Misconstruing Selection Expressions As Instances Of Meaning

Fawcett (2010: 86):

Let us begin with instantiation. In Halliday's words: 

'Instantiation' is the relation between the semiotic system and the observable events, or 'acts of meaning'. (Halliday 1993:4505)

Even a selection expression, which is strictly speaking not "observable", is an 'instance', i.e., an 'instance of meaning', in that it is the set of features that have been chosen on one traversal of the system network. Thus the instance of meaning' chosen in Section 3 of the worked example in Appendix A is: 

[thing, count, plural, student, nearness to performer, un-near]

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading, because it is not true.  A selection expression is the systemic classification of a given unit.  Halliday (1993: 273):

The selection expression constitutes the grammar's description of the item (e.g., the particular clause so specified); it is also, by reference to the network, the representation of its systemic relationship to other items in the language — since the grammar is paradigmatic, describing something 'consists in' locating it with respect to the rest (showing its total lineage of agnate forms).

Importantly, this may be the unit as potential, unit as instance, or unit as somewhere between (as sub-potential or instance type).  For example, the selection expression of a phoneme, such as [voiced, velar, stop], may describe it as phonological potential or as an actual instance when spoken.

To be clear, this misunderstanding is fundamental to Fawcett's model (Figure 4), and, as a misunderstanding, constitutes one of the lines of evidence that invalidates it.

[2] To be clear, here Fawcett confuses language ("observable") with the linguistic description of it (selection expression).  That is, he confuses the data with the model.

[3] To be clear, selection expressions are relevant in Systemic theory wherever there are systems, and thus are not limited to the level of meaning, semantics.  This is only the case in Fawcett's model, where they are misunderstood as instances.