Fawcett (2010: 154):
7. Thus Halliday now presents the structure of a clause (and in principle other units) as multiple structures. In any such representation of a clause there is, in principle, a line of structure that corresponds to each 'metafunction' (but in practice several more, with seven for many text-sentences as analysed in IFG). Each line consists of a string of 'functional elements', or 'functions'. The problem is that the elements of these 'structures' are not necessarily coterminous (and nor are the structures themselves coterminous). In other words, if two or more elements in two or more strands of meaning are coterminous, they can be conflated with each other to form a compound element, but when they are not coterminous it is not logically possible to conflate them (as described in Section 7.4 of this chapter). Despite these serious theoretical-generative problems, it appears that Halliday may regard the notion that there are many different structures (and so many non-coterminous elements) in a single clause as one of the riches of language — at least from the text-descriptive viewpoint, as exemplified in the analyses in IFG.
Blogger Comments:
[1] This is misleading, because it is untrue. In IFG, what Fawcett refers to as "text-sentences" — his model, not SFL Theory — are the three metafunctional clause structures. The reason why Fawcett thinks there are "several more" is that he mistakes information structure as a clause structure, and counts mood and thematic structures twice because of their structural components (e.g. Subject of the Mood element, and topical Theme of the Theme element).
[2] To be clear, as previously explained, in SFL Theory, there is no need to conflate any elements. It is simply the case that, under certain circumstances, some elements do happen to conflate, as when Subject conflates with Behaver in behavioural clauses. The three metafunctional structures of the clause are integrated in the syntagm of units at the rank below, as when Subject and Behaver are realised by the same nominal group.
[3] To be clear, the conflation of two elements, such as Subject and Behaver, does not result in a "compound element", since each element is an element of a different structure, and, in SFL Theory, a structure is the relation between elements (e.g the relation of Subject to Finite, or the relation of Behaver to Process).
[2] To be clear, as previously explained, in SFL Theory, there is no need to conflate any elements. It is simply the case that, under certain circumstances, some elements do happen to conflate, as when Subject conflates with Behaver in behavioural clauses. The three metafunctional structures of the clause are integrated in the syntagm of units at the rank below, as when Subject and Behaver are realised by the same nominal group.
[3] To be clear, the conflation of two elements, such as Subject and Behaver, does not result in a "compound element", since each element is an element of a different structure, and, in SFL Theory, a structure is the relation between elements (e.g the relation of Subject to Finite, or the relation of Behaver to Process).
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