i) addition, (ii) variation and (iii) alternation.

Unlike coordination, parataxis also combines with the other two relations of expansion, elaboration and enhancement, as well as the other major logico-semantic relation, projection, as in the case of a quoting nexus. Traditionally, coordination contrasts with subordination, which largely corresponds to the SFL category combination of hypotactic enhancement.  The distinction between taxis and logico-semantic relations is an important one that potentially obtains between units in complexes at all ranks in the grammar: clause, group/phrase, word and morpheme.