Misrepresenting Halliday On Unit Complexes

 Fawcett (2010: 318):

Firstly, then, we need to note that in Halliday's current model any such "unit complex" is located above the equivalent "basic unit" on the 'rank scale'. (These terms were introduced by Huddleston himself, in his important contribution in Huddleston 1965/81:46.) In other words, Halliday's model states 

(1) that above the clause there is the 'clause complex' (the term "sentence" being permitted as an equivalent when referring to written rather than spoken text); 

(2) that between the clause and the group/phrase there is the 'group/phrase complex'; 

(3) that between the group/phrase and the word there is the 'word complex'; and 

(4) that between the word and the morpheme there is the 'morpheme complex'. 

In principle, then, the introduction of 'unit complexes' to the theory doubles the number of 'units' on the 'rank scale'. Moreover, there is no doubt that a unit complex is a type of 'unit' in Halliday's theory, because he refers to it as a 'unit' — writing, for example, that "the clause complex is the only grammatical unit that we shall recognise above the clause" (IFG p. 216).

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading, because it is not true. A unit complex is the structural relation of units at the rank of the unit:

• a clause complex is the structural relation of units at clause rank;
• a group/phrase complex is the structural relation of units at group/phrase rank;
• a word complex is the structural relation of units at word rank; and
• a morpheme complex is the structural relation of units at morpheme rank.

[2] To be clear, in SFL Theory, sentence is a unit on the stratum of graphology, not lexicogrammar. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 436):

… the clause complex is realised graphologically as a ‘sentence’, in the way that this has evolved, over the centuries, as a unit in the written language. The sentence is the highest unit of punctuation on the graphological rank scale and has evolved in the writing system to represent the clause complex as the most extensive domain of grammatical structure. We will use the term sentence to refer only to this highest-ranking graphological unit of punctuation.

[3] This is misleading, because it is not true. As explained above, unit complexes are located at the rank of the units in the complex.

[4] To be clear, a unit complex is a unit in the sense of unit with univariate structure.

[5] To be clear, in SFL Theory, a clause complex is not 'above' the clause in terms of the rank scale, as demonstrated, for example, by the location of the clause complexing system at clause rank; Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 438):